THE COMING OF SPRING. 



E. E. BENTON. 



NO ONE perhaps ever lived who 

 excelled Henry D. Thoreau as 

 a general observer of nature. 

 He patiently and with minute 

 care examined both animate and inani- 

 mate creation, and wrote down an ac- 

 curate account of his observations, 

 noting particularly the effects pro- 

 duced by the changes in the seasons. 

 He worked diligently to discover the 

 first sign of spring, with results not 

 wholly satisfactory. In one place he 

 asks: "What is the earliest sign of 

 spring? The motions of worms and 

 insects? The flow of sap in trees and 

 the swelling of buds? Do not the in 

 sects awake with the flow of the sap? 

 Bluebirds, etc., probably do not come 

 till the insects come out. Or are there 

 earlier signs in the water, the tortoises, 

 frogs, etc.?" 



He found that whenever there was a 

 warm spell during the winter some 

 forms of vegetation, particularly the 

 grasses and water plants, would begin 

 to grow, and some would even bloom 

 in favorable locations, as the skunk 

 cabbage. He did not fully settle the 

 question as to what would begin to 

 grow first in the spring, whether it was 

 the catkins of the swamp willow or the 

 stems and leaves of the equisetum in 

 the pool, or something else. 



A list of the most striking phe- 

 nomena observed by Thoreau in early 

 spring is given below, and is extracted 

 from his journals, written when he 

 lived near Boston, during the years 

 1840 to i860. In each case the earliest 

 date mentioned by Thoreau is given, 

 there being a difference of about a 

 month between the earliest and latest 

 spring. Many of these phenomena 

 and the order in which they occur are 

 common to a large extent of country, 

 including the eastern and northern 

 central states. Thus, the skunk cab- 

 bage is the first flower in all this 

 region. A few notes are added, show- 

 ing variations. 



February 21 — Sap of the red maple 

 flowing. This was in 1857. It does 



not usually flow until the second week 

 in March. 



February 23 — Yellow-spotted tor- 

 toise seen. 



February 24 — The bluebird, "angel 

 of the spring," arrives; also the song- 

 sparrow. The phebe or spring note of 

 the chickadee, a winter bird, heard. 



"The bluebird and song-sparrow sing 

 immediately on their arrival, and 

 hence deserve to enjoy-some preemi- 

 nence. They give expression to the 

 joy which the season inspires, but the 

 robin and blackbird only peep and 

 tchuck at first, commonly, and the lark 

 is silent and flitting. The bluebird at 

 once fills the air with his sweet warb- 

 ling, and the song-sparrow, from the 

 top of a rail, pours forth his most joy- 

 ous strain." 



March I — The catkins of the willow 

 and aspen appear to have started to grow. 



March 2 — The caltha, or cowslip, 

 found growing in water. 



The skunk cabbage in bloom in 

 warm, moist grounds. 



March 5 — The red maple and elm 

 buds expanded. 



The spring note of the nut-hatch 

 heard: To-what, what, zvhat, what, 

 what, rapidly repeated, instead of the 

 usual qjiah qjiah of this winter bird. 



March 6 — The gyrinus (water-bug) 

 seen in the brook. 



First blackbird seen. 



Green sprouts of the sassafras, hazel, 

 blueberry, and swamp-pink found. 



March 7 — Fuzzy gnats in the air. 



First robins. 



Spring note of the shrike heard, 

 probably silent during the winter. 



March 8 — Willow buds expanded. 

 Sap flowing in the white pine. 



Flock of grackles seen. 



Radical leaves of the golden-rods 

 and asters in water, growing decidedly. 



March 9 — Ducks seen. 



March 10 — Poplar and willow cat- 

 kins started; also equisetum (horse- 

 tail), saxifrage, and probably other 

 water plants. The butter cup found 

 growing. 



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