The first drops of rain begin to be heard on the dry leaves around me.

March 22. 

P. M. — The wind changes to easterly and is more raw, i. e. cool and moist, and the air thickens as if it would rain. 

Returning from Poplar Hill through the west end of Sleepy Hollow, it is very still, the air thick, just ready to rain, and I hear there, on the apple trees and small oaks, the tree sparrows and hyemalis singing very pleasantly. 

I hear the lively jingle of the hyemalis and the sweet notes of the tree sparrow, canary-like, — svar svar, svit vit vit vit vit, the last part with increasing rapidity. Both species in considerable numbers, singing together as they flit along, make a very lively concert. They sing as loud and full as ever now. There has been no sweeter warble than this of the tree sparrow as yet. 

It is a peculiarly still hour now, when the first drops of rain begin to be heard on the dry leaves around me, and, looking up, I see very high in the air two large birds, which, at that height, with their narrow wings, flying southeast, looked, i. e. were shaped, like night-hawks. I think they were gulls. 

The great scarlet oak has now lost almost every leaf, while the white oak near it still retains them. 

C. says he saw fox-colored sparrows this afternoon.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, March 22, 1859

I hear the lively jingle of the hyemalis and the sweet notes of the tree sparrow,. . . There has been no sweeter warble than this of the tree sparrow as yet. See March 15, 1854 ("Hear on the alders by the river the lill lill lill lill of the first F. hyemalis, mingled with song sparrows and tree sparrows."); March 20, 1855 ("At my landing I hear the F. hyemalis, in company with a few tree sparrows."); March 20, 1858 ("The tree sparrow is perhaps the sweetest and most melodious warbler at present and for some days."); April 8, 1855 ("Also song sparrows and tree sparrows and F. hyemalis are heard in the yard. The fox-colored sparrow is also there. The tree sparrows have been very musical for several mornings, somewhat canary-like"); April 23, 1854 ("A rain is sure to bring the tree sparrow and hyemalis to the gardens"). See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Dark-eyed Junco; A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Tree Sparrow; A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Signs of the Spring, the note of the dark-eyed junco going northward

The air thickens as if it would rain . . It is a peculiarly still hour now, when the first drops of rain begin to be heard on the dry leaves around me. See July 16, 1852 ("This is a still thoughtful day, the air full of vapors which shade the earth, preparing rain for the morrow.")

The great scarlet oak has now lost almost every leaf, while the white oak near it still retains them. See October 26, 1858 ("The largest scarlet oak that I remember hereabouts stands by the penthorum pool in the Sleepy Hollow cemetery, and is now in its prime."); December 11, 1858 ("The large scarlet oak in the cemetery has leaves on the lower limbs near the trunk just like the large white oaks now.");  January 19, 1859 {"Our largest scarlet oak (by the Hollow), some three feet diameter at three feet from ground, has more leaves than the large white oak close by.")

The first drops of rain 

begin to be heard on the 

dry leaves around me.

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The first drops of rain 

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 © 2009-2024

https://tinyurl.com/hdt590322

A perfect susurrus.

July 16

The bass on Conantum is a very rich sight now, a solid mass of verdure and of flowers with its massed and rounded outline.  Its twigs are drooping, weighed down with pendulous flowers.  When you stand directly under it and look up, you see one mass of flowers, a flowery canopy.  Its conspicuous leaf-like bracts, too, have the effect of flowers. The tree resounds with the hum of bees, -- bumblebees and honey-bees; rose-bugs and butterflies, also, are here,-- a perfect susurrus, a sound unlike any other in nature, not like the wind, as that is like the sea.

This is a still thoughtful day, the air full of vapors which shade the earth, preparing rain for the morrow. The air is full of sweetness. The tree is full of poetry.

H. D.  Thoreau, Journal, July 16, 1852

The tree resounds with the hum of bees, . . . a perfect susurrus, a sound unlike any other in nature See July 11, 1852; ("The bass on Conantum is now well in blossom. It probably commenced about the 9th. Its flowers are conspicuous for a tree, and a rather agreeable odor fills the air. The tree resounds with the hum of bees on the flowers. On the whole it is a rich sight.”);  July 17, 1854 (" I was surprised by the loud humming of bees, etc., etc., in the bass tree; thought it was a wind rising at first. Methinks none of our trees attract so many.") July 17, 1856 ("Hear at distance the hum of bees from the bass with its drooping flowers at the Island, a few minutes only before sunset. It sounds like the rumbling of a distant train of cars.”); July 18, 1854 ("At a little distance it is like the sound of a waterfall or of the cars; close at hand like a factory full of looms. . . .You will know if you pass within a few rods of a bass tree at this season in any part of the town, by this loud murmur, like a water fall, which proceeds from it.”) See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Basswood.

Air full of sweetness.

The tree full of poetry.

A still thoughtful day.