. Literary pilgrimages of a naturalist. them or whether heis the embodiment of one that does not need to beset going by a word but has volition of its kingfishers voice hardly seems to belong atWalden, it is so harsh and unlovely. Even in thisvery school of sweet echoes it has learned neithermodulation nor singing quality. Far different isthe gentle peet-weet of the sandpipers which pre-cede you along shore in scalloped flight. Somethingof the bright sweetness of the hedge hyssop strollsalong the moist stones of the margin with them,as if the two became yearly more and more re-lated. E
. Literary pilgrimages of a naturalist. them or whether heis the embodiment of one that does not need to beset going by a word but has volition of its kingfishers voice hardly seems to belong atWalden, it is so harsh and unlovely. Even in thisvery school of sweet echoes it has learned neithermodulation nor singing quality. Far different isthe gentle peet-weet of the sandpipers which pre-cede you along shore in scalloped flight. Somethingof the bright sweetness of the hedge hyssop strollsalong the moist stones of the margin with them,as if the two became yearly more and more re-lated. Each fall I think the olive-fuscous backsof these little birds get just a little more of agolden tinge from this continual neighboring withthe equally gentle, friendly Gratiola aurea. If inreturn some fine summer the hedge hyssop shouldblossom into twittering song no one need be ter-ribly surprised. In contrast to the fearless rattle of the king-fisher as he echoed from shore to shore and tothe twittering, friendly sandpipers who ran so. c 73 THOREAUS WALDEN 71 fearlessly along the margin, was the single littlegreen heron that has made the pond his abidingplace for a while. There is but one, nor are thereany signs that herons have nested about the pondthis year, so I fancy this bird is a bachelor visitorseeking to reduce living to its lowest terms andfinding on the Walden shore the simplicity andseclusion that is the spirit of the place. He is astaciturn and patient as any hermit could his country seat on one shore is invaded hesimply flies silently to another and there resumesthat inward contemplation which is as character-istic of the bird as the rattling, vibrating flight isof the kingfisher. The little green heron was arecluse of the pond shore long before the firstpioneer planted his cabin in Concord. His kinstill cling to the place which is as lovely and lonelynow as it was then. At nightfall deep peace settles upon the littlepond. The shores that were so distant t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booki, booksubjectnaturalhistory
