NATURE LEAVES 
The ruby-crowned kinglet was piping in an ever- 
green tree not far away, but him I had been hearing 
for several days. With me the kinglets come before 
the first warblers, and may be known to the attentive 
eye by their quick, nervous movements, and small, 
olive-gray forms, and to the discerning ear by their 
hurried, musical, piping strains. How soft, how 
rapid, how joyous and lyrical their songs are! Very 
few country people, I imagine, either see them or 
hear them. The powers of observation of country 
people are seldom fine enough and trained enough. 
They see and hear coarsely. An object must be big 
and a sound loud, to attract their attention. Have 
you seen and heard the kinglet? If not, the finer in- 
ner world of nature is a sealed book to you. When 
your senses take in the kinglet they will take in a 
thousand other objects that now escape you. 
My first warbler in the spring is usually the yel- 
low redpoll, which I see in April. It is not a bird of 
the trees and woods, but of low bushes in the open, 
often alighting upon the ground in quest of food. 
I sometimes see it on the lawn. The last one I saw 
was one April day, when I went over to the creek to 
see if the suckers were yet running up. The bird 
was flitting amid the low bushes, now and then 
dropping down to the gravelly bank of the stream. 
Its chestnut crown and yellow under parts were 
noticeable. 
The past season I saw for the first time the golden- 
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