92 STUDIES IN THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



by-ways. In the woods, the white starlike flowers of 

 the goldthread are glittering among the evergreen 

 leaves that have just escaped from their long burial in 

 the snows ; and in the fertile meadows, the bloodroot, 

 worthy of a better name, sends up its delicate clusters 

 of white flowers, under the protection of the leafless 

 trees and shrubbery. 



The student of nature, during the present month, 

 must carefully observe the weather-signs, before he ven 

 tures far from the shelter of a roof, especially when the 

 south wind is blowing. The most tempting weather, 

 on account of impending showers, is the most danger 

 ous. When the gales are breathing gently from the 

 south, laden with the spicy odors of the more forward 

 vegetation of southern groves and orchards, we are 

 tempted, by the balmy sweetness and grateful warmth 

 of the atmosphere, to take no note of distance in our 

 excursions. We forget' every thing in the world but 

 the sensations derived from the odors, the soft breezes, 

 and the wood-notes, all mingled together in a sort of 

 delirious confusion ; and we become too deeply intoxi 

 cated with pleasure, to think upon the lapse of minutes 

 and hours, or of the dull business that may call us home 

 ward. In the mean time, the clouds imperceptibly 

 thicken overhead, and while one is still a mile from any 

 shelter, save that of the pine wood, that can avail one 

 only during a momentary shower, the rain begins to 

 pour down with violence, and awakens him from his 

 pleasing re very, to a realizing sense of discomfort and 

 solitude, I have frequently been thus overtaken in my 

 rambling excursions, and when completely drenched 

 with rain, after a delightful tour, I have thought I could 

 realize the misery, which the man of pleasure must 

 experience, when suddenly reduced from a condition of 



