Fog Is a Puzzlement 297 



terns, and herons took flight more quickly than on clear days. 

 Whether there was any regular pattern of foggy weather be- 

 havior could be determined only by extensive investigation. 



Many sounds came to me as I followed the channel. They 

 appeared somewhat different from those I heard on clear 

 days. They were not muffled, neither were they clear. The 

 bark of a dog in the student housing district, the brakes of 

 an automobile, and the explosions of a back-firing truck had 

 a quality that I could not understand until I realized they 

 had a slightly muted effect, which seemed to alter their 

 quality without reducing their strength. I moved the canoe 

 slowly, stopping near some song sparrows and thinking that 

 only they and the chickadees remained so sprightly and 

 cheerful and showed such unconcern when storms visited 

 the marsh. I tried to establish my exact location by moving 

 close and glancing at two or three feet of shore. I found that 

 many trips had made this quite easy. Occasionally I recog- 

 nized bits of mudflats where I had stopped to photograph. 

 My mind returned to Herbie, for here was the little spot 

 where he had first approached me in his tiny catamaran as I 

 was watching the activities of some pectoral sandpipers. 

 There were the roots around which they had clustered and 

 slept after they had bathed and preened. Herbie's first atti- 

 tude had been one of indifference, but he regarded them 

 with much respect when I told him of their long travels be- 

 tween Alaska, their nesting ground, and Patagonia where 

 some of them wintered. 



The swamp odors varied, sometimes acrid, often unpleas- 

 ant, now and then strong with a suggestion of iodine or car- 

 bolic acid. The odors, the neighboring sounds, and the quick 

 views of close shore patches summed up the possibilities of 

 the day. The result was one of restfulness. I had no need to 

 reach constantly for my binoculars or to twist my neck for 

 the sight of a bird that had flushed after the canoe had 

 passed. I could not watch for fish in the shallows below or 



