March 



sive marble pillars sustained a roof elaborate 

 with richest traceries. 



" How calm, how solemn, how sublime the scene ! " 



For the nonce it was veritably nature's tem- 

 ple. No wealth of vegetation could equal the 

 cold grandeur of the display which in a brief 

 hour melted away as silently as it came, but 

 left an impression as abiding as it was unique. 



My diary for March zd mentions the finding 

 of three robins in fine plumage, and at this sea- 

 son a little life and a little bright color go a 

 great way. A few days after comes the longer 

 record of chickadees, nuthatches, white-throats, 

 cardinals, a flicker, a downy woodpecker (its 

 crimson patch showing it to be the male), a 

 European goldfinch in song, and the crossbills. 



Spring the rosy promise of an unknown 

 year is clearly in the air ! The quiet of win- 

 ter's low-tide is at an end. One has no longer 

 to strengthen suspicion with imagination. The 

 song sparrow, that faithful harbinger, is pro- 

 claiming the vernal fact on every side in its 



77 



