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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Log of the Sun, by William Beebe
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Log of the Sun
+       A Chronicle of Nature's Year
+
+Author: William Beebe
+
+Release Date: September 3, 2008 [EBook #26516]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOG OF THE SUN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+[Illustration: Frontispiece]
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Frontispiece by
+Walter King Stone
+
+THE LOG OF THE SUN
+A Chronicle of Nature's Year
+
+By WILLIAM BEEBE
+
+Garden City Publishing Co., Inc.
+Garden City, New York
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1906,
+
+BY
+HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
+
+PRINTED IN THE
+UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+TO MY
+Mother and Father
+WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT AND SYMPATHY
+GAVE IMPETUS AND PURPOSE TO
+A BOY'S LOVE OF NATURE
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+PREFACE
+
+In the fifty-two short essays of this volume I have presented familiar
+objects from unusual points of view. Bird's-eye glances and insect's-eye
+glances, at the nature of our woods and fields, will reveal beauties which
+are wholly invisible from the usual human view-point, five feet or more
+above the ground.
+
+Who follows the lines must expect to find moods as varying as the seasons;
+to face storm and night and cold, and all other delights of what wildness
+still remains to us upon the earth.
+
+Emphasis has been laid upon the weak points in our knowledge of things
+about us, and the principal desire of the author is to inspire enthusiasm
+in those whose eyes are just opening to the wild beauties of God's
+out-of-doors, to gather up and follow to the end some of these frayed-out
+threads of mystery.
+
+Portions of the text have been published at various times in the pages of
+"Outing," "Recreation," "The Golden Age," "The New York Evening Post," and
+"The New York Tribune."
+
+                                                                C. W. B.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+                                       PAGE
+JANUARY
+Birds of the Snow                         3
+Winter Marvels                           10
+Cedar Birds and Berries                  16
+The Dark Days of Insect Life             20
+Chameleons in Fur and Feather            25
+
+FEBRUARY
+February Feathers                        31
+Fish Life                                37
+Tenants of Winter Birds' Nests           44
+Winter Holes                             48
+
+MARCH
+Feathered Pioneers                       55
+The Ways of Meadow Mice                  61
+Problems of Bird Life                    65
+Dwellers in the Dust                     71
+
+APRIL
+Spring Songsters                         75
+The Simple Art of Sapsucking             81
+Wild Wings                               85
+The Birds in the Moon                    88
+
+MAY
+The High Tide of Bird Life               91
+Animal Fashions                          97
+Polliwog Problems                       102
+Insect Pirates And Submarines           105
+The Victory Of The Nighthawk            109
+
+JUNE
+The Gala Days Of Birds                  113
+Turtle Traits                           118
+A Half-Hour In A Marsh                  124
+Secrets Of The Ocean                    129
+
+JULY
+Birds In A City                         153
+Night Music Of The Swamp                160
+The Coming Of Man                       167
+The Silent Language Of Animals          170
+Insect Music                            176
+
+AUGUST
+The Gray Days Of Birds                  181
+Lives Of The Lantern Bearers            188
+A Starfish And A Daisy                  191
+The Dream Of The Yellow-Throat          195
+
+SEPTEMBER
+The Passing Of The Flocks               199
+Ghosts Of The Earth                     204
+Muskrats                                207
+Nature's Geometricians                  210
+
+OCTOBER
+Autumn Hunting With A Field Glass       217
+A Woodchuck And A Grebe                 223
+The Voice of Animals                    227
+The Names Of Animals, Frogs, and Fish   234
+The Dying Year                          246
+
+NOVEMBER
+November's Birds of the Heavens         249
+A Plea for the Skunk                    255
+The Lesson Of The Wave                  258
+We Go A-Sponging                        262
+
+DECEMBER
+New Thoughts About Nests                269
+Lessons From An English Sparrow         275
+The Personality Of Trees                281
+An Owl Of The North                     297
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+               A fiery mist and a planet,
+                 A crystal and a cell;
+               A jelly fish and a saurian,
+                 And the caves where the cave men dwell;
+               Then a sense of law and beauty
+                 And a face turned from the clod,
+               Some call it evolution,
+                 And others call it God.
+                                          W. H. Carruth.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+JANUARY
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS OF THE SNOW
+
+
+No fact of natural history is more interesting, or more significant of the
+poetry of evolution, than the distribution of birds over the entire
+surface of the world. They have overcome countless obstacles, and adapted
+themselves to all conditions. The last faltering glance which the Arctic
+explorer sends toward his coveted goal, ere he admits defeat, shows flocks
+of snow buntings active with warm life; the storm-tossed mariner in the
+midst of the sea, is followed, encircled, by the steady, tireless flight
+of the albatross; the fever-stricken wanderer in tropical jungles listens
+to the sweet notes of birds amid the stagnant pools; while the thirsty
+traveller in the desert is ever watched by the distant buzzards. Finally
+when the intrepid climber, at the risk of life and limb, has painfully
+made his way to the summit of the most lofty peak, far, far above him, in
+the blue expanse of thin air, he can distinguish the form of a majestic
+eagle or condor.
+
+At the approach of winter the flowers and insects about us die, but most
+of the birds take wing and fly to a more temperate climate, while their
+place is filled with others which have spent the summer farther to the
+north. Thus without stirring from our doorway we may become acquainted
+with many species whose summer homes are hundreds of miles away.
+
+No time is more propitious or advisable for the amateur bird lover to
+begin his studies than the first of the year. Bird life is now reduced to
+its simplest terms in numbers and species, and the absence of concealing
+foliage, together with the usual tameness of winter birds, makes
+identification an easy matter.
+
+In January and the succeeding month we have with us birds which are called
+permanent residents, which do not leave us throughout the entire year;
+and, in addition, the winter visitors which have come to us from the far
+north.
+
+In the uplands we may flush ruffed grouse from their snug retreats in the
+snow; while in the weedy fields, many a fairy trail shows where bob-white
+has passed, and often he will announce his own name from the top of a rail
+fence. The grouse at this season have a curious outgrowth of horny scales
+along each side of the toes, which, acting as a tiny snowshoe, enables
+them to walk on soft snow with little danger of sinking through.
+
+Few of our winter birds can boast of bright colours; their garbs are
+chiefly grays and browns, but all have some mark or habit or note by which
+they can be at once named. For example, if you see a mouse hitching
+spirally up a tree-trunk, a closer look will show that it is a brown
+creeper, seeking tiny insects and their eggs in the crevices of the trunk.
+He looks like a small piece of the roughened bark which has suddenly
+become animated. His long tail props him up and his tiny feet never fail
+to find a foothold. Our winter birds go in flocks, and where we see a
+brown creeper we are almost sure to find other birds.
+
+Nuthatches are those blue-backed, white or rufous breasted little climbers
+who spend their lives defying the law of gravity. They need no supporting
+tail, and have only the usual number of eight toes, but they traverse the
+bark, up or down, head often pointing toward the ground, as if their feet
+were small vacuum cups. Their note is an odd nasal _nyêh!_ _nyêh!_
+
+In winter some one species of bird usually predominates, most often,
+perhaps, it is the black-capped chickadee. They seem to fill every grove,
+and, if you take your stand in the woods, flock after flock will pass
+in succession. What good luck must have come to the chickadee race
+during the preceding summer? Was some one of their enemies stricken with a
+plague, or did they show more than usual care in the selecting of their
+nesting holes? Whatever it was, during such a year, it seems certain that
+scores more of chickadee babies manage to live to grow up than is
+usually the case. These little fluffs are, in their way, as remarkable
+acrobats as are the nuthatches, and it is a marvel how the very thin legs,
+with their tiny sliver of bone and thread of tendon, can hold the body
+of the bird in almost any position, while the vainly hidden clusters of
+insect eggs are pried into. Without ceasing a moment in their busy
+search for food, the fluffy feathered members of the flock call to each
+other, "_Chick-a-chick-a-dee-dee!_" but now and then the heart of some
+little fellow bubbles over, and he rests an instant, sending out a sweet,
+tender, high call, a "_Phoe-be!_" love note, which warms our ears in
+the frosty air and makes us feel a real affection for the brave little
+mites.
+
+Our song sparrow is, like the poor, always with us, at least near the
+coast, but we think none the less of him for that, and besides, that fact
+is true in only one sense. A ripple in a stream may be seen day after day,
+and yet the water forming it is never the same, it is continually flowing
+onward. This is usually the case with song sparrows and with most other
+birds which are present summer and winter. The individual sparrows which
+flit from bush to bush, or slip in and out of the brush piles in January,
+have doubtless come from some point north of us, while the song sparrows
+of our summer walks are now miles to the southward. Few birds remain the
+entire year in the locality in which they breed, although the southward
+movement may be a very limited one. When birds migrate so short a
+distance, they are liable to be affected in colour and size by the
+temperature and dampness of their respective areas; and so we find that in
+North America there are as many as twenty-two races of song sparrows, to
+each of which has been given a scientific name. When you wish to speak of
+our northeastern song sparrow in the latest scientific way, you must say
+_Melospiza cinerea melodia_, which tells us that it is a melodious song
+finch, ashy or brown in colour.
+
+Our winter sparrows are easy to identify. The song sparrow may, of course,
+be known by the streaks of black and brown upon his breast and sides, and
+by the blotch which these form in the centre of the breast. The tree
+sparrow, which comes to us from Hudson Bay and Labrador, lacks the
+stripes, but has the centre spot. This is one of our commonest field birds
+in winter, notwithstanding his name.
+
+The most omnipresent and abundant of all our winter visitors from the
+north are the juncos, or snowbirds. Slate coloured above and white below,
+perfectly describes these birds, although their distinguishing mark,
+visible a long way off, is the white V in their tails, formed by several
+white outer feathers on each side. The sharp chirps of juncos are heard
+before the ice begins to form, and they stay with us all winter.
+
+We have called the junco a snowbird, but this name should really be
+confined to a black and white bunting which comes south only with a
+mid-winter's rush of snowflakes. Their warm little bodies nestle close to
+the white crystals, and they seek cheerfully for the seeds which nature
+has provided for them. Then a thaw comes, and they disappear as silently
+and mysteriously as if they had melted with the flakes; but doubtless they
+are far to the northward, hanging on the outskirts of the Arctic storms,
+and giving way only when every particle of food is frozen tight, the
+ground covered deep with snow, and the panicled seed clusters locked in
+crystal frames of ice.
+
+The feathers of these Arctic wanderers are perfect non-conductors of heat
+and of cold, and never a chill reaches their little frames until hunger
+presses. Then they must find food and quickly, or they die. When these
+snowflakes first come to us they are tinged with gray and brown, but
+gradually through the winter their colours become more clear-cut and
+brilliant, until, when spring comes, they are garbed in contrasting black
+and white. With all this change, however, they leave never a feather with
+us, but only the minute brown tips of the feather vanes, which, by wearing
+away, leave exposed the clean new colours beneath.
+
+Thus we find that there are problems innumerable to verify and to solve,
+even when the tide of the year's life is at its lowest ebb.
+
+                From out the white and pulsing storm
+                  I hear the snowbirds calling;
+                The sheeted winds stalk o'er the hills,
+                  And fast the snow is falling.
+
+                On twinkling wings they eddy past,
+                  At home amid the drifting,
+                Or seek the hills and weedy fields
+                  Where fast the snow is sifting.
+
+                Their coats are dappled white and brown
+                  Like fields in winter weather,
+                But on the azure sky they float
+                  Like snowflakes knit together.
+
+                I've heard them on the spotless hills
+                  Where fox and hound were playing,
+                The while I stood with eager ear
+                  Bent on the distant baying.
+
+                The unmown fields are their preserves,
+                  Where weeds and grass are seeding;
+                They know the lure of distant stacks
+                  Where houseless herds are feeding.
+
+                                        JOHN BURROUGHS.
+
+
+
+
+WINTER MARVELS
+
+
+Let us suppose that a heavy snow has fallen and that we have been
+a-birding in vain. For once it seems as if all the birds had gone the way
+of the butterflies. But we are not true bird-lovers unless we can
+substitute nature for bird whenever the occasion demands; specialisation
+is only for the ultra-scientist.
+
+There is more to be learned in a snowy field than volumes could tell.
+There is the tangle of footprints to unravel, the history of the pastimes
+and foragings and tragedies of the past night writ large and unmistakable.
+Though the sun now shines brightly, we can well imagine the cold darkness
+of six hours ago; we can reconstruct the whole scene from those tiny
+tracks, showing frantic leaps, the indentation of two wing-tips,--a speck
+of blood. But let us take a bird's-eye view of things, from a bird's-head
+height; that is, lie flat upon a board or upon the clean, dry crystals and
+see what wonders we have passed by all our lives.
+
+Take twenty square feet of snow with a streamlet through the centre, and
+we have an epitome of geological processes and conditions. With chin upon
+mittens and mittens upon the crust, the eye opens upon a new world. The
+half-covered rivulet becomes a monster glacier-fed stream, rushing down
+through grand canyons and caves, hung with icy stalactites. Bit by bit the
+walls are undermined and massive icebergs become detached and are whirled
+away. As for moraines, we have them in plenty; only the windrows of
+thousands upon thousands of tiny seeds of which they are composed, are not
+permanent, but change their form and position with every strong gust of
+wind. And with every gust too their numbers increase, the harvest of the
+weeds being garnered here, upon barren ground. No wonder the stream will
+be hidden from view next summer, when the myriad seeds sprout and begin to
+fight upward for light and air.
+
+If we cannot hope for polar bears to complete our Arctic scene, we may
+thrill at the sight of a sinuous weasel, winding his way among the weeds;
+and if we look in vain for swans, we at least may rejoice in a whirling,
+white flock of snow buntings.
+
+A few flakes fall gently upon our sleeve and another world opens before
+us. A small hand-lens will be of service, although sharp eyes may dispense
+with it. Gather a few recently fallen flakes upon a piece of black cloth,
+and the lens will reveal jewels more beautiful than any ever fashioned by
+the hand of man. Six-pointed crystals, always hexagonal, of a myriad
+patterns, leave us lost in wonderment when we look out over the white
+landscape and think of the hidden beauty of it all. The largest glacier of
+Greenland or Alaska is composed wholly of just such crystals whose points
+have melted and which have become ice.
+
+We may draw or photograph scores of these beautiful crystals and never
+duplicate a figure. Some are almost solid and tabular, others are simple
+stars or fern-branched. Then we may detect compound forms, crystals within
+crystals, and, rarest of all, doubles, where two different forms appear as
+joined together by a tiny pillar. In all of these we have an epitome of
+the crystals of the rocks beneath our feet, only in their case the
+pressure has moulded them into straight columns, while the snow, forming
+unhindered in midair, resolves itself into these exquisite forms and
+floral designs. Flowers and rocks are not so very unlike after all.
+
+Few of us can observe these wonderful forms without feeling the poetry of
+it all. Thoreau on the fifth day of January, 1856, writes as follows:...
+"The thin snow now driving from the north and lodging on my coat consists
+of those beautiful star crystals, not cottony and chubby spokes as on the
+13th of December, but thin and partly transparent crystals. They are about
+one tenth of an inch in diameter, perfect little wheels with six spokes,
+without a tire, or rather with six perfect little leaflets, fern-like,
+with a distinct, straight, slender midrib raying from the centre. On each
+side of each midrib there is a transparent, thin blade with a crenate
+edge. How full of the creative genius is the air in which these are
+generated! I should hardly admire more if real stars fell and lodged on my
+coat. Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity, so that not a
+snowflake escapes its fashioning hand. Nothing is cheap and coarse,
+neither dewdrops nor snowflakes. Soon the storm increases (it was already
+very severe to face), and the snow becomes finer, more white and powdery.
+
+"Who knows but this is the original form of all snowflakes, but that, when
+I observe these crystal stars falling around me, they are only just
+generated in the low mist next the earth. I am nearer to the source of the
+snow, its primal auroral, and golden hour of infancy; commonly the flakes
+reach us travel-worn and agglomerated, comparatively, without order or
+beauty, far down in their fall, like men in their advanced age. As for the
+circumstances under which this occurs, it is quite cold, and the driving
+storm is bitter to face, though very little snow is falling. It comes
+almost horizontally from the north.... A divinity must have stirred within
+them, before the crystals did thus shoot and set: wheels of the storm
+chariots. The same law that shapes the earth and the stars shapes the
+snowflake. Call it rather snow star. As surely as the petals of a flower
+are numbered, each of these countless snow stars comes whirling to earth,
+pronouncing thus with emphasis the number six, order, [Greek: cosmos].
+This was the beginning of a storm which reached far and wide, and
+elsewhere was more severe than here. On the Saskatchewan, where no man of
+science is present to behold, still down they come, and not the less
+fulfil their destiny, perchance melt at once on the Indian's face. What a
+world we live in, where myriads of these little discs, so beautiful to the
+most prying eye, are whirled down on every traveller's coat, the observant
+and the unobservant, on the restless squirrel's fur, on the far-stretching
+fields and forests, the wooded dells and the mountain tops. Far, far away
+from the haunts of men, they roll down some little slope, fall over and
+come to their bearings, and melt or lose their beauty in the mass, ready
+anon to swell some little rill with their contribution, and so, at last,
+the universal ocean from which they came. There they lie, like the wreck
+of chariot wheels after a battle in the skies. Meanwhile the meadow mouse
+shoves them aside in his gallery, the schoolboy casts them in his ball, or
+the woodman's sled glides smoothly over them, these glorious spangles, the
+sweepings of heaven's floor. And they all sing, melting as they sing, of
+the mysteries of the number six; six, six, six. He takes up the waters of
+the sea in his hand, leaving the salt; he disperses it in mist through the
+skies; he re-collects and sprinkles it like grain in six-rayed snowy stars
+over the earth, there to lie till he dissolves its bonds again."
+
+But here is a bit of snow which seems less pure, with grayish patches here
+and there. Down again to sparrow-level and bring the glass to bear. Your
+farmer friend will tell you that they are snow-fleas which are snowed down
+with the flakes; the entomologist will call them _Achorutes nivicola_ and
+he knows that they have prosaically wiggled their way from the crevices of
+bark on the nearest tree-trunk. One's thrill of pleasure at this
+unexpected discovery will lead one to adopt sparrow-views whenever larger
+game is lacking.
+
+           I walked erstwhile upon thy frozen waves,
+           And heard the streams amid thy ice-locked caves;
+           I peered down thy crevasses blue and dim,
+           Standing in awe upon the dizzy rim.
+           Beyond me lay the inlet still and blue,
+           Behind, the mountains loomed upon the view
+           Like storm-wraiths gathered from the low-hung sky.
+           A gust of wind swept past with heavy sigh,
+           And lo! I listened to the ice-stream's song
+           Of winter when the nights grow dark and long,
+           And bright stars flash above thy fields of snow,
+           The cold waste sparkling in the pallid glow.
+
+                                              Charles Keeler.
+
+
+
+
+CEDAR BIRDS AND BERRIES
+
+
+Keep sharp eyes upon the cedar groves in mid-winter, and sooner or later
+you will see the waxwings come, not singly or in pairs, but by dozens, and
+sometimes in great flocks. They will well repay all the watching one gives
+them. The cedar waxwing is a strange bird, with a very pronounced
+species-individuality, totally unlike any other bird of our country. When
+feeding on their favourite winter berries, these birds show to great
+advantage; the warm rich brown of the upper parts and of the crest
+contrasting with the black, scarlet, and yellow, and these, in turn, with
+the dark green of the cedar and the white of the snow.
+
+The name waxwing is due to the scarlet ornaments at the tips of the lesser
+flight feathers and some of the tail feathers, which resemble bits of red
+sealing wax, but which are really the bare, flattened ends of the feather
+shafts. Cherry-bird is another name which is appropriately applied to the
+cedar waxwing.
+
+These birds are never regular in their movements, and they come and go
+without heed to weather or date. They should never be lightly passed by,
+but their flocks carefully examined, lest among their ranks may be hidden
+a Bohemian chatterer--a stately waxwing larger than common and even more
+beautiful in hue, whose large size and splashes of white upon its wings
+will always mark it out.
+
+This bird is one of our rarest of rare visitors, breeding in the far
+north; and even in its nest and eggs mystery enshrouds it. Up to fifty
+years ago, absolutely nothing was known of its nesting habits, although
+during migration Bohemian chatterers are common all over Europe. At last
+Lapland was found to be their home, and a nest has been found in Alaska
+and several others in Labrador. My only sight of these birds was of a pair
+perched in an elm tree in East Orange, New Jersey; but I will never forget
+it, and will never cease to hope for another such red-letter day.
+
+The movements of the cedar waxwings are as uncertain in summer as they are
+in winter; they may be common in one locality for a year or two, and then,
+apparently without reason, desert it. At this season they feed on insects
+instead of berries, and may be looked for in small flocks in orchard or
+wood. The period of nesting is usually late, and, in company with the
+goldfinches, they do not begin their housekeeping until July and August.
+Unlike other birds, waxwings will build their nests of almost anything
+near at hand, and apparently in any growth which takes their
+fancy,--apple, oak, or cedar. The nests are well constructed, however, and
+often, with their contents, add another background of a most pleasing
+harmony of colours. A nest composed entirely of pale green hanging moss,
+with eggs of bluish gray, spotted and splashed with brown and black,
+guarded by a pair of these exquisite birds, is a sight to delight the
+eye.
+
+When the young have left the nest, if alarmed by an intruder, they
+will frequently, trusting to their protective dress of streaky brown,
+freeze into most unbird-like attitudes, drawing the feathers close to
+the body and stretching the neck stiffly upward,--almost bittern-like.
+Undoubtedly other interesting habits which these strangely picturesque
+birds may possess are still awaiting discovery by some enthusiastic
+observer with a pair of opera-glasses and a stock of that ever important
+characteristic--patience.
+
+Although, during the summer months, myriads of insects are killed and
+eaten by the cedar waxwings, yet these birds are preeminently berry
+eaters,--choke-cherries, cedar berries, blueberries, and raspberries being
+preferred. Watch a flock of these birds in a cherry tree, and you will see
+the pits fairly rain down. We need not place our heads, _à la_ Newton, in
+the path of these falling stones to deduce some interesting facts,--indeed
+to solve the very destiny of the fruit. Many whole cherries are carried
+away by the birds to be devoured elsewhere, or we may see parent waxwing
+filling their gullets with ten or a dozen berries and carrying them to the
+eager nestlings.
+
+Thus is made plain the why and the wherefore of the coloured skin, the
+edible flesh, and the hidden stone of the fruit. The conspicuous racemes
+of the choke-cherries, or the shining scarlet globes of the cultivated
+fruit, fairly shout aloud to the birds--"Come and eat us, we're as good as
+we look!" But Mother Nature looks on and laughs to herself. Thistle seeds
+are blown to the land's end by the wind; the heavier ticks and burrs are
+carried far and wide upon the furry coats of passing creatures; but the
+cherry could not spread its progeny beyond a branch's length, were it not
+for the ministrations of birds. With birds, as with some other bipeds, the
+shortest way to the heart is through the stomach, and a choke-cherry tree
+in full blaze of fruit is always a natural aviary. Where a cedar bird has
+built its nest, there look some day to see a group of cherry trees; where
+convenient fence-perches along the roadside lead past cedar groves, there
+hope before long to see a bird-planted avenue of cedars. And so the
+marvels of Nature go on evolving,--wheels within wheels.
+
+
+
+
+THE DARK DAYS OF INSECT LIFE
+
+
+Sometimes by too close and confining study of things pertaining to the
+genus _Homo_, we perchance find ourselves complacently wondering if we
+have not solved almost all the problems of this little whirling sphere of
+water and earth. Our minds turn to the ultra questions of atoms and ions
+and rays and our eyes strain restlessly upward toward our nearest planet
+neighbour, in half admission that we must soon take up the study of Mars
+from sheer lack of earthly conquest.
+
+If so minded, hie you to the nearest grove and, digging down through the
+mid-winter's snow, bring home a spadeful of leaf-mould. Examine it
+carefully with hand-lens and microscope, and then prophesy what warmth and
+light will bring forth. "Watch the unfolding life of plant and animal, and
+then come from your planet-yearning back to earth, with a humbleness born
+of a realisation of our vast ignorance of the commonest things about us."
+
+Though the immediate mysteries of the seed and the egg baffle us, yet the
+most casual lover of God's out-of-doors may hopefully attempt to solve the
+question of some of the winter homes of insects. Think of the thousands
+upon thousands of eggs and pupæ which are hidden in every grove; what
+catacombs of bug mummies yonder log conceals,--mummies whose resurrection
+will be brought about by the alchemy of thawing sunbeams. Follow out the
+suggestion hinted at above and place a handkerchief full of frozen mould
+or decayed wood in a white dish, and the tiny universe which will
+gradually unfold before you will provide many hours of interest. But
+remember your responsibilities in so doing, and do not let the tiny plant
+germs languish and die for want of water, or the feeble, newly-hatched
+insects perish from cold or lack a bit of scraped meat.
+
+Cocoons are another never-ending source of delight. If you think that
+there are no unsolved problems of the commonest insect life around us, say
+why it is that the moths and millers pass the winter wrapped in swaddling
+clothes of densest textures, roll upon roll of silken coverlets; while our
+delicate butterflies hang uncovered, suspended only by a single loop of
+silk, exposed to the cold blast of every northern gale? Why do the
+caterpillars of our giant moths--the mythologically named Cecropia,
+Polyphemus, Luna, and Prometheus--show such individuality in the position
+which they choose for their temporary shrouds? Protection and concealment
+are the watchwords held to in each case, but how differently they are
+achieved!
+
+Cecropia--that beauty whose wings, fully six inches across, will flap
+gracefully through the summer twilight--weaves about himself a half oval
+mound, along some stem or tree-trunk, and becomes a mere excrescence--the
+veriest unedible thing a bird may spy. Polyphemus wraps miles of finest
+silk about his green worm-form (how, even though we watch him do it, we
+can only guess); weaving in all the surrounding leaves he can reach. This,
+of course, before the frosts come, but when the leaves at last shrivel,
+loosen, and their petioles break, it is merely a larger brown nut than
+usual that falls to the ground, the kernel of which will sprout next June
+and blossom into the big moth of delicate fawn tints, feathery horned,
+with those strange isinglass windows in his hind wings.
+
+Luna--the weird, beautiful moon-moth, whose pale green hues and long
+graceful streamers make us realise how much beauty we miss if we neglect
+the night life of summer--when clad in her temporary shroud of silk,
+sometimes falls to the ground, or again the cocoon remains in the tree or
+bush where it was spun.
+
+But Prometheus, the smallest of the quartet, has a way all his own. The
+elongated cocoon, looking like a silken finger, is woven about a leaf of
+sassafras. Even the long stem of the leaf is silk-girdled, and a strong
+band is looped about the twig to which the leaf is attached. Here, when
+all the leaves fall, he hangs, the plaything of every breeze, attracting
+the attention of all the hungry birds. But little does Prometheus care.
+Sparrows may hover about him and peck in vain; chickadees may clutch the
+dangling finger and pound with all their tiny might. Prometheus is
+"bound," indeed, and merely swings the faster, up and down, from side to
+side.
+
+It is interesting to note that when two Prometheus cocoons, fastened upon
+their twigs, were suspended in a large cageful of native birds, it took a
+healthy chickadee just three days of hard pounding and unravelling to
+force a way through the silken envelopes to the chrysalids within. Such
+long continued and persistent labour for so comparatively small a morsel
+of food would not be profitable or even possible out-of-doors in winter.
+The bird would starve to death while forcing its way through the
+protecting silk.
+
+These are only four of the many hundreds of cocoons, from the silken
+shrouds on the topmost branches to the jugnecked chrysalis of a sphinx
+moth--offering us the riddle of a winter's shelter buried in the cold,
+dark earth.
+
+Is everything frozen tight? Has Nature's frost mortar cemented every stone
+in its bed? Then cut off the solid cups of the pitcher plants, and see
+what insects formed the last meal of these strange growths,--ants, flies,
+bugs, encased in ice like the fossil insects caught in the amber sap which
+flowed so many thousands of years ago.
+
+                  When the fierce northwestern blast
+                  Cools sea and land so far and fast,
+                  Thou already slumberest deep;
+                  Woe and want thou canst outsleep.
+
+                                             Emerson.
+
+
+
+
+CHAMELEONS IN FUR AND FEATHER
+
+
+The colour of things in nature has been the subject of many volumes and
+yet it may be truthfully said that no two naturalists are wholly agreed on
+the interpretation of the countless hues of plants and animals. Some
+assert that all alleged instances of protective colouring and mimicry are
+merely the result of accident; while at the opposite swing of the pendulum
+we find theories, protective and mimetic, for the colours of even the tiny
+one-celled green plants which cover the bark of trees! Here is abundant
+opportunity for any observer of living nature to help toward the solution
+of these problems.
+
+In a battle there are always two sides and at its finish one side always
+runs away while the other pursues. Thus it is in the wars of nature, only
+here the timid ones are always ready to flee, while the strong are equally
+prepared to pursue. It is only by constant vigilance that the little mice
+can save themselves from disappearing down the throats of their enemies,
+as under cover of darkness they snatch nervous mouthfuls of grain in the
+fields,--and hence their gray colour and their large, watchful eyes; but
+on the other hand, the baby owls in their hollow tree would starve if the
+parents were never able to swoop down in the darkness and surprise a mouse
+now and then,--hence the gray plumage and great eyes of the parent owls.
+
+The most convincing proof of the reality of protective coloration is in
+the change of plumage or fur of some of the wild creatures to suit the
+season. In the far north, the grouse or ptarmigan, as they are called, do
+not keep feathers of the same colour the year round, as does our ruffed
+grouse; but change their dress no fewer than three times. When rocks and
+moss are buried deep beneath the snow, and a keen-eyed hawk appears, the
+white-feathered ptarmigan crouches and becomes an inanimate mound. Later
+in the year, with the increasing warmth, patches of gray and brown earth
+appear, and simultaneously, as if its feathers were really snowflakes,
+splashes of brown replace the pure white of the bird's plumage, and
+equally baffle the eye. Seeing one of these birds by itself, we could
+readily tell, from the colour of its plumage, the time of year and general
+aspect of the country from which it came. Its plumage is like a mirror
+which reflects the snow, the moss, or the lichens in turn. It is, indeed,
+a feathered chameleon, but with changes of colour taking place more slowly
+than is the case in the reptile.
+
+We may discover changes somewhat similar, but furry instead of feathery,
+in the woods about our home. The fiercest of all the animals of our
+continent still evades the exterminating inroads of man; indeed it often
+puts his traps to shame, and wages destructive warfare in his very midst.
+I speak of the weasel,--the least of all his family, and yet, for his
+size, the most bloodthirsty and widely dreaded little demon of all the
+countryside. His is a name to conjure with among all the lesser wood-folk;
+the scent of his passing brings an almost helpless paralysis. And yet in
+some way he must be handicapped, for his slightly larger cousin, the mink,
+finds good hunting the year round, clad in a suit of rich brown; while the
+weasel, at the approach of winter, sheds his summer dress of chocolate hue
+and dons a pure white fur, a change which would seem to put the poor mice
+and rabbits at a hopeless disadvantage. Nevertheless the ermine, as he is
+now called (although wrongly so), seems just able to hold his own, with
+all his evil slinking motions and bloodthirsty desires; for foxes, owls,
+and hawks take, in their turn, heavy toll. Nature is ever a repetition of
+the "House that Jack built";--this is the owl that ate the weasel that
+killed the mouse, and so on.
+
+The little tail-tips of milady's ermine coat are black; and herein lies an
+interesting fact in the coloration of the weasel and one that, perhaps,
+gives a clue to some other hitherto inexplicable spots and markings on the
+fur, feathers, skin, and scales of wild creatures. Whatever the season,
+and whatever the colour of the weasel's coat,--brown or white,--the tip of
+the tail remains always black. This would seem, at first thought, a very
+bad thing for the little animal. Knowing so little of fear, he never tucks
+his tail between his legs, and, when shooting across an open expanse of
+snow, the black tip ever trailing after him would seem to mark him out for
+destruction by every observing hawk or fox.
+
+But the very opposite is the case as Mr. Witmer Stone so well relates. "If
+you place a weasel in its winter white on new-fallen snow, in such a
+position that it casts no shadow, you will find that the black tip of the
+tail catches your eye and holds it in spite of yourself, so that at a
+little distance it is very difficult to follow the outline of the rest of
+the animal. Cover the tip of the tail with snow and you can see the rest
+of the weasel itself much more clearly; but as long as the black point is
+in sight, you see that, and that only.
+
+"If a hawk or owl, or any other of the larger hunters of the woodland,
+were to give chase to a weasel and endeavour to pounce upon it, it would
+in all probability be the black tip of the tail it would see and strike
+at, while the weasel, darting ahead, would escape. It may, morever, serve
+as a guide, enabling the young weasels to follow their parents more
+readily through grass and brambles.
+
+"One would suppose that this beautiful white fur of winter, literally as
+white as the snow, might prove a disadvantage at times by making its owner
+conspicuous when the ground is bare in winter, as it frequently is even in
+the North; yet though weasels are about more or less by day, you will
+seldom catch so much as a glimpse of one at such times, though you may
+hear their sharp chirrup close at hand. Though bold and fearless, they
+have the power of vanishing instantly, and the slightest alarm sends them
+to cover. I have seen one standing within reach of my hand in the sunshine
+on the exposed root of a tree, and while I was staring at it, it vanished
+like the flame of a candle blown out, without leaving me the slightest
+clue as to the direction it had taken. All the weasels I have ever seen,
+either in the woods or open meadows, disappeared in a similar manner."
+
+To add to the completeness of proof that the change from brown to white is
+for protection,--in the case of the weasel, both to enable it to escape
+from the fox and to circumvent the rabbit,--the weasels in Florida, where
+snow is unknown, do not change colour, but remain brown throughout the
+whole year.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+FEBRUARY
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+FEBRUARY FEATHERS
+
+
+February holes are most interesting places and one never knows what will
+be found in the next one investigated. It is a good plan, in one's walks
+in the early fall, to make a mental map of all the auspicious looking
+trees and holes, and then go the rounds of these in winter--as a hunter
+follows his line of traps. An old, neglected orchard may seem perfectly
+barren of life; insects dead, leaves fallen, and sap frozen; but the warm
+hearts of these venerable trees may shelter much beside the larvæ of
+boring beetles, and we may reap a winter harvest of which the farmer knows
+nothing.
+
+Poke a stick into a knothole and stir up the leaves at the bottom of the
+cavity, and then look in. Two great yellow eyes may greet you, glaring
+intermittently, and sharp clicks may assail your ears. Reach in with your
+gloved hand and bring the screech owl out. He will blink in the sunshine,
+ruffling up his feathers until he is twice his real size. The light partly
+blinds him, but toss him into the air and he will fly without difficulty
+and select with ease a secluded perch. The instant he alights a wonderful
+transformation comes over him. He stiffens, draws himself as high as
+possible, and compresses his feathers until he seems naught but the
+slender, broken stump of some bough,--ragged topped (thanks to his
+"horns"), gray and lichened. It is little short of a miracle how this
+spluttering, saucer-eyed, feathered cat can melt away into woody fibre
+before our very eyes.
+
+We quickly understand why in the daytime the little owl is so anxious to
+hide his form from public view. Although he can see well enough to fly and
+to perch, yet the bright sunlight on the snow is too dazzling to permit of
+swift and sure action. All the birds of the winter woods seem to know this
+and instantly take advantage of it. Sparrows, chickadees, and woodpeckers
+go nearly wild with excitement when they discover the little owl, hovering
+about him and occasionally making darts almost in his very face. We can
+well believe that as the sun sets, after an afternoon of such excitement,
+they flee in terror, selecting for that night's perch the densest tangle
+of sweetbrier to be found.
+
+One hollow tree may yield a little gray owl, while from the next we may
+draw a red one; and the odd thing about this is that this difference in
+colour does not depend upon age, sex, or season, and no ornithologist can
+say why it occurs. What can these little fellows find to feed upon these
+cold nights, when the birds seek the most hidden and sheltered retreats?
+We might murder the next owl we come across; but would any fact we might
+discover in his poor stomach repay us for the thought of having needlessly
+cut short his life, with its pleasures and spring courtships, and the
+delight he will take in the half a dozen pearls over which he will soon
+watch?
+
+A much better way is to examine the ground around his favourite roosting
+place, where we will find many pellets of fur and bones, with now and then
+a tiny skull. These tell the tale, and if at dusk we watch closely, we may
+see the screech owl look out of his door, stretch every limb, purr his
+shivering song, and silently launch out over the fields, a feathery,
+shadowy death to all small mice who scamper too far from their snow
+tunnels.
+
+When you feel like making a new and charming acquaintance, take your way
+to a dense clump of snow-laden cedars, and look carefully over their
+trunks. If you are lucky you will spy a tiny gray form huddled close to
+the sheltered side of the bark, and if you are careful you may approach
+and catch in your hand the smallest of all our owls, for the saw-whet is a
+dreadfully sleepy fellow in the daytime. I knew of eleven of these little
+gray gnomes dozing in a clump of five small cedars.
+
+The cedars are treasure-houses in winter, and many birds find shelter
+among the thick foliage, and feast upon the plentiful supply of berries,
+when elsewhere there seems little that could keep a bird's life in its
+body. When the tinkling of breaking icicles is taken up by the wind and
+re-echoed from the tops of the cedars, you may know that a flock of purple
+finches is near, and so greedy and busy are they that you may approach
+within a few feet. These birds are unfortunately named, as there is
+nothing purple about their plumage. The males are a delicate rose-red,
+while the females look like commonplace sparrows, streaked all over with
+black and brown.
+
+There are other winter birds, whose home is in the North, with a similar
+type of coloration. Among the pines you may see a flock of birds, as large
+as a sparrow, with strange-looking beaks. The tips of the two mandibles
+are long, curved, and pointed, crossing each other at their ends. This
+looks like a deformity, but is in reality a splendid cone-opener and
+seed-extracter. These birds are the crossbills.
+
+Even in the cold of a February day, we may, on very rare occasions, be
+fortunate enough to hear unexpected sounds, such as the rattle of a belted
+kingfisher, or the croak of a night heron; for these birds linger until
+every bit of pond or lake is sealed with ice; and when a thaw comes, a
+lonely bat may surprise us with a short flight through the frosty air,
+before it returns to its winter's trance.
+
+Of course, in the vicinity of our towns and cities, the most noticeable
+birds at this season of the year (as indeed at all seasons) are the
+English sparrows and (at least near New York City) the starlings, those
+two foreigners which have wrought such havoc among our native birds. Their
+mingled flocks fly up, not only from garbage piles and gutters, but from
+the thickets and fields which should be filled with our sweet-voiced
+American birds. It is no small matter for man heedlessly to interfere with
+Nature. What may be a harmless, or even useful, bird in its native land
+may prove a terrible scourge when introduced where there are no enemies to
+keep it in check. Nature is doing her best to even matters by letting
+albinism run riot among the sparrows, and best of all by teaching sparrow
+hawks to nest under our eaves and thus be on equal terms with their
+sparrow prey. The starlings are turning out to be worse than the sparrows.
+Already they are invading the haunts of our grackles and redwings.
+
+On some cold day, when the sun is shining, visit all the orchards of which
+you know, and see if in one or more you cannot find a good-sized, gray,
+black, and white bird, which keeps to the topmost branch of a certain
+tree. Look at him carefully through your glasses, and if his beak is
+hooked, like that of a hawk, you may know that you are watching a northern
+shrike, or butcher bird. His manner is that of a hawk, and his appearance
+causes instant panic among small birds. If you watch long enough you may
+see him pursue and kill a goldfinch, or sparrow, and devour it. These
+birds are not even distantly related to the hawks, but have added a hawk's
+characteristics and appetite to the insect diet of their nearest
+relations. If ever shrikes will learn to confine their attacks to English
+sparrows, we should offer them every encouragement.
+
+All winter long the ebony forms of crows vibrate back and forth across the
+cold sky. If we watch them when very high up, we sometimes see them sail a
+short distance, and without fail, a second later, the clear "_Caw! caw!_"
+comes down to us, the sound-waves unable to keep pace with those of light,
+as the thunder of the storm lags behind the flash. These sturdy birds seem
+able to stand any severity of the weather, but, like Achilles, they have
+one vulnerable point, the eyes,--which, during the long winter nights,
+must be kept deep buried among the warm feathers.
+
+
+
+
+FISH LIFE
+
+
+We have all looked down through the clear water of brook or pond and
+watched the gracefully poised trout or pickerel; but have we ever tried to
+imagine what the life of one of these aquatic beings is really like?
+"Water Babies" perhaps gives us the best idea of existence below the
+water, but if we spend one day each month for a year in trying to imagine
+ourselves in the place of the fish, we will see that a fish-eye view of
+life holds much of interest.
+
+What a delightful sensation must it be to all but escape the eternal
+downpull of gravity, to float and turn and rise and fall at will, and all
+by the least twitch of tail or limb,--for fish have limbs, four of them,
+as truly as has a dog or horse, only instead of fingers or toes there are
+many delicate rays extending through the fin. These four limb-fins are
+useful chiefly as balancers, while the tail-fin is what sends the fish
+darting through the water, or turns it to right or left, with incredible
+swiftness.
+
+If we were able to examine some inhabitant of the planet Mars our first
+interest would be to know with what senses they were endowed, and these
+finny creatures living in their denser medium, which after a few seconds
+would mean death to us, excite the same interest. They see, of course,
+having eyes, but do they feel, hear, and smell!
+
+Probably the sense of taste is least developed. When a trout leaps at and
+catches a fly he does not stop to taste, otherwise the pheasant feather
+concealing the cruel hook would be of little use. When an animal catches
+its food in the water and swallows it whole, taste plays but a small part.
+Thus the tongue of a pelican is a tiny flap all but lost to view in its
+great bill.
+
+Water is an excellent medium for carrying minute particles of matter and
+so the sense of smell is well developed. A bit of meat dropped into the
+sea will draw the fish from far and wide, and a slice of liver will
+sometimes bring a score of sharks and throw them into the greatest
+excitement.
+
+Fishes are probably very near-sighted, but that they can distinguish
+details is apparent in the choice which a trout exhibits in taking certain
+coloured artificial flies. We may suppose from what we know of physics
+that when we lean over and look down into a pool, the fishy eyes which
+peer up at us discern only a dark, irregular mass. I have seen a pickerel
+dodge as quickly at a sudden cloud-shadow as at the motion of a man
+wielding a fish pole.
+
+We can be less certain about the hearing of fishes. They have, however,
+very respectable inner ears, built on much the same plan as in higher
+animals. Indeed many fish, such as the grunts, make various sounds which
+are plainly audible even to our ears high above the water, and we cannot
+suppose that this is a useless accomplishment. But the ears of fishes and
+the line of tiny tubes which extends along the side may be more effective
+in recording the tremors of the water transmitted by moving objects than
+actual sound.
+
+Watch a lazy catfish winding its way along near the bottom, with its
+barbels extended, and you will at once realise that fishes can feel, this
+function being very useful to those kinds which search for their food in
+the mud at the bottom.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+Not a breath of air stirs the surface of the woodland pond, and the trees
+about the margin are reflected unbroken in its surface. The lilies and
+their pads lie motionless, and in and out through the shadowy depths,
+around the long stems, float a school of half a dozen little sunfish. They
+move slowly, turning from side to side all at once as if impelled by one
+idea. Now and then one will dart aside and snap up a beetle or mosquito
+larva, then swing back to its place among its fellows. Their beautiful
+scales flash scarlet, blue, and gold, and their little hand-and-foot fins
+are ever trembling and waving. They drift upward nearer the surface, the
+wide round eyes turning and twisting in their sockets, ever watchful for
+food and danger. Without warning a terrific splash scatters them, and when
+the ripples and bubbles cease, five frightened sunfish cringe in terror
+among the water plants of the bottom mud. Off to her nest goes the
+kingfisher, bearing to her brood the struggling sixth.
+
+Later in the day, when danger seemed far off, a double-pointed vise shot
+toward the little group of "pumpkin seeds" and a great blue heron
+swallowed one of their number. Another, venturing too far beyond the
+protection of the lily stems and grass tangle of the shallows, fell victim
+to a voracious pickerel. But the most terrible fate befell when one day a
+black sinuous body came swiftly through the water. The fish had never seen
+its like before and yet some instinct told them that here was death indeed
+and they fled as fast as their fins could send them. The young otter had
+marked the trio and after it he sped, turning, twisting, following every
+movement with never a stop for breath until he had caught his prey.
+
+But the life of a fish is not all tragedy, and the two remaining sunfish
+may live in peace. In spawning time they clear a little space close to the
+water of the inlet, pulling up the young weeds and pushing up the sandy
+bottom until a hollow, bowl-like nest is prepared. Thoreau tells us that
+here the fish "may be seen early in summer assiduously brooding, and
+driving away minnows and larger fishes, even its own species, which would
+disturb its ova, pursuing them a few feet, and circling round swiftly to
+its nest again; the minnows, like young sharks, instantly entering the
+empty nests, meanwhile, and swallowing the spawn, which is attached to the
+weeds and to the bottom, on the sunny side. The spawn is exposed to so
+many dangers that a very small proportion can ever become fishes, for
+beside being the constant prey of birds and fishes, a great many nests are
+made so near the shore, in shallow water, that they are left dry in a few
+days, as the river goes down. These and the lampreys are the only fishes'
+nests that I have observed, though the ova of some species may be seen
+floating on the surface. The sunfish are so careful of their charge that
+you may stand close by in the water and examine them at your leisure. I
+have thus stood over them half an hour at a time, and stroked them
+familiarly without frightening them, suffering them to nibble my fingers
+harmlessly, and seen them erect their dorsal fins in anger when my hand
+approached their ova, and have even taken them gently out of the water
+with my hand; though this cannot be accomplished by a sudden movement,
+however dexterous, for instant warning is conveyed to them through their
+denser element, but only by letting the fingers gradually close about them
+as they are poised over the palm, and with the utmost gentleness raising
+them slowly to the surface. Though stationary, they kept up a constant
+sculling or waving motion with their fins, which is exceedingly graceful,
+and expressive of their humble happiness; for unlike ours, the element in
+which they live is a stream which must be constantly resisted. From time
+to time they nibble the weeds at the bottom or overhanging their nests, or
+dart after a fly or worm. The dorsal fin, besides answering the purpose of
+a keel, with the anal, serves to keep the fish upright, for in shallow
+water, where this is not covered, they fall on their sides. As you stand
+thus stooping over the sunfish in its nest, the edges of the dorsal and
+caudal fins have a singular dusty golden reflection, and its eyes, which
+stand out from the head, are transparent and colourless. Seen in its
+native element, it is a very beautiful and compact fish, perfect in all
+its parts, and looks like a brilliant coin fresh from the mint. It is a
+perfect jewel of the river, the green, red, coppery, and golden
+reflections of its mottled sides being the concentration of such rays as
+struggle through the floating pads and flowers to the sandy bottom, and in
+harmony with the sunlit brown and yellow pebbles."
+
+When the cold days of winter come and the ice begins to close over the
+pond, the sunfish become sluggish and keep near the bottom,
+half-hibernating but not unwilling to snap at any bit of food which may
+drift near them. Lying prone on the ice we may see them poising with
+slowly undulating fins, waiting, in their strange wide-eyed sleep, for the
+warmth which will bring food and active life again.
+
+    3rd. Fish. Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea.
+    1st. Fish. Why, as men do a-land: the great ones eat up the
+               little ones.
+                                                    Shakespeare.
+
+
+
+
+TENANTS OF WINTER BIRDS' NESTS
+
+
+When we realise how our lives are hedged about by butchers, bakers, and
+luxury-makers, we often envy the wild creatures their independence. And
+yet, although each animal is capable of finding its own food and shelter
+and of avoiding all ordinary danger, there is much dependence, one upon
+another, among the little creatures of fur and feathers.
+
+The first instinct of a gray squirrel, at the approach of winter, is to
+seek out a deep, warm, hollow limb, or trunk. Nowadays, however, these are
+not to be found in every grove. The precepts of modern forestry decree
+that all such unsightly places must be filled with cement and creosote and
+well sealed against the entrance of rain and snow. When hollows are not
+available, these hardy squirrels prepare their winter home in another way.
+Before the leaves have begun to loosen on their stalks, the little
+creatures set to work. The crows have long since deserted their rough nest
+of sticks in the top of some tall tree, and now the squirrels come,
+investigate, and adopt the forsaken bird's-nest as the foundation of their
+home. The sticks are pressed more tightly together, all interstices filled
+up, and then a superstructure of leafy twigs is woven overhead and all
+around. The leaves on these twigs, killed before their time, do not fall;
+and when the branches of the tree become bare, there remains in one of the
+uppermost crotches a big ball of leaves,--rain and snow proof, with a tiny
+entrance at one side.
+
+On a stormy mid-winter afternoon we stand beneath the tree and, through
+the snowflakes driven past by the howling gale, we catch glimpses of the
+nest swaying high in air. Far over it leans, as the branches are whipped
+and bent by the wind, and yet so cunningly is it wrought that never a twig
+or leaf loosens. We can imagine the pair of little shadow-tails within,
+sleeping fearlessly throughout all the coming night.
+
+But the sleep of the gray squirrel is a healthy and a natural one, not the
+half-dead trance of hibernation; and early next morning their sharp eyes
+appear at the entrance of their home and they are out and off through the
+tree-top path which only their feet can traverse. Down the snowy trunks
+they come with a rush, and with strong, clean bounds they head unerringly
+for their little _caches_ of nuts. Their provender is hidden away among
+the dried leaves, and when they want a nibble of nut or acorn they make
+their way, by some mysterious sense, even through three feet of snow, down
+to the bit of food which, months before, they patted out of sight among
+the moss and leaves.
+
+It would seem that some exact sub-conscious sense of locality would be a
+more probable solution of this feat than the sense of smell, however
+keenly developed, when we consider that dozens of nuts may be hidden or
+buried in close proximity to the one sought by the squirrel.
+
+Even though the birds seem to have vanished from the earth, and every
+mammal be deeply buried in its long sleep, no winter's walk need be barren
+of interest. A suggestion worth trying would be to choose a certain area
+of saplings and underbrush and proceed systematically to fathom every
+cause which has prevented the few stray leaves still upon their stalks
+from falling with their many brethren now buried beneath the snow.
+
+The encircling silken bonds of Promethea and Cynthia cocoons will account
+for some; others will puzzle us until we have found the traces of some
+insect foe, whose girdling has killed the twig and thus prevented the leaf
+from falling at the usual time; some may be simply mechanical causes,
+where a broken twig crotch has fallen athwart another stem in the course
+of its downward fall. Then there is the pitiful remnant of a last summer's
+bird's-nest, with a mere skeleton of a floor all but disintegrated.
+
+But occasionally a substantial ball of dead leaves will be noticed, swung
+amid a tangle of brier. No accident lodged these, nor did any insect have
+aught to do with their position. Examine carefully the mass of leaves and
+you will find a replica of the gray squirrel's nest, only, of course, much
+smaller. This handiwork of the white-footed or deer mouse can be found in
+almost every field or tangle of undergrowth; the nest of a field sparrow
+or catbird being used as a foundation and thickly covered over and tightly
+thatched with leaves. Now and then, even in mid-winter, we may find the
+owner at home, and as the weasel is the most bloodthirsty, so the deer
+mouse is the most beautiful and gentle of all the fur-coated folk of our
+woods. With his coat of white and pale golden brown and his great black,
+lustrous eyes, and his timid, trusting ways, he is altogether lovable.
+
+He spends the late summer and early autumn in his tangle-hung home, but in
+winter he generally selects a snug hollow log, or some cavity in the
+earth. Here he makes a round nest of fine grass and upon a couch of
+thistledown he sleeps in peace, now and then waking to partake of the
+little hoard of nuts which he has gathered, or he may even dare to frolic
+about upon the snow in the cold winter moonlight, leaving behind him no
+trace, save the fairy tracery of his tiny footprints.
+
+               Wee, sleekit, cow'rin', tim'rous beastie,
+               O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
+               Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
+                     Wi' bickering brattle!
+               I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
+               Wi' murd'ring prattle!
+                                           ROBERT BURNS.
+
+
+
+
+WINTER HOLES
+
+
+The decayed hollows which we have mentioned as so often productive of
+little owls have their possibilities by no means exhausted by one visit.
+The disturbed owl may take himself elsewhere, after being so
+unceremoniously disturbed; but there are roving, tramp-like characters,
+with dispositions taking them here and there through the winter nights, to
+whom, at break of day, a hole is ever a sought-for haven.
+
+So do not put your hand too recklessly into an owl hole, for a hiss and a
+sudden nip may show that an opossum has taken up his quarters there. If
+you must, pull him out by his squirming, naked tail, but do not carry him
+home, as he makes a poor pet, and between hen-house traps and irate
+farmers, he has good reason, in this part of the country at least, to be
+short tempered.
+
+Of course the birds'-nests are all deserted now, but do not be too sure of
+the woodpeckers' holes. The little downy and his larger cousin, the hairy
+woodpecker, often spend the winter nights snug within deep cavities which
+they have hollowed out, each bird for itself. I have never known a pair to
+share one of these shelters.
+
+Sometimes, in pulling off the loose bark from a decayed stump, several
+dry, flattened scales will fall out upon the snow among the debris of wood
+and dead leaves. Hold them close in the warm palm of your hand for a time
+and the dried bits will quiver, the sides partly separate, and behold! you
+have brought back to life a beautiful _Euvanessa_, or mourning-cloak
+butterfly. Lay it upon the snow and soon the awakened life will ebb away
+and it will again be stiff, as in death. If you wish, take it home, and
+you may warm it into activity, feed it upon a drop of syrup and freeze it
+again at will. Sometimes six or eight of these insects may be found
+sheltered under the bark of a single stump, or in a hollow beneath a
+stone. Several species share this habit of hibernating throughout the
+winter.
+
+Look carefully in old, deserted sheds, in half-sheltered hollows of trees,
+or in deep crevice-caverns in rocks, and you may some day spy one of the
+strangest of our wood-folk. A poor little shrivelled bundle of fur,
+tight-clasped in its own skinny fingers, with no more appearance of life
+in its frozen body than if it were a mummy from an Egyptian tomb; such is
+the figure that will meet your eye when you chance upon a bat in the deep
+trance of its winter's hibernation. Often you will find six or a dozen of
+these stiffened forms clinging close together, head downward.
+
+As in the case of the sleeping butterfly, carry one of the bats to your
+warm room and place him in a bird-cage, hanging him up on the top wires by
+his toes, with his head downward. The inverted position of these strange
+little beings always brings to mind some of the experiences of Gulliver,
+and indeed the life of a bat is more wonderful than any fairy tale.
+
+Probably the knowledge of bats which most of us possess is chiefly derived
+from the imaginations of artists and poets, who, unlike the Chinese, do
+not look upon these creatures with much favour, generally symbolising them
+in connection with passages and pictures which relate to the infernal
+regions. All of which is entirely unjust. Their nocturnal habits and our
+consequent ignorance of their characteristics are the only causes which
+can account for their being associated with the realm of Satan. In some
+places bats are called flittermice, but they are more nearly related to
+moles, shrews, and other insect-eaters than they are to mice. If we look
+at the skeleton of an animal which walks or hops we will notice that its
+hind limbs are much the stronger, and that the girdle which connects these
+with the backbone is composed of strong and heavy bones. In bats a reverse
+condition is found; the breast girdle, or bones corresponding to our
+collar bones and shoulder blades, are greatly developed. This, as in
+birds, is, of course, an adaptation to give surface for the attachment of
+the great propelling muscles of the wings.
+
+Although the hand of a bat is so strangely altered, yet, as we shall see
+if we look at our captive specimen, it has five fingers, as we have, four
+of which are very long and thin, and the webs, of which we have a very
+noticeable trace in our own hands, stretch from finger-tip to finger-tip,
+and to the body and even down each leg, ending squarely near the ankle,
+thus giving the creature the absurd appearance of having on a very broad,
+baggy pair of trousers.
+
+When thoroughly warmed up, our bat will soon start on a tour of inspection
+of his cage. He steps rapidly from one wire to another, sometimes hooking
+on with all five toes, but generally with four or three. There seems to be
+little power in these toes, except of remaining bent in a hooked position;
+for when our bat stops and draws up one foot to scratch the head, the
+claws are merely jerked through the fur by motions of the whole leg, not
+by individual movements of the separate toes. In this motion we notice,
+for the first time, that the legs and feet grow in a kind of "spread
+eagle" position, making the knees point backward, in the same direction as
+the elbows.
+
+We must stop a moment to admire the beautiful soft fur, a golden brown in
+colour, with part of the back nearly black. The tiny inverted face is full
+of expression, the bead-like eyes gleaming brightly from out of their
+furry bed. The small moist nostrils are constantly wrinkling and
+sniffling, and the large size of the alert ears shows how much their owner
+depends upon them for information. If we suddenly move up closer to the
+wires, the bat opens both wings owl-like, in a most threatening manner;
+but if we make still more hostile motions the creature retreats as hastily
+as it can, changing its method of progress to an all-fours, sloth-like
+gait, the long free thumb of each hand grasping wire after wire and doing
+most of the leverage, the hind legs following passively.
+
+When at what he judges a safe distance he again hangs pendent, bending his
+head back to look earnestly at us. Soon the half-opened wings are closed
+and brought close to the shoulders, and in this, the usual resting
+position, the large claws of the thumbs rest on the breast in little
+furrows which they have worn in the fur.
+
+Soon drowsiness comes on and a long elaborate yawn is given, showing the
+many small needle-like teeth and the broad red tongue, which curls outward
+to a surprising length. Then comes the most curious process of all.
+Drawing up one leg, the little creature deliberately wraps one hand with
+its clinging web around the leg and under the arms, and then draws the
+other wing straight across the body, holds it there a moment, while it
+takes a last look in all directions. Then lifting its fingers slightly, it
+bends its head and wraps all in the full-spread web. It is most
+ludicrously like a tragedian, acting the death scene in "Julius Cæsar,"
+and it loses nothing in repetition; for each time the little animal thus
+draws its winding sheet about its body, one is forced to smile as he
+thinks of the absurd resemblance.
+
+But all this and much more you will see for yourself, if you are so
+fortunate as to discover the hiding-place of the hibernating bat.
+
+Our little brown bat is a most excellent mother, and when in summer she
+starts out on her nocturnal hunts she takes her tiny baby bat with her.
+The weird little creature wraps his long fingers about his mother's neck
+and off they go. When two young are born, the father bat is said sometimes
+to assume entire control of one.
+
+After we come to know more of the admirable family traits of the
+_fledermaus_--its musical German name--we shall willingly defend it from
+the calumny which for thousands of years has been heaped upon it.
+
+Hibernation is a strange phenomenon, and one which is but little
+understood. If we break into the death-like trance for too long a time, or
+if we do not supply the right kind of food, our captive butterflies and
+bats will perish. So let us soon freeze them up again and place them back
+in the care of old Nature. Thus the pleasure is ours of having made them
+yield up their secrets, without any harm to them. Let us fancy that in the
+spring they may remember us only as a strange dream which has come to them
+during their long sleep.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+MARCH
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+FEATHERED PIONEERS
+
+
+In the annual war of the seasons, March is the time of the most bitterly
+contested battles. But we--and very likely the birds--can look ahead and
+realise what the final outcome will invariably be, and, our sympathies
+being on the winning side, every advance of spring's outposts gladdens our
+hearts. But winter is a stubborn foe, and sometimes his snow and icicle
+battalions will not give way a foot. Though by day the sun's fierce attack
+may drench the earth with the watery blood of the ice legions, yet at
+night, silently and grimly, new reserves of cold repair the damage.
+
+Our winter visitors are still in force. Amid the stinging cold the wee
+brown form of a winter wren will dodge round a brush pile--a tiny bundle
+of energy which defies all chill winds and which resolves bug chrysalides
+and frozen insects into a marvellous activity. Other little birds, as
+small as the wren, call to us from the pines and cedars--golden-crowned
+kinglets, olive-green of body, while on their heads burns a crest of
+orange and gold.
+
+When a good-sized brown bird flies up before you, showing a flash of white
+on his rump, you may know him for the flicker, the most unwoodpecker-like
+of his family. He is more or less deserting the tree-climbing method for
+ground feeding, and if you watch him you will see many habits which his
+new mode of life is teaching him.
+
+Even in the most wintry of Marches some warm, thawing days are sure to be
+thrown in between storms, and nothing, not even pussy willows and the
+skunk cabbage, yield more quickly to the mellowing influence than do the
+birds--sympathetic brethren of ours that they are. Hardly has the sunniest
+icicle begun to drop tears, when a song sparrow flits to the top of a
+bush, clears his throat with sharp chirps and shouts as loud as he can:
+"Hip! Hip! Hip! Hurrah--!" Even more boreal visitors feel the new
+influence, and tree and fox sparrows warble sweetly. But the bluebird's
+note will always be spring's dearest herald. When this soft, mellow sound
+floats from the nearest fence post, it seems to thaw something out of our
+ears; from this instant winter seems on the defensive; the crisis has come
+and gone in an instant, in a single vibration of the air.
+
+Bright colours are still scarce among our birds, but another blue form may
+occasionally pass us, for blue jays are more noticeable now than at any
+other time of the year. Although not by any means a rare bird, with us
+jays are shy and wary. In Florida their southern cousins are as familiar
+as robins, without a trace of fear of mankind. What curious notes our blue
+jays have--a creaking, wheedling, rasping medley of sounds coming through
+the leafless branches. At this time of year they love acorns and nuts, but
+in the spring "their fancy turns to thoughts of" eggs and young nestlings,
+and they are accordingly hated by the small birds. Nevertheless no bird is
+quicker to shout and scream "Thief! Robber!" at some harmless little owl
+than are these blue and white rascals.
+
+You may seek in vain to discover the first sign of nesting among the
+birds. Scarcely has winter set in in earnest, you will think, when the
+tiger-eyed one of the woods--the great horned owl--will have drifted up to
+some old hawk's nest, and laid her white spheres fairly in the snow. When
+you discover her "horns" above the nest lining of dried leaves, you may
+find that her fuzzy young owls are already hatched. But these owls are an
+exception, and no other bird in our latitude cares to risk the dangers of
+late February or early March.
+
+March is sometimes a woodpecker month, and almost any day one is very
+likely to see, besides the flicker, the hairy or downy woodpecker. The
+latter two are almost counterparts of each other, although the downy is
+the more common. They hammer cheerfully upon the sounding boards which
+Nature has provided for them, striking slow or fast, soft or loud, as
+their humour dictates.
+
+Near New York, a day in March--I have found it varying from March 8 to
+March 12--is "crow day." Now the winter roosts apparently break up, and
+all day flocks of crows, sometimes thousands upon thousands of them, pass
+to the northward. If the day is quiet and spring-like, they fly very high,
+black motes silhouetted against the blue,--but if the day is a "March
+day," with whistling, howling winds, then the black fellows fly close to
+earth, rising just enough to clear bushes and trees, and taking leeward
+advantage of every protection. For days after, many crows pass, but never
+so many as on the first day, when crow law, or crow instinct, passes the
+word, we know not how, which is obeyed by all.
+
+For miles around not a drop of water may be found; it seems as if every
+pool and lake were solid to the bottom, and yet, when we see a large bird,
+with goose-like body, long neck and long, pointed beak, flying like a
+bullet of steel through the sky, we may be sure that there is open water
+to the northward, for a loon never makes a mistake. When the first pioneer
+of these hardy birds passes, he knows that somewhere beyond us fish can be
+caught. If we wonder where he has spent the long winter months, we should
+take a steamer to Florida. Out on the ocean, sometimes a hundred miles or
+more from land, many of these birds make their winter home. When the bow
+of the steamer bears down upon one, the bird half spreads its wings, then
+closes them quickly, and sinks out of sight in the green depths, not to
+reappear until the steamer has passed, when he looks after us and utters
+his mocking laugh. Here he will float until the time comes for him to go
+north. We love the brave fellow, remembering him in his home among the
+lakes of Canada; but we tremble for him when we think of the terrible
+storm waves which he must outride, and the sneering sharks which must
+sometimes spy him. What a story he could tell of his life among the
+phalaropes and jelly-fishes!
+
+Meadow larks are in flocks in March, and as their yellow breasts, with the
+central crescent of black, rise from the snow-bent grass, their long,
+clear, vocal "arrow" comes to us, piercing the air like a veritable icicle
+of sound. When on the ground they are walkers like the crow.
+
+As the kingfisher and loon appear to know long ahead when the first bit of
+clear water will appear, so the first insect on the wing seems to be
+anticipated by a feathered flycatcher. Early some morning, when the
+wondrous Northern Lights are still playing across the heavens, a small
+voice may make all the surroundings seem incongruous. Frosty air, rimmed
+tree-trunks, naked branches, aurora--all seem as unreal as stage
+properties, when _phoe-be!_ comes to our ears. Yes, there is the little
+dark-feathered, tail-wagging fellow, hungry no doubt, but sure that when
+the sun warms up, Mother Nature will strew his aerial breakfast-table with
+tiny gnats,--precocious, but none the less toothsome for all that.
+
+             Hark 'tis the bluebird's venturous strain
+                 High on the old fringed elm at the gate--
+             Sweet-voiced, valiant on the swaying bough,
+                 Alert, elate,
+             Dodging the fitful spits of snow,
+                 New England's poet-laureate
+             Telling us Spring has come again!
+                                    Thomas Bailey Aldrich.
+
+
+
+
+THE WAYS OF MEADOW MICE
+
+
+Day after day we may walk through the woods and fields, using our eyes as
+best we can, searching out every moving thing, following up every
+sound,--and yet we touch only the coarsest, perceive only the grossest of
+the life about us. Tramp the same way after a fall of snow and we are
+astonished at the evidences of life of which we knew nothing. Everywhere,
+in and out among the reed stems, around the tree-trunks, and in wavy lines
+and spirals all about, runs the delicate tracery of the meadow mice
+trails. No leapers these, as are the white-footed and jumping mice, but
+short-legged and stout of body. Yet with all their lack of size and
+swiftness, they are untiring little folk, and probably make long journeys
+from their individual nests.
+
+As far north as Canada and west to the Plains the meadow or field mice are
+found, and everywhere they seem to be happy and content. Most of all,
+however, they enjoy the vicinity of water, and a damp, half-marshy meadow
+is a paradise for them. No wonder their worst enemies are known as marsh
+hawks and marsh owls; these hunters of the daylight and the night well
+know where the meadow mice love to play.
+
+These mice are resourceful little beings and when danger threatens they
+will take to the water without hesitation; and when the muskrat has gone
+the way of the beaver, our ditches and ponds will not be completely
+deserted, for the little meadow mice will swim and dive for many years
+thereafter.
+
+Not only in the meadows about our inland streams, but within sound of the
+breakers on the seashore, these vigorous bits of fur find bountiful
+living, and it is said that the mice folk inhabiting these low salt
+marshes always know in some mysterious way when a disastrous high tide is
+due, and flee in time, so that when the remorseless ripples lap higher and
+higher over the wide stretches of salt grass, not a mouse will be drowned.
+By some delicate means of perception all have been notified in time, and
+these, among the least of Nature's children, have run and scurried along
+their grassy paths to find safety on the higher ground.
+
+These paths seem an invention of the meadow mice, and, affording them a
+unique escape from danger, they doubtless, in a great measure, account for
+the extreme abundance of the little creatures. When a deer mouse or a
+chipmunk emerges from its hollow log or underground tunnel, it must take
+its chances in open air. It may dart along close to the ground or amid an
+impenetrable tangle of briers, but still it is always visible from above.
+On the other hand, a mole, pushing blindly along beneath the sod, fears no
+danger from the hawk soaring high overhead.
+
+The method of the meadow mice is between these two: its stratum of active
+life is above the mole and beneath the chipmunk. Scores of sharp little
+incisor teeth are forever busy gnawing and cutting away the tender grass
+and sprouting weeds in long meandering paths or trails through the
+meadows. As these paths are only a mouse-breadth in width, the grasses at
+each side lean inward, forming a perfect shelter of interlocking stems
+overhead. Two purposes are thus fulfilled: a delicious succulent food is
+obtained and a way of escape is kept ever open. These lines intersect and
+cross at every conceivable angle, and as the meadow mice clan are ever
+friendly toward one another, any particular mouse seems at liberty to
+traverse these miles of mouse alleys.
+
+In winter, when the snow lies deep upon the ground, these same mice drive
+tunnels beneath it, leading to all their favourite feeding grounds, to all
+the heavy-seeded weed heads, with which the bounty of Nature supplies
+them. But at night these tunnels are deserted and boldly out upon the snow
+come the meadow mice, chasing each other over its gleaming surface,
+nibbling the toothsome seeds, dodging, or trying to dodge, the
+owl-shadows; living the keen, strenuous, short, but happy, life which is
+that of all the wild meadow folk.
+
+                That wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble
+                Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!
+                Thou saw the fields laid bare and waste,
+                An' weary winter comin' fast,
+                An' cosey here, beneath the blast,
+                    Thou thought to dwell.
+                                           Robert Burns.
+
+
+
+
+PROBLEMS OF BIRD LIFE
+
+
+The principal problems which birds, and indeed all other creatures, have
+to solve, have been well stated to be--Food, Safety, and Reproduction. In
+regard to safety, or the art of escaping danger, we are all familiar with
+the ravages which hawks, owls, foxes, and even red squirrels commit among
+the lesser feathered creatures, but there are other dangers which few of
+us suspect.
+
+Of all creatures birds are perhaps the most exempt from liability to
+accident, yet they not infrequently lose their lives in most unexpected
+ways. Once above trees and buildings, they have the whole upper air free
+of every obstacle, and though their flight sometimes equals the speed of a
+railroad train, they have little to fear when well above the ground.
+Collision with other birds seems scarcely possible, although it sometimes
+does occur. When a covey of quail is flushed, occasionally two birds will
+collide, at times meeting with such force that both are stunned.
+Flycatchers darting at the same insect will now and then come together,
+but not hard enough to injure either bird.
+
+Even the smallest and most wonderful of all flyers, the hummingbird, may
+come to grief in accidental ways. I have seen one entangled in a burdock
+burr, its tiny feathers fast locked into the countless hooks, and again I
+have found the body of one of these little birds with its bill fastened in
+a spiral tendril of a grapevine, trapped in some unknown way.
+
+Young phoebes sometimes become entangled in the horsehairs which are used
+in the lining of their nest. When they are old enough to fly and attempt
+to leave, they are held prisoners or left dangling from the nest. When
+mink traps are set in the snow in winter, owls frequently fall victims,
+mice being scarce and the bait tempting.
+
+Lighthouses are perhaps the cause of more accidents to birds than are any
+of the other obstacles which they encounter on their nocturnal migrations
+north and south. Many hundreds of birds are sometimes found dead at the
+base of these structures. The sudden bright glare is so confusing and
+blinding, as they shoot from the intense darkness into its circle of
+radiance, that they are completely bewildered and dash headlong against
+the thick panes of glass. Telegraph wires are another menace to low-flying
+birds, especially those which, like quail and woodcock, enjoy a whirlwind
+flight, and attain great speed within a few yards. Such birds have been
+found almost cut in two by the force with which they struck the wire.
+
+The elements frequently catch birds unaware and overpower them. A sudden
+wind or storm will drive coast-flying birds hundreds of miles out to sea,
+and oceanic birds may be blown as far inland. Hurricanes in the West
+Indies are said to cause the death of innumerable birds, as well as of
+other creatures. From such a cause small islands are known to have become
+completely depopulated of their feathered inhabitants. Violent hailstorms,
+coming in warm weather without warning, are quite common agents in the
+destruction of birds, and in a city thousands of English sparrows have
+been stricken during such a storm. After a violent storm of wet snow in
+the middle West, myriads of Lapland longspurs were once found dead in the
+streets and suburbs of several villages. On the surface of two small
+lakes, a conservative estimate of the dead birds was a million and a
+half!
+
+The routes which birds follow in migrating north and south sometimes
+extend over considerable stretches of water, as across the Caribbean Sea,
+but the only birds which voluntarily brave the dangers of the open ocean
+are those which, from ability to swim, or great power of flight, can trust
+themselves far away from land. Not infrequently a storm will drive birds
+away from the land and carry them over immense distances, and this
+accounts for the occasional appearance of land birds near vessels far out
+at sea. Overcome with fatigue, they perch for hours in the rigging before
+taking flight in the direction of the nearest land, or, desperate from
+hunger, they fly fearlessly down to the deck, where food and water are
+seldom refused them.
+
+Small events like these are welcome breaks in the monotony of a long ocean
+voyage, but are soon forgotten at the end of the trip.
+
+Two of these ocean waifs were once brought to me. One was a young European
+heron which flew on board a vessel when it was about two hundred and five
+miles southeast of the southern extremity of India. A storm must have
+driven the bird seaward, as there is no migration route near this
+locality.
+
+The second bird was a European turtle dove which was captured not less
+than seven hundred and fifty miles from the nearest land--Ireland. When
+caught it was in an exhausted condition, but it quickly recovered and soon
+lost all signs of the buffeting of the storm. The turtle dove migrates
+northward to the British Islands about the first of May, but as this bird
+was captured on May 17th, it was not migrating, but, caught by a gust of
+wind, was probably blown away from the land. The force of the storm would
+then drive it mile after mile, allowing it no chance of controlling the
+direction of its flight, but, from the very velocity, making it easy for
+the bird to maintain its equilibrium.
+
+Hundreds of birds must perish when left by storms far out at sea, and the
+infinitely small chance of encountering a vessel or other resting-place
+makes a bird which has passed through such an experience and survived,
+interesting indeed.
+
+In winter ruffed grouse have a habit of burrowing deep beneath the snow
+and letting the storm shut them in. In this warm, cosey retreat they spend
+the night, their breath making its way out through the loosely packed
+crystals. But when a cold rain sets in during the night, this becomes a
+fatal trap, an impenetrable crust cutting off their means of escape.
+
+Ducks, when collected about a small open place in an ice-covered pond,
+diving for the tender roots on which they feed, sometimes become confused
+and drown before they find their way out. They have been seen frozen into
+the ice by hundreds, sitting there helplessly, and fortunate if the sun,
+with its thawing power, releases them before they are discovered by
+marauding hawks or foxes.
+
+In connection with their food supply the greatest enemy of birds is ice,
+and when a winter rain ends with a cold snap, and every twig and seed is
+encased in a transparent armour of ice, then starvation stalks close to
+all the feathered kindred. Then is the time to scatter crumbs and grain
+broadcast, to nail bones and suet to the tree-trunks and so awaken hope
+and life in the shivering little forms. If a bird has food in abundance,
+it little fears the cold. I have kept parrakeets out through the blizzards
+and storms of a severe winter, seeing them play and frolic in the snow as
+if their natural home were an arctic tundra, instead of a tropical
+forest.
+
+A friend of birds once planted many sprouts of wild honeysuckle about his
+porch, and the following summer two pairs of hummingbirds built their
+nests in near-by apple trees; he transplanted quantities of living
+woodbine to the garden fences, and when the robins returned in the spring,
+after having remained late the previous autumn feeding on the succulent
+bunches of berries, no fewer than ten pairs nested on and about the porch
+and yard.
+
+So my text of this, as of many other weeks is,--study the food habits of
+the birds and stock your waste places with their favourite berry or vine.
+Your labour will be repaid a hundredfold in song and in the society of the
+little winged comrades.
+
+               Worn is the winter rug of white,
+               And in the snow-bare spots once more,
+               Glimpses of faint green grass in sight,--
+               Spring's footprints on the floor.
+               Spring here--by what magician's touch?
+               'Twas winter scarce an hour ago.
+               And yet I should have guessed as much,--
+                 Those footprints in the snow!
+                                 Frank Dempster Sherman.
+
+
+
+
+DWELLERS IN THE DUST
+
+
+To many of us the differences between a reptile and a batrachian are
+unknown. Even if we have learned that these interesting creatures are well
+worth studying and that they possess few or none of the unpleasant
+characteristics usually attributed to them, still we are apt to speak of
+having seen a lizard in the water at the pond's edge, or of having heard a
+reptile croaking near the marsh. To avoid such mistakes, one need only
+remember that reptiles are covered with scales and that batrachians have
+smooth skins.
+
+Our walks will become more and more interesting as we spread our interest
+over a wider field, not confining our observations to birds and mammals
+alone, but including members of the two equally distinctive classes of
+animals mentioned above. The batrachians, in the northeastern part of our
+country, include the salamanders and newts, the frogs and toads, while as
+reptiles we number lizards, turtles, and snakes.
+
+Lizards are creatures of the tropics and only two small species are found
+in our vicinity, and these occur but rarely. Snakes, however, are more
+abundant, and, besides the rare poisonous copperhead and rattlesnake,
+careful search will reveal a dozen harmless species, the commonest, of
+course, being the garter snake and its near relative the ribbon snake.
+
+About this time of the year snakes begin to feel the thawing effect of the
+sun's rays and to stir in their long winter hibernation. Sometimes we will
+come upon a ball of six or eight intertwined snakes, which, if they are
+still frozen up, will lie motionless upon the ground. But when spring
+finally unclasps the seal which has been put upon tree and ground, these
+reptiles stretch themselves full length upon some exposed stone, where
+they lie basking in the sun.
+
+The process of shedding the skin soon begins; getting clear of the head
+part, eye-scales and all, the serpent slowly wriggles its way forward,
+escaping from the old skin as a finger is drawn from a glove. At last it
+crawls away, bright and shining in its new scaly coat, leaving behind it a
+spectral likeness of itself, which slowly sinks and disintegrates amid the
+dead leaves and moss, or, later in the year, it may perhaps be discovered
+by some crested flycatcher and carried off to be added to its nesting
+material.
+
+When the broods of twenty to thirty young garter snakes start out in life
+to hunt for themselves, then woe to the earthworms, for it is upon them
+that the little serpents chiefly feed.
+
+Six or seven of our native species of snakes lay eggs, usually depositing
+them under the bark of rotten logs, or in similar places, where they are
+left to hatch by the heat of the sun or by that of the decaying
+vegetation. It is interesting to gather these leathery shelled eggs and
+watch them hatch, and it is surprising how similar to each other some of
+the various species are when they emerge from the shell.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+APRIL
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+SPRING SONGSTERS
+
+
+Early April sees the last contest which winter wages for supremacy, and
+often it is a half-hearted attempt; but after the army of the North has
+retreated, with its icicles and snowdrifts, spring seems dazed for a
+while. Victory has been dearly bought, and April is the season when, for a
+time, the trees and insects hang fire--paralysed--while the chill is
+thawing from their marrow. Our northern visitors of the bird world slip
+quietly away. There is no great gathering of clans like that of the tree
+swallows in the fall, but silently, one by one, they depart, following the
+last moan of the north wind, covering winter's disordered retreat with
+warbles and songs.
+
+One evening we notice the juncos and tree sparrows in the tangled,
+frost-burned stubble, and the next day, although our eye catches glints of
+white from sparrow tails, it is from vesper finches, not from juncos, and
+the weed spray which a few hours before bent beneath a white-throat's
+weight, now vibrates with the energy which a field sparrow puts into his
+song. Field and chipping sparrows, which now come in numbers, are somewhat
+alike, but by their beaks and songs you may know them. The mandibles of
+the former are flesh-coloured, those of the latter black. The sharp
+_chip!_ _chip!_ is characteristic of the "chippy," but the sweet, dripping
+song of the field sparrow is charming. No elaborate performance this, but
+a succession of sweet, high notes, accelerating toward the end, like a
+coin of silver settling to rest on a marble table--a simple, chaste
+vespers which rises to the setting sun and endears the little brown singer
+to us.
+
+We may learn much by studying these homely little frequenters of our
+orchards and pastures; each has a hundred secrets which await patient and
+careful watching by their human lovers. In the chipping sparrow we may
+notice a hint of the spring change of dress which warblers and tanagers
+carry to such an extreme. When he left us in the fall he wore a
+dull-streaked cap, but now he comes from the South attired in a smart
+head-covering of bright chestnut. Poor little fellow, this is the very
+best he can do in the way of especial ornament to bewitch his lady love,
+but it suffices. Can the peacock's train do more?
+
+This is the time to watch for the lines of ducks crossing the sky, and be
+ready to find black ducks in the oddest places--even in insignificant rain
+pools deep in the woods. In the early spring the great flocks of grackles
+and redwings return, among the first to arrive as they were the last to
+leave for the South.
+
+Before the last fox sparrow goes, the hermit thrush comes, and these
+birds, alike in certain superficialities, but so actually unrelated, for a
+time seek their food in the same grove.
+
+The hardier of the warblers pass us in April, stopping a few days before
+continuing to the northward. We should make haste to identify them and to
+learn all we can of their notes and habits, not only because of the short
+stay which most of them make, but on account of the vast assemblage of
+warbler species already on the move in the Southern States, which soon, in
+panoply of rainbow hues, will crowd our groves and wear thin the warbler
+pages of our bird books.
+
+These April days we are sure to see flocks of myrtle, or yellow-rumped
+warblers, and yellow palm warblers in their olive-green coats and chestnut
+caps. The black-and-white creeper will always show himself true to his
+name--a creeping bundle of black and white streaks. When we hear of the
+parula warbler or of the Cape May warbler we get no idea of the appearance
+of the bird, but when we know that the black-throated green warblers begin
+to appear in April, the first good view of one of this species will
+proclaim him as such.
+
+We have marked the fox sparrow as being a great scratcher among dead
+leaves. His habit is continued in the spring by the towhee, or chewink,
+who uses the same methods, throwing both feet backward simultaneously. The
+ordinary call note of this bird is a good example of how difficult it is
+to translate bird songs into human words. Listen to the quick, double note
+coming from the underbrush. Now he says "_towhee'!_" the next time
+"_chewink'!_" You may change about at will, and the notes will always
+correspond. Whatever is in our mind at the instant, that will seem to be
+what the bird says. This should warn us of the danger of reading our
+thoughts and theories too much into the minds and actions of birds. Their
+mental processes, in many ways, correspond to ours. When a bird expresses
+fear, hate, bravery, pain or pleasure, we can sympathise thoroughly with
+it, but in studying their more complex actions we should endeavour to
+exclude the thousand and one human attributes with which we are prone to
+colour the bird's mental environment.
+
+John Burroughs has rendered the song of the black-throated green warbler
+in an inimitable way, as follows: "---- ----V----!" When we have once
+heard the bird we will instantly recognise the aptness of these symbolic
+lines. The least flycatcher, called _minimus_ by the scientists, well
+deserves his name, for of all those members of his family which make their
+home with us, he is the smallest. These miniature flycatchers have a way
+of hunting which is all their own. They sit perched on some exposed twig
+or branch, motionless until some small insect flies in sight. Then they
+will launch out into the air, and, catching the insect with a snap of
+their beaks, fly back to the same perch. They are garbed in subdued grays,
+olives, and yellows. The least flycatcher has another name which at once
+distinguishes him--chebec'. As he sits on a limb, his whole body trembles
+when he jerks out these syllables, and his tail snaps as if it played some
+important part in the mechanism of his vocal effort.
+
+When you are picking cowslips and hepaticas early in the month, keep a
+lookout for the first barn swallow. Nothing gives us such an impression of
+the independence and individuality of birds as when a solitary member of
+some species arrives days before others of his kind. One fork-tailed
+beauty of last year's nest above the haymow may hawk about for insects day
+after day alone, before he is joined by other swallows. Did he spend the
+winter by himself, or did the _heimweh_ smite his heart more sorely and
+bring him irresistibly to the loved nest in the rafters? This love of
+home, which is so striking an attribute of birds, is a wonderfully
+beautiful thing. It brings the oriole back to the branch where still
+swings her exquisite purse-shaped home of last summer; it leads each pair
+of fishhawks to their particular cartload of sticks, to which a few more
+must be added each year; it hastens the wing beats of the sea-swallows
+northward to the beach which, ten months ago, was flecked with their
+eggs--the shifting grains of sand their only nest.
+
+This love of home, of birthplace, bridges over a thousand physical
+differences between these feathered creatures and ourselves. We forget
+their expressionless masks of horn, their feathered fingers, their scaly
+toes, and looking deep into their clear, bright eyes, we know and feel a
+kinship, a sympathy of spirit, which binds us all together, and we are
+glad.
+
+              Yet these sweet sounds of the early season,
+                And these fair sights of its sunny days,
+              Are only sweet when we fondly listen,
+                And only fair when we fondly gaze.
+
+              There is no glory in star or blossom
+                Till looked upon by a loving eye;
+              There is no fragrance in April breezes
+                Till breathed with joy as they wander by.
+                                   William Cullen Bryant.
+
+
+
+
+THE SIMPLE ART OF SAPSUCKING
+
+
+The yellow-bellied sapsucker is, at this time of year, one of our most
+abundant woodpeckers, and in its life we have an excellent example of that
+individuality which is ever cropping out in Nature--the trial and
+acceptance of life under new conditions.
+
+In the spring we tap the sugar maples, and gather great pailfuls of the
+sap as it rises from its winter resting-place in the roots, and the
+sapsucker likes to steal from our pails or to tap the trees for himself.
+But throughout part of the year he is satisfied with an insect diet and
+chooses the time when the sap begins to flow downward in the autumn for
+committing his most serious depredations upon the tree. It was formerly
+thought that this bird, like its near relatives, the downy and hairy
+woodpeckers, was forever boring for insects; but when we examine the
+regularity and symmetry of the arrangement of its holes, we realise that
+they are for a very different purpose than the exposing of an occasional
+grub.
+
+Besides drinking the sap from the holes, this bird extracts a quantity of
+the tender inner bark of the tree, and when a tree has been encircled for
+several feet up and down its trunk by these numerous little sap wells, the
+effect becomes apparent in the lessened circulation of the liquid blood of
+the tree; and before long, death is certain to ensue. So the work of the
+sapsucker is injurious, while the grub-seeking woodpeckers confer only
+good upon the trees they frequent.
+
+And how pitiful is the downfall of a doomed tree! Hardly has its vitality
+been lessened an appreciable amount, when somehow the word is passed to
+the insect hordes who hover about in waiting, as wolves hang upon the
+outskirts of a herd of buffalo. In the spring, when the topmost branches
+have received a little less than their wonted amount of wholesome sap and
+the leaves are less vigorous, the caterpillars and twig-girdlers attack at
+once. Ichneumen flies and boring beetles seem to know by signs invisible
+to us that here is opportunity. Then in the fall come again the sapsuckers
+to the tree, remorselessly driving hole after hole through the still
+untouched segments of its circle of life. When the last sap-channel is
+pierced and no more can pass to the roots, the tree stands helpless,
+waiting for the end. Swiftly come frost and rain, and when the April suns
+again quicken all the surrounding vegetation into vigorous life, the
+victim of the sapsuckers stands lifeless, its branches reaching hopelessly
+upward, a naked mockery amid the warm green foliage around. Insects and
+fungi and lightning now set to work unhindered, and the tree falls at
+last,--dust to dust--ashes to ashes.
+
+A sapsucker has been seen in early morning to sink forty or fifty wells
+into the bark of a mountain ash tree, and then to spend the rest of the
+day in sidling from one to another, taking a sip here and a drink there,
+gradually becoming more and more lethargic and drowsy, as if the sap
+actually produced some narcotic or intoxicating effect. Strong indeed is
+the contrast between such a picture and the same bird in the early
+spring,--then full of life and vigour, drawing musical reverberations from
+some resonant hollow limb.
+
+Like other idlers, the sapsucker in its deeds of gluttony and harm brings,
+if anything, more injury to others than to itself. The farmers well know
+its depredations and detest it accordingly, but unfortunately they are not
+ornithologists, and a peckerwood is a peckerwood to them; and so while the
+poor downy, the red-head, and the hairy woodpeckers are seen busily at
+work cutting the life threads of the injurious borer larvæ, the farmer,
+thinking of his dying trees, slays them all without mercy or distinction.
+The sapsucker is never as confiding as the downy, and from a safe distance
+sees others murdered for sins which are his alone.
+
+But we must give sapsucker his due and admit that he devours many hundreds
+of insects throughout the year, and though we mourn the death of an
+occasional tree, we cannot but admire his new venture in life,--his
+cunning in choosing only the dessert served at the woodpeckers'
+feasts,--the sweets which flow at the tap of a beak, leaving to his
+fellows the labour of searching and drilling deep for more substantial
+courses.
+
+
+
+
+WILD WINGS
+
+
+The ides of March see the woodcock back in its northern home, and in early
+April it prepares for nesting. The question of the nest itself is a very
+simple matter, being only a cavity, formed by the pressure of the mother's
+body, among the moss and dead leaves. The formalities of courtship are,
+however, quite another thing, and the execution of interesting aerial
+dances entails much effort and time.
+
+It is in the dusk of evening that the male woodcock begins his
+song,--plaintive notes uttered at regular intervals, and sounding like
+_peent!_ _peent!_ Then without warning he launches himself on a sharply
+ascending spiral, his wings whistling through the gloom. Higher and higher
+he goes, balances a moment, and finally descends abruptly, with zigzag
+rushes, wings and voice both aiding each other in producing the sounds, to
+which, let us suppose, his prospective mate listens with ecstasy. It is a
+weird performance, repeated again and again during the same evening.
+
+So pronounced and loud is the whistling of the wings that we wonder how it
+can be produced by ordinary feathers. The three outer primaries of the
+wing, which in most birds are usually like the others, in the woodcock are
+very stiff, and the vanes are so narrow that when the wing is spread there
+is a wide space between each one. When the wing beats the air rapidly, the
+wind rushes through these feather slits,--and we have the accompaniment of
+the love-song explained.
+
+The feather-covered arms and hands of birds are full of interest; and
+after studying the wing of a chicken which has been plucked for the table,
+we shall realise how wonderful a transformation has taken place through
+the millions of years past. Only three stubby fingers are left and these
+are stiff and almost immovable, but the rest of the forearm is very like
+that of our own arm.
+
+See how many facts we can accumulate about wings, by giving special
+attention to them, when watching birds fly across the sky. How easy it is
+to identify the steady beats of a crow, or the more rapid strokes of a
+duck; how distinctive is the frequent looping flight of a goldfinch, or
+the longer, more direct swings of a woodpecker!
+
+Hardly any two birds have wings exactly similar in shape, every wing being
+exquisitely adapted to its owner's needs. The gull soars or flaps slowly
+on his long, narrow, tireless pinions, while the quail rises suddenly
+before us on short, rounded wings, which carry it like a rocket for a
+short distance, when it settles quickly to earth again. The gull would
+fare ill were it compelled to traverse the ocean with such brief spurts of
+speed, while, on the other hand, the last bob-white would shortly vanish,
+could it escape from fox or weasel only with the slow flight of a gull.
+How splendidly the sickle wings of a swift enable it to turn and twist,
+bat-like, in its pursuit of insects!
+
+You may be able to identify any bird near your home, you may know its nest
+and eggs, its song and its young; but begin at the beginning again and
+watch their wings and their feet and their bills and you will find that
+there are new and wonderful truths at your very doorstep. Try bringing
+home from your walk a list of bill-uses or feet-functions. Remember that a
+familiar object, looked at from a new point of view, will take to itself
+unthought-of significance.
+
+          Whither midst falling dew,
+            While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
+          Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
+            Thy solitary way?
+                                        William Cullen Bryant.
+
+
+
+
+THE BIRDS IN THE MOON
+
+
+The lover of birds who has spent the day in the field puts away his
+glasses at nightfall, looking forward to a walk after dark only as a
+chance to hear the call of nocturnal birds or to catch the whirr of a
+passing wing. But some bright moonlight night in early May, or again in
+mid September, unsheath your glasses and tie them, telescope-fashion, to a
+window-ledge or railing. Seat yourself in an easy position and focus on
+the moon. Shut out all earthly scenes from your mind and imagine yourself
+wandering amid those arid wastes. What a scene of cosmic desolation! What
+vast deserts, and gaping craters of barren rock! The cold, steel-white
+planet seems of all things most typical of death.
+
+But those specks passing across its surface? At first you imagine they are
+motes clogging the delicate blood-vessels of the retina; then you wonder
+if a distant host of falling meteors could have passed. Soon a larger,
+nearer mote appears; the moon and its craters are forgotten and with a
+thrill of delight you realise that they are birds--living, flying
+birds--of all earthly things typical of the most vital life! Migration is
+at its height, the chirps and twitters which come from the surrounding
+darkness are tantalising hints telling of the passing legions. Thousands
+and thousands of birds are every night pouring northward in a swift,
+invisible, aerial stream.
+
+As a projecting pebble in mid-stream blurs the transparent water with a
+myriad bubbles, so the narrow path of moon-rays, which our glass reveals,
+cute a swath of visibility straight through the host of birds to our eager
+eyes. How we hate to lose an instant's opportunity! Even a wink may allow
+a familiar form to pass unseen. If we can use a small telescope, the field
+of view is much enlarged. Now and then we recognise the flight of some
+particular species,--the swinging loop of a woodpecker or goldfinch, or
+the flutter of a sandpiper.
+
+It has been computed that these birds sometimes fly as much as a mile or
+more above the surface of the earth, and when we think of the tiny,
+fluttering things at this terrible height, it takes our breath away. What
+a panorama of dark earth and glistening river and ocean must be spread out
+beneath them! How the big moon must glow in that rarefied air! How
+diminutive and puerile must seem the houses and cities of human
+fashioning!
+
+The instinct of migration is one of the most wonderful in the world. A
+young bob-white and a bobolink are hatched in the same New England field.
+The former grows up and during the fall and winter forms one of the covey
+which is content to wander a mile or two, here and there, in search of
+good feeding grounds. Hardly has the bobolink donned his first full dress
+before an irresistible impulse seizes him. One night he rises up and up,
+ever higher on fluttering wings, sets his course southward, gives you a
+glimpse of him across the moon, and keeps on through Virginia to Florida,
+across seas, over tropical islands, far into South America, never content
+until he has put the great Amazon between him and his far distant
+birthplace.
+
+         He who, from zone to zone,
+           Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
+         In the long way that I must tread alone,
+           Will lead my steps aright.
+                                         William Cullen Bryant.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+MAY
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+THE HIGH TIDE OF BIRD LIFE
+
+
+For abundance and for perfection of song and plumage, of the whole year,
+May is the month of birds. Insects appear slowly in the spring and are
+numerous all summer; squirrels and mice are more or less in evidence
+during all the twelve months; reptiles unearth themselves at the approach
+of the warm weather, and may be found living their slow, sluggish life
+until late in the fall. In eggs, cocoons, discarded bird's-nests, in
+earthen burrows, or in the mud at the bottom of pond or stream, all these
+creatures have spent the winter near where we find them in the spring. But
+birds are like creatures of another world; and, although in every summer's
+walk we may see turtles, birds, butterflies, and chipmunks, all
+interweaving their life paths across one another's haunts, yet the power
+of extended flight and the wonderful habit of continental migration set
+birds apart from all other living creatures. A bird during its lifetime
+has almost twice the conscious existence of, say, a snake or any
+hibernating mammal. And now in early May, when the creatures of the woods
+and fields have only recently opened their sleepy eyes and stretched their
+thin forms, there comes the great worldwide army of the birds, whose
+bright eyes peer at us from tree, thicket, and field, whose brilliant
+feathers and sweet songs bring summer with a leap--the height of the grand
+symphony, of which the vernal peeping of the frogs and the squirrels'
+chatter were only the first notes of the prelude.
+
+Tantalus-like is the condition of the amateur bird-lover, who, book in
+hand, vainly endeavours to identify the countless beautiful forms which
+appear in such vast numbers, linger a few days and then disappear, passing
+on to the northward, but leaving behind a goodly assemblage which spends
+the summer and gives abundant opportunity for study during the succeeding
+months. In May it is the migrants which we should watch, and listen to,
+and "ogle" with our opera glasses. Like many other evanescent things,
+those birds which have made their winter home in Central America--land yet
+beyond our travels--and which use our groves merely as half-way houses on
+their journey to the land of their birth, the balsams of Quebec, or the
+unknown wastes of Labrador, seem most precious, most worthy at this time
+of our closest observation.
+
+More confusing--albeit the more delightful--is a season when continued
+cold weather and chilly rains hold back all but the hardiest birds,
+until--like the dammed-up piles of logs trembling with the spring
+freshets--the tropic winds carry all before them, and all at once winter
+birds which have sojourned only a few miles south of us, summer residents
+which should have appeared weeks ago, together with the great host of
+Canadian and other nesters of the north, appear within a few days' time.
+
+A backward season brings strangers into close company for a while. A
+white-throat sings his clear song of the North, and a moment later is
+answered by an oriole's melody, or the sweet tones of a rose-breasted
+grosbeak--the latter one of those rarely favoured birds, exquisite in both
+plumage and song.
+
+The glories of our May bird life are the wood warblers, and innumerable
+they must seem to one who is just beginning his studies; indeed, there are
+over seventy species that find their way into the United States. Many are
+named from the distribution of colour upon their plumage--the blue-winged
+yellow, the black-throated blue, chestnut-sided, bay-breasted, and black
+poll. Perhaps the two most beautiful--most reflective of bright tropical
+skies and flowers--are the magnolia and the blackburnian. The first fairly
+dazzles us with its bluish crown, white and black face, black and
+olive-green back, white marked wings and tail, yellow throat and rump, and
+strongly streaked breast. The blackburnian is an exquisite little fellow,
+marked with white and black, but with the crown, several patches on the
+face, the throat and breast of a rich warm orange that glows amid the
+green foliage like a living coal of fire. The black poll warbler is an
+easy bird to identify; but do not expect to recognise it when it returns
+from the North in the fall. Its black crown has disappeared, and in
+general it looks like a different bird.
+
+At the present time when the dogwood blossoms are in their full
+perfection, and the branches and twigs of the trees are not yet hidden,
+but their outlines only softened by the light, feathery foliage, the
+tanagers and orioles have their day. Nesting cares have not yet made them
+fearful of showing their bright plumage, and scores of the scarlet and
+orange forms play among the branches.
+
+The flycatchers and vireos now appear in force--little hunters of insects
+clad in leafy greens and browns, with now and then a touch of
+brightness--as in the yellow-throated vireo or in the crest of the
+kingbird.
+
+The lesser sandpipers, both the spotted and the solitary, teeter along the
+brooks and ponds, and probe the shallows for tiny worms. Near the woody
+streams the so-called water thrushes spring up before us. Strange birds
+these, in appearance like thrushes, in their haunts and in their teetering
+motion like sandpipers, but in reality belonging to the same family as the
+tree-loving wood warblers. A problem not yet solved by ornithologists is:
+what was the mode of life of the ancestor of the many warblers? Did he
+cling to and creep along the bark, as the black-and-white warbler, or feed
+from the ground or the thicket as does the worm-eating? Did he snatch
+flies on the wing as the necklaced Canadian warbler, or glean from the
+brook's edge as our water thrush? The struggle for existence has not been
+absent from the lives of these light-hearted little fellows, and they have
+had to be jack-of-all-trades in their search for food.
+
+The gnats and other flying insects have indeed to take many chances when
+they slip from their cocoons and dance up and down in the warm sunlight!
+Lucky for their race that there are millions instead of thousands of them;
+for now the swifts and great numbers of tree and barn swallows spend the
+livelong day in swooping after the unfortunate gauzy-winged motes, which
+have risen above the toad's maw upon land, and beyond the reach of the
+trout's leap over the water.
+
+It would take an article as long as this simply to mention hardly more
+than the names of the birds that we may observe during a walk in May; and
+with bird book and glasses we must see for ourselves the bobolinks in the
+broad meadows, the cowbirds and rusty blackbirds, and, pushing through the
+lady-slipper marshes, we may surprise the solitary great blue and the
+little green herons at their silent fishing.
+
+No matter how late the spring may be, the great migration host will reach
+its height from the tenth to the fifteenth of the month. From this until
+June first, migrants will be passing, but in fewer and fewer numbers,
+until the balance comes to rest again, and we may cease from the strenuous
+labours of the last few weeks, confident that those birds that remain will
+be the builders of the nests near our homes--nests that they know so well
+how to hide. Even before the last day of May passes, we see many young
+birds on their first weak-winged flights, such as bluebirds and robins;
+but June is the great month of bird homes, as to May belong the migrants.
+
+         Robins and mocking birds that all day long
+         Athwart straight sunshine weave cross-threads of song.
+                                                 Sidney Lanier.
+
+
+
+
+ANIMAL FASHIONS
+
+
+Warm spring days bring other changes than thawing snowbanks and the
+swelling buds and leaves, which seem to grow almost visibly. It is
+surprising how many of the wild folk meet the spring with changed
+appearance--beautiful, fantastic or ugly to us; all, perhaps, beautiful to
+them and to their mates.
+
+As a rule we find the conditions which exist among ourselves reversed
+among the animals; the male "blossoms forth like the rose," while the
+female's sombre winter fur or feathers are reduplicated only by a thinner
+coat for summer. The "spring opening" of the great classes of birds and
+animals is none the less interesting because its styles are not set by
+Parisian modistes.
+
+The most gorgeous display of all is to be found among the birds, the
+peacock leading in conspicuousness and self-consciousness. What a contrast
+to the dull earthy-hued little hen, for whose slightest favour he neglects
+food to raise his Argus-eyed fan, clattering his quill castanets and
+screaming challenges to his rivals! He will even fight bloody battles with
+invading suitors; and, after all, failure may be the result. Imagine the
+feelings of two superb birds fighting over a winsome browny, to see
+her--as I have done--walk off with a spurless, half-plumaged young cock!
+
+The males of many birds, such as the scarlet tanager and the indigo
+bunting, assume during the winter the sombre green or brown hue of the
+female, changing in spring to a glorious scarlet and black, or to an
+exquisite indigo colour respectively. Not only do most of the females of
+the feathered world retain their dull coats throughout the year, but some
+deface even this to form feather beds for the precious eggs and nestlings,
+to protect which bright colours must be entirely foregone.
