No one perhaps ever lived who excelled Henry D. Thoreau as a general
observer of nature. He patiently and with minute care examined both
animate and inanimate creation, and wrote down an accurate account
of his observations, noting particularly the effects produced by the
changes in the seasons. He worked diligently to discover the first sign
of spring, with results not wholly satisfactory. In one place he asks:
"What is the earliest sign of spring? The motions of worms and insects?
The flow of sap in trees and the swelling of buds? Do not the insects
awake with the flow of the sap? Bluebirds, etc., probably do not come
till the insects come out. Or are there earlier signs in the water, the
tortoises, frogs, etc.?"
He found that whenever there was a warm spell during the winter some
forms of vegetation, particularly the grasses and water plants, would
begin to grow, and some would even bloom in favorable locations, as the
skunk cabbage. He did not fully settle the question as to what would
begin to grow first in the spring, whether it was the catkins of the
swamp willow or the stems and leaves of the equisetum in the pool, or
something else.
A list of the most striking phenomena observed by Thoreau in early
spring is given below, and is extracted from his journals, written when
he lived near Boston, during the years 1840 to 1860. In each case the
earliest date mentioned by Thoreau is given, there being a difference
of about a month between the earliest and latest spring. Many of these
phenomena and the order in which they occur are common to a large
extent of country, including the eastern and northern central states.
Thus, the skunk cabbage is the first flower in all this region. A few
notes are added, showing variations.
February 21--Sap of the red maple flowing. This was in 1857. It does
not usually flow until the second week in March.
February 23--Yellow-spotted tortoise seen.
February 24--The bluebird, "angel of the spring," arrives; also the
song-sparrow. The _phebe_ or spring note of the chickadee, a winter
bird, heard.
"The bluebird and song-sparrow sing immediately on their arrival, and
hence deserve to enjoy some preëminence. They give expression to the
joy which the season inspires, but the robin and blackbird only peep
and _tchuck_ at first, commonly, and the lark is silent and flitting.
The bluebird at once fills the air with his sweet warbling, and the
song-sparrow, from the top of a rail, pours forth his most joyous
strain."
March 1--The catkins of the willow and aspen appear to have started to
grow.
March 2--The caltha, or cowslip, found growing in water.
The skunk cabbage in bloom in warm, moist grounds.
March 5--The red maple and elm buds expanded.
The spring note of the nut-hatch heard: _To-what, what, what, what,
what_, rapidly repeated, instead of the usual _quah quah_ of this
winter bird.
March 6--The gyrinus (water-bug) seen in the brook.
First blackbird seen.
Green sprouts of the sassafras, hazel, blueberry, and swamp-pink found.
March 7--Fuzzy gnats in the air.
First robins.
Spring note of the shrike heard, probably silent during the winter.
March 8--Willow buds expanded. Sap flowing in the white pine.
Flock of grackles seen.
Radical leaves of the golden-rods and asters in water, growing
decidedly.
March 9--Ducks seen.
March 10--Poplar and willow catkins started; also equisetum
(horse-tail), saxifrage, and probably other water plants. The
butter-cup found growing.
Shimmering in the air noticed, caused by evaporation; water in the
brooks, "clear, placid, and silvery," both phenomena of spring.
March 12--Poplar catkins in bloom.
First meadow-lark seen.
March 14--Wild geese seen.
Fox-colored sparrows seen.
March 15--Grass growing in water.