THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE. 17 



liquid lake of ice above, wliicli ploughed those fur- 

 rows, ^ons and aeons ago, before the time when 

 Adam first — 



" Embraced his Eve in liappy hour. 

 And every bird in Eden burst 

 In carol, every bud in flower," 



those marks were there ; the records of the " Age 

 of ice ; " slight, truly ; to be effaced by the next 

 farmer who needs to build a wall; but unmistake- 

 able, boundless in significance, like Crusoe's one 

 savage footprint on the sea-shore : and the natu- 

 ralist acknowledges the finger-mark of God, and 

 wonders, and worships. 



Happy, especially, is the sportsman who is also 

 a naturalist : for as he roves in pursuit of his game, 

 over hills or up the beds of streams where no one 

 but a sportsman ever thinks of going, he will be 

 certain to see things noteworthy, which the mere 

 natui'alist would never find, simply because he could 

 never guess that they were there to be found. I do 

 not speak merely of the rare birds which may be 

 shot, the curious facts as to the habits of fish which 



C 



