LEAVES FROM AN APRIL JOURNAL. 4 1 



wing thrush (iliaca), referring probably to the con- 

 spicuous markings on the sides and hinder parts 

 of these birds. 



The sun, the great time measure, each day gains 

 in power and brings on a fuller tide of life, that 

 rushes up through countless veins of tree trunks, 

 and tender blades and stems. " I am the resurrec- 

 tion and the life ! " it potently whispers to seed 

 and rootlet, to egg and pupa ; and to the hiberna- 

 tors everywhere, " Awake, come forth ! ^ 



April has agaia leaped into May. All day long 

 the southern breeze seems to have come from the 

 heated equator, passing through different strata 

 of coolness till it reached us rightly tempered to 

 ethereal mildness. There is a hazy, " dreamy, 

 magical light " pervading the atmosphere that cor- 

 responds to our pleasant October days, but with 

 the peculiar spring odors, — the earthy scents fur- 

 nished by the disturbing ploughshares and the 

 aromatic smoke of burning apple-wood, raspberry 

 and blackberry-bushes. 



The quick, vibratory motion of the heated air, 

 rising from certain spots in the fields, especially 

 of the hill-tops, can readily be seen with the glass. 

 When viewed against a background of shrubbery 

 of tree-trunks, these quivering atoms are seen 



