SEPTEMBER DAYS 



channel. Continual unrest and abiding 

 fear are their lot now and henceforth, 

 till spring brings the truce of close time 

 to their persecuted race. 



More silently than the fisher's craft 

 the skiff of the sportsman now invades 

 the rush - paled thoroughfares. Noise- 

 less as ghosts, paddler and shooter glide 

 along the even path till, alarmed by 

 some keener sense than is given us, up 

 rise wood duck, dusky duck, and teal 

 from their reedy cover. Then the ready 

 gun belches its thunder, and suddenly 

 consternation pervades the marshes. 

 All the world has burst forth in a burn- 

 ing of powder. From end to end, from 

 border to border, the fenny expanse 

 roars with discharge and echo, and no- 

 where within it is there peace or rest for 

 the sole of a webbed foot. Even the 

 poor bittern and heron, harmless and 

 worthless, flap to and fro from one to 

 another now unsafe retreat, in constant 

 danger of death from every booby gun- 

 ner who can cover their slow flight. 



The upland woods, too, are awakened 

 from the slumber of their late summer 

 days. How silent they had grown when 

 '45 



