674 
A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS 
WILD GEESE 
A far, strange sound through the night, 
A dauntless and resolute cry, 
Clear in the tempest’s despite, 
Ringing so wild and so high. 
Darkness and tumult and dread, 
Rain and the battling of gales, 
Yet cleaving the storm overhead, 
The wedge of the Wild Geese sails. 
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Pushing their perilous way, 
Buffeted, beaten, and vexed; 
Steadfast by night and by day, 
Weary, but never perplexed; 
Sure that the land of their hope 
Waits beyond tempest and dread, 
Sure that the dark where they grope 
Shall glow with the morning red! 
O birds in the wild, wild sky! 
Would I could so follow God’s way 
Through darkness, unquestioning why, 
With only one thought to obey ! 
— Celia Tlx ax ter 
American Herring Gull: Larus argentatus smithsonianus. R. 
Winter Gull 
Length: 24-25 inches. 
Male and Female: Winter dress: above pure light gray, head and neck 
streaked with dusky, under parts and tail white, the latter having 
an imperfect dusky bar; wing coverts mottled with gray. Bill 
yellow. 
Season: Common winter resident, coming in late August and remain- 
ing until March. 
Breeds: From the Great Lakes and Maine northward. 
Nest: Hollow in the ground lined with a little grass or a few sea- 
weeds. 
Eggs: 2-3, ground color dirty white, tinted with pale blue or green 
deepening to brown, with numerous brown and black spots and 
markings. 
The common Gull, both of coast and interior, seen in great 
flocks about the beaches, and on the flats and sand bars at low 
water. From middle autumn until the birds in general are re- 
turning in the spring, these Gulls enliven the solitude of the 
shore with their chatter, and their shrill, high-keyed voices can 
be heard above the waves and storm. 
