EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 303 
richness of the heavens distilled and poured 
upon the earth, contrasting with the clear rus¬ 
set land and the paler sky from which it has 
been subtracted, nothing can be more elysian. 
Is not the blue more ethereal when the sun is 
at this angle ? The river is but a long chain of 
flooded meadows. I think our most distant, ex¬ 
tensive low horizon must be that northeast from 
this hill over Ball’s Hill. It is down the river 
valley partly, at least, toward the Merrimack, 
as it should be. 
April 7, 1854. 6 A. M. Down railroad to 
Cliffs. The Populus tremuloides in a day or 
two. The hazel stigmas are well out and the 
catkins loose, but no pollen shed yet. On the 
Cliff I find after long and careful search one 
sedge above the rocks low amid the withered 
blades of last year, out, its little yellow beard 
amid the dry blades and a few green ones, the 
first herbaceous flowering I have detected. Fair 
Haven is completely open. 
April 7,1855. At six this morning to Clam¬ 
shell.See thirty or forty goldfinches in 
a dashing flock, in all respects, notes and all, 
like lesser red-polls.On the trees and on 
the railroad bank there is a general twittering 
and an occasional mew. Then they alight on 
the ground to feed, along with the Fringilla 
hiemalis and fox-colored sparrows. They are 
