202 IRature Stubies in Berfcebire. 



in this relation to the scene they are less interesting 

 than so many floating logs. Only when they plunge 

 into its depths, and as bathers and swimmers become 

 a part of it, do they float up, so to speak, to the 

 level of its own charm upon the eye and the mind. 



But it is far different with the other creatures who 

 inhabit its shores, and soar or flit above its waters, 

 and swim within them. These belong to the lake. 

 Its life and theirs blend as the sky and the clouds 

 mingle with the waves. One thinks of the two to- 

 gether, as they belong. The birds love its banks, and 

 frequent them as an evidently approved summer-re- 

 sort. Nor is there any doubt in my mind that in the 

 days and weeks of the mild southern winter, there is 

 much chatter and chirp in the pine groves and the 

 rice-swamps over the charms of this far northern 

 lake as a place where it is good to rear one's brood 

 and get cheap and wholesome fare, during the 

 summer months, with small liability to gunshot 

 fatalities. The swallows hereabouts are plump and 

 lively, and when they skim and dart and dive after 

 their suppers in the glow of the sunset, it is evident 

 that they are faring well and taking far better catches 

 than the stolid fishermen around whom they circle. 



A little later, down among the trees on the point 

 where the willows grow, there begins a tremendous 

 chatter, as these lively little fellows go to roost, a 

 clear case of easy, satisfied, self-sufficient gossip, full 

 of importance in the bird-world, and amusing even 

 to the dull mortals who can only half understand it 



