So did the blackbirds and the redwings.

That embankment was left especially to shade the water, and to feed the birds.

Every foot of it was covered with alders, wild cherry, hazelbush, mulberries, everything having a berry or nut.

There were several scrub apple trees, many red haws, the wild strawberries spread in big beds in places, and some of them were colouring.
Wild flowers grew everywhere, great beds were blue with calamus, and the birds flocked in companies to drive away the water blacksnakes that often found nests, and liked eggs and bird babies.

When I came to the road at last, the sun was around so the big oak on the top of the hill threw its shadow across the bridge, and I lay along one edge and watched the creek bottom, or else I sat up so the water flowed over my feet, and looked at the embankment and the sky.