As he looked at my sail, I listened to his singing.

May 19

Thick fog in the morning, which lasted late in the forenoon and left behind it rainy clouds for the afternoon. 

P. M. — To Cedar Swamp. 

Landed at Island Neck, and saw a small striped snake in the act of swallowing a Rana palustris, within three feet of the water. The snake, being frightened, released his hold, and the frog hopped off to the water. 

Hear and see a yellow-throated vireo, which methinks I have heard before. Going and coming, he is in the top of the same swamp white oak and singing indolently, ullia — eelya, and sometimes varied to eelyee. 

The tanager is now heard plainly and frequently. 

Aquatic Wood-wagtail
(Audubon)

I see running along the water’s edge on the Island Neck, amid the twigs, a new bird, slender and somewhat warbler-like, but plainly a Turdus, with a deep, dark chocolate-brown back (apparently uniformly) , apparently cream-colored beneath, handsomely and abundantly spotted with dark brown, vent white, light flesh-colored legs, yellowish or cream-colored line over eyes. Me thinks it teetered or wagged its tail. Flew soon and was quite shy. I think it must have been the Turdus aquaticus from its dark chocolate-brown back and running along the water’s edge. Feel pretty sure, yet that is said to have white (?) over eye. I lost it before I had examined fully. Quite a discovery. Vide golden-crowned thrush carefully. 

Apple in bloom; some, no doubt, earlier. Night hawk’s squeak. Red-Wing’s nest made, and a robin's without mud, on black willow four feet above water. 

As I sail up the reach of the Assabet above Dove Rock with a fair wind, a traveller riding along the highway is watching my sail while he hums a tune. How inspiring and elysian it is to hear when the traveller or the laborer from a call to his horse or the murmur of ordinary conversation rises into song! It paints the landscape suddenly as no agriculture, no flowery crop that can be raised. It is at once another land, the abode of poetry. I am always thus affected when I hear in the fields any singing or instrumental music at the end of the day. It implies a different life and pursuits than the ordinary. As he looked at my sail, I listened to his singing. Perchance they were equally poetic, and we repaid each other. Why will not men oftener advertise me of musical thoughts? The singer is in the attitude of one inviting the muse, — aspiring. 

The Maryland yellow-throat amid the alders sings now, whit-we-chee whit-we-chee whit-we-chee whit-whit, the last two fast, or whit alone, or none.  

Woolly aphides on alder. 

The Smilacina trifolia will apparently bloom to-morrow or next day.

Returning, stopped at Barrett's sawmill while it rained a little. Was also attracted by the music of his saw. He was sawing a white oak log; was about to saw a very ugly and knotty white oak log into drag plank, making an angle. Said that about as many logs were brought to his mill as ten years ago, — he did not perceive the difference, — but they were not so large, and perhaps they went further for them. There were white oak, pine, maple, and walnut logs waiting to be sawed.

I observed that he was not grinding. No, he said, it was the first day he had not had a grist, though he had plenty of water; probably because the farmers were busy planting.  

A bullfrog, sluggish, by my boat’s place. 

On the 13th I saw washed up to the edge of the meadow, this side of Clamshell, portions of one or two large bluish-white eggs, apparently a size larger than hens’ eggs, which may have been laid last year by some wild fowl in the meadow. 

May 19, 2016

If my friend would take a quarter part the pains to show me himself that he does to show me a piece of roast beef, I should feel myself irresistibly invited. He says, — 

“ Come and see
Roast beef and me.”

I find the beef fat and well done, but him rare.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, May 19, 1856

Saw a small striped snake in the act of swallowing a Rana palustris . . . The snake, being frightened, released his hold, and the frog hopped off to the water. See  August 23, 1851 ("I saw a snake by the roadside and touched him with my foot . . . He had a toad in his jaws, which he was preparing to swallow with his jaws distended to three times his width, but he relinquished his prey in haste and fled"); July 23, 1856 ("A small bullfrog in the act of swallowing a young but pretty sizable apparently Rana palustris . . . I sprang to make him disgorge, but it was too late to save him.");

Hear and see a yellow-throated vireo, which methinks I have heard before. See  May 18, 1856 ("I think I hear a yellow-throated vireo. "); May 27, 1854 ("I see and hear the yellow-throated vireo. It is somewhat similar (its strain) to that of the red-eye, prelia pre-li-ay, with longer intervals and occasionally a whistle like tlea tlow, or chowy chow, or tully ho on a higher key.”) See also A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, The Yellow-throated Vireo

