THROUGH MY SPECTACLES XI 



the hills. There is yet plenty of work for sharp eyes to 

 do, many a "common thing" whose secret is yet undis- 

 covered, and few " known " things that are not still a 

 constant rebuke to our self-satisfaction. The first mead- 

 ow you meet is a great " undiscovered country;" learned, 

 as we thought, in its length and breadth yesterday, it is 

 still undiscovered to-day. The life history of many of 

 our common plants, birds, insects, and mammals yet re- 

 mains to be truly written. The keen, alert eye of boy- 

 hood often has opportunities and leisure for discovery 

 denied to his elder, burdened fellow-beings, and evi- 

 dences are not wanting to prove that even 



" A raw recruit, 

 Perchance, may shoot 

 Great Buonaparte." 



The facts in the following pages are almost entirely 

 drawn from individual experience, largely gathered in 

 boyhood, the apparently random selection being based 

 upon a desire for the greatest variety possible within a 

 limited range of the minor flora and fauna. The dates 

 are apportioned from careful notes, verified through a 

 record of many years. In most cases they are not arbi- 

 trary, being fixed at the mean period for each subject. 

 The calendar is based upon the latitude of Connecticut, 

 and while the dates given will, in most cases, be authen- 

 tic for a district, covering the whole of New England 

 and the Middle States, some adjustments will be nec- 

 essary for Southern readers, there being at least three 

 weeks' variance in the floral, and inferentially in the 

 whole natural calendar, between the latitudes of Maine 

 and Florida. 



Apology for the conspicuous preferment of my drag- 

 on-fly as an emblem for cover and title-page will certainly 

 be unnecessary to those who are familiar with this gro- 

 tesque of the insect world. The natural symbol of om- 



