142 EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
the nest of what he called a “ field mouse,” from 
his description probably the meadow mouse. It 
was made of grass, etc., and while he stood oyer 
it, the mother, not regarding him, came and 
carried off the young, one by one, in her mouth, 
being gone some time in each case before she 
returned, and finally she took the nest itself. 
March 15, 1857. P. M. To Hubbard’s Close 
and Walden. I see in the ditches in Hubbard’s 
Close the fine green tips of the spires of grass 
just rising above the surface of the water in one 
place, as if unwilling to trust itself to the frosty 
air. Favored by the warmth of the water and 
sheltered by the banks of the ditch it has ad¬ 
vanced thus far. But generally I see only the 
placid and frost-bitten tips of grass which ap¬ 
parently started during that warm spell in Feb¬ 
ruary. The surface of the ditches is spotted 
with these pale and withered frost-bitten blade- 
lets. It was the first green blush (nay, it is 
purple or lake often, and a true blush) of spring, 
of that Indian spring we had in February. To 
be present at the instant when the springing 
grass at the bottoms of ditches lifts its spear 
above the surface and bathes in the spring air. 
Many a first faint crop mantling the pools thus 
early is mown down by the frost before the vil¬ 
lager suspects that vegetation has reawakened. 
The trout darts a,way in the hazy brook there 
