MARCH 



15 



And yonder bluebird with the earth tinge on his 

 breast and the sky tinge on his back, did he come 

 down out of heaven on that bright March morn- 

 ing when he told us so softly and plaintively that, 

 if we pleased, spring had come ? Indeed, there is 

 nothing in the return of the birds more curious and 

 suggestive than in the first appearance, or rumors 

 of the appearance, of this little blue-coat. The 

 bird at first seems a mere wandering voice in the 

 air : one hears its call or carol on some bright 

 March morning, but is uncertain of its source or 

 direction. 



BURROUGHS: Wake-Robin. 



16 



At Hubbard's wall how handsome the willow 

 catkins 1 Those wonderfully bright silvery but- 

 tons so regularly disposed in oval schools in the 

 air, or, if you please, along the seams which the 

 twigs make, in all degrees of forwardness, from 

 the faintest, tiniest speck of silver just peeping 

 from beneath the black scales to lusty pussies 

 which have thrown off their scaly coats, and show 

 some redness at base or on close inspection. These 

 fixed swarms of arctic buds spot the air very pret- 

 tily along the hedges. They remind me somewhat 

 by their brilliancy of the snowflakes, which are so 

 bright by contrast at this season when the sun is 



high. 



THOBEAU: Early Spring in Massachusetts. 



