Shimmering in the air noticed, 

 caused by evaporation; water in the 

 brooks, "clear, placid, and silvery," 

 both phenomena of spring. 



March 12 — Poplar catkms in bloom. 



First meadow-lark seen. 



March 14 — Wild geese seen. 



Fox- colored sparrows seen. 



March 15 — Grass growing in water. 



Wood, or croaking frog heard; "the_ 

 earliest voice of the liquid pools." 



March 16 — The first phebe bird 

 heard. Gulls and sheldrakes seen. 



March 17 — Grass green on south 

 bank-sides. 



The first flicker and red-wing seen; 

 also a striped squirrel; also some kind 

 of fly. 



March 18 — The skunk cabbage, in 

 moist grounds, abundantly in bloom, 

 attracting the first honey-bees, who, 

 directed by a wonderful instinct, leave 

 their homes and wing their way, per- 

 haps for miles, to find this first flower. 

 This seems all the more remarkable 

 when it is considered that the honey- 

 bee is an introduced, not a native insect. 



March ig — The first shiners seen in 

 the brook. 



March 20 — Pussy-willow catkins in , 

 full bloom. 



"The tree-sparrow is perhaps the 

 sweetest and most melodious warbler 

 at present." 



"The fishes are going. up the brooks 

 as they open." 



March 21 — The garden chickweedin 

 bloom. 



The ground-squirrel's first chirrup 

 heard, a sure sign, according to some 

 old worthies, of decided spring 

 weather. 



The hyla, or tree-frog, begins to peep. 



"The woods are comparatively silent. 

 Not yet the woodland birds, except 

 (perhaps the woodpecker, so far as it 

 migrates) only the orchard and river 

 birds have arrived." 



March 23 — The white maple in bloom 

 and the aspen nearly so; the alders are 

 generally in full bloom. "The crim- 

 son-starred flowers of the hazel begin- 

 to peep out." 



March 24 — Shore-larks seen. 



March 28— Buff-edged butterflies 

 seen. 



March 31 — The small red butterfly 

 seen. 



April 5 — Swallows appear, pewee 

 heard, and snipe seen. 



April 6 — Cowslips nearly in bloom. 



April 7— Gold-finches seen; also the 

 purple finch. 



April 8 — Pine warbler seen. 



The epigsea (trailing arbutus) nearly 

 in bloom. "The earliest peculiarly 

 *woodland, herbaceous flowers are 

 epigjea, anemone, thalictrum (or 

 meadow rue), and, by the first of May, 

 the violet." 



*NoTE.— Further to the west and extending at 

 least to Wisconsin, the following- list of early wood- 

 land flowers mav take the place of the above, bloom- 

 ing- in the order given: Erigenia (or harbinger of 

 spiing), hepatica, blcodroot, and dog-tooth violet, 

 or perhaps the dicentra {Dutchman's breeches) may 

 come before the last. 



The skunk cabbage, which is not a woodland 

 flower, and therefore not included in the above list, is 

 the first flower probably in all New England and the 

 northern states. 



April 9 — fCowslips (not a woodland 

 flower) in bloom, "the first conspicuous 

 herbaceous flower, for that of the 

 skunk cabbage is concealed in its 

 spathe " 



tNoTE.— In the West several conspicuous flowers, 

 particularly the pretty hepatica, precede the cowslip. 



THE NASHVILLE WARBLER. 



{Hehninthophila rubricapilla. ) 



LYNDS JONES. 



THE Nashville warbler is common 

 during the migrations in many 

 parts of the country, but seems 

 to be scarce or entirely wanting locally. 

 Thus, in Lorain county, Ohio, as well 

 as in Poweshiek county, Iowa, it is 



always one of the commonest warblers 

 during the first and second weeks of 

 May, and again during the second and 

 third weeks of September, while it is 

 not reported from Wayne county, Ohio, 

 by Mr. Harry C. Oberholser in his 



