Chapter III: Part 3

The true locusts are the field insects commonly called "grasshoppers." They belong to a class of insects whose metamorphosis is not complete,--that is, they do not go through all of the several stages of transformation. The young, on emerging from the ground where the eggs were laid the summer previous, look like abnormal wingless grasshoppers. Grasshoppers live but a single season.

September Eleventh

The little green heron will steal cautiously along the water's edge, with head drawn in, and beak pointed forward. Then he stops, and with a sudden lunge catches a minnow or a polliwog in his bill, and swallows it head foremost. When flushed, he laboriously wings his way across the stream and, alighting in the shallow water or in a tree, flirts his tail, stretches his long neck, and stands motionless a few minutes before starting on another fishing trip.

September Twelfth

At this season the banks of the rivers and streams shine with the golden blossoms of the wild sunflower, artichoke, Canadian potato, or earth apple. In late summer and early spring, freshets wash away the earth, leaving the edible, tuberous roots exposed for the muskrats, woodchucks, mice, squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits to feed upon.

Notes

September Thirteenth

Patiently Madam Spider sits and holds the cords of her telegraph system, waiting for some unfortunate to announce to her its capture. When she receives this message, out she rushes, and while the victim struggles she holds him with her legs, while other legs are busy binding him with cords.

September Fourteenth

The American goldfinch is very much in evidence these days. He sways back and forth on the heads of the Canadian thistles, and clings to the ripened sunflower heads, the fruit of which he is very fond. When disturbed he flies away in graceful undulations, calling back to you, "_Just-see-me-go; just-see-me-go; just-see-me-go._"

September Fifteenth

When overburdened with honey and bee-bread, large numbers of honey bees are drowned while attempting to cross wide stretches of water. Put your hand in the water and let one crawl into the palm. It will not sting so long as you do not squeeze or touch it. Note the two dots of golden pollen adhering to the cups on the hind feet. Gradually the bee regains strength and begins to dry itself. First fluttering its wings, then combing its fuzzy head and trunk with its legs, finally it is off in the direction of its hive.

Notes

September Sixteenth

Clinging to the old stump fences, and covering the low bushes by the roadside, the wild clematis, or traveller's joy, smiles at the wayfarer and defies the efforts of the farmer to exterminate it. As the blossom goes to seed, a charming, foamlike effect is produced by the appearance of the many stamens and pistils.

September Seventeenth

This week the rose-breasted grosbeak, kingbird, Baltimore oriole, yellow warbler, ruby-throated hummingbird and yellow-breasted chat will probably leave for the South. They all pass beyond the United States to winter, and most of them go to Mexico, Central and South America. Good luck to them on their long journey, and may they all live to return to us again next summer.

September Eighteenth

The dense forests strewn with moss-covered logs, stumps, and boulders, and the rocky, fern-clad borders of woodland rivulets, are the home of the winter wren. Quite like a mouse in actions, he works his way over and under the fallen trees; in and out of the rocky crevices, until you quite despair of guessing where he will next appear.

Notes

September Nineteenth

The next time you go into the country, catch two or three locusts (grasshoppers), and examine their bodies for locust mites. They are tiny red mites usually clustered at the base of the grasshopper's wings, and are easily found if you raise the wings slightly and look under them. Often they are found on house flies.

September Twentieth

Nature employs many ingenious devices for distributing the seed of her plants. The downy seeds of the Canadian thistle, dandelion, prickly lettuce, dogbane, and milkweed are cast over the land by the winds. The common tare, the jewel-weed, and the wood sorrel have devices for throwing their seeds. Seeds of many species of plants are contained in burrs or "stickers" that adhere to the coats of animals and are carried miles before they are finally planted.

September Twenty-first

A belted kingfisher, when suddenly seized with a fit of playfulness, will skim over the water and plunge beneath the surface, sending the spray in all directions. Emerging, he continues his flight, repeating the performance every fifty feet or more, at the same time "rattling" loudly as though in great ecstasy.

Notes

September Twenty-second

The thick, chunky purple heads of the Canadian thistle always attract the bumblebees, and you find them as eager for its nectar as they were for the Joe-Pie weed a month or so ago. It is wonderful how much abuse a bumblebee will stand before he loses his temper. He is much more tractable than his cousin, the honey bee, or any of the wasps.

September Twenty-third

Some animals lay by a supply of fat for winter, which they absorb while resting in comparative quiet in their burrows. Others are endowed with a hoarding instinct, so they gather and store nuts, grain, seeds, and fruit to last them until spring, while the remainder are forced to live upon the food that the season affords them,--a life of privation, in many instances.

September Twenty-fourth

The monarch butterfly is one of the common butterflies seen in early fall. It is something of a wanderer, going North in the spring and migrating South in the fall. Have you ever watched them floating through the air, high above your head and tried to estimate how high they were?

