FAR AND NEAR 



and fifone on to Canada by that route. What aston* 

 ished me was that the duck should have kept its pre- 

 sence of mind under such tryin<^ circumstances, and 

 not have lost a fraction of a second of time in decid- 

 ing on a course of action. The duck, I am convinced, 

 has more sagacity than any other of our commoner 

 fowl. 



The day I see the first ducks I am pretty sure to 

 come upon the first flock of blackbirds, — ruk^ty 

 grackles, — resting awhile on their northward jour- 

 ney amid the reeds, alders, and spice-bush beside 

 the stream. They allow me to approach till I can see 

 their yellow eyes and the brilliant iris on the necks 

 and heads of the males. Many of them are vocal, and 

 their united voices make a volume of sound that is 

 analogous to a bundle of slivers. Sputtering, splinter- 

 ing, rasping, rending, their notes chafe and excite the 

 ear. They suggest thorns and briers of sound, and 

 yet are most welcome. What voice that rises from our 

 woods or beside our waters in April is not tempered 

 or attuned to the ear? Just as I Hke to chew the 

 crinkleroot and the twigs of the spice-bush at this 

 time, or at any time, for that matter, so I like to treat 

 my ear to these more aspirated and astringent biid 

 voices. Is it Thoreau who says they are like pepper 

 and salt to this sense ? In all the blackbirds we hear 

 the voice of April not yet quite articulate ; there is a 

 suggestion of catarrh and influenza still in the air- 

 passages. I should, perhaps, except the red-shoul- 



150 



