turnstone.
From col. F. M. Woodruff. Copyrighted by
Nature Study Pub. Co., 1897, Chicago.
BIRDS OF PASSAGE.
Black shadows fall
From the lindens tall,
That lift aloft their massive wall
Against the southern sky;
And from the realms
Of the shadowy elms,
A tide-like darkness overwhelms
The fields that round us lie.
But the night is fair
And everywhere
A warm, soft vapor fills the air
And distant sounds seem near;
And above, in the light
Of the star-lit night,
Swift birds of passage wing their flight
Through the dewy atmosphere.
I hear the beat
Of their pinions fleet,
As from the land of snow and sleet
They seek a southern lea.
I hear the cry
Of their voices high
Falling dreamily through the sky,
But their forms I cannot see.
—Longfellow.