FAMILIAR LIFE 

 IN FIELD AND FOREST. 



CHAPTER I. 



EARLY VOICES OP SPRING. 

 TJie Hyla. Acris, Chorophilus, and Bufo. 



The path that follows the course of the stream 

 through the meadow is bordered with miniature 

 leaflets which are growing rapidly in the sunbeams 

 of early April. The young fuzzy leaves of the liver- 

 wort {Hepatiea triloba) at our feet are in company 

 with a few promising buds, but the old brown leaves 

 that have survived the winter snows are still reluc- 

 tant to give up life and let the younger generation 

 carry it forward. The brook is rushing tumultuously 

 toward the river, with no time to linger now in the 

 pebbly depths where last August all was quiet, and 

 the lazy trout scarcely moved his tail to keep his 

 place under the sheltering bank. Farther along 

 where the brook widens at the level of the river, in 



a snarl of freshet-dragged alders and willows, there 

 2 1 



