246 EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
Then they would all go to preening themselves, 
thrusting their bills into their backs, and keep¬ 
ing up such a brisk motion that you could not 
get a fair sight of one’s head. From time to 
time you heard a slight note of alarm, or per¬ 
haps a breeding note, for they were evidently 
selecting their mates. Then it was surprising 
to see how briskly sailing off one side they went 
to diving, as if they had suddenly come across 
a school of minnows. A whole company would 
disappear at once.Now for nearly a min¬ 
ute there is not a feather to be seen, and then 
next minute you see a party of half a dozen 
there chasing one another and making the water 
fly far and wide. 
March 27,1859.It is remarkable how 
modest and unobtrusive these early flowers are. 
The musquash and duck hunter or the farmer 
might and do commonly pass by them without 
perceiving them. They steal into the air and 
light of spring without being noticed for the 
most part. The sportsman seems to see a mass 
of weather-stained dead twigs, whose wood is 
exposed here and there, but nearer the spots 
are recognized for the pretty bright buttons of 
the willow; and the flowers of the alder (now 
partly in bloom) look like masses of bare, bar¬ 
ren twigs, last year’s twigs, and would be taken 
for such. 
