8o The Coming of the Birds 



pleasure, for he frequently lets himself out 

 lustily when he knows he is all alone," as 

 Dr. Placzeck has said of birds in general. I 

 shall never forget a little incident I once wit- 

 nessed, in which a chewink and a cardinal 

 grosbeak figured. They reached the same 

 bush at the same moment, and both started 

 their songs. The loud whistle of the red- 

 bird quite smothered the notes of the che- 

 wink, which stopped suddenly before it was 

 through and, with a squeak of impatience, 

 made a dash at the intruder and nearly knocked 

 him off his perch. Such haps and mishaps 

 as these — and they are continually occurring 

 — can only be seen in April or earlier, when 

 we can see through the woods, and not merely 

 the outer branches of the trees when in leaf. 

 In April we can detedl, too, the earliest 

 flowers, and they fit well with the songs of 

 the forerunning birds. There is more, I 

 think, for all of us in an April violet than in 

 a June rose ; in a sheltered bit of turf with 

 sprouting grass than in the wide pastures a 

 month later. We do not hurry in-doors at 

 the sudden coming of an April shower. 

 The rain-drops that cling to the opening 

 leaf-buds are too near real gems not to be 