The tanager is now heard plainly and frequently.  See     May 15, 1856 ("As I sat by the Riordan crossing, thought it was the tanager I heard? . . . it must have been a tanager, which I hear frequently the 19th. ");   May 22, 1853 ("Hear the hoarse note of the tanager and the sweet pe-a-wai."); May 23, 1853 ("I hear and see a tanager. How he enhances the wildness and wealth of the woods! ") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Scarlet Tanager in May

I see running along the water’s edge on the Island Neck, amid the twigs, a new bird, slender and somewhat warbler-like, but plainly a Turdus. See May 23, 1860 ("[I see]running along the shore close to the water, at different times, three or four water-thrushes (water wagtails, Turdus Noveboracensis ) . . . It is considerably like the golden-crowned thrush, but it has a distinct buffish-white line over the eye and the breast and sides distinctly striped with dark. All above uniform olive-brown. It may be distinguished at a distance from a sparrow by its wagging motion, teetering on its perch. It persistently runs along the shore, peetweet- and song-sparrow-like, running like a rail around the tussocks and other obstacles and appearing again at the water's edge. It was not very shy.") Note. In 1856, the warbler known today as the northern waterthrush (Parkesia noveboracensis) was most commonly referred to as

• Aquatic Wood-Wagtail, or
• New York Thrush or Water Thrush (Turdus noveboracensis or  Turdus aquaticus). 

Apple in bloom. See The blooming of the apple trees is becoming general.  See May 18, 1851 ("The blooming of the apple trees is becoming general. ") See also A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, Apple Blossom Time

 

A traveller riding along the highway is watching my sail while he hums a tune. See March 26, 1855 ('"Sail down to the Great Meadows. A strong wind with snow driving from the west and thickening the air. The farmers pause to see me scud before it."); April 18, 1856 ("The farmer neglects his team to watch my sail."); September 27, 1858 ("The farmers digging potatoes on shore pause a moment to watch my sail and bending mast.")

I am always thus affected when I hear in the fields any singing or instrumental music at the end of the day. See  April 19, 1856 ("Was awakened in the night to a strain of music dying away, — passing travellers singing."); June 14, 1851 ("How sweet and encouraging it is to hear the sound of some artificial music from the midst of woods or from the top of a hill at night, borne on the breeze from some distant farmhouse, — the human voice or a flute!"); June 16, 1852 ("A flute from some villager. How rare among men so fit a thing as the sound of a flute at evening!"); June 18, 1852 ("I hear a man playing a clarionet far off."); June 25, 1852 ("Now his day's work is done, the laborer plays his flute, — only possible at this hour."); July 12, 1851 ("I hear a human voice, — some laborer singing after his day's toil");   July 20, 1853 ("You are pretty sure also to hear some human music, vocal or instrumental, far or near.")  August 15, 1851 ("I hear now from Bear Garden Hill — I rarely walk by moonlight without hearing — the sound of a flute, or a horn, or a human voice.")

The Maryland yellow-throat amid the alders sings now. See May 10, 1858 ("As I paddle along, hear the Maryland yellow-throat, the bobolink, the oven-bird, and the yellow-throated vireo. . . . It is remarkable how many new birds have come all at once to-day.");  May 11, 1854 ("Now, some time after sunset, the robins scold and sing, the Maryland yellow-throat is heard amid the alders and willows by the waterside, and the peetweet and black birds, and sometimes a kingbird, and the tree-toad.")

The Smilacina trifolia will apparently bloom to-morrow or next day. See  May 4, 1856 ("Smilacina trifolia recently up; will apparently open in ten or twelve days. "); See also A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, Three-leaved  false Solomon's-seal

 

Returning, stopped at Barrett's sawmill while it rained a little. Was also attracted by the music of his saw. See March 15, 1854 ("The sound of Barrett's sawmill in the still morning comes over the water very loud."); April 15, 1856 ("I hear very distinctly Barrett’s sawmill at my landing."); May 8, 1857 ("I hear the sound of Barrett's sawmill with singular distinctness."); August 17, 1858 ("Being overtaken by a shower, we took refuge in the basement of Sam Barrett’s sawmill, where we spent an hour.")

Wood pewee. See  May 17, 1853 ("I hear the wood pewee, — pe-a-wai. The heat of yesterday has brought him on."); May 17, 1854 ("Hear the wood pewee, the warm weather sound.");  May 22, 1854 ("I hear also pe-a-wee pe-a-wee, and then occasionally pee-yu, the first syllable in a different and higher key emphasized, — all very sweet and naive and innocent"); See also A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, The Arrival of the Eastern Wood Pewee

May 19.  See A Book of the Seasons, A by Henry Thoreau, May 19

He looked at my sail – 

I listened to his singing

inviting the muse.

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, As he looked at my sail

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau

"A book, each page written in its own season,

out-of-doors, in its own locality.”

~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx © 2009-2026

https://tinyurl.com/hdt-560519