MARCH 



See two yellow-spotted tortoises in the ditch S. 

 of Trillium wood. You saunter expectant in the 

 mild air along the soft edge of a ditch filled in 

 with melted snow, and paved with leaves in some 

 sheltered place, yet perhaps with some ice at one 

 end still, and are thrilled to see stirring mid the 

 leaves at the bottom, sluggishly burying them- 

 selves from your sight again, these brilliantly spot- 

 ted creatures. There are commonly two, at least. 

 The tortoise is stirring in the ditches again. In 

 yourjlatest spring, they still look incredibly strange 

 when first seen, and not like cohabitants and con- 

 temporaries of yours. 



THOKEAU: Winter. 



8 



The birds in the stubble field proved to be tree- 

 sparrows. They were feeding on the seeds of 

 weeds found on patches of moist earth left bare by 

 the wasting snow. Each bird was saying some- 

 thing in a joyous recitative which he maintained 

 continuously, regardless of the rippling mirth of 

 his companions. I crept close to them and watched 

 them through the embrasures of an old stone wall. 

 Their chestnut caps, white wing-bars and long 

 slender tails make them easy birds to recognize. 

 As I rose they flew, nearly thirty strong, and van- 

 ished in the mist. 



BOLLES: Land of the Lingering Snow. 



