AUGUST 



August is the month of the high-sailing hawks. 

 The hen-hawk is the most noticeable. lie likes 

 the haze and calm of these long, warm days. He 

 is a bird of leisure, and seems always at his ease. 

 How beautiful and majestic are his movements 1 

 So self-poised and easy, such an entire absence of 

 haste, such a magnificent amplitude of circles and 

 spirals, such a haughty, imperial grace, and, occa- 

 sionally, such daring aerial evolutions I 



BURROUGHS: Wake-Robin. 



8 



Very warm. This melting weather makes a 

 in the year. The crickets creak louder and 

 more steadily. . . . The dry z-ing of the locust is 

 heard. The drouth begins. Bathing cannot be 

 omitted. The conversation of all boys in the 

 streets is whether they will or will not, or who 

 will, go in a-swimming. . . . The North River, As- 

 sabet, by the old stone bridge, affords the best 

 bathing-place I think of, a pure, sandy, uneven 

 bottom, with a swift current, a grassy bank, and 

 overhanging maples, transparent water, deep 

 enough, where you can see every fish in it. 



THOREAU: Summer. 