+
+The spring is the time when decorations are seen at their best. The snowy
+egret trails his filmy cloud of plumes, putting to shame the stiff
+millinery bunches of similar feathers torn from his murdered brethren.
+Even the awkward and querulous night heron exhibits a long curling plume
+or two. And what a strange criterion of beauty a female white pelican must
+have! To be sure, the graceful crest which Sir Pelican erects is
+beautiful, but that huge, horny "keel" or "sight" on his bill! What use
+can it subserve, æsthetic or otherwise? One would think that such a
+structure growing so near his eyes, and day by day becoming taller, must
+occupy much of his attention.
+
+The sheldrake ducks also have a fleshy growth on the bill. A turkey
+gobbler, when his vernal wedding dress is complete, is indeed a remarkable
+sight. The mass of wattles, usually so gray and shrunken, is now of most
+vivid hues--scarlet, blue, vermilion, green,--the fleshy tassels and
+swollen knobs making him a most extraordinary creature.
+
+Birds are noted for taking exquisite care of their plumage, and if the
+feathers become at all dingy or unkempt, we know the bird is in bad
+health.
+
+What a time the deer and the bears, the squirrels and the mice, have when
+changing their dress! Rags and tatters; tatters and rags! One can grasp a
+handful of hair on the flank of a caribou or elk in a zoological park, and
+the whole will come out like thistledown; while underneath is seen the
+sleek, short summer coat. A bear will sometimes carry a few locks of the
+long, brown winter fur for months after the clean black hairs of the
+summer's coat are grown. What a boon to human tailors such an opportunity
+would be--to ordain that Mr. X. must wear the faded collar or vest of his
+old suit until bills are paid!
+
+It is a poor substance, indeed, which, when cast aside, is not available
+for some secondary use in Nature's realm; and the hairs that fall from
+animals are not all left to return unused to their original elements. The
+sharp eyes of birds spy them out, and thus the lining to many a nest is
+furnished. I knew of one feathered seeker of cast-off clothing which met
+disaster through trying to get a supply at first hand--a sparrow was found
+dead, tangled in the hairs of a pony's tail. The chickadee often lights on
+the backs of domestic cattle and plucks out hair with which to line some
+snug cavity near by for his nest. Before the cattle came his ancestors
+were undoubtedly in the habit of helping themselves from the deer's stock
+of "ole clo's," as they have been observed getting their building material
+from the deer in zoological parks.
+
+Of course the hair of deer and similar animals falls out with the motions
+of the creatures, or is brushed out by bushes and twigs; but we must hope
+that the shedding place of a porcupine is at a distance from his customary
+haunts; it would be so uncomfortable to run across a shred of one's old
+clothes--if one were a porcupine!
+
+The skin of birds and animals wears away in small flakes, but when a
+reptile changes to a new suit of clothes, the old is shed almost entire. A
+frog after shedding its skin will very often turn round and swallow it,
+establishing the frog maxim "every frog his own old clothes bag!"
+
+Birds, which exhibit so many idiosyncrasies, appear again as utilizers of
+old clothes; although when a crested flycatcher weaves a long
+snake-skin into the fabric of its nest, it seems more from the standpoint
+of a curio collector--as some people delight in old worn brass and blue
+china! There is another if less artistic theory for this peculiarity of
+the crested flycatcher. The skin of a snake--a perfect ghost in its
+completeness--would make a splendid "bogie." We can see that it might,
+indeed, be useful in such a way, as in frightening marauding crows,
+who approach with cannibalistic intentions upon eggs or young. Thus
+the skin would correspond in function to the rows of dummy wooden
+guns, which make a weak fort appear all but invincible.
+
+
+
+
+POLLIWOG PROBLEMS
+
+
+The ancient Phoenicians, Egyptians, Hindus, Japanese, and Greeks all
+shared the belief that the whole world was hatched from an egg made by the
+Creator. This idea of development is at least true in the case of every
+living thing upon the earth to-day; every plant springs from its seed,
+every animal from its egg. And still another sweeping, all-inclusive
+statement may be made,--every seed or egg at first consists of but one
+cell, and by the division of this into many cells, the lichen, violet,
+tree, worm, crab, butterfly, fish, frog, or other higher creature is
+formed. A little embryology will give a new impetus to our studies,
+whether we watch the unfolding leaves of a sunflower, a caterpillar
+emerging from its egg, or a chick breaking through its shell.
+
+The very simplest and best way to begin this study is to go to the nearest
+pond, where the frogs have been croaking in the evenings. A search among
+the dead leaves and water-soaked sticks will reveal a long string of black
+beads. These are the eggs of the toad; if, however, the beads are not in
+strings, but in irregular masses, then they are frogs' eggs. In any case
+take home a tumblerful, place a few, together with the thick, transparent
+gelatine, in which they are encased, in a saucer, and examine them
+carefully under a good magnifying glass, or, better still, through a
+low-power microscope lens.
+
+You will notice that the tiny spheres are not uniformly coloured but that
+half is whitish. If the eggs have been recently laid the surface will be
+smooth and unmarked, but have patience and watch them for as long a time
+as you can spare. Whenever I can get a batch of such eggs, I never grudge
+a whole day spent in observing them, for it is seldom that the mysterious
+processes of life are so readily watched and followed.
+
+Keep your eye fixed on the little black and white ball of jelly and before
+long, gradually and yet with never a halt, a tiny furrow makes its way
+across the surface, dividing the egg into equal halves. When it completely
+encircles the sphere you may know that you have seen one of the greatest
+wonders of the world. The egg which consisted of but one cell is now
+divided into two exactly equal parts, of the deepest significance. Of the
+latter truth we may judge from the fact that if one of those cells should
+be injured, only one-half a polliwog would result,--either a head or a
+tail half.
+
+Before long the unseen hand of life ploughs another furrow across the egg,
+and we have now four cells. These divide into eight, sixteen, and so on
+far beyond human powers of numeration, until the beginnings of all the
+organs of the tadpole are formed. While we cannot, of course, follow this
+development, we can look at our egg every day and at last see the little
+_wiggle heads_ or polliwogs (from _pol_ and _wiggle_) emerge.
+
+In a few days they develop a fin around the tail, and from now on it is an
+easy matter to watch the daily growth. There is no greater miracle in the
+world than to see one of these aquatic, water-breathing, limbless
+creatures transform before your eyes into a terrestrial, four-legged frog
+or toad, breathing air like ourselves. The humble polliwog in its
+development is significant of far more marvellous facts than the
+caterpillar changing into the butterfly, embodying as it does the deepest
+poetry and romance of evolution.
+
+               Blue dusk, that brings the dewy hours,
+                 Brings thee, of graceless form in sooth.
+                                           Edgar Fawcett.
+
+
+
+
+INSECT PIRATES AND SUBMARINES
+
+
+Far out on the ocean, when the vessel is laboriously making her way
+through the troughs and over the crests of the great waves, little birds,
+black save for a patch of white on the lower back, are a common sight,
+flying with quick irregular wing-beats, close to the surface of the
+troubled waters. When they spy some edible bit floating beneath them, down
+they drop until their tiny webbed feet just rest upon the water. Then,
+snatching up the titbit, half-flying, they patter along the surface of the
+water, just missing being engulfed by each oncoming wave. Thus they have
+come to be named petrels--little Peters--because they seem to walk upon
+the water. Without aid from the wings, however, they would soon be
+immersed, so the walking is only an illusion.
+
+But in our smallest ponds and brooks we may see this miracle taking place
+almost daily, the feat being accomplished by a very interesting little
+assemblage of insects, commonly called water skaters or striders. Let us
+place our eyes as near as possible to the surface of the water and watch
+the little creatures darting here and there.
+
+We see that they progress securely on the top of the water, resting upon
+it as if it were a sheet of ice. Their feet are so adapted that the water
+only dimples beneath their slight weight, the extent of the depression not
+being visible to the eye, but clearly outlined in the shadows upon the
+bottom. In an eddy of air a tiny fly is caught and whirled upon the water,
+where it struggles vigorously, striving to lift its wings clear of the
+surface. In an instant the water strider--pirate of the pond that he
+is--reaches forward his crooked fore legs, and here endeth the career of
+the unfortunate fly.
+
+In the air, in the earth, and below the surface of the water are hundreds
+of living creatures, but the water striders and their near relatives are
+unique. No other group shares their power of actually walking, or rather
+pushing themselves, upon the surface of the water. They have a little
+piece of the world all to themselves. Yet, although three fifths of the
+earth's surface consists of water, this group of insects is a small one. A
+very few, however, are found out upon the ocean, where the tiny creatures
+row themselves cheerfully along. It is thought that they attach their eggs
+to the floating saragassum seaweed. If only we knew the whole life of one
+of these ocean water striders and all the strange sights it must see, a
+fairy story indeed would be unfolded to us.
+
+However, all the Lilliputian craft of our brooks are not galleys; there
+are submarines, which, in excellence of action and control, put to shame
+all human efforts along the same line. These are the water boatmen, stout
+boat-shaped insects whose hind legs are long, projecting outward like the
+oars of a rowboat. They feather their oars, too, or rather the oars are
+feathered for them, a fringe of long hairs growing out on each side of the
+blade. Some of the boatmen swim upside down, and these have the back
+keeled instead of the breast. Like real submarine boats, these insects
+have to come up for air occasionally; and, again like similar craft of
+human handiwork, their principal mission in life seems to be warfare upon
+the weaker creatures about them.
+
+Upon their bodies are many short hairs that have the power of enclosing
+and retaining a good-sized bubble of air. Thus the little boatman is well
+supplied for each submarine trip, and he does not have to return to the
+surface until all this storage air has been exhausted. In perfectly pure
+water, however, these boatmen can remain almost indefinitely below the
+surface, although it is not known how they obtain from the water the
+oxygen which they usually take from the air.
+
+All of these skaters and boatmen thrive in small aquariums, and if given
+pieces of scraped meat will live in perfect health. Here is an alluring
+opportunity for anyone to add to our knowledge of insect life; for the
+most recent scientific books admit that we do not yet know the complete
+life history of even one of these little brothers of the pond.
+
+                Clear and cool, clear and cool,
+                By laughing shallow, and dreaming pool;
+                Cool and clear, cool and clear,
+                By shining shingle, and foaming weir,
+                                      Charles Kingsley.
+
+
+
+
+THE VICTORY OF THE NIGHTHAWK
+
+
+The time is not far distant when the bottom of the sea will be the only
+place where primeval wildness will not have been defiled or destroyed by
+man. He may sail his ships above, he may peer downward, even dare to
+descend a few feet in a suit of rubber or a submarine boat, or he may
+scratch a tiny furrow for a few yards with a dredge: but that is all.
+
+When that time comes, the animals and birds which survive will be only
+those which have found a way to adapt themselves to man's encroaching,
+all-pervading civilisation. The time was when our far-distant ancestors
+had, year in and year out, to fight for very existence against the wild
+creatures about them. They then gained the upper hand, and from that time
+to the present the only question has been, how long the wild creatures of
+the earth could hold out.
+
+The wolf, the bison, the beaver fought the battle out at once to all but
+the bitter end. The crow, the muskrat, the fox have more than held their
+own, by reason of cunning, hiding or quickness of sight; but they cannot
+hope for this to last. The English sparrow has won by sheer audacity; but
+most to be admired are those creatures which have so changed their habits
+that some product of man's invention serves them as well as did their
+former wilderness home. The eave swallow and barn swallow and the chimney
+swift all belie their names in the few wild haunts still uninvaded by man.
+The first two were originally cliff and bank haunters, and the latter's
+home was a lightning-hollowed tree.
+
+But the nighthawks which soar and boom above our city streets, whence come
+they? Do they make daily pilgrimages from distant woods? The city
+furnishes no forest floor on which they may lay their eggs. Let us seek a
+wide expanse of flat roof, high above the noisy, crowded streets. Let it
+be one of those tar and pebble affairs, so unpleasant to walk upon, but so
+efficient in shedding water. If we are fortunate, as we walk slowly across
+the roof, a something, like a brownish bit of wind-blown rubbish, will
+roll and tumble ahead of us. It is a bird with a broken wing, we say. How
+did it ever get up here? We hasten forward to pick it up, when, with a
+last desperate flutter, it topples off the edge of the roof; but instead
+of falling helplessly to the street, the bird swings out above the
+house-tops, on the white-barred pinions of a nighthawk. Now mark the place
+where first we observed the bird, and approach it carefully, crawling on
+hands and knees. Otherwise we will very probably crush the two mottled
+bits of shell, so exactly like pebbles in external appearance, but
+sheltering two little warm, beating hearts. Soon the shells will crack,
+and the young nighthawks will emerge,--tiny fluffs,--in colour the very
+essence of the scattered pebbles.
+
+In the autumn they will all pass southward to the far distant tropics, and
+when spring again awakens, the instinct of migration will lead them, not
+to some mottled carpet of moss and rocks deep in the woods, but to the
+tarred roof of a house in the very heart of a great city.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+JUNE
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+THE GALA DAYS OF BIRDS
+
+
+Migration is over, and the great influx of birds which last month filled
+every tree and bush is now distributed over field and wood, from our
+dooryard and lintel vine to the furthermost limits of northern
+exploration; birds, perhaps, having discovered the pole long years ago.
+Now every feather and plume is at its brightest and full development; for
+must not the fastidious females be sought and won?
+
+And now the great struggle of the year is at hand, the supreme moment for
+which thousands of throats have been vibrating with whispered rehearsals
+of trills and songs, and for which the dangers that threaten the
+acquisition of bright colours and long, inconvenient plumes and ornaments
+have been patiently undergone. Now, if all goes well and his song is
+clear, if his crest and gorgeous splashes of tints and shades are fresh
+and shining with the gloss of health, then the feathered lover may hope,
+indeed, that the little brown mate may look with favour upon dance, song,
+or antic--and the home is become a reality. In some instances this home is
+for only one short season, when the two part, probably forever; but in
+other cases the choice is for life.
+
+But if his rival is stronger, handsomer, and--victorious, what then? Alas,
+the song dies in his throat, plumes hang crestfallen, and the disconsolate
+creature must creep about through tangles and brush, watching from a
+distance the nest-building, the delights of home life which fate has
+forbidden. But the poor bachelor need not by any means lose hope; for on
+all sides dangers threaten his happy rival--cats, snakes, jays, hawks,
+owls, and boys. Hundreds of birds must pay for their victory with their
+lives, and then the once discarded suitors are quickly summoned by the
+widows; and these step-fathers, no whit chagrined at playing second
+fiddle, fill up the ranks, and work for the young birds as if they were
+their own offspring.
+
+There is an unsolved mystery about the tragedies and comedies that go on
+every spring. Usually every female bird has several suitors, of which one
+is accepted. When the death of this mate occurs, within a day or two
+another is found; and this may be repeated a dozen times in succession.
+Not only this, but when a female bird is killed, her mate is generally
+able at once somewhere, somehow, to find another to take her place. Why
+these unmated males and females remain single until they are needed is
+something that has never been explained.
+
+The theme of the courtship of birds is marvellously varied and
+comparatively little understood. Who would think that when our bald eagle,
+of national fame, seeks to win his mate, his ardour takes the form of an
+undignified galloping dance, round and round her from branch to branch!
+Hardly less ridiculous--to our eyes--is the elaborate performance of our
+most common woodpecker, the flicker, or high-hole. Two or three male birds
+scrape and bow and pose and chatter about the demure female, outrageously
+undignified as compared with their usual behaviour. They do everything
+save twirl their black moustaches!
+
+In the mating season some birds have beauties which are ordinarily
+concealed. Such is the male ruby-crowned kinglet, garbed in gray and
+green, the two sexes identical, except for the scarlet touch on the crown
+of the male, which, at courting time, he raises and expands. Even the iris
+of some birds changes and brightens in colour at the breeding season;
+while in others there appear about the base of the bill horny parts, which
+in a month or two fall off. The scarlet coat of the tanager is perhaps
+solely for attracting and holding the attention of the female, as before
+winter every feather is shed, the new plumage being of a dull green, like
+that of its mate and its young.
+
+As mystery confronts us everywhere in nature, so we confess ourselves
+baffled when we attempt to explain the most wonderful of all the
+attributes of bird courtship--song. Birds have notes to call to one
+another, to warn of danger, to express anger and fear; but the highest
+development of their vocal efforts seems to be devoted to charming the
+females. If birds have a love of music, then there must be a marvellous
+diversity of taste among them, ranging all the way from the shrieking,
+strident screams of the parrots and macaws to the tender pathos of the
+wood pewee and the hermit thrush.
+
+If birds have not some appreciation of sweet sounds, then we must consider
+the many different songs as mere by-products, excess of vitality which
+expresses itself in results, in many cases, strangely æsthetic and
+harmonious. A view midway is indefinable as regards the boundaries covered
+by each theory. How much of the peacock's train or of the thrush's song is
+appreciated by the female? How much is by-product merely?
+
+In these directions a great field lies open to the student and lover of
+birds; but however we decide for ourselves in regard to the exact meaning
+and evolution of song, and what use it subserves among the birds, we all
+admit the effect and pleasure it produces in ourselves. A world without
+the song of birds is greatly lacking--such is a desert, where even the
+harsh croak of a raven is melody.
+
+Perhaps the reason why the songs of birds give more lasting pleasure than
+many other things is that sound is so wonderfully potent to recall days
+and scenes of our past life. Like a sunset, the vision that a certain song
+brings is different to each one of us.
+
+To me, the lament of the wood pewee brings to mind deep, moist places in
+the Pennsylvania backwoods; the crescendo of the oven bird awakens
+memories of the oaks of the Orange mountains; when a loon or an
+olive-sided flycatcher or a white-throat calls, the lakes and forests of
+Nova Scotia come vividly to mind; the cry of a sea-swallow makes real
+again the white beaches of Virginia; to me a cardinal has in its song the
+feathery lagoons of Florida's Indian River, while the shriek of a macaw
+and its antithesis, the silvery, interlacing melodies of the solitaire,
+spell the farthest _barrancas_ of Mexico, with the vultures ever circling
+overhead, and the smoke clouds of the volcano in the distance.
+
+          So sweet, so sweet the calling of the thrushes,
+            The calling, cooing, wooing, everywhere;
+          So sweet the water's song through reeds and rushes,
+            The plover's piping note, now here, now there.
+                                                  Nora Perry.
+
+
+
+
+TURTLE TRAITS
+
+
+A turtle, waddling his solitary way along some watercourse, attracts
+little attention apart from that aroused by his clumsy, grotesque shape;
+yet few who look upon him are able to give offhand even a bare half-dozen
+facts about the humble creature. Could they give any information at all,
+it would probably be limited to two or three usages to which his body is
+put--such as soup, mandolin picks, and combs.
+
+In the northeastern part of our own country we may look for no fewer than
+eight species of turtles which are semi-aquatic, living in or near ponds
+and streams, while another, the well-known box tortoise, confines its
+travels to the uplands and woods.
+
+There are altogether about two hundred different kinds of turtles, and
+they live in all except the very cold countries of the world. Australia
+has the fewest and North and Central America the greatest number of
+species. Evolutionists can tell us little or nothing of the origin of
+these creatures, for as far back in geological ages as they are found
+fossil (a matter of a little over ten million years), all are true
+turtles, not half turtles and half something else. Crocodiles and
+alligators, with their hard leathery coats, come as near to them as do any
+living creatures, and when we see a huge snapping turtle come out of the
+water and walk about on land, we cannot fail to be reminded of the fellow
+with the armoured back.
+
+Turtles are found on the sea and on land, the marine forms more properly
+deserving the name of turtles; tortoises being those living on land or in
+fresh water. We shall use the name turtle as significant of the whole
+group. The most natural method of classifying these creatures is by the
+way the head and neck are drawn back under the shell; whether the head is
+turned to one side, or drawn straight back, bending the neck into the
+letter S shape.
+
+The skull of a turtle is massive, and some have thick, false roofs on top
+of the usual brain box.
+
+The "house" or shell of a turtle is made up of separate pieces of bone, a
+central row along the back and others arranged around on both sides. These
+are really pieces of the skin of the back changed to bone. Our ribs are
+directly under the skin of the back, and if this skin should harden into a
+bone-like substance, the ribs would lie flat against it, and this is the
+case with the ribs of turtles. So when we marvel that the ribs of a turtle
+are on the outside of its body, a second thought will show us that this is
+just as true of us as it is of these reptiles.
+
+This hardening of the skin has brought about some interesting changes in
+the body of the turtle. In all the higher animals, from fishes up to man,
+a backbone is of the greatest importance not only in carrying the nerves
+and blood-vessels, but in supporting the entire body. In turtles alone,
+the string of vertebræ is unnecessary, the shell giving all the support
+needed. So, as Nature seldom allows unused tissues or organs to remain,
+these bones along the back become, in many species, reduced to a mere
+thread.
+
+The pieces of bone or horn which go to make up the shell, although so
+different in appearance from the skin, yet have the same life-processes.
+Occasionally the shell moults or peels, the outer part coming off in great
+flakes. Each piece grows by the addition of rings of horn at the joints,
+and (like the rings of a tree) the age of turtles, except of very old
+ones, can be estimated by the number of circles of horn on each piece. The
+rings are very distinct in species which live in temperate climates. Here
+they are compelled to hibernate during the winter, and this cessation of
+growth marks the intervals between each ring. In tropical turtles the
+rings are either absent or indistinct. It is to this mode of growth that
+the spreading of the initials which are cut into the shell is due, just as
+letters carved on the trunks of trees in time broaden and bulge outward.
+
+The shell has the power of regeneration, and when a portion is crushed or
+torn away the injured parts are gradually cast off, and from the
+surrounding edges a new covering of horn grows out. One third of the
+entire shell has been known to be thus replaced.
+
+Although so slow in their locomotion and actions, turtles have
+well-developed senses. They can see very distinctly, and the power of
+smell is especially acute, certain turtles being very discriminating in
+the matter of food. They are also very sensitive to touch, and will react
+to the least tap on their shells. Their hearing, however, is more
+imperfect, but as during the mating season they have tiny, piping voices,
+this sense must be of some use.
+
+Water tortoises can remain beneath the surface for hours and even days at
+a time. In addition to the lungs there are two small sacs near the tail
+which allow the animal to use the oxygen in the water as an aid to
+breathing.
+
+All turtles lay eggs, the shells of which are white and generally of a
+parchment-like character. They are deposited in the ground or in the sand,
+and hatch either by the warmth of the decaying vegetation or by the heat
+of the sun. In temperate countries the eggs remain through the winter, and
+the little turtles do not emerge until the spring. The eggs of turtles are
+very good to eat, and the oil contained in them is put to many uses. In
+all the countries which they inhabit, young turtles have a hard time of
+it; for thousands of them are devoured by storks, alligators, and fishes.
+Even old turtles have many enemies, not the least strange being jaguars,
+which watch for them, turn them on their backs with a flip of the paw, and
+eat them at leisure--on the half shell, as it were!
+
+Leathery turtles--which live in the sea--have been reported weighing over
+a thousand pounds! This species is very rare, and a curious circumstance
+is that only very large adults and very small baby individuals have been
+seen, the turtles of all intermediate growths keeping in the deep ocean
+out of view.
+
+Snapping turtles are among the fiercest creatures in the world. On leaving
+the egg their first instinct is to open their mouths and bite at
+something. They feed on almost anything, but when, in captivity they
+sometimes refuse to eat, and have been known to go a year without food,
+showing no apparent ill effects. One method which they employ in capturing
+their food is interesting. A snapping turtle will lie quietly at the
+bottom of a pond or lake, looking like an old water-soaked log with a
+branch--its head and neck--at one end. From the tip of the tongue the
+creature extrudes two small filaments of a pinkish colour which wriggle
+about, bearing a perfect resemblance to the small round worms of which
+fishes are so fond. Attracted by these, fishes swim up to grasp the
+squirming objects and are engulfed by the cruel mouth of the angler.
+Certain marine turtles have long-fringed appendages on the head and neck,
+which, waving about, serve a similar purpose.
+
+The edible terrapin has, in many places, become very rare; so that
+thousands of them are kept and bred in enclosed areas, or "crawls," as
+they are called. This species is noted for its curious disposition, and it
+is often captured by being attracted by some unusual sound.
+
+The tortoise-shell of commerce is obtained from the shell of the hawksbill
+turtle, the plates of which, being very thin, are heated and welded
+together until of the required thickness. The age to which turtles live
+has often been exaggerated, but they are certainly the longest lived of
+all living creatures. Individuals from the Galapagos Island are estimated
+to be over four hundred years old. When, in a zoological garden, we see
+one of these creatures and study his aged, aged look, as he slowly and
+deliberately munches the cabbage which composes his food, we can well
+believe that such a being saw the light of day before Columbus made his
+memorable voyage.
+
+           He's his own landlord, his own tenant; stay
+           Long as he will, he dreads no Quarter Day.
+           Himself he boards and lodges; both invites
+           And feasts himself; sleeps with himself o'nights.
+           He spares the upholsterer trouble to procure
+           Chattels; himself is his own furniture,
+           Knock when you will,--he's sure to be at home.
+                                               Charles Lamb.
+
+
+
+
+A HALF-HOUR IN A MARSH
+
+
+There are little realms all around of which many of us know nothing. Take,
+for example, some marsh within a half-hour's trolley ride of any of our
+cities or towns. Select one where cat-tails and reeds abound. Mosquitoes
+and fear of malaria keep these places free from invasion by humankind; but
+if we select some windy day we may laugh them both to scorn, and we shall
+be well repaid for our trip. The birds frequenting these places are so
+seldom disturbed that they make only slight effort to conceal their nests,
+and we shall find plenty of the beautiful bird cradles rocking with every
+passing breeze.
+
+A windy day will also reveal an interesting feature of the marsh. The
+soft, velvety grass, which abounds in such places, is so pliant and
+yielding that it responds to every breath, and each approaching wave of
+air is heralded by an advancing curl of the grass. At our feet these
+grass-waves intersect and recede, giving a weird sensation, as if the
+ground were moving, or as if we were walking on the water itself. Where
+the grass is longer, the record of some furious gale is permanently
+fixed--swaths and ripples seeming to roll onward, or to break into green
+foam. The simile of a "painted ocean" is perfectly carried out. There is
+no other substance, not even sand, which simulates more exactly the
+motions of water than this grass.
+
+In the nearest clump of reeds we notice several red-winged blackbirds,
+chattering nervously. A magnificent male bird, black as night, and with
+scarlet epaulets burning on his shoulders, swoops at us, while his
+inconspicuous brownish consorts vibrate above the reeds, some with grubs,
+some empty mouthed. They are invariable indexes of what is below them. We
+may say with perfect assurance that in that patch of rushes are two nests,
+one with young; beyond are three others, all with eggs.
+
+We find beautiful structures, firm and round, woven of coarse grasses
+inside and dried reeds without, hung between two or three supporting
+stalks, or, if it is a fresh-water marsh, sheltered by long, green fern
+fronds. The eggs are worthy of their cradles--pearly white in colour, with
+scrawls and blotches of dark purple at the larger end--hieroglyphics which
+only the blackbirds can translate.
+
+In another nest we find newly hatched young, looking like large
+strawberries, their little naked bodies of a vivid orange colour, with
+scanty gray tufts of down here and there. Not far away is a nest,
+overflowing with five young birds ready to fly, which scramble out at our
+approach and start boldly off; but as their weak wings give out, they soon
+come to grief. We catch one and find that it has most delicate colours,
+resembling its mother in being striped brown and black, although its
+breast and under parts are of an unusually beautiful tint--a kind of
+salmon pink. I never saw this shade elsewhere in Nature.
+
+Blackbirds are social creatures, and where we find one nest, four or five
+others may be looked for near by. The red-winged blackbird is a mormon in
+very fact, and often a solitary male bird may be seen guarding a colony of
+three or four nests, each with an attending female. A sentiment of
+altruism seems indeed not unknown, as I have seen a female give a grub to
+one of a hungry nestful, before passing on to brood her own eggs, yet
+unhatched.
+
+While looking for the blackbirds' nests we shall come across numerous
+round, or oval, masses of dried weeds and grass--mice homes we may think
+them; and the small, winding entrance concealed on one side tends to
+confirm this opinion. Several will be empty, but when in one our fingers
+touch six or eight tiny eggs, our mistake will be apparent. Long-billed
+marsh wrens are the architects, and so fond are they of building that
+frequently three or four unused nests are constructed before the little
+chocolate jewels are deposited.
+
+If we sit quietly for a few moments, one of the owners, overcome by wren
+curiosity, will appear, clinging to a reed stalk and twitching his pert,
+upturned tail, the badge of his family. Soon he springs up into the air
+and, bubbling a jumble of liquid notes, sinks back into the recesses of
+the cat-tails. Another and another repeat this until the marsh rings with
+their little melodies.
+
+If we seat ourselves and watch quietly we may possibly behold an episode
+that is not unusual. The joyous songs of the little wrens suddenly give
+place to cries of fear and anger; and this hubbub increases until at last
+we see a sinister ripple flowing through the reeds, marking the advancing
+head of a water snake.
+
+The evil eyes of the serpent are bent upon the nearest nest, and toward it
+he makes his way, followed and beset by all the wrens in the vicinity.
+Slowly the scaly creature pushes himself up on the reeds; and as they bend
+under his weight he makes his way the more easily along them to the nest.
+His head is pushed in at the entrance, but an instant later the snake
+twines downward to the water. The nest was empty. Again he seeks an
+adjoining nest, and again is disappointed; and now, a small fish
+attracting his attention, he goes off in swift pursuit, leaving untouched
+the third nest in sight, that containing the precious eggs. Thus the
+apparently useless industry of the tiny wrens has served an invaluable
+end, and the tremulous chorus is again timidly taken up--little hymns of
+thanksgiving we may imagine them now.
+
+These and many others are sights which a half-hour's tramp, without even
+wetting our shoes, may show us. Before we leave, hints of more deeply
+hidden secrets of the marsh may perhaps come to us. A swamp sparrow may
+show by its actions that its nest is not far away; from the depths of a
+ditch jungle the clatter of some rail comes faintly to our ears, and the
+distant croak of a night heron reaches us from its feeding-grounds,
+guarded by the deeper waters.
+
+ And what if behind me to westward the wall of the woods stands high?
+ The world lies east: how ample, the marsh and the sea and the sky!
+ A league and a league of marsh-grass, waist-high, broad in the blade.
+
+ Oh, what is abroad in the marsh and terminal sea?
+ Somehow my soul seems suddenly free
+ From the weighing of fate and the sad discussion of sin.
+                                                        Sidney Lanier.
+
+
+
+
+SECRETS OF THE OCEAN
+
+
+We are often held spellbound by the majesty of mountains, and indeed a
+lofty peak forever capped with snow, or pouring forth smoke and ashes, is
+impressive beyond all terrestrial things. But the ocean yields to nothing
+in its grandeur, in its age, in its ceaseless movement, and the question
+remains forever unanswered, "Who shall sound the mysteries of the sea?"
+Before the most ancient of mountains rose from the heart of the earth, the
+waves of the sea rolled as now, and though the edges of the continents
+shrink and expand, bend into bays or stretch out into capes, always
+through all the ages the sea follows and laps with ripples or booms with
+breakers unceasingly upon the shore.
+
+Whether considered from the standpoint of the scientist, the mere
+curiosity of the tourist, or the keen delight of the enthusiastic lover of
+Nature, the shore of the sea--its sands and waters, its ever-changing
+skies and moods--is one of the most interesting spots in the world. The
+very bottom of the deep bays near shore--dark and eternally silent,
+prisoned under the restless waste of waters--is thickly carpeted with
+strange and many-coloured forms of animal and vegetable life. But the
+beaches and tide-pools over which the moon-urged tides hold sway in their
+ceaseless rise and fall, teem with marvels of Nature's handiwork, and
+every day are restocked and replanted with new living objects, both arctic
+and tropical offerings of each heaving tidal pulse.
+
+Here on the northeastern shores of our continent one may spend days of
+leisure or delightful study among the abundant and ever changing variety
+of wonderful living creatures. It is not unlikely that the enjoyment and
+absolute novelty of this new world may enable one to look on these as some
+of the most pleasant days of life. I write from the edge of the restless
+waters of Fundy, but any rock-strewn shore will duplicate the marvels.
+
+At high tide the surface of the Bay is unbroken by rock or shoal, and
+stretches glittering in the sunlight from the beach at one's feet to where
+the New Brunswick shore is just visible, appearing like a low bluish cloud
+on the horizon. At times the opposite shore is apparently brought nearer
+and made more distinct by a mirage, which inverts it, together with any
+ships which are in sight. A brig may be seen sailing along keel upward, in
+the most matter-of-fact way. The surface may anon be torn by those fearful
+squalls for which Fundy is noted, or, calm as a mirror, reflect the blue
+sky with an added greenish tinge, troubled only by the gentle alighting of
+a gull, the splash of a kingfisher or occasional osprey, as these dive for
+their prey, or the ruffling which shows where a school of mackerel is
+passing. This latter sign always sends the little sailing dories hurrying
+out, where they beat back and forth, like shuttles travelling across a
+loom, and at each turn a silvery struggling form is dragged into the
+boat.
+
+A little distance along the shore the sandy beach ends and is replaced by
+huge bare boulders, scattered and piled in the utmost confusion. Back of
+these are scraggly spruces, with branches which have been so long blown
+landwards that they have bent and grown altogether on that
+side,--permanent weather-vanes of Fundy's storms. The very soil in which
+they began life was blown away, and their gnarled weather-worn roots hug
+the rocks, clutching every crevice as a drowning man would grasp an oar.
+On the side away from the bay two or three long, thick roots stretch far
+from each tree to the nearest earth-filled gully, sucking what scanty
+nourishment they can, for strength to withstand the winter's gales yet
+another year or decade. Beach-pea and sweet marsh lavender tint the sand,
+and stunted fringed orchids gleam in the coarse grass farther inland. High
+up among the rocks, where there is scarcely a handful of soil, delicate
+harebells sway and defy the blasts, enduring because of their very pliancy
+and weakness.
+
+If we watch awhile we will see a line of blackish seaweed and wet sand
+appearing along the edge of the water, showing that the tide has turned
+and begun to recede. In an hour it has ebbed a considerable distance, and
+if we clamber down over the great weather-worn rocks the hardy advance
+guard of that wonderful world of life under the water is seen. Barnacles
+whiten the top of every rock which is reached by the tide, although the
+water may cover them only a short time each day. But they flourish here in
+myriads, and the shorter the chance they have at the salt water the more
+frantically their little feathery feet clutch at the tiny food particles
+which float around them. These thousands of tiny turreted castles are
+built so closely together that many are pressed out of shape, paralleling
+in shape as in substance the inorganic crystals of the mineral kingdom.
+The valved doors are continually opening and partly closing, and if we
+listen quietly we can hear a perpetual shuss! shuss! Is it the creaking of
+the tiny hinges? As the last receding wave splashes them, they shut their
+folding doors over a drop or two and remain tightly closed, while perhaps
+ten hours of sunlight bake them, or they glisten in the moonlight for the
+same length of time, ready at the first touch of the returning water to
+open wide and welcome it.
+
+The thought of their life history brings to mind how sadly they retrogress
+as they grow, hatching as minute free-swimming creatures like tiny
+lobsters, and gradually changing to this plant-like life, _sans_ eyes,
+_sans_ head, _sans_ most everything except a stomach and a few pairs of
+feathery feet to kick food into it. A few pitiful traces of nerves are
+left them. What if there were enough ganglia to enable them to dream of
+their past higher life, in the long intervals of patient waiting!
+
+A little lower down we come to the zone of mussels,--hanging in clusters
+like some strange sea-fruit. Each is attached by strands of thin silky
+cables, so tough that they often defy our utmost efforts to tear a
+specimen away. How secure these creatures seem, how safe from all harm,
+and yet they have enemies which make havoc among them. At high tide fishes
+come and crunch them, shells and all, and multitudes of carnivorous snails
+are waiting to set their file-like tongues at work, which mercilessly
+drill through the lime shells, bringing death in a more subtle but no less
+certain form. Storms may tear away the support of these poor mollusks, and
+the waves dash them far out of the reach of the tides, while at low water,
+crows and gulls use all their ingenuity to get at their toothsome flesh.
+
+There are no ant-hills in the sea, but when we turn over a large stone and
+see scores upon scores of small black shrimps scurrying around, the
+resemblance to those insects is striking. These little creatures quickly
+hitch away on their sides, getting out of sight in a remarkably short
+time.
+
+The tide is going down rapidly, and following it step by step novel sights
+meet the eye at every turn, and we begin to realise that in this narrow
+strip, claimed alternately by sea and land, which would be represented on
+a map by the finest of hair-lines, there exists a complete world of
+animated life, comparing in variety and numbers with the life in that
+thinner medium, air. We climb over enormous boulders, so different in
+appearance that they would never be thought to consist of the same
+material as those higher up on the shore. These are masses of wave-worn
+rock, twenty or thirty feet across, piled in every imaginable position,
+and completely covered with a thick padding of seaweed. Their drapery of
+algæ hangs in festoons, and if we draw aside these submarine curtains,
+scenes from a veritable fairyland are disclosed. Deep pools of water,
+clear as crystal and icy cold, contain creatures both hideous and
+beautiful, sombre and iridescent, formless and of exquisite shape.
+
+The sea-anemones first attract attention, showing as splashes of scarlet
+and salmon among the olive-green seaweed, or in hundreds covering the
+entire bottom of a pool with a delicately hued mist of waving tentacles.
+As the water leaves these exposed on the walls of the caves, they lose
+their plump appearance and, drawing in their wreath of tentacles, hang
+limp and shrivelled, resembling pieces of water-soaked meat as much as
+anything. Submerged in the icy water they are veritable animal-flowers.
+Their beauty is indeed well guarded, hidden by the overhanging seaweed in
+these caves twenty-five feet or more below high-water mark.
+
+Here in these beautiful caverns we may make aquariums, and transplant as
+many animal-flowers as we wish. Wherever we place them their fleshy,
+snail-like foot spreads out, takes tight hold, and the creature lives
+content, patiently waiting for the Providence of the sea to send food to
+its many wide-spread fingers.
+
+Carpeted with pink algæ and dainty sponges, draped with sea-lettuce like
+green tissue paper, decorated with strange corallines, these natural
+aquariums far surpass any of artificial make. Although the tide drives us
+from them sooner or later, we may return with the sure prospect of finding
+them refreshed and perhaps replenished with many new forms. For often some
+of the deep-water creatures are held prisoners in the lower tide-pools, as
+the water settles, somewhat as when the glaciers receded northward after
+the Ice Age there were left on isolated mountain peaks traces of the
+boreal fauna and flora.
+
+If we are interested enough to watch our anemones we will find much
+entertainment. Let us return to our shrimp colonies and bring a handful to
+our pool. Drop one in the centre of an anemone and see how quickly it
+contracts. The tentacles bend over it exactly as the sticky hairs of the
+sun-dew plant close over a fly. The shrimp struggles for a moment and is
+then drawn downward out of sight. The birth of an anemone is well worth
+patient watching, and this may take place in several different ways. We
+may see a large individual with a number of tiny bunches on the sides of
+the body, and if we keep this one in a tumbler, before long these
+protuberances will be seen to develop a few tentacles and at last break
+off as perfect miniature anemones. Or again, an anemone may draw in its
+tentacles without apparent cause, and after a few minutes expand more
+widely than ever. Suddenly a movement of the mouth is seen, and it opens,
+and one, two, or even a half-dozen tiny anemones shoot forth. They turn
+and roll in the little spurt of water and gradually settle to the rock
+alongside of the mother. In a short time they turn right side up, expand
+their absurd little heads, and begin life for themselves. These animal
+"buds" may be of all sizes; some minute ones will be much less developed
+and look very unlike the parent. These are able to swim about for a while,
+and myriads of them may be born in an hour. Others, as we have seen, have
+tentacles and settle down at once.
+
+Fishes, little and big, are abundant in the pools, darting here and there
+among the leathery fronds of "devils' aprons," cavernous-mouthed angler
+fish, roly-poly young lump-suckers, lithe butterfish, and many others.
+
+Moving slowly through the pools are many beautiful creatures, some so
+evanescent that they are only discoverable by the faint shadows which they
+cast on the bottom, others suggest animated spheres of prismatic sunlight.
+These latter are tiny jelly-fish, circular hyaline masses of jelly with
+eight longitudinal bands, composed of many comb-like plates, along which
+iridescent waves of light continually play. The graceful appearance of
+these exquisite creatures is increased by two long, fringed tentacles
+streaming behind, drifting at full length or contracting into numerous
+coils. The fringe on these streamers is a series of living hairs--an
+aquatic cobweb, each active with life, and doing its share in ensnaring
+minute atoms of food for its owner. When dozens of these _ctenophores_ (or
+comb-bearers) as they are called, glide slowly to and fro through a pool,
+the sight is not soon forgotten. To try to photograph them is like
+attempting to portray the substance of a sunbeam, but patience works
+wonders, and even a slightly magnified image of a living jelly is secured,
+which shows very distinctly all the details of its wonderfully simple
+structure; the pouch, suspended in the centre of the sphere, which does
+duty as a stomach; the sheaths into which the long tentacles may be so
+magically packed, and the tiny organ at the top of this living ball of
+spun glass, serving, with its minute weights and springs, as compass,
+rudder, and pilot to this little creature, which does not fear to pit its
+muscles of jelly against the rush and might of breaking waves.
+
+Even the individual comb-plates or rows of oars are plainly seen,
+although, owing to their rapid motion, they appear to the naked eye as a
+single band of scintillating light. This and other magnified photographs
+were obtained by fastening the lens of a discarded bicycle lantern in a
+cone of paper blackened on the inside with shoe-blacking. With this crude
+apparatus placed in front of the lens of the camera, the evanescent
+beauties of these most delicate creatures were preserved.
+
+Other equally beautiful forms of jelly-fish are balloon-shaped. These are
+_Beröe_, fitly named after the daughter of the old god Oceanus. They, like
+others of their family, pulsate through the water, sweeping gracefully
+along, borne on currents of their own making.
+
+Passing to other inhabitants of the pools, we find starfish and
+sea-urchins everywhere abundant. Hunched-up groups of the former show
+where they are dining in their unique way on unfortunate sea-snails or
+anemones, protruding their whole stomach and thus engulfing their victim.
+The urchins strain and stretch with their innumerable sucker-feet, feeling
+for something to grasp, and in this laborious way pull themselves along.
+The mouth, with the five so-called teeth, is a conspicuous feature,
+visible at the centre of the urchin and surrounded by the greenish spines.
+Some of the starfish are covered with long spines, others are nearly
+smooth. The colours are wonderfully varied,--red, purple, orange, yellow,
+etc.
+
+The stages through which these prickly skinned animals pass, before they
+reach the adult state, are wonderfully curious, and only when they are
+seen under the microscope can they be fully appreciated. A bolting-cloth
+net drawn through some of the pools will yield thousands in many stages,
+and we can take eggs of the common starfish and watch their growth in
+tumblers of water. At first the egg seems nothing but a tiny round globule
+of jelly, but soon a dent or depression appears on one side, which becomes
+deeper and deeper until it extends to the centre of the egg-mass. It is as
+if we should take a round ball of putty and gradually press our finger
+into it. This pressed-in sac is a kind of primitive stomach and the
+entrance is used as a mouth. After this follows a marvellous succession of
+changes, form giving place to form, differing more in appearance and
+structure from the five-armed starfish than a caterpillar differs from a
+butterfly.
+
+For example, when about eight days old, another mouth has formed and two
+series of delicate cilia or swimming hairs wind around the creature, by
+means of which it glides slowly through the water. The photographs of a
+starfish of this age show the stomach with its contents, a dark rounded
+mass near the lower portion of the organism. The vibrating bands which
+outline the tiny animal are also visible. The delicacy of structure and
+difficulty of preserving these young starfish alive make these pictures of
+particular value, especially as they were taken of the living forms
+swimming in their natural element. Each day and almost each hour adds to
+the complexity of the little animal, lung tentacles grow out and many
+other larval stages are passed through before the starfish shape is
+discernible within this curious "nurse" or living, changing egg. Then the
+entire mass, so elaborately evolved through so long a time, is absorbed
+and the little baby star sinks to the bottom to start on its new life,
+crawling around and over whatever happens in its path and feeding to
+repletion on succulent oysters. It can laugh at the rage of the oysterman,
+who angrily tears it in pieces, for "time heals all wounds" literally in
+the case of these creatures, and even if the five arms are torn apart,
+five starfish, small of arm but with healthy stomachs, will soon be
+foraging on the oyster bed.
+
+But to return to our tide-pools. In the skimming net with the young
+starfish many other creatures are found, some so delicate and fragile that
+they disintegrate before microscope and camera can be placed in position.
+I lie at full length on a soft couch of seaweed with my face close to a
+tiny pool no larger than my hand. A few armadillo shells and limpets crawl
+on the bottom, but a frequent troubling of the water baffles me. I make
+sure my breath has nothing to do with it, but still it continues. At last
+a beam of sunshine lights up the pool, and as if a film had rolled from my
+eyes I see the cause of the disturbance. A sea-worm--or a ghost of one--is
+swimming about. Its large, brilliant eyes, long tentacles, and innumerable
+waving appendages are now as distinct as before they had been invisible. A
+trifling change in my position and all vanishes as if by magic. There
+seems not an organ, not a single part of the creature, which is not as
+transparent as the water itself. The fine streamers into which the paddles
+and gills are divided are too delicate to have existence in any but a
+water creature, and the least attempt to lift the animal from its element
+would only tear and dismember it, so I leave it in the pool to await the
+return of the tide.
+
+Shrimps and prawns of many shapes and colours inhabit every pool. One
+small species, abundant on the algæ, combines the colour changes of a
+chameleon with the form and manner of travel of a measuring-worm, looping
+along the fronds of seaweed or swimming with the same motion. Another
+variety of shrimp resembles the common wood-louse found under pieces of
+bark, but is most beautifully iridescent, glowing like an opal at the
+bottom of the pool. The curious little sea-spiders keep me guessing for a
+long time where their internal organs can be, as they consist of legs with
+merely enough body to connect these firmly together. The fact that the
+thread-like stomach and other organs send a branch into each of the eight
+legs explains the mystery and shows how far economy of space may go. Their
+skeleton-forms, having the appearance of eight straggling filaments of
+seaweed, are thus, doubtless, a great protection to these creatures from
+their many enemies. Other hobgoblin forms with huge probosces crawl slowly
+over the floors of the anemone caves, or crouch as the shadow of my hand
+or net falls upon them.
+
+The larger gorgeously coloured and graceful sea-worms contribute not a
+small share to the beauty of Fundy tide-pools, swimming in iridescent
+waves through the water or waving their Medusa-head of crimson tentacles
+at the bottom among the sea-lettuce. These worms form tubes of mud for
+themselves, and the rows of hooks on each side of the body enable them to
+climb up and down in their dismal homes.
+
+Much of the seaweed from deeper bottoms seems to be covered with a dense
+fur, which under a hand lens resolves into beautiful hydroids,--near
+relatives of the anemones and corals. Scientists have happily given these
+most euphonious names--_Campanularia_, _Obelia_, and _Plumularia_. Among
+the branches of certain of these, numbers of round discs or spheres are
+visible. These are young medusæ or jelly-fish, which grow like bunches of
+currants, and later will break off and swim around at pleasure in the
+water. Occasionally one is fortunate enough to discover these small
+jellies in a pool where they can be photographed as they pulsate back and
+forth. When these attain their full size they lay eggs which sink to the
+bottom and grow up into the plant-like hydroids. So each generation of
+these interesting creatures is entirely unlike that which immediately
+precedes or follows it. In other words, a hydroid is exactly like its
+grandmother and granddaughter, but as different from its parents and
+children in appearance as a plant is from an animal. Even in a fairy-story
+book this would be wonderful, but here it is taking place under our very
+eyes, as are scores of other transformations and "miracles in miniature"
+in this marvellous underworld.
+
+Now let us deliberately pass by all the attractions of the middle zone of
+tide-pools and on as far as the lowest level of the water will admit. We
+are far out from the shore and many feet below the level of the
+barnacle-covered boulders over which we first clambered. Now we may indeed
+be prepared for strange sights, for we are on the very borderland of the
+vast unknown. The abyss in front of us is like planetary space, unknown to
+the feet of man. While we know the latter by scant glimpses through our
+telescopes, the former has only been scratched by the hauls of the dredge,
+the mark of whose iron shoe is like the tiny track of a snail on the leaf
+mould of a vast forest.
+
+The first plunge beneath the icy waters of Fundy is likely to remain long
+in one's memory, and one's first dive of short duration, but the glimpse
+which is had and the hastily snatched handfuls of specimens of the
+beauties which no tide ever uncovers is potent to make one forget his
+shivering and again and again seek to penetrate as far as a good-sized
+stone and a lungful of air will carry him. Strange sensations are
+experienced in these aquatic scrambles. It takes a long time to get used
+to pulling oneself _downward_, or propping your knees against the _under_
+crevices of rocks. To all intents and purposes, the law of gravitation is
+partly suspended, and when stone and wooden wedge accidentally slip from
+one's hand and disappear in _opposite_ directions, it is confusing, to say
+the least.
+
+When working in one spot for some time the fishes seem to become used to
+one, and approach quite closely. Slick-looking pollock, bloated lump-fish,
+and occasionally a sombre dog-fish rolls by, giving one a start, as the
+memory of pictures of battles between divers and sharks of tropical waters
+comes to mind. One's mental impressions made thus are somewhat
+disconnected. With the blood buzzing in the ears, it is only possible to
+snatch general glimpses and superficial details. Then at the surface,
+notes can be made, and specimens which have been overlooked, felt for
+during the next trip beneath the surface. Fronds of laminaria yards in
+length, like sheets of rubber, offer convenient holds, and at their roots
+many curious creatures make their home. Serpent starfish, agile as insects
+and very brittle, are abundant, and new forms of worms, like great
+slugs,--their backs covered with gills in the form of tufted branches.
+
+In these outer, eternally submerged regions are starfish of still other
+shapes, some with a dozen or more arms. I took one with thirteen rays and
+placed it temporarily in a pool aquarium with some large anemones. On
+returning in an hour or two I found the starfish trying to make a meal of
+the largest anemone. Hundreds of dart-covered strings had been pushed out
+by the latter in defence, but they seemed to cause the starfish no
+inconvenience whatever.
+
+In my submarine glimpses I saw spaces free from seaweed on which hundreds
+of tall polyps were growing, some singly, others in small tufts. The
+solitary individuals rise three or four inches by a nearly straight stalk,
+surmounted by a many-tentacled head. This droops gracefully to one side
+and the general effect is that of a bed of rose-coloured flowers. From the
+heads hang grape-like masses, which on examination in a tumbler are seen
+to be immature medusæ. Each of these develop to the point where the four
+radiating canals are discernible and then their growth comes to a
+standstill, and they never attain the freedom for which their structure
+fits them.
+
+When the wind blew inshore, I would often find the water fairly alive with
+large sun-jellies or _Aurelia_,--their Latin name. Their great milky-white
+bodies would come heaving along and bump against me, giving a very
+"crawly" sensation. The circle of short tentacles and the four
+horse-shoe-shaped ovaries distinguish this jelly-fish from all others.
+When I had gone down as far as I dared, I would sometimes catch glimpses
+of these strange beings far below me, passing and repassing in the silence
+and icy coldness of the watery depths. These large medusæ are often very
+abundant after a favourable wind has blown for a few days, and I have
+rowed through masses of them so thick that it seemed like rowing through
+thick jelly, two or three feet deep. In an area the length of the boat and
+about a yard wide, I have counted over one hundred and fifty _Aurelias_ on
+the surface alone.
+
+When one of these "sunfish," as the fishermen call them, is lifted from
+the water, the clay-coloured eggs may be seen to stream from it in
+myriads. In many jellies, small bodies the size of a pea are visible in
+the interior of the mass, and when extracted they prove to be a species of
+small shrimp. These are well adapted for their quasi-parasitic life, in
+colour being throughout of the same milky semi-opaqueness as their host,
+but one very curious thing about them is, that when taken out and placed
+in some water in a vial or tumbler they begin to turn darker almost
+immediately, and in five minutes all will be of various shades, from red
+to a dark brown.
+
+I had no fear of _Aurelia_, but when another free-swimming species of
+jelly-fish, _Cyanea_, or the blue-jelly, appeared, I swam ashore with all
+speed. This great jelly is usually more of a reddish liver-colour than a
+purple, and is much to be dreaded. Its tentacles are of enormous length. I
+have seen specimens which measured two feet across the disc, with
+streamers fully forty feet long, and one has been recorded seven feet
+across and no less than one hundred and twelve feet to the tip of the
+cruel tentacles! These trail behind in eight bunches and form a living,
+tangled labyrinth as deadly as the hair of the fabled Medusa--whose name
+indeed has been so appropriately applied to this division of animals. The
+touch of each tentacle to the skin is like a lash of nettle, and there
+would be little hope for a diver whose path crossed such a fiery tangle.
+The untold myriads of little darts which are shot out secrete a poison
+which is terribly irritating.
+
+On the crevice bottoms a sight now and then meets my eyes which brings the
+"devil-fish" of Victor Hugo's romance vividly to mind,--a misshapen squid
+making its way snakily over the shells and seaweed. Its large eyes gaze
+fixedly around and the arms reach alternately forward, the sucking cups
+lined with their cruel teeth closing over the inequalities of the bottom.
+The creature may suddenly change its mode of progression and shoot like an
+arrow, backward and upward. If we watch one in its passage over areas of
+seaweed and sand, a wonderful adaptation becomes apparent. Its colour
+changes continually; when near sand it is of a sombre brown hue, then
+blushes of colour pass over it and the tint changes, corresponding to the
+seaweed or patches of pink sponge over which it swims. The way in which
+this is accomplished is very ingenious and loses nothing by examination.
+Beneath the skin are numerous cells filled with liquid pigment. When at
+rest these contract until they are almost invisible, appearing as very
+small specks or dots on the surface of the body. When the animal wishes to
+change its hue, certain muscles which radiate from these colour cells are
+shortened, drawing the cells out in all directions until they seem
+confluent. It is as if the freckles on a person's face should be all
+joined together, when an ordinary tan would result.
+
+From bottoms ten to twenty fathoms below the surface, deeper than mortal
+eye can probably ever hope to reach, the dredge brings up all manner of
+curious things; basket starfish, with arms divided and subdivided into
+many tendrils, on the tips of which it walks, the remaining part
+converging upward like the trellis of a vine-covered summer house. Sponges
+of many hues must fairly carpet large areas of the deep water, as the
+dredge is often loaded with them. The small shore-loving ones which I
+photographed are in perfect health, but the camera cannot show the many
+tiny currents of water pouring in food and oxygen at the smaller openings,
+and returning in larger streams from the tall funnels on the surface of
+the sponge, which a pinch of carmine dust reveals so beautifully. From the
+deeper aquatic gardens come up great orange and yellow sponges, two and
+three feet in length, and around the bases of these the weird serpent
+stars are clinging, while crabs scurry away as the mass reaches the
+surface of the water.
+
+Treasures from depths of forty and even fifty fathoms can be obtained when
+a trip is taken with the trawl-men. One can sit fascinated for hours,
+watching the hundreds of yards of line reel in, with some interesting
+creature on each of the thirty-seven hundred odd hooks. At times a glance
+down into the clear water will show a score of fish in sight at once,
+hake, haddock, cod, halibut, dog-fish, and perhaps an immense "barndoor"
+skate, a yard or more square. This latter hold back with frantic flaps of
+its great "wings," and tax all the strength of the sturdy Acadian
+fishermen to pull it to the gunwale.
+
+Now and then a huge "meat-rock," the fishermen's apt name for an anemone,
+comes up, impaled on a hook, and still clinging to a stone of five to ten
+pounds weight. These gigantic scarlet ones from full fifty fathoms far
+surpass any near shore. Occasionally the head alone of a large fish will
+appear, with the entire body bitten clean off, a hint of the monsters
+which must haunt the lower depths. The pressure of the air must be
+excessive, for many of the fishes have their swimming bladders fairly
+forced out of their mouths by the lessening of atmospheric pressure as
+they are drawn to the surface. When a basket starfish finds one of the
+baits in that sunless void far beneath our boat, he hugs it so tenaciously
+that the upward jerks of the reel only make him hold the more tightly.
+
+Once in a great while the fishermen find what they call a "knob-fish" on
+one of their hooks, and I never knew what they meant until one day a small
+colony of five was brought ashore. _Boltenia_, the scientists call them,
+tall, queer-shaped things; a stalk six to eight inches in length, with a
+knob or oblong bulb-like body at the summit, looking exactly like the
+flower of a lady-slipper orchid and as delicately coloured. This is a
+member of that curious family of Ascidians, which forever trembles in the
+balance between the higher backboned animals and the lower division, where
+are classified the humbler insects, crabs, and snails. The young of
+_Boltenia_ promises everything in its tiny backbone or notochord, but it
+all ends in promise, for that shadow of a great ambition withers away, and
+the creature is doomed to a lowly and vegetative life. If we soften the
+hard scientific facts which tell us of these dumb, blind creatures, with
+the humane mellowing thought of the oneness of all life, we will find much
+that is pathetic and affecting in their humble biographies from our point
+of view. And yet these cases of degeneration are far from anything like
+actual misfortunes, or mishaps of nature, as Buffon was so fond of
+thinking. These creatures have found their adult mode of life more free
+from competition than any other, and hence their adoption of it. It is
+only another instance of exquisite adaptation to an unfilled niche in the
+life of the world.
+
+Yet another phase of enjoying the life of these northern waters; the one
+which comes after all the work and play of collecting is over for the day,
+after the last specimen is given a fresh supply of water for the night,
+and the final note in our journal is written. Then, as dusk falls, we make
+our way to the beach, ship our rudder and oars and push slowly along
+shore, or drift quietly with the tide. The stars may come out in clear
+splendour and the visual symphony of the northern lights play over the
+dark vault above us, or all may be obscured in lowering, leaden clouds.
+But the lights of the sea are never obscured--they always shine with a
+splendour which keeps one entranced for hours.
+
+At night the ripples and foam of the Fundy shores seem transformed to
+molten silver and gold, and after each receding wave the emerald seaweed
+is left dripping with millions of sparkling lights, shining with a living
+lustre which would pale the brightest gem. Each of these countless sparks
+is a tiny animal, as perfect in its substance and as well adapted to its
+cycle of life as the highest created being. The wonderful way in which
+this phosphorescence permeates everything--the jelly-fish seeming elfish
+fireworks as they throb through the water with rhythmic beats--the fish
+brilliantly lighted up and plainly visible as they dart about far beneath
+the surface--makes such a night on the Bay of Fundy an experience to be
+always remembered.
+
+                 Like the tints on a crescent sea beach
+                   When the moon is new and thin,
+                 Into our hearts high yearnings
+                   Come welling and surging in--
+                 Come, from the mystic ocean,
+                   Whose rim no foot has trod--
+                 Some of us call it longing,
+                   And others call it God.
+                                         W. H. Carruth.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+JULY
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS IN A CITY
+
+
+We frequently hear people say that if only they lived in the country they
+would take up the study of birds with great interest, but that a city life
+prevented any nature study. To show how untrue this is, I once made a
+census of wild birds which were nesting in the New York Zoological Park,
+which is situated within the limits of New York City. Part of the Park is
+wooded, while much space is given up to the collections of birds and
+animals. Throughout the year thousands of people crowd the walks and
+penetrate to every portion of the grounds; yet in spite of this lack of
+seclusion no fewer than sixty-one species build their nests here and
+successfully rear their young. The list was made without shooting a single
+bird and in each instance the identification was absolute. This shows what
+a little protection will accomplish, while many places of equal area in
+the country which are harried by boys and cats are tenanted by a bare
+dozen species.
+
+Let us see what a walk in late June, or especially in July, will show of
+these bold invaders of our very city. Wild wood ducks frequently decoy to
+the flocks of pinioned birds and sometimes mate with some of them. One
+year a wild bird chose as its mate a little brown female, a pinioned bird,
+and refused to desert her even when the brood of summer ducklings was
+being caught and pinioned. Such devotion is rare indeed.
+
+In the top of one of the most inaccessible trees in the Park a great rough
+nest of sticks shows where a pair of black-crowned night herons have made
+their home for years, and from the pale green eggs hatch the most awkward
+of nestling herons, which squawk and grow to their prime, on a diet of
+small fish. When they are able to fly they pay frequent visits to their
+relations in the great flying cage, perching on the top and gazing with
+longing eyes at the abundant feasts of fish which are daily brought by the
+keepers to their charges. This duck and heron are the only ones of their
+orders thus to honour the Park by nesting, although a number of other
+species are not uncommon during the season of migration.
+
+Of the waders which in the spring and fall teeter along the bank of the
+Bronx River, only a pair or two of spotted sandpipers remain throughout
+the nesting period, content to lay their eggs in some retired spot in the
+corner of a field, where there is the least danger to them and to the
+fluffy balls of long-legged down which later appear and scurry about. The
+great horned owl and the red-tailed hawk formerly nested in the park, but
+the frequent noise of blasting and the building operations have driven
+them to more isolated places, and of their relatives there remain only the
+little screech owls and the sparrow hawks. The latter feed chiefly upon
+English sparrows and hence are worthy of the most careful protection.
+
+These birds should be encouraged to build near our homes, and if not
+killed or driven away sometimes choose the eaves of our houses as their
+domiciles and thus, by invading the very haunts of the sparrows, they
+would speedily lessen their numbers. A brood of five young hawks was
+recently taken from a nest under the eaves of a school-house in this city.
+I immediately took this as a text addressed to the pupils, and the
+principal was surprised to learn that these birds were so valuable. In the
+Park the sparrow hawks nest in a hollow tree, as do the screech owls.
+
+Other most valuable birds which nest in the Park are the black-billed and
+yellow-billed cuckoos, whose depredations among the hairy and spiny
+caterpillars should arouse our gratitude. For these insects are refused by
+almost all other birds, and were it not for these slim, graceful creatures
+they would increase to prodigious numbers. Their two or three light blue
+eggs are always laid on the frailest of frail platforms made of a few
+sticks. The belted kingfisher bores into the bank of the river and rears
+his family of six or eight in the dark, ill-odoured chamber at the end.
+Young cuckoos and kingfishers are the quaintest of young birds. Their
+plumage does not come out a little at a time, as in other nestlings, but
+the sheaths which surround the growing feathers remain until they are an
+inch or more in length; then one day, in the space of only an hour or so,
+the overlapping armour of bluish tiles bursts and the plumage assumes a
+normal appearance.
+
+The little black-and-white downy and the flicker are the two woodpeckers
+which make the Park their home. Both nest in hollows bored out by their
+strong beaks, but although full of splinters and sawdust, such a
+habitation is far superior to the sooty chimneys in which the young
+chimney swifts break from their snow-white eggs and twitter for food. How
+impatiently they must look up at the blue sky, and one would think that
+they must long for the time when they can spread their sickle-shaped wings
+and dash about from dawn to dark! Is it not wonderful that one of them
+should live to grow up when we think of the fragile little cup which is
+their home?--a mosaic of delicate twigs held together only by the sticky
+saliva of the parent birds.
+
+A relation of theirs--though we should never guess it--is sitting upon her
+tiny air castle high up in an apple tree not far away,--a ruby-throated
+hummingbird. If we take a peep into the nest when the young hummingbirds
+are only partly grown, we shall see that their bills are broad and stubby,
+like those of the swifts. Their home, however, is indeed a different
+affair,--a pinch of plant-down tied together with cobwebs and stuccoed
+with lichens, like those which are growing all about upon the tree. If we
+do not watch the female when she settles to her young or eggs we may
+search in vain for this tiniest of homes, so closely does it resemble an
+ordinary knot on a branch.
+
+The flycatchers are well represented in the Park, there being no fewer
+than five species; the least flycatcher, wood pewee, phoebe, crested
+flycatcher, and kingbird. The first two prefer the woods, the phoebe
+generally selects a mossy rock or a bridge beam, the fourth nests in a
+hollow tree and often decorates its home with a snake-skin. The kingbird
+builds an untidy nest in an apple tree. Our American crow is, of course, a
+member of this little community of birds, and that in spite of
+persecution, for in the spring one or two are apt to contract a taste for
+young ducklings and hence have to be put out of the way. The fish crow, a
+smaller cousin of the big black fellow, also nests here, easily known by
+his shriller, higher caw. A single pair of blue jays nest in the Park, but
+the English starling occupies every box which is put up and bids fair to
+be as great or a greater nuisance than the sparrow. It is a handsome bird
+and a fine whistler, but when we remember how this foreigner is slowly but
+surely elbowing our native birds out of their rightful haunts, we find
+ourselves losing sight of its beauties. The cowbird, of course, imposes
+her eggs upon many of the smaller species of birds, while our beautiful
+purple grackle, meadow lark, red-winged blackbird, and the Baltimore and
+orchard orioles rear their young in safety. The cardinal, scarlet tanager,
+indigo bunting, and rose-breasted grosbeak form a quartet of which even a
+tropical land might well be proud, and the two latter species have, in
+addition to brilliant plumage, very pleasing songs. Such wealth of
+æsthetic characteristics are unusual in any one species, the wide-spread
+law of compensation decreeing otherwise. More sombre hued seed-eaters
+which live their lives in the Park are towhees, swamp, song, field, and
+chipping sparrows. The bank and barn swallows skim over field and pond all
+through the summer, gleaning their insect harvest from the air, and
+building their nests in the places from which they have taken their names.
+The rare rough-winged swallow deigns to linger and nest in the Park as
+well as do his more common brethren.
+
+The dainty pensile nests which become visible when the leaves fall in the
+autumn are swung by four species of vireos, the white-eyed, red-eyed,
+warbling, and yellow-throated. Of the interesting and typically North
+American family of wood warblers I have numbered no fewer than eight which
+nest in the Park; these are the redstart, the yellow-breasted chat,
+northern yellow-throat, oven-bird, the yellow warbler, blue-winged,
+black-and-white creeping warblers, and one other to be mentioned later.
+
+Injurious insects find their doom when the young house and Carolina wrens
+are on the wing. Catbirds and robins are among the most abundant breeders,
+while chickadees and white-breasted nuthatches are less often seen. The
+bluebird haunts the hollow apple trees, and of the thrushes proper the
+veery or Wilson's and the splendid wood thrush sing to their mates on the
+nests among the saplings.
+
+The rarest of all the birds which I have found nesting in the Park is a
+little yellow and green warbler, with a black throat and sides of the
+face, known as the Lawrence warbler. Only a few of his kind have ever been
+seen, and strange to say his mate was none other than a demure blue-winged
+warbler. His nest was on the ground and from it six young birds flew to
+safety and not to museum drawers.
+
+
+
+
+NIGHT MUSIC OF THE SWAMP
+
+
+To many, a swamp or marsh brings only the very practical thought of
+whether it can be readily drained. Let us rejoice, however, that many
+marshes cannot be thus easily wiped out of existence, and hence they
+remain as isolated bits of primeval wilderness, hedged about by farms and
+furrows. The water is the life-blood of the marsh,--drain it, and reed and
+rush, bird and batrachian, perish or disappear. The marsh, to him who
+enters it in a receptive mood, holds, besides mosquitoes and
+stagnation,--melody, the mystery of unknown waters, and the sweetness of
+Nature undisturbed by man.
+
+The ideal marsh is as far as one can go from civilisation. The depths of a
+wood holds its undiscovered secrets; the mysterious call of the veery
+lends a wildness that even to-day has not ceased to pervade the old wood.
+There are spots overgrown with fern and carpeted with velvety wet moss;
+here also the skunk cabbage and cowslip grow rank among the alders. Surely
+man cannot live near this place--but the tinkle of a cowbell comes faintly
+on the gentle stirring breeze--and our illusion is dispelled, the charm is
+broken.
+
+But even to-day, when we push the punt through the reeds from the clear
+river into the narrow, tortuous channel of the marsh, we have left
+civilisation behind us. The great ranks of the cat-tails shut out all view
+of the outside world; the distant sounds of civilisation serve only to
+accentuate the isolation. It is the land of the Indian, as it was before
+the strange white man, brought from afar in great white-sailed ships, came
+to usurp the land of the wondering natives. At any moment we fancy that we
+may see an Indian canoe silently round a bend in the channel.
+
+The marsh has remained unchanged since the days when the Mohican Indians
+speared fish there. We are living in a bygone time. A little green heron
+flies across the water. How wild he is; nothing has tamed him. He also is
+the same now as always. He does not nest in orchard or meadow, but holds
+himself aloof, making no concessions to man and the ever increasing spread
+of his civilisation. He does not come to his doors for food. He can find
+food for himself and in abundance; he asks only to be let alone. Nor does
+he intrude himself. Occasionally we meet him along our little meadow
+stream, but he makes no advances. As we come suddenly upon him, how
+indignant he seems at being disturbed in his hunting. Like the Indian, he
+is jealous of his ancient domain and resents intrusion. He retires,
+however, throwing back to us a cry of disdain. Here in the marsh is the
+last stand of primitive nature in the settled country; here is the last
+stronghold of the untamed. The bulrushes rise in ranks, like the spears of
+a great army, surrounding and guarding the colony of the marsh.
+
+There seems to be a kinship between the voices of the marsh dwellers. Most
+of them seem to have a muddy, aquatic note. The boom of the frog sounds
+like some great stone dropped into the water; the little marsh wren's song
+is the "babble and tinkle of water running out of a silver flask."
+
+The blackbird seems to be the one connecting link between the highlands
+and the lowlands. Seldom does one see other citizens of the marsh in the
+upland. How glorious is the flight of a great blue heron from one
+feeding-ground to another! He does not tarry over the foreign territory,
+nor does he hurry. With neck and head furled close and legs straight out
+behind, he pursues his course, swerving neither to the right nor the
+left.
+
+            "Vainly the fowler's eye
+            Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
+            As darkly painted on the crimson sky
+              Thy figure floats along."
+
+The blackbirds, however, are more neighbourly. They even forage in the
+foreign territory, returning at night to sleep.
+
+In nesting time the red-wing is indeed a citizen of the lowland. His voice
+is as distinctive of the marsh as is the croak of the frog, and from a
+distance it is one of the first sounds to greet the ear. How beautiful is
+his clear whistle with its liquid break! Indeed one may say that he is the
+most conspicuous singer of the marshlands. His is not a sustained song,
+but the exuberant expression of a happy heart.
+
+According to many writers the little marsh wren is without song. No song!
+As well say that the farmer boy's whistling as he follows the plough, or
+the sailor's song as he hoists the sail, is not music! All are the songs
+of the lowly, the melody of those glad to be alive and out in the free
+air.
+
+When man goes into the marsh, the marsh retires within itself, as a turtle
+retreats within his shell. With the exception of a few blackbirds and
+marsh wrens, babbling away the nest secret, and an occasional frog's
+croak, all the inhabitants have stealthily retired. The spotted turtle has
+slid from the decayed log as the boat pushed through the reeds. At our
+approach the heron has flown and the little Virginia rail has scuttled
+away among the reeds.
+
+Remain perfectly quiet, however, and give the marsh time to regain its
+composure. One by one the tenants of the swamp will take up the trend of
+their business where it was interrupted.
+
+All about, the frogs rest on the green carpet of the lily pads, basking in
+the sun. The little rail again runs among the reeds, searching for food in
+the form of small snails. The blackbirds and wrens, most domestic in
+character, go busily about their home business; the turtles again come up
+to their positions, and a muskrat swims across the channel. One hopes that
+the little colony of marsh wren homes on stilts above the water, like the
+ancient lake dwellers of Tenochtitlan, may have no enemies. But the habit
+of building dummy nests is suggestive that the wee birds are pitting their
+wits against the cunning of some enemy,--and suspicion rests upon the
+serpent.
+
+As evening approaches and the shadows from the bordering wood point long
+fingers across the marsh, the blackbirds straggle back from their
+feeding-grounds and settle, clattering, among the reeds. Their clamour
+dies gradually away and night settles down upon the marsh.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+All sounds have ceased save the booming of the frogs, which but emphasises
+the loneliness of it all. A distant whistle of a locomotive dispels the
+idea that all the world is wilderness. The firefly lamps glow along the
+margin of the rushes. The frogs are now in full chorus, the great bulls
+beating their tom-toms and the small fry filling in the chinks with
+shriller cries. How remote the scene and how melancholy the chorus!
+
+To one mind there is a quality in the frogs' serenade that strikes the
+chord of sadness, to another the chord of contentment, to still another it
+is the chant of the savage, just as the hoot of an owl or the bark of a
+fox brings vividly to mind the wilderness.
+
+Out of the night comes softly the croon of a little screech owl--that cry
+almost as ancient as the hills. It belongs with the soil beneath our
+towns. It is the spirit of the past crying to us. So the dirge of the frog
+is the cry of the spirit of river and marshland.
+
+Our robins and bluebirds are of the orchard and the home of man, but who
+can claim neighbourship to the bittern or the bullfrog? There is nothing
+of civilisation in the hoarse croak of the great blue heron. These are all
+barbarians and their songs are of the untamed wilderness.
+
+The moon rises over the hills. The mosquitoes have become savage. The
+marsh has tolerated us as long as it cares to, and we beat our retreat.
+The night hawks swoop down and boom as they pass overhead. One feels
+thankful that the mosquitoes are of some good in furnishing food to so
+graceful a bird.
+
+A water snake glides across the channel, leaving a silver wake in the
+moonlight. The frogs plunk into the water as we push past. A night heron
+rises from the margin of the river and slowly flops away. The bittern
+booms again as we row down the peaceful river, and we leave the marshland
+to its ancient and rightful owners.
+
+    And the marsh is meshed with a million veins,
+    That like as with rosy and silvery essences flow
+    In the rose and silver evening glow.
+            Farewell, my lord Sun!
+    The creeks overflow; a thousand rivulets run
+    'Twixt the roots of the sod; the blades of the marsh grass stir;
+    Passeth a hurrying sound of wings that westward whirr.
+                                                      Sidney Lanier.
+
+
+
+
+THE COMING OF MAN
+
+
+If we betake ourselves to the heart of the deepest forests which are still
+left upon our northern hills, and compare the bird life which we find
+there with that in the woods and fields near our homes, we shall at once
+notice a great difference. Although the coming of mankind with his axe and
+plough has driven many birds and animals far away or actually exterminated
+them, there are many others which have so thrived under the new conditions
+that they are far more numerous than when the tepees of the red men alone
+broke the monotony of the forest.
+
+We might walk all day in the primitive woods and never see or hear a
+robin, while in an hour's stroll about a village we can count scores. Let
+us observe how some of these quick-witted feathered beings have taken
+advantage of the way in which man is altering the whole face of the land.
+
+A pioneer comes to a spot in the virgin forest which pleases him and
+proceeds at once to cut down the trees in order to make a clearing. The
+hermit thrush soothes his labour with its wonderful song; the pileated
+woodpecker pounds its disapproval upon a near-by hollow tree; the deer and
+wolf take a last look out through the trees and flee from the spot
+forever. A house and barn arise; fields become covered with waving grass
+and grain; a neglected patch of burnt forest becomes a tangle of
+blackberry and raspberry; an orchard is set out.
+
+When the migrating birds return, they are attracted to this new scene. The
+decaying wood of fallen trees is a paradise for ants, flies, and beetles;
+offering to swallows, creepers, and flycatchers feasts of abundance never
+dreamed of in the primitive forests. Straightway, what must have been a
+cave swallow becomes a barn swallow; the haunter of rock ledges changes to
+an eave swallow; the nest in the niche of the cliff is deserted and phoebe
+becomes a bridgebird; cedarbirds are renamed cherrybirds, and catbirds and
+other low-nesting species find the blackberry patch safer than the
+sweetbrier vine in the deep woods. The swift leaves the lightning-struck
+hollow tree where owl may harry or snake intrude, for the chimney
+flue--sooty but impregnable.
+
+When the great herds of ruminants disappear from the western prairies, the
+buffalo birds without hesitation become cowbirds, and when the plough
+turns up the never-ending store of grubs and worms the birds lose all fear
+and follow at the very heels of the plough-boy: grackles, vesper sparrows,
+and larks in the east, and flocks of gulls farther to the westward.
+
+The crow surpasses all in the keen wit which it pits against human
+invasion and enmity. The farmer declares war (all unjustly) against these
+sable natives, but they jeer at his gun and traps and scarecrows, and
+thrive on, killing the noxious insects, devouring the diseased
+corn-sprouts,--doing great good to the farmer in spite of himself.
+
+The story of these sudden adaptations to conditions which the birds could
+never have foreseen is a story of great interest and it has been but half
+told. Climb the nearest hill or mountain or even a tall tree and look out
+upon the face of the country. Keep in mind you are a bird and not a
+human,--you neither know nor understand anything of the reason for these
+strange sights,--these bipeds who cover the earth with great square
+structures, who scratch the ground for miles, who later gnaw the
+vegetation with great shining teeth, and who are only too often on the
+look out to bring sudden death if one but show a feather. What would you
+do?
+
+
+
+
+THE SILENT LANGUAGE OF ANIMALS
+
+
+What a great difference there is in brilliancy of colouring between birds
+and the furry creatures. How the plumage of a cardinal, or indigo bunting,
+or hummingbird glows in the sunlight, and reflects to our eyes the most
+intense vermilion or indigo or an iridescence of the whole gamut of
+colour. On the other hand, how sombrely clad are the deer, the rabbits,
+and the mice; gray and brown and white being the usual hue of their fur.
+
+This difference is by no means accidental, but has for its cause a deep
+significance,--all-important to the life of the bird or mammal. Scientists
+have long known of it, and if we unlock it from its hard sheathing of
+technical terms, we shall find it as simple and as easy to understand as
+it is interesting. When we once hold the key, it will seem as if scales
+had fallen from our eyes, and when we take our walks abroad through the
+fields and woods, when we visit a zoological park, or even see the animals
+in a circus, we shall feel as though a new world were opened to us.
+
+No post offices, or even addresses, exist for birds and mammals; when the
+children of the desert or the jungle are lost, no detective or policeman
+hastens to find them, no telephone or telegraph aids in the search. Yet,
+without any of these accessories, the wild creatures have marvellous
+systems of communication. The five senses (and perhaps a mysterious sixth,
+at which we can only guess) are the telephones and the police, the
+automatic sentinels and alarms of our wild kindred. Most inferior are our
+own abilities in using eyes, nose, and ears, when compared with the same
+functions in birds and animals.
+
+Eyes and noses are important keys to the bright colours of birds and
+comparative sombreness of hairy-coated creatures. Take a dog and an oriole
+as good examples of the two extremes. When a dog has lost his master, he
+first looks about; then he strains his eyes with the intense look of a
+near-sighted person, and after a few moments of this he usually yelps with
+disappointment, drops his nose to the ground, and with unfailing accuracy
+follows the track of his master. When the freshness of the trail tells him
+that he is near its end he again resorts to his eyes, and is soon near
+enough to recognise the face he seeks. A fox when running before a hound
+may double back, and make a close reconnaissance near his trail, sometimes
+passing in full view without the hound's seeing him or stopping in
+following out the full curve of the trail, so completely does the
+wonderful power of smell absorb the entire attention of the dog.
+
+Let us now turn to the oriole. As we might infer, the nostrils incased in
+horn render the sense of smell of but slight account. It is hard to tell
+how much a bird can distinguish in this way--probably only the odour of
+food near at hand. However, when we examine the eye of our bird, we see a
+sense organ of a very high order. Bright, intelligent, full-circled, of
+great size compared to the bulk of the skull, protected by three complete
+eyelids; we realise that this must play an important part in the life of
+the bird. There are, of course, many exceptions to such a generalisation
+as this. For instance, many species of sparrows are dull-coloured. We must
+remember that the voice--the calls and songs of birds--is developed to a
+high degree, and in many instances renders bright colouring needless in
+attracting a mate or in locating a young bird.
+
+As we have seen, the sense of smell is very highly developed among
+four-footed animals, but to make this efficient there must be something
+for it to act upon; and in this connection we find some interesting facts
+of which, outside of scientific books, little has been written. On the
+entire body, birds have only one gland--the oil gland above the base of
+the tail, which supplies an unctuous dressing for the feathers. Birds,
+therefore, have not the power of perspiring, but compensate for this by
+very rapid breathing. On the contrary, four-footed animals have glands on
+many portions of the body. Nature is seldom contented with the one primary
+function which an organ or tissue performs, but adjusts and adapts it to
+others in many ingenious ways. Hence, when an animal perspires, the pores
+of the skin allow the contained moisture to escape and moisten the surface
+of the body; but in addition to this, in many animals, collections of
+these pores in the shape of large glands secrete various odours which
+serve important uses. In the skunk such a gland is a practically perfect
+protection against attacks from his enemies. He never hurries and seems
+not to know what fear is--a single wave of his conspicuous danger signal
+is sufficient to clear his path.
+
+In certain species of the rhinoceros there are large glands in the foot.
+These animals live among grass and herbage which they brush against as
+they walk, and thus "blaze" a plain trail for the mate or young to follow.
+There are few if any animals which care to face a rhinoceros, so the scent
+is incidentally useful to other creatures as a warning.
+
+It is believed that the hard callosities on the legs of horses are the
+remains of glands which were once upon a time useful to their owners; and
+it is said that if a paring from one of these hard, horny structures be
+held to the nose of a horse, he will follow it about, hinting, perhaps,
+that in former days the scent from the gland was an instinctive guide
+which kept members of the herd together.
+
+"Civet," which is obtained from the civet cat, and "musk," from the queer
+little hornless musk deer, are secretions of glands. It has been suggested
+that the defenceless musk deer escapes many of its enemies by the
+similarity of its secretion to the musky odour of crocodiles. In many
+animals which live together in herds, such as the antelope and deer, and
+which have neither bright colours nor far-reaching calls to aid straying
+members to regain the flock, there are large and active scent glands. The
+next time you see a live antelope in a zoological park, or even a stuffed
+specimen, look closely at the head, and between the eye and the nostril a
+large opening will be seen on each, side, which, in the living animal,
+closes now and then, a flap of skin shutting it tight.
+
+Among pigs the fierce peccary is a very social animal, going in large
+packs; and on the back of each of these creatures is found a large gland
+from which a clear watery fluid is secreted. Dogs and wolves also have
+their odour-secreting glands on the back, and the "wolf-pack" is
+proverbial.
+
+The gland of the elephant is on the temple, and secretes only when the
+animal is in a dangerous mood, a hint, therefore, of opposite significance
+to that of the herding animals, as this says, "Let me alone! stay away!"
+Certain low species of monkeys, the lemurs, have a remarkable bare patch
+on the forearm, which covers a gland serving some use.
+
+If we marvel at the keenness of scent among animals, how incredible seems
+the similar sense in insects--similar in function, however different the
+medium of structure may be. Think of the scent from a female moth, so
+delicate that we cannot distinguish it, attracting a male of the same
+species from a distance of a mile or more. Entomologists sometimes confine
+a live female moth or other insect in a small wire cage and hang it
+outdoors in the evening, and in a short time reap a harvest of gay-winged
+suitors which often come in scores, instinctively following up the trail
+of the delicate, diffused odour. It is surely true that the greatest
+wonders are not always associated with mere bulk.
+
+
+
+
+INSECT MUSIC
+
+
+Among insects, sounds are produced in many ways, and for various reasons.
+A species of ant which makes its nest on the under side of leaves produces
+a noise by striking the leaf with its head in a series of spasmodic taps,
+and another ant is also very interesting as regards its sound-producing
+habit. "Individuals of this species are sometimes spread over a surface of
+two square yards, many out of sight of the others; yet the tapping is set
+up at the same moment, continued exactly the same space of time, and
+stopped at the same instant. After the lapse of a few seconds, all
+recommence simultaneously. The interval is always approximately of the
+same duration, and each ant does not beat synchronously with every other
+ant, but only like those in the same group, so the independent tappings
+play a sort of tune, each group alike in time, but the tapping of the
+whole mass beginning and ending at the same instant. This is doubtless a
+means of communication."
+
+The organ of hearing in insects is still to be discovered in many forms,
+but in katydids it is situated on the middle of the fore-legs; in
+butterflies on the sides of the thorax, while the tip of the horns or
+antennæ of many insects is considered to be the seat of this function. In
+all it is little more than a cavity, over which a skin is stretched like a
+drum-head, which thus reacts to the vibration. This seems to be very often
+"tuned," as it were, to the sounds made by the particular species in which
+it is found. A cricket will at times be unaffected by any sound, however
+loud, while at the slightest "screek" or chirp of its own species, no
+matter how faint, it will start its own little tune in all excitement.
+
+The songs of the cicadas are noted all over the world. Darwin heard them
+while anchored half a mile off the South American coast, and a giant
+species of that country is said to produce a noise as loud as the whistle
+of a locomotive. Only the males sing, the females being dumb, thus giving
+rise to the well-known Grecian couplet:
+
+                  "Happy the cicadas' lives,
+                  For they all have voiceless wives."
+
+Anyone who has entered a wood where thousands of the seventeen-year
+cicadas were hatching has never forgotten it. A threshing machine, or a
+gigantic frog chorus, is a fair comparison, and when a branch loaded with
+these insects is shaken, the sound rises to a shrill screech or scream.
+This noise is supposed--in fact is definitely known--to attract the female
+insect, and although there may be in it some tender notes which we fail to
+distinguish, yet let us hope that the absence of any highly organised
+auditory organ may result in reducing the effect of a steam-engine whistle
+to an agreeable whisper! It is thought that the vibrations are felt rather
+than heard, in the sense that we use the word "hear"; if one has ever had
+a cicada _zizz_ in one's hand, the electrical shocks which seem to go up
+the arm help the belief in this idea. To many of us the song of the
+cicada--softened by distance--will ever be pleasant on account of its
+associations. When one attempts to picture a hot August day in a hay-field
+or along a dusty road, the drowsy _zee-ing_ of this insect, growing louder
+and more accelerated and then as gradually dying away, is a focus for the
+mind's eye, around which the other details instantly group themselves.
+
+The apparatus for producing this sound is one of the most complex in all
+the animal kingdom. In brief, it consists of two external doors, capable
+of being partly opened, and three internal membranes, to one of which is
+attached a vibrating muscle, which, put in motion, sets all the others
+vibrating in unison.
+
+We attach a great deal of importance to the fact of being educated to the
+appreciation of the highest class of music. We applaud our Paderewski, and
+year after year are awed and delighted with wonderful operatic music, yet
+seldom is the _limitation_ of human perception of musical sounds
+considered.
+
+If we wish to appreciate the limits within which the human ear is capable
+of distinguishing sounds, we should sit down in a meadow, some hot
+midsummer day, and listen to the subdued running murmur of the myriads of
+insects. Many are very distinct to our ears and we have little trouble in
+tracing them to their source. Such are crickets and grasshoppers, which
+fiddle and rasp their roughened hind legs against their wings. Some
+butterflies have the power of making a sharp crackling sound by means of
+hooks on the wings. The katydid, so annoying to some in its persistent
+ditty, so full of reminiscences to others of us, is a large, green,
+fiddling grasshopper.
+
+Another sound which is typical of summer is the hum of insects' wings,
+sometimes, as near a beehive, rising to a subdued roar. The higher,
+thinner song of the mosquito's wings is unfortunately familiar to us, and
+we must remember that the varying tone of the hum of each species may be
+of the greatest importance to it as a means of recognition. Many beetles
+have a projecting horn on the under side of the body which they can snap
+against another projection, and by this means call their lady-loves,
+literally "playing the bones" in their minstrel serenade.
+
+Although we can readily distinguish the sounds which these insects
+produce, yet there are hundreds of small creatures, and even large ones,
+which are provided with organs of hearing, but whose language is too fine
+for our coarse perceptions. The vibrations--chirps, hums, and clicks--can
+be recorded on delicate instruments, but, just as there are shades and
+colours at both ends of the spectrum which our eyes cannot perceive, so
+there are tones running we know not how far beyond the scale limits which
+affect our ears. Some creatures utter noises so shrill, so sharp, that it
+pains our ears to listen to them, and these are probably on the borderland
+of our sound-world.
+
+             Pipe, little minstrels of the waning year,
+               In gentle concert pipe!
+             Pipe the warm noons; the mellow harvest near;
+               The apples dropping ripe;
+
+             The sweet sad hush on Nature's gladness laid;
+               The sounds through silence heard!
+             Pipe tenderly the passing of the year.
+                                   Harriet Mcewen Kimball.
+
+                  I love to hear thine earnest voice,
+                    Wherever thou art hid,
+                  Thou testy little dogmatist,
+                    Thou pretty Katydid!
+                  Thou mindest me of gentlefolks,--
+                    Old gentlefolks are they,--
+                  Thou say'st an undisputed thing
+                    In such a solemn way.
+                               Oliver Wendell Holmes.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+AUGUST
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+THE GRAY DAYS OF BIRDS
+
+
+The temptation is great, if we love flowers, to pass over the seed time,
+when stalks are dried and leaves are shrivelled, no matter how beautiful
+may be the adaptation for scattering or preserving the seed or how
+wonderful the protective coats guarding against cold or wet. Or if insects
+attract us by their many varied interests, we are more enthusiastic over
+the glories of the full-winged image than the less conspicuous, though no
+less interesting, eggs and chrysalides hidden away in crevices throughout
+the long winter.
+
+Thus there seems always a time when we hesitate to talk or write of our
+favourite theme, especially if this be some class of life on the earth,
+because, perchance, it is not at its best.
+
+Even birds have their gray days, when in the autumn the glory of their
+plumage and song has diminished. At this time few of their human admirers
+intrude upon them and the birds themselves are only too glad to escape
+observation. Collectors of skins disdain to ply their trade, as the
+ragged, pin-feathery coats of the birds now make sorry-looking specimens.
+But we can find something of interest in birddom, even in this interim.
+
+Nesting is over, say you, when you start out on your tramps in late summer
+or early autumn; but do not be too sure. The gray purse of the oriole has
+begun to ravel at the edges and the haircloth cup of the chipping sparrow
+is already wind-distorted, but we shall find some housekeeping just
+begun.
+
+The goldfinch is one of these late nesters. Long after his northern
+cousins, the pine siskins and snowflakes, have laid their eggs and reared
+their young, the goldfinch begins to focus the aerial loops of his flight
+about some selected spot and to collect beakfuls of thistledown. And here,
+perhaps, we have his fastidious reason for delaying. Thistles seed with
+the goldenrod, and not until this fleecy substance is gray and floating
+does he consider that a suitable nesting material is available.
+
+When the young birds are fully fledged one would think the goldfinch a
+polygamist, as we see him in shining yellow and black, leading his family
+quintet, all sombre hued, his patient wife being to our eyes
+indistinguishable from the youngsters.
+
+But in the case of most of the birds the cares of nesting are past, and
+the woods abound with full-sized but awkward young birds, blundering
+through their first month of insect-hunting and fly-catching, tumbling
+into the pools from which they try to drink, and shrieking with the very
+joy of life, when it would be far safer for that very life if they
+remained quiet.
+
+It is a delightful period this, a transition as interesting as evanescent.
+This is the time when instinct begins to be aided by intelligence, when
+every hour accumulates fact upon fact, all helping to co-ordinate action
+and desire on the part of the young birds.
+
+No hint of migration has yet passed over the land, and the quiet of summer
+still reigns; but even as we say this a confused chuckling is heard; this
+rises into a clatter of harsh voices, and a small flock of blackbirds--two
+or three families--pass overhead. The die is cast! No matter how hot may
+be the sunshine during succeeding days, or how contented and thoughtless
+of the future the birds may appear, there is a something which has gone,
+and which can never return until another cycle of seasons has passed.
+
+During this transition time some of our friends are hardly recognisable;
+we may surprise the scarlet tanager in a plumage which seems more
+befitting a nonpareil bunting,--a regular "Joseph's coat." The red of his
+head is half replaced with a ring of green, and perhaps a splash of the
+latter decorates the middle of his back. When he flies the light shows
+through his wings in two long narrow slits, where a pair of primaries are
+lacking. It is a wise provision of Nature which regulates the moulting
+sequence of his flight feathers, so that only a pair shall fall out at one
+time, and the adjoining pair not before the new feathers are large and
+strong. A sparrow or oriole hopping along the ground with angular,
+half-naked wings would be indeed a pitiful sight, except to marauding
+weasels and cats, who would find meals in abundance on every hand.
+
+Let us take our way to some pond or lake, thick with duckweed and beloved
+of wild fowl, and we shall find a different state of affairs. We surprise
+a group of mallard ducks, which rush out from the overhanging bank and
+dive for safety among the sheltering green arrowheads. But their outspread
+wings are a mockery, the flight feathers showing as a mere fringe of quill
+sticks, which beat the water helplessly.
+
+Another thing we notice. Where are the resplendent drakes? Have they flown
+elsewhere and left their mates to endure the dangers of moulting alone?
+Let us come here a week later and see what a transformation is taking
+place. When most birds moult it is for a period of several months, but
+these ducks have a partial fall moult which is of the greatest importance
+to them. When the wing feathers begin to loosen in their sockets an
+unfailing instinct leads these birds to seek out some secluded pond, where
+they patiently await the moult. The sprouting, blood-filled quills force
+out the old feathers, and the bird becomes a thing of the water, to swim
+and to dive, with no more power of flight than its pond companions, the
+turtles.
+
+If, however, the drake should retain his iridescent head and snowy collar,
+some sharp-eyed danger would spy out his helplessness and death would
+swoop upon him. So for a time his bright feathers fall out and a quick
+makeshift disguise closes over him--the reed-hued browns and grays of his
+mate--and for a time the pair are hardly distinguishable. With the return
+of his power of flight comes renewed brightness, and the wild drake
+emerges from his seclusion on strong-feathered, whistling wings. All this
+we should miss, did we not seek him out at this season; otherwise the few
+weeks would pass and we should notice no change from summer to winter
+plumage, and attribute his temporary absence to a whim of wandering on
+distant feeding grounds.
+
+Another glance at our goldfinch shows a curious sight. Mottled with spots
+and streaks, yellow alternating with greenish, he is an anomaly indeed,
+and in fact all of our birds which undergo a radical colour change will
+show remarkable combinations during the actual process.
+
+It is during the gray days that the secret to a great problem may be
+looked for--the why of migration.
+
+A young duck of the year, whose wings are at last strong and fit, waves
+them in ecstasy, vibrating from side to side and end to end of his natal
+pond. Then one day we follow his upward glances to where a thin, black
+arrow is throbbing southward, so high in the blue sky that the individual
+ducks are merged into a single long thread. The young bird, calling again
+and again, spurns the water with feet and wings, finally rising in a
+slowly ascending arc. Somewhere, miles to the southward, another segment
+approaches--touches--merges.
+
+But what of our smaller birds? When the gray days begin to chill we may
+watch them hopping among the branches all day in their search for
+insects--a keener search now that so many of the more delicate flies and
+bugs have fallen chilled to the earth. Toward night the birds become more
+restless, feed less, wander aimlessly about, but, as we can tell by their
+chirps, remain near us until night has settled down. Then the irresistible
+maelstrom of migration instinct draws them upward,--upward,--climbing on
+fluttering wings, a mile or even higher into the thin air, and in company
+with thousands and tens of thousands they drift southward, sending vague
+notes down, but themselves invisible to us, save when now and then a tiny
+black mote floats across the face of the moon--an army of feathered mites,
+passing from tundra and spruce to bayou and palm.
+
+In the morning, instead of the half-hearted warble of an insect eater,
+there sounds in our ears, like the ring of skates on ice, the metallic,
+whip-like chirp of a snowbird, confident of his winter's seed feast.
+
+
+
+
+LIVES OF THE LANTERN BEARERS
+
+
+To all wild creatures fire is an unknown and hated thing, although it is
+often so fascinating to them that they will stand transfixed gazing at its
+mysterious light, while a hunter, unnoticed, creeps up behind and shoots
+them.
+
+In the depth of the sea, where the sun is powerless to send a single ray
+of light and warmth, there live many strange beings, fish and worms,
+which, by means of phosphorescent spots and patches, may light their own
+way. Of these strange sea folk we know nothing except from the fragments
+which are brought to the surface by the dredge; but over our fields and
+hedges, throughout the summer nights, we may see and study most
+interesting examples of creatures which produce their own light. Heedless
+of whether the moon shines brightly, or whether an overcast sky cloaks the
+blackest of nights, the fireflies blaze their sinuous path through life.
+These little yellow and black beetles, which illumine our way like a cloud
+of tiny meteors, have indeed a wonderful power, for the light which they
+produce within their own bodies is a cold glow, totally different from any
+fire of human agency.
+
+In some species there seems to be a most romantic reason for their
+brilliance. Down among the grass blades are lowly, wingless creatures--the
+female fireflies, which, as twilight falls, leave their earthen burrows in
+the turf and, crawling slowly to the summit of some plant, they display
+the tiny lanterns which Nature has kindled within their bodies.
+
+Far overhead shoot the strong-winged males, searching for their minute
+insect food, weaving glowing lines over all the shadowy landscape, and
+apparently heedless of all beneath them. Yet when the dim little beacon,
+hung out with the hopefulness of instinct upon the grass blade, is seen,
+all else is forgotten and the beetle descends to pay court to the poor,
+worm-like creature, so unlike him in appearance, but whose little
+illumination is her badge of nobility. The gallant suitor is as devoted as
+if the object of his affection were clad in all the gay colours of a
+butterfly; and he is fortunate if, when he has reached the signal among
+the grasses, he does not find a half-dozen firefly rivals before him.
+
+When insects seek their mates by day, their characteristic colours or
+forms may be confused with surrounding objects; or those which by night
+are able in that marvellous way to follow the faintest scent up wind may
+have difficulties when cross currents of air are encountered; but the
+female firefly, waiting patiently upon her lowly leaf, has unequalled
+opportunity for winning her mate, for there is nothing to compare with or
+eclipse her flame. Except--I wonder if ever a firefly has hastened
+downward toward the strange glow which we sometimes see in the heart of
+decayed wood,--mistaking a patch of fox-fire for the love-light of which
+he was in search!
+
+In other species, including the common one about our homes, the lady
+lightning-bug is more fortunate in possessing wings and is able to fly
+abroad like her mate.
+
+Although this phosphorescence has been microscopically examined, it is but
+slightly understood. We know, however, that it is a wonderful process of
+combustion,--by which a bright light is produced without heat, smoke, or
+indeed fuel, except that provided by the life processes in the tiny body
+of the insect.
+
+               So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
+                                            Shakespeare.
+
+
+
+
+A STARFISH AND A DAISY
+
+
+Day after day the forms of horses, dogs, birds, and other creatures pass
+before our eyes. We look at them and call them by the names which we have
+given them, and yet--we see them not. That is to say, we say that they
+have a head, a tail; they run or fly; they are of one colour beneath,
+another above, but beyond these bare meaningless facts most of us never
+go.
+
+Let us think of the meaning of form. Take, for example, a flower--a daisy.
+Now, if we could imagine such an impossible thing as that a daisy blossom
+should leave its place of growth, creep down the stem and go wandering off
+through the grass, soon something would probably happen to its shape. It
+would perhaps get in the habit of creeping with some one ray always in
+front, and the friction of the grass stems on either side would soon wear
+and fray the ends of the side rays, while those behind might grow longer
+and longer. If we further suppose that this strange daisy flower did not
+like the water, the rays in front might be of service in warning it to
+turn aside. When their tips touched the surface and were wet by the water
+of some pool, the ambulatory blossom would draw back and start out in a
+new direction. Thus a theoretical head (with the beginnings of the organs
+of sense), and a long-drawn-out tail, would have their origin.
+
+Such a remarkable simile is not as fanciful as it might at first appear;
+for although we know of no blossom which so sets at naught the sedentary
+life of the vegetable kingdom, yet among certain of the animals which live
+their lives beneath the waves of the sea a very similar thing occurs.
+
+Many miles inland, even on high mountains, we may sometimes see thousands
+of little joints, or bead-like forms, imbedded in great rocky cliffs. They
+have been given the name of St. Cuthbert's beads. Occasionally in the
+vicinity of these fossils--for such they are--are found impressions of a
+graceful, flower-like head, with many delicately divided petals, fixed
+forever in the hard relief of stone. The name of stone lilies has been
+applied to them. The beads were once strung together in the form of a long
+stem, and at the top the strangely beautiful animal-lily nodded its head
+in the currents of some deep sea, which in the long ago of the earth's age
+covered the land--millions of years before the first man or beast or bird
+drew breath.
+
+It was for a long time supposed that these wonderful creatures were
+extinct, but dredges have brought up from the dark depths of the sea
+actual living stone lilies, or _crinoids_, this being their real name. Few
+of us will probably ever have an opportunity of studying a crinoid alive,
+although in our museums we may see them preserved in glass jars. That,
+however, detracts nothing from the marvel of their history and
+relationship. They send root-like organs deep into the mud, where they
+coil about some shell and there cling fast. Then the stem grows tall and
+slender, and upon the summit blooms or is developed the animal-flower. Its
+nourishment is not drawn from the roots and the air, as is that of the
+daisy, but is provided by the tiny creatures which swim to its tentacles,
+or are borne thither by the ocean currents. Some of these crinoids, as if
+impatient of their plant-like life and asserting their animal kinship, at
+last tear themselves free from their stem and float off, turn over, and
+thereafter live happily upon the bottom of the sea, roaming where they
+will, creeping slowly along and fulfilling the destiny of our imaginary
+daisy.
+
+And here a comparison comes suddenly to mind. How like to a many-rayed
+starfish is our creeping crinoid! Few of us, unless we had studies about
+these creatures, could distinguish between a crinoid and one of the frisky
+little dancing stars, or serpent stars, which are so common in the rocky
+caves along our coast. This relationship is no less real than apparent.
+The hard-skinned "five finger," or common starfish, which we may pick up
+on any beach, while it never grew upon a stem, yet still preserves the
+radial symmetry of its stalked ancestors. Pick up your starfish, carry it
+to the nearest field, and pluck a daisy close to the head. How interesting
+the comparison becomes, now that the knowledge of its meaning is plain.
