WILD PASTURES 



cow-bells shaken afar off by drowsy cattle. 

 No, the wood thrush is not a reliable 

 witness, but if you are wise in the ways 

 of field and pasture before dawn, you 

 may take evidence from the chipping 

 sparrow. He is the earliest as he is 

 one of the smallest of the morn-waking 

 birds. In his case the least shall be 

 first. I do not know if he really sees 

 the dawn or if he smells it. There is a 

 change in the air before there is in the 

 sky, and perhaps he notes it. Perhaps, 

 too, being smaller, he needs less sleep 

 than the other birds, and his gentle in- 

 quiring note is a plaint that the night 

 is long rather than a prophecy that it 

 is ending. But it is he that first pre- 

 dicts with certainty the coming day, and 

 it will be many minutes after his first 

 call before the growing luminosity, a 

 sort of pale halo that looms slowly 



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