24 April 1854 – 30 April 1854

Monday. A. M. — Up railroad. The river shghtly risen again owing to rain of yes- terday morn and day before. Its greatest height this year was the 17th of March. This is the next rise of any consequence. As I stand still listening on the frosty sleepers at Wood’s crossing by the lupines, I hear the loud and distinct pump-a-gor of a stake-driver. 'Thus he announces himself. I find the shepherd’s-purse open in Cheney’s garden at last. It has run up eight or ten inches in some places, and may have been open a week; but say just after the snow, or the 19th. After a very mild winter, like that of ’52 and 753, it will be one of the very earliest flowers, — say second, or next after the chickweed, — but last winter it was killed down by the cold. Yet it is hardier and more for- ward now than the chickweed, which is still dead and bleached. Saw a black blackbird without red, with a purplish-green-black neck, and somewhat less than a red-wing, in company with two smaller slaty-black females (?). Can they be rusty grackles ?! P. M. — Up Assabet, and thence to Cedar Swamp. The larch will apparently blossom in fone] or two days at least, both its low and broad purple-coned male flowers and its purple-tipped female cones.’ Its little leaf-bundles are beginning to burst. Heard amid the white cedars the fine, clear singing warbler of yesterday, whose harsh note I may have heard the 18th, —- twer er te te, twer er te te, twer er te te tér, but very clear and fast. Go to new trees, like cedars and firs, and you hear new birds. They increase the strange- ness. Also other strange plants are found there. I have also observed that the early birds are about the early trees, like maples, alders, willows, elms, etc. The white cedar female blossoms are open, and as the brown male ones are loosened the next day in the house, I think the 25th may be called their first day. I find a raspberry (thickly clothed with bristles) in this swamp, as early as the thimble-berry. This, then, might be put after the gooseberry among native plants, because this is not so much indebted to a favorable position, — the gooseberry not at all, —growing in a sheltered, 7. e. covered, swamp. New plant!’ flower- budded at Cedar Swamp amid the high blueberry, panicled andromeda, clethra, etc., etc., — upright dense racemes of reddish flower-buds on reddish terminal shoots. Saw a large thin whitish fungus or spunk, fourteen and three quarters inches by eight and a half from the tree and two or three thick, with concentric growths of various thickness, within a foot of the ground on a maple stump. There was a grape-vine and some other small plants grown directly through, which it had ap- parently grown round. The first red maple blossoms —so very red over the water — are very interesting. Saw a very large hawk, slaty above and white beneath, low over river. Was it not a goshawk? The king- fisher flies with a crack er-r-r-ack and a limping or flit- ting flight from tree to tree before us, and finally, after a third of a mile, circles round to our rear. He sits rather low over the water. Now that he has come I suppose that the fishes on which he preys rise within reach. Are not they bank swallows? sailing so thick over the river, now at 5.30 Pp. M.?