+Anything which grows fast upon a single immovable stem tends to grow
+equally in all directions. We need not stop here, for we may include sea
+anemones and corals, those most marvellously coloured flowers of the sea,
+which grow upon a short, thick stalk and send out their tentacles equally
+in all directions. And many of the jelly-fish which throb along close
+beneath the surface swells were in their youth each a section of a pile of
+saucer-like individuals, which were fastened by a single stalk to some
+shell or piece of coral.
+
+We will remember that it was suggested that the theoretical daisy would
+soon alter its shape after it entered upon active life. This is plainly
+seen in the starfish, although at first glance the creature seems as
+radially symmetrical as a wheel. But at one side of the body, between two
+of the arms, is a tiny perforated plate, serving to strain the water which
+enters the body, and thus the circular tendency is broken, and a beginning
+made toward right and left handedness. In certain sea-urchins, which are
+really starfishes with the gaps between the arms filled up, the body is
+elongated, and thus the head and tail conditions of all animals higher in
+the scale of life are represented.
+
+
+
+
+THE DREAM OF THE YELLOW-THROAT
+
+
+Many of us look with longing to the days of Columbus; we chafe at the
+thought of no more continents to discover; no unknown seas to encompass.
+But at our very doors is an "undiscovered bourne," from which, while the
+traveller invariably returns, yet he will have penetrated but slightly
+into its mysteries. This unexplored region is night.
+
+When the dusk settles down and the creatures of sunlight seek their rest,
+a new realm of life awakens into being. The flaring colours and loud
+bustle of the day fade and are lost, and in their place come soft, gray
+tones and silence. The scarlet tanager seeks some hidden perch and soon
+from the same tree slips a silent, ghostly owl; the ruby of the
+hummingbird dies out as the gaudy flowers of day close their petals, and
+the gray wraiths of sphinx moths appear and sip nectar from the spectral
+moonflowers.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+With feet shod with silence, let us creep near a dense tangle of
+sweetbrier and woodbine late some summer evening and listen to the sounds
+of the night-folk. How few there are that our ears can analyse! We huddle
+close to the ground and shut our eyes. Then little by little we open them
+and set our senses of sight and hearing at keenest pitch. Even so, how
+handicapped are we compared to the wild creatures. A tiny voice becomes
+audible, then dies away,--entering for a moment the narrow range of our
+coarse hearing,--and finishing its message of invitation or challenge in
+vibrations too fine for our ears.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+Were we crouched by a dense yew hedge, bordering an English country lane,
+a nightingale might delight us,--a melody of day, softened, adapted, to
+the night. If the air about us was heavy with the scent of orange blossoms
+of some covert in our own southland, the glorious harmony of a mockingbird
+might surge through the gloom,--assuaging the ear as do the blossoms
+another sense.
+
+But sitting still in our own home tangle let us listen,--listen. Our eyes
+have slipped the scales of our listless civilised life and pierce the
+darkness with the acuteness of our primeval forefathers; our ears tingle
+and strain.
+
+A slender tongue of sound arises from the bush before us. Again and again
+it comes, muffled but increasing in volume. A tiny ball of feathers is
+perched in the centre of the tangle, with beak hidden in the deep, soft
+plumage, but ever and anon the little body throbs and the song falls
+gently on the silence of the night: "I beseech you! I beseech you! I
+beseech you!" A Maryland yellow-throat is asleep and singing in its
+dreams.
+
+As we look and listen, a shadowless something hovers overhead, and,
+looking upward, we see a gray screech owl silently hanging on beating
+wings. His sharp ears have caught the muffled sound; his eyes search out
+the tangle, but the yellow-throat is out of reach. The little hunter
+drifts away into the blackness, the song ends and the sharp squeak of a
+mouse startles us. We rise slowly from our cramped position and quietly
+leave the mysteries of the night.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+SEPTEMBER
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+THE PASSING OF THE FLOCKS
+
+
+It is September. August--the month of gray days for birds--has passed. The
+last pin-feather of the new winter plumage has burst its sheath, and is
+sleek and glistening from its thorough oiling with waterproof dressing,
+which the birds squeeze out with their bills from a special gland, and
+which they rub into every part of their plumage. The youngsters, now grown
+as large as their parents, have become proficient in fly-catching or
+berry-picking, as the case may be. Henceforth they forage for themselves,
+although if we watch carefully we may still see a parent's love prompting
+it to give a berry to its big offspring (indistinguishable save for this
+attention), who greedily devours it without so much as a wing flutter of
+thanks.
+
+Two courses are open to the young birds who have been so fortunate as to
+escape the dangers of nestlinghood. They may unite in neighbourly flocks
+with others of their kind, as do the blackbirds of the marshes; or they
+may wander off by themselves, never going very far from their summer home,
+but perching alone each night in the thick foliage of some sheltering
+bush.
+
+How wonderfully the little fellow adapts himself to the radical and sudden
+change in his life! Before this, his world has been a warm, soft-lined
+nest, with ever anxious parents to shelter him from rain and cold, or to
+stand with half-spread wings between him and the burning rays of the sun.
+He has only to open his mouth and call for food and a supply of the
+choicest morsels appears and is shoved far down his throat. If danger
+threatens, both parents are ready to fight to the last, or even willing to
+give their lives to protect him. Little wonder is it that the young birds
+are loth to leave; we can sympathise heartily with the last weaker
+brother, whose feet cling convulsively to the nest, who begs piteously for
+"just one more caterpillar!" But the mother bird is inexorable and stands
+a little way out of reach with the juiciest morsel she can find. Once out,
+the young bird never returns. Even if we catch the little chap before he
+finishes his first flight and replace him, the magic spell of home is
+broken, and he is out again the instant our hand frees him.
+
+What a change the first night brings! Yet with unfailing instinct he
+squats on some twig, fluffs up his feathers, tucks his wee head behind his
+wing, and sleeps the sleep of his first adult birdhood as soundly as if
+this position of rest had been familiar to him since he broke through the
+shell.
+
+We admire his aptitude for learning; how quickly his wings gain strength
+and skill; how soon he manages to catch his own dinner. But how all this
+pales before the accomplishment of a young brush turkey or moundbuilder of
+the antipodes. Hatched six or eight feet under ground, merely by the heat
+of decaying vegetation, no fond parents minister to his wants. Not only
+must he escape from the shell in the pressure and darkness of his
+underground prison (how we cannot tell), but he is then compelled to dig
+through six feet of leaves and mould before he reaches the sunlight. He
+finds himself well feathered, and at once spreads his small but perfect
+wings and goes humming off to seek his living alone and unattended.
+
+It is September--the month of restlessness for the birds. Weeks ago the
+first migrants started on their southward journey, the more delicate
+insect-eaters going first, before the goldfinches and other late nesters
+had half finished housekeeping. The northern warblers drift past us
+southward--the magnolia, blackburnian, Canadian fly-catching, and others,
+bringing memories of spruce and balsam to those of us who have lived with
+them in the forests of the north.
+
+"It's getting too cold for the little fellows," says the wiseacre, who
+sees you watching the smaller birds as they pass southward. Is it, though?
+What of the tiny winter wren which spends the zero weather with us? His
+coat is no warmer than those birds which have gone to the far tropics. And
+what of the flocks of birds which we occasionally come across in
+mid-winter, of species which generally migrate to Brazil? It is not the
+cold which deprives us of our summer friends, or at least the great
+majority of them; it is the decrease in food supply. Insects disappear,
+and only those birds which feed on seeds and buds, or are able to glean an
+insect diet from the crevices of fence and tree-trunk, can abide.
+
+This is the month to climb out on the roof of your house, lie on your back
+and listen. He is a stolid person indeed who is not moved by the chirps
+and twitters which come down through the darkness. There is no better way
+to show what a wonderful power sound has upon our memories. There sounds a
+robin's note, and spring seems here again; through the night comes a
+white-throat's chirp, and we see again the fog-dimmed fields of a Nova
+Scotian upland; a sandpiper "peets" and the scene in our mind's eye as
+instantly changes, and so on. What a revelation if we could see as in
+daylight for a few moments! The sky would be pitted with thousands and
+thousands of birds flying from a few hundred yards to as high as one or
+two miles above the earth.
+
+It only adds to the interest of this phenomenon when we turn to our
+learned books on birds for an explanation of the origin of migration, the
+whence and whither of the long journeys by day and night, and find--no
+certain answer! This is one of the greatest of the many mysteries of the
+natural world, of which little is known, although much is guessed, and the
+bright September nights may reveal to us--we know not what undiscovered
+facts.
+
+             I see my way as birds their trackless way.
+             I shall arrive; what time, what circuit first,
+             I ask not; but unless God sends his hail
+             Of blinding fire-balls, sleet or driving snow,
+             In sometime, his good time, I shall arrive;
+             He guides me and the bird. In his good time.
+                                           Robert Browning.
+
+
+
+
+GHOSTS OF THE EARTH
+
+
+We may know the name of every tree near our home; we may recognise each
+blossom in the field, every weed by the wayside; yet we should be
+astonished to be told that there are hundreds of plants--many of them of
+exquisite beauty--which we have overlooked in very sight of our doorstep.
+What of the green film which is drawn over every moist tree-trunk or
+shaded wall, or of the emerald film which coats the water of the pond's
+edge? Or the gray lichens painting the rocks and logs, toning down the
+shingles; the toadstools which, like pale vegetable ghosts, spring up in a
+night from the turf; or the sombre puff balls which seem dead from their
+birth?
+
+The moulds which cover bread and cheese with a delicate tracery of
+filaments and raise on high their tiny balls of spores are as worthy to be
+called a plant growth as are the great oaks which shade our houses. The
+rusts and mildews and blights which destroy our fruit all have their
+beauty of growth and fruition when we examine them through a lens, and the
+yeast by which flour and water is made to rise into the porous, spongy
+dough is just as truly a plant as is the geranium blossoming at the
+kitchen window.
+
+If we wonder at the fierce struggle for existence which allows only a few
+out of the many seeds of a maple or thistle to germinate and grow up, how
+can we realise the obstacles with which these lowly plants have to
+contend? A weed in the garden may produce from one to ten thousand seeds,
+and one of our rarest ferns scatters in a single season over fifty
+millions spores; while from the larger puff-balls come clouds of
+unnumbered millions of spores, blowing to the ends of the earth; yet we
+may search for days without finding one full-grown individual.
+
+All the assemblage of mushrooms and toadstools,--although the most deadly
+may flaunt bright hues of scarlet and yellow,--yet lack the healthy green
+of ordinary plants. This is due to the fact that they have become brown
+parasites or scavengers, and instead of transmuting heat and moisture and
+the salts of the earth into tissue by means of the pleasant-hued
+chlorophyll, these sylvan ghosts subsist upon the sap of roots or the
+tissues of decaying wood. Emancipated from the normal life of the higher
+plants, even flowers have been denied them and their fruit is but a cloud
+of brown dust,--each mote a simple cell.
+
+But what of the delicate Indian pipe which gleams out from the darkest
+aisles of the forest? If we lift up its hanging head we will find a
+perfect flower, and its secret is discovered. Traitor to its kind, it has
+dropped from the ranks of the laurels, the heather, and the jolly little
+wintergreens to the colourless life of a parasite,--hobnobbing with
+clammy toadstools and slimy lichens. Its common names are all
+appropriate,--ice-plant, ghost-flower, corpse-plant.
+
+Nevertheless it is a delicately beautiful creation, and we have no right
+to apply our human standards of ethics to these children of the wild,
+whose only chance of life is to seize every opportunity,--to make use of
+each hint of easier existence.
+
+We have excellent descriptions and classifications of mushrooms and
+toadstools, but of the actual life of these organisms, of the conditions
+of their growth, little is known. Some of the most hideous are delicious
+to our palate, some of the most beautiful are certain death. The splendid
+red and yellow amanita, which lights up a dark spot in the woods like some
+flowering orchid, is a veritable trap of death. Though human beings have
+learned the fatal lesson and leave it alone, the poor flies in the woods
+are ever deceived by its brightness, or odour, and a circle of their
+bodies upon the ground shows the result of their ignorance.
+
+
+
+
+MUSKRATS
+
+
+Long before man began to inherit the earth, giant beavers built their dams
+and swam in the streams of long ago. For ages these creatures have been
+extinct. Our forefathers, during historical times, found smaller beavers
+abundant, and with such zeal did they trap them that this modern race is
+now well-nigh vanished. Nothing is left to us but the humble
+muskrat,--which in name and in facile adaptation to the encroachments of
+civilization has little in common with his more noble predecessor. Yet in
+many ways his habits of life bring to mind the beaver.
+
+Let us make the most of our heritage and watch at the edge of a stream
+some evening in late fall. If the muskrats have half finished their mound
+of sticks and mud, which is to serve them for a winter home, we will be
+sure to see some of them at work. Two lines of ripples furrow the surface
+outward from the farther bank, and a small dark form clambers upon the
+pile of rubbish. Suddenly a _spat!_ sounds at our very feet, and a muskrat
+dives headlong into the water, followed by the one on the ground. Another
+_spat!_ and splash comes from farther down the stream, and so the danger
+signal of the muskrat clan is passed along,--a single flap upon the water
+with the flat of the tail.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+If we wait silent and patient, the work will be taken up anew, and in the
+pale moonlight the little labourers will fashion their house, lining the
+upper chamber with soft grasses, and shaping the steep passageway which
+will lead to the ever-unfrozen stream-bed. Either here or in the snug
+tunnel nest deep in the bank the young muskrats are born, and here they
+are weaned upon toothsome mussels and succulent lily roots.
+
+Safe from all save mink and owl and trap, these sturdy muskrats spend the
+summer in and about the streams; and when winter shuts down hard and fast,
+they live lives more interesting than any of our other animals. The ground
+freezes their tunnels into tubes of iron,--the ice seals the surface, past
+all gnawing out; and yet, amid the quietly flowing water, where snow and
+wind never penetrate, these warm-blooded, air-breathing muskrats live the
+winter through, with only the trout and eels for company. Their food is
+the bark and pith of certain plants; their air is what leaks through the
+house of sticks, or what may collect at the melting-place of ice and
+shore.
+
+Stretched full length on the smooth ice, let us look through into that
+strange nether world, where the stress of storm is unknown. Far beneath us
+sinuous black forms undulate through the water,--from tunnel to house and
+back again. As we gaze down through the crystalline mass, occasional
+fractures play pranks with the objects below. The animate shapes seem to
+take unto themselves greater bulk; their tails broaden, their bodies
+become many times longer. For a moment the illusion is perfect; thousands
+of centuries have slipped back, and we are looking at the giant beavers of
+old.
+
+Let us give thanks that even the humble muskrat still holds his own. A
+century or two hence and posterity may look with wonder at his stuffed
+skin in a museum!
+
+
+
+
+NATURE'S GEOMETRICIANS
+
+
+Spiders form good subjects for a rainy-day study, and two hours spent in a
+neglected garret watching these clever little beings will often arouse
+such interest that we shall be glad to devote many days of sunshine to
+observing those species which hunt and build, and live their lives in the
+open fields. There is no insect in the world with more than six legs, and
+as a spider has eight he is therefore thrown out of the company of
+butterflies, beetles, and wasps and finds himself in a strange assemblage.
+Even to his nearest relatives he bears little resemblance, for when we
+realise that scorpions and horseshoe crabs must call him cousin, we
+perceive that his is indeed an aberrant bough on the tree of creation.
+
+Leaving behind the old-fashioned horseshoe crabs to feel their way slowly
+over the bottom of the sea, the spiders have won for themselves on land a
+place high above the mites, ticks, and daddy-long-legs, and in their high
+development and intricate powers of resource they yield not even to the
+ants and bees.
+
+Nature has provided spiders with an organ filled always with liquid which,
+on being exposed to the air, hardens, and can be drawn out into the
+slender threads we know as cobweb. The silkworm encases its body with a
+mile or more of gleaming silk, but there its usefulness is ended as far as
+the silkworm is concerned. But spiders have found a hundred uses for their
+cordage, some of which are startlingly similar to human inventions.
+
+Those spiders which burrow in the earth hang their tunnels with silken
+tapestries impervious to wet, which at the same time act as lining to the
+tube. Then the entrance may be a trap-door of soil and silk, hinged with
+strong silken threads; or in the turret spiders which are found in our
+fields there is reared a tiny tower of leaves or twigs bound together with
+silk. Who of us has not teased the inmate by pushing a bent straw into his
+stronghold and awaiting his furious onslaught upon the innocent stalk!
+
+A list of all the uses of cobwebs would take more space than we can spare;
+but of these the most familiar is the snare set for unwary flies,--the
+wonderfully ingenious webs which sparkle with dew among the grasses or
+stretch from bush to bush. The framework is of strong webbing and upon
+this is closely woven the sticky spiral which is so elastic, so ethereal,
+and yet strong enough to entangle a good-sized insect. How knowing seems
+the little worker, as when, the web and his den of concealment being
+completed, he spins a strong cable from the centre of the web to the
+entrance of his watch-tower. Then, when a trembling of his aerial spans
+warns him of a capture, how eagerly he seizes his master cable and jerks
+away on it, thus vibrating the whole structure and making more certain the
+confusion of his victim.
+
+What is more interesting than to see a great yellow garden-spider hanging
+head downward in the centre of his web, when we approach too closely,
+instead of deserting his snare, set it vibrating back and forth so rapidly
+that he becomes a mere blur; a more certain method of escaping the
+onslaught of a bird than if he ran to the shelter of a leaf.
+
+Those spiders which leap upon their prey instead of setting snares for it
+have still a use for their threads of life, throwing out a cable as they
+leap, to break their fall if they miss their foothold. What a strange use
+of the cobweb is that of the little flying spiders! Up they run to the top
+of a post, elevate their abdomens and run out several threads which
+lengthen and lengthen until the breeze catches them and away go the
+wingless aeronauts for yards or for miles as fortune and wind and weather
+may dictate! We wonder if they can cut loose or pull in their balloon
+cables at will.
+
+Many species of spiders spin a case for holding their eggs, and some carry
+this about with them until the young are hatched.
+
+A most fascinating tale would unfold could we discover all the uses of
+cobweb when the spiders themselves are through with it. Certain it is that
+our ruby-throated hummingbird robs many webs to fasten together the plant
+down, wood pulp, and lichens which compose her dainty nest.
+
+Search the pond and you will find another member of the spider family
+swimming about at ease beneath the surface, thoroughly aquatic in habits,
+but breathing a bubble of air which he carries about with him. When his
+supply is low he swims to a submarine castle of silk, so air-tight that he
+can keep it filled with a large bubble of air, upon which he draws from
+time to time.
+
+And so we might go on enumerating almost endless uses for the web which is
+Nature's gift to these little waifs, who ages ago left the sea and have
+won a place for themselves in the sunshine among the butterflies and
+flowers.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the balsam-perfumed shade of our northern forests we may sometimes find
+growing in abundance the tiny white dwarf cornel, or bunch-berry, as its
+later cluster of scarlet fruit makes the more appropriate name. These
+miniature dogwood blossoms (or imitation blossoms, as the white divisions
+are not real petals) are very conspicuous against the dark moss, and many
+insects seem to seek them out and to find it worth while to visit them. If
+we look very carefully we may find that this discovery is not original
+with us, for a little creature has long ago found out the fondness of bees
+and other insects for these flowers and has put his knowledge to good
+use.
+
+One day I saw what I thought was a swelling on one part of the flower, but
+a closer look showed it was a living spider. Here was protective colouring
+carried to a wonderful degree. The body of the spider was white and
+glistening, like the texture of the white flower on which he rested. On
+his abdomen were two pink, oblong spots of the same tint and shape as the
+pinkened tips of the false petals. Only by an accident could he be
+discovered by a bird, and when I focussed my camera, I feared that the
+total lack of contrast would make the little creature all but invisible.
+
+Confident with the instinct handed down through many generations, the
+spider trusted implicitly to his colour for safety and never moved, though
+I placed the lens so close that it threw a life-sized image on the
+ground-glass. When all was ready, and before I had pressed the bulb, the
+thought came to me whether this wonderful resemblance should be attributed
+to the need of escaping from insectivorous birds, or to the increased
+facility with which the spider would be able to catch its prey. At the
+very instant of making the exposure, before I could will the stopping of
+the movement of my fingers, if I had so wished, my question was answered.
+A small, iridescent, green bee flew down, like a spark of living light,
+upon the flower, and, quick as thought, was caught in the jaws of the
+spider. Six of his eight legs were not brought into use, but were held far
+back out of the way.
+
+Here, on my lens, I had a little tragedy of the forest preserved for all
+time.
+
+         There was no bud, no bloom upon the bowers;
+           The spiders wove their thin shrouds night by night;
+         The thistledown, the only ghost of flowers,
+           Sailed slowly by--passed noiseless out of sight.
+                                         Thomas Buchanan Read.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+OCTOBER
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+AUTUMN HUNTING WITH A FIELD GLASS
+
+
+One of the most uncertain of months is October, and most difficult for the
+beginner in bird study. If we are just learning to enjoy the life of wood
+and field, we will find hard tangles to unravel among the birds of this
+month. Many of the smaller species which passed us on their northward
+journey last spring are now returning and will, perhaps, tarry a week or
+more before starting on the next nocturnal stage of their passage
+tropicward. Many are almost unrecognisable in their new winter plumage.
+Male scarlet tanagers are now green tanagers, goldfinches are olive
+finches, while instead of the beautiful black, white, and cream dress
+which made so easy the identification of the meadow bobolinks in the
+spring, search will now be rewarded only by some plump, overgrown
+sparrows--reedbirds--which are really bobolinks in disguise.
+
+Orchard orioles and rose-breasted grosbeaks come and are welcomed, but the
+multitude of female birds of these species which appear may astonish one,
+until he discovers that the young birds, both male and female, are very
+similar to their mother in colour. We have no difficulty in distinguishing
+between adult bay-breasted and black poll warblers, but he is indeed a
+keen observer who can point out which is which when the young birds of the
+year pass.
+
+October is apt to be a month of extremes. One day the woods are filled
+with scores of birds, and on the next hardly one will be seen. Often a
+single species or family will predominate, and one will remember "thrush
+days" or "woodpecker days." Yellow-bellied sapsuckers cross the path,
+flickers call and hammer in every grove, while in the orchards, and along
+the old worm-eaten fences, glimpses of red, white, and black show where
+redheaded woodpeckers are looping from trunk to post. When we listen to
+the warble of bluebirds, watch the mock courtship of the high-holders, and
+discover the fall violets under leaves and burrs, for an instant a feeling
+of spring rushes over us; but the yellow leaves blow against our face, the
+wind sighs through the cedars, and we realise that the black hand of the
+frost will soon end the brave efforts of the wild pansies.
+
+The thrushes, ranking in some ways at the head of all our birds, drift
+through the woods, brown and silent as the leaves around them. Splendid
+opportunities they give us to test our powers of woodcraft. A thrush
+passes like a streak of brown light and perches on a tree some distance
+away. We creep from tree to tree, darting nearer when his head is turned.
+At last we think we are within range, and raise our weapon. No, a leaf is
+in the way, and the dancing spots of sunlight make our aim uncertain. We
+move a little closer and again take aim, and this time he cannot escape
+us. Carefully our double-barrelled binoculars cover him, and we get what
+powder and lead could never give us--the quick glance of the hazel eye,
+the trembling, half-raised feathers on his head, and a long look at the
+beautifully rounded form perched on the twig, which a wanton shot would
+destroy forever. The rich rufous colouring of the tail proclaims him a
+singer of singers--a hermit thrush. We must be on the watch these days for
+the beautiful wood thrush, the lesser spotted veery, the well named
+olive-back and the rarer gray-cheeked thrush. We may look in vain among
+the thrushes in our bird books for the golden-crowned and water thrush,
+for these walkers of the woods are thrushes only in appearance, and belong
+to the family of warblers. The long-tailed brown thrashers, lovers of the
+undergrowth, are still more thrush-like in look, but in our
+classifications they hold the position of giant cousins to the wrens. Even
+the finches contribute a mock thrush to our list, the big,
+spotted-breasted fox sparrow, but he rarely comes in number before mid
+October or November. Of course we all know that our robin is a true
+thrush, young robins having their breasts thickly spotted with black,
+while even the old birds retain a few spots and streaks on the throat.
+
+If we search behind the screen of leaves and grass around us we may
+discover many tragedies. One fall I picked up a dead olive-backed thrush
+in the Zoological Park. There were no external signs of violence, but I
+found that the food canal was pretty well filled with blood. The next day
+still another bird was found in the same condition, and the day after two
+more. Within a week I noted in my journal eight of these thrushes, all
+young birds of the year, and all with the same symptoms of disorder. I
+could only surmise that some poisonous substance, some kind of berry,
+perhaps some attractive but deadly exotic from the Botanical Gardens, had
+tempted the inexperienced birds and caused their deaths.
+
+As we walk through the October woods a covey of ruffed grouse springs up
+before us, overhead a flock of robins dashes by, and the birds scatter to
+feed among the wild grapes. The short round wings of the grouse whirr
+noisily, while the quick wing beats of the robins make little sound. Both
+are suited to their uses. The robin may travel league upon league to the
+south, while the grouse will not go far except to find new bud or berry
+pastures. His wings, as we have noticed before, are fitted rather for
+sudden emergencies, to bound up before the teeth of the fox close upon
+him, to dodge into close cover when the nose of the hound almost touches
+his trembling body. When he scrambled out of his shell last May he at once
+began to run about and to try his tiny wings, and little by little he
+taught himself to fly. But in the efforts he got many a tumble and broke
+or lost many a feather. Nature, however, has foreseen this, and to her
+grouse children she gives several changes of wing feathers to practise
+with, before the last strong winter quills come in.
+
+How different it is with the robin. Naked and helpless he comes from his
+blue shell, and only one set of wing quills falls to his share, so it
+behooves him to be careful indeed of these. He remains in the nest until
+they are strong enough to bear him up, and his first attempts are
+carefully supervised by his anxious parents. And so the glimpse we had in
+the October woods of the two pair of wings held more of interest than we
+at first thought.
+
+In many parts of the country, about October fifteenth the crows begin to
+flock back and forth to and from their winter roosts. In some years it is
+the twelfth, or again the seventeenth, but the constancy of the mean date
+is remarkable. Many of our winter visitants have already slipped into our
+fields and woods and taken the places of some of the earlier southern
+migrants; but the daily passing of the birds which delay their journey
+until fairly pinched by the lack of food at the first frosts extends well
+into November. It is not until the foliage on the trees and bushes becomes
+threadbare and the last migrants have flown, that our northern visitors
+begin to take a prominent place in our avifauna.
+
+           Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
+             Close bosom friend of the maturing sun;
+
+           Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?
+             Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--
+           While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
+             And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
+           Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
+             Among the river-sallows, borne aloft
+               Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
+           And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
+             Hedge-crickets sing, and now with treble soft
+             The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft,
+               And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
+
+                                                  JOHN KEATS.
+
+
+
+
+A WOODCHUCK AND A GREBE
+
+
+No fact comes to mind which is not more impressed upon us by the valuable
+aid of comparisons, and Nature is ever offering antitheses. At this season
+we are generally given a brief glimpse--the last for the year--of two
+creatures, one a mammal, the other a bird, which are as unlike in their
+activities as any two living creatures could well be.
+
+What a type of lazy contentment is the woodchuck, as throughout the hot
+summer days he lies on his warm earthen hillock at the entrance of his
+burrow. His fat body seems almost to flow down the slope, and when he
+waddles around for a nibble of clover it is with such an effort that we
+feel sure he would prefer a comfortable slow starvation, were it not for
+the unpleasant feelings involved in such a proceeding.
+
+As far as I know there are but two things which, can rouse a woodchuck to
+strenuous activity; when a dog is in pursuit he can make his stumpy feet
+fairly twinkle as he flies for his burrow, and when a fox or a man is
+digging him out, he can literally worm his way through the ground,
+frequently escaping by means of his wonderful digging power. But when
+September or October days bring the first chill, he gives one last yawn
+upon the world and stows himself away at the farthest end of his tunnel,
+there to sleep away the winter. Little more does he know of the snows and
+blizzards than the bird which has flown to the tropics. Even storing up
+fruits or roots is too great an effort for the indolent woodchuck, and in
+his hibernation stupor he draws only upon the fat which his lethargic
+summer life has accumulated within his skin.
+
+As we might expect from a liver of such a slothful life, the family traits
+of the woodchuck are far from admirable and there is said to be little
+affection shown by the mother woodchuck toward her young. The poor little
+fellows are pushed out of the burrow and driven away to shift for
+themselves as soon as possible. Many of them must come to grief from hawks
+and foxes. Closely related to the squirrels, these large marmots (for they
+are first cousins to the prairie dogs) are as unlike them in activity as
+they are in choice of a haunt.
+
+What a contrast to all this is the trim feathered form which we may see on
+the mill pond some clear morning. Alert and wary, the grebe paddles slowly
+along, watchful of every movement. If we approach too closely, it may
+settle little by little, like a submarine opening its water compartments,
+until nothing is visible except the head with its sharp beak. Another step
+and the bird has vanished, swallowed up by the lake, and the chances are a
+hundred to one against our discovering the motionless neck and the tiny
+eye which rises again among the water weeds.
+
+This little grebe comes of a splendid line of ancestors, some of which
+were even more specialised for an aquatic life. These paid the price of
+existence along lines too narrow and vanished from the earth. The grebe,
+however, has so far stuck to a life which bids fair to allow his race
+safety for many generations, but he is perilously near the limit. Every
+fall he migrates far southward, leaving his northern lakes, but if the
+water upon which he floats should suddenly dry up, he would be almost as
+helpless as the gasping fish; for his wings are too weak to lift him from
+the ground. He must needs have a long take-off, a flying start, aided by
+vigorous paddling along the surface of the water, before he can rise into
+the air.
+
+Millions of years ago there lived birds built on the general grebe plan
+and who doubtless were derived from the same original stock, but which
+lived in the great seas of that time. Far from being able to migrate,
+every external trace of wing was gone and these great creatures, almost as
+large as a man and with sharp teeth in their beaks, must have hitched
+themselves like seals along the edge of the beach, and perhaps laid their
+eggs on the pebbles as do the terns to-day.
+
+The grebe, denied the power to rise easily and even, to ran about on land
+without considerable effort, is, however, splendidly adapted to its water
+life, and the rapidity of its motions places it near the head of the
+higher active creatures,--with the woodchuck near the opposite extreme.
+
+
+
+
+THE VOICE OF THE ANIMALS
+
+
+Throughout the depths of the sea, silence, as well as absolute darkness,
+prevails. The sun penetrates only a short distance below the surface, at
+most a few hundred feet, and all disturbance from storms ceases far above
+that depth, Where the pressure is a ton or more to the square inch, it is
+very evident that no sound vibration can exist. Near the surface it is
+otherwise. The majority of fishes have no lungs and of course no vocal
+chords, but certain species, such as the drumfish, are able to distend
+special sacs with gas or air, or in other ways to produce sounds. One
+variety succeeds in producing a number of sounds by gritting the teeth,
+and when the male fish is attempting to charm the female by dashing round
+her, spreading his fins to display his brilliant colours, this gritting of
+the teeth holds a prominent place in the performance, although whether the
+fair finny one makes her choice because she prefers a high-toned grit
+instead of a lower one can only be imagined! But vibrations, whether of
+sound or of water pressure, are easily carried near the surface, and
+fishes are provided with organs to receive and record them. One class of
+such organs has little in common with ears, as we speak of them; they are
+merely points on the head and body which are susceptible to the watery
+vibrations. These points are minute cavities, surrounded with tiny _cilia_
+or hairs, which connect with the ends of the nerves.
+
+The ears of the frogs and all higher animals are, like the tongue-bone and
+the lower jaw, derived originally from portions of gills, which the
+aquatic ancestors of living animals used to draw the oxygen from the
+water. This is one of the most wonderful and interesting changes which the
+study of evolution has unfolded to our knowledge.
+
+The disproportionate voices are produced by means of an extra amount of
+skin on the throat, which is distensible and acts as a drum to increase
+the volume of sound. In certain bullfrogs which grow to be as large as the
+head of a man, the bellowing power is deafening and is audible for miles.
+In Chile a small species of frog, measuring only about an inch in length,
+has two internal vocal sacs which are put to a unique use. Where these
+frogs live, water is very scarce and the polliwogs have no chance to live
+and develop in pools, as is ordinarily the case. So when the eggs are
+laid, they are immediately taken by the male frog and placed in these
+capacious sacs, which serve as nurseries for them all through their
+hatching and growing period of life. Although there is no water in these
+chambers, yet their gills grow out and are reabsorbed, just as is the case
+in ordinary tadpoles. When their legs are fully developed, they clamber up
+to their father's broad mouth and get their first glimpse of the great
+world from his lower lip. When fifteen partly developed polliwogs are
+found in the pouches of one little frog, he looks as if he had gorged
+himself to bursting with tadpoles. To such curious uses may vocal organs
+be put.
+
+Turtles are voiceless, except at the period of laying eggs, when they
+acquire a voice, which even in the largest is very tiny and piping, like
+some very small insect rather than a two-hundred-pound tortoise. Some of
+the lizards utter shrill, insect-like squeaks.
+
+A species of gecko, a small, brilliantly coloured lizard, has the back of
+its tail armed with plates. These it has a habit of rubbing together, and
+by this means it produces a shrill, chirruping sound, which actually
+attracts crickets and grasshoppers toward the noise, so that they fall
+easy prey to this reptilian trapper. So in colour, sound, motion, and many
+other ways, animals act and react upon each other, a useful and necessary
+habit being perverted by an enemy, so that the death of the creature
+results. Yet it would never be claimed that the lizard thought out this
+mimicking. It probably found that certain actions resulted in the approach
+of good dinners, and in its offspring this action might be partly
+instinctive, and each generation would perpetuate it. If it had been an
+intentional act, other nearly related species of lizards would imitate it,
+as soon as they perceived the success which attended it.
+
+That many animals have a kind of language is nowadays admitted to be a
+truism, but this is more evident among mammals and birds, and, reviewing
+the classes of the former, we find a more or less defined ascending
+complexity and increased number of varying sounds as we pass from the
+lower forms--kangaroos and moles--to the higher herb-and-flesh-eaters, and
+particularly monkeys.
+
+Squeaks and grunts constitute the vocabulary, if we dignify it by that
+name, of the mammals. The sloths, those curious animals whose entire life
+is spent clinging to the underside of branches, on whose leaves they feed,
+may be said almost to be voiceless, so seldom do they give utterance to
+the nameless wail which constitutes their only utterance. Even when being
+torn to pieces by an enemy, they offer no resistance and emit no sound,
+but fold their claws around their body and submit to the inevitable as
+silently and as stoically as did ever an ancient Spartan.
+
+Great fear of death will often cause an animal to utter sounds which are
+different from those produced under any other conditions. When an elephant
+is angry or excited, his trumpeting is terribly loud and shrill; but when
+a mother elephant is "talking" to her child, while the same sonorous,
+metallic quality is present, yet it is wonderfully softened and modulated.
+A horse is a good example of what the fear of death will do. The ordinary
+neigh of a horse is very familiar, but in battle when mortally wounded, or
+having lost its master and being terribly frightened, a horse will scream,
+and those who have heard it, say it is more awful than the cries of pain
+of a human being.
+
+Deer and elk often astonish one by the peculiar sounds which they produce.
+An elk can bellow loudly, especially when fighting; but when members of a
+herd call to each other, or when surprised by some unusual appearance,
+they whistle--a sudden, sharp whistle, like the tin mouthpieces with
+revolving discs, which were at one time so much in evidence.
+
+The growl of a bear differs greatly under varying circumstances. There is
+the playful growl, uttered when two individuals are wrestling, and the
+terrible "sound"--no word expresses it--to which a bear, cornered and
+driven to the last extremity, gives utterance--fear, hate, dread, and
+awful passion mingled and expressed in sound. One can realise the fearful
+terror which this inspires only when one has, as I have, stood up to a mad
+bear, repelling charge after charge, with only an iron pike between one's
+self and those powerful fangs and claws. The long-drawn moan of a polar
+bear on a frosty night is another phase; this, too, is expressive, but
+only of those wonderful Arctic scenes where night and day are as one to
+this great seal-hunter.
+
+The dog has made man his god,--giving up his life for his master would be
+but part of his way of showing his love if he had it in his power to do
+more. So, too, the dog has attempted to adapt his speech to his master's,
+and the result is a bark. No wild coyotes or wolves bark, but when bands
+of dogs descended from domesticated animals run wild, their howls are
+modulated and a certain unmistakable barking quality imparted. The
+drawn-out howl of a great gray wolf is an impressive sound and one never
+to be forgotten. Only the fox seems to possess the ability to bark in its
+native tongue. The sounds which the cats, great and small, reproduce are
+most varied. Nothing can be much more intimidating than the roar of a
+lion, or more demoniacal than the arguments which our house-pets carry on
+at night on garden fences.
+
+What use the sounds peculiar to sea-lions subserve in their life on the
+great ocean, or their haunts along the shore, can only be imagined, but
+surely such laudable perseverance, day after day, to out-utter each other,
+must be for some good reason!
+
+Volumes have been written concerning the voices of the two remaining
+groups of animals--monkeys and birds. In the great family of the
+four-handed folk, more varieties of sound are produced than would be
+thought possible. Some of the large baboons are awful in their
+vocalisations. Terrible agony or remorse is all that their moans suggest
+to us, no matter what frame of mind on the part of the baboon induces
+them. Of all vertebrates the tiny marmosets reproduce most exactly the
+chirps of crickets and similar insects, and to watch one of these little
+human faces, see its mouth open, and instead of, as seems natural, words
+issuing forth, to hear these shrill squeaks is most surprising. Young
+orang-utans, in their "talk," as well as in their actions, are
+counterparts of human infants. The scream of frantic rage when a banana is
+offered and jerked away, the wheedling tone when the animal wishes to be
+comforted by the keeper on account of pain or bruise, and the sound of
+perfect contentment and happiness when petted by the keeper whom it learns
+to love,--all are almost indistinguishable from like utterances of a human
+child.
+
+But how pitiless is the inevitable change of the next few years! Slowly
+the bones of the cranium thicken, partly filling up the brain cavity, and
+slowly but surely the ape loses all affection for those who take care of
+it. More and more morose and sullen it becomes until it reaches a stage of
+unchangeable ferocity and must be doomed to close confinement, never again
+to be handled or caressed.
+
+
+
+
+THE NAMES OF ANIMALS, FROGS, AND FISH
+
+
+When, during the lazy autumn days, the living creatures seem for a time to
+have taken themselves completely beyond our ken, it may be interesting to
+delve among old records and descriptions of animals and see how the names
+by which we know them first came to be given. Many of our English names
+have an unsuspected ancestry, which, through past centuries, has been
+handed down to us through many changes of spelling and meaning, of
+romantic as well as historical interest.
+
+How many people regard the scientific Latin and Greek names of animals
+with horror, as being absolutely beyond their comprehension, and yet how
+interesting these names become when we look them squarely in the face,
+analyse them and find the appropriateness of their application.
+
+When you say "wolf" to a person, the image of that wild creature comes
+instantly to his mind, but if you ask him _why_ it is called a wolf, a
+hundred chances to one he will look blankly at you. It is the old fault,
+so common among us human beings, of ignoring the things which lie nearest
+us. Or perhaps your friend shares the state of mind of the puzzled old
+lady, who, after looking over a collection of fossil bones, said that she
+could understand how these bones had been preserved, and millions of years
+later had been discovered, but it was a mystery to her how anyone could
+know the names of these ancient animals after such a lapse of time!
+
+Some of the names of the commonest animals are lost in the dimness of
+antiquity, such as fox, weasel, sheep, dog, and baboon. Of the origin of
+these we have forever lost the clew. With camel we can go no farther back
+than the Latin word _camelus_, and elephant balks us with the old Hindoo
+word _eleph_, which means an ox. The old root of the word wolf meant one
+who tears or rends, and the application to this animal is obvious. In
+several English and German names of persons, we have handed down to us a
+relic of the old fashion of applying wolf as a compliment to a warrior or
+soldier. For example, Adolph means noble-wolf, and Rudolph glory-wolf.
+
+Lynx is from the same Latin word as the word _lux_ (light) and probably
+was given to these wildcats on account of the brightness of their eyes.
+Lion is, of course, from the Latin _leo_, which word, in turn, is lost far
+back in the Egyptian tongue, where the word for the king of beasts was
+_labu_. The compound word leopard is first found in the Persian language,
+where _pars_ stands for panther. Seal, very appropriately, was once a word
+meaning "of the sea"; close to the Latin _sal_, the sea.
+
+Many names of animals are adapted from words in the ancient language of
+the natives in whose country the creatures were first discovered. Puma,
+jaguar, tapir, and peccary (from _paquires_) are all names from South
+American Indian languages. The coyote and ocelot were called _coyotl_ and
+_ocelotl_ by the Mexicans long before Cortes landed on their shores.
+Zebra, gorilla, and chimpanzee are native African words, and orang-utan is
+Malay, meaning Man of the Woods. Cheetah is from some East Indian tongue,
+as is tahr, the name of the wild goat of the Himalayas. Gnu is from the
+Hottentots, and giraffe from the Arabic _zaraf_. Aoudad, the Barbary wild
+sheep, is the French form of the Moorish name _audad_.
+
+The native Indians of our own country are passing rapidly, and before many
+years their race may be extinct, but their musical, euphonious names of
+the animals they knew so well, often pleased the ear of the early
+settlers, and in many instances will be a lasting memorial as long as
+these forest creatures of our United States survive.
+
+Thus, moose is from the Indian word _mouswah_, meaning wood-eater; skunk
+from _seganku_, an Algonquin term; _wapiti_, in the Cree language, meant
+white deer, and was originally applied to the Rocky Mountain goat, but the
+name is now restricted to the American elk. Caribou is also an Indian
+word; opossum is from _possowne_, and raccoon is from the Indian
+_arrathkune_ (by further apheresis, coon).
+
+Rhinoceros is pure Greek, meaning nose-horned, but beaver has indeed had a
+rough time of it in its travels through various languages. It is hardly
+recognisable as _bebrus_, _babbru_, and _bbru_. The latter is the ultimate
+root of our word brown. The original application was, doubtless, on
+account of the colour of the creature's fur. Otter takes us back to
+Sanskrit, where we find it _udra_. The significance of this word is in its
+close kinship to _udan_, meaning water.
+
+The little mouse hands his name down through the years from the old, old
+Sanskrit, the root meaning to steal. Many people who never heard of
+Sanskrit have called him and his descendants by terms of homologous
+significance! The word muscle is from the same root, and was applied from
+a fancied resemblance of the movement of the muscle beneath the skin to a
+mouse in motion--not a particularly quieting thought to certain members of
+the fair sex! The origin of the word rat is less certain, but it may have
+been derived from the root of the Latin word _radere_, to scratch, or
+_rodere_, to gnaw. Rodent is derived from the latter term. Cat is also in
+doubt, but is first recognised in _catalus_, a diminutive of _canis_, a
+dog. It was applied to the young of almost any animal, as we use the words
+pup, kitten, cub, and so forth. Bear is the result of tongue-twisting from
+the Latin _fera_, a wild beast.
+
+Ape is from the Sanskrit _kapi_; _kap_ in the same language means tremble;
+but the connection is not clear. Lemur, the name given to that low family
+of monkeys, is from the plural Latin word _lemures_, meaning ghost or
+spectre. This has reference to the nocturnal habits, stealthy gait, and
+weird expression of these large-eyed creatures. Antelope is probably of
+Grecian origin, and was originally applied to a half-mythical animal,
+located on the banks of the Euphrates, and described as "very savage and
+fleet, and having long, saw-like horns with which it could cut down trees.
+It figures largely in the peculiar fauna of heraldry."
+
+Deer is of obscure origin, but may have been an adjective meaning wild.
+Elk is derived from the same root as eland, and the history of the latter
+word is an interesting one. It meant a sufferer, and was applied by the
+Teutons to the elk of the Old World on account of the awkward gait and
+stiff movements of this ungainly animal. But in later years the Dutch
+carried the same word, eland, to South Africa, and there gave it to the
+largest of the tribe of antelopes, in which sense it is used by zoologists
+to-day.
+
+Porcupine has arisen from two Latin words, _porcus_, a hog, and _spina_, a
+spine; hence, appropriately, a spiny-hog. Buffalo may once have been some
+native African name. In the vista of time, our earliest glimpse of it is
+as _bubalus_, which was applied both to the wild ox and to a species of
+African antelope. Fallow deer is from fallow, meaning pale, or yellowish,
+while axis, as applied to the deer so common in zoological gardens, was
+first mentioned by Pliny and is doubtless of East Indian origin. The word
+bison is from the Anglo-Saxon _wesend_, but beyond Pliny its ultimate
+origin eludes all research.
+
+Marmot, through various distortions, looms up from Latin times as _mus
+montanus_, literally a mountain mouse. Badger is from badge, in allusion
+to the bands of white fur on its forehead. The verb meaning to badger is
+derived from the old cruel sport of baiting badgers with dogs.
+
+Monkey is from the same root as _monna_, a woman; more especially an old
+crone, in reference to the fancied resemblance of the weazened face of a
+monkey to that of a withered old woman. Madam and madonna are other forms
+of words from the same root, so wide and sweeping are the changes in
+meaning which usage and time can give to words.
+
+Squirrel has a poetic origin in the Greek language; its original meaning
+being shadow-tail. Tiger is far more intricate. The old Persian word _tir_
+meant arrow, while _tighra_ signified sharp. The application to this great
+animal was in allusion to the swiftness with which the tiger leaps upon
+his prey. The river Tigris, meaning literally the river Arrow, is named
+thus from the swiftness of its current.
+
+As to the names of reptiles it is, of course, to the Romans that we are
+chiefly indebted, as in the case of reptile from _reptilus_, meaning
+creeping; and crocodile from _dilus_, a lizard. Serpent is also from the
+Latin _serpens_, creeping, and this from the old Sanskrit root, _sarp_,
+with the same meaning. This application of the idea of creeping is again
+found in the word snake, which originally came from the Sanskrit _naga_.
+
+Tortoise harks back to the Latin _tortus_, meaning twisted (hence our word
+tortuous) and came to be applied to these slow creatures because of their
+twisted legs. In its evolution through many tongues it has suffered
+numbers of variations; one of these being turtle, which we use to-day to
+designate the smaller land tortoises. Terrapin and its old forms
+_terrapene_ and _turpin_, on the contrary, originated in the New World, in
+the language of the American Redskin.
+
+_Cobra-de-capello_ is Portuguese for hooded snake, while python is far
+older, the same word being used by the Greeks to denote a spirit, demon,
+or evil-soothsayer. This name was really given to designate any species of
+large serpent. _Boa_ is Latin and was also applied to a large snake, while
+the importance of the character of size is seen, perhaps, in our words
+_bos_ and _bovine_.
+
+The word viper is interesting; coming directly from the Romans, who wrote
+it _vipera_. This in turn is a contraction of the feminine form of the
+adjective _vivipera_, in reference to the habit of these snakes of
+bringing forth their young alive.
+
+Lizard, through such forms as _lesarde_, _lezard_, _lagarto_, _lacerto_,
+is from the Latin _lacertus_, a lizard; while closely related is the word
+alligator by way of _lagarto_, _aligarto_, to alligator. The prefix may
+have arisen as a corruption of an article and a noun, as in the modern
+Spanish _el lagarto_,--a lizard.
+
+Monitor is Latin for one who reminds, these lizards being so called
+because they are supposed to give warning of the approach of crocodiles.
+Asp can be carried back to the _aspis_ of the Romans, no trace being found
+in the dim vistas of preceding tongues.
+
+Gecko, the name of certain wall-hunting lizards, is derived from their
+croaking cry; while iguana is a Spanish name taken from the old native
+Haytian appellation _biuana_.
+
+Of the word frog we know nothing, although through the medium of many
+languages it has had as thorough an evolution as in its physical life. We
+must also admit our ignorance in regard to toad, backward search revealing
+only _tade_, _tode_, _ted_, _toode_, and _tadie_, the root baffling all
+study. Polliwog and tadpole are delightfully easy. Old forms of polliwog
+are _pollywig_, _polewiggle_, and _pollwiggle_. This last gives us the
+clew to our spelling--_pollwiggle_, which, reversed and interpreted in a
+modern way, is wigglehead, a most appropriate name for these lively little
+black fellows. Tadpole is somewhat similar; toad-pole, or toad's-head,
+also very apt when we think of these small-bodied larval forms.
+
+Salamander, which is a Greek word of Eastern origin, was applied in the
+earliest times to a lizard considered to have the power of extinguishing
+fire. Newt has a strange history; originating in a wrong division of two
+words, "_an ewte_," the latter being derived from _eft_, which is far more
+correct than newt, though in use now in only a few places. Few fishermen
+have ever thought of the interesting derivation of the names which they
+know so well. Of course there are a host of fishes named from a fancied
+resemblance to familiar terrestrial animals or other things; such as the
+catfish, and those named after the dog, hog, horse, cow, trunk, devil,
+angel, sun, and moon.
+
+The word fish has passed through many varied forms since it was _piscis_
+in the old Latin tongue, and the same is true of shark and skate, which in
+the same language were _carcharus_ and _squatus_. Trout was originally
+_tructa_, which in turn is lost in a very old Greek word, meaning eat or
+gnaw. Perch harks back to the Latin _perca_, and the Romans had it from
+the Greeks, among whom it meant spotted. The Romans said _minutus_ when
+they meant small, and nowadays when we speak of any very small fish we say
+minnow. Alewife in old English was applied to the women, usually very
+stout dames, who kept alehouses. The corpulency of the fish to which the
+same term is given explains its derivation.
+
+The pike is so named from the sharp, pointed snout and long, slim body,
+bringing to mind the old-time weapon of that name; while pickerel means
+doubly a little pike, the _er_ and _el_ (as in cock and cockerel) both
+being diminutives. Smelt was formerly applied to any small fish and comes,
+perhaps, from the Anglo-Saxon _smeolt_, which meant smooth--the smoothness
+and slipperiness of the fish suggesting the name.
+
+Salmon comes directly from the Latin _salmo_, a salmon, which literally
+meant the leaper, from _salire_--to leap. Sturgeon, from the Saxon was
+_stiriga_, literally a stirrer, from the habit of the fish of stirring up
+the mud at the bottom of the water. Dace, through its mediæval forms
+_darce_ and _dars_, is from the same root as our word dart, given on
+account of the swiftness of the fish.
+
+Anchovy is interesting as perhaps from the Basque word _antzua_, meaning
+dry; hence the dried fish; and mullet is from the Latin _mullus_. Herring
+is well worth following back to its origin. We know that the most marked
+habit of fishes of this type is their herding together in great schools or
+masses or armies. In the very high German _heri_ meant an army or host;
+hence our word harry and, with a suffix, herring.
+
+_Hake_ in Norwegian means hook, and the term hake or hook-fish was given
+because of the hooked character of the under-jaw. Mackerel comes from
+_macarellus_ and originally the Latin _macula_--spotted, from the dark
+spots on the body. Roach and ray both come from the Latin _raria_, applied
+then as in the latter case now to bottom-living sharks.
+
+Flounder comes from the verb, which in turn is derived from flounce, a
+word which is lost in antiquity. Tarpon (and the form _tarpum_) may be an
+Indian word; while there is no doubt as to grouper coming from _garrupa_,
+a native Mexican name. Chubb (a form of cub) meant a chunky mass or lump,
+referring to the body of the fish. Shad is lost in _sceadda_, Anglo-Saxon
+for the same fish.
+
+Lamprey and halibut both have histories, which, at first glance, we would
+never suspect, although the forms have changed but little. The former have
+a habit of fastening themselves for hours to stones and rocks, by means of
+their strong, sucking mouths. So the Latin form of the word _lampetra_, or
+literally lick-rock, is very appropriate. Halibut is equally so. _But_ or
+_bot_ in several languages means a certain flounder-like fish, and in
+olden times this fish was eaten only on holidays (_i.e._, holy days).
+Hence the combination halibut means really holy-flounder.
+
+The meaning of these words and many others are worth knowing, and it is
+well to be able to answer with other than ignorance the question "What's
+in a name?"
+
+
+
+
+THE DYING YEAR
+
+
+When a radical change of habits occurs, as in the sapsucker, deviating so
+sharply from the ancient principles of its family, many other forms of
+life about it are influenced, indirectly, but in a most interesting way.
+In its tippling operations it wastes quantities of sap which exudes from
+the numerous holes and trickles down the bark of the wounded tree. This
+proves a veritable feast for the forlorn remnant of wasps and
+butterflies,--the year's end stragglers whose flower calyces have fallen
+and given place to swelling seeds.
+
+Swiftly up wind they come on the scent, eager as hounds on the trail, and
+they drink and drink of the sweets until they become almost incapable of
+flying. But, after all, the new lease of life is a vain semblance of
+better things. Their eggs have long since been laid and their mission in
+life ended, and at the best their existence is but a matter of days.
+
+It is a sad thing this, and sometimes our heart hardens against Nature for
+the seeming cruelty of it all. Forever and always, year after year,
+century upon century, the same tale unfolds itself,--the sacrifice of the
+individual for the good of the race. A hundred drones are tended and
+reared, all but one to die in vain; a thousand seeds are sown to rot or to
+sprout and wither; a million little codfish hatch and begin life
+hopefully, perhaps all to succumb save one; a million million shrimp and
+pteropods paddle themselves here and there in the ocean, and every one is
+devoured by fish or swept into the whalebone tangle from which none ever
+return. And if a lucky one which survives does so because it has some
+little advantage over its fellows,--some added quality which gives just
+the opportunity to escape at the critical moment,--then the race will
+advance to the extent of that trifle and so carry out the precept of
+evolution. But even though we may owe every character of body and mind to
+the fulfilment of some such inexorable law in the past, yet the witnessing
+of the operation brings ever a feeling of cruelty, of injustice
+somewhere.
+
+How pitiful the weak flight of the last yellow butterfly of the year, as
+with tattered and battered wings it vainly seeks for a final sip of
+sweets! The fallen petals and the hard seeds are black and odourless, the
+drops of sap are hardened. Little by little the wings weaken, the tiny
+feet clutch convulsively at a dried weed stalk, and the four golden wings
+drift quietly down among the yellow leaves, soon to merge into the dark
+mould beneath. As the butterfly dies, a stiffened Katydid scratches a last
+requiem on his wing covers--"_katy-didn't--katy-did--kate--y_"--and the
+succeeding moment of silence is broken by the sharp rattle of a
+woodpecker. We shake off every dream of the summer and brace ourselves to
+meet and enjoy the keen, invigorating pleasures of winter.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+NOVEMBER
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+NOVEMBER'S BIRDS OF THE HEAVENS
+
+
+As the whirling winds of winter's edge strip the trees bare of their last
+leaves, the leaden sky of the eleventh month seems to push its cold face
+closer to earth. Who can tell when the northern sparrows first arrive? A
+whirl of brown leaves scatters in front of us; some fall back to earth;
+others rise and perch in the thick briers,--sombre little white-throated
+and tree sparrows! These brown-coated, low-voiced birds easily attract our
+attention, the more now that the great host of brilliant warblers has
+passed, just as our hearts warm toward the humble poly-pody fronds
+(passing them by unnoticed when flowers are abundant) which now hold up
+their bright greenness amid all the cold.
+
+But all the migrants have not left us yet by any means, and we had better
+leave our boreal visitors until mid-winter's blasts show us these hardiest
+of the hardy at their best.
+
+We know little of the ways of the gaunt herons on their southward journey,
+but day after day, in the marshes and along the streams, we may see the
+great blues as they stop in their flight to rest for a time.
+
+The cold draws all the birds of a species together. Dark hordes of
+clacking grackles pass by, scores of red-winged blackbirds and cowbirds
+mingle amicably together, both of dark hue but of such unlike matrimonial
+habits. A single male red-wing, as we have seen, may assume the cares of a
+harem of three, four, or five females, each of which rears her
+brown-streaked offspring in her own particular nest, while the valiant
+guardian keeps faithful watch over his small colony among the reeds and
+cat-tails. But little thought or care does mother cowbird waste upon her
+offspring. No home life is hers--merely a stealthy approach to the nest of
+some unsuspecting yellow warbler, or other small bird, a hastily deposited
+egg, and the unnatural parent goes on her way, having shouldered all her
+household cares on another. Her young may be hatched and carefully reared
+by the patient little warbler mother, or the egg may spoil in the deserted
+nest, or be left in the cold beneath another nest bottom built over it;
+little cares the cowbird.
+
+The ospreys or fish hawks seem to circle southward in pairs or trios, but
+some clear, cold day the sky will be alive with hawks of other kinds. It
+is a strange fact that these birds which have the power to rise so high
+that they fairly disappear from our sight choose the trend of terrestrial
+valleys whenever possible, in directing their aerial routes. Even the
+series of New Jersey hills, flattered by the name of the Orange Mountains,
+seem to balk many hawks which elect to change their direction and fly to
+the right or left toward certain gaps or passes. Through these a raptorial
+stream pours in such numbers during the period of migration that a person
+with a foreknowledge of their path in former years may lie in wait and
+watch scores upon scores of these birds pass close overhead within a few
+hours, while a short distance to the right or left one may watch all day
+without seeing a single raptor. The whims of migrating birds are beyond
+our ken.
+
+Sometimes, out in the broad fields, one's eyes will be drawn accidentally
+upward, and a great flight of hawks will be seen--a compact flock of
+intercircling forms, perhaps two or three hundred in all, the whole number
+gradually passing from view in a southerly direction, now and then sending
+down a shrill cry. It is a beautiful sight, not very often to be seen near
+a city--unless watched for.
+
+To a dweller in a city or its suburbs I heartily commend at this season
+the forming of this habit,--to look upward as often as possible on your
+walks. An instant suffices to sweep the whole heavens with your eye, and
+if the distant circling forms, moving in so stately a manner, yet so
+swiftly, and in their every movement personifying the essence of wild and
+glorious freedom,--if this sight does not send a thrill through the
+onlooker, then he may at once pull his hat lower over his eyes and concern
+himself only with his immediate business. The joys of Nature are not for
+such as he; the love of the wild which exists in every one of us is, in
+him, too thickly "sicklied o'er" with the veneer of convention and
+civilisation.
+
+Even as late as November, when the water begins to freeze in the tiny cups
+of the pitcher plants, and the frost brings into being a new kind of
+foliage on glass and stone, a few insect-eaters of the summer woods still
+linger on. A belated red-eyed vireo may be chased by a snowbird, and when
+we approach a flock of birds, mistaking them at a distance for purple
+finches, we may discover they are myrtle warblers, clad in the faded
+yellow of their winter plumage. In favoured localities these brave little
+birds may even spend the entire winter with us.
+
+One of the best of November's surprises may come when all hope of late
+migrants has been given up. Walking near the river, our glance falls on
+what might be a painter's palate with blended colours of all shades
+resting on the smooth surface of the water. We look again and again,
+hardly believing our eyes, until at last the gorgeous creature takes to
+wing, and goes humming down the stream, a bit of colour tropical in its
+extravagance--and we know that we have seen a male wood, or summer, duck
+in the full grandeur of his white, purple, chestnut, black, blue, and
+brown. Many other ducks have departed, but this one still swims among the
+floating leaves on secluded waterways.
+
+Now is the time when the woodcock rises from his swampy summer home and
+zigzags his way to a land where earthworms are still active. Sometimes in
+our walks we may find the fresh body of one of these birds, and an upward
+glance at the roadside will show the cause--the cruel telegraph wires
+against which the flight of the bird has carried it with fatal velocity.
+
+One of the greatest pleasures which November has to give us is the joy of
+watching for the long lines of wild geese from the Canada lakes. Who can
+help being thrilled at the sight of these strong-winged birds, as the
+V-shaped flock throbs into view high in air, beating over land and water,
+forest and city, as surely and steadily as the passing of the day behind
+them. One of the finest of November sounds is the "Honk! honk!" which
+comes to our ears from such a company of geese,--musical tones "like a
+clanking chain drawn through the heavy air."
+
+At the stroke of midnight I have been halted in my hurried walk by these
+notes. They are a bit of the wild north which may even enter within a
+city, and three years ago I trapped a fine gander and a half a dozen of
+his flock in the New York Zoological Park, where they have lived ever
+since and reared their golden-hued goslings, which otherwise would have
+broken their shells on some Arctic waste, with only the snowbirds to
+admire, and to be watched with greedy eyes by the Arctic owls.
+
+                A haze on the far horizon,
+                  The infinite tender sky,
+                The ripe, rich tints of the cornfields,
+                  And the wild geese sailing high;
+                And ever on upland and lowland,
+                  The charm of the goldenrod--
+                Some of us call it Autumn,
+                  And others call it God.
+                                         W. H. Carruth.
+
+
+
+
+A PLEA FOR THE SKUNK
+
+
+In spite of constant persecution the skunk is without doubt the tamest of
+all of our wild animals, and shares with the weasel and mink the honour of
+being one of the most abundant of the carnivores, or flesh-eaters, near
+our homes. This is a great achievement for the skunk,--to have thus held
+its own in the face of ever advancing and destroying civilisation. But the
+same characteristics which enable it to hold its ground are also those
+which emancipate it from its wild kindred and give it a unique position
+among animals. Its first cousins, the minks and weasels, all secrete
+pungent odours, which are unpleasant enough at close range, but in the
+skunk the great development of these glands has caused a radical change in
+its habits of life and even in its physical make-up.
+
+Watch a mink creeping on its sinuous way,--every action and glance full of
+fierce wildness, each step telling of insatiable seeking after living,
+active prey. The boldest rat flees in frantic terror at the hint of this
+animal's presence; but let man show himself, and with a demoniacal grin of
+hatred the mink slinks into covert.
+
+Now follow a skunk in its wanderings as it comes out of its hole in early
+evening, slowly stretches and yawns, and with hesitating, rolling gait
+ambles along, now and then sniffing in the grass and seizing some sluggish
+grasshopper or cricket. Fearlessness and confidence are what its gait and
+manner spell. The world is its debtor, and all creatures in its path are
+left unmolested, only on evidence of good behaviour. Far from need of
+concealment, its furry coat is striped with a broad band of white,
+signalling in the dusk or the moonlight, "Give me room to pass and go in
+peace! Trouble me and beware!"
+
+Degenerate in muscles and vitality, the skunk must forego all strenuous
+hunts and trust to craft and sudden springs, or else content himself with
+the humble fare of insects, helpless young birds, and poor, easily
+confused mice. The flesh of the skunk is said to be sweet and toothsome,
+but few creatures there are who dare attempt to add it to their bill of
+fare! A great horned owl or a puma in the extremity of starvation, or a
+vulture in dire stress of hunger,--probably no others.
+
+Far from wilfully provoking an attack, the skunk is usually content to go
+on his way peacefully, and when one of these creatures becomes accustomed
+to the sight of an observer, no more interesting and, indeed, safer object
+of study can be found.
+
+Depart once from the conventional mode of greeting a skunk,--and instead
+of hurling a stone in its direction and fleeing, place, if the opportunity
+present itself, bits of meat in its way evening after evening, and you
+will soon learn that there is nothing vicious in the heart of the skunk.
+The evening that the gentle animal appears leading in her train a file of
+tiny infant skunks, you will feel well repaid for the trouble you have
+taken. Baby skunks, like their elders, soon learn to know their friends,
+and are far from being at hair-trigger poise, as is generally supposed.
+
+
+
+
+THE LESSON OF THE WAVE
+
+
+The sea and the sky and the shore were at perfect peace on the day when
+the young gull first launched into the air, and flew outward over the
+green, smooth ocean. Day after day his parents had brought him fish and
+squid, until his baby plumage fell from him and his beautiful
+wing-feathers shot forth,--clean-webbed and elastic. His strong feet had
+carried him for days over the expanse of sand dunes and pebbles, and now
+and then he had paddled into deep pools and bathed in the cold salt water.
+Most creatures of the earth are limited to one or the other of these two
+elements, but now the gull was proving his mastery over a third. The land,
+the sea, were left below, and up into the air drifted the beautiful bird,
+every motion confident with the instinct of ages.
+
+The usefulness of his mother's immaculate breast now becomes apparent. A
+school of small fish basking near the surface rise and fall with the
+gentle undulating swell, seeing dimly overhead the blue sky, flecked with
+hosts of fleecy white clouds. A nearer, swifter cloud approaches,
+hesitates, splashes into their midst,--and the parent gull has caught her
+first fish of the day. Instinctively the young bird dives; in his joy of
+very life he cries aloud,--the gull-cry which his ancestors of long ago
+have handed down to him. At night he seeks the shore and tucks his bill
+into his plumage; and all because of something within him, compelling him
+to do these things.
+
+But far from being an automaton, his bright eye and full-rounded head
+presage higher things. Occasionally his mind breaks through the mist of
+instinct and reaches upward to higher activity.
+
+As with the other wild kindred of the ocean, food was the chief object of
+the day's search. Fish were delicious, but were not always to be had;
+crabs were a treat indeed, when caught unawares, but for mile after mile
+along the coast were hosts of mussels and clams,--sweet and lucious, but
+incased in an armour of shell, through which there was no penetrating.
+However swift a dash was made upon one of these,--always the clam closed a
+little quicker, sending a derisive shower of drops over the head of the
+gull.
+
+Once, after a week of rough weather, the storm gods brought their battling
+to a climax. Great green walls of foaming water crashed upon the rocks,
+rending huge boulders and sucking them down into the black depths. Over
+and through the spray dashed the gull, answering the wind's howl--shriek
+for shriek, poising over the fearful battlefield of sea and shore.
+
+A wave mightier than all hung and curved, and a myriad shell-fish were
+torn from their sheltered nooks and hurled high, in air, to fall broken
+and helpless among the boulders. The quick eye of the gull saw it all, and
+at that instant of intensest chaos of the elements, the brain of the bird
+found itself.
+
+Shortly afterward came night and sleep, but the new-found flash of
+knowledge was not lost.
+
+The next day the bird walked at low tide into the stronghold of the
+shell-fish, roughly tore one from the silky strands of its moorings, and
+carrying it far upward let it fall at random among the rocks. The
+toothsome morsel was snatched from its crushed shell and a triumphant
+scream told of success,--a scream which, could it have been interpreted,
+should have made a myriad, myriad mussels shrink within their shells!
+
+From gull to gull, and from flock to flock, the new habit spread,
+imitation taking instant advantage of this new source of food. When to-day
+we walk along the shore and see flocks of gulls playing ducks and drakes
+with the unfortunate shell-fish, give them not too much credit, but think
+of some bird which in the long ago first learned the lesson, whether by
+chance or, as I have suggested, by observing the victims of the waves.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+No scientific facts are these, but merely a logical reasoning deduced from
+the habits and traits of the birds as we know them to-day; a theory to
+hold in mind while we watch for its confirmation in the beginning of other
+new and analogous habits.
+
+            The world is too much with us; late and soon,
+              Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
+            Little we see in Nature that is ours;
+            We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
+            This sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
+              The winds that will be howling at all hours,
+             And are up-gather'd now like sleeping flowers;
+            For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
+            It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
+              A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
+            So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
+              Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
+            Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
+              Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
+                                         William Wordsworth.
+
+
+
+
+WE GO A-SPONGING
+
+
+When a good compound microscope becomes as common an object in our homes
+as is a clock or a piano, we may be certain that the succeeding generation
+will grow up with a much broader view of life and a far greater
+realisation of the beauties of the natural world. To most of us a glance
+through a microscope is almost as unusual a sight as the panorama from a
+balloon. While many of the implements of a scientist arouse enthusiasm
+only in himself, in the case of the revelations of this instrument, the
+average person, whatever his profession, cannot fail to be interested.
+
+Many volumes have been written on the microscopic life of ponds and
+fields, and in a short essay only a hint of the delights of this
+fascinating study can be given.
+
+Any primer of Natural History will tell us that our bath sponges are the
+fibrous skeletons of aquatic animals which inhabit tropical seas, but few
+people know that in the nearest pond there are real sponges, growing
+sometimes as large as one's head and which are not very dissimilar to
+those taken from among the corals of the Bahamas. We may bring home a twig
+covered with a thick growth of this sponge; and by dropping a few grains
+of carmine into the water, the currents which the little sponge animals
+set up are plainly visible. In winter these all die, and leave within
+their meshes numbers of tiny winter buds, which survive the cold weather
+and in the spring begin to found new colonies. If we examine the sponges
+in the late fall we may find innumerable of these statoblasts, as they are
+called.
+
+Scattered among them will sometimes be crowds of little wheels, surrounded
+with double-ended hooks. These have no motion and we shall probably pass
+them by as minute burrs or seeds of some water plant. But they, too, are
+winter buds of a strange group of tiny animals. These are known as
+Polyzoans or Bryozoans; and though to the eye a large colony of them
+appears only as a mass of thick jelly, yet when placed in water and left
+quiet, a wonderful transformation comes over the bit of gelatine....
+"Perhaps while you gaze at the reddish jelly a pink little projection
+appears within the field of your lens, and slowly lengthens and broadens,
+retreating and reappearing, it may be, many times, but finally, after much
+hesitation, it suddenly seems to burst into bloom. A narrow body, so
+deeply red that it is often almost crimson, lifts above the jelly a
+crescentic disc ornamented with two rows of long tentacles that seem as
+fine as hairs, and they glisten and sparkle like lines of crystal as they
+wave and float and twist the delicate threads beneath your wondering gaze.
+Then, while you scarcely breathe, for fear the lovely vision will fade,
+another and another spreads its disc and waves its silvery tentacles,
+until the whole surface of that ugly jelly mass blooms like a garden in
+Paradise--blooms not with motionless perianths, but with living animals,
+the most exquisite that God has allowed to develop in our sweet waters."
+At the slightest jar every animal-flower vanishes instantly.
+
+A wonderful history is behind these little creatures and very different
+from that of most members of the animal kingdom. While crabs, butterflies,
+and birds have evolved through many and varied ancestral forms, the tiny
+Bryozoans, or, being interpreted, moss-animals, seem throughout all past
+ages to have found a niche for themselves where strenuous and active
+competition is absent. Year after year, century upon century, age upon
+age, they have lived and died, almost unchanged down to the present day.
+When you look at the tiny animal, troubling the water and drawing its
+inconceivably small bits of food toward it upon the current made by its
+tentacles, think of the earth changes which it has survived.
+
+To the best of our knowledge the Age of Man is but a paltry fifty thousand
+years. Behind this the Age of Mammals may have numbered three millions;
+then back of these came the Age of Reptiles with more than seven millions
+of years, during all of which time the tentacles of unnumbered generations
+of Bryozoans waved in the sea. Back, back farther still we add another
+seven million years, or thereabouts, of the Age of the Amphibians, when
+the coal plants grew, and the Age of the Fishes. And finally, beyond all
+exact human calculation, but estimated at some five million, we reach the
+Age of Invertebrates in the Silurian, and in the lowest of these rocks we
+find beautifully preserved fossils of Bryozoans, to all appearances as
+perfect in detail of structure as these which we have before us to-day in
+this twentieth century of man's brief reckoning.
+
+These tiny bits of jelly are transfigured as well by the grandeur of their
+unchanged lineage as by the appearance of the little animals from within.
+What heraldry can commemorate the beginning of their race over twenty
+millions of years in the past!
+
+The student of mythology will feel at home when identifying some of the
+commonest objects of the pond. And most are well named, too, as for
+instance the Hydra, a small tube-shaped creature with a row of active
+tentacles at one end. Death seems far from this organism, which is closely
+related to the sea-anemones and corals, for though a very brief drying
+will serve to kill it, yet it can be sliced and cut as finely as possible
+and each bit, true to its name, will at once proceed to grow a new head
+and tentacles complete, becoming a perfect animal.
+
+Then we shall often come across a queer creature with two oar-like feelers
+near the head and a double tail tipped with long hairs, while in the
+centre of the head is a large, shining eye,--Cyclops he is rightly called.
+Although so small that we can make out little of his structure without the
+aid of the lens, yet Cyclops is far from being related to the other still
+smaller beings which swim about him, many of which consist of but one cell
+and are popularly known as animalculæ, more correctly as Protozoans.
+Cyclops has a jointed body and in many other ways shows his relationship
+to crabs and lobsters, even though they are many times larger and live in
+salt water.
+
+Another member of this group is Daphnia, although the appropriateness of
+this name yet remains to be discovered; Daphnia being a chunky-bodied
+little being, with a double-branched pair of oar-like appendages, with
+which he darts swiftly through the water. Although covered with a hard
+crust like a crab, this is so transparent that we can see right through
+his body. The dark mass of food in the stomach and the beating heart are
+perfectly distinct. Often, near the upper part of the body, several large
+eggs are seen in a sort of pouch, where they are kept until hatched.
+
+So if the sea is far away and time hangs heavy, invite your friends to go
+sponging and crabbing in the nearest pond, and you may be certain of
+quieting their fears as to your sanity as well as drawing exclamations of
+delight from them when they see these beautiful creatures for the first
+time.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+DECEMBER
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+NEW THOUGHTS ABOUT NESTS
+
+
+Our sense of smell is not so keen as that of a dog, who can detect the
+tiny quail while they are still invisible; nor have we the piercing sight
+of the eagle who spies the grouse crouching hundreds of feet beneath his
+circling flight; but when we walk through the bare December woods there is
+unfolded at last to our eyes evidence of the late presence of our summer's
+feathered friends--air castles and tree castles of varied patterns and
+delicate workmanship.
+
+Did it ever occur to you to think what the first nest was like--what home
+the first reptile-like scale flutterers chose? Far back before Jurassic
+times, millions of years ago, before the coming of bony fishes, when the
+only mammals were tiny nameless creatures, hardly larger than mice; when
+the great Altantosaurus dinosaurs browsed on the quaint herbage, and
+Pterodactyls--those ravenous bat-winged dragons of the air--hovered above
+the surface of the earth,--in this epoch we can imagine a pair of
+long-tailed, half-winged creatures which skimmed from tree to tree,
+perhaps giving an occasional flop--the beginning of the marvellous flight
+motions. Is it not likely that the Teleosaurs who watched hungrily from
+the swamps saw them disappear at last in a hollowed cavity beneath a
+rotten knothole? Here, perhaps, the soft-shelled, lizard-like eggs were
+laid, and when they gave forth the ugly creaturelings did not Father
+Creature flop to the topmost branch and utter a gurgling cough, a most
+unpleasant grating sound, but grand in its significance, as the opening
+chord in the symphony of the ages to follow?--until now the mockingbird
+and the nightingale hold us spellbound by the wonder of their minstrelsy.
+
+Turning from our imaginary picture of the ancient days, we find that some
+of the birds of the present time have found a primitive way of nesting
+still the best. If we push over this rotten stump we shall find that the
+cavity near the top, where the wood is still sound, has been used the past
+summer by the downy woodpecker--a front door like an auger hole, ceiling
+of rough-hewn wood, a bed of chips!
+
+The chickadee goes a step further, and shows his cleverness in sometimes
+choosing a cavity already made, and instead of rough, bare chips, the six
+or eight chickadee youngsters are happy on a hair mattress of a closely
+woven felt-like substance.
+
+Perhaps we should consider the kingfisher the most barbarous of all the
+birds which form a shelter for their home. With bill for pick and shovel,
+she bores straight into a sheer clay bank, and at the end of a six-foot
+tunnel her young are reared, their nest a mass of fish bones--the residue
+of their dinners. Then there are the aerial masons and brickmakers--the
+eave swallows, who carry earth up into the air, bit by bit, and attach it
+to the eaves, forming it into a globular, long-necked flask. The barn
+swallows mix the clay with straw and feathers and so form very firm
+structures on the rafters above the haymows.
+
+But what of the many nests of grasses and twigs which we find in the
+woods? How closely they were concealed while the leaves were on the trees,
+and how firm and strong they were while in use, the strongest wind and
+rain of summer only rocking them to and fro! But now we must waste no time
+or they will disappear. In a month or more almost all will have dissolved
+into fragments and fallen to earth--their mission accomplished.
+
+Some look as if disintegration had already begun, but if we had discovered
+them earlier in the year, we should have seen that they were never less
+fragile or loosely constructed than we find them now. Such is a cuckoo's
+nest, such a mourning dove's or a heron's; merely a flat platform of a few
+interlaced twigs, through which the eggs are visible from below. Why, we
+ask, are some birds so careless or so unskilful? The European cuckoo, like
+our cowbird, is a parasite, laying her eggs in the nests of other birds;
+so, perhaps, neglect of household duties is in the blood. But this style
+of architecture seems to answer all the requirements of doves and herons,
+and, although with one sweep of the hand we can demolish one of these
+flimsy platforms, yet such a nest seems somehow to resist wind and rain
+just as long as the bird needs it.
+
+Did you ever try to make a nest yourself? If not, sometime take apart a
+discarded nest--even the simplest in structure--and try to put it together
+again. Use no string or cord, but fasten it to a crotch, put some marbles
+in it and visit it after the first storm. After you have picked up all the
+marbles from the ground you will appreciate more highly the skill which a
+bird shows in the construction of its home. Whether a bird excavates its
+nest in earth or wood, or weaves or plasters it, the work is all done by
+means of two straight pieces of horn--the bill.
+
+There is, however, one useful substance which aids the bird--the saliva
+which is formed in the mucous glands of the mouth. Of course the first and
+natural function of this fluid is to soften the food before it passes into
+the crop; but in those birds which make their nests by weaving together
+pieces of twig, it must be of great assistance in softening the wood and
+thus enabling the bird readily to bend the twigs into any required
+position. Thus the catbird and rose-breasted grosbeak weave.
+
+Given a hundred or more pieces of twigs, each an inch in length, even a
+bird would make but little progress in forming a cup-shaped nest, were it
+not that the sticky saliva provided cement strong and ready at hand. So
+the chimney swift finds no difficulty in forming and attaching her mosaic
+of twigs to a chimney, using only very short twigs which she breaks off
+with her feet while she is on the wing.
+
+How wonderfully varied are the ways which birds adopt to conceal their
+nests. Some avoid suspicion by their audacity, building near a frequented
+path, in a spot which they would never be suspected of choosing. The
+hummingbird studs the outside of its nest with lichens, and the vireo
+drapes a cobweb curtain around her fairy cup. Few nests are more beautiful
+and at the same time more durable than a vireo's. I have seen the nests of
+three successive years in the same tree, all built, no doubt, by the same
+pair of birds, the nest of the past summer perfect in shape and quality,
+that of the preceding year threadbare, while the home which sheltered the
+brood of three summers ago is a mere flattened skeleton, reminding one of
+the ribs and stern post of a wrecked boat long pounded by the waves.
+
+The subject of nests has been sadly neglected by naturalists, most of whom
+have been chiefly interested in the owners or the contents; but when the
+whys and wherefores of the homes of birds are made plain we shall know far
+more concerning the little carpenters, weavers, masons, and basket-makers
+who hang our groves and decorate our shrubbery with their skill. When on
+our winter's walk we see a distorted, wind-torn, grass cup, think of the
+quartet of beautiful little creatures, now flying beneath some tropical
+sun, which owe their lives to the nest, and which, if they are spared,
+will surely return to the vicinity next summer.
+
+         That time of year thou may'st in me behold,
+         When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
+         Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,--
+         Bare, ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
+                                                  SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+
+
+LESSONS FROM AN ENGLISH SPARROW
+
+
+Many people say they love Nature, but as they have little time to go into
+the country they have to depend on books for most of their information
+concerning birds, flowers, and other forms of life. There is, however, no
+reason why one should not, even in the heart of a great city, begin to
+cultivate his powers of observation. Let us take, for example, the
+omnipresent English sparrow. Most of us probably know the difference
+between the male and female English sparrows, but I venture to say that
+not one in ten persons could give a satisfactory description of the
+colours of either. How much we look and how little we really see!
+
+Little can be said in favour of the English sparrows' disposition, but let
+us not blame them for their unfortunate increase in numbers. Man brought
+them from England, where they are kept in check by Nature's wise laws.
+These birds were deliberately introduced where Nature was not prepared for
+them.
+
+When we put aside prejudice we can see that the male bird, especially when
+in his bright spring colours, is really very attractive, with his ashy
+gray head, his back streaked with black and bay, the white bar on his
+wings and the jet black chin and throat contrasting strongly with the
+uniformly light-coloured under parts. If this were a rare bird the
+"black-throated sparrow" would enjoy his share of admiration.
+
+It is wonderful how he can adapt himself to new conditions, nesting
+anywhere and everywhere, and this very adaptation is a sign of a very high
+order of intelligence. He has, however, many characteristics which tell us
+of his former life. A few of the habits of this bird may be misleading.
+His thick, conical bill is made for crushing seeds, but he now feeds on so
+many different substances that its original use, as shown by its shape, is
+obscured. If there were such a thing as vaudeville among birds, the common
+sparrow would be a star imitator. He clings to the bark of trees and picks
+out grubs, supporting himself with his tail like a woodpecker; he launches
+out into the air, taking insects on the wing like a flycatcher; he clings
+like a chickadee to the under side of twigs, or hovers in front of a heap
+of insect eggs, presenting a feeble imitation of a hummingbird. These
+modes of feeding represent many different families of birds.
+
+Although his straw and feather nests are shapeless affairs, and he often
+feeds on garbage, all æsthetic feeling is not lost, as we see when he
+swells out his black throat and white cravat, spreads tail and wing and
+beseeches his lady-love to admire him. Thus he woos her as long as he is
+alone, but when several other eager suitors arrive, his patience gives
+out, and the courting turns into a football game. Rough and tumble is the
+word, but somehow in the midst of it all, her highness manages to make her
+mind known and off she flies with the lucky one. Thus we have represented,
+in the English sparrows, the two extremes of courtship among birds.
+
+It is worth noting that the male alone is ornamented, the colours of the
+female being much plainer. This dates from a time when it was necessary
+for the female to be concealed while sitting on the eggs. The young of
+both sexes are coloured like their mother, the young males not acquiring
+the black gorget until perfectly able to take care of themselves. About
+the plumage there are some interesting facts. The young bird moults twice
+before the first winter. The second moult brings out the mark on the
+throat, but it is rusty now, not black in colour; his cravat is grayish
+and the wing bar ashy. In the spring, however, a noticeable change takes
+place, but neither by the moulting nor the coming in of plumage. The
+shaded edges of the feathers become brittle and break off, bringing out
+the true colours and making them clear and brilliant. The waistcoat is
+brushed until it is black and glossy, the cravat becomes immaculate, and
+the wristband or wing bar clears up until it is pure white.
+
+The homes of these sparrows are generally composed of a great mass of
+straw and feathers, with the nest in the centre; but the spotted eggs,
+perhaps, show that these birds once built open nests, the dots and marks
+on the eggs being of use in concealing their conspicuous white ground.
+Something seems already to have hinted to Nature that this protection is
+no longer necessary, and we often find eggs almost white, like those of
+woodpeckers and owls, which nest in dark places.
+
+We have all heard of birds flocking together for some mutual benefit--the
+crows, for instance, which travel every winter day across country to
+favourite "roosts." In the heart of a city we can often study this same
+phenomenon of birds gathering together in great flocks. In New York City,
+on One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, there stands a tree--a solitary
+reminder of the forest which once covered all this paved land. To this,
+all winter long, the sparrows begin to flock about four or five o'clock in
+the afternoon. They come singly and in twos and threes until the bare
+limbs are black with them and there seems not room for another bird; but
+still they come, each new arrival diving into the mass of birds and
+causing a local commotion. By seven o'clock there are hundreds of English
+sparrows perching in this one tree. At daylight they are off again,
+whirring away by scores, and in a few minutes the tree is silent and
+empty. The same habit is to be seen in many other cities and towns, for
+thus the birds gain mutual warmth.
+
+Nature will do her best to diminish the number of sparrows and to regain
+the balance, but to do this the sparrow must be brought face to face with
+as many dangers as our wild birds, and although, owing to the sparrows'
+fearlessness of man, this may never happen, yet at least the colour
+protections and other former safeguards are slowly being eliminated. On
+almost every street we may see albino or partly albino birds, such as
+those with white tails or wings. White birds exist in a wild state only
+from some adaptation to their surroundings. A bird which is white simply
+because its need of protection has temporarily ceased, would become the
+prey of the first stray hawk which crossed its path. We cannot hope to
+exterminate the English sparrow even by the most wholesale slaughter, but
+if some species of small hawk or butcher bird could ever become as
+fearless an inhabitant of our cities as these birds, their reduction to
+reasonable numbers would be a matter of only a few months.
+
+                 So dainty in plumage and hue,
+                   A study in gray and brown,
+                 How little, how little we knew
+                   The pest he would prove to the town!
+
+                 From dawn until daylight grows dim,
+                   Perpetual chatter and scold.
+                 No winter migration for him,
+                   Not even afraid of the cold!
+
+                 Scarce a song-bird he fails to molest,
+                   Belligerent, meddlesome thing!
+                 Wherever he goes as a guest
+                   He is sure to remain as a King.
+                                 Mary Isabella Forsyth.
+
+
+
+
+THE PERSONALITY OF TREES
+
+
+How many of us think of trees almost as we do of the rocks and stones
+about us,--as all but inanimate objects, standing in the same relation to
+our earth as does the furry covering of an animal to its owner. The simile
+might be carried out more in detail, the forests protecting the continents
+from drought and flood, even as the coat of fur protects its owner from
+extremes of heat and cold.
+
+When we come to consider the tree as a living individual, a form of life
+contemporaneous with our own, and to realise that it has its birth and
+death, its struggles for life and its periods of peace and abundance, we
+will soon feel for it a keener sympathy and interest and withal a
+veneration greater than it has ever aroused in us before.
+
+Of all living things on earth, a tree binds us most closely to the past.
+Some of the giant tortoises of the Galapagos Islands are thought to be
+four hundred years old and are probably the oldest animals on the earth.
+There is, however, nothing to compare with the majesty and grandeur of the
+Sequoias--the giant redwoods of California--the largest of which, still
+living, reach upward more than one hundred yards above the ground, and
+show, by the number of their rings, that their life began from three to
+five thousand years ago. Our deepest feelings of reverence are aroused
+when we look at a tree which was "one thousand years old when Homer wrote
+the Iliad; fifteen hundred years of age when Aristotle was foreshadowing
+his evolution theory and writing his history of animals; two thousand
+years of age when Christ walked upon earth; nearly four thousand years of
+age when the 'Origin of Species' was written. Thus the life of one of
+these trees spanned the whole period before the birth of Aristotle (384
+B.C.) and after the death of Darwin (A.D. 1882), the two greatest natural
+philosophers who have lived."
+
+Considered not only individually, but taken as a group, the Sequoias are
+among the oldest of the old. Geologically speaking, most of the forms of
+life now in existence are of recent origin, but a full ten million of
+years ago these giant trees were developed almost as highly as they are
+to-day. At the end of the coal period, when the birds and mammals of
+to-day were as yet unevolved, existing only potentially in the scaly,
+reptile-like creatures of those days, the Sequoias waved their needles
+high in air.
+
+In those days these great trees were found over the whole of Canada,
+Greenland, and Siberia, but the relentless onslaught of the Ice Age
+wrought terrible destruction and, like the giant tortoises among reptiles,
+the apteryx among birds, and the bison among mammals, the forlorn hope of
+the great redwoods, making a last stand in a few small groves of
+California, awaits total extinction at the hands of the most terrible of
+Nature's enemies--man. When the last venerable giant trunk has fallen, the
+last axe-stroke which severs the circle of vital sap will cut the only
+thread of individual life which joins in time the beating of our pulses
+to-day with the beginning of human history and philosophy,--thousands of
+years in the past.
+
+Through all the millions of years during which the evolution of modern
+forms of life has been going on, then as now, trees must have entered
+prominently into the environment and lives of the terrestrial animals.
+Ages ago, long before snakes and four-toed horses were even foreshadowed,
+and before the first bird-like creatures had appeared, winged
+reptile-dragons flew about, doubtless roosting or perching on the Triassic
+and Jurassic trees. Perhaps the very pieces of coal which are burned in
+our furnaces once bent and swayed under the weight of these bulky animals.
+Something like six millions of years ago, long-tailed, fluttering birds
+appeared, with lizard-like claws at the bend of their wings and with jaws
+filled with teeth. These creatures were certainly arboreal, spending most
+of their time among the branches of trees. So large were certain great
+sloth-like creatures that they uprooted the trees bodily, in order to feed
+on their succulent leaves, sometimes bending their trunks down until their
+branches were within reach.
+
+On a walk through the woods and fields to-day, how seldom do we find a
+dead insect! When sick and dying, nine out of ten are snapped up by frog,
+lizard, or bird; the few which die a natural death seeming to disintegrate
+into mould within a very short space of time. There is, however, one way
+in which, through the long, long thousands of centuries, insects have been
+preserved. The spicy resin which flowed from the ancient pines attracted
+hosts of insects, which, tempted by their hope of food, met their
+death--caught and slowly but surely enclosed by the viscid sap, each
+antenna and hair as perfect as when the insect was alive. Thus, in this
+strangely fortunate way, we may know and study the insects which, millions
+of years ago, fed on the flowers or bored into the bark of trees. We have
+found no way to improve on Nature in this respect, for to-day when we
+desire to mount a specimen permanently for microscopical work, we imbed it
+in Canada balsam.
+
+If suddenly the earth should be bereft of all trees, there would indeed be
+consternation and despair among many classes of animals. Although in the
+sea there are thousands of creatures, which, by their manner of life, are
+prohibited from ever passing the boundary line between land and water, yet
+many sea-worms, as for example the teredo, or ship-worm, are especially
+fashioned for living in and perhaps feeding on wood, in the shape of stray
+floating trees and branches, the bottoms of ships, and piles of wharves.
+Of course the two latter are supplied by man, but even before his time,
+floating trees at sea must have been plentiful enough to supply homes for
+the whole tribe of these creatures, unless they made their burrows in
+coral or shells.
+
+The insects whose very existence, in some cases, depends upon trees, are
+innumerable. What, for example, would become of the larvæ of the cicada,
+or locust, which, in the cold and darkness of their subterranean life, for
+seventeen years suck the juicy roots of trees; or the caterpillars of the
+moths, spinning high their webs among the leaves; or the countless beetles
+whose grubs bore through and through the trunk their sinuous, sawdusty
+tunnels; or the ichneumon fly, which with an instrument--surgical needle,
+file, augur, and scroll saw all in one--deposits, deep below the bark, its
+eggs in safety? If forced to compete with terrestrial species, the tree
+spiders and scorpions would quickly become exterminated; while especially
+adapted arboreal ants would instantly disappear.
+
+We cannot entirely exclude even fishes from our list; as the absence of
+mangroves would incidentally affect the climbing perch and catfishes! The
+newts and common toads would be in no wise dismayed by the passing of the
+trees, but not so certain tadpoles. Those of our ditches, it is true,
+would live and flourish, but there are, in the world, many curious kinds
+which hatch and grow up into frogs in curled-up leaves or in damp places
+in the forks of branches, and which would find themselves homeless without
+trees. Think, too, of the poor green and brown tree frogs with their
+sucker feet, compelled always to hop along the ground!
+
+Lizards, from tiny swifts to sixty-inch iguanas, would sorely miss the
+trees, while the lithe green tree snakes and the tree boas would have to
+change all their life habits in order to be able to exist. But as for the
+cold, uncanny turtles and alligators,--what are trees to them!
+
+In the evolution of the birds and other animals, the cry of "excelsior"
+has been followed literally as well as theoretically and, with a few
+exceptions, the highest in each class have not only risen above their
+fellows in intelligence and structure, but have left the earth and climbed
+or flown to the tree-tops, making these their chief place of abode.
+
+Many of the birds which find their food at sea, or in the waters of stream
+and lake, repair to the trees for the purpose of building their nests
+among the branches. Such birds are the pelicans, herons, ibises, and
+ospreys; while the wood ducks lay their eggs high above the ground in the
+hollows of trees. Parrots, kingfishers, swifts, and hummingbirds are
+almost helpless on the ground, their feet being adapted for climbing about
+the branches, perching on twigs, or clinging to the hollows of trees.
+Taken as a whole, birds would suffer more than any other class of
+creatures in a deforested world. The woodpeckers would be without home,
+food, and resting-place; except, possibly, the flicker, or high-hole, who
+is either a retrograde or a genius, whichever we may choose to consider
+him, and could live well enough upon ground ants. But as to his nest--he
+would have to sharpen his wits still more to solve successfully the
+question of the woodpecker motto, "What is home without a hollow tree?"
+
+Great gaps would be made in the ranks of the furry creatures--the mammals.
+Opossums and raccoons would find themselves in an embarrassing position,
+and as for the sloths, which never descend to earth, depending for
+protection on their resemblance to leaves and mossy bark, they would be
+wiped out with one fell swoop. The arboreal squirrels might learn to
+burrow, as so many of their near relations have done, but their muscles
+would become cramped from inactivity and their eyes would often strain
+upward for a glimpse of the beloved branches. The bats might take to caves
+and the vampires to outhouses and dark crevices in the rocks, but most of
+the monkeys and apes would soon become extinct, while a chimpanzee or
+orang-utan would become a cripple, swinging ever painfully along between
+the knuckles of crutch-like forearms, searching, searching forever for the
+trees which gave him his form and structure, and without which his life
+and that of his race must abruptly end.
+
+Leaving the relations which trees hold to the animals about them and the
+part which they have played in the evolution of life on the earth in past
+epochs, let us consider some of the more humble trees about us. Not,
+however, from the standpoint of the technical botanist or the scientific
+forester, but from the sympathetic point of view of a living fellow form,
+sharing the same planet, both owing their lives to the same great source
+of all light and heat, and subject to the same extremes of heat and cold,
+storm and drought. How wonderful, when we come to think of it, is a tree,
+to be able to withstand its enemies, elemental and animate, year after
+year, decade after decade, although fast-rooted to one patch of earth. An
+animal flees to shelter at the approach of gale or cyclone, or travels far
+in search of abundant food. Like the giant algæ, ever waving upward from
+the bed of the sea, which depend on the nourishment of the surrounding
+waters, so the tree blindly trusts to Nature to minister to its needs,
+filling its leaves with the light-given greenness, and feeling for
+nutritious salts with the sensitive tips of its innumerable rootlets.
+
+Darwin has taught us, and truly, that a relentless struggle for existence
+is ever going on around us, and although this is most evident to our eyes
+in a terrible death battle between two great beasts of prey, yet it is no
+less real and intense in the case of the bird pouring forth a beautiful
+song, or the delicate violet shedding abroad its perfume. To realise the
+host of enemies ever shadowing the feathered songster and its kind, we
+have only to remember that though four young birds may be hatched in each
+of fifty nests, yet of the two hundred nestlings an average often of but
+one lives to grow to maturity,--to migrate and to return to the region of
+its birth.
+
+And the violet, living, apparently, such a quiet life of humble sweetness?
+Fortunate indeed is it if its tiny treasure of seeds is fertilized, and
+then the chances are a thousand to one that they will grow and ripen only
+to fall by the wayside, or on barren ground, or among the tares.
+
+At first thought, a tree seems far removed from all such struggles. How
+solemn and grand its trunk stands, column-like against the sky! How puny
+and weak we seem beside it! Its sturdy roots, sound wood, and pliant
+branches all spell power. Nevertheless, the old, old struggle is as
+fierce, as unending, here as everywhere. A monarch of the forest has
+gained its supremacy only by a lifelong battle with its own kind and with
+a horde of alien enemies.
+
+From the heart of the tropics to the limit of tree-growth in the northland
+we find the battle of life waged fiercely, root contending with root for
+earth-food, branch with branch for the light which means life.
+
+In a severe wrestling match, the moments of supremest strain are those
+when the opponents are fast-locked, motionless, when the advantage comes,
+not with quickness, but with staying power; and likewise in the struggle
+of tree with tree the fact that one or two years, or even whole decades,
+watch the efforts of the branches to lift their leaves one above the
+other, detracts nothing from the bitterness of the strife.
+
+Far to the north we will sometimes find groves of young balsam firs or
+spruce,--hundreds of the same species of sapling growing so close together
+that a rabbit may not pass between. The slender trunks, almost touching
+each other, are bare of branches. Only at the top is there light and air,
+and the race is ever upward. One year some slight advantage may come to
+one young tree,--some delicate unbalancing of the scales of life, and that
+fortunate individual instantly responds, reaching several slender side
+branches over the heads of his brethren. They as quickly show the effects
+of the lessened light and forthwith the race is at an end. The victor
+shoots up tall and straight, stamping and choking out the lives at his
+side, as surely as if his weapons were teeth and claws instead of delicate
+root-fibres and soughing foliage.
+
+The contest with its fellows is only the first of many. The same elements
+which help to give it being and life are ever ready to catch it unawares,
+to rend it limb from limb, or by patient, long-continued attack bring it
+crashing to the very dust from which sprang the seed.
+
+We see a mighty spruce whose black leafage has waved above its fellows for
+a century or more, paying for its supremacy by the distortion of every
+branch. Such are to be seen clinging to the rocky shores of Fundy, every
+branch and twig curved toward the land; showing the years of battling with
+constant gales and blizzards. Like giant weather-vanes they stand, and,
+though there is no elasticity in their limbs and they are gnarled and
+scarred, yet our hearts warm in admiration of their decades of patient
+watching beside the troubled waters. For years to come they will defy
+every blast the storm god can send against them, until, one wild day, when
+the soil has grown scanty around the roots of one of the weakest, it will
+shiver and tremble at some terrific onslaught of wind and sleet; it will
+fold its branches closer about it and, like the Indian chieftains, who
+perhaps in years past occasionally watched the waters by the side of the
+young sapling, the conquered tree will bow its head for the last time to
+the storm.
+
+Farther inland, sheltered in a narrow valley, stands a sister tree, seeded
+from the same cone as the storm-distorted spruce. The wind shrieks and
+howls above the little valley and cannot enter; but the law of
+compensation brings to bear another element, silent, gentle, but as deadly
+as the howling blast of the gale. All through the long winter the snow
+sifts softly down, finding easy lodgment on the dense-foliaged branches.
+From the surrounding heights the white crystals pour down until the tree
+groans with the massive weight. Her sister above is battling with the
+storm, but hardly a feather's weight of snow clings to her waving limbs.
+
+The compressed, down-bent branches of the valley spruce soon become
+permanently bent and the strain on the trunk fibres is great. At last,
+with a despairing crash, one great limb gives way and is torn bodily from
+its place of growth. The very vitals of the tree are exposed and instantly
+every splintered cell is filled with the sifting snow. Helpless the tree
+stands, and early in the spring, at the first quickening of summer's
+growth, a salve of curative resin is poured upon the wound. But it is too
+late. The invading water has done its work and the elements have begun to
+rot the very heart of the tree. How much more to be desired is the manner
+of life and death of the first spruce, battling to the very last!
+
+A beech seedling which takes root close to the bank of a stream has a good
+chance of surviving, since there will be no competitors on the water side
+and moisture and air will never fail. But look at some ancient beech
+growing thus, whose smooth, whitened hole encloses a century of growth
+rings. Offsetting its advantages, the stream, little by little, has
+undermined the maze of roots and the force of annual freshets has trained
+them all in a down-stream direction. It is an inverted reminder of the
+wind-moulded spruce. Although the stout beech props itself by great roots
+thrown landward, yet, sooner or later, the ripples will filter in beyond
+the centre of gravity and the mighty tree will topple and mingle with its
+shadow-double which for so many years the stream has reflected.
+
+Thus we find that while without moisture no tree could exist, yet the same
+element often brings death. The amphibious mangroves which fringe the
+coral islands of the southern seas hardly attain to the dignity of trees,
+but in the mysterious depths of our southern swamps we find the strangely
+picturesque cypresses, which defy the waters about them. One cannot say
+where trunk ends and root begins, but up from the stagnant slime rise
+great arched buttresses, so that the tree seems to be supported on giant
+six- or eight-legged stools, between the arches of which the water flows
+and finds no chance to use its power. Here, in these lonely
+solitudes,--heron-haunted, snake-infested,--the hanging moss and orchids
+search out every dead limb and cover it with an unnatural greenness. Here,
+great lichens grow and a myriad tropical insects bore and tunnel their way
+from bark to heart of tree and back again. Here, in the blackness of
+night, when the air is heavy with hot, swampy odours, and only the
+occasional squawk of a heron or cry of some animal is heard, a rending,
+grinding, crashing, breaks suddenly upon the stillness, a distant boom and
+splash, awakening every creature. Then the silence again closes down and
+we know that a cypress, perhaps linking a trio of centuries, has yielded
+up its life.
+
+Leaving the hundred other mysteries which the trees of the tropics might
+unfold, let us consider for a moment the danger which the tall, successful
+tree invites,--the penalty which it pays for having surpassed all its
+other brethren. It preeminently attracts the bolts of Jove and the lesser
+trees see a blinding flash, hear a rending of heart wood, and when the
+storm has passed, the tree, before perfect in trunk, limbs, and foliage,
+is now but a heap of charred splinters.
+
+Many a great willow overhanging the banks of a wide river could tell
+interesting tales of the scars on its trunk. That lower wound was a deep
+gash cut by some Indian, perhaps to direct a war-party making their way
+through the untrodden wilderness; this bare, unsightly patch was burnt out
+by the signal fire of one of our forefather pioneers. And so on and on the
+story would unfold, until the topmost, freshly sawed-off limb had for its
+purpose only the desire of the present owner for a clearer view of the
+water beyond.
+
+Finally we come to the tree best beloved of us in the north,--the
+carefully grafted descendant of some sour little wild crab-apple. A
+faithful servant indeed has the monarch of the old orchard proved. It has
+fed us and our fathers before us, and its gnarled trunk and low-hanging
+branches tell the story of the rosy fruit which has weighed down its limbs
+year after year. Old age has laid a heavy hand upon it, but not until the
+outermost twig has ceased to blossom, and its death, unlike that of its
+wild kindred, has come silently and peacefully, do we give the order to
+have the tree felled. Even in its death it serves us, giving back from the
+open hearth the light and heat which it has stored up throughout the
+summers of many years.
