JOHN JAMES ATJDUBON 103 

 grand, wild aye, and terrific. And 

 yet how beautiful it is now, when one 

 sees the wild bee, moving from one flower 

 to another in search of food, which doubt- 

 less is as sweet to it, as the essence of 

 the magnolia is to those of favoured Lou- 

 isiana. The little Eing Plover rearing 

 its delicate and tender young, the Eider 

 Duck swimming man-of-war-like amid 

 her floating brood, like the guardship of 

 a most valuable convoy ; the White- 

 crowned Bunting's sonorous note reach- 

 ing the ear ever and anon ; the crowds 

 of sea birds in search of places wherein 

 to repose or to feed how beautiful is 

 all this in this wonderful rocky desert at 

 this season, the beginning of July, com- 

 pared with the horrid blasts of winter 

 which here predominate by the will of 

 God, when every rock is rendered smooth 

 with snows so deep that every step the 

 traveller takes is as if entering into his 

 grave ; for even should he escape an 

 avalanche, his eye dreads to search the 



