April 21.
5 A. M. — To Cliffs.
Fair and still. There is a fog over the river, which shows at a distance more than near by. Not much.
The frost conceals the green of the gooseberry leaves just expanding.
The shallow puddles left by yesterday’s rain in the fields are skimmed over.
At Cliffs, I hear at a distance a wood thrush. It affects us as a part of our unfallen selves.
The Populus grandidentata there may open to-morrow.
The frost saves my feet a wetting probably.
As I sit on the Cliffs, the sound of the frost and frozen drops melting and falling on the leaves in the woods below sounds like a gentle but steady rain all the country over, while the sun shines clear above all.
P. M. — Sail to meadow near Carlisle Bridge.
A fine, clear, and pleasant day with a little west wind.
Saw a painted turtle not two inches in diameter. This must be more than one year old.
A female red wing.
I see yellow redpolls on the bushes near the water, — handsome birds, -— but hear no note.
Watch for some time a dozen black ducks on the meadow’s edge in a retired place, some on land and some sailing. Fifty rods off and without the glass, they look like crows feeding on the meadow’s edge, with a scarcely perceptible tinge of brown.
Examining the ground afterward, find that the whitish lichen thallus (which formed a crust, a sort of scurfy bald place, here and there in the meadow where the water had just risen) was loosened up and floating over the bare spaces mixed with a few downy feathers. I thought the flat meadow islets showed traces of having been probed by them.
All the button-bushes, etc., etc., in and about the water are now swarming with those minute fuzzy gnats about an eighth of an inch long. The insect youth are on the wing. The whole shore resounds with their hum wherever we approach it, and they cover our boat and persons. They are in countless myriads the whole length of the river.
A peep, peetweet, on the shore. There is some gossamer on the willows.
The river has risen considerably, owing to yesterday’s rain, and new drift is brought down. The greater fullness of the Assabet is perceptible at the junction.
The New York Tribune said on the 19th, “The caterpillar-blossoms, and the slightest peeping of green leaves among the poplars and willows, and a tolerable springing of grass, are the only vegetable proofs yet to be seen.” I should think they were just with our gooseberry.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, April 21, 1855
At Cliffs, I hear at a distance a wood thrush. . See April 21, 1858 ("Ed. Hoar says he heard a wood thrush the 18th."); April 21, 1861 ("H. Mann brings me the hermit thrush."); see also April 20, 1860 ("C. sees bluets and some kind of thrush to-day, size of wood thrush, — he thought probably hermit thrush.") and note to April 24, 1856 ("Returning, in the low wood just this side the first Second Division Brook, near the meadow, see a brown bird flit, and behold my hermit thrush, with one companion, flitting silently through the birches") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Signs of Spring: The Arrival of the Hermit Thrush
Saw a painted turtle not two inches in diameter. This must be more than one year old. See April 24, 1856 ("I find, on the southeast side of Lupine Hill, nearly four rods from the water and a dozen feet above its level, a young Emys picta, one and five eighths inches long and one and a half wide. I think it must have been hatched year before last. ") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Painted Turtle (Emys picta)
A female red wing. See April 13, 1854 ("Think I see a female red wing flying with some males"); April 30, 1855 ("Red-wing blackbirds now fly in large flocks, covering the tops of trees like a black fruit, and keep up an incessant gurgling and whistling.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Red-wing in Spring
I see yellow redpolls on the bushes near the water, — handsome birds, -— but hear no note. See April 30, 1855 (".Hear a short, rasping note, somewhat tweezer-bird like, I think from a yellow redpoll.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Yellow Redpoll ( Palm) Warbler
The insect youth are on the wing in countless myriads the whole length of the river. See April 30, 1855 (Those myriads of little fuzzy gnats mentioned on the 21st and 28th must afford an abundance of food to insectivorous birds. Many new birds should have arrived about the 21st. There were plenty of myrtle-birds and yellow redpolls where the gnats were"") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Fuzzy Gnats (tipulidæ)
Watch for some time a dozen black ducks on the meadow’s edge in a retired place, some on land and some sailing. Fifty rods off and without the glass, they look like crows feeding on the meadow’s edge, with a scarcely perceptible tinge of brown.
Examining the ground afterward, find that the whitish lichen thallus (which formed a crust, a sort of scurfy bald place, here and there in the meadow where the water had just risen) was loosened up and floating over the bare spaces mixed with a few downy feathers. I thought the flat meadow islets showed traces of having been probed by them.
All the button-bushes, etc., etc., in and about the water are now swarming with those minute fuzzy gnats about an eighth of an inch long. The insect youth are on the wing. The whole shore resounds with their hum wherever we approach it, and they cover our boat and persons. They are in countless myriads the whole length of the river.
A peep, peetweet, on the shore. There is some gossamer on the willows.
The river has risen considerably, owing to yesterday’s rain, and new drift is brought down. The greater fullness of the Assabet is perceptible at the junction.
The New York Tribune said on the 19th, “The caterpillar-blossoms, and the slightest peeping of green leaves among the poplars and willows, and a tolerable springing of grass, are the only vegetable proofs yet to be seen.” I should think they were just with our gooseberry.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, April 21, 1855
At Cliffs, I hear at a distance a wood thrush. . See April 21, 1858 ("Ed. Hoar says he heard a wood thrush the 18th."); April 21, 1861 ("H. Mann brings me the hermit thrush."); see also April 20, 1860 ("C. sees bluets and some kind of thrush to-day, size of wood thrush, — he thought probably hermit thrush.") and note to April 24, 1856 ("Returning, in the low wood just this side the first Second Division Brook, near the meadow, see a brown bird flit, and behold my hermit thrush, with one companion, flitting silently through the birches") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Signs of Spring: The Arrival of the Hermit Thrush
The Populus grandidentata may open to-morrow. See April 21, 1858 ("Populus grandidentata some days at least. ") ;see also. April 19, 1854 ("The Populus grandidentata will not open for a day or two"); April 22, 1859 (" Go by a Populus grandidentata. . . just begun to shed their pollen, not hanging loose and straight yet, but curved, are a very rich crimson,. . . much the handsomest now before the crimson anthers have burst, and are all the more remarkable for the very open and bare habit of the tree.") and A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Big-toothed Aspen (Populus grandidentata)
A female red wing. See April 13, 1854 ("Think I see a female red wing flying with some males"); April 30, 1855 ("Red-wing blackbirds now fly in large flocks, covering the tops of trees like a black fruit, and keep up an incessant gurgling and whistling.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Red-wing in Spring
No comments:
Post a Comment