SEPTEMBER 



5 



As we sailed up the river, there was a pretty 

 good-sized pickerel poised directly over the sandy 

 bottom close to the shore, and motionless as a 

 shadow. It is wonderful how they resist the slight 

 current, and remain thus stationary for hours. 

 He no doubt saw us plainly on the bridge, in 

 the sunny water, his whole form distinct and his 

 shadow, motionless as the steel-trap which does 

 not spring till the fox's foot has touched it. 



THOKEAU : Days and Nights in Concord. 



Though the shadows of the hills were beginning 

 to steal over the stream, the whole river valley 

 undulated with mild light, purer and more mem- 

 orable than the noon. For so day bids farewell 

 even to solitary vales uninhabited by man. Two 

 herons (Ardea herodias), with their long and 

 slender limbs relieved against the sky, were seen 

 traveling high over our heads, their lofty and 

 silent flight, as they were wending their way at 

 evening, surely not to alight in any marsh on the 

 earth's surface, but perchance on the other side of 

 our atmosphere, a symbol for the ages to study, 

 whether impressed upon the sky, or sculptured 

 amid the hieroglyphics of Egypt. 



THOREAU: A Week on the Concord and Merrimack 

 Rivers. 



