MARCH 6 1 



different from the blue of any other season. At its first 

 notes the earliest primroses awaken ; and it salutes the earliest 

 of verdure found in the leaflets that adorn the lithe twigs 

 of the woodbine. Its song is full of promise : it tells of 

 emerald woods again, and the warm sunshine. Richard 

 Jefferies has in one of his many Nature-papers, " Hours of 

 Spring," a passage very beautifully describing this time of 

 year : " It is sweet on waking in the early morn to listen 

 to the small bird singing in the tree. No sound of voice 

 or flute is like to the bird's song ; there is something in it 

 distinct and separate from all other notes. The bird upon 

 the tree utters the meaning of the wind a voice of the 

 grass and the wildflower, words of the green leaf ; they speak 

 through that slender tone. Sweetness of dew and rifts of 

 sunshine, the dark hawthorn touched with breadths of open 

 bud, the odour of the air, the colour of the daffodil all 

 that is beloved of Springtime are expressed in his song." 

 " ' New life, new love, new leafage,' " it is stated in " Outside 

 the Garden, "the throstle sings in the Spanish chestnut as 

 the sun sets ; and the lark wakes with the dawn, the Spring- 

 time bubbling in his throat." 



