356 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
““WueEN the Chickadee, who has persistently told us his 
name all winter, and has assured us also in the darkest 
weather that it was ‘day-day-day,’ changes his call for 
the flute-like spring song of ‘ Phewe-Phe-wee,’ clear as the 
wind blowing through a reed, we know that at last the 
springtide has really turned. Chickadee occasionally 
gives this note in autumn as if in anticipation, but it is 
really a love-song of tender accent. 
*‘ Another spring sign comes to us in April, a sign to be 
seen. It comes out of a clear sky and has all the mystery 
about it that still shrouds the bird migrations. Spring and 
fall I see it, but it always fills me with awe. This morning 
I stood out in the open meadow below the orchard, looking 
at the sky to see if the clouds were going to break away, 
or if it was to be a day of April showers. To the southwest 
a curious fine black bar appeared high up against the 
clouds. Quickly it drew nearer, and I saw what seemed 
to be a great letter that moved rapidly and yet kept 
its shape printed on the sky, —a letter V coming toward me, 
point on. In another minute the line proved to be made 
of separate marks, then each mark developed a long neck 
and rapidly moving wings.” 
Tommy Todd could stand it no longer; without giving 
the usual school “hand up” warning he cried out, “The 
V was Wild Geese, with the wise old gander that leads 
them for the point, and maybe if he wanted them to shift 
and change their way, he gave a big honk, honk, like the 
automobiles when they turn the sharp corner at the foot 
of our hill. 
““We saw Wild Geese yesterday, grandpa and I; they 
were flying so low over the mill-pond that grandpa said 
