What truth is here, oh, man! 
Hath hope been smitten in its early dawn! 
Have clouds o’ercast their purposes and plans! 
In two instances the early spring robin has 
been reported as seen in this vicinity. The time 
was a little early for the return of these migrant 
birds. It frequently occurs with robins and blue- 
birds that individual birds, loath to move on 
south with the main body of their companions, 
have sought and found a sheltered nook where 
they could spend the winter north. In 1912 a 
flock of robins found such shelter in Holmes’ 
woods just west of the Pine Hills boulevard. 
Last winter, 1913, a half dozen bluebirds win- 
tered in the vicinity south of Oak Ridge, making 
frequent visits to Pine Hills. It is not always 
the weather that forces our birds to go south 
when winter approaches. It is quite as likely to 
be the hold up at that season of the year in 
nature’s commissary department, leaving it a 
question of food supply. Under the snow every- 
where present, about which we _ thoughtlessly 
fret lies buried a world of plant life all uncon- 
scious of our unrest. There in tranquil solitude 
they wait as we wait for the blithesome season 
when nature shall summon them to their places 
in woodland and field, about our homes and 
along our streets. 
Already we have had assurances of the coming 
of spring in the ever-early pussy willow, whose 
soft woolly tips were in evidence near Manning 
boulevard the first of February, previous to the 
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