Notes

September Twenty-fifth

Fishermen often find piles of clam shells heaped under the exposed roots of trees or stumps, at or near the water's edge. This is the work of muskrats. After carrying the clams from the bed of the stream, the rats take them to the bank and leave them for the sun to open. Then they eat the clams, after which the shells are disposed of in little heaps.

September Twenty-sixth

Next to the red-shouldered hawk, the red-tailed hawk is the most common of the large hawks in Eastern North America. Although the farmers shoot it on sight, and the barn-yard fowls hurry to shelter at its cries, it is one of the farmer's best friends, because of the great number of grasshoppers and mice it captures. Its cry is a loud, high-pitched, "long-drawn out squealing whistle which to my ear suggests the sound of escaping steam." (Chapman.)

September Twenty-seventh

You hear the mitchella-vine spoken of as "partridge berry," "twin-berry," and "squaw-berry." It is a small-leaved vine, very common in woods and shaded thickets. Winter does not harm its fruit, so it is a welcome treat to many birds and mammals in early spring. The buds appear in pairs, which form a double fruit with two eyes, or navels, thus giving it the name of "twin-berry."

Notes

September Twenty-eighth

The water skate, or water strider, resembles somewhat a "granddaddy longlegs." It runs about over the surface of the water in search of microscopic insects, casting grotesque shadows on the bottom. It does not dive like the water boatman, but if it chooses it can take wing, and is often seen to spring into the air and grasp its prey.

September Twenty-ninth

Our common sunfish builds a nest of stones and gravel on the bottom of a stream. "The male watches the nest and drives away all intruders. The species is usually hardy in captivity, but is subject to fungus attacks, which yield readily to a treatment with brackish water." (Bean.)

September Thirtieth

On moonlight nights skunks come out into the fields to feed upon beetles and grasshoppers. They are keen scented, and you will sometimes see where their claws have assisted in securing an insect that their nose has detected in the ground. They will often approach a man carrying a lantern, and after sniffing at it a few times will walk away and resume their hunt.

Notes

=October=

October First

This is the month when many of our birds depart for their southern winter resorts. The common ones that leave this week are the scarlet tanager, ovenbird, chimney swift, wood thrush, indigo bunting, and redstart.

October Second

The workers and drone bumblebees die at the approach of winter, but the queen takes shelter under the bark of trees, in stone piles and in other places which offer protection, where she remains all winter. She then comes out and gathers moss and grass for a nest, or she may appropriate the deserted nest of a meadow mouse. After making several wax cells, she fills them with pollen and honey, deposits an egg in each cell, and when the young hatch, they feed upon the sweets.

October Third

"'Among the crimson and yellow hues of the falling leaves, there is no more remarkable object than the witch-hazel in the moment parting with its foliage, putting forth a profusion of showy yellow blossoms, and giving to November the counterfeited appearance of spring.'" (Newhall.)

Notes

October Fourth

When surprised while feeding, gray squirrels will resort to an ingenious method of escape. As the hunter approaches, the squirrel will scurry to the opposite side of the tree trunk, and as the hunter changes his position, the squirrel does likewise, keeping the trunk of the tree between itself and the enemy.

October Fifth

It is not always the large winged birds with the light bodies that fly the fastest. The swifts, grouse, pigeons, and ducks are the swiftest of fliers, yet they have heavy bodies and short or narrow wings. The eagles, hawks, owls, buzzards, and herons, on the other hand, have large wings and comparatively light bodies, yet they are noted for their slow and graceful flight, still they can fly long distances.

October Sixth

The white-footed mouse, deer mouse, or wood mouse, usually makes his home in a hollow stump, limb, or tree trunk. To prove that he can scramble up rough bark, as well as run upon the ground, he frequently builds a large, bulky nest of dried grass in a bush or low tree. These nests have a tiny aperture in one or two sides, and they are nearly always located in trees traversed by wild grape, or other vines.

Notes

October Seventh

Insects "supply us with the sweetest of sweets, our very best inks and dyes, and our finest robes and tapers, to say nothing of various acids, lacs, and waxes; while few, who have not studied the subject, have any idea of the importance of insects and their products as articles of human diet." (Riley.)

October Eighth

Many an amateur sportsman has mistaken the fall song of the peeper, coming from the tall forest trees, for that of a game bird or mammal. It is loud and clearer than the peeper's spring song, but the resemblance is easily detected after one knows that both songs are sung by the same frog. Now since the wood birds have ceased to sing, its song is quickly noticed.

October Ninth

In size, shape, and actions, the English robin is similar to our bluebird, to which it is related. The English blackbird is a _thrush_, and our robin is the largest of American thrushes. In the Bermuda Islands the catbird is called "blackbird."

