NOTES BY THE WAY 



not yet nine o'clock." Then others, and still others, 

 were heard. How did they know it was going to 

 be a suitable day for them to put in an appearance ? 

 It seemed as if they must have been waiting some- 

 where close by for the first warm day, like actors 

 behind the scenes, the moment the curtain was 

 lifted, they were ready and rushed upon the stage. 

 The third warm day, and, behold, all the principal 

 performers come rushing in, song sparrows, cow 

 blackbirds, grackles, the meadowlark, cedar-birds, 

 the phcebe-bird, and, hark! what bird laughter 

 was that? the robins, hurrah! the robins! Not 

 two or three, but a score or two of them ; they 

 are following the river valley north, and they stop 

 in the trees from time to time, and give vent to 

 their gladness. It is like a summer picnic of school- 

 children suddenly let loose in a wood ; they sing, 

 shout, whistle, squeal, call, in the most blithesome 

 strains. The warm wave has brought the birds 

 upon its crest ; or some barrier has given way, the 

 levee of winter has broken, and spring comes like 

 an inundation. No doubt, the snow and the frost 

 will stop the crevasse again, but only for a brief 

 season. 



Between the 10th and the 15th of March, in the 

 Middle and Eastern States, we are pretty sure to 

 have one or more of these spring days. Bright 

 days, clear days, may have been plenty all winter ; 

 but the air was a desert, the sky transparent ice ; 

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