Not long, ’tis when the hyacinths and tulips bloom in rows, And lilies-of-the-valley start to whitening on their stems, And woodsy things are opening fast to make a new out’-doors, Then robin-redbreast on a sunny day Comes taking life his usual charming way, With a blithe and merry Che-che-chem-chem-chems! While yet dry leaves and building twigs are left upon the ground “I thought I’d come to the old place and take a look around.” Then later, when the grasses curl, a-tilt in taller growth, And nooks for snuggeries are made by grape and ivy-vines, When lilacs stand in purple, and the plum-trees blossom forth, Comes here a lilting, gay, and gaudy troop, Tits, thrushes, bobolinks, blue-jays with noisy whoop, Kingbirds, wild tumblers in the air, drunk with ethereal wines; Then cardinals, and indigoes, and finches find the place, And so the town-site in the trees grows populous apace. One waiting for the apple-blooms is he who’s always late, The oriole: his building-site none e’er disputes with him. Though last to come he has full leave to settle, with his mate, And hang his hammock up to rock and swing, To flout the town on breezy, orange wing From where his house sways airily adown a pendant limb. And now the high, green tree-top town, which welcomes ev’ry comer, Has settled to the business of singing out the summer. —Austin Arnold McCausland. Transcriber’s Notes --Created an eBook cover from elements within the issue. --Reconstructed the Table of Contents (originally on each issue’s cover). --Retained copyright notice on the original book (this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.) --Silently corrected a few palpable typos. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds and Nature Vol. 9 No. 4 [April 1901], by Various