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THE Gl'IDE TO NATURE 



All communications for this department 

 should be sent to the Department Editor, 

 Mr. Harry G. Higbee, 13 Austin Street, 

 Hyde Park, Massachusetts. Items, articles 

 and photographs in this department not 

 otherwise credited are by the Department 

 Editor 



The Return of the Birds. 



When the pussy-willows are bursting' 

 from their winter shells and creeping' 

 softly out along- the streams ; when the 

 growing- alder catkins are keeping" pace 

 with the leng-thening days, and the jNIarch 

 sun smiling" upon the brown meadows 

 seems t(i draw forth the tiny shoots of 

 green ; when the spiral leaves of the un- 

 folding skunks' cabbage dot the marsh, 

 and the blossoming swamp maples cast 

 a rosy tint over the hillsides : then it is 



that we eagerly look for the coming of 

 tlie spring birds. 



It may be the cbeery call of a phoebe 

 along the river ; a song sparrow mount- 

 ing a low shrub in the meadow and pour- 

 ing out its liquid melody, or the soft, 

 plaintive call of a bluebird as it drops 

 down from the sky and settles upon the 

 old apple tree; — any one of these it may 

 be which first brings to our minds the 

 fact that spring is here ; that a great and 

 wonderful change is going on in every 

 tree and shrub and plant, and that every 

 living thing- is awakening to the touch of 

 that power which stirs its 'innermost 

 being. 



The great mass of our songsters will 

 not arrive before late April or May, when 

 the weather becomes settled and insect 



■WHEN THE PUSSY-WH^LOWS ARE RURSTING FROM THEIR WTNTER SHELLS." 



