The Birds and Poets 267 



"Oh, passing few are they who speak, 



Wild stormy month ! in praise of thee ; 

 Yet, though thy winds are loud and bleak. 

 Thou art a welcome month to me. 



For thou, to northern lands again. 



The glad and glorious sun dost bring, 



And thou hast joined the gentle train 



And wear'st the gentle name of spring." 



John Vance Cheney hails the month with enthus- 

 iasm: 



"The pussy-willow and the hazel know, 



The blue bird and the robin, what rings true ; 

 I trust to such, and let the whiners go. 



Bravo I bluff March ; I swing my hat to you !" 



The bluebirds and the robins come back to us 

 with the pussy-willows. The few that we see in 

 winter are doubtless summer residents of Canada, 

 and those that come back to us in February and 

 March, our summer residents, have wintered far- 

 ther south. 



The robin that was an almost daily visitor at my 

 feeding box during the winter has not been seen 

 for nearly a month. He has doubtless been jour- 

 neying by easy stages, according to the robin 

 method of migration, to his northern nesting site. 

 The new robins which have arrived from the south 

 have not yet come down out of the sky and the tree 

 tops, and sought our intimate companionship. 