+
+Let us give more thought to the trees about us, and when possible succour
+them in distress, straighten the bent sapling, remove the parasitic
+lichen, and give them the best chance for a long, patient, strong life.
+
+             In the far North stands a Pine-tree, lone,
+               Upon a wintry height;
+             It sleeps; around it snows have thrown
+               A covering of white.
+
+             It dreams forever of a Palm
+               That, far i' the morning-land,
+             Stands silent in a most sad calm
+               Midst of the burning sand.
+
+               (_From the German of Heine._) SIDNEY LANIER.
+
+
+
+
+AN OWL OF THE NORTH
+
+
+It is mid-winter, and from the northland a blizzard of icy winds and
+swirling snow crystals is sweeping with fury southward over woods and
+fields. We sit in our warm room before the crackling log fire and listen
+to the shriek of the gale and wonder how it fares with the little bundles
+of feathers huddled among the cedar branches.
+
+We picture to ourselves all the wild kindred sheltered from the raging
+storm; the gray squirrels rocking in their lofty nests of leaves; the
+chipmunks snug underground; the screech owls deep in the hollow apple
+trees, all warm and dry.
+
+But there are those for whom the blizzard has no terrors. Far to the north
+on the barren wastes of Labrador, where the gale first comes in from the
+sea and gathers strength as it comes, a great owl flaps upward and on
+broad pinions, white as the driving snowflakes, sweeps southward with the
+storm. Now over ice-bound river or lake, or rushing past a myriad dark
+spires of spruce, then hovering wonderingly over a multitude of lights
+from the streets of some town, the strong Arctic bird forges southward,
+until one night, if we only knew, we might open our window and, looking
+upward, see two great yellow eyes apparently hanging in space, the body
+and wings of the bird in snow-white plumage lost amidst the flakes. We
+thrill in admiration at the grand bird, so fearless of the raging
+elements.
+
+Only the coldest and fiercest storms will tempt him from the north, and
+then not because he fears snow or cold, but in order to keep within reach
+of the snowbirds which form his food. He seeks for places where a less
+severe cold encourages small birds to be abroad, or where the snow's crust
+is less icy, through which the field mice may bore their tunnels, and run
+hither and thither in the moonlight, pulling down the weeds and cracking
+their frames of ice. Heedless of passing clouds, these little rodents
+scamper about, until a darker, swifter shadow passes, and the feathered
+talons of the snowy owl close over the tiny, shivering bundle of fur.
+
+Occasionally after such a storm, one may come across this white owl in
+some snowy field, hunting in broad daylight; and that must go down as a
+red-letter day, to be remembered for years.
+
+What would one not give to know of his adventures since he left the far
+north. What stories he could tell of hunts for the ptarmigan,--those
+Arctic fowl, clad in plumage as white as his own; or the little kit foxes,
+or the seals and polar bears playing the great game of life and death
+among the grinding icebergs!
+
+His visit to us is a short one. Comes the first hint of a thaw and he has
+vanished like a melting snowflake, back to his home and his mate. There in
+a hollow in the half-frozen Iceland moss, in February, as many as ten
+fuzzy little snowy owlets may grow up in one nest,--all as hardy and
+beautiful and brave as their great fierce-eyed parents.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Log of the Sun, by William Beebe
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diff --git a/26516-8.zip b/26516-8.zip
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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+<title>
+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Log of the Sun, by William Beebe.
+</title>
+
+<style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
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+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Log of the Sun, by William Beebe
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Log of the Sun
+       A Chronicle of Nature's Year
+
+Author: William Beebe
+
+Release Date: September 3, 2008 [EBook #26516]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOG OF THE SUN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/illus-fpc.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 290px; height: 446px;' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 290px;'>
+Frontispiece<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:0.8em; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:;'>FRONTISPIECE BY</p>
+<p style=' font-size:0.8em; margin-top:; margin-bottom:2em;'>WALTER KING STONE</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='minor' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:2.2em; margin-top:; margin-bottom:;'>THE LOG</p>
+<p style=' font-size:2.2em; margin-top:; margin-bottom:;'>OF THE SUN</p>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-top:; margin-bottom:1em; font-style:italic;'>A Chronicle of Nature&#8217;s Year</p>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2; margin-top:; margin-bottom:2em;'>By WILLIAM BEEBE</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/illus-emb.png' alt='' title=''  /><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:;'>GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING CO., INC.</p>
+<p style=' font-size:0.8em; margin-top:; margin-bottom:;'>GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce' style=' font-size:0.8em;'>
+<p>COPYRIGHT, 1906,</p>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<p>BY</p>
+<p>HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY</p>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<p>PRINTED IN THE</p>
+<p>UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce' style=' font-size:0.8em;'>
+<p>TO MY</p>
+<p>Mother and Father</p>
+<p>WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT AND SYMPATHY</p>
+<p>GAVE IMPETUS AND PURPOSE TO</p>
+<p>A BOY&#8217;S LOVE OF NATURE</p>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em;'>PREFACE</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In the fifty-two short essays of this volume I
+have presented familiar objects from unusual
+points of view. Bird&#8217;s-eye glances and insect&#8217;s-eye
+glances, at the nature of our woods and fields,
+will reveal beauties which are wholly invisible
+from the usual human view-point, five feet or
+more above the ground.</p>
+<p>Who follows the lines must expect to find
+moods as varying as the seasons; to face storm
+and night and cold, and all other delights of what
+wildness still remains to us upon the earth.</p>
+<p>Emphasis has been laid upon the weak points
+in our knowledge of things about us, and the
+principal desire of the author is to inspire enthusiasm
+in those whose eyes are just opening to
+the wild beauties of God&#8217;s out-of-doors, to gather
+up and follow to the end some of these frayed-out
+threads of mystery.</p>
+<p>Portions of the text have been published at
+various times in the pages of &#8220;Outing,&#8221; &#8220;Recreation,&#8221;
+&#8220;The Golden Age,&#8221; &#8220;The New York
+Evening Post,&#8221; and &#8220;The New York Tribune.&#8221;</p>
+<div class='ra'>
+<p>C. W. B.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em; margin-bottom:1em;'>Contents</p>
+</div>
+
+<table border='0' width='500' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto;'>
+<tr>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small;'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small;'>PAGE</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan='2' align='center'>JANUARY</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Birds of the Snow</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#BIRDS_OF_THE_SNOW'>3</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Winter Marvels</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#WINTER_MARVELS'>10</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Cedar Birds and Berries</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CEDAR_BIRDS_AND_BERRIES'>16</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Dark Days of Insect Life</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_DARK_DAYS_OF_INSECT_LIFE'>20</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Chameleons in Fur and Feather</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAMELEONS_IN_FUR_AND_FEATHER'>25</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan='2' align='center'>FEBRUARY</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>February Feathers</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#FEBRUARY_FEATHERS'>31</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Fish Life</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#FISH_LIFE'>37</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Tenants of Winter Birds&#8217; Nests</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#TENANTS_OF_WINTER_BIRDS__NESTS'>44</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Winter Holes</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#WINTER_HOLES'>48</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan='2' align='center'>MARCH</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Feathered Pioneers</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#FEATHERED_PIONEERS'>55</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Ways of Meadow Mice</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_WAYS_OF_MEADOW_MICE'>61</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Problems of Bird Life</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#PROBLEMS_OF_BIRD_LIFE'>65</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Dwellers in the Dust</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#DWELLERS_IN_THE_DUST'>71</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan='2' align='center'>APRIL</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Spring Songsters</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#SPRING_SONGSTERS'>75</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Simple Art of Sapsucking</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_SIMPLE_ART_OF_SAPSUCKING'>81</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Wild Wings</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#WILD_WINGS'>85</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Birds in the Moon</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_BIRDS_IN_THE_MOON'>88</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan='2' align='center'>MAY</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The High Tide of Bird Life</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_HIGH_TIDE_OF_BIRD_LIFE'>91</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Animal Fashions</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#ANIMAL_FASHIONS'>97</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Polliwog Problems</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#POLLIWOG_PROBLEMS'>102</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Insect Pirates And Submarines</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#INSECT_PIRATES_AND_SUBMARINES'>105</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Victory Of The Nighthawk</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_VICTORY_OF_THE_NIGHTHAWK'>109</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan='2' align='center'>JUNE</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Gala Days Of Birds</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_GALA_DAYS_OF_BIRDS'>113</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Turtle Traits</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#TURTLE_TRAITS'>118</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>A Half-Hour In A Marsh</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#A_HALFHOUR_IN_A_MARSH'>124</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Secrets Of The Ocean</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#SECRETS_OF_THE_OCEAN'>129</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan='2' align='center'>JULY</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Birds In A City</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#BIRDS_IN_A_CITY'>153</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Night Music Of The Swamp</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#NIGHT_MUSIC_OF_THE_SWAMP'>160</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Coming Of Man</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_COMING_OF_MAN'>167</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Silent Language Of Animals</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_SILENT_LANGUAGE_OF_ANIMALS'>170</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Insect Music</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#INSECT_MUSIC'>176</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan='2' align='center'>AUGUST</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Gray Days Of Birds</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_GRAY_DAYS_OF_BIRDS'>181</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Lives Of The Lantern Bearers</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#LIVES_OF_THE_LANTERN_BEARERS'>188</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>A Starfish And A Daisy</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#A_STARFISH_AND_A_DAISY'>191</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Dream Of The Yellow-Throat</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_DREAM_OF_THE_YELLOWTHROAT'>195</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan='2' align='center'>SEPTEMBER</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Passing Of The Flocks</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_PASSING_OF_THE_FLOCKS'>199</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Ghosts Of The Earth</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#GHOSTS_OF_THE_EARTH'>204</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Muskrats</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#MUSKRATS'>207</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Nature&#8217;s Geometricians</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#NATURE_S_GEOMETRICIANS'>210</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan='2' align='center'>OCTOBER</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Autumn Hunting With A Field Glass</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#AUTUMN_HUNTING_WITH_A_FIELD_GLASS'>217</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>A Woodchuck And A Grebe</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#A_WOODCHUCK_AND_A_GREBE'>223</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Voice of Animals</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_VOICE_OF_ANIMALS'>227</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Names Of Animals, Frogs, and Fish</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_NAMES_OF_ANIMALS_FROGS_AND_FISH'>234</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Dying Year</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_DYING_YEAR'>246</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan='2' align='center'>NOVEMBER</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>November&#8217;s Birds of the Heavens</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#NOVEMBER_S_BIRDS_OF_THE_HEAVENS'>249</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>A Plea for the Skunk</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#A_PLEA_FOR_THE_SKUNK'>255</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Lesson Of The Wave</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_LESSON_OF_THE_WAVE'>258</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>We Go A-Sponging</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#WE_GO_ASPONGING'>262</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan='2' align='center'>DECEMBER</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>New Thoughts About Nests</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#NEW_THOUGHTS_ABOUT_NESTS'>269</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Lessons From An English Sparrow</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#LESSONS_FROM_AN_ENGLISH_SPARROW'>275</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Personality Of Trees</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_PERSONALITY_OF_TREES'>281</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>An Owl Of The North</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#AN_OWL_OF_THE_NORTH'>297</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>A fiery mist and a planet,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>A crystal and a cell;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>A jelly fish and a saurian,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>And the caves where the cave men dwell;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Then a sense of law and beauty</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>And a face turned from the clod,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Some call it evolution,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>And others call it God.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>W. H. Carruth.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>JANUARY</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='BIRDS_OF_THE_SNOW' id='BIRDS_OF_THE_SNOW'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3' name='page_3'></a>3</span>
+<h2>BIRDS OF THE SNOW</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>No fact of natural history is more interesting,
+or more significant of the poetry of evolution,
+than the distribution of birds over the entire
+surface of the world. They have overcome countless
+obstacles, and adapted themselves to all conditions.
+The last faltering glance which the Arctic
+explorer sends toward his coveted goal, ere he
+admits defeat, shows flocks of snow buntings
+active with warm life; the storm-tossed mariner
+in the midst of the sea, is followed, encircled, by
+the steady, tireless flight of the albatross; the
+fever-stricken wanderer in tropical jungles listens
+to the sweet notes of birds amid the stagnant
+pools; while the thirsty traveller in the desert is
+ever watched by the distant buzzards. Finally
+when the intrepid climber, at the risk of life and
+limb, has painfully made his way to the summit
+of the most lofty peak, far, far above him, in the
+blue expanse of thin air, he can distinguish the
+form of a majestic eagle or condor.</p>
+<p>At the approach of winter the flowers and
+insects about us die, but most of the birds take
+wing and fly to a more temperate climate, while
+their place is filled with others which have spent
+the summer farther to the north. Thus without
+stirring from our doorway we may become
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4' name='page_4'></a>4</span>
+acquainted with many species whose summer
+homes are hundreds of miles away.</p>
+<p>No time is more propitious or advisable for the
+amateur bird lover to begin his studies than the
+first of the year. Bird life is now reduced to its
+simplest terms in numbers and species, and the
+absence of concealing foliage, together with the
+usual tameness of winter birds, makes identification
+an easy matter.</p>
+<p>In January and the succeeding month we have
+with us birds which are called permanent residents,
+which do not leave us throughout the entire
+year; and, in addition, the winter visitors which
+have come to us from the far north.</p>
+<p>In the uplands we may flush ruffed grouse from
+their snug retreats in the snow; while in the weedy
+fields, many a fairy trail shows where bob-white
+has passed, and often he will announce his own
+name from the top of a rail fence. The grouse
+at this season have a curious outgrowth of horny
+scales along each side of the toes, which, acting
+as a tiny snowshoe, enables them to walk on soft
+snow with little danger of sinking through.</p>
+<p>Few of our winter birds can boast of bright
+colours; their garbs are chiefly grays and browns,
+but all have some mark or habit or note by which
+they can be at once named. For example, if you
+see a mouse hitching spirally up a tree-trunk, a
+closer look will show that it is a brown creeper,
+seeking tiny insects and their eggs in the crevices
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5' name='page_5'></a>5</span>
+of the trunk. He looks like a small piece of the
+roughened bark which has suddenly become animated.
+His long tail props him up and his tiny
+feet never fail to find a foothold. Our winter
+birds go in flocks, and where we see a brown
+creeper we are almost sure to find other birds.</p>
+<p>Nuthatches are those blue-backed, white or
+rufous breasted little climbers who spend their
+lives defying the law of gravity. They need no
+supporting tail, and have only the usual number
+of eight toes, but they traverse the bark, up or
+down, head often pointing toward the ground,
+as if their feet were small vacuum cups. Their
+note is an odd nasal <i>nyêh!</i> <i>nyêh!</i></p>
+<p>In winter some one species of bird usually predominates,
+most often, perhaps, it is the black-capped
+chickadee. They seem to fill every grove,
+and, if you take your stand in the woods, flock
+after flock will pass in succession. What good
+luck must have come to the chickadee race during
+the preceding summer? Was some one of their
+enemies stricken with a plague, or did they show
+more than usual care in the selecting of their
+nesting holes? Whatever it was, during such a
+year, it seems certain that scores more of chickadee
+babies manage to live to grow up than is
+usually the case. These little fluffs are, in their
+way, as remarkable acrobats as are the nuthatches,
+and it is a marvel how the very thin legs,
+with their tiny sliver of bone and thread of tendon,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6' name='page_6'></a>6</span>
+can hold the body of the bird in almost any position,
+while the vainly hidden clusters of insect
+eggs are pried into. Without ceasing a moment
+in their busy search for food, the fluffy feathered
+members of the flock call to each other, &#8220;<i>Chick-a-chick-a-dee-dee!</i>&#8221;
+but now and then the heart of
+some little fellow bubbles over, and he rests an
+instant, sending out a sweet, tender, high call, a
+&#8220;<i>Ph&oelig;-be!</i>&#8221; love note, which warms our ears in
+the frosty air and makes us feel a real affection
+for the brave little mites.</p>
+<p>Our song sparrow is, like the poor, always with
+us, at least near the coast, but we think none the
+less of him for that, and besides, that fact is true
+in only one sense. A ripple in a stream may be
+seen day after day, and yet the water forming it
+is never the same, it is continually flowing onward.
+This is usually the case with song sparrows and
+with most other birds which are present summer
+and winter. The individual sparrows which flit
+from bush to bush, or slip in and out of the brush
+piles in January, have doubtless come from some
+point north of us, while the song sparrows of our
+summer walks are now miles to the southward.
+Few birds remain the entire year in the locality
+in which they breed, although the southward
+movement may be a very limited one. When birds
+migrate so short a distance, they are liable to be
+affected in colour and size by the temperature
+and dampness of their respective areas; and so
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7' name='page_7'></a>7</span>
+we find that in North America there are as many
+as twenty-two races of song sparrows, to each of
+which has been given a scientific name. When you
+wish to speak of our northeastern song sparrow
+in the latest scientific way, you must say
+<i>Melospiza cinerea melodia</i>, which tells us that it
+is a melodious song finch, ashy or brown in colour.</p>
+<p>Our winter sparrows are easy to identify. The
+song sparrow may, of course, be known by the
+streaks of black and brown upon his breast and
+sides, and by the blotch which these form in the
+centre of the breast. The tree sparrow, which
+comes to us from Hudson Bay and Labrador,
+lacks the stripes, but has the centre spot. This is
+one of our commonest field birds in winter, notwithstanding
+his name.</p>
+<p>The most omnipresent and abundant of all our
+winter visitors from the north are the juncos, or
+snowbirds. Slate coloured above and white below,
+perfectly describes these birds, although their distinguishing
+mark, visible a long way off, is the
+white V in their tails, formed by several white
+outer feathers on each side. The sharp chirps of
+juncos are heard before the ice begins to form,
+and they stay with us all winter.</p>
+<p>We have called the junco a snowbird, but this
+name should really be confined to a black and
+white bunting which comes south only with a mid-winter&#8217;s
+rush of snowflakes. Their warm little
+bodies nestle close to the white crystals, and they
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8' name='page_8'></a>8</span>
+seek cheerfully for the seeds which nature has
+provided for them. Then a thaw comes, and they
+disappear as silently and mysteriously as if they
+had melted with the flakes; but doubtless they are
+far to the northward, hanging on the outskirts of
+the Arctic storms, and giving way only when every
+particle of food is frozen tight, the ground covered
+deep with snow, and the panicled seed clusters
+locked in crystal frames of ice.</p>
+<p>The feathers of these Arctic wanderers are
+perfect non-conductors of heat and of cold, and
+never a chill reaches their little frames until
+hunger presses. Then they must find food and
+quickly, or they die. When these snowflakes first
+come to us they are tinged with gray and brown,
+but gradually through the winter their colours
+become more clear-cut and brilliant, until, when
+spring comes, they are garbed in contrasting
+black and white. With all this change, however,
+they leave never a feather with us, but only the
+minute brown tips of the feather vanes, which, by
+wearing away, leave exposed the clean new
+colours beneath.</p>
+<p>Thus we find that there are problems innumerable
+to verify and to solve, even when the tide of
+the year&#8217;s life is at its lowest ebb.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>From out the white and pulsing storm</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>I hear the snowbirds calling;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>The sheeted winds stalk o&#8217;er the hills,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>And fast the snow is falling.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9' name='page_9'></a>9</span></div>
+<br />
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>On twinkling wings they eddy past,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>At home amid the drifting,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Or seek the hills and weedy fields</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Where fast the snow is sifting.</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Their coats are dappled white and brown</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Like fields in winter weather,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>But on the azure sky they float</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Like snowflakes knit together.</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>I&#8217;ve heard them on the spotless hills</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Where fox and hound were playing,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>The while I stood with eager ear</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Bent on the distant baying.</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>The unmown fields are their preserves,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Where weeds and grass are seeding;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>They know the lure of distant stacks</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Where houseless herds are feeding.</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>John Burroughs.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='WINTER_MARVELS' id='WINTER_MARVELS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10' name='page_10'></a>10</span>
+<h2>WINTER MARVELS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Let us suppose that a heavy snow has fallen
+and that we have been a-birding in vain.
+For once it seems as if all the birds had gone the
+way of the butterflies. But we are not true bird-lovers
+unless we can substitute nature for bird
+whenever the occasion demands; specialisation is
+only for the ultra-scientist.</p>
+<p>There is more to be learned in a snowy field
+than volumes could tell. There is the tangle of
+footprints to unravel, the history of the pastimes
+and foragings and tragedies of the past night
+writ large and unmistakable. Though the sun now
+shines brightly, we can well imagine the cold darkness
+of six hours ago; we can reconstruct the
+whole scene from those tiny tracks, showing frantic
+leaps, the indentation of two wing-tips,&mdash;a
+speck of blood. But let us take a bird&#8217;s-eye view
+of things, from a bird&#8217;s-head height; that is, lie
+flat upon a board or upon the clean, dry crystals
+and see what wonders we have passed by all our
+lives.</p>
+<p>Take twenty square feet of snow with a streamlet
+through the centre, and we have an epitome of
+geological processes and conditions. With chin
+upon mittens and mittens upon the crust, the eye
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span>
+opens upon a new world. The half-covered rivulet
+becomes a monster glacier-fed stream, rushing
+down through grand canyons and caves, hung with
+icy stalactites. Bit by bit the walls are undermined
+and massive icebergs become detached and
+are whirled away. As for moraines, we have them
+in plenty; only the windrows of thousands upon
+thousands of tiny seeds of which they are composed,
+are not permanent, but change their form
+and position with every strong gust of wind. And
+with every gust too their numbers increase, the
+harvest of the weeds being garnered here, upon
+barren ground. No wonder the stream will be
+hidden from view next summer, when the myriad
+seeds sprout and begin to fight upward for light
+and air.</p>
+<p>If we cannot hope for polar bears to complete
+our Arctic scene, we may thrill at the sight of a
+sinuous weasel, winding his way among the
+weeds; and if we look in vain for swans, we at
+least may rejoice in a whirling, white flock of snow
+buntings.</p>
+<p>A few flakes fall gently upon our sleeve and
+another world opens before us. A small hand-lens
+will be of service, although sharp eyes may
+dispense with it. Gather a few recently fallen
+flakes upon a piece of black cloth, and the lens will
+reveal jewels more beautiful than any ever
+fashioned by the hand of man. Six-pointed crystals,
+always hexagonal, of a myriad patterns,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12' name='page_12'></a>12</span>
+leave us lost in wonderment when we look out over
+the white landscape and think of the hidden beauty
+of it all. The largest glacier of Greenland or
+Alaska is composed wholly of just such crystals
+whose points have melted and which have become
+ice.</p>
+<p>We may draw or photograph scores of these
+beautiful crystals and never duplicate a figure.
+Some are almost solid and tabular, others are
+simple stars or fern-branched. Then we may
+detect compound forms, crystals within crystals,
+and, rarest of all, doubles, where two different
+forms appear as joined together by a tiny pillar.
+In all of these we have an epitome of the crystals
+of the rocks beneath our feet, only in their case
+the pressure has moulded them into straight columns,
+while the snow, forming unhindered in midair,
+resolves itself into these exquisite forms and
+floral designs. Flowers and rocks are not so very
+unlike after all.</p>
+<p>Few of us can observe these wonderful forms
+without feeling the poetry of it all. Thoreau on
+the fifth day of January, 1856, writes as follows:...
+&#8220;The thin snow now driving from the north
+and lodging on my coat consists of those beautiful
+star crystals, not cottony and chubby spokes
+as on the 13th of December, but thin and partly
+transparent crystals. They are about one tenth
+of an inch in diameter, perfect little wheels with
+six spokes, without a tire, or rather with six perfect
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span>
+little leaflets, fern-like, with a distinct,
+straight, slender midrib raying from the centre.
+On each side of each midrib there is a transparent,
+thin blade with a crenate edge. How full of the
+creative genius is the air in which these are generated!
+I should hardly admire more if real stars
+fell and lodged on my coat. Nature is full of
+genius, full of the divinity, so that not a snowflake
+escapes its fashioning hand. Nothing is
+cheap and coarse, neither dewdrops nor snowflakes.
+Soon the storm increases (it was already
+very severe to face), and the snow becomes finer,
+more white and powdery.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Who knows but this is the original form of all
+snowflakes, but that, when I observe these crystal
+stars falling around me, they are only just generated
+in the low mist next the earth. I am nearer
+to the source of the snow, its primal auroral, and
+golden hour of infancy; commonly the flakes reach
+us travel-worn and agglomerated, comparatively,
+without order or beauty, far down in their fall,
+like men in their advanced age. As for the circumstances
+under which this occurs, it is quite
+cold, and the driving storm is bitter to face, though
+very little snow is falling. It comes almost horizontally
+from the north.... A divinity must
+have stirred within them, before the crystals did
+thus shoot and set: wheels of the storm chariots.
+The same law that shapes the earth and the stars
+shapes the snowflake. Call it rather snow star.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span>
+As surely as the petals of a flower are numbered,
+each of these countless snow stars comes whirling
+to earth, pronouncing thus with emphasis the
+number six, order,
+&amp;kappa;&amp;omicron;&amp;sigma;&amp;mu;&amp;omicron;&amp;sigmaf;.
+This was the beginning
+of a storm which reached far and wide, and
+elsewhere was more severe than here. On the
+Saskatchewan, where no man of science is present
+to behold, still down they come, and not the less
+fulfil their destiny, perchance melt at once on the
+Indian&#8217;s face. What a world we live in, where
+myriads of these little discs, so beautiful to the
+most prying eye, are whirled down on every
+traveller&#8217;s coat, the observant and the unobservant,
+on the restless squirrel&#8217;s fur, on the far-stretching
+fields and forests, the wooded dells and
+the mountain tops. Far, far away from the haunts
+of men, they roll down some little slope, fall over
+and come to their bearings, and melt or lose their
+beauty in the mass, ready anon to swell some little
+rill with their contribution, and so, at last, the
+universal ocean from which they came. There
+they lie, like the wreck of chariot wheels after a
+battle in the skies. Meanwhile the meadow mouse
+shoves them aside in his gallery, the schoolboy
+casts them in his ball, or the woodman&#8217;s sled
+glides smoothly over them, these glorious
+spangles, the sweepings of heaven&#8217;s floor. And
+they all sing, melting as they sing, of the mysteries
+of the number six; six, six, six. He takes up the
+waters of the sea in his hand, leaving the salt; he
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span>
+disperses it in mist through the skies; he re-collects
+and sprinkles it like grain in six-rayed snowy
+stars over the earth, there to lie till he dissolves
+its bonds again.&#8221;</p>
+<p>But here is a bit of snow which seems less pure,
+with grayish patches here and there. Down again
+to sparrow-level and bring the glass to bear.
+Your farmer friend will tell you that they are
+snow-fleas which are snowed down with the flakes;
+the entomologist will call them <i>Achorutes nivicola</i>
+and he knows that they have prosaically wiggled
+their way from the crevices of bark on the nearest
+tree-trunk. One&#8217;s thrill of pleasure at this unexpected
+discovery will lead one to adopt sparrow-views
+whenever larger game is lacking.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>I walked erstwhile upon thy frozen waves,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>And heard the streams amid thy ice-locked caves;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>I peered down thy crevasses blue and dim,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Standing in awe upon the dizzy rim.</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Beyond me lay the inlet still and blue,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Behind, the mountains loomed upon the view</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Like storm-wraiths gathered from the low-hung sky.</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>A gust of wind swept past with heavy sigh,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>And lo! I listened to the ice-stream&#8217;s song</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Of winter when the nights grow dark and long,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>And bright stars flash above thy fields of snow,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>The cold waste sparkling in the pallid glow.</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Charles Keeler.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='CEDAR_BIRDS_AND_BERRIES' id='CEDAR_BIRDS_AND_BERRIES'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span>
+<h2>CEDAR BIRDS AND BERRIES</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Keep sharp eyes upon the cedar groves in
+mid-winter, and sooner or later you will see
+the waxwings come, not singly or in pairs, but by
+dozens, and sometimes in great flocks. They will
+well repay all the watching one gives them. The
+cedar waxwing is a strange bird, with a very pronounced
+species-individuality, totally unlike any
+other bird of our country. When feeding on their
+favourite winter berries, these birds show to great
+advantage; the warm rich brown of the upper
+parts and of the crest contrasting with the black,
+scarlet, and yellow, and these, in turn, with the
+dark green of the cedar and the white of the snow.</p>
+<p>The name waxwing is due to the scarlet ornaments
+at the tips of the lesser flight feathers and
+some of the tail feathers, which resemble bits of
+red sealing wax, but which are really the bare,
+flattened ends of the feather shafts. Cherry-bird
+is another name which is appropriately applied to
+the cedar waxwing.</p>
+<p>These birds are never regular in their movements,
+and they come and go without heed to
+weather or date. They should never be lightly
+passed by, but their flocks carefully examined, lest
+among their ranks may be hidden a Bohemian
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span>
+chatterer&mdash;a stately waxwing larger than common
+and even more beautiful in hue, whose large
+size and splashes of white upon its wings will
+always mark it out.</p>
+<p>This bird is one of our rarest of rare visitors,
+breeding in the far north; and even in its nest and
+eggs mystery enshrouds it. Up to fifty years ago,
+absolutely nothing was known of its nesting
+habits, although during migration Bohemian chatterers
+are common all over Europe. At last Lapland
+was found to be their home, and a nest has
+been found in Alaska and several others in Labrador.
+My only sight of these birds was of a pair
+perched in an elm tree in East Orange, New Jersey;
+but I will never forget it, and will never
+cease to hope for another such red-letter day.</p>
+<p>The movements of the cedar waxwings are as
+uncertain in summer as they are in winter; they
+may be common in one locality for a year or two,
+and then, apparently without reason, desert it. At
+this season they feed on insects instead of berries,
+and may be looked for in small flocks in orchard
+or wood. The period of nesting is usually late,
+and, in company with the goldfinches, they do not
+begin their housekeeping until July and August.
+Unlike other birds, waxwings will build their nests
+of almost anything near at hand, and apparently
+in any growth which takes their fancy,&mdash;apple,
+oak, or cedar. The nests are well constructed,
+however, and often, with their contents, add
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18' name='page_18'></a>18</span>
+another background of a most pleasing harmony
+of colours. A nest composed entirely of pale
+green hanging moss, with eggs of bluish gray,
+spotted and splashed with brown and black,
+guarded by a pair of these exquisite birds, is a
+sight to delight the eye.</p>
+<p>When the young have left the nest, if alarmed
+by an intruder, they will frequently, trusting to
+their protective dress of streaky brown, freeze
+into most unbird-like attitudes, drawing the
+feathers close to the body and stretching the neck
+stiffly upward,&mdash;almost bittern-like. Undoubtedly
+other interesting habits which these strangely
+picturesque birds may possess are still awaiting
+discovery by some enthusiastic observer with a
+pair of opera-glasses and a stock of that ever
+important characteristic&mdash;patience.</p>
+<p>Although, during the summer months, myriads
+of insects are killed and eaten by the cedar waxwings,
+yet these birds are preeminently berry
+eaters,&mdash;choke-cherries, cedar berries, blueberries,
+and raspberries being preferred. Watch a
+flock of these birds in a cherry tree, and you will
+see the pits fairly rain down. We need not place
+our heads, <i>à la</i> Newton, in the path of these falling
+stones to deduce some interesting facts,&mdash;indeed
+to solve the very destiny of the fruit. Many whole
+cherries are carried away by the birds to be devoured
+elsewhere, or we may see parent waxwing
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span>
+filling their gullets with ten or a dozen berries and
+carrying them to the eager nestlings.</p>
+<p>Thus is made plain the why and the wherefore
+of the coloured skin, the edible flesh, and the hidden
+stone of the fruit. The conspicuous racemes
+of the choke-cherries, or the shining scarlet globes
+of the cultivated fruit, fairly shout aloud to the
+birds&mdash;&#8220;Come and eat us, we&#8217;re as good as we
+look!&#8221; But Mother Nature looks on and laughs
+to herself. Thistle seeds are blown to the land&#8217;s
+end by the wind; the heavier ticks and burrs are
+carried far and wide upon the furry coats of passing
+creatures; but the cherry could not spread its
+progeny beyond a branch&#8217;s length, were it not for
+the ministrations of birds. With birds, as with
+some other bipeds, the shortest way to the heart
+is through the stomach, and a choke-cherry tree
+in full blaze of fruit is always a natural aviary.
+Where a cedar bird has built its nest, there look
+some day to see a group of cherry trees; where
+convenient fence-perches along the roadside lead
+past cedar groves, there hope before long to see
+a bird-planted avenue of cedars. And so the marvels
+of Nature go on evolving,&mdash;wheels within
+wheels.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_DARK_DAYS_OF_INSECT_LIFE' id='THE_DARK_DAYS_OF_INSECT_LIFE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span>
+<h2>THE DARK DAYS OF INSECT LIFE</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Sometimes by too close and confining study
+of things pertaining to the genus <i>Homo</i>, we
+perchance find ourselves complacently wondering
+if we have not solved almost all the problems of
+this little whirling sphere of water and earth. Our
+minds turn to the ultra questions of atoms and
+ions and rays and our eyes strain restlessly upward
+toward our nearest planet neighbour, in
+half admission that we must soon take up the
+study of Mars from sheer lack of earthly conquest.</p>
+<p>If so minded, hie you to the nearest grove and,
+digging down through the mid-winter&#8217;s snow,
+bring home a spadeful of leaf-mould. Examine
+it carefully with hand-lens and microscope, and
+then prophesy what warmth and light will bring
+forth. &#8220;Watch the unfolding life of plant and animal,
+and then come from your planet-yearning
+back to earth, with a humbleness born of a realisation
+of our vast ignorance of the commonest things
+about us.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Though the immediate mysteries of the seed and
+the egg baffle us, yet the most casual lover of
+God&#8217;s out-of-doors may hopefully attempt to solve
+the question of some of the winter homes of
+insects. Think of the thousands upon thousands
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span>
+of eggs and pupæ which are hidden in every
+grove; what catacombs of bug mummies yonder
+log conceals,&mdash;mummies whose resurrection will
+be brought about by the alchemy of thawing sunbeams.
+Follow out the suggestion hinted at above
+and place a handkerchief full of frozen mould or
+decayed wood in a white dish, and the tiny universe
+which will gradually unfold before you will
+provide many hours of interest. But remember
+your responsibilities in so doing, and do not let
+the tiny plant germs languish and die for want
+of water, or the feeble, newly-hatched insects
+perish from cold or lack a bit of scraped meat.</p>
+<p>Cocoons are another never-ending source of
+delight. If you think that there are no unsolved
+problems of the commonest insect life around us,
+say why it is that the moths and millers pass the
+winter wrapped in swaddling clothes of densest
+textures, roll upon roll of silken coverlets; while
+our delicate butterflies hang uncovered, suspended
+only by a single loop of silk, exposed to the cold
+blast of every northern gale? Why do the caterpillars
+of our giant moths&mdash;the mythologically
+named Cecropia, Polyphemus, Luna, and Prometheus&mdash;show
+such individuality in the position
+which they choose for their temporary shrouds?
+Protection and concealment are the watchwords
+held to in each case, but how differently they are
+achieved!</p>
+<p>Cecropia&mdash;that beauty whose wings, fully six
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22' name='page_22'></a>22</span>
+inches across, will flap gracefully through the
+summer twilight&mdash;weaves about himself a half
+oval mound, along some stem or tree-trunk, and
+becomes a mere excrescence&mdash;the veriest unedible
+thing a bird may spy. Polyphemus wraps
+miles of finest silk about his green worm-form
+(how, even though we watch him do it, we can only
+guess); weaving in all the surrounding leaves he
+can reach. This, of course, before the frosts come,
+but when the leaves at last shrivel, loosen, and
+their petioles break, it is merely a larger brown
+nut than usual that falls to the ground, the kernel
+of which will sprout next June and blossom into
+the big moth of delicate fawn tints, feathery
+horned, with those strange isinglass windows in
+his hind wings.</p>
+<p>Luna&mdash;the weird, beautiful moon-moth, whose
+pale green hues and long graceful streamers make
+us realise how much beauty we miss if we neglect
+the night life of summer&mdash;when clad in her
+temporary shroud of silk, sometimes falls to the
+ground, or again the cocoon remains in the tree
+or bush where it was spun.</p>
+<p>But Prometheus, the smallest of the quartet,
+has a way all his own. The elongated cocoon,
+looking like a silken finger, is woven about a leaf
+of sassafras. Even the long stem of the leaf is
+silk-girdled, and a strong band is looped about the
+twig to which the leaf is attached. Here, when
+all the leaves fall, he hangs, the plaything of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span>
+every breeze, attracting the attention of all the
+hungry birds. But little does Prometheus care.
+Sparrows may hover about him and peck in vain;
+chickadees may clutch the dangling finger and
+pound with all their tiny might. Prometheus is
+&#8220;bound,&#8221; indeed, and merely swings the faster,
+up and down, from side to side.</p>
+<p>It is interesting to note that when two Prometheus
+cocoons, fastened upon their twigs, were
+suspended in a large cageful of native birds, it
+took a healthy chickadee just three days of hard
+pounding and unravelling to force a way through
+the silken envelopes to the chrysalids within.
+Such long continued and persistent labour for so
+comparatively small a morsel of food would not
+be profitable or even possible out-of-doors in winter.
+The bird would starve to death while forcing
+its way through the protecting silk.</p>
+<p>These are only four of the many hundreds of
+cocoons, from the silken shrouds on the topmost
+branches to the jugnecked chrysalis of a sphinx
+moth&mdash;offering us the riddle of a winter&#8217;s shelter
+buried in the cold, dark earth.</p>
+<p>Is everything frozen tight? Has Nature&#8217;s frost
+mortar cemented every stone in its bed? Then
+cut off the solid cups of the pitcher plants, and
+see what insects formed the last meal of these
+strange growths,&mdash;ants, flies, bugs, encased in
+ice like the fossil insects caught in the amber sap
+which flowed so many thousands of years ago.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span></p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>When the fierce northwestern blast</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Cools sea and land so far and fast,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Thou already slumberest deep;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Woe and want thou canst outsleep.</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Emerson</span>.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='CHAMELEONS_IN_FUR_AND_FEATHER' id='CHAMELEONS_IN_FUR_AND_FEATHER'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span>
+<h2>CHAMELEONS IN FUR AND FEATHER</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>The colour of things in nature has been the
+subject of many volumes and yet it may be
+truthfully said that no two naturalists are wholly
+agreed on the interpretation of the countless hues
+of plants and animals. Some assert that all alleged
+instances of protective colouring and mimicry are
+merely the result of accident; while at the opposite
+swing of the pendulum we find theories, protective
+and mimetic, for the colours of even the
+tiny one-celled green plants which cover the bark
+of trees! Here is abundant opportunity for any
+observer of living nature to help toward the solution
+of these problems.</p>
+<p>In a battle there are always two sides and at its
+finish one side always runs away while the other
+pursues. Thus it is in the wars of nature, only
+here the timid ones are always ready to flee, while
+the strong are equally prepared to pursue. It is
+only by constant vigilance that the little mice can
+save themselves from disappearing down the
+throats of their enemies, as under cover of darkness
+they snatch nervous mouthfuls of grain in
+the fields,&mdash;and hence their gray colour and their
+large, watchful eyes; but on the other hand, the
+baby owls in their hollow tree would starve if the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span>
+parents were never able to swoop down in the
+darkness and surprise a mouse now and then,&mdash;hence
+the gray plumage and great eyes of the
+parent owls.</p>
+<p>The most convincing proof of the reality of protective
+coloration is in the change of plumage or
+fur of some of the wild creatures to suit the season.
+In the far north, the grouse or ptarmigan,
+as they are called, do not keep feathers of the
+same colour the year round, as does our ruffed
+grouse; but change their dress no fewer than three
+times. When rocks and moss are buried deep
+beneath the snow, and a keen-eyed hawk appears,
+the white-feathered ptarmigan crouches and becomes
+an inanimate mound. Later in the year,
+with the increasing warmth, patches of gray and
+brown earth appear, and simultaneously, as if its
+feathers were really snowflakes, splashes of brown
+replace the pure white of the bird&#8217;s plumage, and
+equally baffle the eye. Seeing one of these birds
+by itself, we could readily tell, from the colour of
+its plumage, the time of year and general aspect
+of the country from which it came. Its plumage
+is like a mirror which reflects the snow, the moss,
+or the lichens in turn. It is, indeed, a feathered
+chameleon, but with changes of colour taking place
+more slowly than is the case in the reptile.</p>
+<p>We may discover changes somewhat similar,
+but furry instead of feathery, in the woods about
+our home. The fiercest of all the animals of our
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span>
+continent still evades the exterminating inroads
+of man; indeed it often puts his traps to shame,
+and wages destructive warfare in his very midst.
+I speak of the weasel,&mdash;the least of all his family,
+and yet, for his size, the most bloodthirsty and
+widely dreaded little demon of all the countryside.
+His is a name to conjure with among all the
+lesser wood-folk; the scent of his passing brings
+an almost helpless paralysis. And yet in some
+way he must be handicapped, for his slightly
+larger cousin, the mink, finds good hunting the
+year round, clad in a suit of rich brown; while the
+weasel, at the approach of winter, sheds his summer
+dress of chocolate hue and dons a pure white
+fur, a change which would seem to put the poor
+mice and rabbits at a hopeless disadvantage.
+Nevertheless the ermine, as he is now called
+(although wrongly so), seems just able to hold his
+own, with all his evil slinking motions and bloodthirsty
+desires; for foxes, owls, and hawks take,
+in their turn, heavy toll. Nature is ever a repetition
+of the &#8220;House that Jack built&#8221;;&mdash;this is
+the owl that ate the weasel that killed the mouse,
+and so on.</p>
+<p>The little tail-tips of milady&#8217;s ermine coat are
+black; and herein lies an interesting fact in the
+coloration of the weasel and one that, perhaps,
+gives a clue to some other hitherto inexplicable
+spots and markings on the fur, feathers, skin, and
+scales of wild creatures. Whatever the season,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28' name='page_28'></a>28</span>
+and whatever the colour of the weasel&#8217;s coat,&mdash;brown
+or white,&mdash;the tip of the tail remains
+always black. This would seem, at first thought,
+a very bad thing for the little animal. Knowing
+so little of fear, he never tucks his tail between
+his legs, and, when shooting across an open
+expanse of snow, the black tip ever trailing after
+him would seem to mark him out for destruction
+by every observing hawk or fox.</p>
+<p>But the very opposite is the case as Mr. Witmer
+Stone so well relates. &#8220;If you place a weasel in
+its winter white on new-fallen snow, in such a
+position that it casts no shadow, you will find that
+the black tip of the tail catches your eye and holds
+it in spite of yourself, so that at a little distance
+it is very difficult to follow the outline of the rest
+of the animal. Cover the tip of the tail with snow
+and you can see the rest of the weasel itself
+much more clearly; but as long as the black
+point is in sight, you see that, and that only.</p>
+<p>&#8220;If a hawk or owl, or any other of the larger
+hunters of the woodland, were to give chase to a
+weasel and endeavour to pounce upon it, it would
+in all probability be the black tip of the tail it
+would see and strike at, while the weasel, darting
+ahead, would escape. It may, morever, serve as
+a guide, enabling the young weasels to follow their
+parents more readily through grass and brambles.</p>
+<p>&#8220;One would suppose that this beautiful white
+fur of winter, literally as white as the snow, might
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span>
+prove a disadvantage at times by making its owner
+conspicuous when the ground is bare in winter,
+as it frequently is even in the North; yet though
+weasels are about more or less by day, you will
+seldom catch so much as a glimpse of one at such
+times, though you may hear their sharp chirrup
+close at hand. Though bold and fearless, they
+have the power of vanishing instantly, and the
+slightest alarm sends them to cover. I have seen
+one standing within reach of my hand in the sunshine
+on the exposed root of a tree, and while I
+was staring at it, it vanished like the flame of a
+candle blown out, without leaving me the slightest
+clue as to the direction it had taken. All the
+weasels I have ever seen, either in the woods or
+open meadows, disappeared in a similar manner.&#8221;</p>
+<p>To add to the completeness of proof that the
+change from brown to white is for protection,&mdash;in
+the case of the weasel, both to enable it to
+escape from the fox and to circumvent the rabbit,&mdash;the
+weasels in Florida, where snow is unknown,
+do not change colour, but remain brown throughout
+the whole year.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span></div>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>FEBRUARY</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='FEBRUARY_FEATHERS' id='FEBRUARY_FEATHERS'></a>
+<h2>FEBRUARY FEATHERS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>February holes are most interesting places
+and one never knows what will be found in
+the next one investigated. It is a good plan, in
+one&#8217;s walks in the early fall, to make a mental
+map of all the auspicious looking trees and holes,
+and then go the rounds of these in winter&mdash;as a
+hunter follows his line of traps. An old, neglected
+orchard may seem perfectly barren of life;
+insects dead, leaves fallen, and sap frozen; but
+the warm hearts of these venerable trees may
+shelter much beside the larvæ of boring beetles,
+and we may reap a winter harvest of which the
+farmer knows nothing.</p>
+<p>Poke a stick into a knothole and stir up the
+leaves at the bottom of the cavity, and then look
+in. Two great yellow eyes may greet you, glaring
+intermittently, and sharp clicks may assail your
+ears. Reach in with your gloved hand and bring
+the screech owl out. He will blink in the sunshine,
+ruffling up his feathers until he is twice his
+real size. The light partly blinds him, but toss
+him into the air and he will fly without difficulty
+and select with ease a secluded perch. The instant
+he alights a wonderful transformation comes over
+him. He stiffens, draws himself as high as possible,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span>
+and compresses his feathers until he seems
+naught but the slender, broken stump of
+some bough,&mdash;ragged topped (thanks to his
+&#8220;horns&#8221;), gray and lichened. It is little short
+of a miracle how this spluttering, saucer-eyed,
+feathered cat can melt away into woody fibre
+before our very eyes.</p>
+<p>We quickly understand why in the daytime the
+little owl is so anxious to hide his form from public
+view. Although he can see well enough to fly
+and to perch, yet the bright sunlight on the snow
+is too dazzling to permit of swift and sure action.
+All the birds of the winter woods seem to know
+this and instantly take advantage of it. Sparrows,
+chickadees, and woodpeckers go nearly wild
+with excitement when they discover the little owl,
+hovering about him and occasionally making darts
+almost in his very face. We can well believe that
+as the sun sets, after an afternoon of such excitement,
+they flee in terror, selecting for that night&#8217;s
+perch the densest tangle of sweetbrier to be found.</p>
+<p>One hollow tree may yield a little gray owl,
+while from the next we may draw a red one; and
+the odd thing about this is that this difference in
+colour does not depend upon age, sex, or season,
+and no ornithologist can say why it occurs. What
+can these little fellows find to feed upon these cold
+nights, when the birds seek the most hidden and
+sheltered retreats? We might murder the next
+owl we come across; but would any fact we might
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span>
+discover in his poor stomach repay us for the
+thought of having needlessly cut short his life,
+with its pleasures and spring courtships, and the
+delight he will take in the half a dozen pearls over
+which he will soon watch?</p>
+<p>A much better way is to examine the ground
+around his favourite roosting place, where we will
+find many pellets of fur and bones, with now and
+then a tiny skull. These tell the tale, and if at
+dusk we watch closely, we may see the screech owl
+look out of his door, stretch every limb, purr his
+shivering song, and silently launch out over the
+fields, a feathery, shadowy death to all small mice
+who scamper too far from their snow tunnels.</p>
+<p>When you feel like making a new and charming
+acquaintance, take your way to a dense clump of
+snow-laden cedars, and look carefully over their
+trunks. If you are lucky you will spy a tiny gray
+form huddled close to the sheltered side of the
+bark, and if you are careful you may approach and
+catch in your hand the smallest of all our owls,
+for the saw-whet is a dreadfully sleepy fellow in
+the daytime. I knew of eleven of these little gray
+gnomes dozing in a clump of five small cedars.</p>
+<p>The cedars are treasure-houses in winter, and
+many birds find shelter among the thick foliage,
+and feast upon the plentiful supply of berries,
+when elsewhere there seems little that could keep
+a bird&#8217;s life in its body. When the tinkling of
+breaking icicles is taken up by the wind and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34' name='page_34'></a>34</span>
+re-echoed from the tops of the cedars, you may
+know that a flock of purple finches is near, and so
+greedy and busy are they that you may approach
+within a few feet. These birds are unfortunately
+named, as there is nothing purple about their
+plumage. The males are a delicate rose-red, while
+the females look like commonplace sparrows,
+streaked all over with black and brown.</p>
+<p>There are other winter birds, whose home is in
+the North, with a similar type of coloration.
+Among the pines you may see a flock of birds, as
+large as a sparrow, with strange-looking beaks.
+The tips of the two mandibles are long, curved,
+and pointed, crossing each other at their ends.
+This looks like a deformity, but is in reality a
+splendid cone-opener and seed-extracter. These
+birds are the crossbills.</p>
+<p>Even in the cold of a February day, we may,
+on very rare occasions, be fortunate enough to
+hear unexpected sounds, such as the rattle of a
+belted kingfisher, or the croak of a night heron;
+for these birds linger until every bit of pond or
+lake is sealed with ice; and when a thaw comes, a
+lonely bat may surprise us with a short flight
+through the frosty air, before it returns to its
+winter&#8217;s trance.</p>
+<p>Of course, in the vicinity of our towns and cities,
+the most noticeable birds at this season of the
+year (as indeed at all seasons) are the English
+sparrows and (at least near New York City) the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35' name='page_35'></a>35</span>
+starlings, those two foreigners which have
+wrought such havoc among our native birds.
+Their mingled flocks fly up, not only from garbage
+piles and gutters, but from the thickets and fields
+which should be filled with our sweet-voiced
+American birds. It is no small matter for man
+heedlessly to interfere with Nature. What may
+be a harmless, or even useful, bird in its native
+land may prove a terrible scourge when introduced
+where there are no enemies to keep it in
+check. Nature is doing her best to even matters
+by letting albinism run riot among the sparrows,
+and best of all by teaching sparrow hawks to nest
+under our eaves and thus be on equal terms with
+their sparrow prey. The starlings are turning
+out to be worse than the sparrows. Already they
+are invading the haunts of our grackles and redwings.</p>
+<p>On some cold day, when the sun is shining, visit
+all the orchards of which you know, and see if in
+one or more you cannot find a good-sized, gray,
+black, and white bird, which keeps to the topmost
+branch of a certain tree. Look at him carefully
+through your glasses, and if his beak is hooked,
+like that of a hawk, you may know that you are
+watching a northern shrike, or butcher bird. His
+manner is that of a hawk, and his appearance
+causes instant panic among small birds. If you
+watch long enough you may see him pursue and
+kill a goldfinch, or sparrow, and devour it. These
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span>
+birds are not even distantly related to the hawks,
+but have added a hawk&#8217;s characteristics and appetite
+to the insect diet of their nearest relations.
+If ever shrikes will learn to confine their attacks
+to English sparrows, we should offer them every
+encouragement.</p>
+<p>All winter long the ebony forms of crows vibrate
+back and forth across the cold sky. If we watch
+them when very high up, we sometimes see them
+sail a short distance, and without fail, a second
+later, the clear &#8220;<i>Caw! caw!</i>&#8221; comes down to us,
+the sound-waves unable to keep pace with those
+of light, as the thunder of the storm lags behind
+the flash. These sturdy birds seem able to stand
+any severity of the weather, but, like Achilles, they
+have one vulnerable point, the eyes,&mdash;which, during
+the long winter nights, must be kept deep
+buried among the warm feathers.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='FISH_LIFE' id='FISH_LIFE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span>
+<h2>FISH LIFE</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>We have all looked down through the clear
+water of brook or pond and watched the
+gracefully poised trout or pickerel; but have we
+ever tried to imagine what the life of one of these
+aquatic beings is really like? &#8220;Water Babies&#8221;
+perhaps gives us the best idea of existence below
+the water, but if we spend one day each month
+for a year in trying to imagine ourselves in the
+place of the fish, we will see that a fish-eye view
+of life holds much of interest.</p>
+<p>What a delightful sensation must it be to all
+but escape the eternal downpull of gravity, to
+float and turn and rise and fall at will, and all by
+the least twitch of tail or limb,&mdash;for fish have
+limbs, four of them, as truly as has a dog or horse,
+only instead of fingers or toes there are many delicate
+rays extending through the fin. These four
+limb-fins are useful chiefly as balancers, while the
+tail-fin is what sends the fish darting through the
+water, or turns it to right or left, with incredible
+swiftness.</p>
+<p>If we were able to examine some inhabitant of
+the planet Mars our first interest would be to
+know with what senses they were endowed, and
+these finny creatures living in their denser medium,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38' name='page_38'></a>38</span>
+which after a few seconds would mean death
+to us, excite the same interest. They see, of
+course, having eyes, but do they feel, hear, and
+smell!</p>
+<p>Probably the sense of taste is least developed.
+When a trout leaps at and catches a fly he does
+not stop to taste, otherwise the pheasant feather
+concealing the cruel hook would be of little use.
+When an animal catches its food in the water and
+swallows it whole, taste plays but a small part.
+Thus the tongue of a pelican is a tiny flap all but
+lost to view in its great bill.</p>
+<p>Water is an excellent medium for carrying minute
+particles of matter and so the sense of smell
+is well developed. A bit of meat dropped into the
+sea will draw the fish from far and wide, and a
+slice of liver will sometimes bring a score
+of sharks and throw them into the greatest
+excitement.</p>
+<p>Fishes are probably very near-sighted, but that
+they can distinguish details is apparent in the
+choice which a trout exhibits in taking certain
+coloured artificial flies. We may suppose from
+what we know of physics that when we lean over
+and look down into a pool, the fishy eyes which
+peer up at us discern only a dark, irregular mass.
+I have seen a pickerel dodge as quickly at a sudden
+cloud-shadow as at the motion of a man wielding
+a fish pole.</p>
+<p>We can be less certain about the hearing of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39' name='page_39'></a>39</span>
+fishes. They have, however, very respectable
+inner ears, built on much the same plan as in
+higher animals. Indeed many fish, such as the
+grunts, make various sounds which are plainly
+audible even to our ears high above the water, and
+we cannot suppose that this is a useless accomplishment.
+But the ears of fishes and the line of
+tiny tubes which extends along the side may be
+more effective in recording the tremors of the
+water transmitted by moving objects than actual
+sound.</p>
+<p>Watch a lazy catfish winding its way along near
+the bottom, with its barbels extended, and you
+will at once realise that fishes can feel, this function
+being very useful to those kinds which search
+for their food in the mud at the bottom.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+
+<p>Not a breath of air stirs the surface of the woodland
+pond, and the trees about the margin are
+reflected unbroken in its surface. The lilies and
+their pads lie motionless, and in and out through
+the shadowy depths, around the long stems, float
+a school of half a dozen little sunfish. They move
+slowly, turning from side to side all at once as
+if impelled by one idea. Now and then one will
+dart aside and snap up a beetle or mosquito larva,
+then swing back to its place among its fellows.
+Their beautiful scales flash scarlet, blue, and gold,
+and their little hand-and-foot fins are ever trembling
+and waving. They drift upward nearer the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40' name='page_40'></a>40</span>
+surface, the wide round eyes turning and twisting
+in their sockets, ever watchful for food and
+danger. Without warning a terrific splash scatters
+them, and when the ripples and bubbles cease,
+five frightened sunfish cringe in terror among the
+water plants of the bottom mud. Off to her nest
+goes the kingfisher, bearing to her brood the
+struggling sixth.</p>
+<p>Later in the day, when danger seemed far off,
+a double-pointed vise shot toward the little group
+of &#8220;pumpkin seeds&#8221; and a great blue heron swallowed
+one of their number. Another, venturing
+too far beyond the protection of the lily stems and
+grass tangle of the shallows, fell victim to a voracious
+pickerel. But the most terrible fate befell
+when one day a black sinuous body came swiftly
+through the water. The fish had never seen its
+like before and yet some instinct told them that
+here was death indeed and they fled as fast as
+their fins could send them. The young otter had
+marked the trio and after it he sped, turning,
+twisting, following every movement with never a
+stop for breath until he had caught his prey.</p>
+<p>But the life of a fish is not all tragedy, and the
+two remaining sunfish may live in peace. In
+spawning time they clear a little space close to
+the water of the inlet, pulling up the young weeds
+and pushing up the sandy bottom until a hollow,
+bowl-like nest is prepared. Thoreau tells us that
+here the fish &#8220;may be seen early in summer
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span>
+assiduously brooding, and driving away minnows
+and larger fishes, even its own species, which
+would disturb its ova, pursuing them a few feet,
+and circling round swiftly to its nest again; the
+minnows, like young sharks, instantly entering the
+empty nests, meanwhile, and swallowing the
+spawn, which is attached to the weeds and to the
+bottom, on the sunny side. The spawn is exposed
+to so many dangers that a very small proportion
+can ever become fishes, for beside being the constant
+prey of birds and fishes, a great many nests
+are made so near the shore, in shallow water, that
+they are left dry in a few days, as the river goes
+down. These and the lampreys are the only fishes&#8217;
+nests that I have observed, though the ova of some
+species may be seen floating on the surface. The
+sunfish are so careful of their charge that you may
+stand close by in the water and examine them at
+your leisure. I have thus stood over them half
+an hour at a time, and stroked them familiarly
+without frightening them, suffering them to nibble
+my fingers harmlessly, and seen them erect their
+dorsal fins in anger when my hand approached
+their ova, and have even taken them gently out
+of the water with my hand; though this cannot be
+accomplished by a sudden movement, however
+dexterous, for instant warning is conveyed to
+them through their denser element, but only by
+letting the fingers gradually close about them as
+they are poised over the palm, and with the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span>
+utmost gentleness raising them slowly to the surface.
+Though stationary, they kept up a constant
+sculling or waving motion with their fins, which is
+exceedingly graceful, and expressive of their
+humble happiness; for unlike ours, the element in
+which they live is a stream which must be constantly
+resisted. From time to time they nibble
+the weeds at the bottom or overhanging their
+nests, or dart after a fly or worm. The dorsal
+fin, besides answering the purpose of a keel, with
+the anal, serves to keep the fish upright, for in
+shallow water, where this is not covered, they fall
+on their sides. As you stand thus stooping over
+the sunfish in its nest, the edges of the dorsal and
+caudal fins have a singular dusty golden reflection,
+and its eyes, which stand out from the head,
+are transparent and colourless. Seen in its native
+element, it is a very beautiful and compact fish,
+perfect in all its parts, and looks like a brilliant
+coin fresh from the mint. It is a perfect jewel of
+the river, the green, red, coppery, and golden
+reflections of its mottled sides being the concentration
+of such rays as struggle through the floating
+pads and flowers to the sandy bottom, and in
+harmony with the sunlit brown and yellow
+pebbles.&#8221;</p>
+<p>When the cold days of winter come and the ice
+begins to close over the pond, the sunfish become
+sluggish and keep near the bottom, half-hibernating
+but not unwilling to snap at any bit of food
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span>
+which may drift near them. Lying prone on the
+ice we may see them poising with slowly undulating
+fins, waiting, in their strange wide-eyed sleep,
+for the warmth which will bring food and active
+life again.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>3rd. <i>Fish.</i> Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea.</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>1st. <i>Fish.</i> Why, as men do a-land: the great ones eat up the little ones.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Shakespeare.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='TENANTS_OF_WINTER_BIRDS__NESTS' id='TENANTS_OF_WINTER_BIRDS__NESTS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span>
+<h2>TENANTS OF WINTER BIRDS&#8217; NESTS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>When we realise how our lives are hedged
+about by butchers, bakers, and luxury-makers,
+we often envy the wild creatures their independence.
+And yet, although each animal is
+capable of finding its own food and shelter and of
+avoiding all ordinary danger, there is much dependence,
+one upon another, among the little
+creatures of fur and feathers.</p>
+<p>The first instinct of a gray squirrel, at the
+approach of winter, is to seek out a deep, warm,
+hollow limb, or trunk. Nowadays, however, these
+are not to be found in every grove. The precepts
+of modern forestry decree that all such unsightly
+places must be filled with cement and creosote and
+well sealed against the entrance of rain and snow.
+When hollows are not available, these hardy squirrels
+prepare their winter home in another way.
+Before the leaves have begun to loosen on their
+stalks, the little creatures set to work. The crows
+have long since deserted their rough nest of sticks
+in the top of some tall tree, and now the squirrels
+come, investigate, and adopt the forsaken bird&#8217;s-nest
+as the foundation of their home. The sticks
+are pressed more tightly together, all interstices
+filled up, and then a superstructure of leafy twigs
+is woven overhead and all around. The leaves on
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span>
+these twigs, killed before their time, do not fall;
+and when the branches of the tree become bare,
+there remains in one of the uppermost crotches a
+big ball of leaves,&mdash;rain and snow proof, with a
+tiny entrance at one side.</p>
+<p>On a stormy mid-winter afternoon we stand
+beneath the tree and, through the snowflakes
+driven past by the howling gale, we catch glimpses
+of the nest swaying high in air. Far over it
+leans, as the branches are whipped and bent by
+the wind, and yet so cunningly is it wrought that
+never a twig or leaf loosens. We can imagine the
+pair of little shadow-tails within, sleeping fearlessly
+throughout all the coming night.</p>
+<p>But the sleep of the gray squirrel is a healthy
+and a natural one, not the half-dead trance of
+hibernation; and early next morning their sharp
+eyes appear at the entrance of their home and
+they are out and off through the tree-top path
+which only their feet can traverse. Down the
+snowy trunks they come with a rush, and with
+strong, clean bounds they head unerringly for
+their little <i>caches</i> of nuts. Their provender is
+hidden away among the dried leaves, and when
+they want a nibble of nut or acorn they make their
+way, by some mysterious sense, even through
+three feet of snow, down to the bit of food which,
+months before, they patted out of sight among the
+moss and leaves.</p>
+<p>It would seem that some exact sub-conscious
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span>
+sense of locality would be a more probable solution
+of this feat than the sense of smell, however
+keenly developed, when we consider that dozens
+of nuts may be hidden or buried in close proximity
+to the one sought by the squirrel.</p>
+<p>Even though the birds seem to have vanished
+from the earth, and every mammal be deeply
+buried in its long sleep, no winter&#8217;s walk need be
+barren of interest. A suggestion worth trying
+would be to choose a certain area of saplings and
+underbrush and proceed systematically to fathom
+every cause which has prevented the few stray
+leaves still upon their stalks from falling with
+their many brethren now buried beneath the snow.</p>
+<p>The encircling silken bonds of Promethea and
+Cynthia cocoons will account for some; others will
+puzzle us until we have found the traces of some
+insect foe, whose girdling has killed the twig and
+thus prevented the leaf from falling at the usual
+time; some may be simply mechanical causes,
+where a broken twig crotch has fallen athwart
+another stem in the course of its downward fall.
+Then there is the pitiful remnant of a last summer&#8217;s
+bird&#8217;s-nest, with a mere skeleton of a floor
+all but disintegrated.</p>
+<p>But occasionally a substantial ball of dead
+leaves will be noticed, swung amid a tangle of
+brier. No accident lodged these, nor did any
+insect have aught to do with their position.
+Examine carefully the mass of leaves and you
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span>
+will find a replica of the gray squirrel&#8217;s nest, only,
+of course, much smaller. This handiwork of the
+white-footed or deer mouse can be found in almost
+every field or tangle of undergrowth; the nest of
+a field sparrow or catbird being used as a foundation
+and thickly covered over and tightly thatched
+with leaves. Now and then, even in mid-winter,
+we may find the owner at home, and as the weasel
+is the most bloodthirsty, so the deer mouse is the
+most beautiful and gentle of all the fur-coated folk
+of our woods. With his coat of white and pale
+golden brown and his great black, lustrous eyes,
+and his timid, trusting ways, he is altogether
+lovable.</p>
+<p>He spends the late summer and early autumn
+in his tangle-hung home, but in winter he generally
+selects a snug hollow log, or some cavity
+in the earth. Here he makes a round nest of fine
+grass and upon a couch of thistledown he sleeps
+in peace, now and then waking to partake of the
+little hoard of nuts which he has gathered, or he
+may even dare to frolic about upon the snow in
+the cold winter moonlight, leaving behind him no
+trace, save the fairy tracery of his tiny footprints.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Wee, sleekit, cow&#8217;rin&#8217;, tim&#8217;rous beastie,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>O, what a panic&#8217;s in thy breastie!</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Thou need na start awa sae hasty,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 2.2075055187638em;'>Wi&#8217; bickering brattle!</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>I wad be laith to rin an&#8217; chase thee,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Wi&#8217; murd&#8217;ring prattle!</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Robert Burns.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='WINTER_HOLES' id='WINTER_HOLES'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48' name='page_48'></a>48</span>
+<h2>WINTER HOLES</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>The decayed hollows which we have mentioned
+as so often productive of little owls
+have their possibilities by no means exhausted by
+one visit. The disturbed owl may take himself
+elsewhere, after being so unceremoniously disturbed;
+but there are roving, tramp-like characters,
+with dispositions taking them here and there
+through the winter nights, to whom, at break of
+day, a hole is ever a sought-for haven.</p>
+<p>So do not put your hand too recklessly into an
+owl hole, for a hiss and a sudden nip may show
+that an opossum has taken up his quarters there.
+If you must, pull him out by his squirming, naked
+tail, but do not carry him home, as he makes a
+poor pet, and between hen-house traps and irate
+farmers, he has good reason, in this part of the
+country at least, to be short tempered.</p>
+<p>Of course the birds&#8217;-nests are all deserted now,
+but do not be too sure of the woodpeckers&#8217; holes.
+The little downy and his larger cousin, the hairy
+woodpecker, often spend the winter nights snug
+within deep cavities which they have hollowed out,
+each bird for itself. I have never known a pair
+to share one of these shelters.</p>
+<p>Sometimes, in pulling off the loose bark from a
+decayed stump, several dry, flattened scales will
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span>
+fall out upon the snow among the debris of wood
+and dead leaves. Hold them close in the warm
+palm of your hand for a time and the dried bits
+will quiver, the sides partly separate, and behold!
+you have brought back to life a beautiful
+<i>Euvanessa</i>, or mourning-cloak butterfly. Lay it
+upon the snow and soon the awakened life will
+ebb away and it will again be stiff, as in death. If
+you wish, take it home, and you may warm it into
+activity, feed it upon a drop of syrup and freeze
+it again at will. Sometimes six or eight of these
+insects may be found sheltered under the bark of
+a single stump, or in a hollow beneath a stone.
+Several species share this habit of hibernating
+throughout the winter.</p>
+<p>Look carefully in old, deserted sheds, in half-sheltered
+hollows of trees, or in deep crevice-caverns
+in rocks, and you may some day spy one
+of the strangest of our wood-folk. A poor little
+shrivelled bundle of fur, tight-clasped in its own
+skinny fingers, with no more appearance of life
+in its frozen body than if it were a mummy from
+an Egyptian tomb; such is the figure that will
+meet your eye when you chance upon a bat in the
+deep trance of its winter&#8217;s hibernation. Often
+you will find six or a dozen of these stiffened
+forms clinging close together, head downward.</p>
+<p>As in the case of the sleeping butterfly, carry
+one of the bats to your warm room and place him
+in a bird-cage, hanging him up on the top wires
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span>
+by his toes, with his head downward. The inverted
+position of these strange little beings always
+brings to mind some of the experiences of Gulliver,
+and indeed the life of a bat is more wonderful
+than any fairy tale.</p>
+<p>Probably the knowledge of bats which most of
+us possess is chiefly derived from the imaginations
+of artists and poets, who, unlike the Chinese,
+do not look upon these creatures with much
+favour, generally symbolising them in connection
+with passages and pictures which relate to the
+infernal regions. All of which is entirely unjust.
+Their nocturnal habits and our consequent ignorance
+of their characteristics are the only causes
+which can account for their being associated with
+the realm of Satan. In some places bats are called
+flittermice, but they are more nearly related to
+moles, shrews, and other insect-eaters than they
+are to mice. If we look at the skeleton of an animal
+which walks or hops we will notice that its
+hind limbs are much the stronger, and that the
+girdle which connects these with the backbone is
+composed of strong and heavy bones. In bats a
+reverse condition is found; the breast girdle, or
+bones corresponding to our collar bones and
+shoulder blades, are greatly developed. This, as
+in birds, is, of course, an adaptation to give surface
+for the attachment of the great propelling
+muscles of the wings.</p>
+<p>Although the hand of a bat is so strangely
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span>
+altered, yet, as we shall see if we look at our captive
+specimen, it has five fingers, as we have, four
+of which are very long and thin, and the webs, of
+which we have a very noticeable trace in our own
+hands, stretch from finger-tip to finger-tip, and to
+the body and even down each leg, ending squarely
+near the ankle, thus giving the creature the absurd
+appearance of having on a very broad, baggy pair
+of trousers.</p>
+<p>When thoroughly warmed up, our bat will soon
+start on a tour of inspection of his cage. He steps
+rapidly from one wire to another, sometimes hooking
+on with all five toes, but generally with four
+or three. There seems to be little power in these
+toes, except of remaining bent in a hooked position;
+for when our bat stops and draws up one
+foot to scratch the head, the claws are merely
+jerked through the fur by motions of the whole
+leg, not by individual movements of the separate
+toes. In this motion we notice, for the first time,
+that the legs and feet grow in a kind of &#8220;spread
+eagle&#8221; position, making the knees point backward,
+in the same direction as the elbows.</p>
+<p>We must stop a moment to admire the beautiful
+soft fur, a golden brown in colour, with part of
+the back nearly black. The tiny inverted face is
+full of expression, the bead-like eyes gleaming
+brightly from out of their furry bed. The small
+moist nostrils are constantly wrinkling and sniffling,
+and the large size of the alert ears shows
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52' name='page_52'></a>52</span>
+how much their owner depends upon them for
+information. If we suddenly move up closer to
+the wires, the bat opens both wings owl-like, in a
+most threatening manner; but if we make still
+more hostile motions the creature retreats as
+hastily as it can, changing its method of progress
+to an all-fours, sloth-like gait, the long free thumb
+of each hand grasping wire after wire and doing
+most of the leverage, the hind legs following
+passively.</p>
+<p>When at what he judges a safe distance he again
+hangs pendent, bending his head back to look
+earnestly at us. Soon the half-opened wings are
+closed and brought close to the shoulders, and in
+this, the usual resting position, the large claws of
+the thumbs rest on the breast in little furrows
+which they have worn in the fur.</p>
+<p>Soon drowsiness comes on and a long elaborate
+yawn is given, showing the many small needle-like
+teeth and the broad red tongue, which curls
+outward to a surprising length. Then comes the
+most curious process of all. Drawing up one leg,
+the little creature deliberately wraps one hand
+with its clinging web around the leg and under
+the arms, and then draws the other wing straight
+across the body, holds it there a moment, while it
+takes a last look in all directions. Then lifting its
+fingers slightly, it bends its head and wraps all in
+the full-spread web. It is most ludicrously like a
+tragedian, acting the death scene in &#8220;Julius
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span>
+Cæsar,&#8221; and it loses nothing in repetition; for
+each time the little animal thus draws its winding
+sheet about its body, one is forced to smile as he
+thinks of the absurd resemblance.</p>
+<p>But all this and much more you will see for
+yourself, if you are so fortunate as to discover the
+hiding-place of the hibernating bat.</p>
+<p>Our little brown bat is a most excellent mother,
+and when in summer she starts out on her nocturnal
+hunts she takes her tiny baby bat with
+her. The weird little creature wraps his long
+fingers about his mother&#8217;s neck and off they go.
+When two young are born, the father bat is said
+sometimes to assume entire control of one.</p>
+<p>After we come to know more of the admirable
+family traits of the <i>fledermaus</i>&mdash;its musical
+German name&mdash;we shall willingly defend it from
+the calumny which for thousands of years has been
+heaped upon it.</p>
+<p>Hibernation is a strange phenomenon, and one
+which is but little understood. If we break into
+the death-like trance for too long a time, or if we
+do not supply the right kind of food, our captive
+butterflies and bats will perish. So let us soon
+freeze them up again and place them back in the
+care of old Nature. Thus the pleasure is ours of
+having made them yield up their secrets, without
+any harm to them. Let us fancy that in the spring
+they may remember us only as a strange dream
+which has come to them during their long sleep.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span></div>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>MARCH</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='FEATHERED_PIONEERS' id='FEATHERED_PIONEERS'></a>
+<h2>FEATHERED PIONEERS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>In the annual war of the seasons, March is the
+time of the most bitterly contested battles.
+But we&mdash;and very likely the birds&mdash;can look ahead
+and realise what the final outcome will invariably
+be, and, our sympathies being on the winning side,
+every advance of spring&#8217;s outposts gladdens our
+hearts. But winter is a stubborn foe, and sometimes
+his snow and icicle battalions will not give
+way a foot. Though by day the sun&#8217;s fierce
+attack may drench the earth with the watery
+blood of the ice legions, yet at night, silently
+and grimly, new reserves of cold repair the
+damage.</p>
+<p>Our winter visitors are still in force. Amid the
+stinging cold the wee brown form of a winter wren
+will dodge round a brush pile&mdash;a tiny bundle of
+energy which defies all chill winds and which
+resolves bug chrysalides and frozen insects into
+a marvellous activity. Other little birds, as small
+as the wren, call to us from the pines and cedars&mdash;golden-crowned
+kinglets, olive-green of body,
+while on their heads burns a crest of orange and
+gold.</p>
+<p>When a good-sized brown bird flies up before
+you, showing a flash of white on his rump, you
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span>
+may know him for the flicker, the most unwoodpecker-like
+of his family. He is more or less
+deserting the tree-climbing method for ground
+feeding, and if you watch him you will see many
+habits which his new mode of life is teaching him.</p>
+<p>Even in the most wintry of Marches some warm,
+thawing days are sure to be thrown in between
+storms, and nothing, not even pussy willows and
+the skunk cabbage, yield more quickly to the mellowing
+influence than do the birds&mdash;sympathetic
+brethren of ours that they are. Hardly has the
+sunniest icicle begun to drop tears, when a song
+sparrow flits to the top of a bush, clears his throat
+with sharp chirps and shouts as loud as he can:
+&#8220;Hip! Hip! Hip! Hurrah&mdash;!&#8221; Even more boreal
+visitors feel the new influence, and tree and fox
+sparrows warble sweetly. But the bluebird&#8217;s note
+will always be spring&#8217;s dearest herald. When this
+soft, mellow sound floats from the nearest fence
+post, it seems to thaw something out of our ears;
+from this instant winter seems on the defensive;
+the crisis has come and gone in an instant, in a
+single vibration of the air.</p>
+<p>Bright colours are still scarce among our birds,
+but another blue form may occasionally pass us,
+for blue jays are more noticeable now than at any
+other time of the year. Although not by any
+means a rare bird, with us jays are shy and wary.
+In Florida their southern cousins are as familiar
+as robins, without a trace of fear of mankind.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span>
+What curious notes our blue jays have&mdash;a creaking,
+wheedling, rasping medley of sounds coming
+through the leafless branches. At this time of
+year they love acorns and nuts, but in the spring
+&#8220;their fancy turns to thoughts of&#8221; eggs and young
+nestlings, and they are accordingly hated by the
+small birds. Nevertheless no bird is quicker to
+shout and scream &#8220;Thief! Robber!&#8221; at some
+harmless little owl than are these blue and white
+rascals.</p>
+<p>You may seek in vain to discover the first sign
+of nesting among the birds. Scarcely has winter
+set in in earnest, you will think, when the tiger-eyed
+one of the woods&mdash;the great horned owl&mdash;will
+have drifted up to some old hawk&#8217;s nest, and
+laid her white spheres fairly in the snow. When
+you discover her &#8220;horns&#8221; above the nest lining of
+dried leaves, you may find that her fuzzy young
+owls are already hatched. But these owls are an
+exception, and no other bird in our latitude cares
+to risk the dangers of late February or early
+March.</p>
+<p>March is sometimes a woodpecker month, and
+almost any day one is very likely to see, besides
+the flicker, the hairy or downy woodpecker. The
+latter two are almost counterparts of each other,
+although the downy is the more common. They
+hammer cheerfully upon the sounding boards
+which Nature has provided for them, striking slow
+or fast, soft or loud, as their humour dictates.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span></p>
+<p>Near New York, a day in March&mdash;I have found
+it varying from March 8 to March 12&mdash;is &#8220;crow
+day.&#8221; Now the winter roosts apparently break
+up, and all day flocks of crows, sometimes thousands
+upon thousands of them, pass to the northward.
+If the day is quiet and spring-like, they
+fly very high, black motes silhouetted against the
+blue,&mdash;but if the day is a &#8220;March day,&#8221; with
+whistling, howling winds, then the black fellows
+fly close to earth, rising just enough to clear
+bushes and trees, and taking leeward advantage
+of every protection. For days after, many crows
+pass, but never so many as on the first day, when
+crow law, or crow instinct, passes the word, we
+know not how, which is obeyed by all.</p>
+<p>For miles around not a drop of water may be
+found; it seems as if every pool and lake were
+solid to the bottom, and yet, when we see a large
+bird, with goose-like body, long neck and long,
+pointed beak, flying like a bullet of steel through
+the sky, we may be sure that there is open water
+to the northward, for a loon never makes a mistake.
+When the first pioneer of these hardy birds
+passes, he knows that somewhere beyond us fish
+can be caught. If we wonder where he has spent
+the long winter months, we should take a steamer
+to Florida. Out on the ocean, sometimes a hundred
+miles or more from land, many of these birds
+make their winter home. When the bow of the
+steamer bears down upon one, the bird half
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span>
+spreads its wings, then closes them quickly, and
+sinks out of sight in the green depths, not to reappear
+until the steamer has passed, when he looks
+after us and utters his mocking laugh. Here he
+will float until the time comes for him to go north.
+We love the brave fellow, remembering him in his
+home among the lakes of Canada; but we tremble
+for him when we think of the terrible storm waves
+which he must outride, and the sneering sharks
+which must sometimes spy him. What a story he
+could tell of his life among the phalaropes and
+jelly-fishes!</p>
+<p>Meadow larks are in flocks in March, and as
+their yellow breasts, with the central crescent of
+black, rise from the snow-bent grass, their long,
+clear, vocal &#8220;arrow&#8221; comes to us, piercing the air
+like a veritable icicle of sound. When on the
+ground they are walkers like the crow.</p>
+<p>As the kingfisher and loon appear to know long
+ahead when the first bit of clear water will appear,
+so the first insect on the wing seems to be anticipated
+by a feathered flycatcher. Early some
+morning, when the wondrous Northern Lights are
+still playing across the heavens, a small voice
+may make all the surroundings seem incongruous.
+Frosty air, rimmed tree-trunks, naked branches,
+aurora&mdash;all seem as unreal as stage properties,
+when <i>ph&oelig;-be!</i> comes to our ears. Yes, there is
+the little dark-feathered, tail-wagging fellow,
+hungry no doubt, but sure that when the sun
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span>
+warms up, Mother Nature will strew his aerial
+breakfast-table with tiny gnats,&mdash;precocious, but
+none the less toothsome for all that.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Hark &#8217;tis the bluebird&#8217;s venturous strain</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 1.47167034584253em;'>High on the old fringed elm at the gate&mdash;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Sweet-voiced, valiant on the swaying bough,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 1.47167034584253em;'>Alert, elate,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Dodging the fitful spits of snow,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 1.47167034584253em;'>New England&#8217;s poet-laureate</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Telling us Spring has come again!</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Thomas Bailey Aldrich.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_WAYS_OF_MEADOW_MICE' id='THE_WAYS_OF_MEADOW_MICE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span>
+<h2>THE WAYS OF MEADOW MICE</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Day after day we may walk through the
+woods and fields, using our eyes as best we
+can, searching out every moving thing, following
+up every sound,&mdash;and yet we touch only the coarsest,
+perceive only the grossest of the life about
+us. Tramp the same way after a fall of snow and
+we are astonished at the evidences of life of which
+we knew nothing. Everywhere, in and out among
+the reed stems, around the tree-trunks, and in
+wavy lines and spirals all about, runs the delicate
+tracery of the meadow mice trails. No leapers
+these, as are the white-footed and jumping mice,
+but short-legged and stout of body. Yet with all
+their lack of size and swiftness, they are untiring
+little folk, and probably make long journeys from
+their individual nests.</p>
+<p>As far north as Canada and west to the Plains
+the meadow or field mice are found, and everywhere
+they seem to be happy and content. Most
+of all, however, they enjoy the vicinity of water,
+and a damp, half-marshy meadow is a paradise
+for them. No wonder their worst enemies are
+known as marsh hawks and marsh owls; these
+hunters of the daylight and the night well know
+where the meadow mice love to play.</p>
+<p>These mice are resourceful little beings and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span>
+when danger threatens they will take to the water
+without hesitation; and when the muskrat has
+gone the way of the beaver, our ditches and ponds
+will not be completely deserted, for the little
+meadow mice will swim and dive for many years
+thereafter.</p>
+<p>Not only in the meadows about our inland
+streams, but within sound of the breakers on the
+seashore, these vigorous bits of fur find bountiful
+living, and it is said that the mice folk inhabiting
+these low salt marshes always know in some mysterious
+way when a disastrous high tide is due,
+and flee in time, so that when the remorseless
+ripples lap higher and higher over the wide
+stretches of salt grass, not a mouse will be
+drowned. By some delicate means of perception
+all have been notified in time, and these, among
+the least of Nature&#8217;s children, have run and scurried
+along their grassy paths to find safety on
+the higher ground.</p>
+<p>These paths seem an invention of the meadow
+mice, and, affording them a unique escape from
+danger, they doubtless, in a great measure,
+account for the extreme abundance of the little
+creatures. When a deer mouse or a chipmunk
+emerges from its hollow log or underground tunnel,
+it must take its chances in open air. It may
+dart along close to the ground or amid an impenetrable
+tangle of briers, but still it is always
+visible from above. On the other hand, a mole,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span>
+pushing blindly along beneath the sod, fears no
+danger from the hawk soaring high overhead.</p>
+<p>The method of the meadow mice is between
+these two: its stratum of active life is above the
+mole and beneath the chipmunk. Scores of sharp
+little incisor teeth are forever busy gnawing and
+cutting away the tender grass and sprouting
+weeds in long meandering paths or trails through
+the meadows. As these paths are only a mouse-breadth
+in width, the grasses at each side lean
+inward, forming a perfect shelter of interlocking
+stems overhead. Two purposes are thus fulfilled:
+a delicious succulent food is obtained and a way
+of escape is kept ever open. These lines intersect
+and cross at every conceivable angle, and as the
+meadow mice clan are ever friendly toward one
+another, any particular mouse seems at liberty
+to traverse these miles of mouse alleys.</p>
+<p>In winter, when the snow lies deep upon the
+ground, these same mice drive tunnels beneath it,
+leading to all their favourite feeding grounds, to
+all the heavy-seeded weed heads, with which the
+bounty of Nature supplies them. But at night
+these tunnels are deserted and boldly out upon the
+snow come the meadow mice, chasing each other
+over its gleaming surface, nibbling the toothsome
+seeds, dodging, or trying to dodge, the owl-shadows;
+living the keen, strenuous, short, but
+happy, life which is that of all the wild meadow
+folk.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64' name='page_64'></a>64</span></p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>That wee bit heap o&#8217; leaves an&#8217; stibble</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Thou saw the fields laid bare and waste,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>An&#8217; weary winter comin&#8217; fast,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>An&#8217; cosey here, beneath the blast,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 1.47167034584253em;'>Thou thought to dwell.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Robert Burns.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='PROBLEMS_OF_BIRD_LIFE' id='PROBLEMS_OF_BIRD_LIFE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span>
+<h2>PROBLEMS OF BIRD LIFE</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>The principal problems which birds, and
+indeed all other creatures, have to solve,
+have been well stated to be&mdash;Food, Safety, and
+Reproduction. In regard to safety, or the art of
+escaping danger, we are all familiar with the ravages
+which hawks, owls, foxes, and even red squirrels
+commit among the lesser feathered creatures,
+but there are other dangers which few of us
+suspect.</p>
+<p>Of all creatures birds are perhaps the most
+exempt from liability to accident, yet they not
+infrequently lose their lives in most unexpected
+ways. Once above trees and buildings, they have
+the whole upper air free of every obstacle, and
+though their flight sometimes equals the speed of
+a railroad train, they have little to fear when well
+above the ground. Collision with other birds
+seems scarcely possible, although it sometimes
+does occur. When a covey of quail is flushed,
+occasionally two birds will collide, at times meeting
+with such force that both are stunned. Flycatchers
+darting at the same insect will now and
+then come together, but not hard enough to injure
+either bird.</p>
+<p>Even the smallest and most wonderful of all
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span>
+flyers, the hummingbird, may come to grief in accidental
+ways. I have seen one entangled in a burdock
+burr, its tiny feathers fast locked into the
+countless hooks, and again I have found the body
+of one of these little birds with its bill fastened in
+a spiral tendril of a grapevine, trapped in some
+unknown way.</p>
+<p>Young ph&oelig;bes sometimes become entangled in
+the horsehairs which are used in the lining of
+their nest. When they are old enough to fly and
+attempt to leave, they are held prisoners or left
+dangling from the nest. When mink traps are set
+in the snow in winter, owls frequently fall victims,
+mice being scarce and the bait tempting.</p>
+<p>Lighthouses are perhaps the cause of more accidents
+to birds than are any of the other obstacles
+which they encounter on their nocturnal migrations
+north and south. Many hundreds of birds
+are sometimes found dead at the base of these
+structures. The sudden bright glare is so confusing
+and blinding, as they shoot from the intense
+darkness into its circle of radiance, that they are
+completely bewildered and dash headlong against
+the thick panes of glass. Telegraph wires are
+another menace to low-flying birds, especially
+those which, like quail and woodcock, enjoy a
+whirlwind flight, and attain great speed within a
+few yards. Such birds have been found almost
+cut in two by the force with which they struck the
+wire.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span></p>
+<p>The elements frequently catch birds unaware
+and overpower them. A sudden wind or storm
+will drive coast-flying birds hundreds of miles out
+to sea, and oceanic birds may be blown as far
+inland. Hurricanes in the West Indies are said to
+cause the death of innumerable birds, as well as
+of other creatures. From such a cause small
+islands are known to have become completely depopulated
+of their feathered inhabitants. Violent
+hailstorms, coming in warm weather without
+warning, are quite common agents in the destruction
+of birds, and in a city thousands of English
+sparrows have been stricken during such a storm.
+After a violent storm of wet snow in the middle
+West, myriads of Lapland longspurs were once
+found dead in the streets and suburbs of several
+villages. On the surface of two small lakes, a
+conservative estimate of the dead birds was a million
+and a half!</p>
+<p>The routes which birds follow in migrating
+north and south sometimes extend over considerable
+stretches of water, as across the Caribbean
+Sea, but the only birds which voluntarily brave
+the dangers of the open ocean are those which,
+from ability to swim, or great power of flight, can
+trust themselves far away from land. Not infrequently
+a storm will drive birds away from the
+land and carry them over immense distances, and
+this accounts for the occasional appearance of
+land birds near vessels far out at sea. Overcome
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span>
+with fatigue, they perch for hours in the rigging
+before taking flight in the direction of the nearest
+land, or, desperate from hunger, they fly fearlessly
+down to the deck, where food and water are
+seldom refused them.</p>
+<p>Small events like these are welcome breaks in
+the monotony of a long ocean voyage, but are soon
+forgotten at the end of the trip.</p>
+<p>Two of these ocean waifs were once brought to
+me. One was a young European heron which flew
+on board a vessel when it was about two hundred
+and five miles southeast of the southern extremity
+of India. A storm must have driven the bird seaward,
+as there is no migration route near this
+locality.</p>
+<p>The second bird was a European turtle dove
+which was captured not less than seven hundred
+and fifty miles from the nearest land&mdash;Ireland.
+When caught it was in an exhausted condition,
+but it quickly recovered and soon lost all signs of
+the buffeting of the storm. The turtle dove
+migrates northward to the British Islands about
+the first of May, but as this bird was captured on
+May 17th, it was not migrating, but, caught by a
+gust of wind, was probably blown away from the
+land. The force of the storm would then drive it
+mile after mile, allowing it no chance of controlling
+the direction of its flight, but, from the very
+velocity, making it easy for the bird to maintain
+its equilibrium.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span></p>
+<p>Hundreds of birds must perish when left by
+storms far out at sea, and the infinitely small
+chance of encountering a vessel or other resting-place
+makes a bird which has passed through such
+an experience and survived, interesting indeed.</p>
+<p>In winter ruffed grouse have a habit of burrowing
+deep beneath the snow and letting the storm
+shut them in. In this warm, cosey retreat they
+spend the night, their breath making its way out
+through the loosely packed crystals. But when a
+cold rain sets in during the night, this becomes a
+fatal trap, an impenetrable crust cutting off their
+means of escape.</p>
+<p>Ducks, when collected about a small open place
+in an ice-covered pond, diving for the tender roots
+on which they feed, sometimes become confused
+and drown before they find their way out. They
+have been seen frozen into the ice by hundreds,
+sitting there helplessly, and fortunate if the sun,
+with its thawing power, releases them before they
+are discovered by marauding hawks or foxes.</p>
+<p>In connection with their food supply the
+greatest enemy of birds is ice, and when a winter
+rain ends with a cold snap, and every twig and
+seed is encased in a transparent armour of ice,
+then starvation stalks close to all the feathered
+kindred. Then is the time to scatter crumbs and
+grain broadcast, to nail bones and suet to the tree-trunks
+and so awaken hope and life in the shivering
+little forms. If a bird has food in abundance,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span>
+it little fears the cold. I have kept parrakeets out
+through the blizzards and storms of a severe winter,
+seeing them play and frolic in the snow as if
+their natural home were an arctic tundra, instead
+of a tropical forest.</p>
+<p>A friend of birds once planted many sprouts of
+wild honeysuckle about his porch, and the following
+summer two pairs of hummingbirds built their
+nests in near-by apple trees; he transplanted
+quantities of living woodbine to the garden fences,
+and when the robins returned in the spring, after
+having remained late the previous autumn feeding
+on the succulent bunches of berries, no fewer than
+ten pairs nested on and about the porch and yard.</p>
+<p>So my text of this, as of many other weeks is,&mdash;study
+the food habits of the birds and stock your
+waste places with their favourite berry or vine.
+Your labour will be repaid a hundredfold in song
+and in the society of the little winged comrades.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Worn is the winter rug of white,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>And in the snow-bare spots once more,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Glimpses of faint green grass in sight,&mdash;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Spring&#8217;s footprints on the floor.</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Spring here&mdash;by what magician&#8217;s touch?</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>&#8217;Twas winter scarce an hour ago.</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>And yet I should have guessed as much,&mdash;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Those footprints in the snow!</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Frank Dempster Sherman.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='DWELLERS_IN_THE_DUST' id='DWELLERS_IN_THE_DUST'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span>
+<h2>DWELLERS IN THE DUST</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>To many of us the differences between a reptile
+and a batrachian are unknown. Even if
+we have learned that these interesting creatures
+are well worth studying and that they possess
+few or none of the unpleasant characteristics
+usually attributed to them, still we are apt to
+speak of having seen a lizard in the water at the
+pond&#8217;s edge, or of having heard a reptile croaking
+near the marsh. To avoid such mistakes, one
+need only remember that reptiles are covered with
+scales and that batrachians have smooth skins.</p>
+<p>Our walks will become more and more interesting
+as we spread our interest over a wider field,
+not confining our observations to birds and mammals
+alone, but including members of the two
+equally distinctive classes of animals mentioned
+above. The batrachians, in the northeastern
+part of our country, include the salamanders
+and newts, the frogs and toads, while as reptiles
+we number lizards, turtles, and snakes.</p>
+<p>Lizards are creatures of the tropics and only
+two small species are found in our vicinity, and
+these occur but rarely. Snakes, however, are more
+abundant, and, besides the rare poisonous copperhead
+and rattlesnake, careful search will reveal a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72' name='page_72'></a>72</span>
+dozen harmless species, the commonest, of course,
+being the garter snake and its near relative the
+ribbon snake.</p>
+<p>About this time of the year snakes begin to feel
+the thawing effect of the sun&#8217;s rays and to stir in
+their long winter hibernation. Sometimes we will
+come upon a ball of six or eight intertwined
+snakes, which, if they are still frozen up, will lie
+motionless upon the ground. But when spring
+finally unclasps the seal which has been put upon
+tree and ground, these reptiles stretch themselves
+full length upon some exposed stone, where they
+lie basking in the sun.</p>
+<p>The process of shedding the skin soon begins;
+getting clear of the head part, eye-scales and all,
+the serpent slowly wriggles its way forward,
+escaping from the old skin as a finger is drawn
+from a glove. At last it crawls away, bright and
+shining in its new scaly coat, leaving behind it a
+spectral likeness of itself, which slowly sinks and
+disintegrates amid the dead leaves and moss, or,
+later in the year, it may perhaps be discovered by
+some crested flycatcher and carried off to be added
+to its nesting material.</p>
+<p>When the broods of twenty to thirty young
+garter snakes start out in life to hunt for themselves,
+then woe to the earthworms, for it is upon
+them that the little serpents chiefly feed.</p>
+<p>Six or seven of our native species of snakes lay
+eggs, usually depositing them under the bark of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span>
+rotten logs, or in similar places, where they are
+left to hatch by the heat of the sun or by that of
+the decaying vegetation. It is interesting to gather
+these leathery shelled eggs and watch them hatch,
+and it is surprising how similar to each other
+some of the various species are when they emerge
+from the shell.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span></div>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>APRIL</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='SPRING_SONGSTERS' id='SPRING_SONGSTERS'></a>
+<h2>SPRING SONGSTERS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Early April sees the last contest which winter
+wages for supremacy, and often it is a
+half-hearted attempt; but after the army of the
+North has retreated, with its icicles and snowdrifts,
+spring seems dazed for a while. Victory
+has been dearly bought, and April is the season
+when, for a time, the trees and insects hang fire&mdash;paralysed&mdash;while
+the chill is thawing from their
+marrow. Our northern visitors of the bird world
+slip quietly away. There is no great gathering
+of clans like that of the tree swallows in the fall,
+but silently, one by one, they depart, following the
+last moan of the north wind, covering winter&#8217;s
+disordered retreat with warbles and songs.</p>
+<p>One evening we notice the juncos and tree sparrows
+in the tangled, frost-burned stubble, and the
+next day, although our eye catches glints of white
+from sparrow tails, it is from vesper finches, not
+from juncos, and the weed spray which a few
+hours before bent beneath a white-throat&#8217;s weight,
+now vibrates with the energy which a field sparrow
+puts into his song. Field and chipping sparrows,
+which now come in numbers, are somewhat
+alike, but by their beaks and songs you may know
+them. The mandibles of the former are flesh-coloured,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span>
+those of the latter black. The sharp
+<i>chip!</i> <i>chip!</i> is characteristic of the &#8220;chippy,&#8221; but
+the sweet, dripping song of the field sparrow is
+charming. No elaborate performance this, but a
+succession of sweet, high notes, accelerating toward
+the end, like a coin of silver settling to rest
+on a marble table&mdash;a simple, chaste vespers which
+rises to the setting sun and endears the little
+brown singer to us.</p>
+<p>We may learn much by studying these homely
+little frequenters of our orchards and pastures;
+each has a hundred secrets which await patient
+and careful watching by their human lovers. In
+the chipping sparrow we may notice a hint of the
+spring change of dress which warblers and tanagers
+carry to such an extreme. When he left us
+in the fall he wore a dull-streaked cap, but now
+he comes from the South attired in a smart head-covering
+of bright chestnut. Poor little fellow,
+this is the very best he can do in the way of especial
+ornament to bewitch his lady love, but it
+suffices. Can the peacock&#8217;s train do more?</p>
+<p>This is the time to watch for the lines of ducks
+crossing the sky, and be ready to find black ducks
+in the oddest places&mdash;even in insignificant rain
+pools deep in the woods. In the early spring the
+great flocks of grackles and redwings return,
+among the first to arrive as they were the last to
+leave for the South.</p>
+<p>Before the last fox sparrow goes, the hermit
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span>
+thrush comes, and these birds, alike in certain
+superficialities, but so actually unrelated, for a
+time seek their food in the same grove.</p>
+<p>The hardier of the warblers pass us in April,
+stopping a few days before continuing to the
+northward. We should make haste to identify
+them and to learn all we can of their notes and
+habits, not only because of the short stay which
+most of them make, but on account of the vast
+assemblage of warbler species already on the
+move in the Southern States, which soon, in panoply
+of rainbow hues, will crowd our groves and
+wear thin the warbler pages of our bird books.</p>
+<p>These April days we are sure to see flocks of
+myrtle, or yellow-rumped warblers, and yellow
+palm warblers in their olive-green coats and chestnut
+caps. The black-and-white creeper will always
+show himself true to his name&mdash;a creeping bundle
+of black and white streaks. When we hear of the
+parula warbler or of the Cape May warbler we
+get no idea of the appearance of the bird, but when
+we know that the black-throated green warblers
+begin to appear in April, the first good view of
+one of this species will proclaim him as such.</p>
+<p>We have marked the fox sparrow as being a
+great scratcher among dead leaves. His habit is
+continued in the spring by the towhee, or chewink,
+who uses the same methods, throwing both
+feet backward simultaneously. The ordinary call
+note of this bird is a good example of how difficult
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span>
+it is to translate bird songs into human words.
+Listen to the quick, double note coming from the
+underbrush. Now he says &#8220;<i>towhee&#8217;!</i>&#8221; the next
+time &#8220;<i>chewink&#8217;!</i>&#8221; You may change about at will,
+and the notes will always correspond. Whatever
+is in our mind at the instant, that will seem to
+be what the bird says. This should warn us of
+the danger of reading our thoughts and theories
+too much into the minds and actions of birds.
+Their mental processes, in many ways, correspond
+to ours. When a bird expresses fear, hate,
+bravery, pain or pleasure, we can sympathise
+thoroughly with it, but in studying their more
+complex actions we should endeavour to exclude
+the thousand and one human attributes with
+which we are prone to colour the bird&#8217;s mental
+environment.</p>
+<p>John Burroughs has rendered the song of the
+black-throated green warbler in an inimitable way,
+as follows: &#8220;&mdash;&mdash; &mdash;&mdash;V&mdash;&mdash;!&#8221; When we have
+once heard the bird we will instantly recognise
+the aptness of these symbolic lines. The least
+flycatcher, called <i>minimus</i> by the scientists, well
+deserves his name, for of all those members of
+his family which make their home with us, he is
+the smallest. These miniature flycatchers have a
+way of hunting which is all their own. They sit
+perched on some exposed twig or branch, motionless
+until some small insect flies in sight. Then
+they will launch out into the air, and, catching
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span>
+the insect with a snap of their beaks, fly back to
+the same perch. They are garbed in subdued
+grays, olives, and yellows. The least flycatcher
+has another name which at once distinguishes him&mdash;chebec&#8217;.
