A Bouquet of Song Birds 



rows of poles stretching half across the river, 

 and by seeing the fishermen here and there 

 grappling the nets attached to them, and 

 emptying the contents into the boats, that fish 

 as well as fowl are now on their way north- 

 ward, and that shad are making their long 

 submerged journey from the Gulf of Mexico 

 along the coast, and up all of the larger rivers. 

 This seems more incomprehensible than bird- 

 migration. Do the finny tribes have some in- 

 explicable cognition of their locality while be- 

 neath the waves; or do they have to stick 

 their heads out, now and then, in order to get 

 their bearings? What cheerless, solemn pro- 

 cessions are thus semi-annually pursuing their 

 hidden, winding way along the shore, for hun- 

 dreds of miles, unless a fish has a sense of so- 

 ciability, a means of converse, and sources of 

 hilarity which we do not dream of 



Sandpipers were scudding about on the 

 wing, or running among the moss-covered 

 rocks that fringe the semi-marine shore ; house 

 wrens sang by the way, and redstarts, vireos, 

 and wood thrushes were numerous ; while a 

 flock of chimney swallows — fleet-winged mari- 

 ners upon the shoreless air — relieved the an- 

 gularity of the cliffs by continuously circling 



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