They were very stately,
handsome birds, clear gray in color, with a black collar on the neck,
and red beak and legs. My approach did not disturb them until I was
within twenty yards of the nearest--for they were scattered over an acre
of ground; then they rose with a loud, rustling noise of wings, only to
settle again at a short distance off.
Incredible numbers of birds, chiefly waterfowl, had appeared in the
neighborhood since the beginning of the wet, boisterous weather; the
river too was filled with these new visitors, and I was told that most
of them were passengers driven from distant northern regions, which they
made their summer home, and were now flying south in search of a warmer
climate.
All this movement in the feathered world had, during my troubled days,
brought me as little pleasure as the other changes going on about me:
those winged armies ever hurrying by in broken detachments, wailing and
clanging by day and by night in the clouds, white with their own terror,
or black-plumed like messengers of doom, to my distempered fancy only
added a fresh element of fear to a nature racked with disorders, and
full of tremendous signs and omens.
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