VI PREFACE. 



I cannot answer with much confidence the poet's 

 inquiry, 



" Hast thou named all the birds without a gun ? " 



but I have done what I could to bring home the 

 u earth and the sky " with the sparrow I heard " sing- 

 ing at dawn on the alder bough." In other words, 

 I have tried to present a live bird, a bird in the 

 woods or the fields, with the atmosphere and asso- 

 ciations of the place, and not merely a stuffed and 

 labeled specimen. 



A more specific title for the volume would have 

 suited me better, but not being able to satisfy myself 

 in this direction, I cast about for a word thoroughly 

 in the atmosphere and spirit of the book, which I 

 hope I have found in " Wake-Robin " the common 

 name of the white Trillium, which blooms in all our 

 woods, and which marks the arrival of all the birds. 



