vi PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION 
but I have done what I could to bring home the 
“earth and the sky” with the sparrow I heard 
“singing at dawn on the alder bough.” In other 
words, I have tried to present a live bird, —a bird 
in the woods or the fields, — with the atmosphere 
and associations of the place, and not merely a 
stuffed and labeled specimen. 
A more specific title for the volume would have 
suited me better; but not being able to satisfy my- 
self in this direction, I cast about for a word thor- 
oughly in the atmosphere and spirit of the book, 
which I hope I have found in ‘‘ Wake-Robin,” the 
common name of the white Trillium, which blooms 
in all our woods, and which marks the arrival of all 
the birds. 
