The sun is up, and ’tis a morn of May Round old Ravenna’s clear-shown towers and bay— A morn, the loveliest which the year has seen, Last of the Spring, yet fresh with all its green; For a warm eve, and gentle rains at night, Have left a sparkling welcome for the light; And there’s a crystal clearness all about; The leaves are sharp, the distant hills look out, A balmy briskness comes upon the breeze, The smoke goes dancing from the cottage trees; And when you listen you may hear a coil Of bubbling springs about the grassy soil; And all the scene, in short—sky, earth and sea, Breathes like a bright-eyed face that laughs out openly. Leigh Hunt. I know where the young May violet grows, In its lone and lowly nook, On the mossy bank where the larch tree throws Its broad dark boughs in solemn repose, Far over the silent brook. Bryant. * * * * * THE GAME OF THE MONTH. BY HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT, AUTHOR OF “FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS,” “FISH AND FISHING,” ETC. [Illustration: THE MALLARD. _Anas Boschas._ Green-head, Gray-duck. THE AMERICAN WIDGEON. _Anas Americana._ Bald-pate.] Both these beautiful ducks, perhaps, with the exception of the lovely Summer Duck, or Wood Duck, _Anas Sponsa_, the most beautiful of all the tribe, are along the seaboard of the Northern States somewhat rare of occurrence, being for the most part fresh water species, and when driven by stress of weather, and the freezing over of the inland lakes and rivers which they frequent, repairing to the estuaries and land-locked lagoons of the Southern coasts and rivers, as well as to the tepid pools and warm sources of Florida, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana, in all of which States they swarm during the summer months. On many of the inland streams and pools of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Far West in general, including all the bays, shallows and tributaries of the Great Lakes, as well as all the lovely smaller lakes of New York, especially where the wild-rice, or wild-oat, _zizania aquatica_, is plentiful, they are found in very great numbers, especially in the spring and summer time, nor are they unfrequently killed on the snipe-grounds of New Jersey, around Chatham, Pine-brook, and the Parcippany meadows on the beautiful Passaic, and on the yet more extensive grounds on the Seneca and Cayuga outlets, in the vicinity of Montezuma Salina, and the salt regions of New York.