+As he sits on a limb, his whole body
+trembles when he jerks out these syllables, and his
+tail snaps as if it played some important part in
+the mechanism of his vocal effort.</p>
+<p>When you are picking cowslips and hepaticas
+early in the month, keep a lookout for the first
+barn swallow. Nothing gives us such an impression
+of the independence and individuality of
+birds as when a solitary member of some species
+arrives days before others of his kind. One fork-tailed
+beauty of last year&#8217;s nest above the haymow
+may hawk about for insects day after day
+alone, before he is joined by other swallows. Did
+he spend the winter by himself, or did the <i>heimweh</i>
+smite his heart more sorely and bring him
+irresistibly to the loved nest in the rafters? This
+love of home, which is so striking an attribute of
+birds, is a wonderfully beautiful thing. It brings
+the oriole back to the branch where still swings
+her exquisite purse-shaped home of last summer;
+it leads each pair of fishhawks to their particular
+cartload of sticks, to which a few more must be
+added each year; it hastens the wing beats of the
+sea-swallows northward to the beach which, ten
+months ago, was flecked with their eggs&mdash;the
+shifting grains of sand their only nest.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span></p>
+<p>This love of home, of birthplace, bridges over a
+thousand physical differences between these
+feathered creatures and ourselves. We forget
+their expressionless masks of horn, their feathered
+fingers, their scaly toes, and looking deep
+into their clear, bright eyes, we know and feel a
+kinship, a sympathy of spirit, which binds us all
+together, and we are glad.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Yet these sweet sounds of the early season,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>And these fair sights of its sunny days,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Are only sweet when we fondly listen,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>And only fair when we fondly gaze.</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>There is no glory in star or blossom</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Till looked upon by a loving eye;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>There is no fragrance in April breezes</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Till breathed with joy as they wander by.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>William Cullen Bryant.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_SIMPLE_ART_OF_SAPSUCKING' id='THE_SIMPLE_ART_OF_SAPSUCKING'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span>
+<h2>THE SIMPLE ART OF SAPSUCKING</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>The yellow-bellied sapsucker is, at this time
+of year, one of our most abundant woodpeckers,
+and in its life we have an excellent
+example of that individuality which is ever cropping
+out in Nature&mdash;the trial and acceptance of
+life under new conditions.</p>
+<p>In the spring we tap the sugar maples, and
+gather great pailfuls of the sap as it rises from its
+winter resting-place in the roots, and the sapsucker
+likes to steal from our pails or to tap the
+trees for himself. But throughout part of the
+year he is satisfied with an insect diet and chooses
+the time when the sap begins to flow downward
+in the autumn for committing his most serious
+depredations upon the tree. It was formerly
+thought that this bird, like its near relatives, the
+downy and hairy woodpeckers, was forever boring
+for insects; but when we examine the regularity
+and symmetry of the arrangement of its holes,
+we realise that they are for a very different purpose
+than the exposing of an occasional grub.</p>
+<p>Besides drinking the sap from the holes, this
+bird extracts a quantity of the tender inner bark
+of the tree, and when a tree has been encircled
+for several feet up and down its trunk by these
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span>
+numerous little sap wells, the effect becomes apparent
+in the lessened circulation of the liquid
+blood of the tree; and before long, death is certain
+to ensue. So the work of the sapsucker is injurious,
+while the grub-seeking woodpeckers confer
+only good upon the trees they frequent.</p>
+<p>And how pitiful is the downfall of a doomed
+tree! Hardly has its vitality been lessened an
+appreciable amount, when somehow the word is
+passed to the insect hordes who hover about in
+waiting, as wolves hang upon the outskirts of a
+herd of buffalo. In the spring, when the topmost
+branches have received a little less than their
+wonted amount of wholesome sap and the leaves
+are less vigorous, the caterpillars and twig-girdlers
+attack at once. Ichneumen flies and boring
+beetles seem to know by signs invisible to us
+that here is opportunity. Then in the fall come
+again the sapsuckers to the tree, remorselessly
+driving hole after hole through the still untouched
+segments of its circle of life. When the last sap-channel
+is pierced and no more can pass to the
+roots, the tree stands helpless, waiting for the
+end. Swiftly come frost and rain, and when the
+April suns again quicken all the surrounding
+vegetation into vigorous life, the victim of the
+sapsuckers stands lifeless, its branches reaching
+hopelessly upward, a naked mockery amid the
+warm green foliage around. Insects and fungi
+and lightning now set to work unhindered, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span>
+the tree falls at last,&mdash;dust to dust&mdash;ashes to
+ashes.</p>
+<p>A sapsucker has been seen in early morning to
+sink forty or fifty wells into the bark of a mountain
+ash tree, and then to spend the rest of the
+day in sidling from one to another, taking a sip
+here and a drink there, gradually becoming more
+and more lethargic and drowsy, as if the sap
+actually produced some narcotic or intoxicating
+effect. Strong indeed is the contrast between such
+a picture and the same bird in the early spring,&mdash;then
+full of life and vigour, drawing musical reverberations
+from some resonant hollow limb.</p>
+<p>Like other idlers, the sapsucker in its deeds of
+gluttony and harm brings, if anything, more injury
+to others than to itself. The farmers well
+know its depredations and detest it accordingly,
+but unfortunately they are not ornithologists, and
+a peckerwood is a peckerwood to them; and so
+while the poor downy, the red-head, and the hairy
+woodpeckers are seen busily at work cutting the
+life threads of the injurious borer larvæ, the
+farmer, thinking of his dying trees, slays them all
+without mercy or distinction. The sapsucker is
+never as confiding as the downy, and from a safe
+distance sees others murdered for sins which are
+his alone.</p>
+<p>But we must give sapsucker his due and admit
+that he devours many hundreds of insects
+throughout the year, and though we mourn the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84' name='page_84'></a>84</span>
+death of an occasional tree, we cannot but admire
+his new venture in life,&mdash;his cunning in choosing
+only the dessert served at the woodpeckers&#8217;
+feasts,&mdash;the sweets which flow at the tap of a
+beak, leaving to his fellows the labour of searching
+and drilling deep for more substantial courses.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='WILD_WINGS' id='WILD_WINGS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span>
+<h2>WILD WINGS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>The ides of March see the woodcock back in
+its northern home, and in early April it prepares
+for nesting. The question of the nest itself
+is a very simple matter, being only a cavity,
+formed by the pressure of the mother&#8217;s body,
+among the moss and dead leaves. The formalities
+of courtship are, however, quite another thing,
+and the execution of interesting aerial dances
+entails much effort and time.</p>
+<p>It is in the dusk of evening that the male woodcock
+begins his song,&mdash;plaintive notes uttered at
+regular intervals, and sounding like <i>peent!</i> <i>peent!</i>
+Then without warning he launches himself on a
+sharply ascending spiral, his wings whistling
+through the gloom. Higher and higher he goes,
+balances a moment, and finally descends abruptly,
+with zigzag rushes, wings and voice both aiding
+each other in producing the sounds, to which, let
+us suppose, his prospective mate listens with
+ecstasy. It is a weird performance, repeated
+again and again during the same evening.</p>
+<p>So pronounced and loud is the whistling of the
+wings that we wonder how it can be produced by
+ordinary feathers. The three outer primaries
+of the wing, which in most birds are usually like
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span>
+the others, in the woodcock are very stiff, and
+the vanes are so narrow that when the wing is
+spread there is a wide space between each one.
+When the wing beats the air rapidly, the wind
+rushes through these feather slits,&mdash;and we have
+the accompaniment of the love-song explained.</p>
+<p>The feather-covered arms and hands of birds
+are full of interest; and after studying the wing
+of a chicken which has been plucked for the table,
+we shall realise how wonderful a transformation
+has taken place through the millions of years past.
+Only three stubby fingers are left and these are
+stiff and almost immovable, but the rest of the
+forearm is very like that of our own arm.</p>
+<p>See how many facts we can accumulate about
+wings, by giving special attention to them, when
+watching birds fly across the sky. How easy it
+is to identify the steady beats of a crow, or the
+more rapid strokes of a duck; how distinctive is
+the frequent looping flight of a goldfinch, or the
+longer, more direct swings of a woodpecker!</p>
+<p>Hardly any two birds have wings exactly
+similar in shape, every wing being exquisitely
+adapted to its owner&#8217;s needs. The gull soars or
+flaps slowly on his long, narrow, tireless pinions,
+while the quail rises suddenly before us on short,
+rounded wings, which carry it like a rocket for a
+short distance, when it settles quickly to earth
+again. The gull would fare ill were it compelled
+to traverse the ocean with such brief spurts of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span>
+speed, while, on the other hand, the last bob-white
+would shortly vanish, could it escape from fox
+or weasel only with the slow flight of a gull. How
+splendidly the sickle wings of a swift enable it
+to turn and twist, bat-like, in its pursuit of
+insects!</p>
+<p>You may be able to identify any bird near your
+home, you may know its nest and eggs, its song
+and its young; but begin at the beginning again
+and watch their wings and their feet and their
+bills and you will find that there are new and
+wonderful truths at your very doorstep. Try
+bringing home from your walk a list of bill-uses
+or feet-functions. Remember that a familiar
+object, looked at from a new point of view, will
+take to itself unthought-of significance.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Whither midst falling dew,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Thy solitary way?</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>William Cullen Bryant.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_BIRDS_IN_THE_MOON' id='THE_BIRDS_IN_THE_MOON'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span>
+<h2>THE BIRDS IN THE MOON</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>The lover of birds who has spent the day in
+the field puts away his glasses at nightfall,
+looking forward to a walk after dark only as
+a chance to hear the call of nocturnal birds or to
+catch the whirr of a passing wing. But some
+bright moonlight night in early May, or again in
+mid September, unsheath your glasses and tie
+them, telescope-fashion, to a window-ledge or railing.
+Seat yourself in an easy position and focus
+on the moon. Shut out all earthly scenes from
+your mind and imagine yourself wandering amid
+those arid wastes. What a scene of cosmic desolation!
+What vast deserts, and gaping craters of
+barren rock! The cold, steel-white planet seems
+of all things most typical of death.</p>
+<p>But those specks passing across its surface?
+At first you imagine they are motes clogging the
+delicate blood-vessels of the retina; then you
+wonder if a distant host of falling meteors could
+have passed. Soon a larger, nearer mote appears;
+the moon and its craters are forgotten and
+with a thrill of delight you realise that they are
+birds&mdash;living, flying birds&mdash;of all earthly things
+typical of the most vital life! Migration is at its
+height, the chirps and twitters which come from
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span>
+the surrounding darkness are tantalising hints
+telling of the passing legions. Thousands and
+thousands of birds are every night pouring northward
+in a swift, invisible, aerial stream.</p>
+<p>As a projecting pebble in mid-stream blurs the
+transparent water with a myriad bubbles, so the
+narrow path of moon-rays, which our glass reveals,
+cute a swath of visibility straight through
+the host of birds to our eager eyes. How we hate
+to lose an instant&#8217;s opportunity! Even a wink
+may allow a familiar form to pass unseen. If we
+can use a small telescope, the field of view is much
+enlarged. Now and then we recognise the flight
+of some particular species,&mdash;the swinging loop of
+a woodpecker or goldfinch, or the flutter of a
+sandpiper.</p>
+<p>It has been computed that these birds sometimes
+fly as much as a mile or more above the surface
+of the earth, and when we think of the tiny,
+fluttering things at this terrible height, it takes
+our breath away. What a panorama of dark
+earth and glistening river and ocean must be
+spread out beneath them! How the big moon
+must glow in that rarefied air! How diminutive
+and puerile must seem the houses and cities of
+human fashioning!</p>
+<p>The instinct of migration is one of the most
+wonderful in the world. A young bob-white and
+a bobolink are hatched in the same New England
+field. The former grows up and during the fall
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span>
+and winter forms one of the covey which is content
+to wander a mile or two, here and there, in
+search of good feeding grounds. Hardly has the
+bobolink donned his first full dress before an irresistible
+impulse seizes him. One night he rises
+up and up, ever higher on fluttering wings, sets
+his course southward, gives you a glimpse of him
+across the moon, and keeps on through Virginia
+to Florida, across seas, over tropical islands, far
+into South America, never content until he has
+put the great Amazon between him and his far
+distant birthplace.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>He who, from zone to zone,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>In the long way that I must tread alone,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Will lead my steps aright.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>William Cullen Bryant.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span></div>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>MAY</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_HIGH_TIDE_OF_BIRD_LIFE' id='THE_HIGH_TIDE_OF_BIRD_LIFE'></a>
+<h2>THE HIGH TIDE OF BIRD LIFE</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>For abundance and for perfection of song
+and plumage, of the whole year, May is the
+month of birds. Insects appear slowly in the
+spring and are numerous all summer; squirrels
+and mice are more or less in evidence during all
+the twelve months; reptiles unearth themselves
+at the approach of the warm weather, and may
+be found living their slow, sluggish life until late
+in the fall. In eggs, cocoons, discarded bird&#8217;s-nests,
+in earthen burrows, or in the mud at the
+bottom of pond or stream, all these creatures have
+spent the winter near where we find them in the
+spring. But birds are like creatures of another
+world; and, although in every summer&#8217;s walk we
+may see turtles, birds, butterflies, and chipmunks,
+all interweaving their life paths across one another&#8217;s
+haunts, yet the power of extended flight
+and the wonderful habit of continental migration
+set birds apart from all other living creatures.
+A bird during its lifetime has almost twice the
+conscious existence of, say, a snake or any hibernating
+mammal. And now in early May, when
+the creatures of the woods and fields have only
+recently opened their sleepy eyes and stretched
+their thin forms, there comes the great worldwide
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span>
+army of the birds, whose bright eyes peer at
+us from tree, thicket, and field, whose brilliant
+feathers and sweet songs bring summer with a
+leap&mdash;the height of the grand symphony, of which
+the vernal peeping of the frogs and the squirrels&#8217;
+chatter were only the first notes of the prelude.</p>
+<p>Tantalus-like is the condition of the amateur
+bird-lover, who, book in hand, vainly endeavours
+to identify the countless beautiful forms which
+appear in such vast numbers, linger a few days
+and then disappear, passing on to the northward,
+but leaving behind a goodly assemblage which
+spends the summer and gives abundant opportunity
+for study during the succeeding months. In
+May it is the migrants which we should watch,
+and listen to, and &#8220;ogle&#8221; with our opera glasses.
+Like many other evanescent things, those birds
+which have made their winter home in Central
+America&mdash;land yet beyond our travels&mdash;and
+which use our groves merely as half-way houses
+on their journey to the land of their birth, the
+balsams of Quebec, or the unknown wastes of
+Labrador, seem most precious, most worthy at
+this time of our closest observation.</p>
+<p>More confusing&mdash;albeit the more delightful&mdash;is
+a season when continued cold weather and chilly
+rains hold back all but the hardiest birds, until&mdash;like
+the dammed-up piles of logs trembling with
+the spring freshets&mdash;the tropic winds carry all
+before them, and all at once winter birds which
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span>
+have sojourned only a few miles south of us,
+summer residents which should have appeared
+weeks ago, together with the great host of Canadian
+and other nesters of the north, appear
+within a few days&#8217; time.</p>
+<p>A backward season brings strangers into close
+company for a while. A white-throat sings his
+clear song of the North, and a moment later is
+answered by an oriole&#8217;s melody, or the sweet
+tones of a rose-breasted grosbeak&mdash;the latter one
+of those rarely favoured birds, exquisite in both
+plumage and song.</p>
+<p>The glories of our May bird life are the wood
+warblers, and innumerable they must seem to one
+who is just beginning his studies; indeed, there
+are over seventy species that find their way into
+the United States. Many are named from the
+distribution of colour upon their plumage&mdash;the
+blue-winged yellow, the black-throated blue, chestnut-sided,
+bay-breasted, and black poll. Perhaps
+the two most beautiful&mdash;most reflective of bright
+tropical skies and flowers&mdash;are the magnolia and
+the blackburnian. The first fairly dazzles us with
+its bluish crown, white and black face, black and
+olive-green back, white marked wings and tail,
+yellow throat and rump, and strongly streaked
+breast. The blackburnian is an exquisite little
+fellow, marked with white and black, but with the
+crown, several patches on the face, the throat
+and breast of a rich warm orange that glows
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span>
+amid the green foliage like a living coal of fire.
+The black poll warbler is an easy bird to identify;
+but do not expect to recognise it when it returns
+from the North in the fall. Its black crown has
+disappeared, and in general it looks like a different
+bird.</p>
+<p>At the present time when the dogwood blossoms
+are in their full perfection, and the branches and
+twigs of the trees are not yet hidden, but their
+outlines only softened by the light, feathery foliage,
+the tanagers and orioles have their day.
+Nesting cares have not yet made them fearful of
+showing their bright plumage, and scores of the
+scarlet and orange forms play among the
+branches.</p>
+<p>The flycatchers and vireos now appear in force&mdash;little
+hunters of insects clad in leafy greens and
+browns, with now and then a touch of brightness&mdash;as
+in the yellow-throated vireo or in the crest
+of the kingbird.</p>
+<p>The lesser sandpipers, both the spotted and the
+solitary, teeter along the brooks and ponds, and
+probe the shallows for tiny worms. Near the
+woody streams the so-called water thrushes
+spring up before us. Strange birds these, in appearance
+like thrushes, in their haunts and in
+their teetering motion like sandpipers, but in
+reality belonging to the same family as the tree-loving
+wood warblers. A problem not yet solved
+by ornithologists is: what was the mode of life of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95' name='page_95'></a>95</span>
+the ancestor of the many warblers? Did he cling
+to and creep along the bark, as the black-and-white
+warbler, or feed from the ground or the
+thicket as does the worm-eating? Did he snatch
+flies on the wing as the necklaced Canadian warbler,
+or glean from the brook&#8217;s edge as our water
+thrush? The struggle for existence has not been
+absent from the lives of these light-hearted little
+fellows, and they have had to be jack-of-all-trades
+in their search for food.</p>
+<p>The gnats and other flying insects have indeed
+to take many chances when they slip from their
+cocoons and dance up and down in the warm sunlight!
+Lucky for their race that there are millions
+instead of thousands of them; for now the swifts
+and great numbers of tree and barn swallows
+spend the livelong day in swooping after the
+unfortunate gauzy-winged motes, which have
+risen above the toad&#8217;s maw upon land, and beyond
+the reach of the trout&#8217;s leap over the water.</p>
+<p>It would take an article as long as this simply
+to mention hardly more than the names of the
+birds that we may observe during a walk in May;
+and with bird book and glasses we must see for
+ourselves the bobolinks in the broad meadows,
+the cowbirds and rusty blackbirds, and, pushing
+through the lady-slipper marshes, we may surprise
+the solitary great blue and the little green
+herons at their silent fishing.</p>
+<p>No matter how late the spring may be, the great
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96' name='page_96'></a>96</span>
+migration host will reach its height from the
+tenth to the fifteenth of the month. From this
+until June first, migrants will be passing, but in
+fewer and fewer numbers, until the balance comes
+to rest again, and we may cease from the strenuous
+labours of the last few weeks, confident that
+those birds that remain will be the builders of
+the nests near our homes&mdash;nests that they know
+so well how to hide. Even before the last day of
+May passes, we see many young birds on their
+first weak-winged flights, such as bluebirds and
+robins; but June is the great month of bird homes,
+as to May belong the migrants.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Robins and mocking birds that all day long</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Athwart straight sunshine weave cross-threads of song.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Sidney Lanier.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='ANIMAL_FASHIONS' id='ANIMAL_FASHIONS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97' name='page_97'></a>97</span>
+<h2>ANIMAL FASHIONS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Warm spring days bring other changes than
+thawing snowbanks and the swelling buds
+and leaves, which seem to grow almost visibly. It
+is surprising how many of the wild folk meet
+the spring with changed appearance&mdash;beautiful,
+fantastic or ugly to us; all, perhaps, beautiful to
+them and to their mates.</p>
+<p>As a rule we find the conditions which exist
+among ourselves reversed among the animals;
+the male &#8220;blossoms forth like the rose,&#8221; while
+the female&#8217;s sombre winter fur or feathers are
+reduplicated only by a thinner coat for summer.
+The &#8220;spring opening&#8221; of the great classes of
+birds and animals is none the less interesting because
+its styles are not set by Parisian modistes.</p>
+<p>The most gorgeous display of all is to be found
+among the birds, the peacock leading in conspicuousness
+and self-consciousness. What a contrast
+to the dull earthy-hued little hen, for whose
+slightest favour he neglects food to raise his Argus-eyed
+fan, clattering his quill castanets and
+screaming challenges to his rivals! He will even
+fight bloody battles with invading suitors; and,
+after all, failure may be the result. Imagine the
+feelings of two superb birds fighting over a winsome
+browny, to see her&mdash;as I have done&mdash;walk
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98' name='page_98'></a>98</span>
+off with a spurless, half-plumaged young cock!</p>
+<p>The males of many birds, such as the scarlet
+tanager and the indigo bunting, assume during
+the winter the sombre green or brown hue of the
+female, changing in spring to a glorious scarlet
+and black, or to an exquisite indigo colour respectively.
+Not only do most of the females of
+the feathered world retain their dull coats
+throughout the year, but some deface even this
+to form feather beds for the precious eggs and
+nestlings, to protect which bright colours must
+be entirely foregone.</p>
+<p>The spring is the time when decorations are
+seen at their best. The snowy egret trails his
+filmy cloud of plumes, putting to shame the stiff
+millinery bunches of similar feathers torn from
+his murdered brethren. Even the awkward and
+querulous night heron exhibits a long curling
+plume or two. And what a strange criterion of
+beauty a female white pelican must have! To be
+sure, the graceful crest which Sir Pelican erects
+is beautiful, but that huge, horny &#8220;keel&#8221; or
+&#8220;sight&#8221; on his bill! What use can it subserve,
+æsthetic or otherwise? One would think that
+such a structure growing so near his eyes, and
+day by day becoming taller, must occupy much of
+his attention.</p>
+<p>The sheldrake ducks also have a fleshy growth
+on the bill. A turkey gobbler, when his vernal
+wedding dress is complete, is indeed a remarkable
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99' name='page_99'></a>99</span>
+sight. The mass of wattles, usually so gray and
+shrunken, is now of most vivid hues&mdash;scarlet, blue,
+vermilion, green,&mdash;the fleshy tassels and swollen
+knobs making him a most extraordinary creature.</p>
+<p>Birds are noted for taking exquisite care of
+their plumage, and if the feathers become at all
+dingy or unkempt, we know the bird is in bad
+health.</p>
+<p>What a time the deer and the bears, the squirrels
+and the mice, have when changing their
+dress! Rags and tatters; tatters and rags! One
+can grasp a handful of hair on the flank of a
+caribou or elk in a zoological park, and the whole
+will come out like thistledown; while underneath
+is seen the sleek, short summer coat. A bear will
+sometimes carry a few locks of the long, brown
+winter fur for months after the clean black hairs
+of the summer&#8217;s coat are grown. What a boon to
+human tailors such an opportunity would be&mdash;to
+ordain that Mr. X. must wear the faded collar
+or vest of his old suit until bills are paid!</p>
+<p>It is a poor substance, indeed, which, when cast
+aside, is not available for some secondary use in
+Nature&#8217;s realm; and the hairs that fall from animals
+are not all left to return unused to their
+original elements. The sharp eyes of birds spy
+them out, and thus the lining to many a nest is
+furnished. I knew of one feathered seeker of
+cast-off clothing which met disaster through trying
+to get a supply at first hand&mdash;a sparrow was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100' name='page_100'></a>100</span>
+found dead, tangled in the hairs of a pony&#8217;s tail.
+The chickadee often lights on the backs of domestic
+cattle and plucks out hair with which to line
+some snug cavity near by for his nest. Before
+the cattle came his ancestors were undoubtedly
+in the habit of helping themselves from the deer&#8217;s
+stock of &#8220;ole clo&#8217;s,&#8221; as they have been observed
+getting their building material from the deer in
+zoological parks.</p>
+<p>Of course the hair of deer and similar animals
+falls out with the motions of the creatures, or
+is brushed out by bushes and twigs; but we must
+hope that the shedding place of a porcupine is at
+a distance from his customary haunts; it would
+be so uncomfortable to run across a shred of
+one&#8217;s old clothes&mdash;if one were a porcupine!</p>
+<p>The skin of birds and animals wears away in
+small flakes, but when a reptile changes to a new
+suit of clothes, the old is shed almost entire. A
+frog after shedding its skin will very often turn
+round and swallow it, establishing the frog maxim
+&#8220;every frog his own old clothes bag!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Birds, which exhibit so many idiosyncrasies,
+appear again as utilizers of old clothes; although
+when a crested flycatcher weaves a long snake-skin
+into the fabric of its nest, it seems more from the
+standpoint of a curio collector&mdash;as some people
+delight in old worn brass and blue china! There
+is another if less artistic theory for this peculiarity
+of the crested flycatcher. The skin of a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101' name='page_101'></a>101</span>
+snake&mdash;a perfect ghost in its completeness&mdash;would
+make a splendid &#8220;bogie.&#8221; We can see that
+it might, indeed, be useful in such a way, as in
+frightening marauding crows, who approach with
+cannibalistic intentions upon eggs or young.
+Thus the skin would correspond in function to
+the rows of dummy wooden guns, which make a
+weak fort appear all but invincible.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='POLLIWOG_PROBLEMS' id='POLLIWOG_PROBLEMS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102' name='page_102'></a>102</span>
+<h2>POLLIWOG PROBLEMS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>The ancient Ph&oelig;nicians, Egyptians, Hindus,
+Japanese, and Greeks all shared the belief
+that the whole world was hatched from an egg
+made by the Creator. This idea of development
+is at least true in the case of every living thing
+upon the earth to-day; every plant springs from
+its seed, every animal from its egg. And still
+another sweeping, all-inclusive statement may be
+made,&mdash;every seed or egg at first consists of but
+one cell, and by the division of this into many
+cells, the lichen, violet, tree, worm, crab, butterfly,
+fish, frog, or other higher creature is formed.
+A little embryology will give a new impetus to
+our studies, whether we watch the unfolding
+leaves of a sunflower, a caterpillar emerging from
+its egg, or a chick breaking through its shell.</p>
+<p>The very simplest and best way to begin this
+study is to go to the nearest pond, where the
+frogs have been croaking in the evenings. A
+search among the dead leaves and water-soaked
+sticks will reveal a long string of black beads.
+These are the eggs of the toad; if, however, the
+beads are not in strings, but in irregular masses,
+then they are frogs&#8217; eggs. In any case take home
+a tumblerful, place a few, together with the thick,
+transparent gelatine, in which they are encased,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103' name='page_103'></a>103</span>
+in a saucer, and examine them carefully under
+a good magnifying glass, or, better still, through
+a low-power microscope lens.</p>
+<p>You will notice that the tiny spheres are not
+uniformly coloured but that half is whitish. If
+the eggs have been recently laid the surface will
+be smooth and unmarked, but have patience and
+watch them for as long a time as you can spare.
+Whenever I can get a batch of such eggs, I never
+grudge a whole day spent in observing them, for
+it is seldom that the mysterious processes of life
+are so readily watched and followed.</p>
+<p>Keep your eye fixed on the little black and white
+ball of jelly and before long, gradually and yet
+with never a halt, a tiny furrow makes its way
+across the surface, dividing the egg into equal
+halves. When it completely encircles the sphere
+you may know that you have seen one of the
+greatest wonders of the world. The egg which
+consisted of but one cell is now divided into two
+exactly equal parts, of the deepest significance.
+Of the latter truth we may judge from the fact
+that if one of those cells should be injured, only
+one-half a polliwog would result,&mdash;either a head
+or a tail half.</p>
+<p>Before long the unseen hand of life ploughs another
+furrow across the egg, and we have now
+four cells. These divide into eight, sixteen, and so
+on far beyond human powers of numeration, until
+the beginnings of all the organs of the tadpole
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104' name='page_104'></a>104</span>
+are formed. While we cannot, of course, follow
+this development, we can look at our egg every
+day and at last see the little <i>wiggle heads</i> or polliwogs
+(from <i>pol</i> and <i>wiggle</i>) emerge.</p>
+<p>In a few days they develop a fin around the tail,
+and from now on it is an easy matter to watch
+the daily growth. There is no greater miracle in
+the world than to see one of these aquatic, water-breathing,
+limbless creatures transform before
+your eyes into a terrestrial, four-legged frog or
+toad, breathing air like ourselves. The humble
+polliwog in its development is significant of far
+more marvellous facts than the caterpillar changing
+into the butterfly, embodying as it does the
+deepest poetry and romance of evolution.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Blue dusk, that brings the dewy hours,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Brings thee, of graceless form in sooth.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Edgar Fawcett.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='INSECT_PIRATES_AND_SUBMARINES' id='INSECT_PIRATES_AND_SUBMARINES'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105' name='page_105'></a>105</span>
+<h2>INSECT PIRATES AND SUBMARINES</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Far out on the ocean, when the vessel is laboriously
+making her way through the troughs
+and over the crests of the great waves, little birds,
+black save for a patch of white on the lower back,
+are a common sight, flying with quick irregular
+wing-beats, close to the surface of the troubled
+waters. When they spy some edible bit floating
+beneath them, down they drop until their tiny
+webbed feet just rest upon the water. Then,
+snatching up the titbit, half-flying, they patter
+along the surface of the water, just missing being
+engulfed by each oncoming wave. Thus they have
+come to be named petrels&mdash;little Peters&mdash;because
+they seem to walk upon the water. Without aid
+from the wings, however, they would soon be immersed,
+so the walking is only an illusion.</p>
+<p>But in our smallest ponds and brooks we may
+see this miracle taking place almost daily, the
+feat being accomplished by a very interesting
+little assemblage of insects, commonly called
+water skaters or striders. Let us place our eyes
+as near as possible to the surface of the water
+and watch the little creatures darting here and
+there.</p>
+<p>We see that they progress securely on the top
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106' name='page_106'></a>106</span>
+of the water, resting upon it as if it were a sheet
+of ice. Their feet are so adapted that the water
+only dimples beneath their slight weight, the extent
+of the depression not being visible to the eye,
+but clearly outlined in the shadows upon the bottom.
+In an eddy of air a tiny fly is caught and
+whirled upon the water, where it struggles vigorously,
+striving to lift its wings clear of the surface.
+In an instant the water strider&mdash;pirate of the pond
+that he is&mdash;reaches forward his crooked fore
+legs, and here endeth the career of the unfortunate
+fly.</p>
+<p>In the air, in the earth, and below the surface
+of the water are hundreds of living creatures, but
+the water striders and their near relatives are
+unique. No other group shares their power of
+actually walking, or rather pushing themselves,
+upon the surface of the water. They have a little
+piece of the world all to themselves. Yet, although
+three fifths of the earth&#8217;s surface consists
+of water, this group of insects is a small one. A
+very few, however, are found out upon the ocean,
+where the tiny creatures row themselves cheerfully
+along. It is thought that they attach their
+eggs to the floating saragassum seaweed. If only
+we knew the whole life of one of these ocean
+water striders and all the strange sights it must
+see, a fairy story indeed would be unfolded to us.</p>
+<p>However, all the Lilliputian craft of our brooks
+are not galleys; there are submarines, which, in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107' name='page_107'></a>107</span>
+excellence of action and control, put to shame all
+human efforts along the same line. These are the
+water boatmen, stout boat-shaped insects whose
+hind legs are long, projecting outward like the
+oars of a rowboat. They feather their oars, too,
+or rather the oars are feathered for them, a fringe
+of long hairs growing out on each side of the
+blade. Some of the boatmen swim upside down,
+and these have the back keeled instead of the
+breast. Like real submarine boats, these insects
+have to come up for air occasionally; and, again
+like similar craft of human handiwork, their principal
+mission in life seems to be warfare upon the
+weaker creatures about them.</p>
+<p>Upon their bodies are many short hairs that
+have the power of enclosing and retaining a good-sized
+bubble of air. Thus the little boatman is
+well supplied for each submarine trip, and he does
+not have to return to the surface until all this
+storage air has been exhausted. In perfectly pure
+water, however, these boatmen can remain almost
+indefinitely below the surface, although it is not
+known how they obtain from the water the oxygen
+which they usually take from the air.</p>
+<p>All of these skaters and boatmen thrive in small
+aquariums, and if given pieces of scraped meat
+will live in perfect health. Here is an alluring
+opportunity for anyone to add to our knowledge
+of insect life; for the most recent scientific books
+admit that we do not yet know the complete life
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108' name='page_108'></a>108</span>
+history of even one of these little brothers of the
+pond.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Clear and cool, clear and cool,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>By laughing shallow, and dreaming pool;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Cool and clear, cool and clear,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>By shining shingle, and foaming weir,</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Charles Kingsley.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_VICTORY_OF_THE_NIGHTHAWK' id='THE_VICTORY_OF_THE_NIGHTHAWK'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109' name='page_109'></a>109</span>
+<h2>THE VICTORY OF THE NIGHTHAWK</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>The time is not far distant when the bottom
+of the sea will be the only place where
+primeval wildness will not have been defiled or
+destroyed by man. He may sail his ships above,
+he may peer downward, even dare to descend a
+few feet in a suit of rubber or a submarine boat,
+or he may scratch a tiny furrow for a few yards
+with a dredge: but that is all.</p>
+<p>When that time comes, the animals and birds
+which survive will be only those which have found
+a way to adapt themselves to man&#8217;s encroaching,
+all-pervading civilisation. The time was when
+our far-distant ancestors had, year in and year
+out, to fight for very existence against the wild
+creatures about them. They then gained the
+upper hand, and from that time to the present
+the only question has been, how long the wild
+creatures of the earth could hold out.</p>
+<p>The wolf, the bison, the beaver fought the battle
+out at once to all but the bitter end. The
+crow, the muskrat, the fox have more than held
+their own, by reason of cunning, hiding or quickness
+of sight; but they cannot hope for this to
+last. The English sparrow has won by sheer
+audacity; but most to be admired are those creatures
+which have so changed their habits that
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110' name='page_110'></a>110</span>
+some product of man&#8217;s invention serves them as
+well as did their former wilderness home. The
+eave swallow and barn swallow and the chimney
+swift all belie their names in the few wild haunts
+still uninvaded by man. The first two were originally
+cliff and bank haunters, and the latter&#8217;s
+home was a lightning-hollowed tree.</p>
+<p>But the nighthawks which soar and boom above
+our city streets, whence come they? Do they
+make daily pilgrimages from distant woods? The
+city furnishes no forest floor on which they may
+lay their eggs. Let us seek a wide expanse of flat
+roof, high above the noisy, crowded streets. Let
+it be one of those tar and pebble affairs, so unpleasant
+to walk upon, but so efficient in shedding
+water. If we are fortunate, as we walk slowly
+across the roof, a something, like a brownish bit
+of wind-blown rubbish, will roll and tumble ahead
+of us. It is a bird with a broken wing, we say.
+How did it ever get up here? We hasten forward
+to pick it up, when, with a last desperate flutter,
+it topples off the edge of the roof; but instead of
+falling helplessly to the street, the bird swings
+out above the house-tops, on the white-barred pinions
+of a nighthawk. Now mark the place where
+first we observed the bird, and approach it carefully,
+crawling on hands and knees. Otherwise
+we will very probably crush the two mottled bits
+of shell, so exactly like pebbles in external appearance,
+but sheltering two little warm, beating
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111' name='page_111'></a>111</span>
+hearts. Soon the shells will crack, and the young
+nighthawks will emerge,&mdash;tiny fluffs,&mdash;in colour
+the very essence of the scattered pebbles.</p>
+<p>In the autumn they will all pass southward to
+the far distant tropics, and when spring again
+awakens, the instinct of migration will lead them,
+not to some mottled carpet of moss and rocks deep
+in the woods, but to the tarred roof of a house in
+the very heart of a great city.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113' name='page_113'></a>113</span></div>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>JUNE</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_GALA_DAYS_OF_BIRDS' id='THE_GALA_DAYS_OF_BIRDS'></a>
+<h2>THE GALA DAYS OF BIRDS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Migration is over, and the great influx of
+birds which last month filled every tree and
+bush is now distributed over field and wood, from
+our dooryard and lintel vine to the furthermost
+limits of northern exploration; birds, perhaps,
+having discovered the pole long years ago. Now
+every feather and plume is at its brightest and
+full development; for must not the fastidious
+females be sought and won?</p>
+<p>And now the great struggle of the year is at
+hand, the supreme moment for which thousands
+of throats have been vibrating with whispered
+rehearsals of trills and songs, and for which the
+dangers that threaten the acquisition of bright
+colours and long, inconvenient plumes and ornaments
+have been patiently undergone. Now, if all
+goes well and his song is clear, if his crest and
+gorgeous splashes of tints and shades are fresh
+and shining with the gloss of health, then the
+feathered lover may hope, indeed, that the little
+brown mate may look with favour upon dance,
+song, or antic&mdash;and the home is become a reality.
+In some instances this home is for only one short
+season, when the two part, probably forever; but
+in other cases the choice is for life.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114' name='page_114'></a>114</span></p>
+<p>But if his rival is stronger, handsomer, and&mdash;victorious,
+what then? Alas, the song dies in his
+throat, plumes hang crestfallen, and the disconsolate
+creature must creep about through tangles
+and brush, watching from a distance the nest-building,
+the delights of home life which fate has
+forbidden. But the poor bachelor need not by
+any means lose hope; for on all sides dangers
+threaten his happy rival&mdash;cats, snakes, jays,
+hawks, owls, and boys. Hundreds of birds must
+pay for their victory with their lives, and then the
+once discarded suitors are quickly summoned by
+the widows; and these step-fathers, no whit
+chagrined at playing second fiddle, fill up the
+ranks, and work for the young birds as if they
+were their own offspring.</p>
+<p>There is an unsolved mystery about the tragedies
+and comedies that go on every spring.
+Usually every female bird has several suitors, of
+which one is accepted. When the death of this
+mate occurs, within a day or two another is
+found; and this may be repeated a dozen times in
+succession. Not only this, but when a female bird
+is killed, her mate is generally able at once somewhere,
+somehow, to find another to take her place.
+Why these unmated males and females remain
+single until they are needed is something that has
+never been explained.</p>
+<p>The theme of the courtship of birds is marvellously
+varied and comparatively little understood.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115' name='page_115'></a>115</span>
+Who would think that when our bald eagle, of
+national fame, seeks to win his mate, his ardour
+takes the form of an undignified galloping dance,
+round and round her from branch to branch!
+Hardly less ridiculous&mdash;to our eyes&mdash;is the
+elaborate performance of our most common woodpecker,
+the flicker, or high-hole. Two or three
+male birds scrape and bow and pose and chatter
+about the demure female, outrageously undignified
+as compared with their usual behaviour. They
+do everything save twirl their black moustaches!</p>
+<p>In the mating season some birds have beauties
+which are ordinarily concealed. Such is the male
+ruby-crowned kinglet, garbed in gray and green,
+the two sexes identical, except for the scarlet
+touch on the crown of the male, which, at courting
+time, he raises and expands. Even the iris of
+some birds changes and brightens in colour at the
+breeding season; while in others there appear
+about the base of the bill horny parts, which in a
+month or two fall off. The scarlet coat of the
+tanager is perhaps solely for attracting and holding
+the attention of the female, as before winter
+every feather is shed, the new plumage being of
+a dull green, like that of its mate and its young.</p>
+<p>As mystery confronts us everywhere in nature,
+so we confess ourselves baffled when we attempt
+to explain the most wonderful of all the attributes
+of bird courtship&mdash;song. Birds have notes to call
+to one another, to warn of danger, to express
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116' name='page_116'></a>116</span>
+anger and fear; but the highest development of
+their vocal efforts seems to be devoted to charming
+the females. If birds have a love of music,
+then there must be a marvellous diversity of taste
+among them, ranging all the way from the shrieking,
+strident screams of the parrots and macaws
+to the tender pathos of the wood pewee and the
+hermit thrush.</p>
+<p>If birds have not some appreciation of sweet
+sounds, then we must consider the many different
+songs as mere by-products, excess of vitality
+which expresses itself in results, in many cases,
+strangely æsthetic and harmonious. A view midway
+is indefinable as regards the boundaries
+covered by each theory. How much of the peacock&#8217;s
+train or of the thrush&#8217;s song is appreciated
+by the female? How much is by-product merely?</p>
+<p>In these directions a great field lies open to the
+student and lover of birds; but however we decide
+for ourselves in regard to the exact meaning and
+evolution of song, and what use it subserves
+among the birds, we all admit the effect and pleasure
+it produces in ourselves. A world without the
+song of birds is greatly lacking&mdash;such is a desert,
+where even the harsh croak of a raven is melody.</p>
+<p>Perhaps the reason why the songs of birds give
+more lasting pleasure than many other things is
+that sound is so wonderfully potent to recall days
+and scenes of our past life. Like a sunset, the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117' name='page_117'></a>117</span>
+vision that a certain song brings is different to
+each one of us.</p>
+<p>To me, the lament of the wood pewee brings to
+mind deep, moist places in the Pennsylvania backwoods;
+the crescendo of the oven bird awakens
+memories of the oaks of the Orange mountains;
+when a loon or an olive-sided flycatcher or a white-throat
+calls, the lakes and forests of Nova Scotia
+come vividly to mind; the cry of a sea-swallow
+makes real again the white beaches of Virginia;
+to me a cardinal has in its song the feathery
+lagoons of Florida&#8217;s Indian River, while the
+shriek of a macaw and its antithesis, the silvery,
+interlacing melodies of the solitaire, spell the
+farthest <i>barrancas</i> of Mexico, with the vultures
+ever circling overhead, and the smoke clouds of
+the volcano in the distance.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>So sweet, so sweet the calling of the thrushes,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>The calling, cooing, wooing, everywhere;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>So sweet the water&#8217;s song through reeds and rushes,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>The plover&#8217;s piping note, now here, now there.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Nora Perry.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='TURTLE_TRAITS' id='TURTLE_TRAITS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118' name='page_118'></a>118</span>
+<h2>TURTLE TRAITS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>A turtle, waddling his solitary way along
+some watercourse, attracts little attention
+apart from that aroused by his clumsy, grotesque
+shape; yet few who look upon him are able to
+give offhand even a bare half-dozen facts about
+the humble creature. Could they give any information
+at all, it would probably be limited to two
+or three usages to which his body is put&mdash;such as
+soup, mandolin picks, and combs.</p>
+<p>In the northeastern part of our own country we
+may look for no fewer than eight species of turtles
+which are semi-aquatic, living in or near ponds
+and streams, while another, the well-known box
+tortoise, confines its travels to the uplands and
+woods.</p>
+<p>There are altogether about two hundred different
+kinds of turtles, and they live in all except
+the very cold countries of the world. Australia
+has the fewest and North and Central America
+the greatest number of species. Evolutionists
+can tell us little or nothing of the origin of these
+creatures, for as far back in geological ages as
+they are found fossil (a matter of a little over ten
+million years), all are true turtles, not half turtles
+and half something else. Crocodiles and alligators,
+with their hard leathery coats, come as near
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119' name='page_119'></a>119</span>
+to them as do any living creatures, and when we
+see a huge snapping turtle come out of the water
+and walk about on land, we cannot fail to be
+reminded of the fellow with the armoured back.</p>
+<p>Turtles are found on the sea and on land, the
+marine forms more properly deserving the name
+of turtles; tortoises being those living on land or
+in fresh water. We shall use the name turtle as
+significant of the whole group. The most natural
+method of classifying these creatures is by the
+way the head and neck are drawn back under the
+shell; whether the head is turned to one side, or
+drawn straight back, bending the neck into the
+letter S shape.</p>
+<p>The skull of a turtle is massive, and some have
+thick, false roofs on top of the usual brain box.</p>
+<p>The &#8220;house&#8221; or shell of a turtle is made up of
+separate pieces of bone, a central row along the
+back and others arranged around on both sides.
+These are really pieces of the skin of the back
+changed to bone. Our ribs are directly under the
+skin of the back, and if this skin should harden
+into a bone-like substance, the ribs would lie flat
+against it, and this is the case with the ribs of
+turtles. So when we marvel that the ribs of a
+turtle are on the outside of its body, a second
+thought will show us that this is just as true of
+us as it is of these reptiles.</p>
+<p>This hardening of the skin has brought about
+some interesting changes in the body of the turtle.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120' name='page_120'></a>120</span>
+In all the higher animals, from fishes up to man,
+a backbone is of the greatest importance not only
+in carrying the nerves and blood-vessels, but in
+supporting the entire body. In turtles alone, the
+string of vertebræ is unnecessary, the shell giving
+all the support needed. So, as Nature seldom
+allows unused tissues or organs to remain, these
+bones along the back become, in many species,
+reduced to a mere thread.</p>
+<p>The pieces of bone or horn which go to make up
+the shell, although so different in appearance from
+the skin, yet have the same life-processes. Occasionally
+the shell moults or peels, the outer part
+coming off in great flakes. Each piece grows by
+the addition of rings of horn at the joints, and
+(like the rings of a tree) the age of turtles, except
+of very old ones, can be estimated by the number
+of circles of horn on each piece. The rings are
+very distinct in species which live in temperate
+climates. Here they are compelled to hibernate
+during the winter, and this cessation of growth
+marks the intervals between each ring. In tropical
+turtles the rings are either absent or indistinct.
+It is to this mode of growth that the spreading
+of the initials which are cut into the shell is
+due, just as letters carved on the trunks of trees
+in time broaden and bulge outward.</p>
+<p>The shell has the power of regeneration, and
+when a portion is crushed or torn away the injured
+parts are gradually cast off, and from the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121' name='page_121'></a>121</span>
+surrounding edges a new covering of horn grows
+out. One third of the entire shell has been known
+to be thus replaced.</p>
+<p>Although so slow in their locomotion and
+actions, turtles have well-developed senses. They
+can see very distinctly, and the power of smell is
+especially acute, certain turtles being very discriminating
+in the matter of food. They are also
+very sensitive to touch, and will react to the least
+tap on their shells. Their hearing, however, is
+more imperfect, but as during the mating season
+they have tiny, piping voices, this sense must be
+of some use.</p>
+<p>Water tortoises can remain beneath the surface
+for hours and even days at a time. In addition
+to the lungs there are two small sacs near the tail
+which allow the animal to use the oxygen in the
+water as an aid to breathing.</p>
+<p>All turtles lay eggs, the shells of which are white
+and generally of a parchment-like character. They
+are deposited in the ground or in the sand, and
+hatch either by the warmth of the decaying vegetation
+or by the heat of the sun. In temperate
+countries the eggs remain through the winter, and
+the little turtles do not emerge until the spring.
+The eggs of turtles are very good to eat, and the
+oil contained in them is put to many uses. In all
+the countries which they inhabit, young turtles
+have a hard time of it; for thousands of them are
+devoured by storks, alligators, and fishes. Even
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122' name='page_122'></a>122</span>
+old turtles have many enemies, not the least
+strange being jaguars, which watch for them, turn
+them on their backs with a flip of the paw, and
+eat them at leisure&mdash;on the half shell, as it were!</p>
+<p>Leathery turtles&mdash;which live in the sea&mdash;have
+been reported weighing over a thousand pounds!
+This species is very rare, and a curious circumstance
+is that only very large adults and very
+small baby individuals have been seen, the turtles
+of all intermediate growths keeping in the deep
+ocean out of view.</p>
+<p>Snapping turtles are among the fiercest creatures
+in the world. On leaving the egg their first
+instinct is to open their mouths and bite at something.
+They feed on almost anything, but when,
+in captivity they sometimes refuse to eat, and
+have been known to go a year without food, showing
+no apparent ill effects. One method which
+they employ in capturing their food is interesting.
+A snapping turtle will lie quietly at the bottom of
+a pond or lake, looking like an old water-soaked
+log with a branch&mdash;its head and neck&mdash;at one end.
+From the tip of the tongue the creature extrudes
+two small filaments of a pinkish colour which
+wriggle about, bearing a perfect resemblance to
+the small round worms of which fishes are so fond.
+Attracted by these, fishes swim up to grasp the
+squirming objects and are engulfed by the cruel
+mouth of the angler. Certain marine turtles have
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123' name='page_123'></a>123</span>
+long-fringed appendages on the head and neck,
+which, waving about, serve a similar purpose.</p>
+<p>The edible terrapin has, in many places, become
+very rare; so that thousands of them are kept and
+bred in enclosed areas, or &#8220;crawls,&#8221; as they are
+called. This species is noted for its curious disposition,
+and it is often captured by being
+attracted by some unusual sound.</p>
+<p>The tortoise-shell of commerce is obtained from
+the shell of the hawksbill turtle, the plates of
+which, being very thin, are heated and welded together
+until of the required thickness. The age to
+which turtles live has often been exaggerated, but
+they are certainly the longest lived of all living
+creatures. Individuals from the Galapagos Island
+are estimated to be over four hundred years
+old. When, in a zoological garden, we see one of
+these creatures and study his aged, aged look, as
+he slowly and deliberately munches the cabbage
+which composes his food, we can well believe that
+such a being saw the light of day before Columbus
+made his memorable voyage.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>He&#8217;s his own landlord, his own tenant; stay</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Long as he will, he dreads no Quarter Day.</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Himself he boards and lodges; both invites</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>And feasts himself; sleeps with himself o&#8217;nights.</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>He spares the upholsterer trouble to procure</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Chattels; himself is his own furniture,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Knock when you will,&mdash;he&#8217;s sure to be at home.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Charles Lamb.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='A_HALFHOUR_IN_A_MARSH' id='A_HALFHOUR_IN_A_MARSH'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124' name='page_124'></a>124</span>
+<h2>A HALF-HOUR IN A MARSH</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>There are little realms all around of which
+many of us know nothing. Take, for
+example, some marsh within a half-hour&#8217;s trolley
+ride of any of our cities or towns. Select one
+where cat-tails and reeds abound. Mosquitoes
+and fear of malaria keep these places free from
+invasion by humankind; but if we select some
+windy day we may laugh them both to scorn, and
+we shall be well repaid for our trip. The birds
+frequenting these places are so seldom disturbed
+that they make only slight effort to conceal their
+nests, and we shall find plenty of the beautiful
+bird cradles rocking with every passing breeze.</p>
+<p>A windy day will also reveal an interesting
+feature of the marsh. The soft, velvety grass,
+which abounds in such places, is so pliant and
+yielding that it responds to every breath, and each
+approaching wave of air is heralded by an advancing
+curl of the grass. At our feet these grass-waves
+intersect and recede, giving a weird sensation,
+as if the ground were moving, or as if we
+were walking on the water itself. Where the
+grass is longer, the record of some furious gale is
+permanently fixed&mdash;swaths and ripples seeming
+to roll onward, or to break into green foam. The
+simile of a &#8220;painted ocean&#8221; is perfectly carried
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125' name='page_125'></a>125</span>
+out. There is no other substance, not even sand,
+which simulates more exactly the motions of water
+than this grass.</p>
+<p>In the nearest clump of reeds we notice several
+red-winged blackbirds, chattering nervously. A
+magnificent male bird, black as night, and with
+scarlet epaulets burning on his shoulders, swoops
+at us, while his inconspicuous brownish consorts
+vibrate above the reeds, some with grubs, some
+empty mouthed. They are invariable indexes of
+what is below them. We may say with perfect
+assurance that in that patch of rushes are two
+nests, one with young; beyond are three others,
+all with eggs.</p>
+<p>We find beautiful structures, firm and round,
+woven of coarse grasses inside and dried reeds
+without, hung between two or three supporting
+stalks, or, if it is a fresh-water marsh, sheltered
+by long, green fern fronds. The eggs are worthy
+of their cradles&mdash;pearly white in colour, with
+scrawls and blotches of dark purple at the larger
+end&mdash;hieroglyphics which only the blackbirds can
+translate.</p>
+<p>In another nest we find newly hatched young,
+looking like large strawberries, their little naked
+bodies of a vivid orange colour, with scanty gray
+tufts of down here and there. Not far away is a
+nest, overflowing with five young birds ready to
+fly, which scramble out at our approach and start
+boldly off; but as their weak wings give out, they
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126' name='page_126'></a>126</span>
+soon come to grief. We catch one and find that
+it has most delicate colours, resembling its mother
+in being striped brown and black, although its
+breast and under parts are of an unusually beautiful
+tint&mdash;a kind of salmon pink. I never saw this
+shade elsewhere in Nature.</p>
+<p>Blackbirds are social creatures, and where we
+find one nest, four or five others may be looked for
+near by. The red-winged blackbird is a mormon
+in very fact, and often a solitary male bird may
+be seen guarding a colony of three or four nests,
+each with an attending female. A sentiment of
+altruism seems indeed not unknown, as I have
+seen a female give a grub to one of a hungry nestful,
+before passing on to brood her own eggs, yet
+unhatched.</p>
+<p>While looking for the blackbirds&#8217; nests we shall
+come across numerous round, or oval, masses of
+dried weeds and grass&mdash;mice homes we may think
+them; and the small, winding entrance concealed
+on one side tends to confirm this opinion. Several
+will be empty, but when in one our fingers touch
+six or eight tiny eggs, our mistake will be apparent.
+Long-billed marsh wrens are the architects,
+and so fond are they of building that frequently
+three or four unused nests are constructed before
+the little chocolate jewels are deposited.</p>
+<p>If we sit quietly for a few moments, one of the
+owners, overcome by wren curiosity, will appear,
+clinging to a reed stalk and twitching his pert,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127' name='page_127'></a>127</span>
+upturned tail, the badge of his family. Soon he
+springs up into the air and, bubbling a jumble of
+liquid notes, sinks back into the recesses of the
+cat-tails. Another and another repeat this until
+the marsh rings with their little melodies.</p>
+<p>If we seat ourselves and watch quietly we may
+possibly behold an episode that is not unusual.
+The joyous songs of the little wrens suddenly give
+place to cries of fear and anger; and this hubbub
+increases until at last we see a sinister ripple
+flowing through the reeds, marking the advancing
+head of a water snake.</p>
+<p>The evil eyes of the serpent are bent upon the
+nearest nest, and toward it he makes his way, followed
+and beset by all the wrens in the vicinity.
+Slowly the scaly creature pushes himself up on
+the reeds; and as they bend under his weight he
+makes his way the more easily along them to the
+nest. His head is pushed in at the entrance, but
+an instant later the snake twines downward to the
+water. The nest was empty. Again he seeks an
+adjoining nest, and again is disappointed; and
+now, a small fish attracting his attention, he goes
+off in swift pursuit, leaving untouched the third
+nest in sight, that containing the precious eggs.
+Thus the apparently useless industry of the tiny
+wrens has served an invaluable end, and the
+tremulous chorus is again timidly taken up&mdash;little
+hymns of thanksgiving we may imagine them now.</p>
+<p>These and many others are sights which a half-hour&#8217;s
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128' name='page_128'></a>128</span>
+tramp, without even wetting our shoes,
+may show us. Before we leave, hints of more
+deeply hidden secrets of the marsh may perhaps
+come to us. A swamp sparrow may show by its
+actions that its nest is not far away; from the
+depths of a ditch jungle the clatter of some rail
+comes faintly to our ears, and the distant croak
+of a night heron reaches us from its feeding-grounds,
+guarded by the deeper waters.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>And what if behind me to westward the wall of the woods stands high?</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>The world lies east: how ample, the marsh and the sea and the sky!</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>A league and a league of marsh-grass, waist-high, broad in the blade.</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Oh, what is abroad in the marsh and terminal sea?</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Somehow my soul seems suddenly free</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>From the weighing of fate and the sad discussion of sin.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Sidney Lanier.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='SECRETS_OF_THE_OCEAN' id='SECRETS_OF_THE_OCEAN'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129' name='page_129'></a>129</span>
+<h2>SECRETS OF THE OCEAN</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>We are often held spellbound by the majesty
+of mountains, and indeed a lofty peak
+forever capped with snow, or pouring forth smoke
+and ashes, is impressive beyond all terrestrial
+things. But the ocean yields to nothing in its
+grandeur, in its age, in its ceaseless movement,
+and the question remains forever unanswered,
+&#8220;Who shall sound the mysteries of the sea?&#8221;
+Before the most ancient of mountains rose from
+the heart of the earth, the waves of the sea rolled
+as now, and though the edges of the continents
+shrink and expand, bend into bays or stretch out
+into capes, always through all the ages the sea
+follows and laps with ripples or booms with
+breakers unceasingly upon the shore.</p>
+<p>Whether considered from the standpoint of the
+scientist, the mere curiosity of the tourist, or the
+keen delight of the enthusiastic lover of Nature,
+the shore of the sea&mdash;its sands and waters, its
+ever-changing skies and moods&mdash;is one of the most
+interesting spots in the world. The very bottom
+of the deep bays near shore&mdash;dark and eternally
+silent, prisoned under the restless waste of waters&mdash;is
+thickly carpeted with strange and many-coloured
+forms of animal and vegetable life. But
+the beaches and tide-pools over which the moon-urged
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130' name='page_130'></a>130</span>
+tides hold sway in their ceaseless rise and
+fall, teem with marvels of Nature&#8217;s handiwork,
+and every day are restocked and replanted with
+new living objects, both arctic and tropical offerings
+of each heaving tidal pulse.</p>
+<p>Here on the northeastern shores of our continent
+one may spend days of leisure or delightful
+study among the abundant and ever changing
+variety of wonderful living creatures. It is not
+unlikely that the enjoyment and absolute novelty
+of this new world may enable one to look on these
+as some of the most pleasant days of life. I write
+from the edge of the restless waters of Fundy, but
+any rock-strewn shore will duplicate the marvels.</p>
+<p>At high tide the surface of the Bay is unbroken
+by rock or shoal, and stretches glittering in the
+sunlight from the beach at one&#8217;s feet to where the
+New Brunswick shore is just visible, appearing
+like a low bluish cloud on the horizon. At times
+the opposite shore is apparently brought nearer
+and made more distinct by a mirage, which inverts
+it, together with any ships which are in sight. A
+brig may be seen sailing along keel upward, in the
+most matter-of-fact way. The surface may anon
+be torn by those fearful squalls for which Fundy
+is noted, or, calm as a mirror, reflect the blue sky
+with an added greenish tinge, troubled only by
+the gentle alighting of a gull, the splash of a kingfisher
+or occasional osprey, as these dive for their
+prey, or the ruffling which shows where a school
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131' name='page_131'></a>131</span>
+of mackerel is passing. This latter sign always
+sends the little sailing dories hurrying out, where
+they beat back and forth, like shuttles travelling
+across a loom, and at each turn a silvery struggling
+form is dragged into the boat.</p>
+<p>A little distance along the shore the sandy beach
+ends and is replaced by huge bare boulders, scattered
+and piled in the utmost confusion. Back of
+these are scraggly spruces, with branches which
+have been so long blown landwards that they have
+bent and grown altogether on that side,&mdash;permanent
+weather-vanes of Fundy&#8217;s storms. The very
+soil in which they began life was blown away, and
+their gnarled weather-worn roots hug the rocks,
+clutching every crevice as a drowning man would
+grasp an oar. On the side away from the bay two
+or three long, thick roots stretch far from each
+tree to the nearest earth-filled gully, sucking what
+scanty nourishment they can, for strength to withstand
+the winter&#8217;s gales yet another year or decade.
+Beach-pea and sweet marsh lavender tint
+the sand, and stunted fringed orchids gleam in the
+coarse grass farther inland. High up among the
+rocks, where there is scarcely a handful of soil,
+delicate harebells sway and defy the blasts, enduring
+because of their very pliancy and weakness.</p>
+<p>If we watch awhile we will see a line of blackish
+seaweed and wet sand appearing along the edge of
+the water, showing that the tide has turned and
+begun to recede. In an hour it has ebbed a considerable
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132' name='page_132'></a>132</span>
+distance, and if we clamber down over
+the great weather-worn rocks the hardy advance
+guard of that wonderful world of life under the
+water is seen. Barnacles whiten the top of every
+rock which is reached by the tide, although the
+water may cover them only a short time each day.
+But they flourish here in myriads, and the shorter
+the chance they have at the salt water the more
+frantically their little feathery feet clutch at the
+tiny food particles which float around them. These
+thousands of tiny turreted castles are built so
+closely together that many are pressed out of
+shape, paralleling in shape as in substance the
+inorganic crystals of the mineral kingdom. The
+valved doors are continually opening and partly
+closing, and if we listen quietly we can hear a perpetual
+shuss! shuss! Is it the creaking of the tiny
+hinges? As the last receding wave splashes them,
+they shut their folding doors over a drop or two
+and remain tightly closed, while perhaps ten hours
+of sunlight bake them, or they glisten in the moonlight
+for the same length of time, ready at the first
+touch of the returning water to open wide and
+welcome it.</p>
+<p>The thought of their life history brings to mind
+how sadly they retrogress as they grow, hatching
+as minute free-swimming creatures like tiny lobsters,
+and gradually changing to this plant-like
+life, <i>sans</i> eyes, <i>sans</i> head, <i>sans</i> most everything
+except a stomach and a few pairs of feathery feet
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133' name='page_133'></a>133</span>
+to kick food into it. A few pitiful traces of nerves
+are left them. What if there were enough ganglia
+to enable them to dream of their past higher
+life, in the long intervals of patient waiting!</p>
+<p>A little lower down we come to the zone of mussels,&mdash;hanging
+in clusters like some strange sea-fruit.
+Each is attached by strands of thin silky
+cables, so tough that they often defy our utmost
+efforts to tear a specimen away. How secure these
+creatures seem, how safe from all harm, and yet
+they have enemies which make havoc among them.
+At high tide fishes come and crunch them, shells
+and all, and multitudes of carnivorous snails are
+waiting to set their file-like tongues at work, which
+mercilessly drill through the lime shells, bringing
+death in a more subtle but no less certain
+form. Storms may tear away the support of these
+poor mollusks, and the waves dash them far out of
+the reach of the tides, while at low water, crows
+and gulls use all their ingenuity to get at their
+toothsome flesh.</p>
+<p>There are no ant-hills in the sea, but when we
+turn over a large stone and see scores upon scores
+of small black shrimps scurrying around, the
+resemblance to those insects is striking. These
+little creatures quickly hitch away on their sides,
+getting out of sight in a remarkably short time.</p>
+<p>The tide is going down rapidly, and following it
+step by step novel sights meet the eye at every
+turn, and we begin to realise that in this narrow
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134' name='page_134'></a>134</span>
+strip, claimed alternately by sea and land, which
+would be represented on a map by the finest of
+hair-lines, there exists a complete world of animated
+life, comparing in variety and numbers
+with the life in that thinner medium, air. We
+climb over enormous boulders, so different in appearance
+that they would never be thought to consist
+of the same material as those higher up on
+the shore. These are masses of wave-worn rock,
+twenty or thirty feet across, piled in every imaginable
+position, and completely covered with a
+thick padding of seaweed. Their drapery of algæ
+hangs in festoons, and if we draw aside these submarine
+curtains, scenes from a veritable fairyland
+are disclosed. Deep pools of water, clear as
+crystal and icy cold, contain creatures both hideous
+and beautiful, sombre and iridescent, formless
+and of exquisite shape.</p>
+<p>The sea-anemones first attract attention, showing
+as splashes of scarlet and salmon among the
+olive-green seaweed, or in hundreds covering the
+entire bottom of a pool with a delicately hued mist
+of waving tentacles. As the water leaves these
+exposed on the walls of the caves, they lose their
+plump appearance and, drawing in their wreath
+of tentacles, hang limp and shrivelled, resembling
+pieces of water-soaked meat as much as anything.
+Submerged in the icy water they are veritable
+animal-flowers. Their beauty is indeed well
+guarded, hidden by the overhanging seaweed in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135' name='page_135'></a>135</span>
+these caves twenty-five feet or more below high-water
+mark.</p>
+<p>Here in these beautiful caverns we may make
+aquariums, and transplant as many animal-flowers
+as we wish. Wherever we place them their fleshy,
+snail-like foot spreads out, takes tight hold, and
+the creature lives content, patiently waiting for
+the Providence of the sea to send food to its many
+wide-spread fingers.</p>
+<p>Carpeted with pink algæ and dainty sponges,
+draped with sea-lettuce like green tissue paper,
+decorated with strange corallines, these natural
+aquariums far surpass any of artificial make. Although
+the tide drives us from them sooner or
+later, we may return with the sure prospect of
+finding them refreshed and perhaps replenished
+with many new forms. For often some of the
+deep-water creatures are held prisoners in the
+lower tide-pools, as the water settles, somewhat as
+when the glaciers receded northward after the Ice
+Age there were left on isolated mountain peaks
+traces of the boreal fauna and flora.</p>
+<p>If we are interested enough to watch our
+anemones we will find much entertainment. Let
+us return to our shrimp colonies and bring a handful
+to our pool. Drop one in the centre of an
+anemone and see how quickly it contracts. The
+tentacles bend over it exactly as the sticky hairs
+of the sun-dew plant close over a fly. The shrimp
+struggles for a moment and is then drawn downward
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136' name='page_136'></a>136</span>
+out of sight. The birth of an anemone is
+well worth patient watching, and this may take
+place in several different ways. We may see a
+large individual with a number of tiny bunches
+on the sides of the body, and if we keep this one
+in a tumbler, before long these protuberances will
+be seen to develop a few tentacles and at last
+break off as perfect miniature anemones. Or
+again, an anemone may draw in its tentacles without
+apparent cause, and after a few minutes expand
+more widely than ever. Suddenly a movement
+of the mouth is seen, and it opens, and one,
+two, or even a half-dozen tiny anemones shoot
+forth. They turn and roll in the little spurt of
+water and gradually settle to the rock alongside
+of the mother. In a short time they turn right
+side up, expand their absurd little heads, and
+begin life for themselves. These animal &#8220;buds&#8221;
+may be of all sizes; some minute ones will be much
+less developed and look very unlike the parent.
+These are able to swim about for a while, and
+myriads of them may be born in an hour. Others,
+as we have seen, have tentacles and settle down
+at once.</p>
+<p>Fishes, little and big, are abundant in the pools,
+darting here and there among the leathery fronds
+of &#8220;devils&#8217; aprons,&#8221; cavernous-mouthed angler
+fish, roly-poly young lump-suckers, lithe butterfish,
+and many others.</p>
+<p>Moving slowly through the pools are many
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137' name='page_137'></a>137</span>
+beautiful creatures, some so evanescent that they
+are only discoverable by the faint shadows which
+they cast on the bottom, others suggest animated
+spheres of prismatic sunlight. These latter are
+tiny jelly-fish, circular hyaline masses of jelly with
+eight longitudinal bands, composed of many
+comb-like plates, along which iridescent waves of
+light continually play. The graceful appearance
+of these exquisite creatures is increased by two
+long, fringed tentacles streaming behind, drifting
+at full length or contracting into numerous coils.
+The fringe on these streamers is a series of living
+hairs&mdash;an aquatic cobweb, each active with life,
+and doing its share in ensnaring minute atoms of
+food for its owner. When dozens of these
+<i>ctenophores</i> (or comb-bearers) as they are called,
+glide slowly to and fro through a pool, the sight is
+not soon forgotten. To try to photograph them
+is like attempting to portray the substance of a
+sunbeam, but patience works wonders, and even a
+slightly magnified image of a living jelly is
+secured, which shows very distinctly all the details
+of its wonderfully simple structure; the
+pouch, suspended in the centre of the sphere,
+which does duty as a stomach; the sheaths into
+which the long tentacles may be so magically
+packed, and the tiny organ at the top of this living
+ball of spun glass, serving, with its minute weights
+and springs, as compass, rudder, and pilot to this
+little creature, which does not fear to pit its
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138' name='page_138'></a>138</span>
+muscles of jelly against the rush and might of
+breaking waves.</p>
+<p>Even the individual comb-plates or rows of oars
+are plainly seen, although, owing to their rapid
+motion, they appear to the naked eye as a single
+band of scintillating light. This and other magnified
+photographs were obtained by fastening the
+lens of a discarded bicycle lantern in a cone of
+paper blackened on the inside with shoe-blacking.
+With this crude apparatus placed in front of the
+lens of the camera, the evanescent beauties of
+these most delicate creatures were preserved.</p>
+<p>Other equally beautiful forms of jelly-fish are
+balloon-shaped. These are <i>Beröe</i>, fitly named
+after the daughter of the old god Oceanus. They,
+like others of their family, pulsate through the
+water, sweeping gracefully along, borne on currents
+of their own making.</p>
+<p>Passing to other inhabitants of the pools, we
+find starfish and sea-urchins everywhere abundant.
+Hunched-up groups of the former show
+where they are dining in their unique way on unfortunate
+sea-snails or anemones, protruding
+their whole stomach and thus engulfing their victim.
+The urchins strain and stretch with their
+innumerable sucker-feet, feeling for something to
+grasp, and in this laborious way pull themselves
+along. The mouth, with the five so-called teeth,
+is a conspicuous feature, visible at the centre of
+the urchin and surrounded by the greenish spines.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139' name='page_139'></a>139</span>
+Some of the starfish are covered with long spines,
+others are nearly smooth. The colours are wonderfully
+varied,&mdash;red, purple, orange, yellow, etc.</p>
+<p>The stages through which these prickly skinned
+animals pass, before they reach the adult state,
+are wonderfully curious, and only when they are
+seen under the microscope can they be fully appreciated.
+A bolting-cloth net drawn through
+some of the pools will yield thousands in many
+stages, and we can take eggs of the common starfish
+and watch their growth in tumblers of water.
+At first the egg seems nothing but a tiny round
+globule of jelly, but soon a dent or depression
+appears on one side, which becomes deeper and
+deeper until it extends to the centre of the egg-mass.
+It is as if we should take a round ball of
+putty and gradually press our finger into it. This
+pressed-in sac is a kind of primitive stomach and
+the entrance is used as a mouth. After this follows
+a marvellous succession of changes, form
+giving place to form, differing more in appearance
+and structure from the five-armed starfish
+than a caterpillar differs from a butterfly.</p>
+<p>For example, when about eight days old,
+another mouth has formed and two series of delicate
+cilia or swimming hairs wind around the
+creature, by means of which it glides slowly
+through the water. The photographs of a starfish
+of this age show the stomach with its contents, a
+dark rounded mass near the lower portion of the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140' name='page_140'></a>140</span>
+organism. The vibrating bands which outline the
+tiny animal are also visible. The delicacy of structure
+and difficulty of preserving these young starfish
+alive make these pictures of particular value,
+especially as they were taken of the living forms
+swimming in their natural element. Each day
+and almost each hour adds to the complexity of
+the little animal, lung tentacles grow out and
+many other larval stages are passed through
+before the starfish shape is discernible within this
+curious &#8220;nurse&#8221; or living, changing egg. Then
+the entire mass, so elaborately evolved through
+so long a time, is absorbed and the little baby star
+sinks to the bottom to start on its new life, crawling
+around and over whatever happens in its path
+and feeding to repletion on succulent oysters. It
+can laugh at the rage of the oysterman, who
+angrily tears it in pieces, for &#8220;time heals all
+wounds&#8221; literally in the case of these creatures,
+and even if the five arms are torn apart, five starfish,
+small of arm but with healthy stomachs, will
+soon be foraging on the oyster bed.</p>
+<p>But to return to our tide-pools. In the skimming
+net with the young starfish many other creatures
+are found, some so delicate and fragile that
+they disintegrate before microscope and camera
+can be placed in position. I lie at full length on
+a soft couch of seaweed with my face close to a
+tiny pool no larger than my hand. A few armadillo
+shells and limpets crawl on the bottom, but
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141' name='page_141'></a>141</span>
+a frequent troubling of the water baffles me. I
+make sure my breath has nothing to do with it,
+but still it continues. At last a beam of sunshine
+lights up the pool, and as if a film had rolled from
+my eyes I see the cause of the disturbance. A sea-worm&mdash;or
+a ghost of one&mdash;is swimming about. Its
+large, brilliant eyes, long tentacles, and innumerable
+waving appendages are now as distinct as
+before they had been invisible. A trifling change
+in my position and all vanishes as if by magic.
+There seems not an organ, not a single part of
+the creature, which is not as transparent as the
+water itself. The fine streamers into which the
+paddles and gills are divided are too delicate to
+have existence in any but a water creature, and
+the least attempt to lift the animal from its element
+would only tear and dismember it, so I leave
+it in the pool to await the return of the tide.</p>
+<p>Shrimps and prawns of many shapes and colours
+inhabit every pool. One small species,
+abundant on the algæ, combines the colour changes
+of a chameleon with the form and manner of
+travel of a measuring-worm, looping along the
+fronds of seaweed or swimming with the same
+motion. Another variety of shrimp resembles
+the common wood-louse found under pieces of
+bark, but is most beautifully iridescent, glowing
+like an opal at the bottom of the pool. The curious
+little sea-spiders keep me guessing for a long
+time where their internal organs can be, as they
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142' name='page_142'></a>142</span>
+consist of legs with merely enough body to connect
+these firmly together. The fact that the
+thread-like stomach and other organs send a
+branch into each of the eight legs explains the
+mystery and shows how far economy of space may
+go. Their skeleton-forms, having the appearance
+of eight straggling filaments of seaweed, are thus,
+doubtless, a great protection to these creatures
+from their many enemies. Other hobgoblin forms
+with huge probosces crawl slowly over the floors
+of the anemone caves, or crouch as the shadow of
+my hand or net falls upon them.</p>
+<p>The larger gorgeously coloured and graceful
+sea-worms contribute not a small share to the
+beauty of Fundy tide-pools, swimming in iridescent
+waves through the water or waving their
+Medusa-head of crimson tentacles at the bottom
+among the sea-lettuce. These worms form tubes
+of mud for themselves, and the rows of hooks on
+each side of the body enable them to climb up and
+down in their dismal homes.</p>
+<p>Much of the seaweed from deeper bottoms
+seems to be covered with a dense fur, which under
+a hand lens resolves into beautiful hydroids,&mdash;near
+relatives of the anemones and corals.
+Scientists have happily given these most euphonious
+names&mdash;<i>Campanularia</i>, <i>Obelia</i>, and <i>Plumularia</i>.
+Among the branches of certain of these,
+numbers of round discs or spheres are visible.
+These are young medusæ or jelly-fish, which grow
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143' name='page_143'></a>143</span>
+like bunches of currants, and later will break off
+and swim around at pleasure in the water. Occasionally
+one is fortunate enough to discover these
+small jellies in a pool where they can be photographed
+as they pulsate back and forth. When
+these attain their full size they lay eggs which
+sink to the bottom and grow up into the plant-like
+hydroids. So each generation of these interesting
+creatures is entirely unlike that which immediately
+precedes or follows it. In other words, a
+hydroid is exactly like its grandmother and granddaughter,
+but as different from its parents and
+children in appearance as a plant is from an animal.
+Even in a fairy-story book this would be
+wonderful, but here it is taking place under our
+very eyes, as are scores of other transformations
+and &#8220;miracles in miniature&#8221; in this marvellous
+underworld.</p>
+<p>Now let us deliberately pass by all the attractions
+of the middle zone of tide-pools and on as
+far as the lowest level of the water will admit.
+We are far out from the shore and many feet
+below the level of the barnacle-covered boulders
+over which we first clambered. Now we may
+indeed be prepared for strange sights, for we are
+on the very borderland of the vast unknown. The
+abyss in front of us is like planetary space, unknown
+to the feet of man. While we know the latter
+by scant glimpses through our telescopes, the
+former has only been scratched by the hauls of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144' name='page_144'></a>144</span>
+the dredge, the mark of whose iron shoe is like the
+tiny track of a snail on the leaf mould of a vast
+forest.</p>
+<p>The first plunge beneath the icy waters of
+Fundy is likely to remain long in one&#8217;s memory,
+and one&#8217;s first dive of short duration, but the
+glimpse which is had and the hastily snatched
+handfuls of specimens of the beauties which no
+tide ever uncovers is potent to make one forget
+his shivering and again and again seek to penetrate
+as far as a good-sized stone and a lungful
+of air will carry him. Strange sensations are experienced
+in these aquatic scrambles. It takes a
+long time to get used to pulling oneself <i>downward</i>,
+or propping your knees against the <i>under</i> crevices
+of rocks. To all intents and purposes, the law of
+gravitation is partly suspended, and when stone
+and wooden wedge accidentally slip from one&#8217;s
+hand and disappear in <i>opposite</i> directions, it is
+confusing, to say the least.</p>
+<p>When working in one spot for some time the
+fishes seem to become used to one, and approach
+quite closely. Slick-looking pollock, bloated lump-fish,
+and occasionally a sombre dog-fish rolls by,
+giving one a start, as the memory of pictures of
+battles between divers and sharks of tropical waters
+comes to mind. One&#8217;s mental impressions
+made thus are somewhat disconnected. With the
+blood buzzing in the ears, it is only possible to
+snatch general glimpses and superficial details.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145' name='page_145'></a>145</span>
+Then at the surface, notes can be made, and specimens
+which have been overlooked, felt for during
+the next trip beneath the surface. Fronds of
+laminaria yards in length, like sheets of rubber,
+offer convenient holds, and at their roots many
+curious creatures make their home. Serpent starfish,
+agile as insects and very brittle, are abundant,
+and new forms of worms, like great slugs,&mdash;their
+backs covered with gills in the form of tufted
+branches.</p>
+<p>In these outer, eternally submerged regions are
+starfish of still other shapes, some with a dozen
+or more arms. I took one with thirteen rays and
+placed it temporarily in a pool aquarium with
+some large anemones. On returning in an hour
+or two I found the starfish trying to make a meal
+of the largest anemone. Hundreds of dart-covered
+strings had been pushed out by the latter in defence,
+but they seemed to cause the starfish no
+inconvenience whatever.</p>
+<p>In my submarine glimpses I saw spaces free
+from seaweed on which hundreds of tall polyps
+were growing, some singly, others in small tufts.
+The solitary individuals rise three or four inches
+by a nearly straight stalk, surmounted by a many-tentacled
+head. This droops gracefully to one
+side and the general effect is that of a bed of
+rose-coloured flowers. From the heads hang
+grape-like masses, which on examination in a
+tumbler are seen to be immature medusæ. Each
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146' name='page_146'></a>146</span>
+of these develop to the point where the four radiating
+canals are discernible and then their growth
+comes to a standstill, and they never attain the
+freedom for which their structure fits them.</p>
+<p>When the wind blew inshore, I would often find
+the water fairly alive with large sun-jellies or
+<i>Aurelia</i>,&mdash;their Latin name. Their great milky-white
+bodies would come heaving along and bump
+against me, giving a very &#8220;crawly&#8221; sensation.
+The circle of short tentacles and the four horse-shoe-shaped
+ovaries distinguish this jelly-fish
+from all others. When I had gone down as far
+as I dared, I would sometimes catch glimpses of
+these strange beings far below me, passing and
+repassing in the silence and icy coldness of the
+watery depths. These large medusæ are often
+very abundant after a favourable wind has blown
+for a few days, and I have rowed through masses
+of them so thick that it seemed like rowing through
+thick jelly, two or three feet deep. In an area the
+length of the boat and about a yard wide, I have
+counted over one hundred and fifty <i>Aurelias</i> on
+the surface alone.</p>
+<p>When one of these &#8220;sunfish,&#8221; as the fishermen
+call them, is lifted from the water, the clay-coloured
+eggs may be seen to stream from it in
+myriads. In many jellies, small bodies the size of
+a pea are visible in the interior of the mass, and
+when extracted they prove to be a species of small
+shrimp. These are well adapted for their quasi-parasitic
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147' name='page_147'></a>147</span>
+life, in colour being throughout of the
+same milky semi-opaqueness as their host, but one
+very curious thing about them is, that when taken
+out and placed in some water in a vial or tumbler
+they begin to turn darker almost immediately, and
+in five minutes all will be of various shades, from
+red to a dark brown.</p>
+<p>I had no fear of <i>Aurelia</i>, but when another free-swimming
+species of jelly-fish, <i>Cyanea</i>, or the
+blue-jelly, appeared, I swam ashore with all speed.
+This great jelly is usually more of a reddish liver-colour
+than a purple, and is much to be dreaded.
+Its tentacles are of enormous length. I have seen
+specimens which measured two feet across the
+disc, with streamers fully forty feet long, and one
+has been recorded seven feet across and no less
+than one hundred and twelve feet to the tip of the
+cruel tentacles! These trail behind in eight
+bunches and form a living, tangled labyrinth as
+deadly as the hair of the fabled Medusa&mdash;whose
+name indeed has been so appropriately applied to
+this division of animals. The touch of each tentacle
+to the skin is like a lash of nettle, and there
+would be little hope for a diver whose path crossed
+such a fiery tangle. The untold myriads of little
+darts which are shot out secrete a poison which is
+terribly irritating.</p>
+<p>On the crevice bottoms a sight now and then
+meets my eyes which brings the &#8220;devil-fish&#8221; of
+Victor Hugo&#8217;s romance vividly to mind,&mdash;a misshapen
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148' name='page_148'></a>148</span>
+squid making its way snakily over the
+shells and seaweed. Its large eyes gaze fixedly
+around and the arms reach alternately forward,
+the sucking cups lined with their cruel teeth closing
+over the inequalities of the bottom. The creature
+may suddenly change its mode of progression
+and shoot like an arrow, backward and upward.
+If we watch one in its passage over areas of seaweed
+and sand, a wonderful adaptation becomes
+apparent. Its colour changes continually; when
+near sand it is of a sombre brown hue, then blushes
+of colour pass over it and the tint changes, corresponding
+to the seaweed or patches of pink sponge
+over which it swims. The way in which this is
+accomplished is very ingenious and loses nothing
+by examination. Beneath the skin are numerous
+cells filled with liquid pigment. When at rest
+these contract until they are almost invisible, appearing
+as very small specks or dots on the surface
+of the body. When the animal wishes to
+change its hue, certain muscles which radiate from
+these colour cells are shortened, drawing the cells
+out in all directions until they seem confluent. It
+is as if the freckles on a person&#8217;s face should be
+all joined together, when an ordinary tan would
+result.</p>
+<p>From bottoms ten to twenty fathoms below the
+surface, deeper than mortal eye can probably ever
+hope to reach, the dredge brings up all manner of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149' name='page_149'></a>149</span>
+curious things; basket starfish, with arms divided
+and subdivided into many tendrils, on the tips of
+which it walks, the remaining part converging upward
+like the trellis of a vine-covered summer
+house. Sponges of many hues must fairly carpet
+large areas of the deep water, as the dredge is
+often loaded with them. The small shore-loving
+ones which I photographed are in perfect health,
+but the camera cannot show the many tiny currents
+of water pouring in food and oxygen at the
+smaller openings, and returning in larger streams
+from the tall funnels on the surface of the sponge,
+which a pinch of carmine dust reveals so beautifully.
+From the deeper aquatic gardens come up
+great orange and yellow sponges, two and three
+feet in length, and around the bases of these the
+weird serpent stars are clinging, while crabs
+scurry away as the mass reaches the surface of
+the water.</p>
+<p>Treasures from depths of forty and even fifty
+fathoms can be obtained when a trip is taken with
+the trawl-men. One can sit fascinated for hours,
+watching the hundreds of yards of line reel in,
+with some interesting creature on each of the
+thirty-seven hundred odd hooks. At times a
+glance down into the clear water will show a score
+of fish in sight at once, hake, haddock, cod, halibut,
+dog-fish, and perhaps an immense &#8220;barndoor&#8221;
+skate, a yard or more square. This latter
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150' name='page_150'></a>150</span>
+hold back with frantic flaps of its great
+&#8220;wings,&#8221; and tax all the strength of the sturdy
+Acadian fishermen to pull it to the gunwale.</p>
+<p>Now and then a huge &#8220;meat-rock,&#8221; the fishermen&#8217;s
+apt name for an anemone, comes up, impaled
+on a hook, and still clinging to a stone of five
+to ten pounds weight. These gigantic scarlet ones
+from full fifty fathoms far surpass any near shore.
+Occasionally the head alone of a large fish will
+appear, with the entire body bitten clean off, a
+hint of the monsters which must haunt the lower
+depths. The pressure of the air must be excessive,
+for many of the fishes have their swimming
+bladders fairly forced out of their mouths by the
+lessening of atmospheric pressure as they are
+drawn to the surface. When a basket starfish
+finds one of the baits in that sunless void far beneath
+our boat, he hugs it so tenaciously that the
+upward jerks of the reel only make him hold the
+more tightly.</p>
+<p>Once in a great while the fishermen find what
+they call a &#8220;knob-fish&#8221; on one of their hooks, and
+I never knew what they meant until one day a
+small colony of five was brought ashore. <i>Boltenia</i>,
+the scientists call them, tall, queer-shaped things;
+a stalk six to eight inches in length, with a knob
+or oblong bulb-like body at the summit, looking
+exactly like the flower of a lady-slipper orchid and
+as delicately coloured. This is a member of that
+curious family of Ascidians, which forever
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151' name='page_151'></a>151</span>
+trembles in the balance between the higher backboned
+animals and the lower division, where are
+classified the humbler insects, crabs, and snails.
+The young of <i>Boltenia</i> promises everything in its
+tiny backbone or notochord, but it all ends in
+promise, for that shadow of a great ambition
+withers away, and the creature is doomed to a
+lowly and vegetative life. If we soften the hard
+scientific facts which tell us of these dumb, blind
+creatures, with the humane mellowing thought of
+the oneness of all life, we will find much that is
+pathetic and affecting in their humble biographies
+from our point of view. And yet these cases of
+degeneration are far from anything like actual
+misfortunes, or mishaps of nature, as Buffon was
+so fond of thinking. These creatures have found
+their adult mode of life more free from competition
+than any other, and hence their adoption of
+it. It is only another instance of exquisite adaptation
+to an unfilled niche in the life of the world.</p>
+<p>Yet another phase of enjoying the life of these
+northern waters; the one which comes after all
+the work and play of collecting is over for the
+day, after the last specimen is given a fresh supply
+of water for the night, and the final note in our
+journal is written. Then, as dusk falls, we make
+our way to the beach, ship our rudder and oars
+and push slowly along shore, or drift quietly with
+the tide. The stars may come out in clear splendour
+and the visual symphony of the northern
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152' name='page_152'></a>152</span>
+lights play over the dark vault above us, or all
+may be obscured in lowering, leaden clouds. But
+the lights of the sea are never obscured&mdash;they
+always shine with a splendour which keeps one
+entranced for hours.</p>
+<p>At night the ripples and foam of the Fundy
+shores seem transformed to molten silver and
+gold, and after each receding wave the emerald
+seaweed is left dripping with millions of sparkling
+lights, shining with a living lustre which
+would pale the brightest gem. Each of these
+countless sparks is a tiny animal, as perfect in its
+substance and as well adapted to its cycle of life
+as the highest created being. The wonderful way
+in which this phosphorescence permeates everything&mdash;the
+jelly-fish seeming elfish fireworks as
+they throb through the water with rhythmic beats&mdash;the
+fish brilliantly lighted up and plainly visible
+as they dart about far beneath the surface&mdash;makes
+such a night on the Bay of Fundy an experience
+to be always remembered.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Like the tints on a crescent sea beach</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>When the moon is new and thin,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Into our hearts high yearnings</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Come welling and surging in&mdash;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Come, from the mystic ocean,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Whose rim no foot has trod&mdash;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Some of us call it longing,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>And others call it God.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>W. H. Carruth.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153' name='page_153'></a>153</span></div>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>JULY</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='BIRDS_IN_A_CITY' id='BIRDS_IN_A_CITY'></a>
+<h2>BIRDS IN A CITY</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>We frequently hear people say that if only
+they lived in the country they would take
+up the study of birds with great interest, but that
+a city life prevented any nature study. To show
+how untrue this is, I once made a census of wild
+birds which were nesting in the New York
+Zoological Park, which is situated within the
+limits of New York City. Part of the Park is
+wooded, while much space is given up to the collections
+of birds and animals. Throughout the
+year thousands of people crowd the walks and
+penetrate to every portion of the grounds; yet in
+spite of this lack of seclusion no fewer than sixty-one
+species build their nests here and successfully
+rear their young. The list was made without
+shooting a single bird and in each instance the
+identification was absolute. This shows what a
+little protection will accomplish, while many
+places of equal area in the country which are harried
+by boys and cats are tenanted by a bare
+dozen species.</p>
+<p>Let us see what a walk in late June, or especially
+in July, will show of these bold invaders of
+our very city. Wild wood ducks frequently decoy
+to the flocks of pinioned birds and sometimes mate
+with some of them. One year a wild bird chose as
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154' name='page_154'></a>154</span>
+its mate a little brown female, a pinioned bird, and
+refused to desert her even when the brood of summer
+ducklings was being caught and pinioned.
+Such devotion is rare indeed.</p>
+<p>In the top of one of the most inaccessible trees
+in the Park a great rough nest of sticks shows
+where a pair of black-crowned night herons have
+made their home for years, and from the pale
+green eggs hatch the most awkward of nestling
+herons, which squawk and grow to their prime, on
+a diet of small fish. When they are able to fly
+they pay frequent visits to their relations in the
+great flying cage, perching on the top and gazing
+with longing eyes at the abundant feasts of fish
+which are daily brought by the keepers to their
+charges. This duck and heron are the only ones
+of their orders thus to honour the Park by nesting,
+although a number of other species are not uncommon
+during the season of migration.</p>
+<p>Of the waders which in the spring and fall
+teeter along the bank of the Bronx River, only a
+pair or two of spotted sandpipers remain throughout
+the nesting period, content to lay their eggs
+in some retired spot in the corner of a field, where
+there is the least danger to them and to the fluffy
+balls of long-legged down which later appear and
+scurry about. The great horned owl and the red-tailed
+hawk formerly nested in the park, but the
+frequent noise of blasting and the building operations
+have driven them to more isolated places,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155' name='page_155'></a>155</span>
+and of their relatives there remain only the little
+screech owls and the sparrow hawks. The latter
+feed chiefly upon English sparrows and hence are
+worthy of the most careful protection.</p>
+<p>These birds should be encouraged to build near
+our homes, and if not killed or driven away sometimes
+choose the eaves of our houses as their domiciles
+and thus, by invading the very haunts of the
+sparrows, they would speedily lessen their numbers.
+A brood of five young hawks was recently
+taken from a nest under the eaves of a school-house
+in this city. I immediately took this as a
+text addressed to the pupils, and the principal
+was surprised to learn that these birds were so
+valuable. In the Park the sparrow hawks nest in
+a hollow tree, as do the screech owls.</p>
+<p>Other most valuable birds which nest in the
+Park are the black-billed and yellow-billed
+cuckoos, whose depredations among the hairy and
+spiny caterpillars should arouse our gratitude.
+For these insects are refused by almost all other
+birds, and were it not for these slim, graceful creatures
+they would increase to prodigious numbers.
+Their two or three light blue eggs are always laid
+on the frailest of frail platforms made of a few
+sticks. The belted kingfisher bores into the bank
+of the river and rears his family of six or eight in
+the dark, ill-odoured chamber at the end. Young
+cuckoos and kingfishers are the quaintest of young
+birds. Their plumage does not come out a little
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156' name='page_156'></a>156</span>
+at a time, as in other nestlings, but the sheaths
+which surround the growing feathers remain until
+they are an inch or more in length; then one day,
+in the space of only an hour or so, the overlapping
+armour of bluish tiles bursts and the plumage
+assumes a normal appearance.</p>
+<p>The little black-and-white downy and the flicker
+are the two woodpeckers which make the Park
+their home. Both nest in hollows bored out by
+their strong beaks, but although full of splinters
+and sawdust, such a habitation is far superior to
+the sooty chimneys in which the young chimney
+swifts break from their snow-white eggs and
+twitter for food. How impatiently they must look
+up at the blue sky, and one would think that they
+must long for the time when they can spread their
+sickle-shaped wings and dash about from dawn
+to dark! Is it not wonderful that one of them
+should live to grow up when we think of the fragile
+little cup which is their home?&mdash;a mosaic of
+delicate twigs held together only by the sticky
+saliva of the parent birds.</p>
+<p>A relation of theirs&mdash;though we should never
+guess it&mdash;is sitting upon her tiny air castle high
+up in an apple tree not far away,&mdash;a ruby-throated
+hummingbird. If we take a peep into the nest
+when the young hummingbirds are only partly
+grown, we shall see that their bills are broad and
+stubby, like those of the swifts. Their home, however,
+is indeed a different affair,&mdash;a pinch of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157' name='page_157'></a>157</span>
+plant-down tied together with cobwebs and stuccoed
+with lichens, like those which are growing all
+about upon the tree. If we do not watch the female
+when she settles to her young or eggs we
+may search in vain for this tiniest of homes, so
+closely does it resemble an ordinary knot on a
+branch.</p>
+<p>The flycatchers are well represented in the Park,
+there being no fewer than five species; the least
+flycatcher, wood pewee, ph&oelig;be, crested flycatcher,
+and kingbird. The first two prefer the woods, the
+ph&oelig;be generally selects a mossy rock or a bridge
+beam, the fourth nests in a hollow tree and often
+decorates its home with a snake-skin. The kingbird
+builds an untidy nest in an apple tree. Our
+American crow is, of course, a member of this
+little community of birds, and that in spite of
+persecution, for in the spring one or two are apt
+to contract a taste for young ducklings and hence
+have to be put out of the way. The fish crow, a
+smaller cousin of the big black fellow, also nests
+here, easily known by his shriller, higher caw. A
+single pair of blue jays nest in the Park, but the
+English starling occupies every box which is put
+up and bids fair to be as great or a greater nuisance
+than the sparrow. It is a handsome bird and
+a fine whistler, but when we remember how this
+foreigner is slowly but surely elbowing our native
+birds out of their rightful haunts, we find ourselves
+losing sight of its beauties. The cowbird,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158' name='page_158'></a>158</span>
+of course, imposes her eggs upon many of the
+smaller species of birds, while our beautiful purple
+grackle, meadow lark, red-winged blackbird,
+and the Baltimore and orchard orioles rear their
+young in safety. The cardinal, scarlet tanager,
+indigo bunting, and rose-breasted grosbeak form
+a quartet of which even a tropical land might well
+be proud, and the two latter species have, in addition
+to brilliant plumage, very pleasing songs.
+Such wealth of æsthetic characteristics are unusual
+in any one species, the wide-spread law of
+compensation decreeing otherwise. More sombre
+hued seed-eaters which live their lives in the Park
+are towhees, swamp, song, field, and chipping
+sparrows. The bank and barn swallows skim over
+field and pond all through the summer, gleaning
+their insect harvest from the air, and building
+their nests in the places from which they have
+taken their names. The rare rough-winged swallow
+deigns to linger and nest in the Park as well
+as do his more common brethren.</p>
+<p>The dainty pensile nests which become visible
+when the leaves fall in the autumn are swung by
+four species of vireos, the white-eyed, red-eyed,
+warbling, and yellow-throated. Of the interesting
+and typically North American family of wood
+warblers I have numbered no fewer than eight
+which nest in the Park; these are the redstart,
+the yellow-breasted chat, northern yellow-throat,
+oven-bird, the yellow warbler, blue-winged, black-and-white
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159' name='page_159'></a>159</span>
+creeping warblers, and one other to be
+mentioned later.</p>
+<p>Injurious insects find their doom when the
+young house and Carolina wrens are on the wing.
+Catbirds and robins are among the most abundant
+breeders, while chickadees and white-breasted
+nuthatches are less often seen. The bluebird
+haunts the hollow apple trees, and of the thrushes
+proper the veery or Wilson&#8217;s and the splendid
+wood thrush sing to their mates on the nests
+among the saplings.</p>
+<p>The rarest of all the birds which I have found
+nesting in the Park is a little yellow and green
+warbler, with a black throat and sides of the face,
+known as the Lawrence warbler. Only a few of
+his kind have ever been seen, and strange to say
+his mate was none other than a demure blue-winged
+warbler. His nest was on the ground and
+from it six young birds flew to safety and not to
+museum drawers.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='NIGHT_MUSIC_OF_THE_SWAMP' id='NIGHT_MUSIC_OF_THE_SWAMP'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160' name='page_160'></a>160</span>
+<h2>NIGHT MUSIC OF THE SWAMP</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>To many, a swamp or marsh brings only the
+very practical thought of whether it can be
+readily drained. Let us rejoice, however, that
+many marshes cannot be thus easily wiped out of
+existence, and hence they remain as isolated bits
+of primeval wilderness, hedged about by farms
+and furrows. The water is the life-blood of the
+marsh,&mdash;drain it, and reed and rush, bird and
+batrachian, perish or disappear. The marsh, to
+him who enters it in a receptive mood, holds,
+besides mosquitoes and stagnation,&mdash;melody, the
+mystery of unknown waters, and the sweetness of
+Nature undisturbed by man.</p>
+<p>The ideal marsh is as far as one can go from
+civilisation. The depths of a wood holds its undiscovered
+secrets; the mysterious call of the veery
+lends a wildness that even to-day has not ceased to
+pervade the old wood. There are spots overgrown
+with fern and carpeted with velvety wet moss;
+here also the skunk cabbage and cowslip grow
+rank among the alders. Surely man cannot live
+near this place&mdash;but the tinkle of a cowbell comes
+faintly on the gentle stirring breeze&mdash;and our
+illusion is dispelled, the charm is broken.</p>
+<p>But even to-day, when we push the punt through
+the reeds from the clear river into the narrow,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161' name='page_161'></a>161</span>
+tortuous channel of the marsh, we have left civilisation
+behind us. The great ranks of the cat-tails
+shut out all view of the outside world; the
+distant sounds of civilisation serve only to accentuate
+the isolation. It is the land of the Indian,
+as it was before the strange white man, brought
+from afar in great white-sailed ships, came to
+usurp the land of the wondering natives. At any
+moment we fancy that we may see an Indian canoe
+silently round a bend in the channel.</p>
+<p>The marsh has remained unchanged since the
+days when the Mohican Indians speared fish there.
+We are living in a bygone time. A little green
+heron flies across the water. How wild he is;
+nothing has tamed him. He also is the same now
+as always. He does not nest in orchard or
+meadow, but holds himself aloof, making no concessions
+to man and the ever increasing spread of
+his civilisation. He does not come to his doors
+for food. He can find food for himself and in
+abundance; he asks only to be let alone. Nor does
+he intrude himself. Occasionally we meet him
+along our little meadow stream, but he makes no
+advances. As we come suddenly upon him, how
+indignant he seems at being disturbed in his
+hunting. Like the Indian, he is jealous of his ancient
+domain and resents intrusion. He retires,
+however, throwing back to us a cry of disdain.
+Here in the marsh is the last stand of primitive
+nature in the settled country; here is the last
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162' name='page_162'></a>162</span>
+stronghold of the untamed. The bulrushes rise
+in ranks, like the spears of a great army, surrounding
+and guarding the colony of the marsh.</p>
+<p>There seems to be a kinship between the voices
+of the marsh dwellers. Most of them seem to have
+a muddy, aquatic note. The boom of the frog
+sounds like some great stone dropped into the
+water; the little marsh wren&#8217;s song is the &#8220;babble
+and tinkle of water running out of a silver flask.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The blackbird seems to be the one connecting
+link between the highlands and the lowlands.
+Seldom does one see other citizens of the marsh
+in the upland. How glorious is the flight of a
+great blue heron from one feeding-ground to
+another! He does not tarry over the foreign territory,
+nor does he hurry. With neck and head
+furled close and legs straight out behind, he pursues
+his course, swerving neither to the right nor
+the left.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>&#8220;Vainly the fowler&#8217;s eye</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>As darkly painted on the crimson sky</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Thy figure floats along.&#8221;</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>The blackbirds, however, are more neighbourly.
+They even forage in the foreign territory, returning
+at night to sleep.</p>
+<p>In nesting time the red-wing is indeed a citizen
+of the lowland. His voice is as distinctive of the
+marsh as is the croak of the frog, and from a
+distance it is one of the first sounds to greet the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163' name='page_163'></a>163</span>
+ear. How beautiful is his clear whistle with its
+liquid break! Indeed one may say that he is the
+most conspicuous singer of the marshlands. His
+is not a sustained song, but the exuberant expression
+of a happy heart.</p>
+<p>According to many writers the little marsh
+wren is without song. No song! As well say that
+the farmer boy&#8217;s whistling as he follows the
+plough, or the sailor&#8217;s song as he hoists the sail,
+is not music! All are the songs of the lowly, the
+melody of those glad to be alive and out in the
+free air.</p>
+<p>When man goes into the marsh, the marsh retires
+within itself, as a turtle retreats within his
+shell. With the exception of a few blackbirds and
+marsh wrens, babbling away the nest secret, and
+an occasional frog&#8217;s croak, all the inhabitants
+have stealthily retired. The spotted turtle has
+slid from the decayed log as the boat pushed
+through the reeds. At our approach the heron
+has flown and the little Virginia rail has scuttled
+away among the reeds.</p>
+<p>Remain perfectly quiet, however, and give the
+marsh time to regain its composure. One by one
+the tenants of the swamp will take up the trend
+of their business where it was interrupted.</p>
+<p>All about, the frogs rest on the green carpet of
+the lily pads, basking in the sun. The little rail
+again runs among the reeds, searching for food in
+the form of small snails. The blackbirds and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164' name='page_164'></a>164</span>
+wrens, most domestic in character, go busily about
+their home business; the turtles again come up to
+their positions, and a muskrat swims across the
+channel. One hopes that the little colony of marsh
+wren homes on stilts above the water, like the
+ancient lake dwellers of Tenochtitlan, may have
+no enemies. But the habit of building dummy
+nests is suggestive that the wee birds are pitting
+their wits against the cunning of some enemy,&mdash;and
+suspicion rests upon the serpent.</p>
+<p>As evening approaches and the shadows from
+the bordering wood point long fingers across the
+marsh, the blackbirds straggle back from their
+feeding-grounds and settle, clattering, among the
+reeds. Their clamour dies gradually away and
+night settles down upon the marsh.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+
+<p>All sounds have ceased save the booming of the
+frogs, which but emphasises the loneliness of it
+all. A distant whistle of a locomotive dispels the
+idea that all the world is wilderness. The firefly
+lamps glow along the margin of the rushes. The
+frogs are now in full chorus, the great bulls beating
+their tom-toms and the small fry filling in the
+chinks with shriller cries. How remote the scene
+and how melancholy the chorus!</p>
+<p>To one mind there is a quality in the frogs&#8217;
+serenade that strikes the chord of sadness, to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165' name='page_165'></a>165</span>
+another the chord of contentment, to still another
+it is the chant of the savage, just as the hoot of
+an owl or the bark of a fox brings vividly to mind
+the wilderness.</p>
+<p>Out of the night comes softly the croon of a
+little screech owl&mdash;that cry almost as ancient as
+the hills. It belongs with the soil beneath our
+towns. It is the spirit of the past crying to us.
+So the dirge of the frog is the cry of the spirit of
+river and marshland.</p>
+<p>Our robins and bluebirds are of the orchard
+and the home of man, but who can claim neighbourship
+to the bittern or the bullfrog? There is
+nothing of civilisation in the hoarse croak of the
+great blue heron. These are all barbarians and
+their songs are of the untamed wilderness.</p>
+<p>The moon rises over the hills. The mosquitoes
+have become savage. The marsh has tolerated us
+as long as it cares to, and we beat our retreat.
+The night hawks swoop down and boom as they
+pass overhead. One feels thankful that the mosquitoes
+are of some good in furnishing food to
+so graceful a bird.</p>
+<p>A water snake glides across the channel, leaving
+a silver wake in the moonlight. The frogs
+plunk into the water as we push past. A night
+heron rises from the margin of the river and
+slowly flops away. The bittern booms again as
+we row down the peaceful river, and we leave the
+marshland to its ancient and rightful owners.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166' name='page_166'></a>166</span></p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>And the marsh is meshed with a million veins,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>That like as with rosy and silvery essences flow</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>In the rose and silver evening glow.</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 2.94334069168506em;'>Farewell, my lord Sun!</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>The creeks overflow; a thousand rivulets run</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>&#8217;Twixt the roots of the sod; the blades of the marsh grass stir;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Passeth a hurrying sound of wings that westward whirr.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Sidney Lanier.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_COMING_OF_MAN' id='THE_COMING_OF_MAN'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167' name='page_167'></a>167</span>
+<h2>THE COMING OF MAN</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>If we betake ourselves to the heart of the deepest
+forests which are still left upon our northern
+hills, and compare the bird life which we find
+there with that in the woods and fields near our
+homes, we shall at once notice a great difference.
