THE SPRING PEEPERS 



March i]th 



LMOST any bright, genial day now 

 we may listen for the first note of 

 the spring peepers, the tiny piping frogs 

 that wet their whistles in the lowlands, 

 and whose shrill chorus at the water's 

 edge will soon usher in the April twilights, 

 and keep the stars dancing on the palpitating 

 ripples until the dawn. What would our New England 

 spring be without this faithful music from the bog? 

 How many of our sweet-voiced vernal birds, the favor- 

 ite theme of so many of our poets, might not listen 

 with profit at the swelling throat of the little Hylodes, 

 whose pure strains have voiced the advent of spring 

 without the tribute of a sonnet, or even an appreci- 

 ative quatrain- a voice in the wilderness, so far as 

 any worthy recognition in poetic literature can show ! 

 Truly has Burroughs said that in Europe, where this 

 swamp music is unknown, such a chorus as that which 

 goes up from our ponds and marshes would certainly 

 have made an impression on the literature. 



There are a number of these sprightly piping frogs 



