noon
But the Pelicans can always dance a little ; anywhere in their rookeries you might see them bowing and balancing . Watch , now , in the clear foreshore . '' True enough , on the bare , ripple-packed sand that glimmered like the inside of a shell , several of the great birds were making absurd dips and courtesies toward one another ; they spread their wings like flowing draperies and began to sway with movements of strange dignity . The high sun filmed with silver fog , and along the heated air there crept an eerie feel of noon . `` When half a dozen of them begin to circle together , '' said the Snowy Egret , `` turn round and look toward the wood . '' At the right moment the children turned , and between the gray and somber shadows of the cypress they saw her come . All in white she was -- white cloth of the middle bark of mulberries , soft as linen , with a cloak of oriole feathers black and yellow , edged with sables .