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.
CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
JOHN BURROUGHS
Etched by W. H. W. Bicknell, from a daguerreotype
PARTRIDGE'S NEST
From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason
A CABIN IN THE ADIRONDACKS
From a photograph by Clifton Johnson
AMERICAN OSPREY, OR FISH HAWK (colored)
From a drawing by L. A. Fuertes
BIRD'S-FOOT VIOLETS
From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason
BLUEBIRD
From a drawing by L. A. Fuertes
INTRODUCTION TO RIVERSIDE EDITION
In coming before the public with a newly made edition of my writings, what can I say to my reader at this stage of our acquaintance that will lead to a better understanding between us? Probably nothing. We understand each other very well already. I have offered myself as his guide to certain matters out of doors, and to a few matters indoor, and he has accepted me upon my own terms, and has, on the whole been better pleased with me than I had any reason to expect. For this I am duly grateful; why say more? Yet now that I am upon my feet, so as to speak, and palaver is the order, I will keep on a few minutes longer.
It is now nearly a quarter of a century since my first book, "Wake-Robin," was published. I have lived nearly as many years in the world as I had lived when I wrote its principal chapters. Other volumes have followed, and still others. When asked how many there are, I often have to stop and count them up. I suppose the mother of a large family does not have to count up her children to say how many there are. She sees their faces all before her. It is said of certain savage tribes who cannot count above five, and yet who own flocks and herds, that every native knows when he has got all his own cattle, not by counting, but by remembering each one individually.