MARCH OF AGRICULTURE. 19 



miles on either side of the river, affording shelter 

 and sustenance at all seasons to various tribes of 

 water-fowl which haunted its recesses. Then 

 might the booming of the bittern have been heard 

 during the summer nights ; and many a rare spe- 

 cies whose occurrence, like the visits of an angel, 

 can now be recorded only as "few and far be- 

 tween," was either a constant resident or a regular 

 visitor to these congenial swamps. But alas ! the 

 wild character of such scenery, with all its asso- 

 ciations, is gradually disappearing before the 

 strides of civilization, while the march of " agri- 

 cultural improvement" steadily progresses: the 

 advanced guard, indeed, with the axe and the 

 plough, long since performed its part, and gave 

 the first notice to quit to the feathered inhabitants 

 of the marshes, and the huge army of reserve, 

 with its mills and steam engines, and red legions 

 of draining- tiles, will slowly but surely complete 

 the work of extermination. Nevertheless, during 

 the winter months the floods still exercise undis- 

 puted sway, and laugh to scorn the efforts of man 

 to curb their power ; for the entire plain, as far as 

 the eye can reach, becomes one vast sheet of 

 water, frequented, during severe storms, by wild- 

 fowl and sea-birds, while the dark, pine-crowned 

 hills of Parham arise like a beautiful island in the 

 distance. 



