j v PREFACE. 



could carry with me in my eye and ear, wherever 1 

 went. 



I cannot answer with much confidence the poet's 

 inquiry. 



•' Have you named all the birds without the gun?" 



but 1 have done what I could to bring home the 

 "earth and the sky" with the sparrow I heard "sing- 

 ing at dawn on the alder bough." In other words, 

 I have tried to present a live bird, — a bird in the 

 woods or the fields, — with the atmosphere and associa- 

 tions of the place, and not merely a stuffed and labeled 

 specimen. 



A more specific title for the volume would have 

 suited me better, but not being able to satisfy myself in 

 this direction, I cast about for a word thoroughly in the 

 atmosphere and spirit of the book, which I hope I have 

 found in " Wake-Robin" — the common name of the 

 white Trillium, which blooms in all our woods, and 

 which marks the arrival of all the birds. 