Notes

October Tenth

"The flight of the flying fish is usually from four to six feet above the water, and it is sustained for fifty to one hundred feet. The general enlarged pectoral fins act as wings, and furnish the motive power.... On all up grades it gives a stiff wing-stroke about every three feet, rises to overtop each advancing wave, and drops as the wave rolls on, like a stormy petrel." (Hornaday.)

October Eleventh

Mushrooms and apples are often seen resting in the branches of trees. Should you examine one, very likely you would find the marks of a rodent's teeth in its sides. This is one of the ways a red squirrel has of storing food. When he placed the mushrooms there, did he know that they would dry and be preserved? If so, why did not instinct tell him that the apples would decay before spring?

October Twelfth

Once the alarm note of a crow is heard and its meaning understood, you can always tell when those keen-eyed birds have discovered a hawk or an owl. "_Hak, hak, hak, hak, hak_," they call, much louder, quicker, and in a higher key than the regular "_caw, caw, caw_." Rarely do they strike a hawk or owl, but they keep diving at it until it soars beyond their reach, or takes shelter in a tree.

Notes

October Thirteenth

If you can surprise a muskrat in a small pond, notice that he does not use his front feet (which are not webbed) in swimming; but, like the frog and the toad, holds them close against the sides of his body. Ordinarily the tail is used as a rudder, but when he is hard pressed, he whirls it round and round so that it acts like a screw propeller.

October Fourteenth

The brook trout is another fish that builds a nest. It makes a hollow in the bed of a brook or a spring, pushing the gravel aside with its nose, and carrying the stones in its mouth. By using its tail the cavity is shaped and then filled with pebbles, on which the eggs are laid, and covered with gravel. These "spawning" beds can now be seen in any spring-fed trout stream.

October Fifteenth

As soon as the foliage falls from the trees it is easy to collect birds' nests; and it is no sin to do so then, inasmuch as the birds mentioned this week rarely use the same nest a second season. Take a trip into the country with the sole object of hunting for nests, and you will be surprised to see how many you can find. One hundred and ninety-eight bird homes have been counted during a three hours' walk. When it is possible to take a part of the limb to which a nest is attached, it is best to do so.

Notes

October Sixteenth

Besides the large pendent nest of the Baltimore and the orchard orioles, skilfully suspended from the end of an elm, maple, apple, or pear tree limb, you will find many smaller _hanging_ nests built by the several species of vireos. They are about the size of a tennis-ball; made of birch bark, paper, and pieces of dried leaves, fastened with spider and caterpillar webs, and they are lined with dried pine needles or dried grass.

October Seventeenth

The American goldfinch, "thistlebird" or "wild canary," usually places its nest in the angle of three twigs at the end of a slender branch that is nearly or quite perpendicular. The nest is larger than a base-ball, deeply hollowed and composed outwardly of pieces of cotton waste, plant fibres and fine bark, with a thick lining of willow or dandelion down, and other soft material.

October Eighteenth

The chebec (least flycatcher), wood pewee, and blue-gray gnat-catcher saddle their nests on the upper side of limbs, as the hummingbird does, and they use the same variety of material. They are so delicate in construction that a severe storm will send them to the ground.

Notes

October Nineteenth

The bulky basket nests of the cedar-bird and kingbird are usually found saddled on a horizontal limb in an orchard. The kingbird prefers to be near water, and will often use an elm, willow, or thorn-tree for a nesting site. From the ground, the nests resemble each other. They are about eight inches across, are composed outwardly of sticks, leaves, and moss, lined with fine roots and the like, and sometimes wood or cotton is used.

October Twentieth

Crows usually build in pine-trees, but where there are no pines, they will choose an oak, chestnut, maple, or poplar, not always high ones either. The nest is made of sticks, leaves, bark, and mud, lined with dried grass or fine bark. Most of the large hawks make their nests in oak, maple, chestnut, or beech trees, in the groves or forests. They often occupy the same nest year after year.

October Twenty-first

Of the birds that build in bushes or small trees, the following are the common species: catbird (twigs, leaves, and grass, lined with fine roots), black-billed and yellow-billed cuckoo (a sort of stick platform with a few dried leaves for a lining), and yellow-breasted chat (leaves, sticks, and bark, deeply hollowed and lined with soft grasses). Song sparrows' nests are very common.

Notes

October Twenty-second

If it becomes necessary to protect their young, most birds seem to lose all fear. When surprised with her brood of chicks, the ruffed grouse and nearly all ground-dwelling birds will feign injury and flutter a few feet in front of the intruder, seemingly in great agony. The cries and actions are intended to lure you from the young. During the interval that you are watching or chasing her, the chicks have fairly melted into the earth.

