lPara5fse Circle 



I unbraced my bow, and after one long- 

 ing look at the feather-ends of my arrows 

 slanting out of the bog, I turned me 

 toward Paradise Circle again. Would you 

 beHeve me if I should tell you that I had 

 not walked forty steps when up flew a 

 great blue heron out of a little tide-ditch 

 but a few feet from me ? So it was ; and then 

 the birds of marsh and thicket and wood 

 began to show themselves here, yonder, 

 everywhere. They whirled in air; they 

 stretched long necks out of the grass and 

 rushes ; they ran on the verdant plats ; they 

 uttered guttural croaks, squawked rasp- 

 ingly, chattered, twittered, sang far and 

 near. Had my quiver been full of arrows 

 I could have shot to left, right, front, rear, 

 with choice of birds for target. But I soon 

 lost every trace of impatience and regret ; 

 for your sylvan bowman really likes better 

 to revel among birds than to shoot the rarest 

 of them, even for ornithology's sake. 



When I again entered Paradise Circle 



the sun was going down the western slope 



of heaven into a tender haze through which 



its light came slantwise, touching the tree- 



50 



