50 EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
face of the rocks where patches of umbilicaria 
lichens grow, of rank growth, but now thirsty 
and dry as bones and hornets’ nests, dry as 
shells which crackle under your feet. The more 
fortunate of these, which stand by the moistened 
seam or gutter of the rock, luxuriate in the 
grateful moisture as in the spring, their rigid 
nerves relax, they unbend and droop like lim¬ 
ber infancy, and from dry ash and leather color 
turn a lively olive green. You can trace the 
course of this trickling stream over the rock 
through such a patch of lichens by the olive 
green of the lichens alone. Here and there the 
same moisture refreshes and brightens up the 
scarlet crown of some little cockscomb lichen, 
and when the rill reaches the perpendicular face 
of the cliff its constant drip at night builds 
great organ pipes, of a ringed structure, which 
run together buttressing the rock. Skating 
yesterday and to-day. 
March 3, 1859. Going by the solidago oak 
at Clam-shell Hill bank, I heard a faint rip¬ 
pling note, and looking up saw about fifteen 
snow buntings sitting in the top of the oak, all 
with their breasts toward me. Sitting so still, 
and quite white seen against the white cloudy 
sky, they did not look like birds, and their bold¬ 
ness, allowing me to come quite near, enhanced 
this impression. They were almost as white as 