+Although the coming of mankind with his axe and
+plough has driven many birds and animals far
+away or actually exterminated them, there are
+many others which have so thrived under the new
+conditions that they are far more numerous than
+when the tepees of the red men alone broke the
+monotony of the forest.</p>
+<p>We might walk all day in the primitive woods
+and never see or hear a robin, while in an hour&#8217;s
+stroll about a village we can count scores. Let
+us observe how some of these quick-witted feathered
+beings have taken advantage of the way in
+which man is altering the whole face of the land.</p>
+<p>A pioneer comes to a spot in the virgin forest
+which pleases him and proceeds at once to cut
+down the trees in order to make a clearing. The
+hermit thrush soothes his labour with its wonderful
+song; the pileated woodpecker pounds its disapproval
+upon a near-by hollow tree; the deer and
+wolf take a last look out through the trees and
+flee from the spot forever. A house and barn
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168' name='page_168'></a>168</span>
+arise; fields become covered with waving grass
+and grain; a neglected patch of burnt forest becomes
+a tangle of blackberry and raspberry; an
+orchard is set out.</p>
+<p>When the migrating birds return, they are attracted
+to this new scene. The decaying wood of
+fallen trees is a paradise for ants, flies, and beetles;
+offering to swallows, creepers, and flycatchers
+feasts of abundance never dreamed of in the
+primitive forests. Straightway, what must have
+been a cave swallow becomes a barn swallow; the
+haunter of rock ledges changes to an eave swallow;
+the nest in the niche of the cliff is deserted
+and ph&oelig;be becomes a bridgebird; cedarbirds are
+renamed cherrybirds, and catbirds and other low-nesting
+species find the blackberry patch safer
+than the sweetbrier vine in the deep woods. The
+swift leaves the lightning-struck hollow tree
+where owl may harry or snake intrude, for the
+chimney flue&mdash;sooty but impregnable.</p>
+<p>When the great herds of ruminants disappear
+from the western prairies, the buffalo birds without
+hesitation become cowbirds, and when the
+plough turns up the never-ending store of grubs
+and worms the birds lose all fear and follow at
+the very heels of the plough-boy: grackles, vesper
+sparrows, and larks in the east, and flocks of gulls
+farther to the westward.</p>
+<p>The crow surpasses all in the keen wit which it
+pits against human invasion and enmity. The
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169' name='page_169'></a>169</span>
+farmer declares war (all unjustly) against these
+sable natives, but they jeer at his gun and traps
+and scarecrows, and thrive on, killing the noxious
+insects, devouring the diseased corn-sprouts,&mdash;doing
+great good to the farmer in spite of himself.</p>
+<p>The story of these sudden adaptations to conditions
+which the birds could never have foreseen
+is a story of great interest and it has been but half
+told. Climb the nearest hill or mountain or even a
+tall tree and look out upon the face of the country.
+Keep in mind you are a bird and not a human,&mdash;you
+neither know nor understand anything of
+the reason for these strange sights,&mdash;these bipeds
+who cover the earth with great square structures,
+who scratch the ground for miles, who later gnaw
+the vegetation with great shining teeth, and who
+are only too often on the look out to bring sudden
+death if one but show a feather. What would you
+do?</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_SILENT_LANGUAGE_OF_ANIMALS' id='THE_SILENT_LANGUAGE_OF_ANIMALS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170' name='page_170'></a>170</span>
+<h2>THE SILENT LANGUAGE OF ANIMALS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>What a great difference there is in brilliancy
+of colouring between birds and the
+furry creatures. How the plumage of a cardinal,
+or indigo bunting, or hummingbird glows in the
+sunlight, and reflects to our eyes the most intense
+vermilion or indigo or an iridescence of the whole
+gamut of colour. On the other hand, how sombrely
+clad are the deer, the rabbits, and the mice;
+gray and brown and white being the usual hue of
+their fur.</p>
+<p>This difference is by no means accidental, but
+has for its cause a deep significance,&mdash;all-important
+to the life of the bird or mammal. Scientists
+have long known of it, and if we unlock it from
+its hard sheathing of technical terms, we shall
+find it as simple and as easy to understand as it
+is interesting. When we once hold the key, it will
+seem as if scales had fallen from our eyes, and
+when we take our walks abroad through the fields
+and woods, when we visit a zoological park, or
+even see the animals in a circus, we shall feel as
+though a new world were opened to us.</p>
+<p>No post offices, or even addresses, exist for
+birds and mammals; when the children of the
+desert or the jungle are lost, no detective or
+policeman hastens to find them, no telephone or
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171' name='page_171'></a>171</span>
+telegraph aids in the search. Yet, without any
+of these accessories, the wild creatures have marvellous
+systems of communication. The five
+senses (and perhaps a mysterious sixth, at which
+we can only guess) are the telephones and the
+police, the automatic sentinels and alarms of our
+wild kindred. Most inferior are our own abilities
+in using eyes, nose, and ears, when compared
+with the same functions in birds and animals.</p>
+<p>Eyes and noses are important keys to the bright
+colours of birds and comparative sombreness of
+hairy-coated creatures. Take a dog and an oriole
+as good examples of the two extremes. When a
+dog has lost his master, he first looks about; then
+he strains his eyes with the intense look of a near-sighted
+person, and after a few moments of this
+he usually yelps with disappointment, drops his
+nose to the ground, and with unfailing accuracy
+follows the track of his master. When the freshness
+of the trail tells him that he is near its end
+he again resorts to his eyes, and is soon near
+enough to recognise the face he seeks. A fox
+when running before a hound may double back,
+and make a close reconnaissance near his trail,
+sometimes passing in full view without the
+hound&#8217;s seeing him or stopping in following out
+the full curve of the trail, so completely does the
+wonderful power of smell absorb the entire attention
+of the dog.</p>
+<p>Let us now turn to the oriole. As we might
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172' name='page_172'></a>172</span>
+infer, the nostrils incased in horn render the sense
+of smell of but slight account. It is hard to tell
+how much a bird can distinguish in this way&mdash;probably
+only the odour of food near at hand.
+However, when we examine the eye of our bird,
+we see a sense organ of a very high order.
+Bright, intelligent, full-circled, of great size compared
+to the bulk of the skull, protected by three
+complete eyelids; we realise that this must play
+an important part in the life of the bird. There
+are, of course, many exceptions to such a generalisation
+as this. For instance, many species of
+sparrows are dull-coloured. We must remember
+that the voice&mdash;the calls and songs of birds&mdash;is
+developed to a high degree, and in many instances
+renders bright colouring needless in attracting
+a mate or in locating a young bird.</p>
+<p>As we have seen, the sense of smell is very
+highly developed among four-footed animals, but
+to make this efficient there must be something for
+it to act upon; and in this connection we find some
+interesting facts of which, outside of scientific
+books, little has been written. On the entire body,
+birds have only one gland&mdash;the oil gland above the
+base of the tail, which supplies an unctuous dressing
+for the feathers. Birds, therefore, have not
+the power of perspiring, but compensate for this
+by very rapid breathing. On the contrary, four-footed
+animals have glands on many portions of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173' name='page_173'></a>173</span>
+the body. Nature is seldom contented with the
+one primary function which an organ or tissue
+performs, but adjusts and adapts it to others in
+many ingenious ways. Hence, when an animal
+perspires, the pores of the skin allow the contained
+moisture to escape and moisten the surface
+of the body; but in addition to this, in many
+animals, collections of these pores in the shape
+of large glands secrete various odours which serve
+important uses. In the skunk such a gland is a
+practically perfect protection against attacks
+from his enemies. He never hurries and seems
+not to know what fear is&mdash;a single wave of his
+conspicuous danger signal is sufficient to clear
+his path.</p>
+<p>In certain species of the rhinoceros there are
+large glands in the foot. These animals live
+among grass and herbage which they brush
+against as they walk, and thus &#8220;blaze&#8221; a plain
+trail for the mate or young to follow. There are
+few if any animals which care to face a rhinoceros,
+so the scent is incidentally useful to other
+creatures as a warning.</p>
+<p>It is believed that the hard callosities on the
+legs of horses are the remains of glands which
+were once upon a time useful to their owners; and
+it is said that if a paring from one of these hard,
+horny structures be held to the nose of a horse, he
+will follow it about, hinting, perhaps, that in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174' name='page_174'></a>174</span>
+former days the scent from the gland was an instinctive
+guide which kept members of the herd
+together.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Civet,&#8221; which is obtained from the civet cat,
+and &#8220;musk,&#8221; from the queer little hornless musk
+deer, are secretions of glands. It has been suggested
+that the defenceless musk deer escapes
+many of its enemies by the similarity of its secretion
+to the musky odour of crocodiles. In many
+animals which live together in herds, such as the
+antelope and deer, and which have neither bright
+colours nor far-reaching calls to aid straying
+members to regain the flock, there are large and
+active scent glands. The next time you see a
+live antelope in a zoological park, or even a
+stuffed specimen, look closely at the head, and between
+the eye and the nostril a large opening will
+be seen on each, side, which, in the living animal,
+closes now and then, a flap of skin shutting it
+tight.</p>
+<p>Among pigs the fierce peccary is a very social
+animal, going in large packs; and on the back of
+each of these creatures is found a large gland
+from which a clear watery fluid is secreted. Dogs
+and wolves also have their odour-secreting glands
+on the back, and the &#8220;wolf-pack&#8221; is proverbial.</p>
+<p>The gland of the elephant is on the temple, and
+secretes only when the animal is in a dangerous
+mood, a hint, therefore, of opposite significance
+to that of the herding animals, as this says, &#8220;Let
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175' name='page_175'></a>175</span>
+me alone! stay away!&#8221; Certain low species of
+monkeys, the lemurs, have a remarkable bare
+patch on the forearm, which covers a gland serving
+some use.</p>
+<p>If we marvel at the keenness of scent among
+animals, how incredible seems the similar sense
+in insects&mdash;similar in function, however different
+the medium of structure may be. Think of the
+scent from a female moth, so delicate that we
+cannot distinguish it, attracting a male of the
+same species from a distance of a mile or more.
+Entomologists sometimes confine a live female
+moth or other insect in a small wire cage and
+hang it outdoors in the evening, and in a short
+time reap a harvest of gay-winged suitors which
+often come in scores, instinctively following up
+the trail of the delicate, diffused odour. It is
+surely true that the greatest wonders are not
+always associated with mere bulk.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='INSECT_MUSIC' id='INSECT_MUSIC'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176' name='page_176'></a>176</span>
+<h2>INSECT MUSIC</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Among insects, sounds are produced in many
+ways, and for various reasons. A species
+of ant which makes its nest on the under side of
+leaves produces a noise by striking the leaf with
+its head in a series of spasmodic taps, and another
+ant is also very interesting as regards
+its sound-producing habit. &#8220;Individuals of this
+species are sometimes spread over a surface of
+two square yards, many out of sight of the others;
+yet the tapping is set up at the same moment, continued
+exactly the same space of time, and
+stopped at the same instant. After the lapse of a
+few seconds, all recommence simultaneously. The
+interval is always approximately of the same
+duration, and each ant does not beat synchronously
+with every other ant, but only like those in
+the same group, so the independent tappings play
+a sort of tune, each group alike in time, but the
+tapping of the whole mass beginning and ending
+at the same instant. This is doubtless a means of
+communication.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The organ of hearing in insects is still to be discovered
+in many forms, but in katydids it is
+situated on the middle of the fore-legs; in butterflies
+on the sides of the thorax, while the tip of
+the horns or antennæ of many insects is considered
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177' name='page_177'></a>177</span>
+to be the seat of this function. In all it
+is little more than a cavity, over which a skin is
+stretched like a drum-head, which thus reacts to
+the vibration. This seems to be very often
+&#8220;tuned,&#8221; as it were, to the sounds made by the
+particular species in which it is found. A cricket
+will at times be unaffected by any sound, however
+loud, while at the slightest &#8220;screek&#8221; or chirp
+of its own species, no matter how faint, it will
+start its own little tune in all excitement.</p>
+<p>The songs of the cicadas are noted all over the
+world. Darwin heard them while anchored half a
+mile off the South American coast, and a giant
+species of that country is said to produce a noise
+as loud as the whistle of a locomotive. Only the
+males sing, the females being dumb, thus giving
+rise to the well-known Grecian couplet:</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>&#8220;Happy the cicadas&#8217; lives,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>For they all have voiceless wives.&#8221;</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>Anyone who has entered a wood where thousands
+of the seventeen-year cicadas were hatching
+has never forgotten it. A threshing machine,
+or a gigantic frog chorus, is a fair comparison,
+and when a branch loaded with these insects is
+shaken, the sound rises to a shrill screech or
+scream. This noise is supposed&mdash;in fact is definitely
+known&mdash;to attract the female insect, and
+although there may be in it some tender notes
+which we fail to distinguish, yet let us hope that
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178' name='page_178'></a>178</span>
+the absence of any highly organised auditory
+organ may result in reducing the effect of a steam-engine
+whistle to an agreeable whisper! It is
+thought that the vibrations are felt rather than
+heard, in the sense that we use the word &#8220;hear&#8221;;
+if one has ever had a cicada <i>zizz</i> in one&#8217;s hand,
+the electrical shocks which seem to go up the arm
+help the belief in this idea. To many of us the
+song of the cicada&mdash;softened by distance&mdash;will
+ever be pleasant on account of its associations.
+When one attempts to picture a hot August day
+in a hay-field or along a dusty road, the drowsy
+<i>zee-ing</i> of this insect, growing louder and more
+accelerated and then as gradually dying away,
+is a focus for the mind&#8217;s eye, around which the
+other details instantly group themselves.</p>
+<p>The apparatus for producing this sound is one
+of the most complex in all the animal kingdom.
+In brief, it consists of two external doors, capable
+of being partly opened, and three internal membranes,
+to one of which is attached a vibrating
+muscle, which, put in motion, sets all the others
+vibrating in unison.</p>
+<p>We attach a great deal of importance to the
+fact of being educated to the appreciation of the
+highest class of music. We applaud our Paderewski,
+and year after year are awed and delighted
+with wonderful operatic music, yet seldom is the
+<i>limitation</i> of human perception of musical sounds
+considered.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179' name='page_179'></a>179</span></p>
+<p>If we wish to appreciate the limits within which
+the human ear is capable of distinguishing sounds,
+we should sit down in a meadow, some hot midsummer
+day, and listen to the subdued running
+murmur of the myriads of insects. Many are
+very distinct to our ears and we have little trouble
+in tracing them to their source. Such are crickets
+and grasshoppers, which fiddle and rasp their
+roughened hind legs against their wings. Some
+butterflies have the power of making a sharp
+crackling sound by means of hooks on the wings.
+The katydid, so annoying to some in its persistent
+ditty, so full of reminiscences to others of us, is
+a large, green, fiddling grasshopper.</p>
+<p>Another sound which is typical of summer is
+the hum of insects&#8217; wings, sometimes, as near a
+beehive, rising to a subdued roar. The higher,
+thinner song of the mosquito&#8217;s wings is unfortunately
+familiar to us, and we must remember that
+the varying tone of the hum of each species may
+be of the greatest importance to it as a means of
+recognition. Many beetles have a projecting horn
+on the under side of the body which they can
+snap against another projection, and by this
+means call their lady-loves, literally &#8220;playing the
+bones&#8221; in their minstrel serenade.</p>
+<p>Although we can readily distinguish the sounds
+which these insects produce, yet there are hundreds
+of small creatures, and even large ones,
+which are provided with organs of hearing, but
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180' name='page_180'></a>180</span>
+whose language is too fine for our coarse perceptions.
+The vibrations&mdash;chirps, hums, and clicks&mdash;can
+be recorded on delicate instruments, but, just
+as there are shades and colours at both ends of
+the spectrum which our eyes cannot perceive, so
+there are tones running we know not how far beyond
+the scale limits which affect our ears. Some
+creatures utter noises so shrill, so sharp, that it
+pains our ears to listen to them, and these are
+probably on the borderland of our sound-world.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Pipe, little minstrels of the waning year,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>In gentle concert pipe!</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Pipe the warm noons; the mellow harvest near;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>The apples dropping ripe;</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>The sweet sad hush on Nature&#8217;s gladness laid;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>The sounds through silence heard!</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Pipe tenderly the passing of the year.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Harriet Mcewen Kimball.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>I love to hear thine earnest voice,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Wherever thou art hid,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Thou testy little dogmatist,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Thou pretty Katydid!</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Thou mindest me of gentlefolks,&mdash;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Old gentlefolks are they,&mdash;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Thou say&#8217;st an undisputed thing</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>In such a solemn way.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Oliver Wendell Holmes.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181' name='page_181'></a>181</span></div>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>AUGUST</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_GRAY_DAYS_OF_BIRDS' id='THE_GRAY_DAYS_OF_BIRDS'></a>
+<h2>THE GRAY DAYS OF BIRDS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>The temptation is great, if we love flowers, to
+pass over the seed time, when stalks are
+dried and leaves are shrivelled, no matter how
+beautiful may be the adaptation for scattering or
+preserving the seed or how wonderful the protective
+coats guarding against cold or wet. Or if
+insects attract us by their many varied interests,
+we are more enthusiastic over the glories of the
+full-winged image than the less conspicuous,
+though no less interesting, eggs and chrysalides
+hidden away in crevices throughout the long
+winter.</p>
+<p>Thus there seems always a time when we
+hesitate to talk or write of our favourite theme,
+especially if this be some class of life on the earth,
+because, perchance, it is not at its best.</p>
+<p>Even birds have their gray days, when in the
+autumn the glory of their plumage and song has
+diminished. At this time few of their human
+admirers intrude upon them and the birds themselves
+are only too glad to escape observation.
+Collectors of skins disdain to ply their trade, as
+the ragged, pin-feathery coats of the birds now
+make sorry-looking specimens. But we can find
+something of interest in birddom, even in this
+interim.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182' name='page_182'></a>182</span></p>
+<p>Nesting is over, say you, when you start out on
+your tramps in late summer or early autumn; but
+do not be too sure. The gray purse of the oriole
+has begun to ravel at the edges and the haircloth
+cup of the chipping sparrow is already wind-distorted,
+but we shall find some housekeeping
+just begun.</p>
+<p>The goldfinch is one of these late nesters. Long
+after his northern cousins, the pine siskins and
+snowflakes, have laid their eggs and reared their
+young, the goldfinch begins to focus the aerial
+loops of his flight about some selected spot and
+to collect beakfuls of thistledown. And here, perhaps,
+we have his fastidious reason for delaying.
+Thistles seed with the goldenrod, and not until
+this fleecy substance is gray and floating does he
+consider that a suitable nesting material is available.</p>
+<p>When the young birds are fully fledged one
+would think the goldfinch a polygamist, as we see
+him in shining yellow and black, leading his
+family quintet, all sombre hued, his patient wife
+being to our eyes indistinguishable from the
+youngsters.</p>
+<p>But in the case of most of the birds the cares
+of nesting are past, and the woods abound with
+full-sized but awkward young birds, blundering
+through their first month of insect-hunting and fly-catching,
+tumbling into the pools from which they
+try to drink, and shrieking with the very joy of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183' name='page_183'></a>183</span>
+life, when it would be far safer for that very life
+if they remained quiet.</p>
+<p>It is a delightful period this, a transition as
+interesting as evanescent. This is the time when
+instinct begins to be aided by intelligence, when
+every hour accumulates fact upon fact, all helping
+to co-ordinate action and desire on the part of the
+young birds.</p>
+<p>No hint of migration has yet passed over the
+land, and the quiet of summer still reigns; but
+even as we say this a confused chuckling is heard;
+this rises into a clatter of harsh voices, and a
+small flock of blackbirds&mdash;two or three families&mdash;pass
+overhead. The die is cast! No matter how
+hot may be the sunshine during succeeding days,
+or how contented and thoughtless of the future the
+birds may appear, there is a something which has
+gone, and which can never return until another
+cycle of seasons has passed.</p>
+<p>During this transition time some of our friends
+are hardly recognisable; we may surprise the
+scarlet tanager in a plumage which seems more
+befitting a nonpareil bunting,&mdash;a regular &#8220;Joseph&#8217;s
+coat.&#8221; The red of his head is half replaced
+with a ring of green, and perhaps a splash of
+the latter decorates the middle of his back. When
+he flies the light shows through his wings in two
+long narrow slits, where a pair of primaries are
+lacking. It is a wise provision of Nature which
+regulates the moulting sequence of his flight
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184' name='page_184'></a>184</span>
+feathers, so that only a pair shall fall out at one
+time, and the adjoining pair not before the new
+feathers are large and strong. A sparrow or
+oriole hopping along the ground with angular,
+half-naked wings would be indeed a pitiful sight,
+except to marauding weasels and cats, who would
+find meals in abundance on every hand.</p>
+<p>Let us take our way to some pond or lake, thick
+with duckweed and beloved of wild fowl, and we
+shall find a different state of affairs. We surprise
+a group of mallard ducks, which rush out from the
+overhanging bank and dive for safety among the
+sheltering green arrowheads. But their outspread
+wings are a mockery, the flight feathers
+showing as a mere fringe of quill sticks, which
+beat the water helplessly.</p>
+<p>Another thing we notice. Where are the resplendent
+drakes? Have they flown elsewhere
+and left their mates to endure the dangers of
+moulting alone? Let us come here a week later
+and see what a transformation is taking place.
+When most birds moult it is for a period of
+several months, but these ducks have a partial
+fall moult which is of the greatest importance to
+them. When the wing feathers begin to loosen
+in their sockets an unfailing instinct leads these
+birds to seek out some secluded pond, where they
+patiently await the moult. The sprouting, blood-filled
+quills force out the old feathers, and the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185' name='page_185'></a>185</span>
+bird becomes a thing of the water, to swim and to
+dive, with no more power of flight than its pond
+companions, the turtles.</p>
+<p>If, however, the drake should retain his iridescent
+head and snowy collar, some sharp-eyed
+danger would spy out his helplessness and death
+would swoop upon him. So for a time his bright
+feathers fall out and a quick makeshift disguise
+closes over him&mdash;the reed-hued browns and grays
+of his mate&mdash;and for a time the pair are hardly
+distinguishable. With the return of his power of
+flight comes renewed brightness, and the wild
+drake emerges from his seclusion on strong-feathered,
+whistling wings. All this we should
+miss, did we not seek him out at this season;
+otherwise the few weeks would pass and we should
+notice no change from summer to winter plumage,
+and attribute his temporary absence to a whim
+of wandering on distant feeding grounds.</p>
+<p>Another glance at our goldfinch shows a curious
+sight. Mottled with spots and streaks, yellow
+alternating with greenish, he is an anomaly indeed,
+and in fact all of our birds which undergo
+a radical colour change will show remarkable combinations
+during the actual process.</p>
+<p>It is during the gray days that the secret to a
+great problem may be looked for&mdash;the why of
+migration.</p>
+<p>A young duck of the year, whose wings are at
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186' name='page_186'></a>186</span>
+last strong and fit, waves them in ecstasy, vibrating
+from side to side and end to end of his natal
+pond. Then one day we follow his upward glances
+to where a thin, black arrow is throbbing southward,
+so high in the blue sky that the individual
+ducks are merged into a single long thread. The
+young bird, calling again and again, spurns the
+water with feet and wings, finally rising in a
+slowly ascending arc. Somewhere, miles to the
+southward, another segment approaches&mdash;touches&mdash;merges.</p>
+<p>But what of our smaller birds? When the gray
+days begin to chill we may watch them hopping
+among the branches all day in their search for
+insects&mdash;a keener search now that so many of the
+more delicate flies and bugs have fallen chilled to
+the earth. Toward night the birds become more
+restless, feed less, wander aimlessly about, but,
+as we can tell by their chirps, remain near us until
+night has settled down. Then the irresistible
+maelstrom of migration instinct draws them upward,&mdash;upward,&mdash;climbing
+on fluttering wings, a
+mile or even higher into the thin air, and in company
+with thousands and tens of thousands they
+drift southward, sending vague notes down, but
+themselves invisible to us, save when now and
+then a tiny black mote floats across the face of
+the moon&mdash;an army of feathered mites, passing
+from tundra and spruce to bayou and palm.</p>
+<p>In the morning, instead of the half-hearted
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187' name='page_187'></a>187</span>
+warble of an insect eater, there sounds in our ears,
+like the ring of skates on ice, the metallic, whip-like
+chirp of a snowbird, confident of his winter&#8217;s
+seed feast.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='LIVES_OF_THE_LANTERN_BEARERS' id='LIVES_OF_THE_LANTERN_BEARERS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188' name='page_188'></a>188</span>
+<h2>LIVES OF THE LANTERN BEARERS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>To all wild creatures fire is an unknown and
+hated thing, although it is often so fascinating
+to them that they will stand transfixed gazing
+at its mysterious light, while a hunter, unnoticed,
+creeps up behind and shoots them.</p>
+<p>In the depth of the sea, where the sun is powerless
+to send a single ray of light and warmth,
+there live many strange beings, fish and worms,
+which, by means of phosphorescent spots and
+patches, may light their own way. Of these
+strange sea folk we know nothing except from
+the fragments which are brought to the surface
+by the dredge; but over our fields and hedges,
+throughout the summer nights, we may see and
+study most interesting examples of creatures
+which produce their own light. Heedless of
+whether the moon shines brightly, or whether an
+overcast sky cloaks the blackest of nights, the
+fireflies blaze their sinuous path through life.
+These little yellow and black beetles, which illumine
+our way like a cloud of tiny meteors, have
+indeed a wonderful power, for the light which
+they produce within their own bodies is a cold
+glow, totally different from any fire of human
+agency.</p>
+<p>In some species there seems to be a most romantic
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189' name='page_189'></a>189</span>
+reason for their brilliance. Down among the
+grass blades are lowly, wingless creatures&mdash;the
+female fireflies, which, as twilight falls, leave their
+earthen burrows in the turf and, crawling slowly
+to the summit of some plant, they display the tiny
+lanterns which Nature has kindled within their
+bodies.</p>
+<p>Far overhead shoot the strong-winged males,
+searching for their minute insect food, weaving
+glowing lines over all the shadowy landscape,
+and apparently heedless of all beneath them. Yet
+when the dim little beacon, hung out with the
+hopefulness of instinct upon the grass blade, is
+seen, all else is forgotten and the beetle descends
+to pay court to the poor, worm-like creature, so
+unlike him in appearance, but whose little illumination
+is her badge of nobility. The gallant suitor
+is as devoted as if the object of his affection were
+clad in all the gay colours of a butterfly; and he
+is fortunate if, when he has reached the signal
+among the grasses, he does not find a half-dozen
+firefly rivals before him.</p>
+<p>When insects seek their mates by day, their
+characteristic colours or forms may be confused
+with surrounding objects; or those which by night
+are able in that marvellous way to follow the
+faintest scent up wind may have difficulties when
+cross currents of air are encountered; but the
+female firefly, waiting patiently upon her lowly
+leaf, has unequalled opportunity for winning her
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190' name='page_190'></a>190</span>
+mate, for there is nothing to compare with or
+eclipse her flame. Except&mdash;I wonder if ever a
+firefly has hastened downward toward the strange
+glow which we sometimes see in the heart of decayed
+wood,&mdash;mistaking a patch of fox-fire for
+the love-light of which he was in search!</p>
+<p>In other species, including the common one
+about our homes, the lady lightning-bug is more
+fortunate in possessing wings and is able to fly
+abroad like her mate.</p>
+<p>Although this phosphorescence has been microscopically
+examined, it is but slightly understood.
+We know, however, that it is a wonderful
+process of combustion,&mdash;by which a bright light is
+produced without heat, smoke, or indeed fuel,
+except that provided by the life processes in the
+tiny body of the insect.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>So shines a good deed in a naughty world.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Shakespeare.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='A_STARFISH_AND_A_DAISY' id='A_STARFISH_AND_A_DAISY'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191' name='page_191'></a>191</span>
+<h2>A STARFISH AND A DAISY</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Day after day the forms of horses, dogs,
+birds, and other creatures pass before our
+eyes. We look at them and call them by the
+names which we have given them, and yet&mdash;we
+see them not. That is to say, we say that they
+have a head, a tail; they run or fly; they are of
+one colour beneath, another above, but beyond
+these bare meaningless facts most of us never go.</p>
+<p>Let us think of the meaning of form. Take,
+for example, a flower&mdash;a daisy. Now, if we could
+imagine such an impossible thing as that a daisy
+blossom should leave its place of growth, creep
+down the stem and go wandering off through the
+grass, soon something would probably happen to
+its shape. It would perhaps get in the habit of
+creeping with some one ray always in front, and
+the friction of the grass stems on either side
+would soon wear and fray the ends of the side
+rays, while those behind might grow longer and
+longer. If we further suppose that this strange
+daisy flower did not like the water, the rays in
+front might be of service in warning it to turn
+aside. When their tips touched the surface and
+were wet by the water of some pool, the ambulatory
+blossom would draw back and start out in a
+new direction. Thus a theoretical head (with the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192' name='page_192'></a>192</span>
+beginnings of the organs of sense), and a long-drawn-out
+tail, would have their origin.</p>
+<p>Such a remarkable simile is not as fanciful as
+it might at first appear; for although we know
+of no blossom which so sets at naught the sedentary
+life of the vegetable kingdom, yet among certain
+of the animals which live their lives beneath
+the waves of the sea a very similar thing occurs.</p>
+<p>Many miles inland, even on high mountains, we
+may sometimes see thousands of little joints, or
+bead-like forms, imbedded in great rocky cliffs.
+They have been given the name of St. Cuthbert&#8217;s
+beads. Occasionally in the vicinity of these fossils&mdash;for
+such they are&mdash;are found impressions
+of a graceful, flower-like head, with many delicately
+divided petals, fixed forever in the hard relief
+of stone. The name of stone lilies has been
+applied to them. The beads were once strung together
+in the form of a long stem, and at the top
+the strangely beautiful animal-lily nodded its
+head in the currents of some deep sea, which in
+the long ago of the earth&#8217;s age covered the land&mdash;millions
+of years before the first man or beast
+or bird drew breath.</p>
+<p>It was for a long time supposed that these wonderful
+creatures were extinct, but dredges have
+brought up from the dark depths of the sea actual
+living stone lilies, or <i>crinoids</i>, this being their real
+name. Few of us will probably ever have an opportunity
+of studying a crinoid alive, although in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193' name='page_193'></a>193</span>
+our museums we may see them preserved in glass
+jars. That, however, detracts nothing from the
+marvel of their history and relationship. They
+send root-like organs deep into the mud, where
+they coil about some shell and there cling fast.
+Then the stem grows tall and slender, and upon
+the summit blooms or is developed the animal-flower.
+Its nourishment is not drawn from the
+roots and the air, as is that of the daisy, but is
+provided by the tiny creatures which swim to its
+tentacles, or are borne thither by the ocean currents.
+Some of these crinoids, as if impatient of
+their plant-like life and asserting their animal
+kinship, at last tear themselves free from their
+stem and float off, turn over, and thereafter live
+happily upon the bottom of the sea, roaming
+where they will, creeping slowly along and fulfilling
+the destiny of our imaginary daisy.</p>
+<p>And here a comparison comes suddenly to mind.
+How like to a many-rayed starfish is our creeping
+crinoid! Few of us, unless we had studies about
+these creatures, could distinguish between a crinoid
+and one of the frisky little dancing stars, or
+serpent stars, which are so common in the rocky
+caves along our coast. This relationship is no less
+real than apparent. The hard-skinned &#8220;five
+finger,&#8221; or common starfish, which we may pick
+up on any beach, while it never grew upon a stem,
+yet still preserves the radial symmetry of its
+stalked ancestors. Pick up your starfish, carry
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194' name='page_194'></a>194</span>
+it to the nearest field, and pluck a daisy close to
+the head. How interesting the comparison becomes,
+now that the knowledge of its meaning is
+plain. Anything which grows fast upon a single
+immovable stem tends to grow equally in all directions.
+We need not stop here, for we may include
+sea anemones and corals, those most marvellously
+coloured flowers of the sea, which grow upon a
+short, thick stalk and send out their tentacles
+equally in all directions. And many of the jelly-fish
+which throb along close beneath the surface
+swells were in their youth each a section of a pile
+of saucer-like individuals, which were fastened
+by a single stalk to some shell or piece of coral.</p>
+<p>We will remember that it was suggested that
+the theoretical daisy would soon alter its shape
+after it entered upon active life. This is plainly
+seen in the starfish, although at first glance the
+creature seems as radially symmetrical as a
+wheel. But at one side of the body, between two
+of the arms, is a tiny perforated plate, serving
+to strain the water which enters the body, and
+thus the circular tendency is broken, and a beginning
+made toward right and left handedness. In
+certain sea-urchins, which are really starfishes
+with the gaps between the arms filled up, the body
+is elongated, and thus the head and tail conditions
+of all animals higher in the scale of life are represented.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_DREAM_OF_THE_YELLOWTHROAT' id='THE_DREAM_OF_THE_YELLOWTHROAT'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195' name='page_195'></a>195</span>
+<h2>THE DREAM OF THE YELLOW-THROAT</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Many of us look with longing to the days
+of Columbus; we chafe at the thought of
+no more continents to discover; no unknown seas
+to encompass. But at our very doors is an &#8220;undiscovered
+bourne,&#8221; from which, while the traveller
+invariably returns, yet he will have penetrated
+but slightly into its mysteries. This unexplored
+region is night.</p>
+<p>When the dusk settles down and the creatures
+of sunlight seek their rest, a new realm of life
+awakens into being. The flaring colours and loud
+bustle of the day fade and are lost, and in their
+place come soft, gray tones and silence. The
+scarlet tanager seeks some hidden perch and soon
+from the same tree slips a silent, ghostly owl; the
+ruby of the hummingbird dies out as the gaudy
+flowers of day close their petals, and the gray
+wraiths of sphinx moths appear and sip nectar
+from the spectral moonflowers.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+
+<p>With feet shod with silence, let us creep near a
+dense tangle of sweetbrier and woodbine late some
+summer evening and listen to the sounds of the
+night-folk. How few there are that our ears can
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196' name='page_196'></a>196</span>
+analyse! We huddle close to the ground and shut
+our eyes. Then little by little we open them and
+set our senses of sight and hearing at keenest
+pitch. Even so, how handicapped are we compared
+to the wild creatures. A tiny voice becomes
+audible, then dies away,&mdash;entering for a moment
+the narrow range of our coarse hearing,&mdash;and
+finishing its message of invitation or challenge in
+vibrations too fine for our ears.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+
+<p>Were we crouched by a dense yew hedge, bordering
+an English country lane, a nightingale
+might delight us,&mdash;a melody of day, softened,
+adapted, to the night. If the air about us was
+heavy with the scent of orange blossoms of some
+covert in our own southland, the glorious harmony
+of a mockingbird might surge through the gloom,&mdash;assuaging
+the ear as do the blossoms another
+sense.</p>
+<p>But sitting still in our own home tangle let us
+listen,&mdash;listen. Our eyes have slipped the scales
+of our listless civilised life and pierce the darkness
+with the acuteness of our primeval forefathers;
+our ears tingle and strain.</p>
+<p>A slender tongue of sound arises from the bush
+before us. Again and again it comes, muffled but
+increasing in volume. A tiny ball of feathers is
+perched in the centre of the tangle, with beak
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197' name='page_197'></a>197</span>
+hidden in the deep, soft plumage, but ever and
+anon the little body throbs and the song falls
+gently on the silence of the night: &#8220;I beseech you!
+I beseech you! I beseech you!&#8221; A Maryland
+yellow-throat is asleep and singing in its dreams.</p>
+<p>As we look and listen, a shadowless something
+hovers overhead, and, looking upward, we see a
+gray screech owl silently hanging on beating
+wings. His sharp ears have caught the muffled
+sound; his eyes search out the tangle, but the
+yellow-throat is out of reach. The little hunter
+drifts away into the blackness, the song ends and
+the sharp squeak of a mouse startles us. We rise
+slowly from our cramped position and quietly
+leave the mysteries of the night.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199' name='page_199'></a>199</span></div>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>SEPTEMBER</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_PASSING_OF_THE_FLOCKS' id='THE_PASSING_OF_THE_FLOCKS'></a>
+<h2>THE PASSING OF THE FLOCKS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>It is September. August&mdash;the month of gray
+days for birds&mdash;has passed. The last pin-feather
+of the new winter plumage has burst its
+sheath, and is sleek and glistening from its thorough
+oiling with waterproof dressing, which the
+birds squeeze out with their bills from a special
+gland, and which they rub into every part of their
+plumage. The youngsters, now grown as large as
+their parents, have become proficient in fly-catching
+or berry-picking, as the case may be. Henceforth
+they forage for themselves, although if we
+watch carefully we may still see a parent&#8217;s love
+prompting it to give a berry to its big offspring
+(indistinguishable save for this attention), who
+greedily devours it without so much as a wing
+flutter of thanks.</p>
+<p>Two courses are open to the young birds who
+have been so fortunate as to escape the dangers
+of nestlinghood. They may unite in neighbourly
+flocks with others of their kind, as do the blackbirds
+of the marshes; or they may wander off by
+themselves, never going very far from their summer
+home, but perching alone each night in the
+thick foliage of some sheltering bush.</p>
+<p>How wonderfully the little fellow adapts himself
+to the radical and sudden change in his life!
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200' name='page_200'></a>200</span>
+Before this, his world has been a warm, soft-lined
+nest, with ever anxious parents to shelter
+him from rain and cold, or to stand with half-spread
+wings between him and the burning rays
+of the sun. He has only to open his mouth and
+call for food and a supply of the choicest morsels
+appears and is shoved far down his throat. If
+danger threatens, both parents are ready to fight
+to the last, or even willing to give their lives to
+protect him. Little wonder is it that the young
+birds are loth to leave; we can sympathise heartily
+with the last weaker brother, whose feet cling
+convulsively to the nest, who begs piteously for
+&#8220;just one more caterpillar!&#8221; But the mother
+bird is inexorable and stands a little way out of
+reach with the juiciest morsel she can find. Once
+out, the young bird never returns. Even if we
+catch the little chap before he finishes his first
+flight and replace him, the magic spell of home is
+broken, and he is out again the instant our hand
+frees him.</p>
+<p>What a change the first night brings! Yet with
+unfailing instinct he squats on some twig, fluffs up
+his feathers, tucks his wee head behind his wing,
+and sleeps the sleep of his first adult birdhood
+as soundly as if this position of rest had been
+familiar to him since he broke through the shell.</p>
+<p>We admire his aptitude for learning; how
+quickly his wings gain strength and skill; how
+soon he manages to catch his own dinner. But
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201' name='page_201'></a>201</span>
+how all this pales before the accomplishment of a
+young brush turkey or moundbuilder of the antipodes.
+Hatched six or eight feet under ground,
+merely by the heat of decaying vegetation, no
+fond parents minister to his wants. Not only
+must he escape from the shell in the pressure
+and darkness of his underground prison (how we
+cannot tell), but he is then compelled to dig
+through six feet of leaves and mould before he
+reaches the sunlight. He finds himself well feathered,
+and at once spreads his small but perfect
+wings and goes humming off to seek his living
+alone and unattended.</p>
+<p>It is September&mdash;the month of restlessness for
+the birds. Weeks ago the first migrants started
+on their southward journey, the more delicate
+insect-eaters going first, before the goldfinches
+and other late nesters had half finished housekeeping.
+The northern warblers drift past us
+southward&mdash;the magnolia, blackburnian, Canadian
+fly-catching, and others, bringing memories
+of spruce and balsam to those of us who have
+lived with them in the forests of the north.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s getting too cold for the little fellows,&#8221;
+says the wiseacre, who sees you watching the
+smaller birds as they pass southward. Is it,
+though? What of the tiny winter wren which
+spends the zero weather with us? His coat is
+no warmer than those birds which have gone to
+the far tropics. And what of the flocks of birds
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202' name='page_202'></a>202</span>
+which we occasionally come across in mid-winter,
+of species which generally migrate to Brazil? It
+is not the cold which deprives us of our summer
+friends, or at least the great majority of them;
+it is the decrease in food supply. Insects disappear,
+and only those birds which feed on seeds
+and buds, or are able to glean an insect diet from
+the crevices of fence and tree-trunk, can abide.</p>
+<p>This is the month to climb out on the roof of
+your house, lie on your back and listen. He is a
+stolid person indeed who is not moved by the
+chirps and twitters which come down through the
+darkness. There is no better way to show what
+a wonderful power sound has upon our memories.
+There sounds a robin&#8217;s note, and spring seems
+here again; through the night comes a white-throat&#8217;s
+chirp, and we see again the fog-dimmed
+fields of a Nova Scotian upland; a sandpiper
+&#8220;peets&#8221; and the scene in our mind&#8217;s eye as instantly
+changes, and so on. What a revelation
+if we could see as in daylight for a few moments!
+The sky would be pitted with thousands and
+thousands of birds flying from a few hundred
+yards to as high as one or two miles above the
+earth.</p>
+<p>It only adds to the interest of this phenomenon
+when we turn to our learned books on birds for
+an explanation of the origin of migration, the
+whence and whither of the long journeys by day
+and night, and find&mdash;no certain answer! This is
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203' name='page_203'></a>203</span>
+one of the greatest of the many mysteries of the
+natural world, of which little is known, although
+much is guessed, and the bright September nights
+may reveal to us&mdash;we know not what undiscovered
+facts.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>I see my way as birds their trackless way.</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>I shall arrive; what time, what circuit first,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>I ask not; but unless God sends his hail</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Of blinding fire-balls, sleet or driving snow,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>In sometime, his good time, I shall arrive;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>He guides me and the bird. In his good time.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Robert Browning.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='GHOSTS_OF_THE_EARTH' id='GHOSTS_OF_THE_EARTH'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204' name='page_204'></a>204</span>
+<h2>GHOSTS OF THE EARTH</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>We may know the name of every tree near
+our home; we may recognise each blossom
+in the field, every weed by the wayside; yet we
+should be astonished to be told that there are
+hundreds of plants&mdash;many of them of exquisite
+beauty&mdash;which we have overlooked in very sight
+of our doorstep. What of the green film which
+is drawn over every moist tree-trunk or shaded
+wall, or of the emerald film which coats the water
+of the pond&#8217;s edge? Or the gray lichens painting
+the rocks and logs, toning down the shingles; the
+toadstools which, like pale vegetable ghosts,
+spring up in a night from the turf; or the sombre
+puff balls which seem dead from their birth?</p>
+<p>The moulds which cover bread and cheese with
+a delicate tracery of filaments and raise on high
+their tiny balls of spores are as worthy to be
+called a plant growth as are the great oaks which
+shade our houses. The rusts and mildews and
+blights which destroy our fruit all have their
+beauty of growth and fruition when we examine
+them through a lens, and the yeast by which flour
+and water is made to rise into the porous, spongy
+dough is just as truly a plant as is the geranium
+blossoming at the kitchen window.</p>
+<p>If we wonder at the fierce struggle for existence
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_205' name='page_205'></a>205</span>
+which allows only a few out of the many seeds of
+a maple or thistle to germinate and grow up, how
+can we realise the obstacles with which these lowly
+plants have to contend? A weed in the garden
+may produce from one to ten thousand seeds, and
+one of our rarest ferns scatters in a single season
+over fifty millions spores; while from the larger
+puff-balls come clouds of unnumbered millions of
+spores, blowing to the ends of the earth; yet we
+may search for days without finding one full-grown
+individual.</p>
+<p>All the assemblage of mushrooms and toadstools,&mdash;although
+the most deadly may flaunt
+bright hues of scarlet and yellow,&mdash;yet lack the
+healthy green of ordinary plants. This is due to
+the fact that they have become brown parasites or
+scavengers, and instead of transmuting heat and
+moisture and the salts of the earth into tissue by
+means of the pleasant-hued chlorophyll, these
+sylvan ghosts subsist upon the sap of roots or
+the tissues of decaying wood. Emancipated from
+the normal life of the higher plants, even flowers
+have been denied them and their fruit is but a
+cloud of brown dust,&mdash;each mote a simple cell.</p>
+<p>But what of the delicate Indian pipe which
+gleams out from the darkest aisles of the forest?
+If we lift up its hanging head we will find a perfect
+flower, and its secret is discovered. Traitor
+to its kind, it has dropped from the ranks of the
+laurels, the heather, and the jolly little wintergreens
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_206' name='page_206'></a>206</span>
+to the colourless life of a parasite,&mdash;hobnobbing
+with clammy toadstools and slimy lichens.
+Its common names are all appropriate,&mdash;ice-plant,
+ghost-flower, corpse-plant.</p>
+<p>Nevertheless it is a delicately beautiful creation,
+and we have no right to apply our human
+standards of ethics to these children of the wild,
+whose only chance of life is to seize every opportunity,&mdash;to
+make use of each hint of easier existence.</p>
+<p>We have excellent descriptions and classifications
+of mushrooms and toadstools, but of the
+actual life of these organisms, of the conditions
+of their growth, little is known. Some of the
+most hideous are delicious to our palate, some
+of the most beautiful are certain death. The
+splendid red and yellow amanita, which lights
+up a dark spot in the woods like some flowering
+orchid, is a veritable trap of death. Though
+human beings have learned the fatal lesson and
+leave it alone, the poor flies in the woods are
+ever deceived by its brightness, or odour, and a
+circle of their bodies upon the ground shows the
+result of their ignorance.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='MUSKRATS' id='MUSKRATS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_207' name='page_207'></a>207</span>
+<h2>MUSKRATS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Long before man began to inherit the earth,
+giant beavers built their dams and swam in
+the streams of long ago. For ages these creatures
+have been extinct. Our forefathers, during historical
+times, found smaller beavers abundant,
+and with such zeal did they trap them that this
+modern race is now well-nigh vanished. Nothing
+is left to us but the humble muskrat,&mdash;which in
+name and in facile adaptation to the encroachments
+of civilization has little in common with his
+more noble predecessor. Yet in many ways his
+habits of life bring to mind the beaver.</p>
+<p>Let us make the most of our heritage and watch
+at the edge of a stream some evening in late
+fall. If the muskrats have half finished their
+mound of sticks and mud, which is to serve them
+for a winter home, we will be sure to see some of
+them at work. Two lines of ripples furrow the
+surface outward from the farther bank, and a
+small dark form clambers upon the pile of rubbish.
+Suddenly a <i>spat!</i> sounds at our very feet,
+and a muskrat dives headlong into the water,
+followed by the one on the ground. Another <i>spat!</i>
+and splash comes from farther down the stream,
+and so the danger signal of the muskrat clan is
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_208' name='page_208'></a>208</span>
+passed along,&mdash;a single flap upon the water with
+the flat of the tail.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+
+<p>If we wait silent and patient, the work will be
+taken up anew, and in the pale moonlight the
+little labourers will fashion their house, lining
+the upper chamber with soft grasses, and shaping
+the steep passageway which will lead to the ever-unfrozen
+stream-bed. Either here or in the snug
+tunnel nest deep in the bank the young muskrats
+are born, and here they are weaned upon toothsome
+mussels and succulent lily roots.</p>
+<p>Safe from all save mink and owl and trap, these
+sturdy muskrats spend the summer in and about
+the streams; and when winter shuts down hard
+and fast, they live lives more interesting than any
+of our other animals. The ground freezes their
+tunnels into tubes of iron,&mdash;the ice seals the
+surface, past all gnawing out; and yet, amid the
+quietly flowing water, where snow and wind never
+penetrate, these warm-blooded, air-breathing
+muskrats live the winter through, with only the
+trout and eels for company. Their food is the
+bark and pith of certain plants; their air is what
+leaks through the house of sticks, or what may
+collect at the melting-place of ice and shore.</p>
+<p>Stretched full length on the smooth ice, let us
+look through into that strange nether world,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_209' name='page_209'></a>209</span>
+where the stress of storm is unknown. Far beneath
+us sinuous black forms undulate through
+the water,&mdash;from tunnel to house and back again.
+As we gaze down through the crystalline mass,
+occasional fractures play pranks with the objects
+below. The animate shapes seem to take unto
+themselves greater bulk; their tails broaden, their
+bodies become many times longer. For a moment
+the illusion is perfect; thousands of centuries have
+slipped back, and we are looking at the giant
+beavers of old.</p>
+<p>Let us give thanks that even the humble muskrat
+still holds his own. A century or two hence
+and posterity may look with wonder at his stuffed
+skin in a museum!</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='NATURE_S_GEOMETRICIANS' id='NATURE_S_GEOMETRICIANS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_210' name='page_210'></a>210</span>
+<h2>NATURE&#8217;S GEOMETRICIANS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Spiders form good subjects for a rainy-day
+study, and two hours spent in a neglected
+garret watching these clever little beings will
+often arouse such interest that we shall be glad
+to devote many days of sunshine to observing
+those species which hunt and build, and live their
+lives in the open fields. There is no insect in the
+world with more than six legs, and as a spider
+has eight he is therefore thrown out of the company
+of butterflies, beetles, and wasps and finds
+himself in a strange assemblage. Even to his
+nearest relatives he bears little resemblance, for
+when we realise that scorpions and horseshoe
+crabs must call him cousin, we perceive that his is
+indeed an aberrant bough on the tree of creation.</p>
+<p>Leaving behind the old-fashioned horseshoe
+crabs to feel their way slowly over the bottom of
+the sea, the spiders have won for themselves on
+land a place high above the mites, ticks, and
+daddy-long-legs, and in their high development
+and intricate powers of resource they yield not
+even to the ants and bees.</p>
+<p>Nature has provided spiders with an organ
+filled always with liquid which, on being exposed
+to the air, hardens, and can be drawn out into
+the slender threads we know as cobweb. The silkworm
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_211' name='page_211'></a>211</span>
+encases its body with a mile or more of
+gleaming silk, but there its usefulness is ended
+as far as the silkworm is concerned. But spiders
+have found a hundred uses for their cordage,
+some of which are startlingly similar to human
+inventions.</p>
+<p>Those spiders which burrow in the earth hang
+their tunnels with silken tapestries impervious
+to wet, which at the same time act as lining to the
+tube. Then the entrance may be a trap-door of
+soil and silk, hinged with strong silken threads;
+or in the turret spiders which are found in our
+fields there is reared a tiny tower of leaves or
+twigs bound together with silk. Who of us has
+not teased the inmate by pushing a bent straw
+into his stronghold and awaiting his furious onslaught
+upon the innocent stalk!</p>
+<p>A list of all the uses of cobwebs would take
+more space than we can spare; but of these the
+most familiar is the snare set for unwary flies,&mdash;the
+wonderfully ingenious webs which sparkle
+with dew among the grasses or stretch from bush
+to bush. The framework is of strong webbing and
+upon this is closely woven the sticky spiral which
+is so elastic, so ethereal, and yet strong enough to
+entangle a good-sized insect. How knowing seems
+the little worker, as when, the web and his den of
+concealment being completed, he spins a strong
+cable from the centre of the web to the entrance
+of his watch-tower. Then, when a trembling of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_212' name='page_212'></a>212</span>
+his aerial spans warns him of a capture, how
+eagerly he seizes his master cable and jerks away
+on it, thus vibrating the whole structure and
+making more certain the confusion of his victim.</p>
+<p>What is more interesting than to see a great
+yellow garden-spider hanging head downward in
+the centre of his web, when we approach too
+closely, instead of deserting his snare, set it vibrating
+back and forth so rapidly that he becomes
+a mere blur; a more certain method of escaping
+the onslaught of a bird than if he ran to the shelter
+of a leaf.</p>
+<p>Those spiders which leap upon their prey instead
+of setting snares for it have still a use for
+their threads of life, throwing out a cable as they
+leap, to break their fall if they miss their foothold.
+What a strange use of the cobweb is that of the
+little flying spiders! Up they run to the top of
+a post, elevate their abdomens and run out several
+threads which lengthen and lengthen until the
+breeze catches them and away go the wingless
+aeronauts for yards or for miles as fortune and
+wind and weather may dictate! We wonder if
+they can cut loose or pull in their balloon cables
+at will.</p>
+<p>Many species of spiders spin a case for holding
+their eggs, and some carry this about with them
+until the young are hatched.</p>
+<p>A most fascinating tale would unfold could we
+discover all the uses of cobweb when the spiders
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_213' name='page_213'></a>213</span>
+themselves are through with it. Certain it is that
+our ruby-throated hummingbird robs many webs
+to fasten together the plant down, wood pulp,
+and lichens which compose her dainty nest.</p>
+<p>Search the pond and you will find another member
+of the spider family swimming about at ease
+beneath the surface, thoroughly aquatic in habits,
+but breathing a bubble of air which he carries
+about with him. When his supply is low he swims
+to a submarine castle of silk, so air-tight that he
+can keep it filled with a large bubble of air, upon
+which he draws from time to time.</p>
+<p>And so we might go on enumerating almost endless
+uses for the web which is Nature&#8217;s gift to
+these little waifs, who ages ago left the sea and
+have won a place for themselves in the sunshine
+among the butterflies and flowers.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+
+<p>In the balsam-perfumed shade of our northern
+forests we may sometimes find growing in abundance
+the tiny white dwarf cornel, or bunch-berry,
+as its later cluster of scarlet fruit makes the more
+appropriate name. These miniature dogwood
+blossoms (or imitation blossoms, as the white divisions
+are not real petals) are very conspicuous
+against the dark moss, and many insects seem to
+seek them out and to find it worth while to visit
+them. If we look very carefully we may find that
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_214' name='page_214'></a>214</span>
+this discovery is not original with us, for a little
+creature has long ago found out the fondness of
+bees and other insects for these flowers and has
+put his knowledge to good use.</p>
+<p>One day I saw what I thought was a swelling
+on one part of the flower, but a closer look showed
+it was a living spider. Here was protective
+colouring carried to a wonderful degree. The
+body of the spider was white and glistening, like
+the texture of the white flower on which he
+rested. On his abdomen were two pink, oblong
+spots of the same tint and shape as the pinkened
+tips of the false petals. Only by an accident could
+he be discovered by a bird, and when I focussed
+my camera, I feared that the total lack of contrast
+would make the little creature all but invisible.</p>
+<p>Confident with the instinct handed down
+through many generations, the spider trusted implicitly
+to his colour for safety and never moved,
+though I placed the lens so close that it threw a
+life-sized image on the ground-glass. When all
+was ready, and before I had pressed the bulb,
+the thought came to me whether this wonderful
+resemblance should be attributed to the need of
+escaping from insectivorous birds, or to the increased
+facility with which the spider would be
+able to catch its prey. At the very instant of making
+the exposure, before I could will the stopping
+of the movement of my fingers, if I had so wished,
+my question was answered. A small, iridescent,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_215' name='page_215'></a>215</span>
+green bee flew down, like a spark of living light,
+upon the flower, and, quick as thought, was caught
+in the jaws of the spider. Six of his eight legs
+were not brought into use, but were held far back
+out of the way.</p>
+<p>Here, on my lens, I had a little tragedy of the
+forest preserved for all time.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>There was no bud, no bloom upon the bowers;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>The spiders wove their thin shrouds night by night;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>The thistledown, the only ghost of flowers,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Sailed slowly by&mdash;passed noiseless out of sight.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Thomas Buchanan Read.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_217' name='page_217'></a>217</span></div>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>OCTOBER</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='AUTUMN_HUNTING_WITH_A_FIELD_GLASS' id='AUTUMN_HUNTING_WITH_A_FIELD_GLASS'></a>
+<h2>AUTUMN HUNTING WITH A FIELD GLASS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>One of the most uncertain of months is October,
+and most difficult for the beginner in
+bird study. If we are just learning to enjoy the
+life of wood and field, we will find hard tangles
+to unravel among the birds of this month. Many
+of the smaller species which passed us on their
+northward journey last spring are now returning
+and will, perhaps, tarry a week or more before
+starting on the next nocturnal stage of their passage
+tropicward. Many are almost unrecognisable
+in their new winter plumage. Male scarlet
+tanagers are now green tanagers, goldfinches are
+olive finches, while instead of the beautiful black,
+white, and cream dress which made so easy the
+identification of the meadow bobolinks in the
+spring, search will now be rewarded only by some
+plump, overgrown sparrows&mdash;reedbirds&mdash;which
+are really bobolinks in disguise.</p>
+<p>Orchard orioles and rose-breasted grosbeaks
+come and are welcomed, but the multitude of
+female birds of these species which appear may
+astonish one, until he discovers that the young
+birds, both male and female, are very similar to
+their mother in colour. We have no difficulty in
+distinguishing between adult bay-breasted and
+black poll warblers, but he is indeed a keen observer
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_218' name='page_218'></a>218</span>
+who can point out which is which when the
+young birds of the year pass.</p>
+<p>October is apt to be a month of extremes. One
+day the woods are filled with scores of birds, and
+on the next hardly one will be seen. Often a single
+species or family will predominate, and one
+will remember &#8220;thrush days&#8221; or &#8220;woodpecker
+days.&#8221; Yellow-bellied sapsuckers cross the path,
+flickers call and hammer in every grove, while in
+the orchards, and along the old worm-eaten fences,
+glimpses of red, white, and black show where redheaded
+woodpeckers are looping from trunk to
+post. When we listen to the warble of bluebirds,
+watch the mock courtship of the high-holders, and
+discover the fall violets under leaves and burrs,
+for an instant a feeling of spring rushes over us;
+but the yellow leaves blow against our face, the
+wind sighs through the cedars, and we realise that
+the black hand of the frost will soon end the brave
+efforts of the wild pansies.</p>
+<p>The thrushes, ranking in some ways at the head
+of all our birds, drift through the woods, brown
+and silent as the leaves around them. Splendid
+opportunities they give us to test our powers of
+woodcraft. A thrush passes like a streak of
+brown light and perches on a tree some distance
+away. We creep from tree to tree, darting nearer
+when his head is turned. At last we think we are
+within range, and raise our weapon. No, a leaf
+is in the way, and the dancing spots of sunlight
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_219' name='page_219'></a>219</span>
+make our aim uncertain. We move a little closer
+and again take aim, and this time he cannot escape
+us. Carefully our double-barrelled binoculars
+cover him, and we get what powder and lead could
+never give us&mdash;the quick glance of the hazel eye,
+the trembling, half-raised feathers on his head,
+and a long look at the beautifully rounded form
+perched on the twig, which a wanton shot would
+destroy forever. The rich rufous colouring of
+the tail proclaims him a singer of singers&mdash;a hermit
+thrush. We must be on the watch these days
+for the beautiful wood thrush, the lesser spotted
+veery, the well named olive-back and the rarer
+gray-cheeked thrush. We may look in vain among
+the thrushes in our bird books for the golden-crowned
+and water thrush, for these walkers of
+the woods are thrushes only in appearance, and
+belong to the family of warblers. The long-tailed
+brown thrashers, lovers of the undergrowth, are
+still more thrush-like in look, but in our classifications
+they hold the position of giant cousins to the
+wrens. Even the finches contribute a mock thrush
+to our list, the big, spotted-breasted fox sparrow,
+but he rarely comes in number before mid October
+or November. Of course we all know that our
+robin is a true thrush, young robins having their
+breasts thickly spotted with black, while even
+the old birds retain a few spots and streaks on
+the throat.</p>
+<p>If we search behind the screen of leaves and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_220' name='page_220'></a>220</span>
+grass around us we may discover many tragedies.
+One fall I picked up a dead olive-backed thrush
+in the Zoological Park. There were no external
+signs of violence, but I found that the food canal
+was pretty well filled with blood. The next day
+still another bird was found in the same condition,
+and the day after two more. Within a week
+I noted in my journal eight of these thrushes, all
+young birds of the year, and all with the same
+symptoms of disorder. I could only surmise that
+some poisonous substance, some kind of berry,
+perhaps some attractive but deadly exotic from
+the Botanical Gardens, had tempted the inexperienced
+birds and caused their deaths.</p>
+<p>As we walk through the October woods a covey
+of ruffed grouse springs up before us, overhead
+a flock of robins dashes by, and the birds scatter
+to feed among the wild grapes. The short round
+wings of the grouse whirr noisily, while the quick
+wing beats of the robins make little sound. Both
+are suited to their uses. The robin may travel
+league upon league to the south, while the grouse
+will not go far except to find new bud or berry
+pastures. His wings, as we have noticed before,
+are fitted rather for sudden emergencies, to bound
+up before the teeth of the fox close upon him, to
+dodge into close cover when the nose of the hound
+almost touches his trembling body. When he
+scrambled out of his shell last May he at once
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_221' name='page_221'></a>221</span>
+began to run about and to try his tiny wings, and
+little by little he taught himself to fly. But in the
+efforts he got many a tumble and broke or lost
+many a feather. Nature, however, has foreseen
+this, and to her grouse children she gives several
+changes of wing feathers to practise with, before
+the last strong winter quills come in.</p>
+<p>How different it is with the robin. Naked and
+helpless he comes from his blue shell, and only
+one set of wing quills falls to his share, so it behooves
+him to be careful indeed of these. He
+remains in the nest until they are strong enough
+to bear him up, and his first attempts are carefully
+supervised by his anxious parents. And so
+the glimpse we had in the October woods of the
+two pair of wings held more of interest than we
+at first thought.</p>
+<p>In many parts of the country, about October
+fifteenth the crows begin to flock back and forth
+to and from their winter roosts. In some years it
+is the twelfth, or again the seventeenth, but the
+constancy of the mean date is remarkable. Many
+of our winter visitants have already slipped into
+our fields and woods and taken the places of some
+of the earlier southern migrants; but the daily
+passing of the birds which delay their journey
+until fairly pinched by the lack of food at the
+first frosts extends well into November. It is
+not until the foliage on the trees and bushes becomes
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_222' name='page_222'></a>222</span>
+threadbare and the last migrants have
+flown, that our northern visitors begin to take a
+prominent place in our avifauna.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Close bosom friend of the maturing sun;</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,&mdash;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Among the river-sallows, borne aloft</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 1.47167034584253em;'>Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Hedge-crickets sing, and now with treble soft</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 1.47167034584253em;'>And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>John Keats.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='A_WOODCHUCK_AND_A_GREBE' id='A_WOODCHUCK_AND_A_GREBE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_223' name='page_223'></a>223</span>
+<h2>A WOODCHUCK AND A GREBE</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>No fact comes to mind which is not more impressed
+upon us by the valuable aid of
+comparisons, and Nature is ever offering antitheses.
+At this season we are generally given a
+brief glimpse&mdash;the last for the year&mdash;of two creatures,
+one a mammal, the other a bird, which are
+as unlike in their activities as any two living creatures
+could well be.</p>
+<p>What a type of lazy contentment is the woodchuck,
+as throughout the hot summer days he lies
+on his warm earthen hillock at the entrance of his
+burrow. His fat body seems almost to flow down
+the slope, and when he waddles around for a
+nibble of clover it is with such an effort that we
+feel sure he would prefer a comfortable slow
+starvation, were it not for the unpleasant feelings
+involved in such a proceeding.</p>
+<p>As far as I know there are but two things which,
+can rouse a woodchuck to strenuous activity;
+when a dog is in pursuit he can make his stumpy
+feet fairly twinkle as he flies for his burrow, and
+when a fox or a man is digging him out, he can
+literally worm his way through the ground, frequently
+escaping by means of his wonderful
+digging power. But when September or October
+days bring the first chill, he gives one last yawn
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_224' name='page_224'></a>224</span>
+upon the world and stows himself away at the
+farthest end of his tunnel, there to sleep away
+the winter. Little more does he know of the snows
+and blizzards than the bird which has flown to the
+tropics. Even storing up fruits or roots is too
+great an effort for the indolent woodchuck, and in
+his hibernation stupor he draws only upon the fat
+which his lethargic summer life has accumulated
+within his skin.</p>
+<p>As we might expect from a liver of such a slothful
+life, the family traits of the woodchuck are far
+from admirable and there is said to be little affection
+shown by the mother woodchuck toward her
+young. The poor little fellows are pushed out of
+the burrow and driven away to shift for themselves
+as soon as possible. Many of them must
+come to grief from hawks and foxes. Closely
+related to the squirrels, these large marmots (for
+they are first cousins to the prairie dogs) are as
+unlike them in activity as they are in choice of a
+haunt.</p>
+<p>What a contrast to all this is the trim feathered
+form which we may see on the mill pond some
+clear morning. Alert and wary, the grebe paddles
+slowly along, watchful of every movement.
+If we approach too closely, it may settle little by
+little, like a submarine opening its water compartments,
+until nothing is visible except the head with
+its sharp beak. Another step and the bird has
+vanished, swallowed up by the lake, and the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_225' name='page_225'></a>225</span>
+chances are a hundred to one against our discovering
+the motionless neck and the tiny eye
+which rises again among the water weeds.</p>
+<p>This little grebe comes of a splendid line of
+ancestors, some of which were even more specialised
+for an aquatic life. These paid the price
+of existence along lines too narrow and vanished
+from the earth. The grebe, however, has so far
+stuck to a life which bids fair to allow his race
+safety for many generations, but he is perilously
+near the limit. Every fall he migrates far southward,
+leaving his northern lakes, but if the water
+upon which he floats should suddenly dry up, he
+would be almost as helpless as the gasping fish;
+for his wings are too weak to lift him from the
+ground. He must needs have a long take-off, a
+flying start, aided by vigorous paddling along the
+surface of the water, before he can rise into the
+air.</p>
+<p>Millions of years ago there lived birds built on
+the general grebe plan and who doubtless were
+derived from the same original stock, but which
+lived in the great seas of that time. Far from
+being able to migrate, every external trace of
+wing was gone and these great creatures, almost
+as large as a man and with sharp teeth in their
+beaks, must have hitched themselves like seals
+along the edge of the beach, and perhaps laid their
+eggs on the pebbles as do the terns to-day.</p>
+<p>The grebe, denied the power to rise easily and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_226' name='page_226'></a>226</span>
+even, to ran about on land without considerable
+effort, is, however, splendidly adapted to its water
+life, and the rapidity of its motions places it near
+the head of the higher active creatures,&mdash;with the
+woodchuck near the opposite extreme.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_VOICE_OF_ANIMALS' id='THE_VOICE_OF_ANIMALS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_227' name='page_227'></a>227</span>
+<h2>THE VOICE OF THE ANIMALS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Throughout the depths of the sea, silence,
+as well as absolute darkness, prevails. The
+sun penetrates only a short distance below the
+surface, at most a few hundred feet, and all disturbance
+from storms ceases far above that depth,
+Where the pressure is a ton or more to the square
+inch, it is very evident that no sound vibration
+can exist. Near the surface it is otherwise. The
+majority of fishes have no lungs and of course no
+vocal chords, but certain species, such as the drumfish,
+are able to distend special sacs with gas or
+air, or in other ways to produce sounds. One
+variety succeeds in producing a number of sounds
+by gritting the teeth, and when the male fish is
+attempting to charm the female by dashing round
+her, spreading his fins to display his brilliant
+colours, this gritting of the teeth holds a prominent
+place in the performance, although whether
+the fair finny one makes her choice because she
+prefers a high-toned grit instead of a lower one
+can only be imagined! But vibrations, whether
+of sound or of water pressure, are easily carried
+near the surface, and fishes are provided with
+organs to receive and record them. One class of
+such organs has little in common with ears, as we
+speak of them; they are merely points on the head
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_228' name='page_228'></a>228</span>
+and body which are susceptible to the watery
+vibrations. These points are minute cavities, surrounded
+with tiny <i>cilia</i> or hairs, which connect
+with the ends of the nerves.</p>
+<p>The ears of the frogs and all higher animals
+are, like the tongue-bone and the lower jaw,
+derived originally from portions of gills, which
+the aquatic ancestors of living animals used to
+draw the oxygen from the water. This is one of
+the most wonderful and interesting changes which
+the study of evolution has unfolded to our
+knowledge.</p>
+<p>The disproportionate voices are produced by
+means of an extra amount of skin on the throat,
+which is distensible and acts as a drum to increase
+the volume of sound. In certain bullfrogs which
+grow to be as large as the head of a man, the bellowing
+power is deafening and is audible for miles.
+In Chile a small species of frog, measuring only
+about an inch in length, has two internal vocal
+sacs which are put to a unique use. Where these
+frogs live, water is very scarce and the polliwogs
+have no chance to live and develop in pools, as is
+ordinarily the case. So when the eggs are laid,
+they are immediately taken by the male frog and
+placed in these capacious sacs, which serve as
+nurseries for them all through their hatching and
+growing period of life. Although there is no water
+in these chambers, yet their gills grow out and
+are reabsorbed, just as is the case in ordinary
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_229' name='page_229'></a>229</span>
+tadpoles. When their legs are fully developed,
+they clamber up to their father&#8217;s broad mouth
+and get their first glimpse of the great world from
+his lower lip. When fifteen partly developed
+polliwogs are found in the pouches of one little
+frog, he looks as if he had gorged himself to bursting
+with tadpoles. To such curious uses may vocal
+organs be put.</p>
+<p>Turtles are voiceless, except at the period of
+laying eggs, when they acquire a voice, which even
+in the largest is very tiny and piping, like some
+very small insect rather than a two-hundred-pound
+tortoise. Some of the lizards utter shrill,
+insect-like squeaks.</p>
+<p>A species of gecko, a small, brilliantly coloured
+lizard, has the back of its tail armed with plates.
+These it has a habit of rubbing together, and by
+this means it produces a shrill, chirruping sound,
+which actually attracts crickets and grasshoppers
+toward the noise, so that they fall easy prey to
+this reptilian trapper. So in colour, sound, motion,
+and many other ways, animals act and react
+upon each other, a useful and necessary habit
+being perverted by an enemy, so that the death of
+the creature results. Yet it would never be claimed
+that the lizard thought out this mimicking. It
+probably found that certain actions resulted in the
+approach of good dinners, and in its offspring this
+action might be partly instinctive, and each generation
+would perpetuate it. If it had been an
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_230' name='page_230'></a>230</span>
+intentional act, other nearly related species of
+lizards would imitate it, as soon as they perceived
+the success which attended it.</p>
+<p>That many animals have a kind of language is
+nowadays admitted to be a truism, but this is more
+evident among mammals and birds, and, reviewing
+the classes of the former, we find a more or
+less defined ascending complexity and increased
+number of varying sounds as we pass from the
+lower forms&mdash;kangaroos and moles&mdash;to the higher
+herb-and-flesh-eaters, and particularly monkeys.</p>
+<p>Squeaks and grunts constitute the vocabulary,
+if we dignify it by that name, of the mammals.
+The sloths, those curious animals whose entire
+life is spent clinging to the underside of branches,
+on whose leaves they feed, may be said almost to
+be voiceless, so seldom do they give utterance to
+the nameless wail which constitutes their only
+utterance. Even when being torn to pieces by an
+enemy, they offer no resistance and emit no sound,
+but fold their claws around their body and submit
+to the inevitable as silently and as stoically
+as did ever an ancient Spartan.</p>
+<p>Great fear of death will often cause an animal
+to utter sounds which are different from those
+produced under any other conditions. When an
+elephant is angry or excited, his trumpeting is
+terribly loud and shrill; but when a mother elephant
+is &#8220;talking&#8221; to her child, while the same
+sonorous, metallic quality is present, yet it is
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_231' name='page_231'></a>231</span>
+wonderfully softened and modulated. A horse is
+a good example of what the fear of death will do.
+The ordinary neigh of a horse is very familiar,
+but in battle when mortally wounded, or having
+lost its master and being terribly frightened, a
+horse will scream, and those who have heard it,
+say it is more awful than the cries of pain of a
+human being.</p>
+<p>Deer and elk often astonish one by the peculiar
+sounds which they produce. An elk can bellow
+loudly, especially when fighting; but when members
+of a herd call to each other, or when surprised
+by some unusual appearance, they whistle&mdash;a
+sudden, sharp whistle, like the tin mouthpieces
+with revolving discs, which were at one
+time so much in evidence.</p>
+<p>The growl of a bear differs greatly under varying
+circumstances. There is the playful growl,
+uttered when two individuals are wrestling, and
+the terrible &#8220;sound&#8221;&mdash;no word expresses it&mdash;to
+which a bear, cornered and driven to the last
+extremity, gives utterance&mdash;fear, hate, dread, and
+awful passion mingled and expressed in sound.
+One can realise the fearful terror which this inspires
+only when one has, as I have, stood up to a
+mad bear, repelling charge after charge, with only
+an iron pike between one&#8217;s self and those powerful
+fangs and claws. The long-drawn moan of a
+polar bear on a frosty night is another phase; this,
+too, is expressive, but only of those wonderful
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_232' name='page_232'></a>232</span>
+Arctic scenes where night and day are as one to
+this great seal-hunter.</p>
+<p>The dog has made man his god,&mdash;giving up his
+life for his master would be but part of his way
+of showing his love if he had it in his power to do
+more. So, too, the dog has attempted to adapt
+his speech to his master&#8217;s, and the result is a bark.
+No wild coyotes or wolves bark, but when bands
+of dogs descended from domesticated animals run
+wild, their howls are modulated and a certain unmistakable
+barking quality imparted. The drawn-out
+howl of a great gray wolf is an impressive
+sound and one never to be forgotten. Only the
+fox seems to possess the ability to bark in its
+native tongue. The sounds which the cats, great
+and small, reproduce are most varied. Nothing
+can be much more intimidating than the roar of a
+lion, or more demoniacal than the arguments
+which our house-pets carry on at night on garden
+fences.</p>
+<p>What use the sounds peculiar to sea-lions subserve
+in their life on the great ocean, or their
+haunts along the shore, can only be imagined, but
+surely such laudable perseverance, day after day,
+to out-utter each other, must be for some good
+reason!</p>
+<p>Volumes have been written concerning the
+voices of the two remaining groups of animals&mdash;monkeys
+and birds. In the great family of the
+four-handed folk, more varieties of sound are produced
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_233' name='page_233'></a>233</span>
+than would be thought possible. Some of
+the large baboons are awful in their vocalisations.
+Terrible agony or remorse is all that their moans
+suggest to us, no matter what frame of mind on
+the part of the baboon induces them. Of all vertebrates
+the tiny marmosets reproduce most exactly
+the chirps of crickets and similar insects, and to
+watch one of these little human faces, see its mouth
+open, and instead of, as seems natural, words issuing
+forth, to hear these shrill squeaks is most surprising.
+Young orang-utans, in their &#8220;talk,&#8221; as
+well as in their actions, are counterparts of human
+infants. The scream of frantic rage when a
+banana is offered and jerked away, the wheedling
+tone when the animal wishes to be comforted by
+the keeper on account of pain or bruise, and the
+sound of perfect contentment and happiness when
+petted by the keeper whom it learns to love,&mdash;all
+are almost indistinguishable from like utterances
+of a human child.</p>
+<p>But how pitiless is the inevitable change of the
+next few years! Slowly the bones of the cranium
+thicken, partly filling up the brain cavity, and
+slowly but surely the ape loses all affection for
+those who take care of it. More and more morose
+and sullen it becomes until it reaches a stage of
+unchangeable ferocity and must be doomed to
+close confinement, never again to be handled or
+caressed.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_NAMES_OF_ANIMALS_FROGS_AND_FISH' id='THE_NAMES_OF_ANIMALS_FROGS_AND_FISH'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_234' name='page_234'></a>234</span>
+<h2>THE NAMES OF ANIMALS, FROGS, AND FISH</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>When, during the lazy autumn days, the
+living creatures seem for a time to have
+taken themselves completely beyond our ken, it
+may be interesting to delve among old records and
+descriptions of animals and see how the names by
+which we know them first came to be given. Many
+of our English names have an unsuspected ancestry,
+which, through past centuries, has been
+handed down to us through many changes of
+spelling and meaning, of romantic as well as historical
+interest.</p>
+<p>How many people regard the scientific Latin
+and Greek names of animals with horror, as being
+absolutely beyond their comprehension, and yet
+how interesting these names become when we look
+them squarely in the face, analyse them and find
+the appropriateness of their application.</p>
+<p>When you say &#8220;wolf&#8221; to a person, the image
+of that wild creature comes instantly to his mind,
+but if you ask him <i>why</i> it is called a wolf, a hundred
+chances to one he will look blankly at you.
+It is the old fault, so common among us human
+beings, of ignoring the things which lie nearest
+us. Or perhaps your friend shares the state of
+mind of the puzzled old lady, who, after looking
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_235' name='page_235'></a>235</span>
+over a collection of fossil bones, said that she
+could understand how these bones had been preserved,
+and millions of years later had been discovered,
+but it was a mystery to her how anyone
+could know the names of these ancient animals
+after such a lapse of time!</p>
+<p>Some of the names of the commonest animals
+are lost in the dimness of antiquity, such as fox,
+weasel, sheep, dog, and baboon. Of the origin
+of these we have forever lost the clew. With
+camel we can go no farther back than the Latin
+word <i>camelus</i>, and elephant balks us with the old
+Hindoo word <i>eleph</i>, which means an ox. The old
+root of the word wolf meant one who tears or
+rends, and the application to this animal is obvious.
+In several English and German names of
+persons, we have handed down to us a relic of the
+old fashion of applying wolf as a compliment to a
+warrior or soldier. For example, Adolph means
+noble-wolf, and Rudolph glory-wolf.</p>
+<p>Lynx is from the same Latin word as the word
+<i>lux</i> (light) and probably was given to these wildcats
+on account of the brightness of their eyes.
+Lion is, of course, from the Latin <i>leo</i>, which word,
+in turn, is lost far back in the Egyptian tongue,
+where the word for the king of beasts was <i>labu</i>.
+The compound word leopard is first found in the
+Persian language, where <i>pars</i> stands for panther.
+Seal, very appropriately, was once a word meaning
+&#8220;of the sea&#8221;; close to the Latin <i>sal</i>, the sea.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_236' name='page_236'></a>236</span></p>
+<p>Many names of animals are adapted from words
+in the ancient language of the natives in whose
+country the creatures were first discovered.
+Puma, jaguar, tapir, and peccary (from <i>paquires</i>)
+are all names from South American Indian languages.
+The coyote and ocelot were called <i>coyotl</i>
+and <i>ocelotl</i> by the Mexicans long before Cortes
+landed on their shores. Zebra, gorilla, and chimpanzee
+are native African words, and orang-utan
+is Malay, meaning Man of the Woods. Cheetah
+is from some East Indian tongue, as is tahr, the
+name of the wild goat of the Himalayas. Gnu is
+from the Hottentots, and giraffe from the Arabic
+<i>zaraf</i>. Aoudad, the Barbary wild sheep, is the
+French form of the Moorish name <i>audad</i>.</p>
+<p>The native Indians of our own country are passing
+rapidly, and before many years their race may
+be extinct, but their musical, euphonious names
+of the animals they knew so well, often pleased the
+ear of the early settlers, and in many instances
+will be a lasting memorial as long as these forest
+creatures of our United States survive.</p>
+<p>Thus, moose is from the Indian word <i>mouswah</i>,
+meaning wood-eater; skunk from <i>seganku</i>, an
+Algonquin term; <i>wapiti</i>, in the Cree language,
+meant white deer, and was originally applied to
+the Rocky Mountain goat, but the name is now
+restricted to the American elk. Caribou is also
+an Indian word; opossum is from <i>possowne</i>, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_237' name='page_237'></a>237</span>
+raccoon is from the Indian <i>arrathkune</i> (by further
+apheresis, coon).</p>
+<p>Rhinoceros is pure Greek, meaning nose-horned,
+but beaver has indeed had a rough time of it in
+its travels through various languages. It is hardly
+recognisable as <i>bebrus</i>, <i>babbru</i>, and <i>bbru</i>. The
+latter is the ultimate root of our word brown.
+The original application was, doubtless, on account
+of the colour of the creature&#8217;s fur. Otter
+takes us back to Sanskrit, where we find it <i>udra</i>.
+The significance of this word is in its close kinship
+to <i>udan</i>, meaning water.</p>
+<p>The little mouse hands his name down through
+the years from the old, old Sanskrit, the root
+meaning to steal. Many people who never heard
+of Sanskrit have called him and his descendants
+by terms of homologous significance! The word
+muscle is from the same root, and was applied
+from a fancied resemblance of the movement of
+the muscle beneath the skin to a mouse in motion&mdash;not
+a particularly quieting thought to certain
+members of the fair sex! The origin of the word
+rat is less certain, but it may have been derived
+from the root of the Latin word <i>radere</i>, to scratch,
+or <i>rodere</i>, to gnaw. Rodent is derived from the
+latter term. Cat is also in doubt, but is first
+recognised in <i>catalus</i>, a diminutive of <i>canis</i>, a dog.
+It was applied to the young of almost any animal,
+as we use the words pup, kitten, cub, and so forth.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_238' name='page_238'></a>238</span>
+Bear is the result of tongue-twisting from the
+Latin <i>fera</i>, a wild beast.</p>
+<p>Ape is from the Sanskrit <i>kapi</i>; <i>kap</i> in the same
+language means tremble; but the connection is not
+clear. Lemur, the name given to that low family
+of monkeys, is from the plural Latin word
+<i>lemures</i>, meaning ghost or spectre. This has
+reference to the nocturnal habits, stealthy gait,
+and weird expression of these large-eyed creatures.
+Antelope is probably of Grecian origin,
+and was originally applied to a half-mythical animal,
+located on the banks of the Euphrates, and
+described as &#8220;very savage and fleet, and having
+long, saw-like horns with which it could cut down
+trees. It figures largely in the peculiar fauna of
+heraldry.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Deer is of obscure origin, but may have been
+an adjective meaning wild. Elk is derived from
+the same root as eland, and the history of the latter
+word is an interesting one. It meant a
+sufferer, and was applied by the Teutons to the
+elk of the Old World on account of the awkward
+gait and stiff movements of this ungainly animal.
+But in later years the Dutch carried the same
+word, eland, to South Africa, and there gave it
+to the largest of the tribe of antelopes, in which
+sense it is used by zoologists to-day.</p>
+<p>Porcupine has arisen from two Latin words,
+<i>porcus</i>, a hog, and <i>spina</i>, a spine; hence, appropriately,
+a spiny-hog. Buffalo may once have
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_239' name='page_239'></a>239</span>
+been some native African name. In the vista of
+time, our earliest glimpse of it is as <i>bubalus</i>,
+which was applied both to the wild ox and to a
+species of African antelope. Fallow deer is from
+fallow, meaning pale, or yellowish, while axis, as
+applied to the deer so common in zoological gardens,
+was first mentioned by Pliny and is doubtless
+of East Indian origin. The word bison is from
+the Anglo-Saxon <i>wesend</i>, but beyond Pliny its
+ultimate origin eludes all research.</p>
+<p>Marmot, through various distortions, looms up
+from Latin times as <i>mus montanus</i>, literally a
+mountain mouse. Badger is from badge, in allusion
+to the bands of white fur on its forehead.
+The verb meaning to badger is derived from the
+old cruel sport of baiting badgers with dogs.</p>
+<p>Monkey is from the same root as <i>monna</i>, a
+woman; more especially an old crone, in reference
+to the fancied resemblance of the weazened face
+of a monkey to that of a withered old woman.
+Madam and madonna are other forms of words
+from the same root, so wide and sweeping are the
+changes in meaning which usage and time can give
+to words.</p>
+<p>Squirrel has a poetic origin in the Greek language;
+its original meaning being shadow-tail.
+Tiger is far more intricate. The old Persian word
+<i>tir</i> meant arrow, while <i>tighra</i> signified sharp. The
+application to this great animal was in allusion to
+the swiftness with which the tiger leaps upon his
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_240' name='page_240'></a>240</span>
+prey. The river Tigris, meaning literally the
+river Arrow, is named thus from the swiftness
+of its current.</p>
+<p>As to the names of reptiles it is, of course, to
+the Romans that we are chiefly indebted, as in the
+case of reptile from <i>reptilus</i>, meaning creeping;
+and crocodile from <i>dilus</i>, a lizard. Serpent is also
+from the Latin <i>serpens</i>, creeping, and this from
+the old Sanskrit root, <i>sarp</i>, with the same meaning.
+This application of the idea of creeping is
+again found in the word snake, which originally
+came from the Sanskrit <i>naga</i>.</p>
+<p>Tortoise harks back to the Latin <i>tortus</i>, meaning
+twisted (hence our word tortuous) and came
+to be applied to these slow creatures because of
+their twisted legs. In its evolution through many
+tongues it has suffered numbers of variations; one
+of these being turtle, which we use to-day to designate
+the smaller land tortoises. Terrapin and its
+old forms <i>terrapene</i> and <i>turpin</i>, on the contrary,
+originated in the New World, in the language of
+the American Redskin.</p>
+<p><i>Cobra-de-capello</i> is Portuguese for hooded
+snake, while python is far older, the same word
+being used by the Greeks to denote a spirit, demon,
+or evil-soothsayer. This name was really given
+to designate any species of large serpent. <i>Boa</i> is
+Latin and was also applied to a large snake, while
+the importance of the character of size is seen,
+perhaps, in our words <i>bos</i> and <i>bovine</i>.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_241' name='page_241'></a>241</span></p>
+<p>The word viper is interesting; coming directly
+from the Romans, who wrote it <i>vipera</i>. This in
+turn is a contraction of the feminine form of the
+adjective <i>vivipera</i>, in reference to the habit of
+these snakes of bringing forth their young alive.</p>
+<p>Lizard, through such forms as <i>lesarde</i>, <i>lezard</i>,
+<i>lagarto</i>, <i>lacerto</i>, is from the Latin <i>lacertus</i>, a
+lizard; while closely related is the word alligator
+by way of <i>lagarto</i>, <i>aligarto</i>, to alligator. The
+prefix may have arisen as a corruption of an article
+and a noun, as in the modern Spanish <i>el
+lagarto</i>,&mdash;a lizard.</p>
+<p>Monitor is Latin for one who reminds, these
+lizards being so called because they are supposed
+to give warning of the approach of crocodiles.
+Asp can be carried back to the <i>aspis</i> of the
+Romans, no trace being found in the dim vistas of
+preceding tongues.</p>
+<p>Gecko, the name of certain wall-hunting lizards,
+is derived from their croaking cry; while iguana
+is a Spanish name taken from the old native
+Haytian appellation <i>biuana</i>.</p>
+<p>Of the word frog we know nothing, although
+through the medium of many languages it has had
+as thorough an evolution as in its physical life.
+We must also admit our ignorance in regard to
+toad, backward search revealing only <i>tade</i>, <i>tode</i>,
+<i>ted</i>, <i>toode</i>, and <i>tadie</i>, the root baffling all study.
+Polliwog and tadpole are delightfully easy. Old
+forms of polliwog are <i>pollywig</i>, <i>polewiggle</i>, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_242' name='page_242'></a>242</span>
+<i>pollwiggle</i>. This last gives us the clew to our
+spelling&mdash;<i>pollwiggle</i>, which, reversed and interpreted
+in a modern way, is wigglehead, a most
+appropriate name for these lively little black fellows.
+Tadpole is somewhat similar; toad-pole, or
+toad&#8217;s-head, also very apt when we think of these
+small-bodied larval forms.</p>
+<p>Salamander, which is a Greek word of Eastern
+origin, was applied in the earliest times to a lizard
+considered to have the power of extinguishing fire.
+Newt has a strange history; originating in a
+wrong division of two words, &#8220;<i>an ewte</i>,&#8221; the latter
+being derived from <i>eft</i>, which is far more correct
+than newt, though in use now in only a few
+places. Few fishermen have ever thought of the
+interesting derivation of the names which they
+know so well. Of course there are a host of fishes
+named from a fancied resemblance to familiar
+terrestrial animals or other things; such as the
+catfish, and those named after the dog, hog, horse,
+cow, trunk, devil, angel, sun, and moon.</p>
+<p>The word fish has passed through many varied
+forms since it was <i>piscis</i> in the old Latin tongue,
+and the same is true of shark and skate, which in
+the same language were <i>carcharus</i> and <i>squatus</i>.
+Trout was originally <i>tructa</i>, which in turn is lost
+in a very old Greek word, meaning eat or gnaw.
+Perch harks back to the Latin <i>perca</i>, and the
+Romans had it from the Greeks, among whom it
+meant spotted. The Romans said <i>minutus</i> when
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_243' name='page_243'></a>243</span>
+they meant small, and nowadays when we speak
+of any very small fish we say minnow. Alewife
+in old English was applied to the women, usually
+very stout dames, who kept alehouses. The corpulency
+of the fish to which the same term is given
+explains its derivation.</p>
+<p>The pike is so named from the sharp, pointed
+snout and long, slim body, bringing to mind the
+old-time weapon of that name; while pickerel
+means doubly a little pike, the <i>er</i> and <i>el</i> (as in cock
+and cockerel) both being diminutives. Smelt was
+formerly applied to any small fish and comes, perhaps,
+from the Anglo-Saxon <i>smeolt</i>, which meant
+smooth&mdash;the smoothness and slipperiness of the
+fish suggesting the name.</p>
+<p>Salmon comes directly from the Latin <i>salmo</i>, a
+salmon, which literally meant the leaper, from
+<i>salire</i>&mdash;to leap. Sturgeon, from the Saxon was
+<i>stiriga</i>, literally a stirrer, from the habit of the
+fish of stirring up the mud at the bottom of the
+water. Dace, through its mediæval forms <i>darce</i>
+and <i>dars</i>, is from the same root as our word dart,
+given on account of the swiftness of the fish.</p>
+<p>Anchovy is interesting as perhaps from the
+Basque word <i>antzua</i>, meaning dry; hence the dried
+fish; and mullet is from the Latin <i>mullus</i>. Herring
+is well worth following back to its origin. We
+know that the most marked habit of fishes of this
+type is their herding together in great schools or
+masses or armies. In the very high German <i>heri</i>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_244' name='page_244'></a>244</span>
+meant an army or host; hence our word harry
+and, with a suffix, herring.</p>
+<p><i>Hake</i> in Norwegian means hook, and the term
+hake or hook-fish was given because of the hooked
+character of the under-jaw. Mackerel comes from
+<i>macarellus</i> and originally the Latin <i>macula</i>&mdash;spotted,
+from the dark spots on the body. Roach
+and ray both come from the Latin <i>raria</i>, applied
+then as in the latter case now to bottom-living
+sharks.</p>
+<p>Flounder comes from the verb, which in turn
+is derived from flounce, a word which is lost in
+antiquity. Tarpon (and the form <i>tarpum</i>) may
+be an Indian word; while there is no doubt as to
+grouper coming from <i>garrupa</i>, a native Mexican
+name. Chubb (a form of cub) meant a chunky
+mass or lump, referring to the body of the fish.
+Shad is lost in <i>sceadda</i>, Anglo-Saxon for the same
+fish.</p>
+<p>Lamprey and halibut both have histories, which,
+at first glance, we would never suspect, although
+the forms have changed but little. The former
+have a habit of fastening themselves for hours to
+stones and rocks, by means of their strong, sucking
+mouths. So the Latin form of the word <i>lampetra</i>,
+or literally lick-rock, is very appropriate.
+Halibut is equally so. <i>But</i> or <i>bot</i> in several languages
+means a certain flounder-like fish, and in
+olden times this fish was eaten only on holidays
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_245' name='page_245'></a>245</span>
+(<i>i.e.</i>, holy days). Hence the combination halibut
+means really holy-flounder.</p>
+<p>The meaning of these words and many others
+are worth knowing, and it is well to be able to
+answer with other than ignorance the question
+&#8220;What&#8217;s in a name?&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_DYING_YEAR' id='THE_DYING_YEAR'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_246' name='page_246'></a>246</span>
+<h2>THE DYING YEAR</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>When a radical change of habits occurs, as
+in the sapsucker, deviating so sharply
+from the ancient principles of its family, many
+other forms of life about it are influenced, indirectly,
+but in a most interesting way. In its
+tippling operations it wastes quantities of sap
+which exudes from the numerous holes and
+trickles down the bark of the wounded tree. This
+proves a veritable feast for the forlorn remnant
+of wasps and butterflies,&mdash;the year&#8217;s end stragglers
+whose flower calyces have fallen and given
+place to swelling seeds.</p>
+<p>Swiftly up wind they come on the scent, eager
+as hounds on the trail, and they drink and drink
+of the sweets until they become almost incapable
+of flying. But, after all, the new lease of life is a
+vain semblance of better things. Their eggs have
+long since been laid and their mission in life ended,
+and at the best their existence is but a matter of
+days.</p>
+<p>It is a sad thing this, and sometimes our heart
+hardens against Nature for the seeming cruelty
+of it all. Forever and always, year after year,
+century upon century, the same tale unfolds itself,&mdash;the
+sacrifice of the individual for the good of the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_247' name='page_247'></a>247</span>
+race. A hundred drones are tended and reared,
+all but one to die in vain; a thousand seeds are
+sown to rot or to sprout and wither; a million little
+codfish hatch and begin life hopefully, perhaps
+all to succumb save one; a million million shrimp
+and pteropods paddle themselves here and there
+in the ocean, and every one is devoured by fish or
+swept into the whalebone tangle from which none
+ever return. And if a lucky one which survives
+does so because it has some little advantage over
+its fellows,&mdash;some added quality which gives just
+the opportunity to escape at the critical moment,&mdash;then
+the race will advance to the extent of that
+trifle and so carry out the precept of evolution.
+But even though we may owe every character of
+body and mind to the fulfilment of some such inexorable
+law in the past, yet the witnessing of the
+operation brings ever a feeling of cruelty, of injustice
+somewhere.</p>
+<p>How pitiful the weak flight of the last yellow
+butterfly of the year, as with tattered and battered
+wings it vainly seeks for a final sip of
+sweets! The fallen petals and the hard seeds are
+black and odourless, the drops of sap are
+hardened. Little by little the wings weaken, the
+tiny feet clutch convulsively at a dried weed stalk,
+and the four golden wings drift quietly down
+among the yellow leaves, soon to merge into the
+dark mould beneath. As the butterfly dies, a
+stiffened Katydid scratches a last requiem on his
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_248' name='page_248'></a>248</span>
+wing covers&mdash;&#8220;<i>katy-didn&#8217;t&mdash;katy-did&mdash;kate&mdash;y</i>&#8221;&mdash;and
+the succeeding moment of silence is broken
+by the sharp rattle of a woodpecker. We shake
+off every dream of the summer and brace ourselves
+to meet and enjoy the keen, invigorating
+pleasures of winter.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_249' name='page_249'></a>249</span></p>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>NOVEMBER</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='NOVEMBER_S_BIRDS_OF_THE_HEAVENS' id='NOVEMBER_S_BIRDS_OF_THE_HEAVENS'></a>
+<h2>NOVEMBER&#8217;S BIRDS OF THE HEAVENS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>As the whirling winds of winter&#8217;s edge strip
+the trees bare of their last leaves, the leaden
+sky of the eleventh month seems to push its cold
+face closer to earth. Who can tell when the northern
+sparrows first arrive? A whirl of brown
+leaves scatters in front of us; some fall back to
+earth; others rise and perch in the thick briers,&mdash;sombre
+little white-throated and tree sparrows!
+These brown-coated, low-voiced birds easily attract
+our attention, the more now that the great
+host of brilliant warblers has passed, just as our
+hearts warm toward the humble poly-pody fronds
+(passing them by unnoticed when flowers are
+abundant) which now hold up their bright greenness
+amid all the cold.</p>
+<p>But all the migrants have not left us yet by any
+means, and we had better leave our boreal visitors
+until mid-winter&#8217;s blasts show us these
+hardiest of the hardy at their best.</p>
+<p>We know little of the ways of the gaunt herons
+on their southward journey, but day after day, in
+the marshes and along the streams, we may see
+the great blues as they stop in their flight to rest
+for a time.</p>
+<p>The cold draws all the birds of a species
+together. Dark hordes of clacking grackles pass
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_250' name='page_250'></a>250</span>
+by, scores of red-winged blackbirds and cowbirds
+mingle amicably together, both of dark hue but
+of such unlike matrimonial habits. A single male
+red-wing, as we have seen, may assume the cares
+of a harem of three, four, or five females, each of
+which rears her brown-streaked offspring in her
+own particular nest, while the valiant guardian
+keeps faithful watch over his small colony among
+the reeds and cat-tails. But little thought or care
+does mother cowbird waste upon her offspring.
+No home life is hers&mdash;merely a stealthy approach
+to the nest of some unsuspecting yellow warbler,
+or other small bird, a hastily deposited egg, and
+the unnatural parent goes on her way, having
+shouldered all her household cares on another.
+Her young may be hatched and carefully reared
+by the patient little warbler mother, or the egg
+may spoil in the deserted nest, or be left in the
+cold beneath another nest bottom built over it;
+little cares the cowbird.</p>
+<p>The ospreys or fish hawks seem to circle southward
+in pairs or trios, but some clear, cold day
+the sky will be alive with hawks of other kinds.
+It is a strange fact that these birds which have
+the power to rise so high that they fairly disappear
+from our sight choose the trend of terrestrial
+valleys whenever possible, in directing their
+aerial routes. Even the series of New Jersey
+hills, flattered by the name of the Orange Mountains,
+seem to balk many hawks which elect to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_251' name='page_251'></a>251</span>
+change their direction and fly to the right or left
+toward certain gaps or passes. Through these a
+raptorial stream pours in such numbers during
+the period of migration that a person with a foreknowledge
+of their path in former years may lie
+in wait and watch scores upon scores of these
+birds pass close overhead within a few hours,
+while a short distance to the right or left one may
+watch all day without seeing a single raptor. The
+whims of migrating birds are beyond our ken.</p>
+<p>Sometimes, out in the broad fields, one&#8217;s eyes
+will be drawn accidentally upward, and a great
+flight of hawks will be seen&mdash;a compact flock of
+intercircling forms, perhaps two or three hundred
+in all, the whole number gradually passing
+from view in a southerly direction, now and then
+sending down a shrill cry. It is a beautiful sight,
+not very often to be seen near a city&mdash;unless
+watched for.</p>
+<p>To a dweller in a city or its suburbs I heartily
+commend at this season the forming of this habit,&mdash;to
+look upward as often as possible on your
+walks. An instant suffices to sweep the whole
+heavens with your eye, and if the distant circling
+forms, moving in so stately a manner, yet so
+swiftly, and in their every movement personifying
+the essence of wild and glorious freedom,&mdash;if this
+sight does not send a thrill through the onlooker,
+then he may at once pull his hat lower over his
+eyes and concern himself only with his immediate
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_252' name='page_252'></a>252</span>
+business. The joys of Nature are not for such as
+he; the love of the wild which exists in every one
+of us is, in him, too thickly &#8220;sicklied o&#8217;er&#8221; with
+the veneer of convention and civilisation.</p>
+<p>Even as late as November, when the water
+begins to freeze in the tiny cups of the pitcher
+plants, and the frost brings into being a new kind
+of foliage on glass and stone, a few insect-eaters
+of the summer woods still linger on. A belated
+red-eyed vireo may be chased by a snowbird, and
+when we approach a flock of birds, mistaking them
+at a distance for purple finches, we may discover
+they are myrtle warblers, clad in the faded yellow
+of their winter plumage. In favoured localities
+these brave little birds may even spend the
+entire winter with us.</p>
+<p>One of the best of November&#8217;s surprises may
+come when all hope of late migrants has been
+given up. Walking near the river, our glance falls
+on what might be a painter&#8217;s palate with blended
+colours of all shades resting on the smooth surface
+of the water. We look again and again,
+hardly believing our eyes, until at last the gorgeous
+creature takes to wing, and goes humming
+down the stream, a bit of colour tropical in its
+extravagance&mdash;and we know that we have seen
+a male wood, or summer, duck in the full grandeur
+of his white, purple, chestnut, black, blue, and
+brown. Many other ducks have departed, but this
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_253' name='page_253'></a>253</span>
+one still swims among the floating leaves on secluded
+waterways.</p>
+<p>Now is the time when the woodcock rises from
+his swampy summer home and zigzags his way to
+a land where earthworms are still active. Sometimes
+in our walks we may find the fresh body
+of one of these birds, and an upward glance at the
+roadside will show the cause&mdash;the cruel telegraph
+wires against which the flight of the bird has carried
+it with fatal velocity.</p>
+<p>One of the greatest pleasures which November
+has to give us is the joy of watching for the long
+lines of wild geese from the Canada lakes. Who
+can help being thrilled at the sight of these strong-winged
+birds, as the V-shaped flock throbs into
+view high in air, beating over land and water,
+forest and city, as surely and steadily as the passing
+of the day behind them. One of the finest of
+November sounds is the &#8220;Honk! honk!&#8221; which
+comes to our ears from such a company of geese,&mdash;musical
+tones &#8220;like a clanking chain drawn
+through the heavy air.&#8221;</p>
+<p>At the stroke of midnight I have been halted in
+my hurried walk by these notes. They are a bit
+of the wild north which may even enter within a
+city, and three years ago I trapped a fine gander
+and a half a dozen of his flock in the New York
+Zoological Park, where they have lived ever since
+and reared their golden-hued goslings, which
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_254' name='page_254'></a>254</span>
+otherwise would have broken their shells on some
+Arctic waste, with only the snowbirds to admire,
+and to be watched with greedy eyes by the Arctic
+owls.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>A haze on the far horizon,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>The infinite tender sky,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>The ripe, rich tints of the cornfields,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>And the wild geese sailing high;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>And ever on upland and lowland,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>The charm of the goldenrod&mdash;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Some of us call it Autumn,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>And others call it God.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>W. H. Carruth.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='A_PLEA_FOR_THE_SKUNK' id='A_PLEA_FOR_THE_SKUNK'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_255' name='page_255'></a>255</span>
+<h2>A PLEA FOR THE SKUNK</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>In spite of constant persecution the skunk is
+without doubt the tamest of all of our wild
+animals, and shares with the weasel and mink
+the honour of being one of the most abundant of
+the carnivores, or flesh-eaters, near our homes.
+This is a great achievement for the skunk,&mdash;to
+have thus held its own in the face of ever advancing
+and destroying civilisation. But the same
+characteristics which enable it to hold its ground
+are also those which emancipate it from its wild
+kindred and give it a unique position among animals.
