EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 145 
land pools. They must awake in good condi- 
tion. As Walden opens eight days earlier than 
I have known it, so this frog croaks about as 
much earlier.It is remarkable how lit¬ 
tle certain knowledge even old weather-wise 
men have of the comparative earliness of the 
year. They will speak of the passing spring as 
earlier or later than they ever knew, when per¬ 
chance the third spring before, it was equally 
early or late, as I have known. 
March 16, 1840. The cabins of the settlers 
are the points whence radiate these rays of 
green and yellow and russet over the landscape. 
Out of these go the axes and spades with which 
the landscape is painted. How much is the 
Indian summer and the budding of spring re¬ 
lated to the cottage. Have not the flight of 
the crow and the gyrations of the hawk a refer¬ 
ence to that roof ? 
The ducks alight at this season on the wind¬ 
ward side of the river in the smooth water, and 
swim about by twos and threes, pluming them¬ 
selves and diving to peck at the root of the lily 
and the cranberries which the frost has not 
loosened. It is impossible to approach them 
within gunshot when they are accompanied by 
the gull which rises sooner and makes them 
restless. They fly to windward first in order 
to get under weigh, and are more easily reached 
10 
