46 Bird Day Book 



EARLY SPRING 



OW much more habitable a few birds make the fields! At 

 the end of the winter, when the fields are bare and there is 

 nothing to relieve the monotony of withered vegetation, our 

 life seems reduced to its lowest terms. But let a bluebird 

 come and warble over them, and what a change ! The note of the 

 first bluebird in the air answers to the purling rill of melted snow 

 beneath. It is evidently soft and soothing, and, as surely as the 

 thermometer, indicates a higher temperature. It is the accent of the 

 south wind, its vernacular. It is modulated by the south wind. 



The song sparrow is more sprightly, mingling its notes with the 

 rustling of the brush along the water sides, but it is at the same time 

 more terrene than the bluebird. The first woodpecker (flicker) 

 comes screaming into the empty house and throws open doors and 

 windows wide, calling out each of them to let the neighbors know 

 of its return. * * * * When the blackbird gets to a con- 

 queree he seems to be dreaming of the sprays that are to be and on 

 which he will perch. The robin does not come singing, but utters 

 a somewhat anxious or inquisitive peep at first. The song sparrow 

 is immediately most at home of those I have named. 



Each new year is a surprise to us. We find that we had vir- 

 tually forgotten the note of each bird, and when we hear it again 

 it is remembered like a dream, reminding us of a previous state of 

 existence. How happens it that the associations it awakens are 

 always pleasing, never saddening, reminiscences of our sanest hours ? 

 The voice of nature is always encouraging. 



— H. D. Thoreau. 



