226 IN AUTUMN. 



ghanies, in the United States where birds are 

 so abundant as in the valley of the Delaware. 

 I have seen, since my return, more birds of many 

 kinds in one half-hour at home than I saw dur- 

 ing two weeks' rambles in Canada. 



I was in no hurry to climb up the cliff, the 

 descent of which was still impressed upon my 

 memory, but the order to march came from the 

 guide, and we struggled slowly up the well-worn 

 path. If a brief rest had not been permitted, I 

 should have rebelled ; but we were fortunate in 

 this, and never did lake look lovelier than " in the 

 golden lightning of the sunken sun." It was 

 with regret that we turned our faces landward 

 and crossed prosy fields, and even longed for the 

 bright waters while threading a fragment of Ca- 

 nadian forest. Here, too, silence brooded over 

 nature ; not even a chickadee flitted among the 

 branches of the sturdy oaks and maples, nor a 

 woodpecker rattled the rough bark of towering 

 white pines. As we reached the public road, and 

 stopped for supper at an old wayside inn, three 

 silent crows passed by high overhead. They 

 were flying in a southeasterly direction, and I 

 watched them long, and wondered if they were 

 bound for the far-off meadows at home, where 

 hundreds of their kind gather daily as the sun 

 goes down. 