A. M.—I think I hear near George Hey- wood’s the tull-lull (?).2 Heard and saw my war- bler (?) 0’* of the 23d and 24th on Mr. Emerson’s pines. It is the smallest bird I have seen this year. Sits still amid the pines not far below the top and sings very sweetly, loud and clear, and seems further off than it is, beginning first with very fine wiry notes and then increasing in volume and melody till it ends with tweeter tweeter tweeter ter twe. Some of it a martin-like warble. Has sometimes a harsh scold- ing note. It is all light, perhaps ashy-white, beneath; has a little narrow forked tail; ashy (?) under wings, which are considerably shorter than tail; and light above and below eye; perhaps a whitish bar on wings; olivaceous (?) above. I think it may be the golden-crested wren, though I hardly saw the upper parts, or possibly the small blue-gray flycatcher. I do not find the male blossoms of the red cedar open yet. P. M. — To Indian Cedar Hill. Quite warm and the frogs are snoring on the meadow. I swelter under my greatcoat. The Populus grandi- dentata is fairly begun; say very first the 23d. Many shad-flies in the air and alighting on my clothes. The summer approaches by almost insensibly increasing heferungs of heat, each awakening some new bird or quadruped or reptile. At first we were compelled to take off our mittens, then to unbutton our greatcoat, and now, perhaps, to take it off occasionally (I have not left it at home yet), and wear thin boots. For some time we have done with little fire, nowadays let it go out in the afternoon. (To-day, 26th, I sit without any.) Each creature awaits with confidence its proper degree of heat. I think I saw a pigeon yesterday. G. Minott says that he saw some a week ago. Saw a golden-crested wren ‘ in the woods near Goose Pond. (This must be my warblers a and b of April 18th, b’ of April 23d and 24th.) It sounded far off and like an imitation of a robin,” — a long strain and often repeated. I was quite near it before I was aware of it, it sounding still like a faint imitation of a robin. Some chickadees and yellow redpolls were first ap- parent, then my wren on the pitch pines and young oaks. He appeared curious to observe me. A very interesting and active little fellow, darting about amid the tree-tops, and his song quite remarkable and rich and loud for his size. Begins with a very fine note, before its pipes are filled, not audible at a little dis- tance, then woriter weter, etc., etc., winding up with - teter teter, all clear and round.* This was at 4 Pp. o., when most birds do not sing. I saw it yesterday, plum- ing itself and stretching its little wings. Our smallest bird, methinks, except the hummingbird. The snuff- colored, white-spotted wren I saw some time ago was considerably larger. Just before this saw on the low bushes, — shrub oaks, etc., — by path, a large sparrow with ferruginous- brown and white-barred wings, — the white-throated sparrow, — uttered a faint ringing chirp. ‘The first partridge drums in one or two places, as if the earth’s pulse now beat audibly with the increased flow of life. It slightly flutters all Nature and makes her heart palpitate. Also, as I stand listening for the wren, and sweltering in my greatcoat, I hear the woods filled with the hum of insects, as if my hearing were affected; and thus the summer’s quire begins. The silent spaces have begun to be filled with notes of birds and insects and the peep and croak and snore. of frogs, even as living green blades are everywhere pushing up amid the sere ones. I heard that same snoring which I hear on the river meadows, on an inland meadow this afternoon, where I think no bullfrogs are. Are they not then the palustris, or else the shad frog? There are now many new insects in‘the air. Black ducks still on Flint’s. The fertile fruit-stems of the sen- sitive fern by the side of the Flint’s Pond path, more than a foot high, are a rich ornament to the ground, — brown, four or five inches long, and turned to one side, contrasting with the lighter rachis (?). Saw my thrush of the 18th by the pond. It appears dark-olive, ferruginous on rump and tail, with a dark streak slanting from each cheek and flesh-colored legs. ‘The red cedar has fairly begun to-day; maybe the first yesterday. Put the red yesterday and the white to-day. As I approach the red cedars now, I perceive a deli- cious strawberry-like fragrance in the air, like that from the arbor-vite. The creeping juniper apparently open, but not yet open. Though I see some amber on the sweet-fern, I am in doubt whether to say to-day or to-morrow. The wild red cherry (if that is one near Everett’s), privet, and buckthorn are beginning to leaf out. The abele will probably blossom to-morrow.

Heard at 8 a. m. the peculiar loud and distinct ring of the first toad, at a distance. Appril- morning weather, threatening showeriness. 2.30 p. M. — To Lee’s Cliff on foot. A still, warm, overcast day with a southwest wind (this is what the Indians made so much of), and the finest possible dew-like rain in the air from time to time, now more of the sun. It is now so warm that I go back to leave my greatcoat for the first time, and the cooler smell of possible rain is refreshing. The toads ring more or less. When the toads begin to ring, Then thinner clothing bring, Or off your greatcoat fling. It is not yet time for thin clothes. Did I hear a tree- toad to-day? As I go over Hubbard’s land I see A. Wheeler burning brush, clearing up on Fair Haven. Great volumes or clouds of white smoke are blown gently northeastward, while the bright-scarlet flame is seen here and there creeping along its edge. They begin to burn on the lee side. The farmers are now busily plowing, some setting out roots and planting. T seem to perceive a slight fragrance in the air. Found part of a bird’s head and bill, — I think that of the thrush I saw on the 18th and yesterday. The bill (with notch) and what part of the head is left are exactly like the hermit thrush in F. Brown’s collec- tion, except that mine is yellow inside bill (but his has probably faded); and I see that the latter’s legs, which W. calls dusky, are light enough for my bird, and the colors above — olivaceous, and foxy rump and tail — are the same, but the hermit thrush’s spots on breast appear darker. I think I have seen or heard of more dead birds than usual this season, — read of bluebirds, heard of a martin (both killed by cold), also seen a dead robin or two and this thrush. The woods are full of myrtle-birds this afternoon, more common and commonly heard than any, es- pecially along the edge of woods on oaks, etc., — their note an oft-repeated fine jingle, a che’ che, che’ che, che’ che, or a tweedle tweedle tweedle tweedle-twe. As I heard the tudl lull from the same quarter from time to time, I think it came from it. Perhaps it may be written, a tea le, tea le, tea le. These small birds — and all small birds — seen against the sky at a little dis- tance look black. There is not breadth enough to their colors to make any impression; they are mere motes, intercepting the light, the substance of a shadow. Birds sing all day when it is warm, still, and over- cast as now, much more than in clear weather, and the hyla too is heard, as at evening. The hylodes commonly begins early in the afternoon, and its quire increases till evening. I hear now snipes far over the meadow incessantly at 3.15 p.m. The men bog- ging in the meadow do not hear them, and much else. The swamp sparrow, very dark, with chestnut and black, and quirk of the tail, flits shyly under the alders along the causeway; hides or lurks behind the trunks like song sparrow and hardly rests a moment in one place. The lark on the top of an apple tree sings a tchea te che, then perhaps tche tchea, only a plaintive clear round note. Hear the first chewink hopping and chewinking among the shrub oaks. To-day the air is full of birds; they attend the open- ing of the buds. The trees begin to leaf, and the leaf- like wings of birds are in the air. The buds start, then the insects, then the birds. Saw probably a pigeon hawk skim straight and low over field and wood, and another the next day apparently dark slate-color. It is warm and still, almost sultry, as if there might be a thunder-shower before night. Now look down on Fair Haven. How pleasant in spring a still, overcast, warm day like this, when the water is smooth! The sweet-gale in blossom, forming islets surrounded by water, on the meadow, looks like sere brown leaves left on. At the Cliff the Arabis levigata’ is just out to-day; the honeysuckle will be, say, the very earliest, to-morrow.” A barberry bush quite forwardly leafing under the rock, and a young apple. The early goose- berry quite green. - 9 Pp. M. — Quite a heavy thunder-shower, — the sec- ond lightning, I think. The vivid lightning, as I walk the street, reveals the contrast between day and night. The rising cloud in the west makes it very dark and difficult to find my way, when there comes a flash which lights up the street for a moment almost as brightly as the day, far more so than moonlight, and I see a person on the sidewalk before me fifty rods off.

