18 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



the latter are familiar greetings given the rambler in 

 open woods in early March. These birds are soon 

 followed by the handsome but little-known fox spar- 

 row, Passerdla iliaca (Merr.), whose rich strains, 

 heard from the underbrush along the streams, form 

 the first real song of spring. 



Some years winter lingers unusually long in the Jap 

 of spring, and two-thirds of March may come and go 

 and but few of the harbingers above mentioned be 

 seen. But that day of great awakening, which in the 

 temperate zone comes each year to all animate things, 

 in time arrives. We should expect it, should rejoice 

 to see it, should give it hearty greeting. In the words 

 of Thoreau : " Measure your health by your sym- 

 pathy with morning and. spring. If there is no re- 

 sponse in you to the awakening of nature; if the 

 prospect of an early morning walk does riot banish 

 sleep; if the warble of the first bluebird does not 

 thrill you, know that the morning and spring of your 

 life are past. Thus may you feel your pulse." 