October Twenty-third

The stickleback is a small fish that inhabits the brackish waters from Cape Ann to New Jersey. Mr. Hornaday says that the abdomen of the male has been provided with a gland filled with a clear secretion which coagulates into threads when it comes in contact with the water. By means of this, a hood-like nest large enough for the female to enter is fastened to the vegetation at the bottom of the sea, and the eggs are deposited in the nest.

October Twenty-fourth

Birds seem to have a common language, so far, at least, as conveying a warning of danger is concerned. The appearance of a hawk, or an owl, will cause a catbird, robin, vireo, or song sparrow to give a warning note which is at once heeded by every feathered neighbor within hearing. Instantly all is quiet until danger has passed.

Notes

October Twenty-fifth

Grebes are expert swimmers and divers. Before the invention of smokeless powder, the adult birds could easily dive at the flash of a gun and were beneath the surface of the water when the shot struck. On land these duck-like birds push themselves over the ground on their breasts, or waddle along in a very awkward manner. They cannot rise from the ground, and even when rising from the water they must flutter over its surface for a long distance before they are able actually to take wing.

October Twenty-sixth

A strong aversion for snakes prevails with many of us. Most people think that the majority of snakes are poisonous. In reality the only dangerously venomous snakes in the United States are the rattlesnakes (fourteen species), the moccasin, and the copperhead, and they are not so aggressive as is generally supposed.

October Twenty-seventh

How often the osprey or American fish-hawk is mistaken for an eagle! The fish-hawk is the only hawk that will poise in the air and then plunge into the water for its prey. Unlike the kingfisher, of which of course it is no kin, it carries its food in its talons instead of in its beak. In captivity it may be confined in an aviary with pigeons, quail, and other defenceless birds, and will not molest them.

Winter Plumage.]

Notes

October Twenty-eighth

The bull-frog, whose legs are considered such a delicacy, often attains a length of fifteen inches. Its food consists of insects, small frogs, birds, mice, and young water-fowl, and one has been killed which had eaten a bat. Birds have learned to look upon it as a foe. Bull-frogs are fast becoming extinct because of the demand for their legs.

October Twenty-ninth

The sharp-shinned hawk is smaller in body, but has about the same expanse of wing, as a domesticated pigeon. It is one of the few hawks that is destructive to birds and young poultry. Not only in the country, but in the city parks and villages, it is seen in late fall or in winter, skimming over the tops of the bushes ready to pounce upon a sparrow of any species the instant one appears.

October Thirtieth

Red squirrels and chipmunks differ in size, markings, and habits. The red squirrel is nearly twice as large as the chipmunk, it nests in trees, and is usually seen among the branches. It is red on the back and whitish beneath, sometimes having one black line along each side. Chipmunks live in the ground, hollow stumps, and roots. They are poor tree climbers and will not jump from tree to tree unless forced to do so. They have a black stripe down the back and two on each side.

Notes

October Thirty-first

At dusk or early in the evening the weird, tremulous wail of the screech owl may be heard. Sometimes one will visit a favorite tree at the same hour evening after evening, and after sounding his cry several times, will glide away into the country to hunt for a supper of beetles, meadow mice or white-footed mice.

Notes

=November=

November First

The chipping sparrow, field sparrow, vesper sparrow, mourning dove, red-shouldered blackbird, and purple grackle stay with us as long as the weather will permit. Mr. Chapman says: "Should the season be an exceedingly mild one, many of these birds will remain [about New York] until late in December."

November Second

The brown creeper, another denizen of the forests, groves, and village shade trees, is seldom noticed because of its small size and dull coloring, which blends perfectly with the tree trunks. It is often found in company with chickadees, nuthatches and kinglets. The creeper flies to the base of a tree, and winds his way to the top, hunting in the crevices of the bark for insects and insect larvæ, occasionally uttering a clear, feeble trill.

November Third

Unlike the bears one meets in certain kinds of animal stories, the real bear is the most easily frightened of all our large animals. His eyesight is defective, and his hearing not particularly good, but his keen nose more than compensates for those deficiencies.

Upper, Mountain. Lower, Hudsonian.]

Notes

November Fourth

Artists often make the mistake of drawing a flying bird with its feet drawn up beneath its breast. Although some birds do hold their feet in this position, the herons, gulls, buzzards, and most of the hawks and eagles hold their feet and legs against the under side of the tail. The legs of the many species of herons are very conspicuous when the birds fly, for as the tail is short, they extend far beyond it.

November Fifth

Some ants live in the ground, some make chambers in wood, while others build mounds of small sticks, dirt, and gravel, and construct roadways to and from them. They feed upon flesh, fruit, and plant substances. Their hind legs are provided with a sort of brush for cleaning the dirt from their bodies, and these legs in turn are cleaned by being drawn through the mouth.

