APRIL BIRDS 



( HE advent of ,^jf 



true April days 



is not to be welcomed by the almanac 

 the season when the sod gives forth 

 its tinctured incense, when the "April 

 showers " bring odorous responses from 

 roots and quickening seeds; when the rocks 

 and bark of trees and even the decaying 

 leaves have a breath and a perfume. " It 

 begins," says Burroughs, " when the par- 

 tridge drums ; when the hyla peeps ; when 

 the shad start up the rivers, and the grass greens in the 

 spring runs; and it ends when the leaves are unfolding 

 and the last snow-flake dissolves in mid-air." 



The dandelion has been accepted as the first floral 

 "pledge of blithesome May." What is the true feather- 

 ed pledge of April ? Authorities differ. With Emerson, 



