NATURE LEAVES 



The ruby-crowned kinglet was piping in an ever- 

 green tree not far away, but him I had been hearing 

 for several days. With me the kinglets come before 

 the first warblers, and may be known to the attentive 

 eye by their quick, nervous movements, and small, 

 oiive-gray forms, and to the discerning ear by their 

 hurried, musical, piping strains. How soft, how 

 rapid, how joyous and lyrical their songs are! Very 

 few country people, I imagine, either see them or 

 hear them. The powers of observation of country 

 people are seldom fine enough and trained enough. 

 They see and hear coarsely. An object must be big 

 and a sound loud, to attract their attention. Have 

 you seen and heard the kinglet? If not, the finer in- 

 ner world of nature is a sealed book to you. When 

 your senses take in the kinglet they will take in a 

 thousand other objects that now escape you. 



My first warbler in the spring is usually the yel- 

 low redpoll, which I see in April. It is not a bird of 

 the trees and woods, but of low bushes in the open, 

 often alighting upon the ground in quest of food. 

 I sometimes see it on the lawn. The last one I saw 

 was one April day, when I went over to the creek to 

 see if the suckers were yet running up. The bird 

 was flitting amid the low bushes, now and then 

 dropping down to the gravelly bank of the stream. 

 Its chestnut crown and yellow under parts were 

 noticeable. 



The past season I saw for the first time the golden- 



