Like the spots on the sun, all of nature's other 

 blemishes disappear in the bright blaze of her 

 loveliness when viewed through a veil, whether 

 of shadows, or mists, or distance. This is half 

 the secret of the spell of the night, of the mystery 

 of the sea, and the enchantment of an ancient 

 forest. From the depths of a bed in the meadow- 

 grass there is perfection of motion, the very soul 

 of poetry, in the flight of a buzzard far up under 

 the blue dome of the sky ; but look at the same 

 bald-headed, snaky-necked creature upon afence- 

 stake, and you wonder how leagues into the 

 clouds ever hid his ugly visage from you. Mel- 

 rose must be seen by moonlight. The light to 

 see the buzzard in has never been on land or 

 sea, has come no nearer than the high white 

 clouds that drift far away in the summer sky. 



From an economic point of view the buzzard 

 is an admirable creation. So are the robin, the 

 oriole, and most other birds 5 but these are ad- 

 mirable also from the esthetic point of view. 

 Not so the buzzard. He has the wings of 

 Gabriel the wings only ; for, truly, his neck 

 and head are Lucifer's. If ugliness be an attri- 

 bute of nature, then this bird is its expression 

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