+Its first cousins, the minks and weasels,
+all secrete pungent odours, which are unpleasant
+enough at close range, but in the skunk the great
+development of these glands has caused a radical
+change in its habits of life and even in its physical
+make-up.</p>
+<p>Watch a mink creeping on its sinuous way,&mdash;every
+action and glance full of fierce wildness,
+each step telling of insatiable seeking after living,
+active prey. The boldest rat flees in frantic
+terror at the hint of this animal&#8217;s presence; but
+let man show himself, and with a demoniacal grin
+of hatred the mink slinks into covert.</p>
+<p>Now follow a skunk in its wanderings as it
+comes out of its hole in early evening, slowly
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_256' name='page_256'></a>256</span>
+stretches and yawns, and with hesitating, rolling
+gait ambles along, now and then sniffing in the
+grass and seizing some sluggish grasshopper or
+cricket. Fearlessness and confidence are what its
+gait and manner spell. The world is its debtor,
+and all creatures in its path are left unmolested,
+only on evidence of good behaviour. Far from
+need of concealment, its furry coat is striped
+with a broad band of white, signalling in the
+dusk or the moonlight, &#8220;Give me room to pass
+and go in peace! Trouble me and beware!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Degenerate in muscles and vitality, the skunk
+must forego all strenuous hunts and trust to craft
+and sudden springs, or else content himself with
+the humble fare of insects, helpless young birds,
+and poor, easily confused mice. The flesh of the
+skunk is said to be sweet and toothsome, but few
+creatures there are who dare attempt to add it to
+their bill of fare! A great horned owl or a puma
+in the extremity of starvation, or a vulture in dire
+stress of hunger,&mdash;probably no others.</p>
+<p>Far from wilfully provoking an attack, the
+skunk is usually content to go on his way peacefully,
+and when one of these creatures becomes
+accustomed to the sight of an observer, no more
+interesting and, indeed, safer object of study can
+be found.</p>
+<p>Depart once from the conventional mode of
+greeting a skunk,&mdash;and instead of hurling a stone
+in its direction and fleeing, place, if the opportunity
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_257' name='page_257'></a>257</span>
+present itself, bits of meat in its way evening
+after evening, and you will soon learn that
+there is nothing vicious in the heart of the skunk.
+The evening that the gentle animal appears leading
+in her train a file of tiny infant skunks, you
+will feel well repaid for the trouble you have
+taken. Baby skunks, like their elders, soon learn
+to know their friends, and are far from being at
+hair-trigger poise, as is generally supposed.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_LESSON_OF_THE_WAVE' id='THE_LESSON_OF_THE_WAVE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_258' name='page_258'></a>258</span>
+<h2>THE LESSON OF THE WAVE</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>The sea and the sky and the shore were at
+perfect peace on the day when the young
+gull first launched into the air, and flew outward
+over the green, smooth ocean. Day after day his
+parents had brought him fish and squid, until his
+baby plumage fell from him and his beautiful
+wing-feathers shot forth,&mdash;clean-webbed and elastic.
+His strong feet had carried him for days over
+the expanse of sand dunes and pebbles, and now
+and then he had paddled into deep pools and
+bathed in the cold salt water. Most creatures of
+the earth are limited to one or the other of these
+two elements, but now the gull was proving his
+mastery over a third. The land, the sea, were left
+below, and up into the air drifted the beautiful
+bird, every motion confident with the instinct of
+ages.</p>
+<p>The usefulness of his mother&#8217;s immaculate
+breast now becomes apparent. A school of small
+fish basking near the surface rise and fall with
+the gentle undulating swell, seeing dimly overhead
+the blue sky, flecked with hosts of fleecy
+white clouds. A nearer, swifter cloud approaches,
+hesitates, splashes into their midst,&mdash;and the parent
+gull has caught her first fish of the day. Instinctively
+the young bird dives; in his joy of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_259' name='page_259'></a>259</span>
+very life he cries aloud,&mdash;the gull-cry which his
+ancestors of long ago have handed down to him.
+At night he seeks the shore and tucks his bill
+into his plumage; and all because of something
+within him, compelling him to do these things.</p>
+<p>But far from being an automaton, his bright
+eye and full-rounded head presage higher things.
+Occasionally his mind breaks through the mist of
+instinct and reaches upward to higher activity.</p>
+<p>As with the other wild kindred of the ocean,
+food was the chief object of the day&#8217;s search.
+Fish were delicious, but were not always to be
+had; crabs were a treat indeed, when caught unawares,
+but for mile after mile along the coast
+were hosts of mussels and clams,&mdash;sweet and
+lucious, but incased in an armour of shell, through
+which there was no penetrating. However swift
+a dash was made upon one of these,&mdash;always the
+clam closed a little quicker, sending a derisive
+shower of drops over the head of the gull.</p>
+<p>Once, after a week of rough weather, the storm
+gods brought their battling to a climax. Great
+green walls of foaming water crashed upon the
+rocks, rending huge boulders and sucking them
+down into the black depths. Over and through the
+spray dashed the gull, answering the wind&#8217;s howl&mdash;shriek
+for shriek, poising over the fearful battlefield
+of sea and shore.</p>
+<p>A wave mightier than all hung and curved, and
+a myriad shell-fish were torn from their sheltered
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_260' name='page_260'></a>260</span>
+nooks and hurled high, in air, to fall broken and
+helpless among the boulders. The quick eye of
+the gull saw it all, and at that instant of intensest
+chaos of the elements, the brain of the bird found
+itself.</p>
+<p>Shortly afterward came night and sleep, but the
+new-found flash of knowledge was not lost.</p>
+<p>The next day the bird walked at low tide into
+the stronghold of the shell-fish, roughly tore one
+from the silky strands of its moorings, and carrying
+it far upward let it fall at random among the
+rocks. The toothsome morsel was snatched from
+its crushed shell and a triumphant scream told of
+success,&mdash;a scream which, could it have been
+interpreted, should have made a myriad, myriad
+mussels shrink within their shells!</p>
+<p>From gull to gull, and from flock to flock, the
+new habit spread, imitation taking instant advantage
+of this new source of food. When to-day
+we walk along the shore and see flocks of gulls
+playing ducks and drakes with the unfortunate
+shell-fish, give them not too much credit, but think
+of some bird which in the long ago first learned
+the lesson, whether by chance or, as I have suggested,
+by observing the victims of the waves.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+
+<p>No scientific facts are these, but merely a logical
+reasoning deduced from the habits and traits
+of the birds as we know them to-day; a theory to
+hold in mind while we watch for its confirmation
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_261' name='page_261'></a>261</span>
+in the beginning of other new and analogous
+habits.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>The world is too much with us; late and soon,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Little we see in Nature that is ours;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>This sea that bares her bosom to the moon,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>The winds that will be howling at all hours,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.367917586460633em;'>And are up-gather&#8217;d now like sleeping flowers;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>For this, for everything, we are out of tune;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>It moves us not.&mdash;Great God! I&#8217;d rather be</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>William Wordsworth.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='WE_GO_ASPONGING' id='WE_GO_ASPONGING'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_262' name='page_262'></a>262</span>
+<h2>WE GO A-SPONGING</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>When a good compound microscope becomes
+as common an object in our homes as is
+a clock or a piano, we may be certain that the succeeding
+generation will grow up with a much
+broader view of life and a far greater realisation
+of the beauties of the natural world. To most of
+us a glance through a microscope is almost as
+unusual a sight as the panorama from a balloon.
+While many of the implements of a scientist
+arouse enthusiasm only in himself, in the case of
+the revelations of this instrument, the average
+person, whatever his profession, cannot fail to
+be interested.</p>
+<p>Many volumes have been written on the microscopic
+life of ponds and fields, and in a short essay
+only a hint of the delights of this fascinating study
+can be given.</p>
+<p>Any primer of Natural History will tell us that
+our bath sponges are the fibrous skeletons of
+aquatic animals which inhabit tropical seas, but
+few people know that in the nearest pond there
+are real sponges, growing sometimes as large as
+one&#8217;s head and which are not very dissimilar to
+those taken from among the corals of the
+Bahamas. We may bring home a twig covered
+with a thick growth of this sponge; and by
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_263' name='page_263'></a>263</span>
+dropping a few grains of carmine into the water,
+the currents which the little sponge animals set
+up are plainly visible. In winter these all die, and
+leave within their meshes numbers of tiny winter
+buds, which survive the cold weather and in the
+spring begin to found new colonies. If we examine
+the sponges in the late fall we may find
+innumerable of these statoblasts, as they are
+called.</p>
+<p>Scattered among them will sometimes be
+crowds of little wheels, surrounded with double-ended
+hooks. These have no motion and we shall
+probably pass them by as minute burrs or seeds
+of some water plant. But they, too, are winter
+buds of a strange group of tiny animals. These
+are known as Polyzoans or Bryozoans; and though
+to the eye a large colony of them appears only as
+a mass of thick jelly, yet when placed in water
+and left quiet, a wonderful transformation comes
+over the bit of gelatine.... &#8220;Perhaps while you
+gaze at the reddish jelly a pink little projection
+appears within the field of your lens, and slowly
+lengthens and broadens, retreating and reappearing,
+it may be, many times, but finally, after much
+hesitation, it suddenly seems to burst into bloom.
+A narrow body, so deeply red that it is often
+almost crimson, lifts above the jelly a crescentic
+disc ornamented with two rows of long tentacles
+that seem as fine as hairs, and they glisten and
+sparkle like lines of crystal as they wave and float
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_264' name='page_264'></a>264</span>
+and twist the delicate threads beneath your
+wondering gaze. Then, while you scarcely
+breathe, for fear the lovely vision will fade,
+another and another spreads its disc and waves its
+silvery tentacles, until the whole surface of that
+ugly jelly mass blooms like a garden in Paradise&mdash;blooms
+not with motionless perianths, but with
+living animals, the most exquisite that God has
+allowed to develop in our sweet waters.&#8221; At the
+slightest jar every animal-flower vanishes
+instantly.</p>
+<p>A wonderful history is behind these little creatures
+and very different from that of most members
+of the animal kingdom. While crabs, butterflies,
+and birds have evolved through many and
+varied ancestral forms, the tiny Bryozoans, or,
+being interpreted, moss-animals, seem throughout
+all past ages to have found a niche for themselves
+where strenuous and active competition is absent.
+Year after year, century upon century, age upon
+age, they have lived and died, almost unchanged
+down to the present day. When you look at the
+tiny animal, troubling the water and drawing its
+inconceivably small bits of food toward it upon
+the current made by its tentacles, think of the
+earth changes which it has survived.</p>
+<p>To the best of our knowledge the Age of Man
+is but a paltry fifty thousand years. Behind this
+the Age of Mammals may have numbered three
+millions; then back of these came the Age of Reptiles
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_265' name='page_265'></a>265</span>
+with more than seven millions of years, during
+all of which time the tentacles of unnumbered
+generations of Bryozoans waved in the sea. Back,
+back farther still we add another seven million
+years, or thereabouts, of the Age of the Amphibians,
+when the coal plants grew, and the Age of
+the Fishes. And finally, beyond all exact human
+calculation, but estimated at some five million,
+we reach the Age of Invertebrates in the Silurian,
+and in the lowest of these rocks we find beautifully
+preserved fossils of Bryozoans, to all appearances
+as perfect in detail of structure as these which we
+have before us to-day in this twentieth century
+of man&#8217;s brief reckoning.</p>
+<p>These tiny bits of jelly are transfigured as well
+by the grandeur of their unchanged lineage as by
+the appearance of the little animals from within.
+What heraldry can commemorate the beginning
+of their race over twenty millions of years in the
+past!</p>
+<p>The student of mythology will feel at home
+when identifying some of the commonest objects
+of the pond. And most are well named, too, as
+for instance the Hydra, a small tube-shaped creature
+with a row of active tentacles at one end.
+Death seems far from this organism, which is
+closely related to the sea-anemones and corals,
+for though a very brief drying will serve to kill
+it, yet it can be sliced and cut as finely as possible
+and each bit, true to its name, will at once proceed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_266' name='page_266'></a>266</span>
+to grow a new head and tentacles complete, becoming
+a perfect animal.</p>
+<p>Then we shall often come across a queer creature
+with two oar-like feelers near the head and
+a double tail tipped with long hairs, while in the
+centre of the head is a large, shining eye,&mdash;Cyclops
+he is rightly called. Although so small
+that we can make out little of his structure without
+the aid of the lens, yet Cyclops is far from
+being related to the other still smaller beings
+which swim about him, many of which consist of
+but one cell and are popularly known as animalculæ,
+more correctly as Protozoans. Cyclops has
+a jointed body and in many other ways shows his
+relationship to crabs and lobsters, even though
+they are many times larger and live in salt water.</p>
+<p>Another member of this group is Daphnia,
+although the appropriateness of this name yet
+remains to be discovered; Daphnia being a chunky-bodied
+little being, with a double-branched pair of
+oar-like appendages, with which he darts swiftly
+through the water. Although covered with a hard
+crust like a crab, this is so transparent that we
+can see right through his body. The dark mass
+of food in the stomach and the beating heart are
+perfectly distinct. Often, near the upper part of
+the body, several large eggs are seen in a sort of
+pouch, where they are kept until hatched.</p>
+<p>So if the sea is far away and time hangs heavy,
+invite your friends to go sponging and crabbing
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_267' name='page_267'></a>267</span>
+in the nearest pond, and you may be certain of
+quieting their fears as to your sanity as well as
+drawing exclamations of delight from them when
+they see these beautiful creatures for the first
+time.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_269' name='page_269'></a>269</span></div>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>DECEMBER</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='NEW_THOUGHTS_ABOUT_NESTS' id='NEW_THOUGHTS_ABOUT_NESTS'></a>
+<h2>NEW THOUGHTS ABOUT NESTS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our sense of smell is not so keen as that of a
+dog, who can detect the tiny quail while
+they are still invisible; nor have we the piercing
+sight of the eagle who spies the grouse crouching
+hundreds of feet beneath his circling flight; but
+when we walk through the bare December woods
+there is unfolded at last to our eyes evidence of
+the late presence of our summer&#8217;s feathered
+friends&mdash;air castles and tree castles of varied patterns
+and delicate workmanship.</p>
+<p>Did it ever occur to you to think what the first
+nest was like&mdash;what home the first reptile-like
+scale flutterers chose? Far back before Jurassic
+times, millions of years ago, before the coming of
+bony fishes, when the only mammals were tiny
+nameless creatures, hardly larger than mice;
+when the great Altantosaurus dinosaurs browsed
+on the quaint herbage, and Pterodactyls&mdash;those
+ravenous bat-winged dragons of the air&mdash;hovered
+above the surface of the earth,&mdash;in this epoch we
+can imagine a pair of long-tailed, half-winged
+creatures which skimmed from tree to tree, perhaps
+giving an occasional flop&mdash;the beginning of
+the marvellous flight motions. Is it not likely that
+the Teleosaurs who watched hungrily from the
+swamps saw them disappear at last in a hollowed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_270' name='page_270'></a>270</span>
+cavity beneath a rotten knothole? Here, perhaps,
+the soft-shelled, lizard-like eggs were laid, and
+when they gave forth the ugly creaturelings did
+not Father Creature flop to the topmost branch
+and utter a gurgling cough, a most unpleasant
+grating sound, but grand in its significance, as
+the opening chord in the symphony of the ages to
+follow?&mdash;until now the mockingbird and the nightingale
+hold us spellbound by the wonder of their
+minstrelsy.</p>
+<p>Turning from our imaginary picture of the ancient
+days, we find that some of the birds of the
+present time have found a primitive way of nesting
+still the best. If we push over this rotten
+stump we shall find that the cavity near the top,
+where the wood is still sound, has been used the
+past summer by the downy woodpecker&mdash;a front
+door like an auger hole, ceiling of rough-hewn
+wood, a bed of chips!</p>
+<p>The chickadee goes a step further, and shows
+his cleverness in sometimes choosing a cavity
+already made, and instead of rough, bare chips,
+the six or eight chickadee youngsters are happy
+on a hair mattress of a closely woven felt-like
+substance.</p>
+<p>Perhaps we should consider the kingfisher the
+most barbarous of all the birds which form a shelter
+for their home. With bill for pick and shovel,
+she bores straight into a sheer clay bank, and at
+the end of a six-foot tunnel her young are reared,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_271' name='page_271'></a>271</span>
+their nest a mass of fish bones&mdash;the residue of
+their dinners. Then there are the aerial masons
+and brickmakers&mdash;the eave swallows, who carry
+earth up into the air, bit by bit, and attach it to
+the eaves, forming it into a globular, long-necked
+flask. The barn swallows mix the clay with straw
+and feathers and so form very firm structures on
+the rafters above the haymows.</p>
+<p>But what of the many nests of grasses and
+twigs which we find in the woods? How closely
+they were concealed while the leaves were on the
+trees, and how firm and strong they were while in
+use, the strongest wind and rain of summer only
+rocking them to and fro! But now we must waste
+no time or they will disappear. In a month or
+more almost all will have dissolved into fragments
+and fallen to earth&mdash;their mission accomplished.</p>
+<p>Some look as if disintegration had already
+begun, but if we had discovered them earlier in
+the year, we should have seen that they were
+never less fragile or loosely constructed than we
+find them now. Such is a cuckoo&#8217;s nest, such a
+mourning dove&#8217;s or a heron&#8217;s; merely a flat platform
+of a few interlaced twigs, through which the
+eggs are visible from below. Why, we ask, are
+some birds so careless or so unskilful? The
+European cuckoo, like our cowbird, is a parasite,
+laying her eggs in the nests of other birds; so,
+perhaps, neglect of household duties is in the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_272' name='page_272'></a>272</span>
+blood. But this style of architecture seems to
+answer all the requirements of doves and herons,
+and, although with one sweep of the hand we can
+demolish one of these flimsy platforms, yet such
+a nest seems somehow to resist wind and rain just
+as long as the bird needs it.</p>
+<p>Did you ever try to make a nest yourself? If
+not, sometime take apart a discarded nest&mdash;even
+the simplest in structure&mdash;and try to put it
+together again. Use no string or cord, but fasten
+it to a crotch, put some marbles in it and visit it
+after the first storm. After you have picked up
+all the marbles from the ground you will appreciate
+more highly the skill which a bird shows in
+the construction of its home. Whether a bird
+excavates its nest in earth or wood, or weaves or
+plasters it, the work is all done by means of two
+straight pieces of horn&mdash;the bill.</p>
+<p>There is, however, one useful substance which
+aids the bird&mdash;the saliva which is formed in the
+mucous glands of the mouth. Of course the first
+and natural function of this fluid is to soften the
+food before it passes into the crop; but in those
+birds which make their nests by weaving together
+pieces of twig, it must be of great assistance in
+softening the wood and thus enabling the bird
+readily to bend the twigs into any required position.
+Thus the catbird and rose-breasted grosbeak
+weave.</p>
+<p>Given a hundred or more pieces of twigs, each
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_273' name='page_273'></a>273</span>
+an inch in length, even a bird would make but
+little progress in forming a cup-shaped nest, were
+it not that the sticky saliva provided cement
+strong and ready at hand. So the chimney swift
+finds no difficulty in forming and attaching her
+mosaic of twigs to a chimney, using only very
+short twigs which she breaks off with her feet
+while she is on the wing.</p>
+<p>How wonderfully varied are the ways which
+birds adopt to conceal their nests. Some avoid
+suspicion by their audacity, building near a frequented
+path, in a spot which they would never
+be suspected of choosing. The hummingbird studs
+the outside of its nest with lichens, and the vireo
+drapes a cobweb curtain around her fairy cup.
+Few nests are more beautiful and at the same time
+more durable than a vireo&#8217;s. I have seen the
+nests of three successive years in the same tree,
+all built, no doubt, by the same pair of birds, the
+nest of the past summer perfect in shape and
+quality, that of the preceding year threadbare,
+while the home which sheltered the brood of three
+summers ago is a mere flattened skeleton, reminding
+one of the ribs and stern post of a wrecked
+boat long pounded by the waves.</p>
+<p>The subject of nests has been sadly neglected
+by naturalists, most of whom have been chiefly
+interested in the owners or the contents; but when
+the whys and wherefores of the homes of birds
+are made plain we shall know far more concerning
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_274' name='page_274'></a>274</span>
+the little carpenters, weavers, masons, and
+basket-makers who hang our groves and decorate
+our shrubbery with their skill. When on our winter&#8217;s
+walk we see a distorted, wind-torn, grass cup,
+think of the quartet of beautiful little creatures,
+now flying beneath some tropical sun, which owe
+their lives to the nest, and which, if they are
+spared, will surely return to the vicinity next
+summer.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>That time of year thou may&#8217;st in me behold,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,&mdash;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Bare, ruin&#8217;d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>SHAKESPEARE.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='LESSONS_FROM_AN_ENGLISH_SPARROW' id='LESSONS_FROM_AN_ENGLISH_SPARROW'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_275' name='page_275'></a>275</span>
+<h2>LESSONS FROM AN ENGLISH SPARROW</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Many people say they love Nature, but as
+they have little time to go into the country
+they have to depend on books for most of their
+information concerning birds, flowers, and other
+forms of life. There is, however, no reason why
+one should not, even in the heart of a great city,
+begin to cultivate his powers of observation. Let
+us take, for example, the omnipresent English
+sparrow. Most of us probably know the difference
+between the male and female English sparrows,
+but I venture to say that not one in ten persons
+could give a satisfactory description of the colours
+of either. How much we look and how little we
+really see!</p>
+<p>Little can be said in favour of the English sparrows&#8217;
+disposition, but let us not blame them for
+their unfortunate increase in numbers. Man
+brought them from England, where they are kept
+in check by Nature&#8217;s wise laws. These birds were
+deliberately introduced where Nature was not
+prepared for them.</p>
+<p>When we put aside prejudice we can see that
+the male bird, especially when in his bright spring
+colours, is really very attractive, with his ashy
+gray head, his back streaked with black and bay,
+the white bar on his wings and the jet black chin
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_276' name='page_276'></a>276</span>
+and throat contrasting strongly with the uniformly
+light-coloured under parts. If this were
+a rare bird the &#8220;black-throated sparrow&#8221; would
+enjoy his share of admiration.</p>
+<p>It is wonderful how he can adapt himself to new
+conditions, nesting anywhere and everywhere, and
+this very adaptation is a sign of a very high order
+of intelligence. He has, however, many characteristics
+which tell us of his former life. A few of
+the habits of this bird may be misleading. His
+thick, conical bill is made for crushing seeds, but
+he now feeds on so many different substances that
+its original use, as shown by its shape, is obscured.
+If there were such a thing as vaudeville among
+birds, the common sparrow would be a star imitator.
+He clings to the bark of trees and picks out
+grubs, supporting himself with his tail like a
+woodpecker; he launches out into the air, taking
+insects on the wing like a flycatcher; he clings like
+a chickadee to the under side of twigs, or hovers
+in front of a heap of insect eggs, presenting a
+feeble imitation of a hummingbird. These modes
+of feeding represent many different families of
+birds.</p>
+<p>Although his straw and feather nests are shapeless
+affairs, and he often feeds on garbage, all
+æsthetic feeling is not lost, as we see when he
+swells out his black throat and white cravat,
+spreads tail and wing and beseeches his lady-love
+to admire him. Thus he woos her as long as he
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_277' name='page_277'></a>277</span>
+is alone, but when several other eager suitors
+arrive, his patience gives out, and the courting
+turns into a football game. Rough and tumble is
+the word, but somehow in the midst of it all, her
+highness manages to make her mind known and
+off she flies with the lucky one. Thus we have
+represented, in the English sparrows, the two extremes
+of courtship among birds.</p>
+<p>It is worth noting that the male alone is ornamented,
+the colours of the female being much
+plainer. This dates from a time when it was
+necessary for the female to be concealed while
+sitting on the eggs. The young of both sexes are
+coloured like their mother, the young males not
+acquiring the black gorget until perfectly able to
+take care of themselves. About the plumage there
+are some interesting facts. The young bird moults
+twice before the first winter. The second moult
+brings out the mark on the throat, but it is rusty
+now, not black in colour; his cravat is grayish and
+the wing bar ashy. In the spring, however, a
+noticeable change takes place, but neither by the
+moulting nor the coming in of plumage. The
+shaded edges of the feathers become brittle and
+break off, bringing out the true colours and making
+them clear and brilliant. The waistcoat is
+brushed until it is black and glossy, the cravat
+becomes immaculate, and the wristband or wing
+bar clears up until it is pure white.</p>
+<p>The homes of these sparrows are generally composed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_278' name='page_278'></a>278</span>
+of a great mass of straw and feathers, with
+the nest in the centre; but the spotted eggs, perhaps,
+show that these birds once built open nests,
+the dots and marks on the eggs being of use in
+concealing their conspicuous white ground. Something
+seems already to have hinted to Nature that
+this protection is no longer necessary, and we
+often find eggs almost white, like those of woodpeckers
+and owls, which nest in dark places.</p>
+<p>We have all heard of birds flocking together for
+some mutual benefit&mdash;the crows, for instance,
+which travel every winter day across country to
+favourite &#8220;roosts.&#8221; In the heart of a city we can
+often study this same phenomenon of birds
+gathering together in great flocks. In New York
+City, on One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street,
+there stands a tree&mdash;a solitary reminder of the
+forest which once covered all this paved land.
+To this, all winter long, the sparrows begin to
+flock about four or five o&#8217;clock in the afternoon.
+They come singly and in twos and threes until
+the bare limbs are black with them and there
+seems not room for another bird; but still they
+come, each new arrival diving into the mass of
+birds and causing a local commotion. By seven
+o&#8217;clock there are hundreds of English sparrows
+perching in this one tree. At daylight they are
+off again, whirring away by scores, and in a few
+minutes the tree is silent and empty. The same
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_279' name='page_279'></a>279</span>
+habit is to be seen in many other cities and towns,
+for thus the birds gain mutual warmth.</p>
+<p>Nature will do her best to diminish the number
+of sparrows and to regain the balance, but to do
+this the sparrow must be brought face to face with
+as many dangers as our wild birds, and although,
+owing to the sparrows&#8217; fearlessness of man, this
+may never happen, yet at least the colour protections
+and other former safeguards are slowly
+being eliminated. On almost every street we may
+see albino or partly albino birds, such as those
+with white tails or wings. White birds exist in a
+wild state only from some adaptation to their surroundings.
+A bird which is white simply because
+its need of protection has temporarily ceased,
+would become the prey of the first stray hawk
+which crossed its path. We cannot hope to
+exterminate the English sparrow even by the most
+wholesale slaughter, but if some species of small
+hawk or butcher bird could ever become as fearless
+an inhabitant of our cities as these birds,
+their reduction to reasonable numbers would be a
+matter of only a few months.</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>So dainty in plumage and hue,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>A study in gray and brown,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>How little, how little we knew</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>The pest he would prove to the town!</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>From dawn until daylight grows dim,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Perpetual chatter and scold.</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>No winter migration for him,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Not even afraid of the cold!</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_280' name='page_280'></a>280</span></div>
+<br />
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Scarce a song-bird he fails to molest,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Belligerent, meddlesome thing!</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Wherever he goes as a guest</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>He is sure to remain as a King.</p>
+<p  style='text-align: right;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Mary Isabella Forsyth.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_PERSONALITY_OF_TREES' id='THE_PERSONALITY_OF_TREES'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_281' name='page_281'></a>281</span>
+<h2>THE PERSONALITY OF TREES</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>How many of us think of trees almost as we
+do of the rocks and stones about us,&mdash;as all
+but inanimate objects, standing in the same relation
+to our earth as does the furry covering of an
+animal to its owner. The simile might be carried
+out more in detail, the forests protecting the continents
+from drought and flood, even as the coat
+of fur protects its owner from extremes of heat
+and cold.</p>
+<p>When we come to consider the tree as a living
+individual, a form of life contemporaneous with
+our own, and to realise that it has its birth and
+death, its struggles for life and its periods of
+peace and abundance, we will soon feel for it a
+keener sympathy and interest and withal a veneration
+greater than it has ever aroused in us
+before.</p>
+<p>Of all living things on earth, a tree binds us
+most closely to the past. Some of the giant tortoises
+of the Galapagos Islands are thought to be
+four hundred years old and are probably the
+oldest animals on the earth. There is, however,
+nothing to compare with the majesty and
+grandeur of the Sequoias&mdash;the giant redwoods of
+California&mdash;the largest of which, still living,
+reach upward more than one hundred yards above
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_282' name='page_282'></a>282</span>
+the ground, and show, by the number of their
+rings, that their life began from three to five
+thousand years ago. Our deepest feelings of
+reverence are aroused when we look at a tree
+which was &#8220;one thousand years old when Homer
+wrote the Iliad; fifteen hundred years of age when
+Aristotle was foreshadowing his evolution theory
+and writing his history of animals; two thousand
+years of age when Christ walked upon earth;
+nearly four thousand years of age when the
+&#8216;Origin of Species&#8217; was written. Thus the life of
+one of these trees spanned the whole period before
+the birth of Aristotle (384 <span style='font-variant: small-caps'>B.C.</span>) and after the
+death of Darwin (<span style='font-variant: small-caps'>A.D.</span> 1882), the two greatest natural
+philosophers who have lived.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Considered not only individually, but taken as a
+group, the Sequoias are among the oldest of the
+old. Geologically speaking, most of the forms of
+life now in existence are of recent origin, but a
+full ten million of years ago these giant trees were
+developed almost as highly as they are to-day. At
+the end of the coal period, when the birds and
+mammals of to-day were as yet unevolved, existing
+only potentially in the scaly, reptile-like creatures
+of those days, the Sequoias waved their
+needles high in air.</p>
+<p>In those days these great trees were found over
+the whole of Canada, Greenland, and Siberia, but
+the relentless onslaught of the Ice Age wrought
+terrible destruction and, like the giant tortoises
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_283' name='page_283'></a>283</span>
+among reptiles, the apteryx among birds, and the
+bison among mammals, the forlorn hope of the
+great redwoods, making a last stand in a few
+small groves of California, awaits total extinction
+at the hands of the most terrible of Nature&#8217;s
+enemies&mdash;man. When the last venerable giant
+trunk has fallen, the last axe-stroke which severs
+the circle of vital sap will cut the only thread of
+individual life which joins in time the beating of
+our pulses to-day with the beginning of human
+history and philosophy,&mdash;thousands of years in
+the past.</p>
+<p>Through all the millions of years during which
+the evolution of modern forms of life has been
+going on, then as now, trees must have entered
+prominently into the environment and lives of the
+terrestrial animals. Ages ago, long before snakes
+and four-toed horses were even foreshadowed,
+and before the first bird-like creatures had appeared,
+winged reptile-dragons flew about, doubtless
+roosting or perching on the Triassic and
+Jurassic trees. Perhaps the very pieces of coal
+which are burned in our furnaces once bent and
+swayed under the weight of these bulky animals.
+Something like six millions of years ago, long-tailed,
+fluttering birds appeared, with lizard-like
+claws at the bend of their wings and with jaws
+filled with teeth. These creatures were certainly
+arboreal, spending most of their time among the
+branches of trees. So large were certain great
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_284' name='page_284'></a>284</span>
+sloth-like creatures that they uprooted the trees
+bodily, in order to feed on their succulent leaves,
+sometimes bending their trunks down until their
+branches were within reach.</p>
+<p>On a walk through the woods and fields to-day,
+how seldom do we find a dead insect! When sick
+and dying, nine out of ten are snapped up by frog,
+lizard, or bird; the few which die a natural death
+seeming to disintegrate into mould within a very
+short space of time. There is, however, one way
+in which, through the long, long thousands of centuries,
+insects have been preserved. The spicy
+resin which flowed from the ancient pines
+attracted hosts of insects, which, tempted by their
+hope of food, met their death&mdash;caught and slowly
+but surely enclosed by the viscid sap, each antenna
+and hair as perfect as when the insect was alive.
+Thus, in this strangely fortunate way, we may
+know and study the insects which, millions of
+years ago, fed on the flowers or bored into the
+bark of trees. We have found no way to improve
+on Nature in this respect, for to-day when we
+desire to mount a specimen permanently for
+microscopical work, we imbed it in Canada
+balsam.</p>
+<p>If suddenly the earth should be bereft of all
+trees, there would indeed be consternation and
+despair among many classes of animals. Although
+in the sea there are thousands of creatures,
+which, by their manner of life, are prohibited
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_285' name='page_285'></a>285</span>
+from ever passing the boundary line between land
+and water, yet many sea-worms, as for example
+the teredo, or ship-worm, are especially fashioned
+for living in and perhaps feeding on wood,
+in the shape of stray floating trees and branches,
+the bottoms of ships, and piles of wharves. Of
+course the two latter are supplied by man, but
+even before his time, floating trees at sea must
+have been plentiful enough to supply homes for
+the whole tribe of these creatures, unless they
+made their burrows in coral or shells.</p>
+<p>The insects whose very existence, in some cases,
+depends upon trees, are innumerable. What, for
+example, would become of the larvæ of the cicada,
+or locust, which, in the cold and darkness of their
+subterranean life, for seventeen years suck the
+juicy roots of trees; or the caterpillars of the
+moths, spinning high their webs among the leaves;
+or the countless beetles whose grubs bore through
+and through the trunk their sinuous, sawdusty
+tunnels; or the ichneumon fly, which with an
+instrument&mdash;surgical needle, file, augur, and scroll
+saw all in one&mdash;deposits, deep below the bark, its
+eggs in safety? If forced to compete with terrestrial
+species, the tree spiders and scorpions would
+quickly become exterminated; while especially
+adapted arboreal ants would instantly disappear.</p>
+<p>We cannot entirely exclude even fishes from our
+list; as the absence of mangroves would incidentally
+affect the climbing perch and catfishes!
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_286' name='page_286'></a>286</span>
+The newts and common toads would be in no wise
+dismayed by the passing of the trees, but not so
+certain tadpoles. Those of our ditches, it is true,
+would live and flourish, but there are, in the world,
+many curious kinds which hatch and grow up into
+frogs in curled-up leaves or in damp places in
+the forks of branches, and which would find themselves
+homeless without trees. Think, too, of the
+poor green and brown tree frogs with their sucker
+feet, compelled always to hop along the ground!</p>
+<p>Lizards, from tiny swifts to sixty-inch iguanas,
+would sorely miss the trees, while the lithe green
+tree snakes and the tree boas would have to
+change all their life habits in order to be able to
+exist. But as for the cold, uncanny turtles and
+alligators,&mdash;what are trees to them!</p>
+<p>In the evolution of the birds and other animals,
+the cry of &#8220;excelsior&#8221; has been followed literally
+as well as theoretically and, with a few exceptions,
+the highest in each class have not only risen above
+their fellows in intelligence and structure, but
+have left the earth and climbed or flown to the
+tree-tops, making these their chief place of abode.</p>
+<p>Many of the birds which find their food at sea,
+or in the waters of stream and lake, repair to the
+trees for the purpose of building their nests
+among the branches. Such birds are the pelicans,
+herons, ibises, and ospreys; while the wood ducks
+lay their eggs high above the ground in the hollows
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_287' name='page_287'></a>287</span>
+of trees. Parrots, kingfishers, swifts, and
+hummingbirds are almost helpless on the ground,
+their feet being adapted for climbing about the
+branches, perching on twigs, or clinging to the
+hollows of trees. Taken as a whole, birds would
+suffer more than any other class of creatures in a
+deforested world. The woodpeckers would be
+without home, food, and resting-place; except,
+possibly, the flicker, or high-hole, who is either a
+retrograde or a genius, whichever we may choose
+to consider him, and could live well enough upon
+ground ants. But as to his nest&mdash;he would have to
+sharpen his wits still more to solve successfully
+the question of the woodpecker motto, &#8220;What is
+home without a hollow tree?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Great gaps would be made in the ranks of the
+furry creatures&mdash;the mammals. Opossums and
+raccoons would find themselves in an embarrassing
+position, and as for the sloths, which never
+descend to earth, depending for protection on their
+resemblance to leaves and mossy bark, they would
+be wiped out with one fell swoop. The arboreal
+squirrels might learn to burrow, as so many of
+their near relations have done, but their muscles
+would become cramped from inactivity and their
+eyes would often strain upward for a glimpse of
+the beloved branches. The bats might take to
+caves and the vampires to outhouses and dark
+crevices in the rocks, but most of the monkeys and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_288' name='page_288'></a>288</span>
+apes would soon become extinct, while a chimpanzee
+or orang-utan would become a cripple,
+swinging ever painfully along between the
+knuckles of crutch-like forearms, searching,
+searching forever for the trees which gave him
+his form and structure, and without which his life
+and that of his race must abruptly end.</p>
+<p>Leaving the relations which trees hold to the
+animals about them and the part which they have
+played in the evolution of life on the earth in past
+epochs, let us consider some of the more humble
+trees about us. Not, however, from the standpoint
+of the technical botanist or the scientific forester,
+but from the sympathetic point of view of a living
+fellow form, sharing the same planet, both
+owing their lives to the same great source of all
+light and heat, and subject to the same extremes
+of heat and cold, storm and drought. How
+wonderful, when we come to think of it, is a tree,
+to be able to withstand its enemies, elemental and
+animate, year after year, decade after decade,
+although fast-rooted to one patch of earth. An
+animal flees to shelter at the approach of gale or
+cyclone, or travels far in search of abundant food.
+Like the giant algæ, ever waving upward from the
+bed of the sea, which depend on the nourishment
+of the surrounding waters, so the tree blindly
+trusts to Nature to minister to its needs, filling its
+leaves with the light-given greenness, and feeling
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_289' name='page_289'></a>289</span>
+for nutritious salts with the sensitive tips of its
+innumerable rootlets.</p>
+<p>Darwin has taught us, and truly, that a relentless
+struggle for existence is ever going on around
+us, and although this is most evident to our eyes
+in a terrible death battle between two great beasts
+of prey, yet it is no less real and intense in the
+case of the bird pouring forth a beautiful song, or
+the delicate violet shedding abroad its perfume.
+To realise the host of enemies ever shadowing the
+feathered songster and its kind, we have only to
+remember that though four young birds may be
+hatched in each of fifty nests, yet of the two hundred
+nestlings an average often of but one lives
+to grow to maturity,&mdash;to migrate and to return to
+the region of its birth.</p>
+<p>And the violet, living, apparently, such a quiet
+life of humble sweetness? Fortunate indeed is it
+if its tiny treasure of seeds is fertilized, and then
+the chances are a thousand to one that they will
+grow and ripen only to fall by the wayside, or on
+barren ground, or among the tares.</p>
+<p>At first thought, a tree seems far removed from
+all such struggles. How solemn and grand its
+trunk stands, column-like against the sky! How
+puny and weak we seem beside it! Its sturdy
+roots, sound wood, and pliant branches all spell
+power. Nevertheless, the old, old struggle is as
+fierce, as unending, here as everywhere. A monarch
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_290' name='page_290'></a>290</span>
+of the forest has gained its supremacy only
+by a lifelong battle with its own kind and with a
+horde of alien enemies.</p>
+<p>From the heart of the tropics to the limit of
+tree-growth in the northland we find the battle of
+life waged fiercely, root contending with root for
+earth-food, branch with branch for the light which
+means life.</p>
+<p>In a severe wrestling match, the moments of
+supremest strain are those when the opponents
+are fast-locked, motionless, when the advantage
+comes, not with quickness, but with staying
+power; and likewise in the struggle of tree with
+tree the fact that one or two years, or even whole
+decades, watch the efforts of the branches to lift
+their leaves one above the other, detracts nothing
+from the bitterness of the strife.</p>
+<p>Far to the north we will sometimes find groves
+of young balsam firs or spruce,&mdash;hundreds of the
+same species of sapling growing so close together
+that a rabbit may not pass between. The slender
+trunks, almost touching each other, are bare of
+branches. Only at the top is there light and air,
+and the race is ever upward. One year some slight
+advantage may come to one young tree,&mdash;some
+delicate unbalancing of the scales of life, and that
+fortunate individual instantly responds, reaching
+several slender side branches over the heads of
+his brethren. They as quickly show the effects of
+the lessened light and forthwith the race is at an
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_291' name='page_291'></a>291</span>
+end. The victor shoots up tall and straight,
+stamping and choking out the lives at his side, as
+surely as if his weapons were teeth and claws
+instead of delicate root-fibres and soughing
+foliage.</p>
+<p>The contest with its fellows is only the first of
+many. The same elements which help to give it
+being and life are ever ready to catch it unawares,
+to rend it limb from limb, or by patient, long-continued
+attack bring it crashing to the very
+dust from which sprang the seed.</p>
+<p>We see a mighty spruce whose black leafage has
+waved above its fellows for a century or more,
+paying for its supremacy by the distortion of
+every branch. Such are to be seen clinging to the
+rocky shores of Fundy, every branch and twig
+curved toward the land; showing the years of
+battling with constant gales and blizzards. Like
+giant weather-vanes they stand, and, though there
+is no elasticity in their limbs and they are gnarled
+and scarred, yet our hearts warm in admiration
+of their decades of patient watching beside the
+troubled waters. For years to come they will
+defy every blast the storm god can send against
+them, until, one wild day, when the soil has grown
+scanty around the roots of one of the weakest, it
+will shiver and tremble at some terrific onslaught
+of wind and sleet; it will fold its branches closer
+about it and, like the Indian chieftains, who perhaps
+in years past occasionally watched the waters
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_292' name='page_292'></a>292</span>
+by the side of the young sapling, the conquered
+tree will bow its head for the last time to
+the storm.</p>
+<p>Farther inland, sheltered in a narrow valley,
+stands a sister tree, seeded from the same cone as
+the storm-distorted spruce. The wind shrieks and
+howls above the little valley and cannot enter; but
+the law of compensation brings to bear another
+element, silent, gentle, but as deadly as the howling
+blast of the gale. All through the long winter
+the snow sifts softly down, finding easy lodgment
+on the dense-foliaged branches. From the surrounding
+heights the white crystals pour down
+until the tree groans with the massive weight.
+Her sister above is battling with the storm, but
+hardly a feather&#8217;s weight of snow clings to her
+waving limbs.</p>
+<p>The compressed, down-bent branches of the valley
+spruce soon become permanently bent and the
+strain on the trunk fibres is great. At last, with a
+despairing crash, one great limb gives way and is
+torn bodily from its place of growth. The very
+vitals of the tree are exposed and instantly every
+splintered cell is filled with the sifting snow.
+Helpless the tree stands, and early in the spring,
+at the first quickening of summer&#8217;s growth, a salve
+of curative resin is poured upon the wound. But
+it is too late. The invading water has done its
+work and the elements have begun to rot the very
+heart of the tree. How much more to be desired is
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_293' name='page_293'></a>293</span>
+the manner of life and death of the first spruce,
+battling to the very last!</p>
+<p>A beech seedling which takes root close to the
+bank of a stream has a good chance of surviving,
+since there will be no competitors on the water
+side and moisture and air will never fail. But
+look at some ancient beech growing thus, whose
+smooth, whitened hole encloses a century of
+growth rings. Offsetting its advantages, the
+stream, little by little, has undermined the maze
+of roots and the force of annual freshets has
+trained them all in a down-stream direction. It
+is an inverted reminder of the wind-moulded
+spruce. Although the stout beech props itself by
+great roots thrown landward, yet, sooner or later,
+the ripples will filter in beyond the centre of
+gravity and the mighty tree will topple and mingle
+with its shadow-double which for so many years
+the stream has reflected.</p>
+<p>Thus we find that while without moisture no
+tree could exist, yet the same element often brings
+death. The amphibious mangroves which fringe
+the coral islands of the southern seas hardly attain
+to the dignity of trees, but in the mysterious
+depths of our southern swamps we find the
+strangely picturesque cypresses, which defy the
+waters about them. One cannot say where trunk
+ends and root begins, but up from the stagnant
+slime rise great arched buttresses, so that the tree
+seems to be supported on giant six- or eight-legged
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_294' name='page_294'></a>294</span>
+stools, between the arches of which the water
+flows and finds no chance to use its power. Here,
+in these lonely solitudes,&mdash;heron-haunted, snake-infested,&mdash;the
+hanging moss and orchids search
+out every dead limb and cover it with an unnatural
+greenness. Here, great lichens grow and
+a myriad tropical insects bore and tunnel their
+way from bark to heart of tree and back again.
+Here, in the blackness of night, when the air is
+heavy with hot, swampy odours, and only the
+occasional squawk of a heron or cry of some animal
+is heard, a rending, grinding, crashing, breaks
+suddenly upon the stillness, a distant boom and
+splash, awakening every creature. Then the
+silence again closes down and we know that a
+cypress, perhaps linking a trio of centuries, has
+yielded up its life.</p>
+<p>Leaving the hundred other mysteries which the
+trees of the tropics might unfold, let us consider
+for a moment the danger which the tall, successful
+tree invites,&mdash;the penalty which it pays for
+having surpassed all its other brethren. It preeminently
+attracts the bolts of Jove and the lesser
+trees see a blinding flash, hear a rending of heart
+wood, and when the storm has passed, the tree,
+before perfect in trunk, limbs, and foliage, is now
+but a heap of charred splinters.</p>
+<p>Many a great willow overhanging the banks of
+a wide river could tell interesting tales of the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_295' name='page_295'></a>295</span>
+scars on its trunk. That lower wound was a deep
+gash cut by some Indian, perhaps to direct a war-party
+making their way through the untrodden
+wilderness; this bare, unsightly patch was burnt
+out by the signal fire of one of our forefather
+pioneers. And so on and on the story would unfold,
+until the topmost, freshly sawed-off limb had
+for its purpose only the desire of the present
+owner for a clearer view of the water beyond.</p>
+<p>Finally we come to the tree best beloved of us
+in the north,&mdash;the carefully grafted descendant of
+some sour little wild crab-apple. A faithful
+servant indeed has the monarch of the old orchard
+proved. It has fed us and our fathers before us,
+and its gnarled trunk and low-hanging branches
+tell the story of the rosy fruit which has weighed
+down its limbs year after year. Old age has laid
+a heavy hand upon it, but not until the outermost
+twig has ceased to blossom, and its death, unlike
+that of its wild kindred, has come silently and
+peacefully, do we give the order to have the tree
+felled. Even in its death it serves us, giving back
+from the open hearth the light and heat which it
+has stored up throughout the summers of many
+years.</p>
+<p>Let us give more thought to the trees about us,
+and when possible succour them in distress,
+straighten the bent sapling, remove the parasitic
+lichen, and give them the best chance for a long,
+patient, strong life.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_296' name='page_296'></a>296</span></p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>In the far North stands a Pine-tree, lone,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Upon a wintry height;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>It sleeps; around it snows have thrown</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>A covering of white.</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>It dreams forever of a Palm</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>That, far i&#8217; the morning-land,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Stands silent in a most sad calm</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.735835172921266em;'>Midst of the burning sand.</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='text-align: right;'>(<i>From the German of Heine.</i>) <span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Sidney Lanier.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='AN_OWL_OF_THE_NORTH' id='AN_OWL_OF_THE_NORTH'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_297' name='page_297'></a>297</span>
+<h2>AN OWL OF THE NORTH</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>It is mid-winter, and from the northland a blizzard
+of icy winds and swirling snow crystals
+is sweeping with fury southward over woods and
+fields. We sit in our warm room before the crackling
+log fire and listen to the shriek of the gale
+and wonder how it fares with the little bundles of
+feathers huddled among the cedar branches.</p>
+<p>We picture to ourselves all the wild kindred
+sheltered from the raging storm; the gray squirrels
+rocking in their lofty nests of leaves; the
+chipmunks snug underground; the screech owls
+deep in the hollow apple trees, all warm and dry.</p>
+<p>But there are those for whom the blizzard has
+no terrors. Far to the north on the barren wastes
+of Labrador, where the gale first comes in from
+the sea and gathers strength as it comes, a great
+owl flaps upward and on broad pinions, white as
+the driving snowflakes, sweeps southward with
+the storm. Now over ice-bound river or lake, or
+rushing past a myriad dark spires of spruce, then
+hovering wonderingly over a multitude of lights
+from the streets of some town, the strong Arctic
+bird forges southward, until one night, if we only
+knew, we might open our window and, looking upward,
+see two great yellow eyes apparently hanging
+in space, the body and wings of the bird in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_298' name='page_298'></a>298</span>
+snow-white plumage lost amidst the flakes. We
+thrill in admiration at the grand bird, so fearless
+of the raging elements.</p>
+<p>Only the coldest and fiercest storms will tempt
+him from the north, and then not because he fears
+snow or cold, but in order to keep within reach of
+the snowbirds which form his food. He seeks for
+places where a less severe cold encourages small
+birds to be abroad, or where the snow&#8217;s crust is
+less icy, through which the field mice may bore
+their tunnels, and run hither and thither in the
+moonlight, pulling down the weeds and cracking
+their frames of ice. Heedless of passing clouds,
+these little rodents scamper about, until a darker,
+swifter shadow passes, and the feathered talons
+of the snowy owl close over the tiny, shivering
+bundle of fur.</p>
+<p>Occasionally after such a storm, one may come
+across this white owl in some snowy field, hunting
+in broad daylight; and that must go down as
+a red-letter day, to be remembered for years.</p>
+<p>What would one not give to know of his adventures
+since he left the far north. What stories he
+could tell of hunts for the ptarmigan,&mdash;those
+Arctic fowl, clad in plumage as white as his own;
+or the little kit foxes, or the seals and polar bears
+playing the great game of life and death among
+the grinding icebergs!</p>
+<p>His visit to us is a short one. Comes the first
+hint of a thaw and he has vanished like a melting
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_299' name='page_299'></a>299</span>
+snowflake, back to his home and his mate. There
+in a hollow in the half-frozen Iceland moss, in
+February, as many as ten fuzzy little snowy
+owlets may grow up in one nest,&mdash;all as hardy and
+beautiful and brave as their great fierce-eyed
+parents.</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p>THE END</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- generated by ppgen.rb version: 2.25 -->
+<!-- timestamp: Wed Sep 03 04:34:18 -0400 2008 -->
+
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+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Log of the Sun, by William Beebe
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Log of the Sun, by William Beebe
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Log of the Sun
+       A Chronicle of Nature's Year
+
+Author: William Beebe
+
+Release Date: September 3, 2008 [EBook #26516]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOG OF THE SUN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+[Illustration: Frontispiece]
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Frontispiece by
+Walter King Stone
+
+THE LOG OF THE SUN
+A Chronicle of Nature's Year
+
+By WILLIAM BEEBE
+
+Garden City Publishing Co., Inc.
+Garden City, New York
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1906,
+
+BY
+HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
+
+PRINTED IN THE
+UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+TO MY
+Mother and Father
+WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT AND SYMPATHY
+GAVE IMPETUS AND PURPOSE TO
+A BOY'S LOVE OF NATURE
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+PREFACE
+
+In the fifty-two short essays of this volume I have presented familiar
+objects from unusual points of view. Bird's-eye glances and insect's-eye
+glances, at the nature of our woods and fields, will reveal beauties which
+are wholly invisible from the usual human view-point, five feet or more
+above the ground.
+
+Who follows the lines must expect to find moods as varying as the seasons;
+to face storm and night and cold, and all other delights of what wildness
+still remains to us upon the earth.
+
+Emphasis has been laid upon the weak points in our knowledge of things
+about us, and the principal desire of the author is to inspire enthusiasm
+in those whose eyes are just opening to the wild beauties of God's
+out-of-doors, to gather up and follow to the end some of these frayed-out
+threads of mystery.
+
+Portions of the text have been published at various times in the pages of
+"Outing," "Recreation," "The Golden Age," "The New York Evening Post," and
+"The New York Tribune."
+
+                                                                C. W. B.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+                                       PAGE
+JANUARY
+Birds of the Snow                         3
+Winter Marvels                           10
+Cedar Birds and Berries                  16
+The Dark Days of Insect Life             20
+Chameleons in Fur and Feather            25
+
+FEBRUARY
+February Feathers                        31
+Fish Life                                37
+Tenants of Winter Birds' Nests           44
+Winter Holes                             48
+
+MARCH
+Feathered Pioneers                       55
+The Ways of Meadow Mice                  61
+Problems of Bird Life                    65
+Dwellers in the Dust                     71
+
+APRIL
+Spring Songsters                         75
+The Simple Art of Sapsucking             81
+Wild Wings                               85
+The Birds in the Moon                    88
+
+MAY
+The High Tide of Bird Life               91
+Animal Fashions                          97
+Polliwog Problems                       102
+Insect Pirates And Submarines           105
+The Victory Of The Nighthawk            109
+
+JUNE
+The Gala Days Of Birds                  113
+Turtle Traits                           118
+A Half-Hour In A Marsh                  124
+Secrets Of The Ocean                    129
+
+JULY
+Birds In A City                         153
+Night Music Of The Swamp                160
+The Coming Of Man                       167
+The Silent Language Of Animals          170
+Insect Music                            176
+
+AUGUST
+The Gray Days Of Birds                  181
+Lives Of The Lantern Bearers            188
+A Starfish And A Daisy                  191
+The Dream Of The Yellow-Throat          195
+
+SEPTEMBER
+The Passing Of The Flocks               199
+Ghosts Of The Earth                     204
+Muskrats                                207
+Nature's Geometricians                  210
+
+OCTOBER
+Autumn Hunting With A Field Glass       217
+A Woodchuck And A Grebe                 223
+The Voice of Animals                    227
+The Names Of Animals, Frogs, and Fish   234
+The Dying Year                          246
+
+NOVEMBER
+November's Birds of the Heavens         249
+A Plea for the Skunk                    255
+The Lesson Of The Wave                  258
+We Go A-Sponging                        262
+
+DECEMBER
+New Thoughts About Nests                269
+Lessons From An English Sparrow         275
+The Personality Of Trees                281
+An Owl Of The North                     297
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+               A fiery mist and a planet,
+                 A crystal and a cell;
+               A jelly fish and a saurian,
+                 And the caves where the cave men dwell;
+               Then a sense of law and beauty
+                 And a face turned from the clod,
+               Some call it evolution,
+                 And others call it God.
+                                          W. H. Carruth.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+JANUARY
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS OF THE SNOW
+
+
+No fact of natural history is more interesting, or more significant of the
+poetry of evolution, than the distribution of birds over the entire
+surface of the world. They have overcome countless obstacles, and adapted
+themselves to all conditions. The last faltering glance which the Arctic
+explorer sends toward his coveted goal, ere he admits defeat, shows flocks
+of snow buntings active with warm life; the storm-tossed mariner in the
+midst of the sea, is followed, encircled, by the steady, tireless flight
+of the albatross; the fever-stricken wanderer in tropical jungles listens
+to the sweet notes of birds amid the stagnant pools; while the thirsty
+traveller in the desert is ever watched by the distant buzzards. Finally
+when the intrepid climber, at the risk of life and limb, has painfully
+made his way to the summit of the most lofty peak, far, far above him, in
+the blue expanse of thin air, he can distinguish the form of a majestic
+eagle or condor.
+
+At the approach of winter the flowers and insects about us die, but most
+of the birds take wing and fly to a more temperate climate, while their
+place is filled with others which have spent the summer farther to the
+north. Thus without stirring from our doorway we may become acquainted
+with many species whose summer homes are hundreds of miles away.
+
+No time is more propitious or advisable for the amateur bird lover to
+begin his studies than the first of the year. Bird life is now reduced to
+its simplest terms in numbers and species, and the absence of concealing
+foliage, together with the usual tameness of winter birds, makes
+identification an easy matter.
+
+In January and the succeeding month we have with us birds which are called
+permanent residents, which do not leave us throughout the entire year;
+and, in addition, the winter visitors which have come to us from the far
+north.
+
+In the uplands we may flush ruffed grouse from their snug retreats in the
+snow; while in the weedy fields, many a fairy trail shows where bob-white
+has passed, and often he will announce his own name from the top of a rail
+fence. The grouse at this season have a curious outgrowth of horny scales
+along each side of the toes, which, acting as a tiny snowshoe, enables
+them to walk on soft snow with little danger of sinking through.
+
+Few of our winter birds can boast of bright colours; their garbs are
+chiefly grays and browns, but all have some mark or habit or note by which
+they can be at once named. For example, if you see a mouse hitching
+spirally up a tree-trunk, a closer look will show that it is a brown
+creeper, seeking tiny insects and their eggs in the crevices of the trunk.
+He looks like a small piece of the roughened bark which has suddenly
+become animated. His long tail props him up and his tiny feet never fail
+to find a foothold. Our winter birds go in flocks, and where we see a
+brown creeper we are almost sure to find other birds.
+
+Nuthatches are those blue-backed, white or rufous breasted little climbers
+who spend their lives defying the law of gravity. They need no supporting
+tail, and have only the usual number of eight toes, but they traverse the
+bark, up or down, head often pointing toward the ground, as if their feet
+were small vacuum cups. Their note is an odd nasal _nyeh!_ _nyeh!_
+
+In winter some one species of bird usually predominates, most often,
+perhaps, it is the black-capped chickadee. They seem to fill every grove,
+and, if you take your stand in the woods, flock after flock will pass
+in succession. What good luck must have come to the chickadee race
+during the preceding summer? Was some one of their enemies stricken with a
+plague, or did they show more than usual care in the selecting of their
+nesting holes? Whatever it was, during such a year, it seems certain that
+scores more of chickadee babies manage to live to grow up than is
+usually the case. These little fluffs are, in their way, as remarkable
+acrobats as are the nuthatches, and it is a marvel how the very thin legs,
+with their tiny sliver of bone and thread of tendon, can hold the body
+of the bird in almost any position, while the vainly hidden clusters of
+insect eggs are pried into. Without ceasing a moment in their busy
+search for food, the fluffy feathered members of the flock call to each
+other, "_Chick-a-chick-a-dee-dee!_" but now and then the heart of some
+little fellow bubbles over, and he rests an instant, sending out a sweet,
+tender, high call, a "_Phoe-be!_" love note, which warms our ears in
+the frosty air and makes us feel a real affection for the brave little
+mites.
+
+Our song sparrow is, like the poor, always with us, at least near the
+coast, but we think none the less of him for that, and besides, that fact
+is true in only one sense. A ripple in a stream may be seen day after day,
+and yet the water forming it is never the same, it is continually flowing
+onward. This is usually the case with song sparrows and with most other
+birds which are present summer and winter. The individual sparrows which
+flit from bush to bush, or slip in and out of the brush piles in January,
+have doubtless come from some point north of us, while the song sparrows
+of our summer walks are now miles to the southward. Few birds remain the
+entire year in the locality in which they breed, although the southward
+movement may be a very limited one. When birds migrate so short a
+distance, they are liable to be affected in colour and size by the
+temperature and dampness of their respective areas; and so we find that in
+North America there are as many as twenty-two races of song sparrows, to
+each of which has been given a scientific name. When you wish to speak of
+our northeastern song sparrow in the latest scientific way, you must say
+_Melospiza cinerea melodia_, which tells us that it is a melodious song
+finch, ashy or brown in colour.
+
+Our winter sparrows are easy to identify. The song sparrow may, of course,
+be known by the streaks of black and brown upon his breast and sides, and
+by the blotch which these form in the centre of the breast. The tree
+sparrow, which comes to us from Hudson Bay and Labrador, lacks the
+stripes, but has the centre spot. This is one of our commonest field birds
+in winter, notwithstanding his name.
+
+The most omnipresent and abundant of all our winter visitors from the
+north are the juncos, or snowbirds. Slate coloured above and white below,
+perfectly describes these birds, although their distinguishing mark,
+visible a long way off, is the white V in their tails, formed by several
+white outer feathers on each side. The sharp chirps of juncos are heard
+before the ice begins to form, and they stay with us all winter.
+
+We have called the junco a snowbird, but this name should really be
+confined to a black and white bunting which comes south only with a
+mid-winter's rush of snowflakes. Their warm little bodies nestle close to
+the white crystals, and they seek cheerfully for the seeds which nature
+has provided for them. Then a thaw comes, and they disappear as silently
+and mysteriously as if they had melted with the flakes; but doubtless they
+are far to the northward, hanging on the outskirts of the Arctic storms,
+and giving way only when every particle of food is frozen tight, the
+ground covered deep with snow, and the panicled seed clusters locked in
+crystal frames of ice.
+
+The feathers of these Arctic wanderers are perfect non-conductors of heat
+and of cold, and never a chill reaches their little frames until hunger
+presses. Then they must find food and quickly, or they die. When these
+snowflakes first come to us they are tinged with gray and brown, but
+gradually through the winter their colours become more clear-cut and
+brilliant, until, when spring comes, they are garbed in contrasting black
+and white. With all this change, however, they leave never a feather with
+us, but only the minute brown tips of the feather vanes, which, by wearing
+away, leave exposed the clean new colours beneath.
+
+Thus we find that there are problems innumerable to verify and to solve,
+even when the tide of the year's life is at its lowest ebb.
+
+                From out the white and pulsing storm
+                  I hear the snowbirds calling;
+                The sheeted winds stalk o'er the hills,
+                  And fast the snow is falling.
+
+                On twinkling wings they eddy past,
+                  At home amid the drifting,
+                Or seek the hills and weedy fields
+                  Where fast the snow is sifting.
+
+                Their coats are dappled white and brown
+                  Like fields in winter weather,
+                But on the azure sky they float
+                  Like snowflakes knit together.
+
+                I've heard them on the spotless hills
+                  Where fox and hound were playing,
+                The while I stood with eager ear
+                  Bent on the distant baying.
+
+                The unmown fields are their preserves,
+                  Where weeds and grass are seeding;
+                They know the lure of distant stacks
+                  Where houseless herds are feeding.
+
+                                        JOHN BURROUGHS.
+
+
+
+
+WINTER MARVELS
+
+
+Let us suppose that a heavy snow has fallen and that we have been
+a-birding in vain. For once it seems as if all the birds had gone the way
+of the butterflies. But we are not true bird-lovers unless we can
+substitute nature for bird whenever the occasion demands; specialisation
+is only for the ultra-scientist.
+
+There is more to be learned in a snowy field than volumes could tell.
+There is the tangle of footprints to unravel, the history of the pastimes
+and foragings and tragedies of the past night writ large and unmistakable.
+Though the sun now shines brightly, we can well imagine the cold darkness
+of six hours ago; we can reconstruct the whole scene from those tiny
+tracks, showing frantic leaps, the indentation of two wing-tips,--a speck
+of blood. But let us take a bird's-eye view of things, from a bird's-head
+height; that is, lie flat upon a board or upon the clean, dry crystals and
+see what wonders we have passed by all our lives.
+
+Take twenty square feet of snow with a streamlet through the centre, and
+we have an epitome of geological processes and conditions. With chin upon
+mittens and mittens upon the crust, the eye opens upon a new world. The
+half-covered rivulet becomes a monster glacier-fed stream, rushing down
+through grand canyons and caves, hung with icy stalactites. Bit by bit the
+walls are undermined and massive icebergs become detached and are whirled
+away. As for moraines, we have them in plenty; only the windrows of
+thousands upon thousands of tiny seeds of which they are composed, are not
+permanent, but change their form and position with every strong gust of
+wind. And with every gust too their numbers increase, the harvest of the
+weeds being garnered here, upon barren ground. No wonder the stream will
+be hidden from view next summer, when the myriad seeds sprout and begin to
+fight upward for light and air.
+
+If we cannot hope for polar bears to complete our Arctic scene, we may
+thrill at the sight of a sinuous weasel, winding his way among the weeds;
+and if we look in vain for swans, we at least may rejoice in a whirling,
+white flock of snow buntings.
+
+A few flakes fall gently upon our sleeve and another world opens before
+us. A small hand-lens will be of service, although sharp eyes may dispense
+with it. Gather a few recently fallen flakes upon a piece of black cloth,
+and the lens will reveal jewels more beautiful than any ever fashioned by
+the hand of man. Six-pointed crystals, always hexagonal, of a myriad
+patterns, leave us lost in wonderment when we look out over the white
+landscape and think of the hidden beauty of it all. The largest glacier of
+Greenland or Alaska is composed wholly of just such crystals whose points
+have melted and which have become ice.
+
+We may draw or photograph scores of these beautiful crystals and never
+duplicate a figure. Some are almost solid and tabular, others are simple
+stars or fern-branched. Then we may detect compound forms, crystals within
+crystals, and, rarest of all, doubles, where two different forms appear as
+joined together by a tiny pillar. In all of these we have an epitome of
+the crystals of the rocks beneath our feet, only in their case the
+pressure has moulded them into straight columns, while the snow, forming
+unhindered in midair, resolves itself into these exquisite forms and
+floral designs. Flowers and rocks are not so very unlike after all.
+
+Few of us can observe these wonderful forms without feeling the poetry of
+it all. Thoreau on the fifth day of January, 1856, writes as follows:...
+"The thin snow now driving from the north and lodging on my coat consists
+of those beautiful star crystals, not cottony and chubby spokes as on the
+13th of December, but thin and partly transparent crystals. They are about
+one tenth of an inch in diameter, perfect little wheels with six spokes,
+without a tire, or rather with six perfect little leaflets, fern-like,
+with a distinct, straight, slender midrib raying from the centre. On each
+side of each midrib there is a transparent, thin blade with a crenate
+edge. How full of the creative genius is the air in which these are
+generated! I should hardly admire more if real stars fell and lodged on my
+coat. Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity, so that not a
+snowflake escapes its fashioning hand. Nothing is cheap and coarse,
+neither dewdrops nor snowflakes. Soon the storm increases (it was already
+very severe to face), and the snow becomes finer, more white and powdery.
+
+"Who knows but this is the original form of all snowflakes, but that, when
+I observe these crystal stars falling around me, they are only just
+generated in the low mist next the earth. I am nearer to the source of the
+snow, its primal auroral, and golden hour of infancy; commonly the flakes
+reach us travel-worn and agglomerated, comparatively, without order or
+beauty, far down in their fall, like men in their advanced age. As for the
+circumstances under which this occurs, it is quite cold, and the driving
+storm is bitter to face, though very little snow is falling. It comes
+almost horizontally from the north.... A divinity must have stirred within
+them, before the crystals did thus shoot and set: wheels of the storm
+chariots. The same law that shapes the earth and the stars shapes the
+snowflake. Call it rather snow star. As surely as the petals of a flower
+are numbered, each of these countless snow stars comes whirling to earth,
+pronouncing thus with emphasis the number six, order, [Greek: cosmos].
+This was the beginning of a storm which reached far and wide, and
+elsewhere was more severe than here. On the Saskatchewan, where no man of
+science is present to behold, still down they come, and not the less
+fulfil their destiny, perchance melt at once on the Indian's face. What a
+world we live in, where myriads of these little discs, so beautiful to the
+most prying eye, are whirled down on every traveller's coat, the observant
+and the unobservant, on the restless squirrel's fur, on the far-stretching
+fields and forests, the wooded dells and the mountain tops. Far, far away
+from the haunts of men, they roll down some little slope, fall over and
+come to their bearings, and melt or lose their beauty in the mass, ready
+anon to swell some little rill with their contribution, and so, at last,
+the universal ocean from which they came. There they lie, like the wreck
+of chariot wheels after a battle in the skies. Meanwhile the meadow mouse
+shoves them aside in his gallery, the schoolboy casts them in his ball, or
+the woodman's sled glides smoothly over them, these glorious spangles, the
+sweepings of heaven's floor. And they all sing, melting as they sing, of
+the mysteries of the number six; six, six, six. He takes up the waters of
+the sea in his hand, leaving the salt; he disperses it in mist through the
+skies; he re-collects and sprinkles it like grain in six-rayed snowy stars
+over the earth, there to lie till he dissolves its bonds again."
+
+But here is a bit of snow which seems less pure, with grayish patches here
+and there. Down again to sparrow-level and bring the glass to bear. Your
+farmer friend will tell you that they are snow-fleas which are snowed down
+with the flakes; the entomologist will call them _Achorutes nivicola_ and
+he knows that they have prosaically wiggled their way from the crevices of
+bark on the nearest tree-trunk. One's thrill of pleasure at this
+unexpected discovery will lead one to adopt sparrow-views whenever larger
+game is lacking.
+
+           I walked erstwhile upon thy frozen waves,
+           And heard the streams amid thy ice-locked caves;
+           I peered down thy crevasses blue and dim,
+           Standing in awe upon the dizzy rim.
+           Beyond me lay the inlet still and blue,
+           Behind, the mountains loomed upon the view
+           Like storm-wraiths gathered from the low-hung sky.
+           A gust of wind swept past with heavy sigh,
+           And lo! I listened to the ice-stream's song
+           Of winter when the nights grow dark and long,
+           And bright stars flash above thy fields of snow,
+           The cold waste sparkling in the pallid glow.
+
+                                              Charles Keeler.
+
+
+
+
+CEDAR BIRDS AND BERRIES
+
+
+Keep sharp eyes upon the cedar groves in mid-winter, and sooner or later
+you will see the waxwings come, not singly or in pairs, but by dozens, and
+sometimes in great flocks. They will well repay all the watching one gives
+them. The cedar waxwing is a strange bird, with a very pronounced
+species-individuality, totally unlike any other bird of our country. When
+feeding on their favourite winter berries, these birds show to great
+advantage; the warm rich brown of the upper parts and of the crest
+contrasting with the black, scarlet, and yellow, and these, in turn, with
+the dark green of the cedar and the white of the snow.
+
+The name waxwing is due to the scarlet ornaments at the tips of the lesser
+flight feathers and some of the tail feathers, which resemble bits of red
+sealing wax, but which are really the bare, flattened ends of the feather
+shafts. Cherry-bird is another name which is appropriately applied to the
+cedar waxwing.
+
+These birds are never regular in their movements, and they come and go
+without heed to weather or date. They should never be lightly passed by,
+but their flocks carefully examined, lest among their ranks may be hidden
+a Bohemian chatterer--a stately waxwing larger than common and even more
+beautiful in hue, whose large size and splashes of white upon its wings
+will always mark it out.
+
+This bird is one of our rarest of rare visitors, breeding in the far
+north; and even in its nest and eggs mystery enshrouds it. Up to fifty
+years ago, absolutely nothing was known of its nesting habits, although
+during migration Bohemian chatterers are common all over Europe. At last
+Lapland was found to be their home, and a nest has been found in Alaska
+and several others in Labrador. My only sight of these birds was of a pair
+perched in an elm tree in East Orange, New Jersey; but I will never forget
+it, and will never cease to hope for another such red-letter day.
+
+The movements of the cedar waxwings are as uncertain in summer as they are
+in winter; they may be common in one locality for a year or two, and then,
+apparently without reason, desert it. At this season they feed on insects
+instead of berries, and may be looked for in small flocks in orchard or
+wood. The period of nesting is usually late, and, in company with the
+goldfinches, they do not begin their housekeeping until July and August.
+Unlike other birds, waxwings will build their nests of almost anything
+near at hand, and apparently in any growth which takes their
+fancy,--apple, oak, or cedar. The nests are well constructed, however, and
+often, with their contents, add another background of a most pleasing
+harmony of colours. A nest composed entirely of pale green hanging moss,
+with eggs of bluish gray, spotted and splashed with brown and black,
+guarded by a pair of these exquisite birds, is a sight to delight the
+eye.
+
+When the young have left the nest, if alarmed by an intruder, they
+will frequently, trusting to their protective dress of streaky brown,
+freeze into most unbird-like attitudes, drawing the feathers close to
+the body and stretching the neck stiffly upward,--almost bittern-like.
+Undoubtedly other interesting habits which these strangely picturesque
+birds may possess are still awaiting discovery by some enthusiastic
+observer with a pair of opera-glasses and a stock of that ever important
+characteristic--patience.
+
+Although, during the summer months, myriads of insects are killed and
+eaten by the cedar waxwings, yet these birds are preeminently berry
+eaters,--choke-cherries, cedar berries, blueberries, and raspberries being
+preferred. Watch a flock of these birds in a cherry tree, and you will see
+the pits fairly rain down. We need not place our heads, _a la_ Newton, in
+the path of these falling stones to deduce some interesting facts,--indeed
+to solve the very destiny of the fruit. Many whole cherries are carried
+away by the birds to be devoured elsewhere, or we may see parent waxwing
+filling their gullets with ten or a dozen berries and carrying them to the
+eager nestlings.
+
+Thus is made plain the why and the wherefore of the coloured skin, the
+edible flesh, and the hidden stone of the fruit. The conspicuous racemes
+of the choke-cherries, or the shining scarlet globes of the cultivated
+fruit, fairly shout aloud to the birds--"Come and eat us, we're as good as
+we look!" But Mother Nature looks on and laughs to herself. Thistle seeds
+are blown to the land's end by the wind; the heavier ticks and burrs are
+carried far and wide upon the furry coats of passing creatures; but the
+cherry could not spread its progeny beyond a branch's length, were it not
+for the ministrations of birds. With birds, as with some other bipeds, the
+shortest way to the heart is through the stomach, and a choke-cherry tree
+in full blaze of fruit is always a natural aviary. Where a cedar bird has
+built its nest, there look some day to see a group of cherry trees; where
+convenient fence-perches along the roadside lead past cedar groves, there
+hope before long to see a bird-planted avenue of cedars. And so the
+marvels of Nature go on evolving,--wheels within wheels.
+
+
+
+
+THE DARK DAYS OF INSECT LIFE
+
+
+Sometimes by too close and confining study of things pertaining to the
+genus _Homo_, we perchance find ourselves complacently wondering if we
+have not solved almost all the problems of this little whirling sphere of
+water and earth. Our minds turn to the ultra questions of atoms and ions
+and rays and our eyes strain restlessly upward toward our nearest planet
+neighbour, in half admission that we must soon take up the study of Mars
+from sheer lack of earthly conquest.
+
+If so minded, hie you to the nearest grove and, digging down through the
+mid-winter's snow, bring home a spadeful of leaf-mould. Examine it
+carefully with hand-lens and microscope, and then prophesy what warmth and
+light will bring forth. "Watch the unfolding life of plant and animal, and
+then come from your planet-yearning back to earth, with a humbleness born
+of a realisation of our vast ignorance of the commonest things about us."
+
+Though the immediate mysteries of the seed and the egg baffle us, yet the
+most casual lover of God's out-of-doors may hopefully attempt to solve the
+question of some of the winter homes of insects. Think of the thousands
+upon thousands of eggs and pupae which are hidden in every grove; what
+catacombs of bug mummies yonder log conceals,--mummies whose resurrection
+will be brought about by the alchemy of thawing sunbeams. Follow out the
+suggestion hinted at above and place a handkerchief full of frozen mould
+or decayed wood in a white dish, and the tiny universe which will
+gradually unfold before you will provide many hours of interest. But
+remember your responsibilities in so doing, and do not let the tiny plant
+germs languish and die for want of water, or the feeble, newly-hatched
+insects perish from cold or lack a bit of scraped meat.
+
+Cocoons are another never-ending source of delight. If you think that
+there are no unsolved problems of the commonest insect life around us, say
+why it is that the moths and millers pass the winter wrapped in swaddling
+clothes of densest textures, roll upon roll of silken coverlets; while our
+delicate butterflies hang uncovered, suspended only by a single loop of
+silk, exposed to the cold blast of every northern gale? Why do the
+caterpillars of our giant moths--the mythologically named Cecropia,
+Polyphemus, Luna, and Prometheus--show such individuality in the position
+which they choose for their temporary shrouds? Protection and concealment
+are the watchwords held to in each case, but how differently they are
+achieved!
+
+Cecropia--that beauty whose wings, fully six inches across, will flap
+gracefully through the summer twilight--weaves about himself a half oval
+mound, along some stem or tree-trunk, and becomes a mere excrescence--the
+veriest unedible thing a bird may spy. Polyphemus wraps miles of finest
+silk about his green worm-form (how, even though we watch him do it, we
+can only guess); weaving in all the surrounding leaves he can reach. This,
+of course, before the frosts come, but when the leaves at last shrivel,
+loosen, and their petioles break, it is merely a larger brown nut than
+usual that falls to the ground, the kernel of which will sprout next June
+and blossom into the big moth of delicate fawn tints, feathery horned,
+with those strange isinglass windows in his hind wings.
+
+Luna--the weird, beautiful moon-moth, whose pale green hues and long
+graceful streamers make us realise how much beauty we miss if we neglect
+the night life of summer--when clad in her temporary shroud of silk,
+sometimes falls to the ground, or again the cocoon remains in the tree or
+bush where it was spun.
+
+But Prometheus, the smallest of the quartet, has a way all his own. The
+elongated cocoon, looking like a silken finger, is woven about a leaf of
+sassafras. Even the long stem of the leaf is silk-girdled, and a strong
+band is looped about the twig to which the leaf is attached. Here, when
+all the leaves fall, he hangs, the plaything of every breeze, attracting
+the attention of all the hungry birds. But little does Prometheus care.
+Sparrows may hover about him and peck in vain; chickadees may clutch the
+dangling finger and pound with all their tiny might. Prometheus is
+"bound," indeed, and merely swings the faster, up and down, from side to
+side.
+
+It is interesting to note that when two Prometheus cocoons, fastened upon
+their twigs, were suspended in a large cageful of native birds, it took a
+healthy chickadee just three days of hard pounding and unravelling to
+force a way through the silken envelopes to the chrysalids within. Such
+long continued and persistent labour for so comparatively small a morsel
+of food would not be profitable or even possible out-of-doors in winter.
+The bird would starve to death while forcing its way through the
+protecting silk.
+
+These are only four of the many hundreds of cocoons, from the silken
+shrouds on the topmost branches to the jugnecked chrysalis of a sphinx
+moth--offering us the riddle of a winter's shelter buried in the cold,
+dark earth.
+
+Is everything frozen tight? Has Nature's frost mortar cemented every stone
+in its bed? Then cut off the solid cups of the pitcher plants, and see
+what insects formed the last meal of these strange growths,--ants, flies,
+bugs, encased in ice like the fossil insects caught in the amber sap which
+flowed so many thousands of years ago.
+
+                  When the fierce northwestern blast
+                  Cools sea and land so far and fast,
+                  Thou already slumberest deep;
+                  Woe and want thou canst outsleep.
+
+                                             Emerson.
+
+
+
+
+CHAMELEONS IN FUR AND FEATHER
+
+
+The colour of things in nature has been the subject of many volumes and
+yet it may be truthfully said that no two naturalists are wholly agreed on
+the interpretation of the countless hues of plants and animals. Some
+assert that all alleged instances of protective colouring and mimicry are
+merely the result of accident; while at the opposite swing of the pendulum
+we find theories, protective and mimetic, for the colours of even the tiny
+one-celled green plants which cover the bark of trees! Here is abundant
+opportunity for any observer of living nature to help toward the solution
+of these problems.
+
+In a battle there are always two sides and at its finish one side always
+runs away while the other pursues. Thus it is in the wars of nature, only
+here the timid ones are always ready to flee, while the strong are equally
+prepared to pursue. It is only by constant vigilance that the little mice
+can save themselves from disappearing down the throats of their enemies,
+as under cover of darkness they snatch nervous mouthfuls of grain in the
+fields,--and hence their gray colour and their large, watchful eyes; but
+on the other hand, the baby owls in their hollow tree would starve if the
+parents were never able to swoop down in the darkness and surprise a mouse
+now and then,--hence the gray plumage and great eyes of the parent owls.
+
+The most convincing proof of the reality of protective coloration is in
+the change of plumage or fur of some of the wild creatures to suit the
+season. In the far north, the grouse or ptarmigan, as they are called, do
+not keep feathers of the same colour the year round, as does our ruffed
+grouse; but change their dress no fewer than three times. When rocks and
+moss are buried deep beneath the snow, and a keen-eyed hawk appears, the
+white-feathered ptarmigan crouches and becomes an inanimate mound. Later
+in the year, with the increasing warmth, patches of gray and brown earth
+appear, and simultaneously, as if its feathers were really snowflakes,
+splashes of brown replace the pure white of the bird's plumage, and
+equally baffle the eye. Seeing one of these birds by itself, we could
+readily tell, from the colour of its plumage, the time of year and general
+aspect of the country from which it came. Its plumage is like a mirror
+which reflects the snow, the moss, or the lichens in turn. It is, indeed,
+a feathered chameleon, but with changes of colour taking place more slowly
+than is the case in the reptile.
+
+We may discover changes somewhat similar, but furry instead of feathery,
+in the woods about our home. The fiercest of all the animals of our
+continent still evades the exterminating inroads of man; indeed it often
+puts his traps to shame, and wages destructive warfare in his very midst.
+I speak of the weasel,--the least of all his family, and yet, for his
+size, the most bloodthirsty and widely dreaded little demon of all the
+countryside. His is a name to conjure with among all the lesser wood-folk;
+the scent of his passing brings an almost helpless paralysis. And yet in
+some way he must be handicapped, for his slightly larger cousin, the mink,
+finds good hunting the year round, clad in a suit of rich brown; while the
+weasel, at the approach of winter, sheds his summer dress of chocolate hue
+and dons a pure white fur, a change which would seem to put the poor mice
+and rabbits at a hopeless disadvantage. Nevertheless the ermine, as he is
+now called (although wrongly so), seems just able to hold his own, with
+all his evil slinking motions and bloodthirsty desires; for foxes, owls,
+and hawks take, in their turn, heavy toll. Nature is ever a repetition of
+the "House that Jack built";--this is the owl that ate the weasel that
+killed the mouse, and so on.
+
+The little tail-tips of milady's ermine coat are black; and herein lies an
+interesting fact in the coloration of the weasel and one that, perhaps,
+gives a clue to some other hitherto inexplicable spots and markings on the
+fur, feathers, skin, and scales of wild creatures. Whatever the season,
+and whatever the colour of the weasel's coat,--brown or white,--the tip of
+the tail remains always black. This would seem, at first thought, a very
+bad thing for the little animal. Knowing so little of fear, he never tucks
+his tail between his legs, and, when shooting across an open expanse of
+snow, the black tip ever trailing after him would seem to mark him out for
+destruction by every observing hawk or fox.
+
+But the very opposite is the case as Mr. Witmer Stone so well relates. "If
+you place a weasel in its winter white on new-fallen snow, in such a
+position that it casts no shadow, you will find that the black tip of the
+tail catches your eye and holds it in spite of yourself, so that at a
+little distance it is very difficult to follow the outline of the rest of
+the animal. Cover the tip of the tail with snow and you can see the rest
+of the weasel itself much more clearly; but as long as the black point is
+in sight, you see that, and that only.
+
+"If a hawk or owl, or any other of the larger hunters of the woodland,
+were to give chase to a weasel and endeavour to pounce upon it, it would
+in all probability be the black tip of the tail it would see and strike
+at, while the weasel, darting ahead, would escape. It may, morever, serve
+as a guide, enabling the young weasels to follow their parents more
+readily through grass and brambles.
+
+"One would suppose that this beautiful white fur of winter, literally as
+white as the snow, might prove a disadvantage at times by making its owner
+conspicuous when the ground is bare in winter, as it frequently is even in
+the North; yet though weasels are about more or less by day, you will
+seldom catch so much as a glimpse of one at such times, though you may
+hear their sharp chirrup close at hand. Though bold and fearless, they
+have the power of vanishing instantly, and the slightest alarm sends them
+to cover. I have seen one standing within reach of my hand in the sunshine
+on the exposed root of a tree, and while I was staring at it, it vanished
+like the flame of a candle blown out, without leaving me the slightest
+clue as to the direction it had taken. All the weasels I have ever seen,
+either in the woods or open meadows, disappeared in a similar manner."
+
+To add to the completeness of proof that the change from brown to white is
+for protection,--in the case of the weasel, both to enable it to escape
+from the fox and to circumvent the rabbit,--the weasels in Florida, where
+snow is unknown, do not change colour, but remain brown throughout the
+whole year.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+FEBRUARY
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+FEBRUARY FEATHERS
+
+
+February holes are most interesting places and one never knows what will
+be found in the next one investigated. It is a good plan, in one's walks
+in the early fall, to make a mental map of all the auspicious looking
+trees and holes, and then go the rounds of these in winter--as a hunter
+follows his line of traps. An old, neglected orchard may seem perfectly
+barren of life; insects dead, leaves fallen, and sap frozen; but the warm
+hearts of these venerable trees may shelter much beside the larvae of
+boring beetles, and we may reap a winter harvest of which the farmer knows
+nothing.
+
+Poke a stick into a knothole and stir up the leaves at the bottom of the
+cavity, and then look in. Two great yellow eyes may greet you, glaring
+intermittently, and sharp clicks may assail your ears. Reach in with your
+gloved hand and bring the screech owl out. He will blink in the sunshine,
+ruffling up his feathers until he is twice his real size. The light partly
+blinds him, but toss him into the air and he will fly without difficulty
+and select with ease a secluded perch. The instant he alights a wonderful
+transformation comes over him. He stiffens, draws himself as high as
+possible, and compresses his feathers until he seems naught but the
+slender, broken stump of some bough,--ragged topped (thanks to his
+"horns"), gray and lichened. It is little short of a miracle how this
+spluttering, saucer-eyed, feathered cat can melt away into woody fibre
+before our very eyes.
+
+We quickly understand why in the daytime the little owl is so anxious to
+hide his form from public view. Although he can see well enough to fly and
+to perch, yet the bright sunlight on the snow is too dazzling to permit of
+swift and sure action. All the birds of the winter woods seem to know this
+and instantly take advantage of it. Sparrows, chickadees, and woodpeckers
+go nearly wild with excitement when they discover the little owl, hovering
+about him and occasionally making darts almost in his very face. We can
+well believe that as the sun sets, after an afternoon of such excitement,
+they flee in terror, selecting for that night's perch the densest tangle
+of sweetbrier to be found.
+
+One hollow tree may yield a little gray owl, while from the next we may
+draw a red one; and the odd thing about this is that this difference in
+colour does not depend upon age, sex, or season, and no ornithologist can
+say why it occurs. What can these little fellows find to feed upon these
+cold nights, when the birds seek the most hidden and sheltered retreats?
+We might murder the next owl we come across; but would any fact we might
+discover in his poor stomach repay us for the thought of having needlessly
+cut short his life, with its pleasures and spring courtships, and the
+delight he will take in the half a dozen pearls over which he will soon
+watch?
+
+A much better way is to examine the ground around his favourite roosting
+place, where we will find many pellets of fur and bones, with now and then
+a tiny skull. These tell the tale, and if at dusk we watch closely, we may
+see the screech owl look out of his door, stretch every limb, purr his
+shivering song, and silently launch out over the fields, a feathery,
+shadowy death to all small mice who scamper too far from their snow
+tunnels.
+
+When you feel like making a new and charming acquaintance, take your way
+to a dense clump of snow-laden cedars, and look carefully over their
+trunks. If you are lucky you will spy a tiny gray form huddled close to
+the sheltered side of the bark, and if you are careful you may approach
+and catch in your hand the smallest of all our owls, for the saw-whet is a
+dreadfully sleepy fellow in the daytime. I knew of eleven of these little
+gray gnomes dozing in a clump of five small cedars.
+
+The cedars are treasure-houses in winter, and many birds find shelter
+among the thick foliage, and feast upon the plentiful supply of berries,
+when elsewhere there seems little that could keep a bird's life in its
+body. When the tinkling of breaking icicles is taken up by the wind and
+re-echoed from the tops of the cedars, you may know that a flock of purple
+finches is near, and so greedy and busy are they that you may approach
+within a few feet. These birds are unfortunately named, as there is
+nothing purple about their plumage. The males are a delicate rose-red,
+while the females look like commonplace sparrows, streaked all over with
+black and brown.
+
+There are other winter birds, whose home is in the North, with a similar
+type of coloration. Among the pines you may see a flock of birds, as large
+as a sparrow, with strange-looking beaks. The tips of the two mandibles
+are long, curved, and pointed, crossing each other at their ends. This
+looks like a deformity, but is in reality a splendid cone-opener and
+seed-extracter. These birds are the crossbills.
+
+Even in the cold of a February day, we may, on very rare occasions, be
+fortunate enough to hear unexpected sounds, such as the rattle of a belted
+kingfisher, or the croak of a night heron; for these birds linger until
+every bit of pond or lake is sealed with ice; and when a thaw comes, a
+lonely bat may surprise us with a short flight through the frosty air,
+before it returns to its winter's trance.
+
+Of course, in the vicinity of our towns and cities, the most noticeable
+birds at this season of the year (as indeed at all seasons) are the
+English sparrows and (at least near New York City) the starlings, those
+two foreigners which have wrought such havoc among our native birds. Their
+mingled flocks fly up, not only from garbage piles and gutters, but from
+the thickets and fields which should be filled with our sweet-voiced
+American birds. It is no small matter for man heedlessly to interfere with
+Nature. What may be a harmless, or even useful, bird in its native land
+may prove a terrible scourge when introduced where there are no enemies to
+keep it in check. Nature is doing her best to even matters by letting
+albinism run riot among the sparrows, and best of all by teaching sparrow
+hawks to nest under our eaves and thus be on equal terms with their
+sparrow prey. The starlings are turning out to be worse than the sparrows.
+Already they are invading the haunts of our grackles and redwings.
+
+On some cold day, when the sun is shining, visit all the orchards of which
+you know, and see if in one or more you cannot find a good-sized, gray,
+black, and white bird, which keeps to the topmost branch of a certain
+tree. Look at him carefully through your glasses, and if his beak is
+hooked, like that of a hawk, you may know that you are watching a northern
+shrike, or butcher bird. His manner is that of a hawk, and his appearance
+causes instant panic among small birds. If you watch long enough you may
+see him pursue and kill a goldfinch, or sparrow, and devour it. These
+birds are not even distantly related to the hawks, but have added a hawk's
+characteristics and appetite to the insect diet of their nearest
+relations. If ever shrikes will learn to confine their attacks to English
+sparrows, we should offer them every encouragement.
+
+All winter long the ebony forms of crows vibrate back and forth across the
+cold sky. If we watch them when very high up, we sometimes see them sail a
+short distance, and without fail, a second later, the clear "_Caw! caw!_"
+comes down to us, the sound-waves unable to keep pace with those of light,
+as the thunder of the storm lags behind the flash. These sturdy birds seem
+able to stand any severity of the weather, but, like Achilles, they have
+one vulnerable point, the eyes,--which, during the long winter nights,
+must be kept deep buried among the warm feathers.
+
+
+
+
+FISH LIFE
+
+
+We have all looked down through the clear water of brook or pond and
+watched the gracefully poised trout or pickerel; but have we ever tried to
+imagine what the life of one of these aquatic beings is really like?
+"Water Babies" perhaps gives us the best idea of existence below the
+water, but if we spend one day each month for a year in trying to imagine
+ourselves in the place of the fish, we will see that a fish-eye view of
+life holds much of interest.
+
+What a delightful sensation must it be to all but escape the eternal
+downpull of gravity, to float and turn and rise and fall at will, and all
+by the least twitch of tail or limb,--for fish have limbs, four of them,
+as truly as has a dog or horse, only instead of fingers or toes there are
+many delicate rays extending through the fin. These four limb-fins are
+useful chiefly as balancers, while the tail-fin is what sends the fish
+darting through the water, or turns it to right or left, with incredible
+swiftness.
+
+If we were able to examine some inhabitant of the planet Mars our first
+interest would be to know with what senses they were endowed, and these
+finny creatures living in their denser medium, which after a few seconds
+would mean death to us, excite the same interest. They see, of course,
+having eyes, but do they feel, hear, and smell!
+
+Probably the sense of taste is least developed. When a trout leaps at and
+catches a fly he does not stop to taste, otherwise the pheasant feather
+concealing the cruel hook would be of little use. When an animal catches
+its food in the water and swallows it whole, taste plays but a small part.
+Thus the tongue of a pelican is a tiny flap all but lost to view in its
+great bill.
+
+Water is an excellent medium for carrying minute particles of matter and
+so the sense of smell is well developed. A bit of meat dropped into the
+sea will draw the fish from far and wide, and a slice of liver will
+sometimes bring a score of sharks and throw them into the greatest
+excitement.
+
+Fishes are probably very near-sighted, but that they can distinguish
+details is apparent in the choice which a trout exhibits in taking certain
+coloured artificial flies. We may suppose from what we know of physics
+that when we lean over and look down into a pool, the fishy eyes which
+peer up at us discern only a dark, irregular mass. I have seen a pickerel
+dodge as quickly at a sudden cloud-shadow as at the motion of a man
+wielding a fish pole.
+
+We can be less certain about the hearing of fishes. They have, however,
+very respectable inner ears, built on much the same plan as in higher
+animals. Indeed many fish, such as the grunts, make various sounds which
+are plainly audible even to our ears high above the water, and we cannot
+suppose that this is a useless accomplishment. But the ears of fishes and
+the line of tiny tubes which extends along the side may be more effective
+in recording the tremors of the water transmitted by moving objects than
+actual sound.
+
+Watch a lazy catfish winding its way along near the bottom, with its
+barbels extended, and you will at once realise that fishes can feel, this
+function being very useful to those kinds which search for their food in
+the mud at the bottom.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+Not a breath of air stirs the surface of the woodland pond, and the trees
+about the margin are reflected unbroken in its surface. The lilies and
+their pads lie motionless, and in and out through the shadowy depths,
+around the long stems, float a school of half a dozen little sunfish. They
+move slowly, turning from side to side all at once as if impelled by one
+idea. Now and then one will dart aside and snap up a beetle or mosquito
+larva, then swing back to its place among its fellows. Their beautiful
+scales flash scarlet, blue, and gold, and their little hand-and-foot fins
+are ever trembling and waving. They drift upward nearer the surface, the
+wide round eyes turning and twisting in their sockets, ever watchful for
+food and danger. Without warning a terrific splash scatters them, and when
+the ripples and bubbles cease, five frightened sunfish cringe in terror
+among the water plants of the bottom mud. Off to her nest goes the
+kingfisher, bearing to her brood the struggling sixth.
+
+Later in the day, when danger seemed far off, a double-pointed vise shot
+toward the little group of "pumpkin seeds" and a great blue heron
+swallowed one of their number. Another, venturing too far beyond the
+protection of the lily stems and grass tangle of the shallows, fell victim
+to a voracious pickerel. But the most terrible fate befell when one day a
+black sinuous body came swiftly through the water. The fish had never seen
+its like before and yet some instinct told them that here was death indeed
+and they fled as fast as their fins could send them. The young otter had
+marked the trio and after it he sped, turning, twisting, following every
+movement with never a stop for breath until he had caught his prey.
+
+But the life of a fish is not all tragedy, and the two remaining sunfish
+may live in peace. In spawning time they clear a little space close to the
+water of the inlet, pulling up the young weeds and pushing up the sandy
+bottom until a hollow, bowl-like nest is prepared. Thoreau tells us that
+here the fish "may be seen early in summer assiduously brooding, and
+driving away minnows and larger fishes, even its own species, which would
+disturb its ova, pursuing them a few feet, and circling round swiftly to
+its nest again; the minnows, like young sharks, instantly entering the
+empty nests, meanwhile, and swallowing the spawn, which is attached to the
+weeds and to the bottom, on the sunny side. The spawn is exposed to so
+many dangers that a very small proportion can ever become fishes, for
+beside being the constant prey of birds and fishes, a great many nests are
+made so near the shore, in shallow water, that they are left dry in a few
+days, as the river goes down. These and the lampreys are the only fishes'
+nests that I have observed, though the ova of some species may be seen
+floating on the surface. The sunfish are so careful of their charge that
+you may stand close by in the water and examine them at your leisure. I
+have thus stood over them half an hour at a time, and stroked them
+familiarly without frightening them, suffering them to nibble my fingers
+harmlessly, and seen them erect their dorsal fins in anger when my hand
+approached their ova, and have even taken them gently out of the water
+with my hand; though this cannot be accomplished by a sudden movement,
+however dexterous, for instant warning is conveyed to them through their
+denser element, but only by letting the fingers gradually close about them
+as they are poised over the palm, and with the utmost gentleness raising
+them slowly to the surface. Though stationary, they kept up a constant
+sculling or waving motion with their fins, which is exceedingly graceful,
+and expressive of their humble happiness; for unlike ours, the element in
+which they live is a stream which must be constantly resisted. From time
+to time they nibble the weeds at the bottom or overhanging their nests, or
+dart after a fly or worm. The dorsal fin, besides answering the purpose of
+a keel, with the anal, serves to keep the fish upright, for in shallow
+water, where this is not covered, they fall on their sides. As you stand
+thus stooping over the sunfish in its nest, the edges of the dorsal and
+caudal fins have a singular dusty golden reflection, and its eyes, which
+stand out from the head, are transparent and colourless. Seen in its
+native element, it is a very beautiful and compact fish, perfect in all
+its parts, and looks like a brilliant coin fresh from the mint. It is a
+perfect jewel of the river, the green, red, coppery, and golden
+reflections of its mottled sides being the concentration of such rays as
+struggle through the floating pads and flowers to the sandy bottom, and in
+harmony with the sunlit brown and yellow pebbles."
+
+When the cold days of winter come and the ice begins to close over the
+pond, the sunfish become sluggish and keep near the bottom,
+half-hibernating but not unwilling to snap at any bit of food which may
+drift near them. Lying prone on the ice we may see them poising with
+slowly undulating fins, waiting, in their strange wide-eyed sleep, for the
+warmth which will bring food and active life again.
+
+    3rd. Fish. Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea.
+    1st. Fish. Why, as men do a-land: the great ones eat up the
+               little ones.
+                                                    Shakespeare.
+
+
+
+
+TENANTS OF WINTER BIRDS' NESTS
+
+
+When we realise how our lives are hedged about by butchers, bakers, and
+luxury-makers, we often envy the wild creatures their independence. And
+yet, although each animal is capable of finding its own food and shelter
+and of avoiding all ordinary danger, there is much dependence, one upon
+another, among the little creatures of fur and feathers.
+
+The first instinct of a gray squirrel, at the approach of winter, is to
+seek out a deep, warm, hollow limb, or trunk. Nowadays, however, these are
+not to be found in every grove. The precepts of modern forestry decree
+that all such unsightly places must be filled with cement and creosote and
+well sealed against the entrance of rain and snow. When hollows are not
+available, these hardy squirrels prepare their winter home in another way.
+Before the leaves have begun to loosen on their stalks, the little
+creatures set to work. The crows have long since deserted their rough nest
+of sticks in the top of some tall tree, and now the squirrels come,
+investigate, and adopt the forsaken bird's-nest as the foundation of their
+home. The sticks are pressed more tightly together, all interstices filled
+up, and then a superstructure of leafy twigs is woven overhead and all
+around. The leaves on these twigs, killed before their time, do not fall;
+and when the branches of the tree become bare, there remains in one of the
+uppermost crotches a big ball of leaves,--rain and snow proof, with a tiny
+entrance at one side.
+
+On a stormy mid-winter afternoon we stand beneath the tree and, through
+the snowflakes driven past by the howling gale, we catch glimpses of the
+nest swaying high in air. Far over it leans, as the branches are whipped
+and bent by the wind, and yet so cunningly is it wrought that never a twig
+or leaf loosens. We can imagine the pair of little shadow-tails within,
+sleeping fearlessly throughout all the coming night.
+
+But the sleep of the gray squirrel is a healthy and a natural one, not the
+half-dead trance of hibernation; and early next morning their sharp eyes
+appear at the entrance of their home and they are out and off through the
+tree-top path which only their feet can traverse. Down the snowy trunks
+they come with a rush, and with strong, clean bounds they head unerringly
+for their little _caches_ of nuts. Their provender is hidden away among
+the dried leaves, and when they want a nibble of nut or acorn they make
+their way, by some mysterious sense, even through three feet of snow, down
+to the bit of food which, months before, they patted out of sight among
+the moss and leaves.
+
+It would seem that some exact sub-conscious sense of locality would be a
+more probable solution of this feat than the sense of smell, however
+keenly developed, when we consider that dozens of nuts may be hidden or
+buried in close proximity to the one sought by the squirrel.
+
+Even though the birds seem to have vanished from the earth, and every
+mammal be deeply buried in its long sleep, no winter's walk need be barren
+of interest. A suggestion worth trying would be to choose a certain area
+of saplings and underbrush and proceed systematically to fathom every
+cause which has prevented the few stray leaves still upon their stalks
+from falling with their many brethren now buried beneath the snow.
+
+The encircling silken bonds of Promethea and Cynthia cocoons will account
+for some; others will puzzle us until we have found the traces of some
+insect foe, whose girdling has killed the twig and thus prevented the leaf
+from falling at the usual time; some may be simply mechanical causes,
+where a broken twig crotch has fallen athwart another stem in the course
+of its downward fall. Then there is the pitiful remnant of a last summer's
+bird's-nest, with a mere skeleton of a floor all but disintegrated.
+
+But occasionally a substantial ball of dead leaves will be noticed, swung
+amid a tangle of brier. No accident lodged these, nor did any insect have
+aught to do with their position. Examine carefully the mass of leaves and
+you will find a replica of the gray squirrel's nest, only, of course, much
+smaller. This handiwork of the white-footed or deer mouse can be found in
+almost every field or tangle of undergrowth; the nest of a field sparrow
+or catbird being used as a foundation and thickly covered over and tightly
+thatched with leaves. Now and then, even in mid-winter, we may find the
+owner at home, and as the weasel is the most bloodthirsty, so the deer
+mouse is the most beautiful and gentle of all the fur-coated folk of our
+woods. With his coat of white and pale golden brown and his great black,
+lustrous eyes, and his timid, trusting ways, he is altogether lovable.
+
+He spends the late summer and early autumn in his tangle-hung home, but in
+winter he generally selects a snug hollow log, or some cavity in the
+earth. Here he makes a round nest of fine grass and upon a couch of
+thistledown he sleeps in peace, now and then waking to partake of the
+little hoard of nuts which he has gathered, or he may even dare to frolic
+about upon the snow in the cold winter moonlight, leaving behind him no
+trace, save the fairy tracery of his tiny footprints.
+
+               Wee, sleekit, cow'rin', tim'rous beastie,
+               O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
+               Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
+                     Wi' bickering brattle!
+               I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
+               Wi' murd'ring prattle!
+                                           ROBERT BURNS.
+
+
+
+
+WINTER HOLES
+
+
+The decayed hollows which we have mentioned as so often productive of
+little owls have their possibilities by no means exhausted by one visit.
