"Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?"
but I have done what I could to bring home the "river and sky" with
the sparrow I heard "singing at dawn on the alder bough." In other
words, I have tried to present a live bird,--a bird in the woods or
the fields,--with the atmosphere and associations of the place, and
not merely a stuffed and labeled specimen.
A more specific title for the volume would have suited me better; but
not being able to satisfy myself in this direction, I cast about for a
word thoroughly in the atmosphere and spirit of the book, which I hope
I have found in "Wake-Robin," the common name of the white Trillium,
which blooms in all our woods, and which marks the arrival of all the
birds.