NATURE'S CALENDAR 47 



nest in the top of some forest-tree about March 20 



the middle of the month, where frequent- 



ly the sitting bird is half smothered in 

 snow. 



By the 15th the earlier water-fowl are 

 passing northward and summer friends 

 begin to reappear. Sportsmen know that 

 as fast as the ice leaves the lakes and 

 rivers flocks of ducks and geese will 

 drop down from the sky upon them at 

 evening, and they go after them in the 

 chilly gray of these mornings, when wa- 

 ter-fowl feed preparatory to taking a far- 

 ther flight; and as the frost and fresh- 

 ets leave the lowlands other sportsmen 

 tramp thither in search of early snipe and 

 plovers. 



The characteristic birds of March, 

 however, are the blackbirds and spar- 

 rows, with here and there a robin, wren, 

 pewee, and the always welcome, ever love- 

 ly bluebird. " As with tinkling sounds 

 the sources of the streams burst forth 

 their icy fetters, so the rills of music be- 

 gin to flow and swell the general choir 

 of spring." The cheery cong-ker-eee of 

 the redwing come from swamp and river 

 bank on clear, warm mornings, when the 

 air is balmy with the breath of the south 

 wind and the smell of the new earth, and 

 a thousand still pools in the meadows 

 reflect the clear blue sky — mirrors that 

 the sun will soon dry away; and from 

 every thicket along the edges of the leaf- 

 less but budding woods comes the re- 



March 21 



