46 THE SPRING OF THE YEAR 



X 



You should get up by half past three o'clock (at 

 the earliest streak of dawn) and go out into the new 

 morning with the birds ! You will hardly recognize 

 the world as that in which your humdrum days 

 (there are no such days, really) are spent! All is 

 fresh, all is new, and the bird-chorus! "Is it possi- 

 ble," you will exclaim, " that this can be the earth?" 



Early morning and toward sunset are the best 

 times of the day for bird-study. But if there was 

 not a bird, there would be the sunrise and the sunset 

 the wonder of the waking, the peace of the clos- 

 ing, day. 



XI 



I am not going to tell you that you should make 

 a collection of beetles or butterflies (you should not 



make a collection of birds or birds' eggs) or of 

 pressed flowers or of minerals or of arrow-heads or 

 of anything. Because, while such a collection is 

 of great interest and of real value in teaching you 

 names and things, still there are better ways of study- 

 ing living nature. For instance, I had rather have 



