The Music of the Seasons 25 



The fishing is fine, and the shore birds, 

 curlew, snipe and plover, come in myriads in 

 April and May and spend six weeks getting 

 fat as they migrate northward. They have 

 raised their young in the winter, far south, 

 and spring is the proper season to kill them 

 for food. They leave in the latter part of 

 May and stop again as they return south- 

 ward in July and August. They do not nest 

 or stay permanently in our territory. Tide- 

 water Virginia is simply their rich feeding 

 ground. 



In summer we have delightful breezes from 

 every point of the compass. The long sweep 

 inland of the Chesapeake Bay for 200 miles 

 makes a hot land breeze impossible. The 

 land breezes on the coast of New Jersey are 

 insufferable to me. Here is water, water 

 everywhere, and the land seems always the 

 least significant feature of the picture Nature 

 presents. 



The fruits of the semi-tropical zone all grow 



