Evening star., 1933-02-24

! How closely to the ground the home
gardener keeps his ear these daysl
He is listening for the first sounds Of
Spring.
Usually it is a bird cheep which ap-
| prises him Of the fact beyond all
doubling.
We might be thought premature if
we announced the arrival of the most
beloved season Of all, but If we can be-
| lieve the evidence Of our own ears,
such is the case.
That cheeping heard the other morn
| ing-long before daylight--was 1t not
the song of Spring itself?
There was something about it, some
quality of greening leaves and flower
buds, which distinguished 1t from the
lesser cries of the birds.
| 1t came about $50 o'clock in the
/ morning, before true daylight, on q
very cool morning.
Just which bird it was we do not
know, not knowing enough about the
| feathered creatures to recognize them
4 by their songs, except in rare instances.
A different something or other, how
ever. was plain enough in the chirping
! of that lonely bird.
! Later in the morning we heard the
shrill cry Of a blue jay, fighter and
beauty in one.
Its raucous notes can scarcely be
called cheeping or chirping; they belong
to the jay, and to the jay alone.
| The notes which struck our down.
| ward-inclined ear were more songlike.
| Is it possible for birds, more than
human beings, to recognize in advance
definite change in weather conditions2
! 1t must be doubted.
Even instinct cannot be a sure guide
! in regard to weather changes. The
conditions which make-and especially
which change-our meteorological trends
are built up out of the situations them
selves, and these in turn depend abso-
lutely on chance
If highly organized Weather Bu-
| reau, functioning with the aid of last
| minute information from all parts of
the country-all parts of the world, in
deed-cannot always "hit" it correctly
| in its representations, no one can
! blame little bird if it fails to predict
exactly the coming Of Spring.
Wherefore no one need put too much
reliance in the soft cheeping, different
though 1T may be, which he happens to
, hear one of these fine mornings
The birds are doing their best, along
| with Nature herself, to bring ON genuine
Springtime, but many hours must pass
into the mysterious reservoirs of time
before the real thing comes down this
| way.
One bird no more makes a Spring
| than a few blossoms of the crocus,
nesting in the faded grass
Bright yellow bits of these flowers
have been in bloom out our way since
February /.
A particularly huge crocus-for a cro-
rIlc-carna intn hlOOy, ho Ja1y bofo~o
the last large snow. Immediately it
closed up and remained closed until the
snow melted away from its patch of
ground
Then it opened up again, as bright
as ever
In protected places, away from the
sun, some of the snow remained intact
for more than 16 days.
Here was demonstrated one of the
marvels Of Nature, always marvellous.
The snow kept its form, SO close to
water but dissimilar, for more than two
weeks
The evidence of a new note creeping
into the songs of birds is not enough to
assure us of the return of Spring, even
the first faltering touches of that divine
season.
Even the slight blossoming of certain
shrubs, such as the forsythia, cannot
do it.
Some of these impatient shrubs sent
forth few small flowers weeks ago, as