Chapter IX: To the Teacher

Let the pupils continue this list of examples of winter
preparations by watching and observing for themselves. Every
field, every tree, every roadside, will reveal the work done or
going on under their eyes. Without preaching you may draw many
an interesting and telling parallel with their own
preparation--in school for instance.

FOR THE PUPIL

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“The north wind doth blow, And we shall have snow, And what
will the Robin do then, Poor thing?”

Where does the verse come from? Mother Goose? Yes, but who was
she?

_Chipmunk_: Our little striped ground squirrel, interesting
because he has cheek-pouches and thus forms a link between the
arboreal squirrels (gray squirrels, etc.) and the ground
squirrels or spermophiles, of which the beautiful little
thirteen-lined squirrel of the prairies is an example.

_Whitefoot, the wood mouse_: The white-footed or wood mouse or
deer mouse.

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_Not so much as a bug or a single beetle’s egg has he stored_:
Why not, seeing that these are his food?

_a piece of suet for him on a certain lilac bush_: Whose bush
might it be? Is there a piece on yours?

_upon the telegraph-wires were the swallows--the first sign
that the getting ready for winter has begun_: What kind or
kinds of swallows? Have you any earlier sign?

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_the few creatures that find food and shelter in the snow_: Name
four of the _animals_ that so find their food and shelter. Are
there any others? Look them up.

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_there will be suffering and death_: In your tramps afield this
winter look out for signs of suffering. There are many little
things that you can do to lessen it--a little seed scattered, a
piece of suet nailed up on a tree, a place cleared in the snow
where gravel stones can be picked up.

_or even three hundred pounds of honey_: By not allowing the
bees to swarm, and thus divide their strength, bee-keepers
often get more than three hundred pounds of comb-honey (in the
little pound boxes or sections) from a single hive. The bees
themselves require only about twenty to twenty-five pounds to
carry them through the winter.

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_the witch-hazels_: The witch-hazels do not yield honey so far
as the author has observed. Suppose you watch this autumn to see
if the honey-bees (do you know a honey-bee when you see _her_?)
visit it. Whence comes this quotation? From which poem of
Bryant’s:--

“when come the calm, mild days.”

_put on their storm-doors_: In modern bee-hives there is a
movable board in front upon which the bees alight when entering
the hive; this can be so turned as to make a large doorway for
the summer, and a small entrance for the cold winter.

_whole drove of forty-six woodchucks_: The author at one time
had forty-six inhabited woodchuck holes on his farm.

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_as Bobolink among the reeds of the distant Orinoco_: The
bobolink winters even farther south--beyond the banks of the
Amazon.

_to sleep until dawn of spring_: What is the name for this
strange sleeping? What other American animals do it? Name
three.

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_frogs frozen into the middle of solid lumps of ice_: Of course,
this was never done intentionally: each time the frogs were
forgotten and left in the laboratory, where they froze.

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_they seem to have given up the struggle at once ..._: This may
not be the explanation. One of the author’s friends suggests
that it may have been caused by exposure, due to their having
been frightened in the night from their usual bed and thus
forced to roost where they could until morning.

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_timothy_: “Herd’s-grass” or “English hay”--as it is sometimes
called in New England.

_plenty for the birds_: What are the “weeds” made for? You
growl when you are set to pulling them in the garden. What are
they made for? Can you answer?