November Sixth

The "'coon" (raccoon) is strictly a nocturnal animal, and spends the day in hollow trees, crevices in the rocks, or in thick underbrush, coming forth at night to hunt its food,--mice, birds, crabs, clams, eggs, acorns, and green corn. On the Pacific Coast it makes a neat round hole in the side of a pumpkin and takes out the seeds with its hands.

Notes

November Seventh

Hawks, owls, and eagles are bold defenders of their nests and young. Circling overhead, they suddenly bow their wings and dash at the intruder, turning quickly and swooping up again when only a few inches from his head. Instances are known in which persons have been wounded severely while meddling with the property of such birds of prey.

November Eighth

The tail of the brown creeper, and of all of the thirty-five species and sub-species of woodpeckers, is provided with stiff, pointed feathers which curve in slightly. With the chimney swift, each feather is armed with a spine. While woodpeckers cling to a tree trunk, and the chimney swift to the side of a chimney, their stiff tails help to support them.

November Ninth

Although the darning-needle, dragon fly, snake feeder, or snake doctor is perfectly harmless, Howard says, "Some believe that they will sew up the ears of bad boys; others that they will sting horses; still others that they act as feeders and physicians to snakes, especially to water snakes." They are the beautiful lace-winged insects that frequently dip down and pick up an insect from the surface of a pond or a river.

Notes

November Tenth

Conspicuous in the withered grass of upland meadows are the white flowers of the several species of everlasting. If picked before they begin to fade, they will keep through winter nearly as fresh and white as when the blossoming season was at its height.

November Eleventh

In the mountains of the North, the black bear is beginning to look for a suitable place in which to pass the winter. Many bears could wear their skins much longer if they would only hibernate before the snow begins to fly. Every hunter anxiously awaits the first fall of snow, which makes the tracking of bears so easy.

November Twelfth

Nine out of every ten persons call salamanders or newts, "lizards." Lizards do not metamorphose; consequently they are never found in the water. They are very swift; lovers of the sun, and in the East are rarely seen north of a line parallel with southern New England. Salamanders are found either _in the water or in damp places_. They metamorphose, and when on the ground their efforts to escape are feeble.

Notes

November Thirteenth

Owls, woodpeckers, ducks, doves, pigeons, the ruffed grouse, Bob-white, belted kingfisher, ruby-throated hummingbird, chimney swift, short-billed marsh wren, and bush-tit lay eggs that are glossy white or various shades of white or buff-color. The eggs of the herons, cuckoos, robin, bluebird, catbird, Wilson's thrush, and hermit thrush are blue, green, or various shades of those colors.

November Fourteenth

Just at evening the white-throated sparrows, from the thickets, call their sweet, clear good-night to one another. As the darkness falls, the calls gradually cease, until only an occasional flutter is heard as some restless bird, not satisfied with its perch, chooses a new position for the night.

November Fifteenth

It is now time to build winter shelters for Bob-white, and to begin to feed the winter birds. Cut pine or evergreen boughs, and pile them against the side of a log, leaving a _small_ opening at each end for the quail to enter. Make the shelters on the south or east side of a hill or bank, where it will be protected from the cold winter storms. Now scatter buckwheat about your bird "wickey-up," as an Indian would call it, and they will soon find it. You should feed grain to your flock all winter.

Notes

November Sixteenth

The sparrow hawk is a summer resident in New England, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio. It nests in a cavity of a tree or in a deserted woodpecker's nest, and it will return to the same locality year after year. The bird is no larger than a robin, and instead of being a sparrow killer, it lives chiefly upon insects.

November Seventeenth

The opossum is the only North American member of the order Marsupialia which has so many representatives in Australia and New Zealand. The marsupials are the animals that have pouches over their abdomens in which they _carry their young_. Some people wrongly include in this order the pocket gopher, pocket mouse, and other mammals that have cheek pouches in which they _carry food_.

November Eighteenth

Accounts of the capture of "extremely rare and valuable monkey-faced owls," are often published. These owls are nothing more than barn owls, which are so common in the Southern States. They nest in holes in banks, in cavities in trees, or in church belfries. A pair has occupied one of the towers in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, for several years.

Notes

November Nineteenth

The common meadow mouse makes a docile and interesting pet, if captured without frightening or exciting him. Within fifteen minutes from the time of his capture he will often lose all fear, and while you hold him he will wash his face with his paws.

November Twentieth

The snowy, and the great-gray, owls, both inhabitants of the North-land, are the largest American members of the owl family. They are more frequently seen in the daytime and are much tamer than other owls, often permitting one to approach very close to them. Except in very severe weather they rarely come below the Canadian border. In disposition the great-horned owl and the snow owl are considered fierce, still they can be tamed, even if captured when adult.

