Ill 



EARLY GLIMPSES 



Even so faithful and experienced a watcher as 

 Thoreau wrote : " No mortal is alert enough to The dawn 

 be awake at the first dawn of spring." However °* ****** 

 eagerly we look each morning for the bursting of 

 the earliest bud, or however zealously we listen 

 for the actual song of the first bird, our bird or 

 our flower, when it does come, is almost sure 

 either to have been antedated by another, or to 

 bear about it unmistakable evidence of having 

 been on the scene for some days. 



One of the first indications of the general 

 awakening is given by the fallen keys of the Maple- 

 maples. Before the last thin sheet of snow has eys 

 melted, you see the maple-keys, or rather half-keys, 

 for each pair is broken in two, standing erect, 

 with uplifted wing, the seed-case usually burrow- 

 ing its way into the earth before striking root. 

 The seeds of two of our best-known maples, the 

 red and the white, do not postpone their germina- 

 tion till the spring following their maturity, but 

 often begin this work as soon as the keys have 



