82 The Coming of the Birds 



gray, the earth brown, and the wind out of 

 the north, let a thrush sing, a kinglet lisp, 

 a crested tit whistle, and a tree-sparrow chirp 

 among the swelling leaf-buds, and you have 

 seen and heard that which is not only a de- 

 light in itself, but the more pleasing that it 

 is the prelude announcing the general coming 

 of the birds. 