November Twenty-first

It is a general impression that bears hug their victims to death. When enraged a bear will charge to within a few feet of a man, rise upon its hind legs, and strike him down with its fore paws, or hold him with them while it attacks his neck and shoulders with its teeth. After inflicting several wounds a bear will often leave its victim without further injuring him.

THE GREAT HORNED OWL AND THE SNOWY OWL CAN BE TAMED.]

Notes

November Twenty-second

The blue jay is one of the birds who remain with us throughout the entire year. His habits are not the same in all parts of his range. In some localities he is strictly a bird of the forests, while in others, he is common in our city parks and shade-trees. A relative of the crow, he is charged with robbing nests of their eggs and young birds. He is fond of nuts also, and will eat any kind that his strong bill can open.

November Twenty-third

Hawks and owls will respond quickly if you make a squeaking noise like a mouse, and a fox will stop and prick up his ears, then turn and proceed in the direction of the sound until he discovers its source. A weasel will dash toward the hunter, and even after it sees him, its curiosity keeps it from retreating at once.

November Twenty-fourth

The Thanksgiving turkey that we eat about now "is derived from the wild turkey of Mexico, which was introduced into Europe shortly after the Conquest and was thence brought to eastern North America." (Chapman and Reed.) The tips of the upper tail-coverts of the domestic and the Mexican turkey are whitish, while those of the wild turkey of eastern United States are rusty brown.

Notes

November Twenty-fifth

A skunk knows every woodchuck and rabbit burrow in his neighborhood. In the woods he will often visit hole after hole with great precision, but in the meadows he is more apt to follow the fences, frequently cutting across a corner in order to shorten the distance to a burrow. Probably experience has taught him that rabbits are often found in woodchuck holes and that meadow mice also take shelter in them during the winter.

November Twenty-sixth

The tallest and heaviest of all birds is the African ostrich, but the condor of South America has the widest expanse of wing. In the United States, the California vulture, once very rare, but now steadily increasing, is broadest across the wings. The whooping crane stands the highest, and the swans are the heaviest of our birds.

November Twenty-seventh

Do not kill the bats that you find passing the winter in your garret, or those that fly into your house in the summer. They destroy large numbers of gnats and mosquitoes, and do no harm. The belief that they get into one's hair is ridiculous, and it is seldom that they are infested with vermin. A South American species has been known to suck the blood of horses and cattle.

Notes

November Twenty-eighth

On returning to the nest and discovering that a cowbird has laid an egg in it, some species of birds will roll the egg out. But the phoebe, red-eyed vireo, chipping sparrow, and yellow warbler will sometimes cover the eggs with nesting material and build up the sides of the nest, thus burying its own and the cowbird's egg. Another set of eggs is then laid and the bird begins to sit, but the buried eggs are too deep to be affected by the warmth of the parent's body, so the "lazy-bird's" purpose is defeated.

November Twenty-ninth

In the abandoned birds' nests that are placed near the ground in shrubs and small trees close to hazel-nut bushes and bitter-sweet vines, you will often find a handful of hazel-nuts or bitter-sweet berries. They were put there by the white-footed mice and the meadow mice who visit these storehouses regularly. Very often a white-footed mouse will cover a bird's nest with fine dried grass and inner bark, and make a nest for itself.

November Thirtieth

Between now and the first of March you may expect to see large flocks of red-polls feeding on seeds among the weeds and low bushes, and cross-bills in the pine and spruce trees shelling seeds from the cones.

A FOUR-STORIED WARBLER'S NEST. EACH STORY REPRESENTS AN ATTEMPT BY THE WARBLER TO AVOID BECOMING FOSTER PARENT OF A YOUNG COWBIRD.]

Notes

=December=

December First

Besides being the means by which they capture their prey, the talons of an eagle, hawk, or owl are their weapons of defence. Their bill can really inflict but little injury. When wounded one of these birds will throw itself upon its back, and strike with its feet, burying its talons deep in the flesh of its adversary.

December Second

The gray or wood gray fox lives about the rocks and ledges. It is a noted tree climber, and, being less fleet than the red fox, it often eludes pursuing dogs by taking shelter in the rocks, or amid the branches of a tree. Running a short distance, it will spring to the side of a tree and scramble up the trunk. Sometimes it falls back and is obliged to repeat the performance several times before it is able to gain the first branches, from which it can easily climb from limb to limb as high as it chooses.

December Third

The junco and the horned lark in some localities are called "snowbird," but the snow bunting, or snowflake, is the only bird correctly so called. These birds do not look alike, but the appearance of the three species in large numbers during the winter is confusing to one not versed in bird-lore.

