BY MlLL-POND AND MEADOW. 



I/I 



growths of spatterdock and pickerel-weed. Be a 

 place ever so bird-full, there are hours and days 

 when it is quiet I scarcely disturbed a sparrow 

 as I pushed on through the bushes and tall grass 

 and at last reached the creek not far from its mouth. 

 It is always a pleasant surprise, when walking 

 through gloomy woods or tall weeds that hem you 

 in as effectually as a tropical jungle, to suddenly 

 enter a wide open space. The world seemed very 

 small before, but not so now ; and what an outlook 



Herring Gull. 



was presented by the wide river's still unaltered 

 shores ! There was not a trace of man's work to 

 be seen from where I stood, not even the roof of a 

 barn ; and here many a strictly water-bird is likely 

 to be seen. The common herring gull is no stranger 

 here, more than one hundred miles from the sea 

 by way of the river and half that distance overland. 

 After severe spring and autumn storms these birds 

 are common for a day or two in the meadows, and 

 if there is open water they are abundant about the 

 river all winter. The old miller spoke of changes 



