Field And Study

Excerpt from Field and Study :"One of the new pleasures of country life when one has made the acquaintance of the birds is to witness the northward bird procession as it passes or tarries with us the spring - a procession which lasts from April till June and has some new feature daily.The migrating wild creatures, whether birds or beasts, always arrest the attention. They seem to link up animal life with the great currents of the globe. It is moving day on a continental scale. It is the call of the primal instinct to increase and multiply, suddenly setting in motion whole tribes and races. The first ph be-bird, the first song sparrow, the first robin or bluebird in March or early April, is like the first ripple of the rising tide on the shore.In my boyhood the vast armies of the passenger pigeons were one of the most notable spring tokens...