Notes

December Fourth

Why is it that most carnivorous animals, as well as most birds of prey, refuse to eat shrews and moles? It may be due to the strong pungent odor of their bodies. Cats will catch them and play with them, but owls are the only creatures that seem to care for them for food.

December Fifth

Mr. Newhall says that a lady told him that an Oneida Indian once cured her grandfather of a severe illness. He afterward learned that the medicine used was an extract of witch-hazel, and later prepared and sold it widely.

December Sixth

The great-horned owl, hoot owl, or cat owl, is the only bird that from choice will feed upon skunks. Although rabbits are abundant and easy to capture, his Owlship seems to prefer to battle against the long teeth and disagreeable odor of the skunk in order to dine upon its flesh. Nearly all owls of this species that are killed in winter are strongly scented with the skunk's odor.

Notes

December Seventh

The two glands that hold the skunk's vile-smelling fluid are about the size and shape of a pecan nut. They are strictly _organs of protection_ and are never used except in _extreme_ cases of defence. They are situated between the skin and the flesh near the root of the tail. When brought into use, a number of strong muscles encircling them contract, and a fine spray of the fluid is thrown off; the tail taking no part in its distribution.

December Eighth

Snakes are not slimy and clammy; they do not cover their food with saliva before swallowing it, and the forked flexible member which darts in and out of their mouth is not a "stinger," but the tongue. They do not swallow their young in cases of danger, and they have no power to "charm," or hypnotize.

December Ninth

The bald-faced hornet attaches his large, cone-shaped, paper nests under the eaves of houses, in garrets, or to the limbs of trees. Collecting the minute fibres that adhere to the weather-beaten fences and buildings, the hornets mix it with saliva and make a crude quality of paper. To enlarge a nest, the inside walls are torn away and the material is used to add to the outside layer. Like bumblebees, the workers and drones die in the fall, the queen hibernating.

Notes

December Tenth

Beautiful as the deer are and innocent as they seem, they cannot be trusted, as attendants in zoological parks can testify. A bear will seldom attack a keeper without provocation, and when he does he will usually give warning before he charges. Not so with a buck of the deer family. Greeting his best friend in the most cordial manner, he may, without warning, charge when the man's back is turned, and gore or trample him to death.

December Eleventh

The American eagle is more often spoken of as the "bald eagle," a name which misleads many people since the bird is not "bald" at all. The top of its head is as thickly feathered as the heads of most birds. Probably some one thought that the white head and neck made the eagle appear bald, hence the name. The birds reach the third year before the head and tail begin to turn white.

December Twelfth

The little striped skunk, or hydrophobia skunk of the South, West, and Southwest, is about half the size of our common skunk. It frequently goes mad and attacks people with great fury. Cowboys and other persons compelled to sleep on the ground in the open have been bitten by it and have died of hydrophobia. _It is the only_ North American animal that will deliberately _attack a sleeping person_.

Notes

December Thirteenth

"Till a comparatively recent date it was not certainly known that eels have eggs which develop outside of the body. Even now the breeding habits are scarcely known, but it is supposed that the spawning takes place late in the fall or during the winter, near the mouth of rivers, on muddy bottoms." (Bean.)

December Fourteenth

The so-called glass snake is truly speaking not a snake, but a legless lizard. It forms part of the food of the true snakes. Its body is very brittle, a light blow with a stick being sufficient to break it in two. Although it is true that another tail will grow (provided not more than a fourth of the body is missing), it is not true that the broken pieces will eventually unite, or that a head and body will grow on the tail piece.

December Fifteenth

How often you read of, or heard some one speak of, the whale as "the largest of fish." A whale is a _mammal_, because it suckles its young. It is not only the largest of _living_ mammals, but, according to Mr. Lucas, the large ones are larger than any of the enormous reptiles that inhabited the world before the advent of man, and whose fossil remains may be seen in any of our large museums.

Notes

December Sixteenth

The quiet little tree sparrows spend the winter with us feeding on the seeds of weeds and grasses. You will find their tracks in the snow where flocks have been eating ragweed seeds, and you are likely to see some of them fluttering about in the bushes along the river banks, or in the frozen swamps uttering a pleasing call note. They can be identified by the distinct black spot on the breast and their pinkish bills.

December Seventeenth

There is no better time to study the tracks and nightly doings of animals than after the first fall of snow. Start early in the morning and see how many stories the tracks have written.

December Eighteenth

Following the tracks of a white-footed mouse in the woods, they lead you to a hollow log, at the entrance of which are a number of beech-nut shells, remains of a midnight feast taken from a winter store-house. From here the mouse went into the field, and then the tracks stop abruptly, leaving you to guess the rest. Possibly one of the several species of owls that inhabit your locality could explain the sudden ending of the trail.

