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PREFACE 



IN labeling scientific specimens, the first and 

 most important item is " locality ; " and if this lit- 

 tle book would make any pretentions to scientific 

 methods, it must follow the rule. The first thing 

 to be said, then, about these notes of Nature's is 

 that they were made in the neighborhood of Bos- 

 '/ ton. But they are not local in any exclusive sense, 

 and so I think they will interest observers in all 

 parts of the Northeastern States and even outside 

 of that region. 



I have tried to have each selection fit its day as 

 exactly as possible, avoiding at the same time all 

 generalities ; and I feel quite sure that the reader 

 will find no glaring incongruities or anachronisms 

 (if I may so use the word), though it is more than 

 likely that the exact average is not always hit 

 upon. Every selection has passed a rigid exam- 

 ination upon two points, scientific accuracy and 

 poetic value, so that neither requirement has 

 been sacrificed to the other. 



On the right-hand pages appears a calendar of 

 the arrival of birds and the first blooming of flow- 