7a. mM. — To Cliffs. Equisetum arvense on the railroad; and may have been two or three days — did not look. I am at length convinced of the increased freshness (green or yellow) of the willow bark in the spring. Some a clear yellow, others a delightful liquid green. The bark peels well now; how long? The rain of last night is helping to bring down the oak leaves. The wood thrush afar, — so superior a strain to that of other birds. I was doubt- ing if it would affect me as of yore, but it did measur- ably. I did not believe there could be such differences. This is the gospel according to the wood thrush. He makes a sabbath out of a week-day. I could go to hear him, could buy a pew in his church. Did he ever prac- tice pulpit eloquence? He is right on the slavery ques- tion. The brown thrasher, too, is along. I find a thread- like stamen now between the nutlets of the callitriche — probably three or four days. Some creature appears to have eaten this plant. The yellow redpolls still numer- ous; sing chill Lill lil lill lill ill. The meadow-sweet and sweet-fern are beginning to leaf, and the currant in garden.

6 a. M.— Dug up two of half a dozen, the only black spruce suitable to transplant that I know hereabouts. Rain all day, making the grass look green. Nawshawtuct now in the rain looks about as green as a Roxbury russet; 2. e., the russet is yielding to the green. Perhaps the greenness of the landscape may be said to begin fairly now. For the last half of this month, indeed, a tinge of green has been discernible on the sides of hills. Saw yesterday some cows turned out to pasture on such a hillside; thought they would soon eat up all the grass. This 1s coincident, then, with the leafing of the gooseberry, or earliest native shrub. First, you may say, is the starting of a few radical leaves, etc., and grass blades in favorable localities, and the blossoming of the earliest trees and herbs. Secondly, during the last half of April the earth acquires a distinct tinge of green, which finally pre- vails over the russet. Third. Then begins the leafing of the earliest shrubs and trees and the decided greenness and floweriness of the earth, in May. Fourth. Then the decided leafiness in June and the first great crop of the year, the leaf or grass crop.

The ideal of a market is a place where all things are bought and sold. At an agricultural meeting in New York the other day, one said that he had lately heard a man inquiring for spurry seed; he wanted it to sow on drifting sand. His presumption had been that if he wanted it, 2. e., if there was a de- mand, there was a supply to satisfy that demand. He went simply to the shop instead of going to the weed itself. But the supply does not anticipate the demand. This is the second day of rain, and the river has risen about as high as any time this year. P. M. — To Cliffs by boat in the misty rain. The barn swallows are very numerous, flying low over the water in the rain. I think that those which I saw on the 24th were barn and not bank swallows. What an entertainment this river affords! It is sub- ject to so great overflows, owing to its broad intervals, that a day’s rain produces a new landscape. [et it rain heavily one whole day, and the river will be in- creased from half a dozen rods in width to nearly a mile in some places, and, where I walked dry-shod yesterday a-maying, I sail with a smacking breeze to-day, and fancy that I am a sailor on the ocean. It is an advantage which all towns do not possess. Off the Cliffs, I met a blue heron flying slowly down- stream. He flaps slowly and heavily, his long, level, straight and sharp, bill projecting forward, then his keel-like neck doubled up, and finally 7 his legs thrust out straight behind. » = His wings, as I looked after him, presented this outline: = He alighted on a rock, and stood ~~ — erect awhile. I am surprised to find a few andromedas out, just behind the alders at the oak on Cardinal Shore. Pos- sibly yesterday the very first, though it rained. At last I find one houstonia just out there. The mouse-ear is now fairly in blossom in many places. It never looks so pretty as now in an April rain, covered with pearly drops. Its corymbs of five heads with one in the centre (all tinged red) look like a breast-pin set with pearls. J. Farmer says that this rain will kill many cater- pillars just hatched.