Song Birds and Water Fowl 



The maltese pussy-willows, too, are out ; and, 

 in the peculiar generous-heartedness of the sea- 

 son, one must needs give a kindly greeting even 

 to the skunk cabbage — a low-lived relative of 

 several gorgeous specimens in the Arum fam- 

 ily — which, at all events, sets a worthy exam- 

 ple of promptness to many a more agreeable 

 individual. The public puts a substantial pre- 

 mium, however, upon the earliest signs of 

 spring ; and it was not long after I discovered 

 my first specimen, that I found the blossoms of 

 this vile weed for sale, on the streets of New 

 York, at ten cents each ! Moreover, throughout 

 the entire year, there is not to be found a live- 

 lier, richer color, anywhere, than the intense 

 emerald green of the moss that is already so 

 luxuriant on all the rocks, each little patch a 

 mimic forest for a bevy of infinitesimal fairies. 

 Unless we are " specialists " we seldom stop to 

 discover what a wealth of creative skill and 

 beauty is concentrated in many such a common 

 object. Between the microscopic, on the one 

 side, that we trample under foot, and the tele- 

 scopic, on the other side, that lies, unrealized, 

 above our heads, what a relatively small portion 

 of creation comes within our ordinary range of 

 vision or of thought. 



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