Song Birds and Water Fowl 



moods of this wild human heart, and making it 

 a symbol " worthy a soul that claims its kindred 

 with eternity. ' ' What a little image of impend- 

 ing Fate one sees coiled in the recess of each 

 darkly curving wave-top, just before its edge 

 .crumbles into foam. And, as its restless bil- 

 lows chase each other in a sort of frenzied 

 eagerness the livelong day, how finely its mood 

 has been imaged by the poet, who called it 



" the unpastured sea hungering for calm." 



In the midst of such a view — worth miles of 

 walk to enjoy — and whose intenser bleakness 

 almost warmed the stinging cold air, it was one 

 of nature's quaint surprises to see the numerous 

 gulls serenely settle down and float upon the 

 waves, as comfortably as if the waters had been 

 feather-beds or warming-pans. When not upon 

 the wing, it is the almost constant inclination 

 of the gulls to keep in touch with the water, 

 floating about upon its surface, or motionless 

 on the shallows ; and I have seldom seen them 

 stand where the successive waves would not 

 play around their feet. At this point on the 

 coast, where numerous little rocks are rather 

 closely scattered near the beach, and half sub- 

 merged, the gulls occasionally make a very 

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