a. 
     
    
   
   
    
     fly day and night. They were the first to arrive; they heralded the 
     
     spring; they seemed to know whether the spring‘would be early or late 
     
     and timed their coming according to their wonderful instinct. They 
     
     flew over our house in great V-shaped flocks; with a leader, or pilot, 
     
     at the point of the V. They kept calling in a honking melodious 
     
     chorus as if announcing Hong Kong. They went farther north to nest 
     
     and came back in the fall in increased numbers. They are beautiful 
     
     birds and choice game for the table. 
     
    
   
   
    
     WILD GEESE 
     
    
   
   
    
     "How often against the sunset sky or moon 
     
     I watched that moving zig-zag of spread wings 
     
     In unforgotten autumns gone too soon, 
     
     In unforgotten springs! 
     
    
   
   
    
     Creatures of desolation far they fly 
     
     Above all lands bound by the curling foam 
     
     In misty fens, wild moors and trackless sky 
     
     These wild things have their‘home. 
     
    
   
   
    
     They know the tundra of Siberian coasts, 
     
    

    
     And tropic marshes by the Indian seas; 
     
    

    
     They know the clouds and night and starry hosts 
     
     From Crux to Pleiades. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Dark-flying rune against the western glow— 
     
     It tells the sweep and loneliness of things, 
     
     Symbol of autumns vanished long ago, 
     
     Symbol of coming springs.” 
     
     from Paul Ta-Shun. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The bay-breasted warbler was very beautiful. The white-throat 
     
     sparrow was also a sweet singer. One of our Canadian poets, Rev. Dr. 
     
     T. H. Rand, fancied the words of the song were, 
     
    
   
   
    
     “I love dear Canada, Canada, Canada.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     The first three notes were drawn out in slow, and the three last 
     
    
   
   
    
     36