EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 263 
and stuffed with earth.The earth lies out 
now like a leopard drying her lichen and moss 
spotted skin in the sun, her sleek and varie¬ 
gated hide. I know that the few raw spots will 
heal over. Brown is the color for me, the color 
of our coats and our daily lives, the color of the 
poor man’s loaf. The bright tints are pies and 
cakes, good only for October feasts, which would 
make us sick if eaten every day. 
Undoubtedly the geese fly more numerously 
over rivers which, like ours, flow north-easterly, 
are more at home with the water under them. 
Each flock runs the gauntlet of a thousand gun¬ 
ners ; and when you see them steer off from 
you and your boat, you may remember how 
great their experience in such matters may be, 
how many such boats and gunners they have 
seen and avoided between here and Mexico. 
Even now (though you, low plodding, little 
dream it) they may perhaps see one or two 
more lying in wait ahead. They have an ex¬ 
perienced ranger of the air for their guide. The 
echo of one gun hardly dies away, before they 
see another pointed at them. How many bul¬ 
lets or smaller shot have sped in vain toward 
their ranks ! 
Ducks fly more irregularly, and shorter dis¬ 
tances at a time. The geese rest in fair weather 
by day only in the midst of our broadest mead- 
