312 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



petent to a long-continued flighty such as across the narrow- 

 est part of the Atlantic ; though the distance from the Ferro 

 Isles to Iceland is probably not more than three hundred 

 miles. But this is merely a conjecture^ and perhaps a 

 groundless one. 



C. — I presume you know Bryant's fine stanzas " To a 

 Waterfowl." 



" Whither, midst falling dew, 



While glow the heavens with the last steps of day. 

 Far through their rosy depths dost thou pursue 

 Thy solitary way ? 



Vainly the fowler's eye 



Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, 

 As, darkly painted on the crimson sky, 



Thy figure floats along. 



Seek'st thou the plashy brink 



Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide, 

 Or where the rocking billows rise and sink 



On the chafed ocean-side ? 



There is a Power whose care 



Teaches thy way along that pathless coast, — 

 The desert and illimitable air, — 



Lone wandering, but not lost. 



All day thy wings have fanned, 



At that far height, the cold thin atmosphere ; 



Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land. 

 Though the dark night is near. 



And soon that toil shall end ; 



Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest, 

 And scream among thy fellows ; reeds shall bend 



Soon o'er thy sheltered nest. 



