AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
67 
ral such opportunities, but we had in our pouch nothing 
but some enormous geese shot, which, to be sure, knocked 
them about right and left, but caused them no farther 
damage than the fright, for lo ! they would all scramble up 
again, and make off with what speed they might. Here 
are some verses addressed by a poet to the little bird we 
have spoken of. 
Thou little bird, thou dweller by the sea, 
Why takest thou its melancholy voice 1 
Why with that boding cry 
O’er the waves dost thou fly? 
O, rather, bird, with me 
Through the fair land rejoice ! 
Thy flitting form comes ghostly dim and pale, 
As driven by a beating storm at sea ; 
Thy cry is weak and scared, 
As if thy mates had shared, 
The doom of us. Thy wail — 
What does it bring to me? 
Thou call’st along the sand, and haunt’st the surge, 
Restless and sad ; as if, in strange accord 
With motion and with roar 
Of waves that drive to shore, 
One spirit did ye urge — 
The mystery — the Word, 
Of thousands thou, both sepulchre and pall, 
Old Ocean art ! A requiem o’er the dead, 
From out thy gloomy cells, 
A tale of mourning tells — 
Tells of man’s wo and fall, 
His sinless glory fled. 
Then turn thee, little bird and take thy flight, 
Where the complaining sea shall sadness bring 
Thy spirit never more. 
Come quit with me the shore, 
For gladness and the light, 
Where birds of summer sing. 
The two most stately species of all the feathered tribe 
which frequent our shores, are the Whooping Crane, and 
the Great Heron. The former haunts immense sandy 
flats, salt marshes, desolate swamps, and open morasses, in 
the neighbourhood of the sea. We have seen them repeat- 
edly on the sea-beach, stalking about in quest of the ma- 
rine worms upon which they feed, or standing perfectly 
motionless upon some black rock, watching patiently for 
their prey. The former is a most melancholy and unsocial 
creature, and resembles in its habits and life some mem- 
bers of the human family, who separate themselves from 
the companionship of their fellow-men, and consume their 
existence in solitude and seclusion, among the unfrequented 
hills. It is a very shy, and sharp-sighted bird, and the 
shooter is rarely allowed to approach it on the marsh, 
within musket range. I have, however, at the edge of a 
wet and misty evening, when the heavy shadows that fall 
around, allow but a narrow horizon, stumbled unexpectedly 
upon it, and killed it before it could take wing. It is a 
clumsy bird, and rises with difficulty, and trailing its long 
legs behind it, moves with a heavy and awkward flight. 
After describing a few very broad circles in the air, and 
reconnoitering the shores for many miles, it slowly alights 
again, at a great distance from its pursuer. It utters at the 
same time a clear and not unmusical cry, which may be 
heard for a mile or more over the solitary marsh. The 
Heron, though not uncommon with us, builds and breeds 
only in the gloomy solitudes of the vast cedar and cypress 
swamps of the South. Like the Crane, it stands like a 
motionless sentinel on the sea-shore, or at the edge of a 
pond or river, watchful for its prey, which it transfixes 
with its powerful bill, with the speed and accuracy of an 
arrow. It often follows up the course of creeks and rivers, 
rioting upon the multitudes of fish, frogs, reptiles, and 
insects, which swarm around their borders. This bird 
though very timid, and easily alarmed, is, when wounded, 
of a most obstinate and ferocious nature, and we would 
caution all youthful gunners against approaching too near 
at such times, for one blow of his spear-like bill, would 
be u excessively disagreeable.” A young sportsman once 
persuaded a little cur dog which followed him, to attack 
one of these birds which he had crippled, but Mr. Heron 
so pegged away at poor Tray, that the latter was happy to 
back out of the scrape with life. I once wounded and 
brought to the ground an immense crow, which was soar- 
ing over my head, and which a small cur animal who had 
persisted in tagging behind me the whole day, seized upon 
in an instant, but was glad to release again. Mr. Croaker 
upon being assaulted in this rude manner, coolly flung it- 
self upon its back, and fastening its long crooked claws in 
the neck of the dog, hammered away upon his head, till 
the animal was fairly bewildered. The beak of the bird had 
nearly gouged his eyes from his head. The moment the 
bird was released, he managed to raise himself from the 
ground, and make off. I had a fair race for him, (my gun 
having been discharged,) for a good half mile, without 
gaining or losing a foot of ground, till at length he reached a 
thick wood and escaped. I aimed several blows at him 
with the breach of my gun, during the chase, all of which 
he contrived to elude. 
Our own widely extended shore, indented with its broad 
bays, inlets and creeks, abounds with a thousand varieties 
of rare and beautiful water-fowl. Among these may be 
enumerated the black or surf duck, the blue-winged teal, 
the brant, occasionally the canvas-back duck, the golden- 
