112 IN SPRING. 



their chilly gustiness until the fourth month is 

 well advanced. I have scoured a weather-wise 

 neighborhood for some " saying " about this feat- 

 ure of our climate, but gathered nothing not 

 absolutely childish ; but, if so run the days, the 

 nights of April have a merit peculiarly their own ; 

 by the light of the waxing moon, let the tempera- 

 ture be high or low, the north-bound migratory 

 birds begin to come. I saw a few of them dur- 

 ing the last week in March ; but it was when 

 the April moon was eight days old that field 

 sparrows trooped hitherward by thousands, and 

 how the bare upland fields rang with their glee ! 



There is another happy feature of spring's in- 

 itial days. The winds, be they never so boister- 

 ous from dawn to sunset, rest during the night, 

 and nocturnal life rejoices. What a mighty vol- 

 ume of sound arises from the marshes when the 

 wind-tossed waters are at rest ! The tiny hylodes, 

 the smallest of our frogs, is fairly ecstatic now. 

 and, were there no other voices to be heard, this 

 creature alone would dispel all feeling of lone- 

 liness. 



But what of a ramble during an April night ? 

 After an almost tempestuous day, there was 

 little promise of anything akin to adventure, 

 judging the landscape from my open door. How- 

 ever confirmed in the strolling habit might be 

 the saunterer, rambling at night, with but frogs 



