2 



BIRDS AND FLOWERS. 



peared big and solid among the bare boughs, but his 

 happy delirium had passed, and his hunched up atti- 

 tude seemed to say: "If I had had any idea there 

 would be so much snow on the ground, I should not 

 have arrived here last night; but I was deceived by 

 the warm spell of yesterday. " 



Toward noon he appeared to have recovered his 

 spirits. He was then in the hedge, and every time 

 I spoke to him he turned his big black head and 

 bright yellow bill toward me, apparently responding 

 to my greeting as intelligently as a dog or a horse. 

 "We exchanged compliments for several minutes. I 

 asked if I could get him anything to eat, but he shook 

 his wings with a rattling cluck, and flew off to a bare 

 spot in the garden. He evidently wished me to know 

 that he was self-supporting. 



Spring begins when the robins get here. I suppose 

 all the children know that in every species the male 

 bird arrives first, preceding the females by about a 

 week. The young bachelors and husbands come to 

 spy out the land. How is it that their wives and 

 sweethearts know when to follow? Perhaps the ad- 

 vance guard tell their mates that if they do not 

 return, all is well and the females can come along 

 without an escort. The reason that the first birds 



