errors Usb .OCN ST 8) Uskaink, PileN 
The spring beauty showed clusters of drooping buds 
with one or two open, trying to keep up with the hepaticas 
and the bloodroot. It was exciting to discover the many 
plants up two and three inches, testing skills in identifica- 
tion. Wake-robin, spring cress, wood anemone, early 
meadow rue were in bud. In the background the flickers 
were busy with preparations—and being noisy about 
it. The downy and the hairy woodpeckers sounded 
authoritative notes. How red their topknots. A sapsucker 
appeared. Nice that they are usually first heard to make 
known their ocation. he juncos were trilling as they like 
to do in the spring. [he tree sparrows could not be less 
excited. [heir stage is waiting in the north. A kingfisher 
went clattering up and down the swollen river. Happiness 
is busyness in the spring. 
The nearby Wayside Woods preserve is at the edge 
of a prairie-meadow. Eastern meadowlarks, were singing 
at appropriate distances. A sparrow hawk hovered over- 
head. Fieldsparrows, song sparrows, and red-winged black- 
birds were singing. A pair of pheasants, flew up, a picture 
of the delightful pairing of spring. I flushed a woodcock 
and then walked to where he had been feeding. I found 
many holes in the mud. How patient of him not to protest 
the interruption. A pair of wood ducks, flew over and 
went down to the river behind the trees in Linne Woods. 
Seieesune was now teasing... first in, then’ out. 
Would there be time to visit the hepaticas in Linne Woods 
before an April shower? Hurry is the password for April. 
The hepaticags were there weaving ecstatically in the 
breeze—as if saying it was good to be blooming again. 
The honeybees told them so every minute on the minute. 
Bird sounds and sights filled the air. The excitement was 
catching: robins, phoebe, hermit thrush, ruby-crowned 
kinglet with crimson cap, myrtle warbler and more 
sapsuckers. 
All too soon it was four o'clock, and the sun had 
gone permanently behind a cloud bank. The horizon 
showed a wide band of pink, gold and silver. The light 
cast a misty glow over the woods. The elm tops were 
shrouded in a brown cloud. The silver maples combined 
their scarlet flowers with unfolding leaves. The white 
ash were studded with velvety, deep-brown knobs. The 
shrubs and smaller trees were dotted with bursting light. 
Everything alive gave such eager promise. Would that we 
might be so blessed to start anew. 
—2416 West Fargo Avenue, Chicago 
