BIRD PARADISE 129 



seemed to get a little more right where he was. 

 Carious that the fellow seemed glad to see me 

 when I had no shadow of friendly greeting for 

 him. The minute fellows that I could only see 

 as the sunlight was reflected from their wings 

 were in such numbers all along the swamp side 

 that it could be truly said they filled the air. 

 What a feasting place for the flycatchers who 

 will be with us a little later. At the brook side 

 I stopped for a time to hear the song it sings 

 when the spring storms swell the volume of its 

 waters. I had seen it a thousand times before, 

 but this morning it was practically a new brook. 

 The sun's rays played with the ripples, shaping 

 a variety of shadows — every one seemingly alive. 

 In one place the long spears of sedge grass 

 swayed from side to side like living creatures. 

 Their shadows on the gravel of the channel gave 

 them the appearance of gems of "purest ray 

 serene." Just at the crossing in the old road- 

 way I sat for a little time, and to my aetonish- 

 ment and delight the water spiders made their 

 appearance. There were a pair of them to look 

 at, the same fellows I used to see there in my 

 boyhood. How easily they walked over the sur- 

 face of the water. I half fancied that they were 

 moved by the desire to show the parson how 



