THROUGH THE WOODS. 89 



What, for instance, can be more enticing than 

 a ramble through the woodlands in early spring ? 

 Truly, the woods are then a waking world, made 

 gladsome by the songs of wild birds from the trees, 

 and spangled with the' earliest blooms in Flora's 

 train. The vernal buds are bursting their brown 

 sheaths in the warm sunshine ; the fronds of the 

 giant ferns are quietly forcing their way to the 

 light through the mantle of crumpled leaves which 

 has sheltered them through the cheerless winter ; 

 the aroma from the gums upon the buds is sweeter 

 far than perfumes of Eastern spices to the nostrils. 

 Within the precincts of the woods some of the 

 earliest migratory birds make their appearance, 

 bearing spring upon their tiny wings from the far 

 and sunny South. 



Prominent among these springtide strangers 

 that appear in the woods with April's advent is the 

 WILLOW WREN (Phylloscopus trochilus). It may widely 



l .1 JU' i .l_*L i .T distributed. 



be easily recognised by its bright olive-green 

 dress, its graceful form, and almost Tit-like activity. 

 No language of mine can ever express my amaze- 

 ment arid my feelings of joyful wonder upon seeing 

 one of these little birds just after its arrival in our 

 English woods. With the dawn of morning the tiny 

 creature is there how it has come, what exact 

 course it has followed, whether it has had a safe and 

 an easy flight from Africa, or an adventurous and a 

 difficult one, we know not. But there is the delicate 

 little feathered mite before us, hopping silently 

 about the still leafless hazel-bushes, as if yet far 

 from feeling at home in its new quarters. Here, 

 in chilly, leafless England, all is so different from 

 the verdant tropical oases of the South. All day 

 long have I watched one of these new arrivals 



