EVENING. 
11 
with which the leaves unfold between sunrise and sunset, or dur- 
mg a night, is truly wonderful ! The long, graceful catkins are 
drooping from the birches, and the more slender clusters are 
also in flower on the oaks. The beeches are behind most forest 
trees, but the leaves and some of the flowers are coming out here 
and there. It is given as a general imle, that those trees which 
keep their leaves longest in autumn are the earliest in spring, but 
the beech is a striking exception to this ; preserving its withered 
leaves tenaciously even through the winter, but putting out the 
new foliage after many of its companions are quite green. The 
Comptonia or sweet-fera is in flower, the brown, catkui-like blos- 
soms are nearly as fragrant as the fohage ; it is the only fern we 
have with woody branches. 
Evening, 9 o'clock . — The frogs are keeping up a vigorous bass, 
and really, about these times, they often perfoim the best part 
of the concert. Just at this season, the early morning and late 
evening hours are not the most musical moments with the birds ; 
family cares have begun, and there was a good deal of the nurse- 
ry about the grove of evergreens in the rear of the house, to-night. 
It was amusing to watch the parents flying home, and hsten to 
the family talk going on ; there was a vast deal of twittering and 
fluttering before settling down in the nest, husband and wife seemed 
to have vaiious items of household information to impart to each 
other, and the young nestlings made themselves heard very plain- 
ly ; one gathered a little scolding, too, on the part of some moth- 
cr-robuis. Meanwhile, the calm, full bass of the frogs comes up 
from the low groimds 'vv'ith a power that commands one’s atten- 
tion, and is far from unpleasing. It reminds one of the oboe of 
an orchestra. 
