WOOD DUCKS AND BLOODROOT. 123 



songs known to New England woods. It is 

 very kind of it to sing here when its breeding 

 ground may be two or three hundred miles 

 north of us. 



The Fresh Pond trees and fields were alive 

 with birds. Two pairs of flickers were " flick- 

 ering ; " robins ran on the ground, shouted in 

 the apple-trees, chased each other through the 

 air; meadow starlings, redwings, and purple 

 grackles could be heard and seen in all 

 parts of the Tudor place. White - bellied 

 swallows danced across the sky, and the harsh 

 rattle of the kingfisher marked the flight of that 

 vigorous bird over the waters of the pond. The 

 dry note of the chipping sparrow was incessant 

 and wearisome, but when the sparrow hawks left 

 their favorite corner and flew with their match- 

 less grace through the grove and across the field, 

 chipping sparrows were forgotten. 



I reached Waverley Oaks as the village clock 

 struck seven. In the meadow between Beaver 

 Brook and the railway embankment quantities of 

 watercress were growing, horsetails stood four 

 inches high, and a jolly dandelion turned its 

 round face to the sun. Horsechestnut leaves 

 were open on the 19th, and here in the meadow 

 the ferns were setting free their coils, and leaves 

 on many of the early shrubs were open. Was the 

 bloodroot in bloom? that was the question of 



