OUR FOREST CHORISTERS. 189 



one sunny afternoon of last September, beneath the shady 

 western shore of our quiet lake, with the low sunlight strik- 

 ing almost level across the wooded banks, it seemed as if 

 the last hoarded drops of summer's sweetness were being 

 poured over all the world. The air was full of quiet sounds. 

 Turtles rustled beside the brink and slid into the water ; 

 cows plashed in the shallows ; fishes leaped from the placid 

 depths ; a squirrel sobbed and fretted on a neighboring 

 stump ; a katydid across the lake maintained its hard, dry 

 croak ; the crickets chirped pertinaciously, but with little 

 fatigued pauses, as if glad that their work was almost done ; 

 the grasshoppers kept up their continual chant, which 

 seemed thoroughly melted and amalgamated into the sum- 

 mer, as if it would go on indefinitely, though the body of 

 the little creature were dried into dust. 



2. All this time the birds were silent and invisible, as 

 if they would take no more part in the symphony of the 

 year. Then, as if by preconcerted signal, they joined in : 

 crows cawed anxiously afar ; jays screamed in the woods ; 

 a partridge clucked to its brood, like the gurgle of water 

 from a bottle ; a kingfisher wound his rattle, more briefly 

 than in spring, as if we now knew all about it and the 

 merest hint ought to suffice ; a fish-hawk flapped into the 

 water, with a great, rude splash, and then flew heavily 

 away ; a flock of wild ducks went southward overhead, and 

 a smaller party returned beneath them, flying low and anx- 

 iously, as if to pick up some lost baggage ; and, at last, 

 a loon laughed loud from behind a distant island, and it 

 .was pleasant to people these woods and waters with that 

 wild shouting, linking them with Katahdin Lake and Am- 

 perzand. 



3. But the later the birds linger in the autumn, the 

 more their aspect differs from that of spring. In spring, 

 they come, jubilant, noisy, triumphant, from the South, 

 the winter conquered and the long journey done. In au- 