Notes

December Nineteenth

Continuing through the woods, you soon discover the trail of two birds whose feet are not quite the size of those of bantam chickens. Following them a few hundred yards you come to a bedded spot in the snow, beneath the drooping branches of a spruce. Not far from here, two ruffed grouse rise, with a loud whirr of wings, and speed off before your startled eyes. These are the birds whose tracks you have been following.

December Twentieth

Don't follow a fox track with the intention of overtaking the maker, unless you have dogs. He may be ten miles away at that very moment, and even if you should draw near to him, he is almost certain to elude your sight by sneaking away.

December Twenty-first

You may find where a muskrat has left the stream and started across the meadow to a marsh near by. Suddenly a mink's track breaks into the trail and follows in the same direction, and you soon come to a spot where the snow is much disturbed, and the tracks mingle in confusion. Blood-stains on the snow and matted places show where the two have fought a battle for existence. A broad, deep trail leading to a stump indicates that some object has been dragged across the snow, and there you find the half-eaten remains of the muskrat.

Notes

December Twenty-second

What tracks are these, trailing along the fence between a brush-lot and a buckwheat field? At the corner of the fence human footprints and those of a dog join them. All now travel in the same direction, first on one side of the fence, then on the other. Finally the bird tracks stop abruptly and the marks of wings on each side of them show that the birds have taken flight. The dog has suddenly bolted, and where his tracks turn back is a dash in the snow and a few quail feathers which tell the story; a hunter has bagged his game.

December Twenty-third

An open brush-lot bordering woods is the best place to find cotton-tail rabbit tracks. Judging from the number of tracks and the spaces between them, the rabbits have been playing tag, or attempting to break the record for running and jumping. They did rest, however, for beneath a bush, and by the side of a stump, we find impressions in the snow where they sat down. If it is a warm day, you are apt to surprise one taking a sun-bath.

December Twenty-fourth

Save in the dome of the Capitol, could our national bird, the bald eagle, select a more appropriate place for its nest than at Washington's home? In a patch of heavy timber at Mt. Vernon, Va., a pair of eagles have nested for several years.

COTTONTAIL RABBIT TAKING A SUNBATH.]

Notes

December Twenty-fifth

Mistletoe is a parasitic evergreen shrub that is abundant in the South. It grows in thick clusters on limbs of various species of trees. Its flowers are whitish, and after the flowering season, clusters of white berries take the place of the blossoms. As the berries are ready to fall, they become soft and sticky, and when they drop they adhere to the bark of any limb they strike, and the seeds take root and are nourished by the sap of the tree.

December Twenty-sixth

You might take a Christmas walk over the ice and visit a muskrat's house of sticks and other rubbish. If the occupants are at home, you will notice a frosty spot on one side of the mound. A muskrat hunter would thrust his spear through the thin wall and impale one or more of the rats upon its tines. Many of the clods composing the house bear the nose-print of the maker.

December Twenty-seventh

While sleigh-riding you are likely to see a flock of trim, sober-colored birds perched close together, feeding on the berries of the mountain ash tree or on decayed apples. They have _crests_ and _wax-like red dots_ on the inner feathers of their wings. These are cedar-birds, or cedar waxwings. They often remain with us throughout the year.

Notes

December Twenty-eighth

"The name 'burl' is applied to all excrescent growths on trees, except true knots. The origin of these wart-like swellings is imperfectly known, but they can generally be attributed to injuries by woodpeckers, gall insects, and to the irritating and continued growth of fungi in the woody tissues at such points." (Adams.)

December Twenty-ninth

A flock of pine grosbeaks feeding on buds in a maple or an apple tree on a cold winter's day is a pleasing sight for any bird lover. They are the size of a robin, and the male has a rose-colored head, neck, breast, and back. They are quiet birds and very tame, even permitting a person to climb the tree and approach within a few feet, before they take flight. It is only during the severest weather that they migrate south into southern New York, Pennsylvania, and New England.

December Thirtieth

North America can boast of the largest deer in the world, the Alaskan moose; as well as the largest of flesh-eating mammals, the Kodiak bear. We also have more rodents and cats than any other country.

Notes

December Thirty-first

Sometimes the lakes freeze over, and the gulls are compelled to seek the large open rivers, and ask alms from the inhabitants along their banks. At such times they become very tame, so if you will place food within their reach, they will soon find it and call upon you from day to day.

Notes

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Transcriber Note

Although the images were inserted before the "Notes" page which follows each page of dates, the images were not moved due to the List of Illustrations page numbering. Produced from images generously provided on The Internet Archive and all resultant materials are placed in the Public Domain.