166 SIGNS AND SEASONS 



bees will bring pollen to the hive. Where do they 

 get it 1 



I have seen them gathering it on the fresh saw- 

 dust in the woodyard, especially on that of hickory 

 or maple. They wallow amid the dust, working 

 it over and over, and searching it like diamond- 

 hunters, and after a time their baskets are filled 

 with the precious flour, which is probably only a 

 certain part of the wood, doubtless the soft, nutri- 

 tious inner bark. 



In fact, all signs and phases of life in the early 

 season are very capricious, and are earlier or later 

 just as some local or exceptional circumstance favors 

 or hinders. It is only such birds as arrive after 

 about the 20th of April that are at all " punctual " 

 according to the almanac. I have never known the 

 arrival of the barn swallow to vary much from that 

 date in this latitude, no matter how early or late 

 the season might be. Another punctual bird is the 

 yellow red-poll warbler, the first of his class that 

 appears. Year after year, between the 20th and 

 the 2oth, I am sure to see this little bird about my 

 place for a day or two only, now on the ground, 

 now on the fences, now on the small trees and 

 shrubs, and closely examining the buds or just- 

 opening leaves of the apple-trees. He is a small 

 olive-colored bird, with a dark-red or maroon- col- 

 ored patch on the top of his head. His ordinary 

 note is a smart "chirp." His movements are very 

 characteristic, especially that vertical, oscillating 

 movement of the hind part of his body, like that of 



