XX 



REJUVENESCENCE 



SPRING is slow of coming to the moor of 

 Dinnet, but on ist April, 1916, it arrived 

 almost without warning alighting, like some great 

 beneficent bird, from a distance. We had gone to 

 sleep in what seemed like midwinter; it had been 

 the most inhospitable March for many a year; we 

 awoke to feel the West wind coming in at the 

 window, and the simple songs of yellow-hammers 

 and titmice, and a new smell from the fir trees; 

 and we knew that the winter was over and gone. 

 Lochnagar is deep in snow, and all the little hills 

 around are black and white, but the snow-wreaths 

 could be seen shriveling, and there is over six 

 feet in the river where there are usually but three. 

 To a stranger from the South the spring atmosphere 

 of the day would seem admirable, but he would 

 miss the note of vital exuberance. It has come 

 too quickly for that. There are some birds black- 

 headed gulls, oyster-catchers, wagtails, for instance, 

 at the flirtation stage; the rooks, lapwings, and 

 larks have got past it; but there is not yet any hint 

 of the great orchestra which will arrive by and by. 

 We saw on our walk one lamb, one tortoiseshell 

 butterfly, one hairy caterpillar, and less parsi- 



150 



