Note 85 — Chapter VII · THE BIRDS OF VIRGIL.

Ere yet the lowering storm breaks o’er the land A sullen groundswell heaves along the strand, On mountain heights dry snapping sounds are heard, The booming shores bedrizzled are and blurred, And soughs of wind sigh through the forest stirred. The wave already scarce foregoes the hull When homeward from the offing flies the gull, With screams borne inland by the blast; and when Sea-coots play round the margin of the fen; The heron quits the marsh where she was bred And soars upon a cloud far overhead.