motes of tbe 



light. It was really affecting to hear the faint 

 chirping as darkness spread over the scene and 

 the birds settled again to rest, only to be again 

 disturbed and frightened by darting and rattling 

 tongues of colored light, yellow, blue, pink, and 

 green. It was to me a curious rather than beau- 

 tiful sight. It was unnatural, disturbing, and out 

 of place: the clatter and clash of machinery 

 when some important part is broken. The effect 

 of alternating light and darkness upon the river 

 was more marked than upon the land, and one 

 brief interval was so wild and weird that I shall 

 never forget it. I stood upon a broad stone that 

 the incoming tide was slowly covering, and heard 

 in the darkness the sobbing of little waves that 

 broke at my feet, and when some larger ripple, 

 tipped with starlight, broke over the stone, it 

 seemed as charged with the auroral light as the 

 cloud-flecked sky had been but a moment before. 

 Then followed silence and darkness, out of which 

 came strange cries that I did not recognize, so 

 great was my surprise. As I listened, the aurora 

 returned with all its vividness and illuminating 

 power. The river, and even the opposite shore, 

 could be seen, and directly in front of me three 

 great blue herons were slowly flying up-stream, 

 and the air all about them was filled with bewil- 

 dered killdees. The long dark bodies of the 

 herons and silvery glisten of the plover stood 

 out with marvelous distinctness while they re- 

 13 



