Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“as the spring began, came crowds of chiffchaffs and willow-wrens”
- Source
- Nature Near London
- Date
- 1883
Meaning of “as the spring began, came crowds of chiffchaffs…”
The arrival of birds marks spring through recurring natural events, showing how Jefferies reads time through seasonal change and attention rather than through dates alone.
Where does it come from?
Nature Near London, Preface, Project Gutenberg #18629. The represented witness reads 'First, as the spring began, came crowds of chiffchaffs and willow-wrens'; the frozen catalog excerpt begins with 'as the spring began' and therefore drops the introductory 'First,'. Jefferies is recording one local observational experience near London, explicitly warning later in the Preface that season, locality and weather vary; it is not a universal present-day phenology schedule.
