APRIL 



5 



Now when the leaves get to be dry and rustle 

 under your feet, the peculiar dry note, wurrk wurrk 

 wur r r k wurk, of the wood-frog is heard faintly 

 by ears on the alert, borne up from some unseen 

 pool in a woodland hollow which is open to the 

 influences of the sun. It is a singular sound for 

 awakening nature to make, associated with the first 

 warmer days when you sit in some sheltered place 

 in the woods amid the dried leaves. 



THOKEAU : Early Spring in Massachusetts. 



6 



First notice the ring of the toad as I am cross- 

 ing the common in front of the meeting-house. 

 There is a cool and breezy south wind, and the 

 ring of the first toad leaks into the general stream 

 of sound unnoticed by most, as the mill brook 

 empties into the river, and the voyager cannot tell 

 if he is above or below its mouth. ... It is a 

 sound from amid the waves of the aerial sea, that 

 breaks on our ears with the surf of the air, a 

 sound that is almost breathed with the wind, taken 

 into the lungs instead of being heard by the ears. 

 It comes from far over and through the troughs of 

 the aerial sea, like a petrel ; and who can guess by 

 what pool the singer sits ? 



THORKAU : May Days 



