EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 123 
the chunkings. I took off some pieces of bark 
more than three feet long and one foot wide. 
Between this and the wood, in the dust left 
by borers, the gnats were concealed, ready to 
swarm. This is their hibernaculum. 
The rich red-brown leaves of the gnaphalium, 
downy white beneath, begin to attract me where 
the snow is off. 
March 12, 1854. A. M. Up railroad to woods. 
We have white frosts these mornings. This is 
the blackbird morning. Their sprayey notes and 
conqueree ring with the song-sparrow’s jingle 
all along the river. Thus gradually they ac¬ 
quire confidence to sing. It is a beautiful spring 
morning. I hear my first robin peep distinctly 
at a distance on some higher trees, oaks or other, 
on a high key, no singing yet. I hear from an 
apple tree a faint cricket-like chirp, and a spar¬ 
row darts away, flying far, dashing from side to 
side. I think it must be the white-in-tail or 
grass finch. I hear a jay loudly screaming, phe- 
phay , phe-phay , a loud, shrill chickadee’s phe- 
hee. I see and hear the lark sitting with head 
erect, neck outstretched, in the middle of a pas¬ 
ture, and-1 hear another far off, singing. They 
sing when they first come. All these birds do 
their warbling especially in the still sunny hour 
after sunrise. Now is the time to be abroad to 
hear them, as you detect the slightest ripple in 
