54 THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE 



crystal points, were perches for the 

 owls, and on the wooded knoll, by the 

 creek's mouth, the eagle watched high 

 in a tattered oak. The starving crows 

 winged past like silhouettes, and the 

 gulls, with hollow laugh, swept morsels 

 from the sea, and at sunset all the 

 scene was suffused with a cold purple 

 glow. 



Next came the vernal equinox with 

 its swelling tides, which overleaped 

 the shore and swept away the barriers 

 that the frost had set. The south 

 creek and the east joined hands in 

 amity, and made the marshes one vast, 

 surging lake. The welcome osprey 

 brought promise of good things : — 



" She brings us fish, she brings us spring, 

 Good times, fair weather, warmth, and plenty," 



and, gathering the flotage of sticks 

 and seaweed from the shore, built a 



