62 
RURAL HOURS. 
with its pendant white blossoms. There is a tree in Savoy, called 
there, the amelanchier, near of kin to this of ours. The poplar, 
or poppels as the country people call them, are already half- 
leaved. How rapid is the advance of spring at this moment of 
her joyous approach ! And how beautiful are all the plants in 
their graceful growth, the humblest herb vmfolding its eveiy leaf 
in beauty, full of purpose and power ! 
Saw a little blue butterfly on the highway. Gathered a fine 
bunch of pink ground laurel, unusually large and fragrant , they 
have quite out-lasted the squirrel-cups, which are withered. Saw 
a fine maroon moose-flower — its three-leaved blossom as large 
as a tulip — the darkest and largest of our early spring flowers. 
Saturdarj, Gth. — Warm, soft day. The birds are in an ecstasy. 
Goldfinches, orioles, and blue-birds enliven the budding trees 
Avith tlieir fine voices and gay plumage ; Avi’ens and song-sparrows 
ai-e hopping and singing about the shrubbery ; robins and chip- 
ping-birds hardly move out of yoiu- way on the grass and gravel, 
and scores of SAvallows are twittering in the air, more active, more 
chatty than ever ; — all busy, all happy, all at this season more or 
less musical. Birds who scarcely sing, have a peculiar ciy, 
heard much more clearly and frequently at this season, than any 
other ; — the tAvittering of the SAvalloAvs, for instance, and the pro- 
longed chiiTup of the chipping-bird, so like that of the locust, 
Avhen heard from the trees. Tlie little creatures always enjoy a 
fine day extremely, but AAnth more zest during this their honeymoon, 
than at any other season. Our summer company have now all 
aiTived, or, rather, our nmaways have come back ; for it is plea- 
sant to remember that these are really at home here, bom and 
raised, as the Kentuckians say, in these groA'es, and noAV have 
