LEAF AND TENDRIL 



one another amid the branches, shaking down the 

 fragrant snow. Here the rose-breasted grosbeak is 

 in the blooming cherry tree, snipping off the blos- 

 soms with that heavy beak of his — a spot of crim- 

 son and black half hidden in masses of white petals. 

 This orchard bloom travels like a wave. In March 

 it is in the Carolinas; by the middle of April its 

 crest has reached the Potomac; a week or ten days 

 later it is in New Jersey; then in May it sweeps 

 through New York and New England; and early in 

 June it is breaking upon the orchards in Canada. 

 Finally, the event of June is the fields ruddy with 

 clover and milk-white with daisies. 



