EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 233 
because I had two ladies with me, which was as 
good as bushing the boat. He was an inter¬ 
esting, eagle-like object as he sat upright on his 
perch with his back to us, now and then look¬ 
ing over his shoulder, the broad-backed, flat¬ 
headed, curve-beaked bird. 
March 26, 1855. 6 A. M. Still cold and 
blustering. I see a musk-rat house just erected, 
two feet or more above the water, and sharp. 
At the Hubbard Path a mink comes tetering 
along the ice by the side of the river. I am 
between him and the sun, and he does not no¬ 
tice me. He seems daintily lifting his feet with 
a jerk as if his toes were sore. They seem to go 
a-hunting at night along the edge of the river. 
Perhaps I notice them more at this season when 
the shallow water freezes at night, and there is 
no vegetation along the shore to conceal them. 
The lark sings perched on the top of an ap¬ 
ple tree, seel-yah seel-yah , and then perhaps 
seel-yah-see-e , and several other strains quite 
sweet and plaintive, contrasting with the cheer¬ 
less season and the bleak meadow. Farther off 
I hear one with notes like ah-tick-seel-yah . 
P. M, Sail down to the Great Meadows. A 
strong wind with snow driving from the west 
and thickening the air. The farmers pause to 
see me scud before it. At last I land and walk 
further down on the meadow bank. .... I no- 
