EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 103 
under the banks. Where it rushes over the 
edge of a steep slope in the bottom, the shadow 
of the disturbed surface is like sand hurried for¬ 
ward in the water. The bottom being of shift- 
ings and is exceedingly irregular and interest¬ 
ing. 
What was that sound that came on the soft¬ 
ened air ? It was the warble of the first bluebird 
from that scraggy apple orchard yonder. When 
this is heard then has spring arrived. 
It must be that the willow twigs, both the 
yellow and green, are brighter colored than be¬ 
fore ; I cannot be deceived. They shine as if 
the sap were already flowing under the bark, a 
certain lively and glossy hue they have. The 
early poplars are pushing forward their catkins 
though they make not so much display as the 
willows. Still, in some parts of the woods it is 
good sledding. At Second Division Brook, the 
fragrance of the senecio, decidedly evergreen, 
which I have bruised, is very permanent. It is 
a memorable, sweet, meadow fragrance. I find 
a yellow-spotted tortoise, Emys guttata, in the 
bank. A very few leaves of cowslips, and those 
wholly under water, show themselves yet. The 
leaves of the water saxifrage, for the most part 
frost-bitten, are common enough. 
Minott says that old Sam Nutting, the hun¬ 
ter, Fox Nutting, old Fox he was called, who 
