Upon the verge of winter, southward, and in early spring, northward, flocks of wild geese, slowly beating their wings and making a great din, pass over our Cape. In most instances they are high in air. Sometimes, however, they are so weary and borne down with weight of ice and snow on their wings, as to seek shelter and rest in Squam River or Cape Pond. Once a flock of wild geese, thus tired and heavily burdened, having dropped at night into this latter water, by morning were held fast by the rapidly forming ice, and so were easily captured by some sportsmen who had witnessed their descent.

"The migration of birds," one says with becoming reverence and modesty, . . . "I know not how to give an account of it, it is so strange and admirable." Who else of all the thousands of thinking men could speak of this thing so hidden in mystery more wisely? William Cullen Bryant's lines "To a Water-fowl" reveal how much nearer the poet gets toward it than any one depending solely on the guidance of what is called positive science :

"Whither, midst falling dew,

While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far through their rosy depths dost thou pursue

Thy solitary way?

Vainly the fowler's eye

Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,

Thy figure floats along.

All day thy wings have fanned,
At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,
Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,
Though the dark night is near.

And soon that toil shall end;

Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,
And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,
Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest.

Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven

Hath swallowed up thy form; yet on my heart
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
And shall not soon depart.

He who, from zone to zone,

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone,

Will lead my steps aright."

This discursive talk of the birds of our Cape should be followed by a list of birds, and a list of birds' eggs, kindly furnished by Mr. G. P. Whitman, of Rockport. In intervals of relief from business, this gentleman attains the highest and happiest end of diversion. His collection is the result of but two years' occasional searching, and

is numbered according to the list of the Smithsonian Institution:

LIST OF BIRDS FOUND ON CAPE ANN AND SURROUNDING WATERS.

Glaucous Gull.

Great Black-backed Gull.

Laughing Gull.
Pomarine Skua.

Arctic Skua.

LIST OF BIRDS' EGGS FOUND ON CAPE ANN AND NEIGH

Cooper's Hawk.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

Black-billed Cuckoo.

BORING ISLANDS.

Golden-winged Woodpecker.

Chimney Swallow.
King-bird.

Pewee.

Least Flycatcher.

Wilson's Thrush.
Maryland Yellow-throat.
Golden-winged Warbler.

Redstart.

Barn Swallow.
Cedar-bird.

Cat-bird.

Brown Thrush.

Purple Finch.

Field Sparrow.

Indigo-bird.

Bobolink.

Cow-bird.

Orchard Oriole.
Baltimore Oriole.
Crow Blackbird.
Common Crow.
Blue Jay.
Quail.

Night Heron.

Semi-palmated Plover.
Piping Plover.
Least Sandpiper.

Least Tern.

Arctic Tern.

Roseate Tern.

In remarks, Mr. Whitman says: "Dr. Samuels speaks of the turnstone as seldom seen in number more than two or three. But Mr. H. W. Woods and myself have seen flocks of twenty-five and thirty on Milk Island and elsewhere. They are very common here in the spring and in the fall." Referring to the list of eggs: "This is my list of eggs found on Cape Ann. There are many birds, beside, accustomed to breeding here. I have in my collection of eggs, obtained both here and elsewhere, one hundred and thirty-two kinds."