Why is the pollen of flowers commonly yellow?

March 28.

My Aunt Maria asked me to read the life of Dr. Chalmers, which however I did not promise to do. Yesterday, Sunday, she was heard through the partition shouting to my Aunt Jane, who is deaf, "Think of it! He stood half an hour to-day to hear the frogs croak, and he wouldn't read the life of Chalmers." 

6 a.m.- To Cliffs. 

Too cold for the birds to sing much. There appears to be more snow on the mountains. Many of our spring rains are snow-storms there. 

The woods ring with the cheerful jingle of the F. hyemalis. This is a very trig and compact little bird, and appears to be in good condition. The straight edge of slate on their breasts contrasts remarkably with the white from beneath ; the short, light-colored bill is also very conspicuous amid the dark slate ; and when they fly from you, the two white feathers in their tails are very distinct at a good distance. They are very lively, pursuing each other from bush to bush.

Could that be the fox-colored sparrow I saw this morning, — that reddish-brown sparrow ? 

I do not now think of a bird that hops so distinctly, rapidly, and commonly as the robin, with its head up.

Why is the pollen of flowers commonly yellow?


I saw yesterday, on the warm pool by Hubbard's Wood, long, narrow blades of reddish grass, bent nearly at right angles and floating on the water, lighter-colored beneath (lake-colored?). The floating part was from six inches to ten or twelve in length. This is much the greatest growth of grass that I have seen, for it is scarcely anywhere yet visibly green. It is an agreeable surprise, flushing the cheek, this warm color on the surface of some warm pool. 

P. M. — To Assabet. Saw eleven black ducks near the bathing-place on the Assabet, flying up the stream. Came within three or four rods of me, then wheeled and went down. Their faint quack sounded much [like] the croak of the frogs occasionally heard now in the pools. As they wheeled and went off, made a very fine whistling sound, which yet I think was not made by their wings. 

Opened an ant-hill about two and a half feet wide and eight inches high, in open land. It was light and dry, and apparently made by the ants; free from stones or sticks for about a foot in depth. The ants, which were red with black abdomens and were about a third of an inch long, crawled about sluggishly on being ex posed. Their galleries, a quarter of an inch and more in diameter, with ants in them, extended to the depth of two feet in the yellow sand, and how much further I don't know. Opened another in the woods with black ants of the same size in the same condition. 

This is a raw, cloudy, and disagreeable day. Yet I think you are most likely to see wild fowl this weather.

I saw in Dodd's yard and flying thence to the alders by the river what I think must be the tree sparrow,— a ferruginous crowned, or headed, and partly winged bird, light beneath, with a few of the F . hyemalis in company. It sang sweetly, much like some notes of a canary. One pursued another. It was not large enough for the fox-colored sparrow. Perhaps I have seen it before within the month. 

As near as I can make out, the hawks or falcons I am likely to see here are 

• the American sparrow hawk,
•  the fish hawk,
•  the goshawk, 
• the short-winged buzzard (if this is the same with Brown's stuffed sharp-shinned or slate-colored hawk, — not slate in his specimen; is not this the common small hawk that soars ?), 
• the red- tailed hawk 
• (have we the red-shouldered hawk, about the same size and aspect with the last ?), 
• the hen-harrier. (I suppose it is the adult of this with the slate-color over meadows.)

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, March 28, 1853

He stood half an hour to-day to hear the frogs croak. See March 27, 1853 ("Tried to see the faint-croaking frogs at J. P. Brown's Pond in the woods. . . .. Stood perfectly still amid the bushes on the shore, before one showed himself; finally five or six, and all eyed me, gradually approached me within three feet to reconnoitre, and, though I waited about half an hour, would not utter a sound.”) See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau,The Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica)

Saw eleven black ducks near the bathing-place on the Assabet. Their faint quack sounded much [like] the croak of the frogs occasionally heard now in the pools. See.March 28, 1858 (“ I look toward Fair Haven Pond . . .There is not a duck nor a gull to be seen on it. I can hardly believe that it was so alive with them yesterday. Apparently they improve this warm and pleasant day, with little or no wind, to continue their journey northward . . . It is a wild life that is associated with stormy and blustering weather”); March 28, 1859 (“The meadows, which are still covered far and wide, are quite alive with black ducks”) See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the American Black Duck

The woods ring with the cheerful jingle of the F. hyemalis. See March 28, 1854 ("A flock of hyemalis drifting from a wood over a field incessantly for four or five minutes, — thousands of them, notwithstanding the cold"); See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Dark-eyed Junco (Fringilla hyemalis)

The hen-harrier with the slate-color over meadows. See March 27, 1855 ("See my frog hawk.  . . .It is the hen-harrier, i.e. marsh hawk, male. Slate-colored; beating the bush; black tips to wings and white rump."); March 29, 1853 ("I believe I saw the slate-colored marsh hawk to-day"). See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Marsh Hawk (Northern Harrier)

As near as I can make out, the hawks or falcons I am likely to see here. See September 14, 1859 ("I can learn nothing from Wilson and Nuttall. The latter thinks that neither the pigeon nor sparrow hawk is found here")  See also  A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Pigeon Hawk (Merlin) A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Sharp-shinned Hawk