DEAD WILLOW BEND. 139 



way to alternately submerge and uncover the low-lying 

 meadows. A boat can pass up at high tide, and an ex- 

 ploring expedition on a very small scale is practicable. 

 I have been in many such cove-inlets, and certainly they 

 are all beautiful. Trees crowd their banks, and when in 

 full leaf the sky is wholly shut out. It is water be- 

 neath, foliage on either side and above. I have never 

 failed to find birds in such localities. However sultry 

 the day, here it is cool, and however forsaken the open 

 fields in the glare of an August noon, here there will be 

 birds, and little if anything else is needed to make the 

 surroundings all that we wish. 



While lingering here I was surprised to find so many 

 song-sparrows congregated about the creek, and particu- 

 larly at this point. These birds belong to the garden, 

 the gooseberry hedge, and not farther away than the 

 road - side, where they welcomed us as we came from 

 town. ISTow they would seem to prefer the most retired 

 places. Can it be that the European sparrow has caused 

 this change ? Another reason for the extermination of 

 the latter. It must be confessed, however, that these 

 song-sparrows looked admirably well in their new quar- 

 ters. They ran in and out among the roots of the trees, 

 laid bare at low tide, and skipped so daintily over the 

 mud as hardly to leave a track upon its shining, slimy 

 surface. They chased spiders, I thought, as well as 

 hunted for stranded seeds ; and happy in the abundance 

 that surrounded them, ever and anon mounted some pro- 

 jecting root, where their song would have free course, 

 and the rippling melody float afar upon the bosom of 

 the stream. 



