EARLY VOICES OP SPRING. 3 



insistence on the fact that spring is here, notwith- 

 standing the patches of meadow snow and ice which 

 still linger on the shadowy borders. The more 

 southern pipers do not have to brave these last foot- 

 prints of the winter king so continually, and I can 

 not therefore consider them the earliest of all spring 

 singers. 



It is a most remarkable circumstance that Picker- 

 ing's Hyla is always heard, but is seldom seen. He 

 has a disappointing way of 

 submerging himself to his 

 very eyelids in the chilly bog. 

 With the mercury at fifty de- 

 grees he will pipe up at about 

 four or five in the afternoon. If 

 we wish to catch him in the act 

 we must choose a warmer day, 

 when the mercury stands at sixty spnng Peeper 



, . , -, T . {Hyla pickeringil), 



degrees, sit patiently and immova- .. spelling Ms throat." 

 bly on the log for a good half hour, 

 and scan the surface of the pool near the margin with 

 an opera glass. Here we will be sure to see the bulgy 

 eyes and the tip of the nose just appearing above 

 the water, and if we are fortunate, we may see one 

 of the tiny ocher-yellow creatures perched on some 

 withered cat-tail leaf, singing his song in plain view 

 through the glass. Such a tremendous effort he 



