The Poetic Interpretation of Nature 
39 
By A. Kadclytie Dugmore. 
BLUEFISH. 
only sentimental superficialism. It contributes to looseness of thought and 
vagueness of speech. But an apt figure of speech or a parable will often 
convey a lesson when desiccated literalism will not. 
I like Bryant’s lyric because it catches so much of the life of the bobo- 
link. A scientific description could tell the story better, but only ornitholo- 
gists read scientific descriptions. Yet I have always wished that the poet 
had told the whole story. The poem tells us of the life of the bobolink ; 
but after the breeding season is past, the birds gather in flocks in the rice- 
fields of the South and are then known as rice-birds. In great numbers they 
are slaughtered for the market, and thereby the bobolink does not become 
an abundant species in the North. May we not add : 
by A. Radclvflc Dugmore. 
WHITE OR COMMON GRUNT. 
