60 THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE 



out, leaving the clematis smoking, 

 while a dull yellow flame consumes the 

 brakes and weeds. 



Then the wild ducks gather, and 

 before the autumn storms, the plover, 

 flying low, falls a prey to gunners 

 hidden in the reeds, and the brown 

 moulted bobolinks, no longer song- 

 birds, are shot ruthlessly. The east 

 winds come and bring wild tides that 

 beat and pile the seaweed on the 

 sand, and long rains veil the marshes. 

 The sharp-prowed duck-boat pierces 

 through the flags in the gray of the 

 late dawn, and tired geese pause in 

 their flight to rest. The shortened 

 days are broken by swift sunsets, the 

 nights are steel-blue and touched by 

 electric fingers pointing from the north. 

 Frost flowers bloom and gem the heaps 

 of leaves, and men come out and cut 

 the sedge grass, the last yield of the 



