EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. , 211 
white maple may, perhaps, be said to begin to 
blossom to-day, the male, for the stamens, both 
anthers and filaments, are conspicuous on some 
buds. It has opened unexpectedly, and a rich 
sight it is, looking up through the expanded 
buds to the sky. This and the aspen are the 
first trees that ever grow large, I believe, which 
show the influence of the season thus conspicu¬ 
ously. From Nawshawtuck I see the snow is 
off the mountains. A large aspen by the island 
is unexpectedly forward. I already see the red 
anthers appearing. It will bloom in a day or 
two. 
One studies books of science merely to learn 
the language of naturalists, to be able to com¬ 
municate with them. 
The frost in swamps and meadows makes it 
good walking there still. Away, away to the 
swamps where the silver catkins of the swamp 
willow shine a quarter of a mile off, those south¬ 
ward penetrating vales of Rupert’s Land. The 
birds, which are merely migratory or tarrying 
here for a season, are especially gregarious 
now, the redpoll, Fringilla hiemalis, fox-col¬ 
ored sparrow, etc. I judge by the dead bodies 
of frogs partially devoured in brooks and ditches 
that many are killed in their hibernacula. 
Evelyn and others wrote when the language 
was in a tender, nascent state, and could be 
