

"April's bird, 

 Blue-coated, flying before from tree to tree," 



is of course the bluebird ; but he came in early March, 

 or perhaps has been with us all winter. 



With Burroughs it is the robin, " brisk, vociferous, 

 musical ; dotting every field and larking it in every 

 grove. He is easily atop at this season, as the bobo- 

 link is a month later. The tints of April are ruddy 

 and brown the new furrow and the leafless trees 

 and these are the tints of its dominant bird." But 

 with me it is not the robin that is associated with the 

 ' brown furrows " and the early planting. It is his con- 

 gener, the mocking brown thrasher, with his " plough 

 it ! plough it ! hoe it ! hoe it !" and whose first counsel 

 is timed with those swelling dog-wood buds, whose full 

 bloom is the " corn sign " of the New England farmer, 

 and the accepted signal for the corn -planting. 



But we need not quarrel with the commentators as 

 to the one anointed April bird. Each has his pet pro- 

 tege, the child of fond association, for there is in truth 

 a whole troop of "April's birds " to choose from, though 

 the great bird choral has yet to come. Almost any 

 genial day now we may confidently listen for the 

 " cheerily, cheerily, cheer up ; cheerily, cheerily, cheer 