+The disturbed owl may take himself elsewhere, after being so
+unceremoniously disturbed; but there are roving, tramp-like characters,
+with dispositions taking them here and there through the winter nights, to
+whom, at break of day, a hole is ever a sought-for haven.
+
+So do not put your hand too recklessly into an owl hole, for a hiss and a
+sudden nip may show that an opossum has taken up his quarters there. If
+you must, pull him out by his squirming, naked tail, but do not carry him
+home, as he makes a poor pet, and between hen-house traps and irate
+farmers, he has good reason, in this part of the country at least, to be
+short tempered.
+
+Of course the birds'-nests are all deserted now, but do not be too sure of
+the woodpeckers' holes. The little downy and his larger cousin, the hairy
+woodpecker, often spend the winter nights snug within deep cavities which
+they have hollowed out, each bird for itself. I have never known a pair to
+share one of these shelters.
+
+Sometimes, in pulling off the loose bark from a decayed stump, several
+dry, flattened scales will fall out upon the snow among the debris of wood
+and dead leaves. Hold them close in the warm palm of your hand for a time
+and the dried bits will quiver, the sides partly separate, and behold! you
+have brought back to life a beautiful _Euvanessa_, or mourning-cloak
+butterfly. Lay it upon the snow and soon the awakened life will ebb away
+and it will again be stiff, as in death. If you wish, take it home, and
+you may warm it into activity, feed it upon a drop of syrup and freeze it
+again at will. Sometimes six or eight of these insects may be found
+sheltered under the bark of a single stump, or in a hollow beneath a
+stone. Several species share this habit of hibernating throughout the
+winter.
+
+Look carefully in old, deserted sheds, in half-sheltered hollows of trees,
+or in deep crevice-caverns in rocks, and you may some day spy one of the
+strangest of our wood-folk. A poor little shrivelled bundle of fur,
+tight-clasped in its own skinny fingers, with no more appearance of life
+in its frozen body than if it were a mummy from an Egyptian tomb; such is
+the figure that will meet your eye when you chance upon a bat in the deep
+trance of its winter's hibernation. Often you will find six or a dozen of
+these stiffened forms clinging close together, head downward.
+
+As in the case of the sleeping butterfly, carry one of the bats to your
+warm room and place him in a bird-cage, hanging him up on the top wires by
+his toes, with his head downward. The inverted position of these strange
+little beings always brings to mind some of the experiences of Gulliver,
+and indeed the life of a bat is more wonderful than any fairy tale.
+
+Probably the knowledge of bats which most of us possess is chiefly derived
+from the imaginations of artists and poets, who, unlike the Chinese, do
+not look upon these creatures with much favour, generally symbolising them
+in connection with passages and pictures which relate to the infernal
+regions. All of which is entirely unjust. Their nocturnal habits and our
+consequent ignorance of their characteristics are the only causes which
+can account for their being associated with the realm of Satan. In some
+places bats are called flittermice, but they are more nearly related to
+moles, shrews, and other insect-eaters than they are to mice. If we look
+at the skeleton of an animal which walks or hops we will notice that its
+hind limbs are much the stronger, and that the girdle which connects these
+with the backbone is composed of strong and heavy bones. In bats a reverse
+condition is found; the breast girdle, or bones corresponding to our
+collar bones and shoulder blades, are greatly developed. This, as in
+birds, is, of course, an adaptation to give surface for the attachment of
+the great propelling muscles of the wings.
+
+Although the hand of a bat is so strangely altered, yet, as we shall see
+if we look at our captive specimen, it has five fingers, as we have, four
+of which are very long and thin, and the webs, of which we have a very
+noticeable trace in our own hands, stretch from finger-tip to finger-tip,
+and to the body and even down each leg, ending squarely near the ankle,
+thus giving the creature the absurd appearance of having on a very broad,
+baggy pair of trousers.
+
+When thoroughly warmed up, our bat will soon start on a tour of inspection
+of his cage. He steps rapidly from one wire to another, sometimes hooking
+on with all five toes, but generally with four or three. There seems to be
+little power in these toes, except of remaining bent in a hooked position;
+for when our bat stops and draws up one foot to scratch the head, the
+claws are merely jerked through the fur by motions of the whole leg, not
+by individual movements of the separate toes. In this motion we notice,
+for the first time, that the legs and feet grow in a kind of "spread
+eagle" position, making the knees point backward, in the same direction as
+the elbows.
+
+We must stop a moment to admire the beautiful soft fur, a golden brown in
+colour, with part of the back nearly black. The tiny inverted face is full
+of expression, the bead-like eyes gleaming brightly from out of their
+furry bed. The small moist nostrils are constantly wrinkling and
+sniffling, and the large size of the alert ears shows how much their owner
+depends upon them for information. If we suddenly move up closer to the
+wires, the bat opens both wings owl-like, in a most threatening manner;
+but if we make still more hostile motions the creature retreats as hastily
+as it can, changing its method of progress to an all-fours, sloth-like
+gait, the long free thumb of each hand grasping wire after wire and doing
+most of the leverage, the hind legs following passively.
+
+When at what he judges a safe distance he again hangs pendent, bending his
+head back to look earnestly at us. Soon the half-opened wings are closed
+and brought close to the shoulders, and in this, the usual resting
+position, the large claws of the thumbs rest on the breast in little
+furrows which they have worn in the fur.
+
+Soon drowsiness comes on and a long elaborate yawn is given, showing the
+many small needle-like teeth and the broad red tongue, which curls outward
+to a surprising length. Then comes the most curious process of all.
+Drawing up one leg, the little creature deliberately wraps one hand with
+its clinging web around the leg and under the arms, and then draws the
+other wing straight across the body, holds it there a moment, while it
+takes a last look in all directions. Then lifting its fingers slightly, it
+bends its head and wraps all in the full-spread web. It is most
+ludicrously like a tragedian, acting the death scene in "Julius Caesar,"
+and it loses nothing in repetition; for each time the little animal thus
+draws its winding sheet about its body, one is forced to smile as he
+thinks of the absurd resemblance.
+
+But all this and much more you will see for yourself, if you are so
+fortunate as to discover the hiding-place of the hibernating bat.
+
+Our little brown bat is a most excellent mother, and when in summer she
+starts out on her nocturnal hunts she takes her tiny baby bat with her.
+The weird little creature wraps his long fingers about his mother's neck
+and off they go. When two young are born, the father bat is said sometimes
+to assume entire control of one.
+
+After we come to know more of the admirable family traits of the
+_fledermaus_--its musical German name--we shall willingly defend it from
+the calumny which for thousands of years has been heaped upon it.
+
+Hibernation is a strange phenomenon, and one which is but little
+understood. If we break into the death-like trance for too long a time, or
+if we do not supply the right kind of food, our captive butterflies and
+bats will perish. So let us soon freeze them up again and place them back
+in the care of old Nature. Thus the pleasure is ours of having made them
+yield up their secrets, without any harm to them. Let us fancy that in the
+spring they may remember us only as a strange dream which has come to them
+during their long sleep.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+MARCH
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+FEATHERED PIONEERS
+
+
+In the annual war of the seasons, March is the time of the most bitterly
+contested battles. But we--and very likely the birds--can look ahead and
+realise what the final outcome will invariably be, and, our sympathies
+being on the winning side, every advance of spring's outposts gladdens our
+hearts. But winter is a stubborn foe, and sometimes his snow and icicle
+battalions will not give way a foot. Though by day the sun's fierce attack
+may drench the earth with the watery blood of the ice legions, yet at
+night, silently and grimly, new reserves of cold repair the damage.
+
+Our winter visitors are still in force. Amid the stinging cold the wee
+brown form of a winter wren will dodge round a brush pile--a tiny bundle
+of energy which defies all chill winds and which resolves bug chrysalides
+and frozen insects into a marvellous activity. Other little birds, as
+small as the wren, call to us from the pines and cedars--golden-crowned
+kinglets, olive-green of body, while on their heads burns a crest of
+orange and gold.
+
+When a good-sized brown bird flies up before you, showing a flash of white
+on his rump, you may know him for the flicker, the most unwoodpecker-like
+of his family. He is more or less deserting the tree-climbing method for
+ground feeding, and if you watch him you will see many habits which his
+new mode of life is teaching him.
+
+Even in the most wintry of Marches some warm, thawing days are sure to be
+thrown in between storms, and nothing, not even pussy willows and the
+skunk cabbage, yield more quickly to the mellowing influence than do the
+birds--sympathetic brethren of ours that they are. Hardly has the sunniest
+icicle begun to drop tears, when a song sparrow flits to the top of a
+bush, clears his throat with sharp chirps and shouts as loud as he can:
+"Hip! Hip! Hip! Hurrah--!" Even more boreal visitors feel the new
+influence, and tree and fox sparrows warble sweetly. But the bluebird's
+note will always be spring's dearest herald. When this soft, mellow sound
+floats from the nearest fence post, it seems to thaw something out of our
+ears; from this instant winter seems on the defensive; the crisis has come
+and gone in an instant, in a single vibration of the air.
+
+Bright colours are still scarce among our birds, but another blue form may
+occasionally pass us, for blue jays are more noticeable now than at any
+other time of the year. Although not by any means a rare bird, with us
+jays are shy and wary. In Florida their southern cousins are as familiar
+as robins, without a trace of fear of mankind. What curious notes our blue
+jays have--a creaking, wheedling, rasping medley of sounds coming through
+the leafless branches. At this time of year they love acorns and nuts, but
+in the spring "their fancy turns to thoughts of" eggs and young nestlings,
+and they are accordingly hated by the small birds. Nevertheless no bird is
+quicker to shout and scream "Thief! Robber!" at some harmless little owl
+than are these blue and white rascals.
+
+You may seek in vain to discover the first sign of nesting among the
+birds. Scarcely has winter set in in earnest, you will think, when the
+tiger-eyed one of the woods--the great horned owl--will have drifted up to
+some old hawk's nest, and laid her white spheres fairly in the snow. When
+you discover her "horns" above the nest lining of dried leaves, you may
+find that her fuzzy young owls are already hatched. But these owls are an
+exception, and no other bird in our latitude cares to risk the dangers of
+late February or early March.
+
+March is sometimes a woodpecker month, and almost any day one is very
+likely to see, besides the flicker, the hairy or downy woodpecker. The
+latter two are almost counterparts of each other, although the downy is
+the more common. They hammer cheerfully upon the sounding boards which
+Nature has provided for them, striking slow or fast, soft or loud, as
+their humour dictates.
+
+Near New York, a day in March--I have found it varying from March 8 to
+March 12--is "crow day." Now the winter roosts apparently break up, and
+all day flocks of crows, sometimes thousands upon thousands of them, pass
+to the northward. If the day is quiet and spring-like, they fly very high,
+black motes silhouetted against the blue,--but if the day is a "March
+day," with whistling, howling winds, then the black fellows fly close to
+earth, rising just enough to clear bushes and trees, and taking leeward
+advantage of every protection. For days after, many crows pass, but never
+so many as on the first day, when crow law, or crow instinct, passes the
+word, we know not how, which is obeyed by all.
+
+For miles around not a drop of water may be found; it seems as if every
+pool and lake were solid to the bottom, and yet, when we see a large bird,
+with goose-like body, long neck and long, pointed beak, flying like a
+bullet of steel through the sky, we may be sure that there is open water
+to the northward, for a loon never makes a mistake. When the first pioneer
+of these hardy birds passes, he knows that somewhere beyond us fish can be
+caught. If we wonder where he has spent the long winter months, we should
+take a steamer to Florida. Out on the ocean, sometimes a hundred miles or
+more from land, many of these birds make their winter home. When the bow
+of the steamer bears down upon one, the bird half spreads its wings, then
+closes them quickly, and sinks out of sight in the green depths, not to
+reappear until the steamer has passed, when he looks after us and utters
+his mocking laugh. Here he will float until the time comes for him to go
+north. We love the brave fellow, remembering him in his home among the
+lakes of Canada; but we tremble for him when we think of the terrible
+storm waves which he must outride, and the sneering sharks which must
+sometimes spy him. What a story he could tell of his life among the
+phalaropes and jelly-fishes!
+
+Meadow larks are in flocks in March, and as their yellow breasts, with the
+central crescent of black, rise from the snow-bent grass, their long,
+clear, vocal "arrow" comes to us, piercing the air like a veritable icicle
+of sound. When on the ground they are walkers like the crow.
+
+As the kingfisher and loon appear to know long ahead when the first bit of
+clear water will appear, so the first insect on the wing seems to be
+anticipated by a feathered flycatcher. Early some morning, when the
+wondrous Northern Lights are still playing across the heavens, a small
+voice may make all the surroundings seem incongruous. Frosty air, rimmed
+tree-trunks, naked branches, aurora--all seem as unreal as stage
+properties, when _phoe-be!_ comes to our ears. Yes, there is the little
+dark-feathered, tail-wagging fellow, hungry no doubt, but sure that when
+the sun warms up, Mother Nature will strew his aerial breakfast-table with
+tiny gnats,--precocious, but none the less toothsome for all that.
+
+             Hark 'tis the bluebird's venturous strain
+                 High on the old fringed elm at the gate--
+             Sweet-voiced, valiant on the swaying bough,
+                 Alert, elate,
+             Dodging the fitful spits of snow,
+                 New England's poet-laureate
+             Telling us Spring has come again!
+                                    Thomas Bailey Aldrich.
+
+
+
+
+THE WAYS OF MEADOW MICE
+
+
+Day after day we may walk through the woods and fields, using our eyes as
+best we can, searching out every moving thing, following up every
+sound,--and yet we touch only the coarsest, perceive only the grossest of
+the life about us. Tramp the same way after a fall of snow and we are
+astonished at the evidences of life of which we knew nothing. Everywhere,
+in and out among the reed stems, around the tree-trunks, and in wavy lines
+and spirals all about, runs the delicate tracery of the meadow mice
+trails. No leapers these, as are the white-footed and jumping mice, but
+short-legged and stout of body. Yet with all their lack of size and
+swiftness, they are untiring little folk, and probably make long journeys
+from their individual nests.
+
+As far north as Canada and west to the Plains the meadow or field mice are
+found, and everywhere they seem to be happy and content. Most of all,
+however, they enjoy the vicinity of water, and a damp, half-marshy meadow
+is a paradise for them. No wonder their worst enemies are known as marsh
+hawks and marsh owls; these hunters of the daylight and the night well
+know where the meadow mice love to play.
+
+These mice are resourceful little beings and when danger threatens they
+will take to the water without hesitation; and when the muskrat has gone
+the way of the beaver, our ditches and ponds will not be completely
+deserted, for the little meadow mice will swim and dive for many years
+thereafter.
+
+Not only in the meadows about our inland streams, but within sound of the
+breakers on the seashore, these vigorous bits of fur find bountiful
+living, and it is said that the mice folk inhabiting these low salt
+marshes always know in some mysterious way when a disastrous high tide is
+due, and flee in time, so that when the remorseless ripples lap higher and
+higher over the wide stretches of salt grass, not a mouse will be drowned.
+By some delicate means of perception all have been notified in time, and
+these, among the least of Nature's children, have run and scurried along
+their grassy paths to find safety on the higher ground.
+
+These paths seem an invention of the meadow mice, and, affording them a
+unique escape from danger, they doubtless, in a great measure, account for
+the extreme abundance of the little creatures. When a deer mouse or a
+chipmunk emerges from its hollow log or underground tunnel, it must take
+its chances in open air. It may dart along close to the ground or amid an
+impenetrable tangle of briers, but still it is always visible from above.
+On the other hand, a mole, pushing blindly along beneath the sod, fears no
+danger from the hawk soaring high overhead.
+
+The method of the meadow mice is between these two: its stratum of active
+life is above the mole and beneath the chipmunk. Scores of sharp little
+incisor teeth are forever busy gnawing and cutting away the tender grass
+and sprouting weeds in long meandering paths or trails through the
+meadows. As these paths are only a mouse-breadth in width, the grasses at
+each side lean inward, forming a perfect shelter of interlocking stems
+overhead. Two purposes are thus fulfilled: a delicious succulent food is
+obtained and a way of escape is kept ever open. These lines intersect and
+cross at every conceivable angle, and as the meadow mice clan are ever
+friendly toward one another, any particular mouse seems at liberty to
+traverse these miles of mouse alleys.
+
+In winter, when the snow lies deep upon the ground, these same mice drive
+tunnels beneath it, leading to all their favourite feeding grounds, to all
+the heavy-seeded weed heads, with which the bounty of Nature supplies
+them. But at night these tunnels are deserted and boldly out upon the snow
+come the meadow mice, chasing each other over its gleaming surface,
+nibbling the toothsome seeds, dodging, or trying to dodge, the
+owl-shadows; living the keen, strenuous, short, but happy, life which is
+that of all the wild meadow folk.
+
+                That wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble
+                Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!
+                Thou saw the fields laid bare and waste,
+                An' weary winter comin' fast,
+                An' cosey here, beneath the blast,
+                    Thou thought to dwell.
+                                           Robert Burns.
+
+
+
+
+PROBLEMS OF BIRD LIFE
+
+
+The principal problems which birds, and indeed all other creatures, have
+to solve, have been well stated to be--Food, Safety, and Reproduction. In
+regard to safety, or the art of escaping danger, we are all familiar with
+the ravages which hawks, owls, foxes, and even red squirrels commit among
+the lesser feathered creatures, but there are other dangers which few of
+us suspect.
+
+Of all creatures birds are perhaps the most exempt from liability to
+accident, yet they not infrequently lose their lives in most unexpected
+ways. Once above trees and buildings, they have the whole upper air free
+of every obstacle, and though their flight sometimes equals the speed of a
+railroad train, they have little to fear when well above the ground.
+Collision with other birds seems scarcely possible, although it sometimes
+does occur. When a covey of quail is flushed, occasionally two birds will
+collide, at times meeting with such force that both are stunned.
+Flycatchers darting at the same insect will now and then come together,
+but not hard enough to injure either bird.
+
+Even the smallest and most wonderful of all flyers, the hummingbird, may
+come to grief in accidental ways. I have seen one entangled in a burdock
+burr, its tiny feathers fast locked into the countless hooks, and again I
+have found the body of one of these little birds with its bill fastened in
+a spiral tendril of a grapevine, trapped in some unknown way.
+
+Young phoebes sometimes become entangled in the horsehairs which are used
+in the lining of their nest. When they are old enough to fly and attempt
+to leave, they are held prisoners or left dangling from the nest. When
+mink traps are set in the snow in winter, owls frequently fall victims,
+mice being scarce and the bait tempting.
+
+Lighthouses are perhaps the cause of more accidents to birds than are any
+of the other obstacles which they encounter on their nocturnal migrations
+north and south. Many hundreds of birds are sometimes found dead at the
+base of these structures. The sudden bright glare is so confusing and
+blinding, as they shoot from the intense darkness into its circle of
+radiance, that they are completely bewildered and dash headlong against
+the thick panes of glass. Telegraph wires are another menace to low-flying
+birds, especially those which, like quail and woodcock, enjoy a whirlwind
+flight, and attain great speed within a few yards. Such birds have been
+found almost cut in two by the force with which they struck the wire.
+
+The elements frequently catch birds unaware and overpower them. A sudden
+wind or storm will drive coast-flying birds hundreds of miles out to sea,
+and oceanic birds may be blown as far inland. Hurricanes in the West
+Indies are said to cause the death of innumerable birds, as well as of
+other creatures. From such a cause small islands are known to have become
+completely depopulated of their feathered inhabitants. Violent hailstorms,
+coming in warm weather without warning, are quite common agents in the
+destruction of birds, and in a city thousands of English sparrows have
+been stricken during such a storm. After a violent storm of wet snow in
+the middle West, myriads of Lapland longspurs were once found dead in the
+streets and suburbs of several villages. On the surface of two small
+lakes, a conservative estimate of the dead birds was a million and a
+half!
+
+The routes which birds follow in migrating north and south sometimes
+extend over considerable stretches of water, as across the Caribbean Sea,
+but the only birds which voluntarily brave the dangers of the open ocean
+are those which, from ability to swim, or great power of flight, can trust
+themselves far away from land. Not infrequently a storm will drive birds
+away from the land and carry them over immense distances, and this
+accounts for the occasional appearance of land birds near vessels far out
+at sea. Overcome with fatigue, they perch for hours in the rigging before
+taking flight in the direction of the nearest land, or, desperate from
+hunger, they fly fearlessly down to the deck, where food and water are
+seldom refused them.
+
+Small events like these are welcome breaks in the monotony of a long ocean
+voyage, but are soon forgotten at the end of the trip.
+
+Two of these ocean waifs were once brought to me. One was a young European
+heron which flew on board a vessel when it was about two hundred and five
+miles southeast of the southern extremity of India. A storm must have
+driven the bird seaward, as there is no migration route near this
+locality.
+
+The second bird was a European turtle dove which was captured not less
+than seven hundred and fifty miles from the nearest land--Ireland. When
+caught it was in an exhausted condition, but it quickly recovered and soon
+lost all signs of the buffeting of the storm. The turtle dove migrates
+northward to the British Islands about the first of May, but as this bird
+was captured on May 17th, it was not migrating, but, caught by a gust of
+wind, was probably blown away from the land. The force of the storm would
+then drive it mile after mile, allowing it no chance of controlling the
+direction of its flight, but, from the very velocity, making it easy for
+the bird to maintain its equilibrium.
+
+Hundreds of birds must perish when left by storms far out at sea, and the
+infinitely small chance of encountering a vessel or other resting-place
+makes a bird which has passed through such an experience and survived,
+interesting indeed.
+
+In winter ruffed grouse have a habit of burrowing deep beneath the snow
+and letting the storm shut them in. In this warm, cosey retreat they spend
+the night, their breath making its way out through the loosely packed
+crystals. But when a cold rain sets in during the night, this becomes a
+fatal trap, an impenetrable crust cutting off their means of escape.
+
+Ducks, when collected about a small open place in an ice-covered pond,
+diving for the tender roots on which they feed, sometimes become confused
+and drown before they find their way out. They have been seen frozen into
+the ice by hundreds, sitting there helplessly, and fortunate if the sun,
+with its thawing power, releases them before they are discovered by
+marauding hawks or foxes.
+
+In connection with their food supply the greatest enemy of birds is ice,
+and when a winter rain ends with a cold snap, and every twig and seed is
+encased in a transparent armour of ice, then starvation stalks close to
+all the feathered kindred. Then is the time to scatter crumbs and grain
+broadcast, to nail bones and suet to the tree-trunks and so awaken hope
+and life in the shivering little forms. If a bird has food in abundance,
+it little fears the cold. I have kept parrakeets out through the blizzards
+and storms of a severe winter, seeing them play and frolic in the snow as
+if their natural home were an arctic tundra, instead of a tropical
+forest.
+
+A friend of birds once planted many sprouts of wild honeysuckle about his
+porch, and the following summer two pairs of hummingbirds built their
+nests in near-by apple trees; he transplanted quantities of living
+woodbine to the garden fences, and when the robins returned in the spring,
+after having remained late the previous autumn feeding on the succulent
+bunches of berries, no fewer than ten pairs nested on and about the porch
+and yard.
+
+So my text of this, as of many other weeks is,--study the food habits of
+the birds and stock your waste places with their favourite berry or vine.
+Your labour will be repaid a hundredfold in song and in the society of the
+little winged comrades.
+
+               Worn is the winter rug of white,
+               And in the snow-bare spots once more,
+               Glimpses of faint green grass in sight,--
+               Spring's footprints on the floor.
+               Spring here--by what magician's touch?
+               'Twas winter scarce an hour ago.
+               And yet I should have guessed as much,--
+                 Those footprints in the snow!
+                                 Frank Dempster Sherman.
+
+
+
+
+DWELLERS IN THE DUST
+
+
+To many of us the differences between a reptile and a batrachian are
+unknown. Even if we have learned that these interesting creatures are well
+worth studying and that they possess few or none of the unpleasant
+characteristics usually attributed to them, still we are apt to speak of
+having seen a lizard in the water at the pond's edge, or of having heard a
+reptile croaking near the marsh. To avoid such mistakes, one need only
+remember that reptiles are covered with scales and that batrachians have
+smooth skins.
+
+Our walks will become more and more interesting as we spread our interest
+over a wider field, not confining our observations to birds and mammals
+alone, but including members of the two equally distinctive classes of
+animals mentioned above. The batrachians, in the northeastern part of our
+country, include the salamanders and newts, the frogs and toads, while as
+reptiles we number lizards, turtles, and snakes.
+
+Lizards are creatures of the tropics and only two small species are found
+in our vicinity, and these occur but rarely. Snakes, however, are more
+abundant, and, besides the rare poisonous copperhead and rattlesnake,
+careful search will reveal a dozen harmless species, the commonest, of
+course, being the garter snake and its near relative the ribbon snake.
+
+About this time of the year snakes begin to feel the thawing effect of the
+sun's rays and to stir in their long winter hibernation. Sometimes we will
+come upon a ball of six or eight intertwined snakes, which, if they are
+still frozen up, will lie motionless upon the ground. But when spring
+finally unclasps the seal which has been put upon tree and ground, these
+reptiles stretch themselves full length upon some exposed stone, where
+they lie basking in the sun.
+
+The process of shedding the skin soon begins; getting clear of the head
+part, eye-scales and all, the serpent slowly wriggles its way forward,
+escaping from the old skin as a finger is drawn from a glove. At last it
+crawls away, bright and shining in its new scaly coat, leaving behind it a
+spectral likeness of itself, which slowly sinks and disintegrates amid the
+dead leaves and moss, or, later in the year, it may perhaps be discovered
+by some crested flycatcher and carried off to be added to its nesting
+material.
+
+When the broods of twenty to thirty young garter snakes start out in life
+to hunt for themselves, then woe to the earthworms, for it is upon them
+that the little serpents chiefly feed.
+
+Six or seven of our native species of snakes lay eggs, usually depositing
+them under the bark of rotten logs, or in similar places, where they are
+left to hatch by the heat of the sun or by that of the decaying
+vegetation. It is interesting to gather these leathery shelled eggs and
+watch them hatch, and it is surprising how similar to each other some of
+the various species are when they emerge from the shell.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+APRIL
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+SPRING SONGSTERS
+
+
+Early April sees the last contest which winter wages for supremacy, and
+often it is a half-hearted attempt; but after the army of the North has
+retreated, with its icicles and snowdrifts, spring seems dazed for a
+while. Victory has been dearly bought, and April is the season when, for a
+time, the trees and insects hang fire--paralysed--while the chill is
+thawing from their marrow. Our northern visitors of the bird world slip
+quietly away. There is no great gathering of clans like that of the tree
+swallows in the fall, but silently, one by one, they depart, following the
+last moan of the north wind, covering winter's disordered retreat with
+warbles and songs.
+
+One evening we notice the juncos and tree sparrows in the tangled,
+frost-burned stubble, and the next day, although our eye catches glints of
+white from sparrow tails, it is from vesper finches, not from juncos, and
+the weed spray which a few hours before bent beneath a white-throat's
+weight, now vibrates with the energy which a field sparrow puts into his
+song. Field and chipping sparrows, which now come in numbers, are somewhat
+alike, but by their beaks and songs you may know them. The mandibles of
+the former are flesh-coloured, those of the latter black. The sharp
+_chip!_ _chip!_ is characteristic of the "chippy," but the sweet, dripping
+song of the field sparrow is charming. No elaborate performance this, but
+a succession of sweet, high notes, accelerating toward the end, like a
+coin of silver settling to rest on a marble table--a simple, chaste
+vespers which rises to the setting sun and endears the little brown singer
+to us.
+
+We may learn much by studying these homely little frequenters of our
+orchards and pastures; each has a hundred secrets which await patient and
+careful watching by their human lovers. In the chipping sparrow we may
+notice a hint of the spring change of dress which warblers and tanagers
+carry to such an extreme. When he left us in the fall he wore a
+dull-streaked cap, but now he comes from the South attired in a smart
+head-covering of bright chestnut. Poor little fellow, this is the very
+best he can do in the way of especial ornament to bewitch his lady love,
+but it suffices. Can the peacock's train do more?
+
+This is the time to watch for the lines of ducks crossing the sky, and be
+ready to find black ducks in the oddest places--even in insignificant rain
+pools deep in the woods. In the early spring the great flocks of grackles
+and redwings return, among the first to arrive as they were the last to
+leave for the South.
+
+Before the last fox sparrow goes, the hermit thrush comes, and these
+birds, alike in certain superficialities, but so actually unrelated, for a
+time seek their food in the same grove.
+
+The hardier of the warblers pass us in April, stopping a few days before
+continuing to the northward. We should make haste to identify them and to
+learn all we can of their notes and habits, not only because of the short
+stay which most of them make, but on account of the vast assemblage of
+warbler species already on the move in the Southern States, which soon, in
+panoply of rainbow hues, will crowd our groves and wear thin the warbler
+pages of our bird books.
+
+These April days we are sure to see flocks of myrtle, or yellow-rumped
+warblers, and yellow palm warblers in their olive-green coats and chestnut
+caps. The black-and-white creeper will always show himself true to his
+name--a creeping bundle of black and white streaks. When we hear of the
+parula warbler or of the Cape May warbler we get no idea of the appearance
+of the bird, but when we know that the black-throated green warblers begin
+to appear in April, the first good view of one of this species will
+proclaim him as such.
+
+We have marked the fox sparrow as being a great scratcher among dead
+leaves. His habit is continued in the spring by the towhee, or chewink,
+who uses the same methods, throwing both feet backward simultaneously. The
+ordinary call note of this bird is a good example of how difficult it is
+to translate bird songs into human words. Listen to the quick, double note
+coming from the underbrush. Now he says "_towhee'!_" the next time
+"_chewink'!_" You may change about at will, and the notes will always
+correspond. Whatever is in our mind at the instant, that will seem to be
+what the bird says. This should warn us of the danger of reading our
+thoughts and theories too much into the minds and actions of birds. Their
+mental processes, in many ways, correspond to ours. When a bird expresses
+fear, hate, bravery, pain or pleasure, we can sympathise thoroughly with
+it, but in studying their more complex actions we should endeavour to
+exclude the thousand and one human attributes with which we are prone to
+colour the bird's mental environment.
+
+John Burroughs has rendered the song of the black-throated green warbler
+in an inimitable way, as follows: "---- ----V----!" When we have once
+heard the bird we will instantly recognise the aptness of these symbolic
+lines. The least flycatcher, called _minimus_ by the scientists, well
+deserves his name, for of all those members of his family which make their
+home with us, he is the smallest. These miniature flycatchers have a way
+of hunting which is all their own. They sit perched on some exposed twig
+or branch, motionless until some small insect flies in sight. Then they
+will launch out into the air, and, catching the insect with a snap of
+their beaks, fly back to the same perch. They are garbed in subdued grays,
+olives, and yellows. The least flycatcher has another name which at once
+distinguishes him--chebec'. As he sits on a limb, his whole body trembles
+when he jerks out these syllables, and his tail snaps as if it played some
+important part in the mechanism of his vocal effort.
+
+When you are picking cowslips and hepaticas early in the month, keep a
+lookout for the first barn swallow. Nothing gives us such an impression of
+the independence and individuality of birds as when a solitary member of
+some species arrives days before others of his kind. One fork-tailed
+beauty of last year's nest above the haymow may hawk about for insects day
+after day alone, before he is joined by other swallows. Did he spend the
+winter by himself, or did the _heimweh_ smite his heart more sorely and
+bring him irresistibly to the loved nest in the rafters? This love of
+home, which is so striking an attribute of birds, is a wonderfully
+beautiful thing. It brings the oriole back to the branch where still
+swings her exquisite purse-shaped home of last summer; it leads each pair
+of fishhawks to their particular cartload of sticks, to which a few more
+must be added each year; it hastens the wing beats of the sea-swallows
+northward to the beach which, ten months ago, was flecked with their
+eggs--the shifting grains of sand their only nest.
+
+This love of home, of birthplace, bridges over a thousand physical
+differences between these feathered creatures and ourselves. We forget
+their expressionless masks of horn, their feathered fingers, their scaly
+toes, and looking deep into their clear, bright eyes, we know and feel a
+kinship, a sympathy of spirit, which binds us all together, and we are
+glad.
+
+              Yet these sweet sounds of the early season,
+                And these fair sights of its sunny days,
+              Are only sweet when we fondly listen,
+                And only fair when we fondly gaze.
+
+              There is no glory in star or blossom
+                Till looked upon by a loving eye;
+              There is no fragrance in April breezes
+                Till breathed with joy as they wander by.
+                                   William Cullen Bryant.
+
+
+
+
+THE SIMPLE ART OF SAPSUCKING
+
+
+The yellow-bellied sapsucker is, at this time of year, one of our most
+abundant woodpeckers, and in its life we have an excellent example of that
+individuality which is ever cropping out in Nature--the trial and
+acceptance of life under new conditions.
+
+In the spring we tap the sugar maples, and gather great pailfuls of the
+sap as it rises from its winter resting-place in the roots, and the
+sapsucker likes to steal from our pails or to tap the trees for himself.
+But throughout part of the year he is satisfied with an insect diet and
+chooses the time when the sap begins to flow downward in the autumn for
+committing his most serious depredations upon the tree. It was formerly
+thought that this bird, like its near relatives, the downy and hairy
+woodpeckers, was forever boring for insects; but when we examine the
+regularity and symmetry of the arrangement of its holes, we realise that
+they are for a very different purpose than the exposing of an occasional
+grub.
+
+Besides drinking the sap from the holes, this bird extracts a quantity of
+the tender inner bark of the tree, and when a tree has been encircled for
+several feet up and down its trunk by these numerous little sap wells, the
+effect becomes apparent in the lessened circulation of the liquid blood of
+the tree; and before long, death is certain to ensue. So the work of the
+sapsucker is injurious, while the grub-seeking woodpeckers confer only
+good upon the trees they frequent.
+
+And how pitiful is the downfall of a doomed tree! Hardly has its vitality
+been lessened an appreciable amount, when somehow the word is passed to
+the insect hordes who hover about in waiting, as wolves hang upon the
+outskirts of a herd of buffalo. In the spring, when the topmost branches
+have received a little less than their wonted amount of wholesome sap and
+the leaves are less vigorous, the caterpillars and twig-girdlers attack at
+once. Ichneumen flies and boring beetles seem to know by signs invisible
+to us that here is opportunity. Then in the fall come again the sapsuckers
+to the tree, remorselessly driving hole after hole through the still
+untouched segments of its circle of life. When the last sap-channel is
+pierced and no more can pass to the roots, the tree stands helpless,
+waiting for the end. Swiftly come frost and rain, and when the April suns
+again quicken all the surrounding vegetation into vigorous life, the
+victim of the sapsuckers stands lifeless, its branches reaching hopelessly
+upward, a naked mockery amid the warm green foliage around. Insects and
+fungi and lightning now set to work unhindered, and the tree falls at
+last,--dust to dust--ashes to ashes.
+
+A sapsucker has been seen in early morning to sink forty or fifty wells
+into the bark of a mountain ash tree, and then to spend the rest of the
+day in sidling from one to another, taking a sip here and a drink there,
+gradually becoming more and more lethargic and drowsy, as if the sap
+actually produced some narcotic or intoxicating effect. Strong indeed is
+the contrast between such a picture and the same bird in the early
+spring,--then full of life and vigour, drawing musical reverberations from
+some resonant hollow limb.
+
+Like other idlers, the sapsucker in its deeds of gluttony and harm brings,
+if anything, more injury to others than to itself. The farmers well know
+its depredations and detest it accordingly, but unfortunately they are not
+ornithologists, and a peckerwood is a peckerwood to them; and so while the
+poor downy, the red-head, and the hairy woodpeckers are seen busily at
+work cutting the life threads of the injurious borer larvae, the farmer,
+thinking of his dying trees, slays them all without mercy or distinction.
+The sapsucker is never as confiding as the downy, and from a safe distance
+sees others murdered for sins which are his alone.
+
+But we must give sapsucker his due and admit that he devours many hundreds
+of insects throughout the year, and though we mourn the death of an
+occasional tree, we cannot but admire his new venture in life,--his
+cunning in choosing only the dessert served at the woodpeckers'
+feasts,--the sweets which flow at the tap of a beak, leaving to his
+fellows the labour of searching and drilling deep for more substantial
+courses.
+
+
+
+
+WILD WINGS
+
+
+The ides of March see the woodcock back in its northern home, and in early
+April it prepares for nesting. The question of the nest itself is a very
+simple matter, being only a cavity, formed by the pressure of the mother's
+body, among the moss and dead leaves. The formalities of courtship are,
+however, quite another thing, and the execution of interesting aerial
+dances entails much effort and time.
+
+It is in the dusk of evening that the male woodcock begins his
+song,--plaintive notes uttered at regular intervals, and sounding like
+_peent!_ _peent!_ Then without warning he launches himself on a sharply
+ascending spiral, his wings whistling through the gloom. Higher and higher
+he goes, balances a moment, and finally descends abruptly, with zigzag
+rushes, wings and voice both aiding each other in producing the sounds, to
+which, let us suppose, his prospective mate listens with ecstasy. It is a
+weird performance, repeated again and again during the same evening.
+
+So pronounced and loud is the whistling of the wings that we wonder how it
+can be produced by ordinary feathers. The three outer primaries of the
+wing, which in most birds are usually like the others, in the woodcock are
+very stiff, and the vanes are so narrow that when the wing is spread there
+is a wide space between each one. When the wing beats the air rapidly, the
+wind rushes through these feather slits,--and we have the accompaniment of
+the love-song explained.
+
+The feather-covered arms and hands of birds are full of interest; and
+after studying the wing of a chicken which has been plucked for the table,
+we shall realise how wonderful a transformation has taken place through
+the millions of years past. Only three stubby fingers are left and these
+are stiff and almost immovable, but the rest of the forearm is very like
+that of our own arm.
+
+See how many facts we can accumulate about wings, by giving special
+attention to them, when watching birds fly across the sky. How easy it is
+to identify the steady beats of a crow, or the more rapid strokes of a
+duck; how distinctive is the frequent looping flight of a goldfinch, or
+the longer, more direct swings of a woodpecker!
+
+Hardly any two birds have wings exactly similar in shape, every wing being
+exquisitely adapted to its owner's needs. The gull soars or flaps slowly
+on his long, narrow, tireless pinions, while the quail rises suddenly
+before us on short, rounded wings, which carry it like a rocket for a
+short distance, when it settles quickly to earth again. The gull would
+fare ill were it compelled to traverse the ocean with such brief spurts of
+speed, while, on the other hand, the last bob-white would shortly vanish,
+could it escape from fox or weasel only with the slow flight of a gull.
+How splendidly the sickle wings of a swift enable it to turn and twist,
+bat-like, in its pursuit of insects!
+
+You may be able to identify any bird near your home, you may know its nest
+and eggs, its song and its young; but begin at the beginning again and
+watch their wings and their feet and their bills and you will find that
+there are new and wonderful truths at your very doorstep. Try bringing
+home from your walk a list of bill-uses or feet-functions. Remember that a
+familiar object, looked at from a new point of view, will take to itself
+unthought-of significance.
+
+          Whither midst falling dew,
+            While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
+          Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
+            Thy solitary way?
+                                        William Cullen Bryant.
+
+
+
+
+THE BIRDS IN THE MOON
+
+
+The lover of birds who has spent the day in the field puts away his
+glasses at nightfall, looking forward to a walk after dark only as a
+chance to hear the call of nocturnal birds or to catch the whirr of a
+passing wing. But some bright moonlight night in early May, or again in
+mid September, unsheath your glasses and tie them, telescope-fashion, to a
+window-ledge or railing. Seat yourself in an easy position and focus on
+the moon. Shut out all earthly scenes from your mind and imagine yourself
+wandering amid those arid wastes. What a scene of cosmic desolation! What
+vast deserts, and gaping craters of barren rock! The cold, steel-white
+planet seems of all things most typical of death.
+
+But those specks passing across its surface? At first you imagine they are
+motes clogging the delicate blood-vessels of the retina; then you wonder
+if a distant host of falling meteors could have passed. Soon a larger,
+nearer mote appears; the moon and its craters are forgotten and with a
+thrill of delight you realise that they are birds--living, flying
+birds--of all earthly things typical of the most vital life! Migration is
+at its height, the chirps and twitters which come from the surrounding
+darkness are tantalising hints telling of the passing legions. Thousands
+and thousands of birds are every night pouring northward in a swift,
+invisible, aerial stream.
+
+As a projecting pebble in mid-stream blurs the transparent water with a
+myriad bubbles, so the narrow path of moon-rays, which our glass reveals,
+cute a swath of visibility straight through the host of birds to our eager
+eyes. How we hate to lose an instant's opportunity! Even a wink may allow
+a familiar form to pass unseen. If we can use a small telescope, the field
+of view is much enlarged. Now and then we recognise the flight of some
+particular species,--the swinging loop of a woodpecker or goldfinch, or
+the flutter of a sandpiper.
+
+It has been computed that these birds sometimes fly as much as a mile or
+more above the surface of the earth, and when we think of the tiny,
+fluttering things at this terrible height, it takes our breath away. What
+a panorama of dark earth and glistening river and ocean must be spread out
+beneath them! How the big moon must glow in that rarefied air! How
+diminutive and puerile must seem the houses and cities of human
+fashioning!
+
+The instinct of migration is one of the most wonderful in the world. A
+young bob-white and a bobolink are hatched in the same New England field.
+The former grows up and during the fall and winter forms one of the covey
+which is content to wander a mile or two, here and there, in search of
+good feeding grounds. Hardly has the bobolink donned his first full dress
+before an irresistible impulse seizes him. One night he rises up and up,
+ever higher on fluttering wings, sets his course southward, gives you a
+glimpse of him across the moon, and keeps on through Virginia to Florida,
+across seas, over tropical islands, far into South America, never content
+until he has put the great Amazon between him and his far distant
+birthplace.
+
+         He who, from zone to zone,
+           Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
+         In the long way that I must tread alone,
+           Will lead my steps aright.
+                                         William Cullen Bryant.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+MAY
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+THE HIGH TIDE OF BIRD LIFE
+
+
+For abundance and for perfection of song and plumage, of the whole year,
+May is the month of birds. Insects appear slowly in the spring and are
+numerous all summer; squirrels and mice are more or less in evidence
+during all the twelve months; reptiles unearth themselves at the approach
+of the warm weather, and may be found living their slow, sluggish life
+until late in the fall. In eggs, cocoons, discarded bird's-nests, in
+earthen burrows, or in the mud at the bottom of pond or stream, all these
+creatures have spent the winter near where we find them in the spring. But
+birds are like creatures of another world; and, although in every summer's
+walk we may see turtles, birds, butterflies, and chipmunks, all
+interweaving their life paths across one another's haunts, yet the power
+of extended flight and the wonderful habit of continental migration set
+birds apart from all other living creatures. A bird during its lifetime
+has almost twice the conscious existence of, say, a snake or any
+hibernating mammal. And now in early May, when the creatures of the woods
+and fields have only recently opened their sleepy eyes and stretched their
+thin forms, there comes the great worldwide army of the birds, whose
+bright eyes peer at us from tree, thicket, and field, whose brilliant
+feathers and sweet songs bring summer with a leap--the height of the grand
+symphony, of which the vernal peeping of the frogs and the squirrels'
+chatter were only the first notes of the prelude.
+
+Tantalus-like is the condition of the amateur bird-lover, who, book in
+hand, vainly endeavours to identify the countless beautiful forms which
+appear in such vast numbers, linger a few days and then disappear, passing
+on to the northward, but leaving behind a goodly assemblage which spends
+the summer and gives abundant opportunity for study during the succeeding
+months. In May it is the migrants which we should watch, and listen to,
+and "ogle" with our opera glasses. Like many other evanescent things,
+those birds which have made their winter home in Central America--land yet
+beyond our travels--and which use our groves merely as half-way houses on
+their journey to the land of their birth, the balsams of Quebec, or the
+unknown wastes of Labrador, seem most precious, most worthy at this time
+of our closest observation.
+
+More confusing--albeit the more delightful--is a season when continued
+cold weather and chilly rains hold back all but the hardiest birds,
+until--like the dammed-up piles of logs trembling with the spring
+freshets--the tropic winds carry all before them, and all at once winter
+birds which have sojourned only a few miles south of us, summer residents
+which should have appeared weeks ago, together with the great host of
+Canadian and other nesters of the north, appear within a few days' time.
+
+A backward season brings strangers into close company for a while. A
+white-throat sings his clear song of the North, and a moment later is
+answered by an oriole's melody, or the sweet tones of a rose-breasted
+grosbeak--the latter one of those rarely favoured birds, exquisite in both
+plumage and song.
+
+The glories of our May bird life are the wood warblers, and innumerable
+they must seem to one who is just beginning his studies; indeed, there are
+over seventy species that find their way into the United States. Many are
+named from the distribution of colour upon their plumage--the blue-winged
+yellow, the black-throated blue, chestnut-sided, bay-breasted, and black
+poll. Perhaps the two most beautiful--most reflective of bright tropical
+skies and flowers--are the magnolia and the blackburnian. The first fairly
+dazzles us with its bluish crown, white and black face, black and
+olive-green back, white marked wings and tail, yellow throat and rump, and
+strongly streaked breast. The blackburnian is an exquisite little fellow,
+marked with white and black, but with the crown, several patches on the
+face, the throat and breast of a rich warm orange that glows amid the
+green foliage like a living coal of fire. The black poll warbler is an
+easy bird to identify; but do not expect to recognise it when it returns
+from the North in the fall. Its black crown has disappeared, and in
+general it looks like a different bird.
+
+At the present time when the dogwood blossoms are in their full
+perfection, and the branches and twigs of the trees are not yet hidden,
+but their outlines only softened by the light, feathery foliage, the
+tanagers and orioles have their day. Nesting cares have not yet made them
+fearful of showing their bright plumage, and scores of the scarlet and
+orange forms play among the branches.
+
+The flycatchers and vireos now appear in force--little hunters of insects
+clad in leafy greens and browns, with now and then a touch of
+brightness--as in the yellow-throated vireo or in the crest of the
+kingbird.
+
+The lesser sandpipers, both the spotted and the solitary, teeter along the
+brooks and ponds, and probe the shallows for tiny worms. Near the woody
+streams the so-called water thrushes spring up before us. Strange birds
+these, in appearance like thrushes, in their haunts and in their teetering
+motion like sandpipers, but in reality belonging to the same family as the
+tree-loving wood warblers. A problem not yet solved by ornithologists is:
+what was the mode of life of the ancestor of the many warblers? Did he
+cling to and creep along the bark, as the black-and-white warbler, or feed
+from the ground or the thicket as does the worm-eating? Did he snatch
+flies on the wing as the necklaced Canadian warbler, or glean from the
+brook's edge as our water thrush? The struggle for existence has not been
+absent from the lives of these light-hearted little fellows, and they have
+had to be jack-of-all-trades in their search for food.
+
+The gnats and other flying insects have indeed to take many chances when
+they slip from their cocoons and dance up and down in the warm sunlight!
+Lucky for their race that there are millions instead of thousands of them;
+for now the swifts and great numbers of tree and barn swallows spend the
+livelong day in swooping after the unfortunate gauzy-winged motes, which
+have risen above the toad's maw upon land, and beyond the reach of the
+trout's leap over the water.
+
+It would take an article as long as this simply to mention hardly more
+than the names of the birds that we may observe during a walk in May; and
+with bird book and glasses we must see for ourselves the bobolinks in the
+broad meadows, the cowbirds and rusty blackbirds, and, pushing through the
+lady-slipper marshes, we may surprise the solitary great blue and the
+little green herons at their silent fishing.
+
+No matter how late the spring may be, the great migration host will reach
+its height from the tenth to the fifteenth of the month. From this until
+June first, migrants will be passing, but in fewer and fewer numbers,
+until the balance comes to rest again, and we may cease from the strenuous
+labours of the last few weeks, confident that those birds that remain will
+be the builders of the nests near our homes--nests that they know so well
+how to hide. Even before the last day of May passes, we see many young
+birds on their first weak-winged flights, such as bluebirds and robins;
+but June is the great month of bird homes, as to May belong the migrants.
+
+         Robins and mocking birds that all day long
+         Athwart straight sunshine weave cross-threads of song.
+                                                 Sidney Lanier.
+
+
+
+
+ANIMAL FASHIONS
+
+
+Warm spring days bring other changes than thawing snowbanks and the
+swelling buds and leaves, which seem to grow almost visibly. It is
+surprising how many of the wild folk meet the spring with changed
+appearance--beautiful, fantastic or ugly to us; all, perhaps, beautiful to
+them and to their mates.
+
+As a rule we find the conditions which exist among ourselves reversed
+among the animals; the male "blossoms forth like the rose," while the
+female's sombre winter fur or feathers are reduplicated only by a thinner
+coat for summer. The "spring opening" of the great classes of birds and
+animals is none the less interesting because its styles are not set by
+Parisian modistes.
+
+The most gorgeous display of all is to be found among the birds, the
+peacock leading in conspicuousness and self-consciousness. What a contrast
+to the dull earthy-hued little hen, for whose slightest favour he neglects
+food to raise his Argus-eyed fan, clattering his quill castanets and
+screaming challenges to his rivals! He will even fight bloody battles with
+invading suitors; and, after all, failure may be the result. Imagine the
+feelings of two superb birds fighting over a winsome browny, to see
+her--as I have done--walk off with a spurless, half-plumaged young cock!
+
+The males of many birds, such as the scarlet tanager and the indigo
+bunting, assume during the winter the sombre green or brown hue of the
+female, changing in spring to a glorious scarlet and black, or to an
+exquisite indigo colour respectively. Not only do most of the females of
+the feathered world retain their dull coats throughout the year, but some
+deface even this to form feather beds for the precious eggs and nestlings,
+to protect which bright colours must be entirely foregone.
+
+The spring is the time when decorations are seen at their best. The snowy
+egret trails his filmy cloud of plumes, putting to shame the stiff
+millinery bunches of similar feathers torn from his murdered brethren.
+Even the awkward and querulous night heron exhibits a long curling plume
+or two. And what a strange criterion of beauty a female white pelican must
+have! To be sure, the graceful crest which Sir Pelican erects is
+beautiful, but that huge, horny "keel" or "sight" on his bill! What use
+can it subserve, aesthetic or otherwise? One would think that such a
+structure growing so near his eyes, and day by day becoming taller, must
+occupy much of his attention.
+
+The sheldrake ducks also have a fleshy growth on the bill. A turkey
+gobbler, when his vernal wedding dress is complete, is indeed a remarkable
+sight. The mass of wattles, usually so gray and shrunken, is now of most
+vivid hues--scarlet, blue, vermilion, green,--the fleshy tassels and
+swollen knobs making him a most extraordinary creature.
+
+Birds are noted for taking exquisite care of their plumage, and if the
+feathers become at all dingy or unkempt, we know the bird is in bad
+health.
+
+What a time the deer and the bears, the squirrels and the mice, have when
+changing their dress! Rags and tatters; tatters and rags! One can grasp a
+handful of hair on the flank of a caribou or elk in a zoological park, and
+the whole will come out like thistledown; while underneath is seen the
+sleek, short summer coat. A bear will sometimes carry a few locks of the
+long, brown winter fur for months after the clean black hairs of the
+summer's coat are grown. What a boon to human tailors such an opportunity
+would be--to ordain that Mr. X. must wear the faded collar or vest of his
+old suit until bills are paid!
+
+It is a poor substance, indeed, which, when cast aside, is not available
+for some secondary use in Nature's realm; and the hairs that fall from
+animals are not all left to return unused to their original elements. The
+sharp eyes of birds spy them out, and thus the lining to many a nest is
+furnished. I knew of one feathered seeker of cast-off clothing which met
+disaster through trying to get a supply at first hand--a sparrow was found
+dead, tangled in the hairs of a pony's tail. The chickadee often lights on
+the backs of domestic cattle and plucks out hair with which to line some
+snug cavity near by for his nest. Before the cattle came his ancestors
+were undoubtedly in the habit of helping themselves from the deer's stock
+of "ole clo's," as they have been observed getting their building material
+from the deer in zoological parks.
+
+Of course the hair of deer and similar animals falls out with the motions
+of the creatures, or is brushed out by bushes and twigs; but we must hope
+that the shedding place of a porcupine is at a distance from his customary
+haunts; it would be so uncomfortable to run across a shred of one's old
+clothes--if one were a porcupine!
+
+The skin of birds and animals wears away in small flakes, but when a
+reptile changes to a new suit of clothes, the old is shed almost entire. A
+frog after shedding its skin will very often turn round and swallow it,
+establishing the frog maxim "every frog his own old clothes bag!"
+
+Birds, which exhibit so many idiosyncrasies, appear again as utilizers of
+old clothes; although when a crested flycatcher weaves a long
+snake-skin into the fabric of its nest, it seems more from the standpoint
+of a curio collector--as some people delight in old worn brass and blue
+china! There is another if less artistic theory for this peculiarity of
+the crested flycatcher. The skin of a snake--a perfect ghost in its
+completeness--would make a splendid "bogie." We can see that it might,
+indeed, be useful in such a way, as in frightening marauding crows,
+who approach with cannibalistic intentions upon eggs or young. Thus
+the skin would correspond in function to the rows of dummy wooden
+guns, which make a weak fort appear all but invincible.
+
+
+
+
+POLLIWOG PROBLEMS
+
+
+The ancient Phoenicians, Egyptians, Hindus, Japanese, and Greeks all
+shared the belief that the whole world was hatched from an egg made by the
+Creator. This idea of development is at least true in the case of every
+living thing upon the earth to-day; every plant springs from its seed,
+every animal from its egg. And still another sweeping, all-inclusive
+statement may be made,--every seed or egg at first consists of but one
+cell, and by the division of this into many cells, the lichen, violet,
+tree, worm, crab, butterfly, fish, frog, or other higher creature is
+formed. A little embryology will give a new impetus to our studies,
+whether we watch the unfolding leaves of a sunflower, a caterpillar
+emerging from its egg, or a chick breaking through its shell.
+
+The very simplest and best way to begin this study is to go to the nearest
+pond, where the frogs have been croaking in the evenings. A search among
+the dead leaves and water-soaked sticks will reveal a long string of black
+beads. These are the eggs of the toad; if, however, the beads are not in
+strings, but in irregular masses, then they are frogs' eggs. In any case
+take home a tumblerful, place a few, together with the thick, transparent
+gelatine, in which they are encased, in a saucer, and examine them
+carefully under a good magnifying glass, or, better still, through a
+low-power microscope lens.
+
+You will notice that the tiny spheres are not uniformly coloured but that
+half is whitish. If the eggs have been recently laid the surface will be
+smooth and unmarked, but have patience and watch them for as long a time
+as you can spare. Whenever I can get a batch of such eggs, I never grudge
+a whole day spent in observing them, for it is seldom that the mysterious
+processes of life are so readily watched and followed.
+
+Keep your eye fixed on the little black and white ball of jelly and before
+long, gradually and yet with never a halt, a tiny furrow makes its way
+across the surface, dividing the egg into equal halves. When it completely
+encircles the sphere you may know that you have seen one of the greatest
+wonders of the world. The egg which consisted of but one cell is now
+divided into two exactly equal parts, of the deepest significance. Of the
+latter truth we may judge from the fact that if one of those cells should
+be injured, only one-half a polliwog would result,--either a head or a
+tail half.
+
+Before long the unseen hand of life ploughs another furrow across the egg,
+and we have now four cells. These divide into eight, sixteen, and so on
+far beyond human powers of numeration, until the beginnings of all the
+organs of the tadpole are formed. While we cannot, of course, follow this
+development, we can look at our egg every day and at last see the little
+_wiggle heads_ or polliwogs (from _pol_ and _wiggle_) emerge.
+
+In a few days they develop a fin around the tail, and from now on it is an
+easy matter to watch the daily growth. There is no greater miracle in the
+world than to see one of these aquatic, water-breathing, limbless
+creatures transform before your eyes into a terrestrial, four-legged frog
+or toad, breathing air like ourselves. The humble polliwog in its
+development is significant of far more marvellous facts than the
+caterpillar changing into the butterfly, embodying as it does the deepest
+poetry and romance of evolution.
+
+               Blue dusk, that brings the dewy hours,
+                 Brings thee, of graceless form in sooth.
+                                           Edgar Fawcett.
+
+
+
+
+INSECT PIRATES AND SUBMARINES
+
+
+Far out on the ocean, when the vessel is laboriously making her way
+through the troughs and over the crests of the great waves, little birds,
+black save for a patch of white on the lower back, are a common sight,
+flying with quick irregular wing-beats, close to the surface of the
+troubled waters. When they spy some edible bit floating beneath them, down
+they drop until their tiny webbed feet just rest upon the water. Then,
+snatching up the titbit, half-flying, they patter along the surface of the
+water, just missing being engulfed by each oncoming wave. Thus they have
+come to be named petrels--little Peters--because they seem to walk upon
+the water. Without aid from the wings, however, they would soon be
+immersed, so the walking is only an illusion.
+
+But in our smallest ponds and brooks we may see this miracle taking place
+almost daily, the feat being accomplished by a very interesting little
+assemblage of insects, commonly called water skaters or striders. Let us
+place our eyes as near as possible to the surface of the water and watch
+the little creatures darting here and there.
+
+We see that they progress securely on the top of the water, resting upon
+it as if it were a sheet of ice. Their feet are so adapted that the water
+only dimples beneath their slight weight, the extent of the depression not
+being visible to the eye, but clearly outlined in the shadows upon the
+bottom. In an eddy of air a tiny fly is caught and whirled upon the water,
+where it struggles vigorously, striving to lift its wings clear of the
+surface. In an instant the water strider--pirate of the pond that he
+is--reaches forward his crooked fore legs, and here endeth the career of
+the unfortunate fly.
+
+In the air, in the earth, and below the surface of the water are hundreds
+of living creatures, but the water striders and their near relatives are
+unique. No other group shares their power of actually walking, or rather
+pushing themselves, upon the surface of the water. They have a little
+piece of the world all to themselves. Yet, although three fifths of the
+earth's surface consists of water, this group of insects is a small one. A
+very few, however, are found out upon the ocean, where the tiny creatures
+row themselves cheerfully along. It is thought that they attach their eggs
+to the floating saragassum seaweed. If only we knew the whole life of one
+of these ocean water striders and all the strange sights it must see, a
+fairy story indeed would be unfolded to us.
+
+However, all the Lilliputian craft of our brooks are not galleys; there
+are submarines, which, in excellence of action and control, put to shame
+all human efforts along the same line. These are the water boatmen, stout
+boat-shaped insects whose hind legs are long, projecting outward like the
+oars of a rowboat. They feather their oars, too, or rather the oars are
+feathered for them, a fringe of long hairs growing out on each side of the
+blade. Some of the boatmen swim upside down, and these have the back
+keeled instead of the breast. Like real submarine boats, these insects
+have to come up for air occasionally; and, again like similar craft of
+human handiwork, their principal mission in life seems to be warfare upon
+the weaker creatures about them.
+
+Upon their bodies are many short hairs that have the power of enclosing
+and retaining a good-sized bubble of air. Thus the little boatman is well
+supplied for each submarine trip, and he does not have to return to the
+surface until all this storage air has been exhausted. In perfectly pure
+water, however, these boatmen can remain almost indefinitely below the
+surface, although it is not known how they obtain from the water the
+oxygen which they usually take from the air.
+
+All of these skaters and boatmen thrive in small aquariums, and if given
+pieces of scraped meat will live in perfect health. Here is an alluring
+opportunity for anyone to add to our knowledge of insect life; for the
+most recent scientific books admit that we do not yet know the complete
+life history of even one of these little brothers of the pond.
+
+                Clear and cool, clear and cool,
+                By laughing shallow, and dreaming pool;
+                Cool and clear, cool and clear,
+                By shining shingle, and foaming weir,
+                                      Charles Kingsley.
+
+
+
+
+THE VICTORY OF THE NIGHTHAWK
+
+
+The time is not far distant when the bottom of the sea will be the only
+place where primeval wildness will not have been defiled or destroyed by
+man. He may sail his ships above, he may peer downward, even dare to
+descend a few feet in a suit of rubber or a submarine boat, or he may
+scratch a tiny furrow for a few yards with a dredge: but that is all.
+
+When that time comes, the animals and birds which survive will be only
+those which have found a way to adapt themselves to man's encroaching,
+all-pervading civilisation. The time was when our far-distant ancestors
+had, year in and year out, to fight for very existence against the wild
+creatures about them. They then gained the upper hand, and from that time
+to the present the only question has been, how long the wild creatures of
+the earth could hold out.
+
+The wolf, the bison, the beaver fought the battle out at once to all but
+the bitter end. The crow, the muskrat, the fox have more than held their
+own, by reason of cunning, hiding or quickness of sight; but they cannot
+hope for this to last. The English sparrow has won by sheer audacity; but
+most to be admired are those creatures which have so changed their habits
+that some product of man's invention serves them as well as did their
+former wilderness home. The eave swallow and barn swallow and the chimney
+swift all belie their names in the few wild haunts still uninvaded by man.
+The first two were originally cliff and bank haunters, and the latter's
+home was a lightning-hollowed tree.
+
+But the nighthawks which soar and boom above our city streets, whence come
+they? Do they make daily pilgrimages from distant woods? The city
+furnishes no forest floor on which they may lay their eggs. Let us seek a
+wide expanse of flat roof, high above the noisy, crowded streets. Let it
+be one of those tar and pebble affairs, so unpleasant to walk upon, but so
+efficient in shedding water. If we are fortunate, as we walk slowly across
+the roof, a something, like a brownish bit of wind-blown rubbish, will
+roll and tumble ahead of us. It is a bird with a broken wing, we say. How
+did it ever get up here? We hasten forward to pick it up, when, with a
+last desperate flutter, it topples off the edge of the roof; but instead
+of falling helplessly to the street, the bird swings out above the
+house-tops, on the white-barred pinions of a nighthawk. Now mark the place
+where first we observed the bird, and approach it carefully, crawling on
+hands and knees. Otherwise we will very probably crush the two mottled
+bits of shell, so exactly like pebbles in external appearance, but
+sheltering two little warm, beating hearts. Soon the shells will crack,
+and the young nighthawks will emerge,--tiny fluffs,--in colour the very
+essence of the scattered pebbles.
+
+In the autumn they will all pass southward to the far distant tropics, and
+when spring again awakens, the instinct of migration will lead them, not
+to some mottled carpet of moss and rocks deep in the woods, but to the
+tarred roof of a house in the very heart of a great city.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+JUNE
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+THE GALA DAYS OF BIRDS
+
+
+Migration is over, and the great influx of birds which last month filled
+every tree and bush is now distributed over field and wood, from our
+dooryard and lintel vine to the furthermost limits of northern
+exploration; birds, perhaps, having discovered the pole long years ago.
+Now every feather and plume is at its brightest and full development; for
+must not the fastidious females be sought and won?
+
+And now the great struggle of the year is at hand, the supreme moment for
+which thousands of throats have been vibrating with whispered rehearsals
+of trills and songs, and for which the dangers that threaten the
+acquisition of bright colours and long, inconvenient plumes and ornaments
+have been patiently undergone. Now, if all goes well and his song is
+clear, if his crest and gorgeous splashes of tints and shades are fresh
+and shining with the gloss of health, then the feathered lover may hope,
+indeed, that the little brown mate may look with favour upon dance, song,
+or antic--and the home is become a reality. In some instances this home is
+for only one short season, when the two part, probably forever; but in
+other cases the choice is for life.
+
+But if his rival is stronger, handsomer, and--victorious, what then? Alas,
+the song dies in his throat, plumes hang crestfallen, and the disconsolate
+creature must creep about through tangles and brush, watching from a
+distance the nest-building, the delights of home life which fate has
+forbidden. But the poor bachelor need not by any means lose hope; for on
+all sides dangers threaten his happy rival--cats, snakes, jays, hawks,
+owls, and boys. Hundreds of birds must pay for their victory with their
+lives, and then the once discarded suitors are quickly summoned by the
+widows; and these step-fathers, no whit chagrined at playing second
+fiddle, fill up the ranks, and work for the young birds as if they were
+their own offspring.
+
+There is an unsolved mystery about the tragedies and comedies that go on
+every spring. Usually every female bird has several suitors, of which one
+is accepted. When the death of this mate occurs, within a day or two
+another is found; and this may be repeated a dozen times in succession.
+Not only this, but when a female bird is killed, her mate is generally
+able at once somewhere, somehow, to find another to take her place. Why
+these unmated males and females remain single until they are needed is
+something that has never been explained.
+
+The theme of the courtship of birds is marvellously varied and
+comparatively little understood. Who would think that when our bald eagle,
+of national fame, seeks to win his mate, his ardour takes the form of an
+undignified galloping dance, round and round her from branch to branch!
+Hardly less ridiculous--to our eyes--is the elaborate performance of our
+most common woodpecker, the flicker, or high-hole. Two or three male birds
+scrape and bow and pose and chatter about the demure female, outrageously
+undignified as compared with their usual behaviour. They do everything
+save twirl their black moustaches!
+
+In the mating season some birds have beauties which are ordinarily
+concealed. Such is the male ruby-crowned kinglet, garbed in gray and
+green, the two sexes identical, except for the scarlet touch on the crown
+of the male, which, at courting time, he raises and expands. Even the iris
+of some birds changes and brightens in colour at the breeding season;
+while in others there appear about the base of the bill horny parts, which
+in a month or two fall off. The scarlet coat of the tanager is perhaps
+solely for attracting and holding the attention of the female, as before
+winter every feather is shed, the new plumage being of a dull green, like
+that of its mate and its young.
+
+As mystery confronts us everywhere in nature, so we confess ourselves
+baffled when we attempt to explain the most wonderful of all the
+attributes of bird courtship--song. Birds have notes to call to one
+another, to warn of danger, to express anger and fear; but the highest
+development of their vocal efforts seems to be devoted to charming the
+females. If birds have a love of music, then there must be a marvellous
+diversity of taste among them, ranging all the way from the shrieking,
+strident screams of the parrots and macaws to the tender pathos of the
+wood pewee and the hermit thrush.
+
+If birds have not some appreciation of sweet sounds, then we must consider
+the many different songs as mere by-products, excess of vitality which
+expresses itself in results, in many cases, strangely aesthetic and
+harmonious. A view midway is indefinable as regards the boundaries covered
+by each theory. How much of the peacock's train or of the thrush's song is
+appreciated by the female? How much is by-product merely?
+
+In these directions a great field lies open to the student and lover of
+birds; but however we decide for ourselves in regard to the exact meaning
+and evolution of song, and what use it subserves among the birds, we all
+admit the effect and pleasure it produces in ourselves. A world without
+the song of birds is greatly lacking--such is a desert, where even the
+harsh croak of a raven is melody.
+
+Perhaps the reason why the songs of birds give more lasting pleasure than
+many other things is that sound is so wonderfully potent to recall days
+and scenes of our past life. Like a sunset, the vision that a certain song
+brings is different to each one of us.
+
+To me, the lament of the wood pewee brings to mind deep, moist places in
+the Pennsylvania backwoods; the crescendo of the oven bird awakens
+memories of the oaks of the Orange mountains; when a loon or an
+olive-sided flycatcher or a white-throat calls, the lakes and forests of
+Nova Scotia come vividly to mind; the cry of a sea-swallow makes real
+again the white beaches of Virginia; to me a cardinal has in its song the
+feathery lagoons of Florida's Indian River, while the shriek of a macaw
+and its antithesis, the silvery, interlacing melodies of the solitaire,
+spell the farthest _barrancas_ of Mexico, with the vultures ever circling
+overhead, and the smoke clouds of the volcano in the distance.
+
+          So sweet, so sweet the calling of the thrushes,
+            The calling, cooing, wooing, everywhere;
+          So sweet the water's song through reeds and rushes,
+            The plover's piping note, now here, now there.
+                                                  Nora Perry.
+
+
+
+
+TURTLE TRAITS
+
+
+A turtle, waddling his solitary way along some watercourse, attracts
+little attention apart from that aroused by his clumsy, grotesque shape;
+yet few who look upon him are able to give offhand even a bare half-dozen
+facts about the humble creature. Could they give any information at all,
+it would probably be limited to two or three usages to which his body is
+put--such as soup, mandolin picks, and combs.
+
+In the northeastern part of our own country we may look for no fewer than
+eight species of turtles which are semi-aquatic, living in or near ponds
+and streams, while another, the well-known box tortoise, confines its
+travels to the uplands and woods.
+
+There are altogether about two hundred different kinds of turtles, and
+they live in all except the very cold countries of the world. Australia
+has the fewest and North and Central America the greatest number of
+species. Evolutionists can tell us little or nothing of the origin of
+these creatures, for as far back in geological ages as they are found
+fossil (a matter of a little over ten million years), all are true
+turtles, not half turtles and half something else. Crocodiles and
+alligators, with their hard leathery coats, come as near to them as do any
+living creatures, and when we see a huge snapping turtle come out of the
+water and walk about on land, we cannot fail to be reminded of the fellow
+with the armoured back.
+
+Turtles are found on the sea and on land, the marine forms more properly
+deserving the name of turtles; tortoises being those living on land or in
+fresh water. We shall use the name turtle as significant of the whole
+group. The most natural method of classifying these creatures is by the
+way the head and neck are drawn back under the shell; whether the head is
+turned to one side, or drawn straight back, bending the neck into the
+letter S shape.
+
+The skull of a turtle is massive, and some have thick, false roofs on top
+of the usual brain box.
+
+The "house" or shell of a turtle is made up of separate pieces of bone, a
+central row along the back and others arranged around on both sides. These
+are really pieces of the skin of the back changed to bone. Our ribs are
+directly under the skin of the back, and if this skin should harden into a
+bone-like substance, the ribs would lie flat against it, and this is the
+case with the ribs of turtles. So when we marvel that the ribs of a turtle
+are on the outside of its body, a second thought will show us that this is
+just as true of us as it is of these reptiles.
+
+This hardening of the skin has brought about some interesting changes in
+the body of the turtle. In all the higher animals, from fishes up to man,
+a backbone is of the greatest importance not only in carrying the nerves
+and blood-vessels, but in supporting the entire body. In turtles alone,
+the string of vertebrae is unnecessary, the shell giving all the support
+needed. So, as Nature seldom allows unused tissues or organs to remain,
+these bones along the back become, in many species, reduced to a mere
+thread.
+
+The pieces of bone or horn which go to make up the shell, although so
+different in appearance from the skin, yet have the same life-processes.
+Occasionally the shell moults or peels, the outer part coming off in great
+flakes. Each piece grows by the addition of rings of horn at the joints,
+and (like the rings of a tree) the age of turtles, except of very old
+ones, can be estimated by the number of circles of horn on each piece. The
+rings are very distinct in species which live in temperate climates. Here
+they are compelled to hibernate during the winter, and this cessation of
+growth marks the intervals between each ring. In tropical turtles the
+rings are either absent or indistinct. It is to this mode of growth that
+the spreading of the initials which are cut into the shell is due, just as
+letters carved on the trunks of trees in time broaden and bulge outward.
+
+The shell has the power of regeneration, and when a portion is crushed or
+torn away the injured parts are gradually cast off, and from the
+surrounding edges a new covering of horn grows out. One third of the
+entire shell has been known to be thus replaced.
+
+Although so slow in their locomotion and actions, turtles have
+well-developed senses. They can see very distinctly, and the power of
+smell is especially acute, certain turtles being very discriminating in
+the matter of food. They are also very sensitive to touch, and will react
+to the least tap on their shells. Their hearing, however, is more
+imperfect, but as during the mating season they have tiny, piping voices,
+this sense must be of some use.
+
+Water tortoises can remain beneath the surface for hours and even days at
+a time. In addition to the lungs there are two small sacs near the tail
+which allow the animal to use the oxygen in the water as an aid to
+breathing.
+
+All turtles lay eggs, the shells of which are white and generally of a
+parchment-like character. They are deposited in the ground or in the sand,
+and hatch either by the warmth of the decaying vegetation or by the heat
+of the sun. In temperate countries the eggs remain through the winter, and
+the little turtles do not emerge until the spring. The eggs of turtles are
+very good to eat, and the oil contained in them is put to many uses. In
+all the countries which they inhabit, young turtles have a hard time of
+it; for thousands of them are devoured by storks, alligators, and fishes.
+Even old turtles have many enemies, not the least strange being jaguars,
+which watch for them, turn them on their backs with a flip of the paw, and
+eat them at leisure--on the half shell, as it were!
+
+Leathery turtles--which live in the sea--have been reported weighing over
+a thousand pounds! This species is very rare, and a curious circumstance
+is that only very large adults and very small baby individuals have been
+seen, the turtles of all intermediate growths keeping in the deep ocean
+out of view.
+
+Snapping turtles are among the fiercest creatures in the world. On leaving
+the egg their first instinct is to open their mouths and bite at
+something. They feed on almost anything, but when, in captivity they
+sometimes refuse to eat, and have been known to go a year without food,
+showing no apparent ill effects. One method which they employ in capturing
+their food is interesting. A snapping turtle will lie quietly at the
+bottom of a pond or lake, looking like an old water-soaked log with a
+branch--its head and neck--at one end. From the tip of the tongue the
+creature extrudes two small filaments of a pinkish colour which wriggle
+about, bearing a perfect resemblance to the small round worms of which
+fishes are so fond. Attracted by these, fishes swim up to grasp the
+squirming objects and are engulfed by the cruel mouth of the angler.
+Certain marine turtles have long-fringed appendages on the head and neck,
+which, waving about, serve a similar purpose.
+
+The edible terrapin has, in many places, become very rare; so that
+thousands of them are kept and bred in enclosed areas, or "crawls," as
+they are called. This species is noted for its curious disposition, and it
+is often captured by being attracted by some unusual sound.
+
+The tortoise-shell of commerce is obtained from the shell of the hawksbill
+turtle, the plates of which, being very thin, are heated and welded
+together until of the required thickness. The age to which turtles live
+has often been exaggerated, but they are certainly the longest lived of
+all living creatures. Individuals from the Galapagos Island are estimated
+to be over four hundred years old. When, in a zoological garden, we see
+one of these creatures and study his aged, aged look, as he slowly and
+deliberately munches the cabbage which composes his food, we can well
+believe that such a being saw the light of day before Columbus made his
+memorable voyage.
+
+           He's his own landlord, his own tenant; stay
+           Long as he will, he dreads no Quarter Day.
+           Himself he boards and lodges; both invites
+           And feasts himself; sleeps with himself o'nights.
+           He spares the upholsterer trouble to procure
+           Chattels; himself is his own furniture,
+           Knock when you will,--he's sure to be at home.
+                                               Charles Lamb.
+
+
+
+
+A HALF-HOUR IN A MARSH
+
+
+There are little realms all around of which many of us know nothing. Take,
+for example, some marsh within a half-hour's trolley ride of any of our
+cities or towns. Select one where cat-tails and reeds abound. Mosquitoes
+and fear of malaria keep these places free from invasion by humankind; but
+if we select some windy day we may laugh them both to scorn, and we shall
+be well repaid for our trip. The birds frequenting these places are so
+seldom disturbed that they make only slight effort to conceal their nests,
+and we shall find plenty of the beautiful bird cradles rocking with every
+passing breeze.
+
+A windy day will also reveal an interesting feature of the marsh. The
+soft, velvety grass, which abounds in such places, is so pliant and
+yielding that it responds to every breath, and each approaching wave of
+air is heralded by an advancing curl of the grass. At our feet these
+grass-waves intersect and recede, giving a weird sensation, as if the
+ground were moving, or as if we were walking on the water itself. Where
+the grass is longer, the record of some furious gale is permanently
+fixed--swaths and ripples seeming to roll onward, or to break into green
+foam. The simile of a "painted ocean" is perfectly carried out. There is
+no other substance, not even sand, which simulates more exactly the
+motions of water than this grass.
+
+In the nearest clump of reeds we notice several red-winged blackbirds,
+chattering nervously. A magnificent male bird, black as night, and with
+scarlet epaulets burning on his shoulders, swoops at us, while his
+inconspicuous brownish consorts vibrate above the reeds, some with grubs,
+some empty mouthed. They are invariable indexes of what is below them. We
+may say with perfect assurance that in that patch of rushes are two nests,
+one with young; beyond are three others, all with eggs.
+
+We find beautiful structures, firm and round, woven of coarse grasses
+inside and dried reeds without, hung between two or three supporting
+stalks, or, if it is a fresh-water marsh, sheltered by long, green fern
+fronds. The eggs are worthy of their cradles--pearly white in colour, with
+scrawls and blotches of dark purple at the larger end--hieroglyphics which
+only the blackbirds can translate.
+
+In another nest we find newly hatched young, looking like large
+strawberries, their little naked bodies of a vivid orange colour, with
+scanty gray tufts of down here and there. Not far away is a nest,
+overflowing with five young birds ready to fly, which scramble out at our
+approach and start boldly off; but as their weak wings give out, they soon
+come to grief. We catch one and find that it has most delicate colours,
+resembling its mother in being striped brown and black, although its
+breast and under parts are of an unusually beautiful tint--a kind of
+salmon pink. I never saw this shade elsewhere in Nature.
+
+Blackbirds are social creatures, and where we find one nest, four or five
+others may be looked for near by. The red-winged blackbird is a mormon in
+very fact, and often a solitary male bird may be seen guarding a colony of
+three or four nests, each with an attending female. A sentiment of
+altruism seems indeed not unknown, as I have seen a female give a grub to
+one of a hungry nestful, before passing on to brood her own eggs, yet
+unhatched.
+
+While looking for the blackbirds' nests we shall come across numerous
+round, or oval, masses of dried weeds and grass--mice homes we may think
+them; and the small, winding entrance concealed on one side tends to
+confirm this opinion. Several will be empty, but when in one our fingers
+touch six or eight tiny eggs, our mistake will be apparent. Long-billed
+marsh wrens are the architects, and so fond are they of building that
+frequently three or four unused nests are constructed before the little
+chocolate jewels are deposited.
+
+If we sit quietly for a few moments, one of the owners, overcome by wren
+curiosity, will appear, clinging to a reed stalk and twitching his pert,
+upturned tail, the badge of his family. Soon he springs up into the air
+and, bubbling a jumble of liquid notes, sinks back into the recesses of
+the cat-tails. Another and another repeat this until the marsh rings with
+their little melodies.
+
+If we seat ourselves and watch quietly we may possibly behold an episode
+that is not unusual. The joyous songs of the little wrens suddenly give
+place to cries of fear and anger; and this hubbub increases until at last
+we see a sinister ripple flowing through the reeds, marking the advancing
+head of a water snake.
+
+The evil eyes of the serpent are bent upon the nearest nest, and toward it
+he makes his way, followed and beset by all the wrens in the vicinity.
+Slowly the scaly creature pushes himself up on the reeds; and as they bend
+under his weight he makes his way the more easily along them to the nest.
+His head is pushed in at the entrance, but an instant later the snake
+twines downward to the water. The nest was empty. Again he seeks an
+adjoining nest, and again is disappointed; and now, a small fish
+attracting his attention, he goes off in swift pursuit, leaving untouched
+the third nest in sight, that containing the precious eggs. Thus the
+apparently useless industry of the tiny wrens has served an invaluable
+end, and the tremulous chorus is again timidly taken up--little hymns of
+thanksgiving we may imagine them now.
+
+These and many others are sights which a half-hour's tramp, without even
+wetting our shoes, may show us. Before we leave, hints of more deeply
+hidden secrets of the marsh may perhaps come to us. A swamp sparrow may
+show by its actions that its nest is not far away; from the depths of a
+ditch jungle the clatter of some rail comes faintly to our ears, and the
+distant croak of a night heron reaches us from its feeding-grounds,
+guarded by the deeper waters.
+
+ And what if behind me to westward the wall of the woods stands high?
+ The world lies east: how ample, the marsh and the sea and the sky!
+ A league and a league of marsh-grass, waist-high, broad in the blade.
+
+ Oh, what is abroad in the marsh and terminal sea?
+ Somehow my soul seems suddenly free
+ From the weighing of fate and the sad discussion of sin.
+                                                        Sidney Lanier.
+
+
+
+
+SECRETS OF THE OCEAN
+
+
+We are often held spellbound by the majesty of mountains, and indeed a
+lofty peak forever capped with snow, or pouring forth smoke and ashes, is
+impressive beyond all terrestrial things. But the ocean yields to nothing
+in its grandeur, in its age, in its ceaseless movement, and the question
+remains forever unanswered, "Who shall sound the mysteries of the sea?"
+Before the most ancient of mountains rose from the heart of the earth, the
+waves of the sea rolled as now, and though the edges of the continents
+shrink and expand, bend into bays or stretch out into capes, always
+through all the ages the sea follows and laps with ripples or booms with
+breakers unceasingly upon the shore.
+
+Whether considered from the standpoint of the scientist, the mere
+curiosity of the tourist, or the keen delight of the enthusiastic lover of
+Nature, the shore of the sea--its sands and waters, its ever-changing
+skies and moods--is one of the most interesting spots in the world. The
+very bottom of the deep bays near shore--dark and eternally silent,
+prisoned under the restless waste of waters--is thickly carpeted with
+strange and many-coloured forms of animal and vegetable life. But the
+beaches and tide-pools over which the moon-urged tides hold sway in their
+ceaseless rise and fall, teem with marvels of Nature's handiwork, and
+every day are restocked and replanted with new living objects, both arctic
+and tropical offerings of each heaving tidal pulse.
+
+Here on the northeastern shores of our continent one may spend days of
+leisure or delightful study among the abundant and ever changing variety
+of wonderful living creatures. It is not unlikely that the enjoyment and
+absolute novelty of this new world may enable one to look on these as some
+of the most pleasant days of life. I write from the edge of the restless
+waters of Fundy, but any rock-strewn shore will duplicate the marvels.
+
+At high tide the surface of the Bay is unbroken by rock or shoal, and
+stretches glittering in the sunlight from the beach at one's feet to where
+the New Brunswick shore is just visible, appearing like a low bluish cloud
+on the horizon. At times the opposite shore is apparently brought nearer
+and made more distinct by a mirage, which inverts it, together with any
+ships which are in sight. A brig may be seen sailing along keel upward, in
+the most matter-of-fact way. The surface may anon be torn by those fearful
+squalls for which Fundy is noted, or, calm as a mirror, reflect the blue
+sky with an added greenish tinge, troubled only by the gentle alighting of
+a gull, the splash of a kingfisher or occasional osprey, as these dive for
+their prey, or the ruffling which shows where a school of mackerel is
+passing. This latter sign always sends the little sailing dories hurrying
+out, where they beat back and forth, like shuttles travelling across a
+loom, and at each turn a silvery struggling form is dragged into the
+boat.
+
+A little distance along the shore the sandy beach ends and is replaced by
+huge bare boulders, scattered and piled in the utmost confusion. Back of
+these are scraggly spruces, with branches which have been so long blown
+landwards that they have bent and grown altogether on that
+side,--permanent weather-vanes of Fundy's storms. The very soil in which
+they began life was blown away, and their gnarled weather-worn roots hug
+the rocks, clutching every crevice as a drowning man would grasp an oar.
+On the side away from the bay two or three long, thick roots stretch far
+from each tree to the nearest earth-filled gully, sucking what scanty
+nourishment they can, for strength to withstand the winter's gales yet
+another year or decade. Beach-pea and sweet marsh lavender tint the sand,
+and stunted fringed orchids gleam in the coarse grass farther inland. High
+up among the rocks, where there is scarcely a handful of soil, delicate
+harebells sway and defy the blasts, enduring because of their very pliancy
+and weakness.
+
+If we watch awhile we will see a line of blackish seaweed and wet sand
+appearing along the edge of the water, showing that the tide has turned
+and begun to recede. In an hour it has ebbed a considerable distance, and
+if we clamber down over the great weather-worn rocks the hardy advance
+guard of that wonderful world of life under the water is seen. Barnacles
+whiten the top of every rock which is reached by the tide, although the
+water may cover them only a short time each day. But they flourish here in
+myriads, and the shorter the chance they have at the salt water the more
+frantically their little feathery feet clutch at the tiny food particles
+which float around them. These thousands of tiny turreted castles are
+built so closely together that many are pressed out of shape, paralleling
+in shape as in substance the inorganic crystals of the mineral kingdom.
+The valved doors are continually opening and partly closing, and if we
+listen quietly we can hear a perpetual shuss! shuss! Is it the creaking of
+the tiny hinges? As the last receding wave splashes them, they shut their
+folding doors over a drop or two and remain tightly closed, while perhaps
+ten hours of sunlight bake them, or they glisten in the moonlight for the
+same length of time, ready at the first touch of the returning water to
+open wide and welcome it.
+
+The thought of their life history brings to mind how sadly they retrogress
+as they grow, hatching as minute free-swimming creatures like tiny
+lobsters, and gradually changing to this plant-like life, _sans_ eyes,
+_sans_ head, _sans_ most everything except a stomach and a few pairs of
+feathery feet to kick food into it. A few pitiful traces of nerves are
+left them. What if there were enough ganglia to enable them to dream of
+their past higher life, in the long intervals of patient waiting!
+
+A little lower down we come to the zone of mussels,--hanging in clusters
+like some strange sea-fruit. Each is attached by strands of thin silky
+cables, so tough that they often defy our utmost efforts to tear a
+specimen away. How secure these creatures seem, how safe from all harm,
+and yet they have enemies which make havoc among them. At high tide fishes
+come and crunch them, shells and all, and multitudes of carnivorous snails
+are waiting to set their file-like tongues at work, which mercilessly
+drill through the lime shells, bringing death in a more subtle but no less
+certain form. Storms may tear away the support of these poor mollusks, and
+the waves dash them far out of the reach of the tides, while at low water,
+crows and gulls use all their ingenuity to get at their toothsome flesh.
+
+There are no ant-hills in the sea, but when we turn over a large stone and
+see scores upon scores of small black shrimps scurrying around, the
+resemblance to those insects is striking. These little creatures quickly
+hitch away on their sides, getting out of sight in a remarkably short
+time.
+
+The tide is going down rapidly, and following it step by step novel sights
+meet the eye at every turn, and we begin to realise that in this narrow
+strip, claimed alternately by sea and land, which would be represented on
+a map by the finest of hair-lines, there exists a complete world of
+animated life, comparing in variety and numbers with the life in that
+thinner medium, air. We climb over enormous boulders, so different in
+appearance that they would never be thought to consist of the same
+material as those higher up on the shore. These are masses of wave-worn
+rock, twenty or thirty feet across, piled in every imaginable position,
+and completely covered with a thick padding of seaweed. Their drapery of
+algae hangs in festoons, and if we draw aside these submarine curtains,
+scenes from a veritable fairyland are disclosed. Deep pools of water,
+clear as crystal and icy cold, contain creatures both hideous and
+beautiful, sombre and iridescent, formless and of exquisite shape.
+
+The sea-anemones first attract attention, showing as splashes of scarlet
+and salmon among the olive-green seaweed, or in hundreds covering the
+entire bottom of a pool with a delicately hued mist of waving tentacles.
+As the water leaves these exposed on the walls of the caves, they lose
+their plump appearance and, drawing in their wreath of tentacles, hang
+limp and shrivelled, resembling pieces of water-soaked meat as much as
+anything. Submerged in the icy water they are veritable animal-flowers.
+Their beauty is indeed well guarded, hidden by the overhanging seaweed in
+these caves twenty-five feet or more below high-water mark.
+
+Here in these beautiful caverns we may make aquariums, and transplant as
+many animal-flowers as we wish. Wherever we place them their fleshy,
+snail-like foot spreads out, takes tight hold, and the creature lives
+content, patiently waiting for the Providence of the sea to send food to
+its many wide-spread fingers.
+
+Carpeted with pink algae and dainty sponges, draped with sea-lettuce like
+green tissue paper, decorated with strange corallines, these natural
+aquariums far surpass any of artificial make. Although the tide drives us
+from them sooner or later, we may return with the sure prospect of finding
+them refreshed and perhaps replenished with many new forms. For often some
+of the deep-water creatures are held prisoners in the lower tide-pools, as
+the water settles, somewhat as when the glaciers receded northward after
+the Ice Age there were left on isolated mountain peaks traces of the
+boreal fauna and flora.
+
+If we are interested enough to watch our anemones we will find much
+entertainment. Let us return to our shrimp colonies and bring a handful to
+our pool. Drop one in the centre of an anemone and see how quickly it
+contracts. The tentacles bend over it exactly as the sticky hairs of the
+sun-dew plant close over a fly. The shrimp struggles for a moment and is
+then drawn downward out of sight. The birth of an anemone is well worth
+patient watching, and this may take place in several different ways. We
+may see a large individual with a number of tiny bunches on the sides of
+the body, and if we keep this one in a tumbler, before long these
+protuberances will be seen to develop a few tentacles and at last break
+off as perfect miniature anemones. Or again, an anemone may draw in its
+tentacles without apparent cause, and after a few minutes expand more
+widely than ever. Suddenly a movement of the mouth is seen, and it opens,
+and one, two, or even a half-dozen tiny anemones shoot forth. They turn
+and roll in the little spurt of water and gradually settle to the rock
+alongside of the mother. In a short time they turn right side up, expand
+their absurd little heads, and begin life for themselves. These animal
+"buds" may be of all sizes; some minute ones will be much less developed
+and look very unlike the parent. These are able to swim about for a while,
+and myriads of them may be born in an hour. Others, as we have seen, have
+tentacles and settle down at once.
+
+Fishes, little and big, are abundant in the pools, darting here and there
+among the leathery fronds of "devils' aprons," cavernous-mouthed angler
+fish, roly-poly young lump-suckers, lithe butterfish, and many others.
+
+Moving slowly through the pools are many beautiful creatures, some so
+evanescent that they are only discoverable by the faint shadows which they
+cast on the bottom, others suggest animated spheres of prismatic sunlight.
+These latter are tiny jelly-fish, circular hyaline masses of jelly with
+eight longitudinal bands, composed of many comb-like plates, along which
+iridescent waves of light continually play. The graceful appearance of
+these exquisite creatures is increased by two long, fringed tentacles
+streaming behind, drifting at full length or contracting into numerous
+coils. The fringe on these streamers is a series of living hairs--an
+aquatic cobweb, each active with life, and doing its share in ensnaring
+minute atoms of food for its owner. When dozens of these _ctenophores_ (or
+comb-bearers) as they are called, glide slowly to and fro through a pool,
+the sight is not soon forgotten. To try to photograph them is like
+attempting to portray the substance of a sunbeam, but patience works
+wonders, and even a slightly magnified image of a living jelly is secured,
+which shows very distinctly all the details of its wonderfully simple
+structure; the pouch, suspended in the centre of the sphere, which does
+duty as a stomach; the sheaths into which the long tentacles may be so
+magically packed, and the tiny organ at the top of this living ball of
+spun glass, serving, with its minute weights and springs, as compass,
+rudder, and pilot to this little creature, which does not fear to pit its
+muscles of jelly against the rush and might of breaking waves.
+
+Even the individual comb-plates or rows of oars are plainly seen,
+although, owing to their rapid motion, they appear to the naked eye as a
+single band of scintillating light. This and other magnified photographs
+were obtained by fastening the lens of a discarded bicycle lantern in a
+cone of paper blackened on the inside with shoe-blacking. With this crude
+apparatus placed in front of the lens of the camera, the evanescent
+beauties of these most delicate creatures were preserved.
+
+Other equally beautiful forms of jelly-fish are balloon-shaped. These are
+_Beroe_, fitly named after the daughter of the old god Oceanus. They, like
+others of their family, pulsate through the water, sweeping gracefully
+along, borne on currents of their own making.
+
+Passing to other inhabitants of the pools, we find starfish and
+sea-urchins everywhere abundant. Hunched-up groups of the former show
+where they are dining in their unique way on unfortunate sea-snails or
+anemones, protruding their whole stomach and thus engulfing their victim.
+The urchins strain and stretch with their innumerable sucker-feet, feeling
+for something to grasp, and in this laborious way pull themselves along.
+The mouth, with the five so-called teeth, is a conspicuous feature,
+visible at the centre of the urchin and surrounded by the greenish spines.
+Some of the starfish are covered with long spines, others are nearly
+smooth. The colours are wonderfully varied,--red, purple, orange, yellow,
+etc.
+
+The stages through which these prickly skinned animals pass, before they
+reach the adult state, are wonderfully curious, and only when they are
+seen under the microscope can they be fully appreciated. A bolting-cloth
+net drawn through some of the pools will yield thousands in many stages,
+and we can take eggs of the common starfish and watch their growth in
+tumblers of water. At first the egg seems nothing but a tiny round globule
+of jelly, but soon a dent or depression appears on one side, which becomes
+deeper and deeper until it extends to the centre of the egg-mass. It is as
+if we should take a round ball of putty and gradually press our finger
+into it. This pressed-in sac is a kind of primitive stomach and the
+entrance is used as a mouth. After this follows a marvellous succession of
+changes, form giving place to form, differing more in appearance and
+structure from the five-armed starfish than a caterpillar differs from a
+butterfly.
+
+For example, when about eight days old, another mouth has formed and two
+series of delicate cilia or swimming hairs wind around the creature, by
+means of which it glides slowly through the water. The photographs of a
+starfish of this age show the stomach with its contents, a dark rounded
+mass near the lower portion of the organism. The vibrating bands which
+outline the tiny animal are also visible. The delicacy of structure and
+difficulty of preserving these young starfish alive make these pictures of
+particular value, especially as they were taken of the living forms
+swimming in their natural element. Each day and almost each hour adds to
+the complexity of the little animal, lung tentacles grow out and many
+other larval stages are passed through before the starfish shape is
+discernible within this curious "nurse" or living, changing egg. Then the
+entire mass, so elaborately evolved through so long a time, is absorbed
+and the little baby star sinks to the bottom to start on its new life,
+crawling around and over whatever happens in its path and feeding to
+repletion on succulent oysters. It can laugh at the rage of the oysterman,
+who angrily tears it in pieces, for "time heals all wounds" literally in
+the case of these creatures, and even if the five arms are torn apart,
+five starfish, small of arm but with healthy stomachs, will soon be
+foraging on the oyster bed.
+
+But to return to our tide-pools. In the skimming net with the young
+starfish many other creatures are found, some so delicate and fragile that
+they disintegrate before microscope and camera can be placed in position.
+I lie at full length on a soft couch of seaweed with my face close to a
+tiny pool no larger than my hand. A few armadillo shells and limpets crawl
+on the bottom, but a frequent troubling of the water baffles me. I make
+sure my breath has nothing to do with it, but still it continues. At last
+a beam of sunshine lights up the pool, and as if a film had rolled from my
+eyes I see the cause of the disturbance. A sea-worm--or a ghost of one--is
+swimming about. Its large, brilliant eyes, long tentacles, and innumerable
+waving appendages are now as distinct as before they had been invisible. A
+trifling change in my position and all vanishes as if by magic. There
+seems not an organ, not a single part of the creature, which is not as
+transparent as the water itself. The fine streamers into which the paddles
+and gills are divided are too delicate to have existence in any but a
+water creature, and the least attempt to lift the animal from its element
+would only tear and dismember it, so I leave it in the pool to await the
+return of the tide.
+
+Shrimps and prawns of many shapes and colours inhabit every pool. One
+small species, abundant on the algae, combines the colour changes of a
+chameleon with the form and manner of travel of a measuring-worm, looping
+along the fronds of seaweed or swimming with the same motion. Another
+variety of shrimp resembles the common wood-louse found under pieces of
+bark, but is most beautifully iridescent, glowing like an opal at the
+bottom of the pool. The curious little sea-spiders keep me guessing for a
+long time where their internal organs can be, as they consist of legs with
+merely enough body to connect these firmly together. The fact that the
+thread-like stomach and other organs send a branch into each of the eight
+legs explains the mystery and shows how far economy of space may go. Their
+skeleton-forms, having the appearance of eight straggling filaments of
+seaweed, are thus, doubtless, a great protection to these creatures from
+their many enemies. Other hobgoblin forms with huge probosces crawl slowly
+over the floors of the anemone caves, or crouch as the shadow of my hand
+or net falls upon them.
+
+The larger gorgeously coloured and graceful sea-worms contribute not a
+small share to the beauty of Fundy tide-pools, swimming in iridescent
+waves through the water or waving their Medusa-head of crimson tentacles
+at the bottom among the sea-lettuce. These worms form tubes of mud for
+themselves, and the rows of hooks on each side of the body enable them to
+climb up and down in their dismal homes.
+
+Much of the seaweed from deeper bottoms seems to be covered with a dense
+fur, which under a hand lens resolves into beautiful hydroids,--near
+relatives of the anemones and corals. Scientists have happily given these
+most euphonious names--_Campanularia_, _Obelia_, and _Plumularia_. Among
+the branches of certain of these, numbers of round discs or spheres are
+visible. These are young medusae or jelly-fish, which grow like bunches of
+currants, and later will break off and swim around at pleasure in the
+water. Occasionally one is fortunate enough to discover these small
+jellies in a pool where they can be photographed as they pulsate back and
+forth. When these attain their full size they lay eggs which sink to the
+bottom and grow up into the plant-like hydroids. So each generation of
+these interesting creatures is entirely unlike that which immediately
+precedes or follows it. In other words, a hydroid is exactly like its
+grandmother and granddaughter, but as different from its parents and
+children in appearance as a plant is from an animal. Even in a fairy-story
+book this would be wonderful, but here it is taking place under our very
+eyes, as are scores of other transformations and "miracles in miniature"
+in this marvellous underworld.
+
+Now let us deliberately pass by all the attractions of the middle zone of
+tide-pools and on as far as the lowest level of the water will admit. We
+are far out from the shore and many feet below the level of the
+barnacle-covered boulders over which we first clambered. Now we may indeed
+be prepared for strange sights, for we are on the very borderland of the
+vast unknown. The abyss in front of us is like planetary space, unknown to
+the feet of man. While we know the latter by scant glimpses through our
+telescopes, the former has only been scratched by the hauls of the dredge,
+the mark of whose iron shoe is like the tiny track of a snail on the leaf
+mould of a vast forest.
+
+The first plunge beneath the icy waters of Fundy is likely to remain long
+in one's memory, and one's first dive of short duration, but the glimpse
+which is had and the hastily snatched handfuls of specimens of the
+beauties which no tide ever uncovers is potent to make one forget his
+shivering and again and again seek to penetrate as far as a good-sized
+stone and a lungful of air will carry him. Strange sensations are
+experienced in these aquatic scrambles. It takes a long time to get used
+to pulling oneself _downward_, or propping your knees against the _under_
+crevices of rocks. To all intents and purposes, the law of gravitation is
+partly suspended, and when stone and wooden wedge accidentally slip from
+one's hand and disappear in _opposite_ directions, it is confusing, to say
+the least.
+
+When working in one spot for some time the fishes seem to become used to
+one, and approach quite closely. Slick-looking pollock, bloated lump-fish,
+and occasionally a sombre dog-fish rolls by, giving one a start, as the
+memory of pictures of battles between divers and sharks of tropical waters
+comes to mind. One's mental impressions made thus are somewhat
+disconnected. With the blood buzzing in the ears, it is only possible to
+snatch general glimpses and superficial details. Then at the surface,
+notes can be made, and specimens which have been overlooked, felt for
+during the next trip beneath the surface. Fronds of laminaria yards in
+length, like sheets of rubber, offer convenient holds, and at their roots
+many curious creatures make their home. Serpent starfish, agile as insects
+and very brittle, are abundant, and new forms of worms, like great
+slugs,--their backs covered with gills in the form of tufted branches.
+
+In these outer, eternally submerged regions are starfish of still other
+shapes, some with a dozen or more arms. I took one with thirteen rays and
+placed it temporarily in a pool aquarium with some large anemones. On
+returning in an hour or two I found the starfish trying to make a meal of
+the largest anemone. Hundreds of dart-covered strings had been pushed out
+by the latter in defence, but they seemed to cause the starfish no
+inconvenience whatever.
+
+In my submarine glimpses I saw spaces free from seaweed on which hundreds
+of tall polyps were growing, some singly, others in small tufts. The
+solitary individuals rise three or four inches by a nearly straight stalk,
+surmounted by a many-tentacled head. This droops gracefully to one side
+and the general effect is that of a bed of rose-coloured flowers. From the
+heads hang grape-like masses, which on examination in a tumbler are seen
+to be immature medusae. Each of these develop to the point where the four
+radiating canals are discernible and then their growth comes to a
+standstill, and they never attain the freedom for which their structure
+fits them.
+
+When the wind blew inshore, I would often find the water fairly alive with
+large sun-jellies or _Aurelia_,--their Latin name. Their great milky-white
+bodies would come heaving along and bump against me, giving a very
+"crawly" sensation. The circle of short tentacles and the four
+horse-shoe-shaped ovaries distinguish this jelly-fish from all others.
+When I had gone down as far as I dared, I would sometimes catch glimpses
+of these strange beings far below me, passing and repassing in the silence
+and icy coldness of the watery depths. These large medusae are often very
+abundant after a favourable wind has blown for a few days, and I have
+rowed through masses of them so thick that it seemed like rowing through
+thick jelly, two or three feet deep. In an area the length of the boat and
+about a yard wide, I have counted over one hundred and fifty _Aurelias_ on
+the surface alone.
+
+When one of these "sunfish," as the fishermen call them, is lifted from
+the water, the clay-coloured eggs may be seen to stream from it in
+myriads. In many jellies, small bodies the size of a pea are visible in
+the interior of the mass, and when extracted they prove to be a species of
+small shrimp. These are well adapted for their quasi-parasitic life, in
+colour being throughout of the same milky semi-opaqueness as their host,
+but one very curious thing about them is, that when taken out and placed
+in some water in a vial or tumbler they begin to turn darker almost
+immediately, and in five minutes all will be of various shades, from red
+to a dark brown.
+
+I had no fear of _Aurelia_, but when another free-swimming species of
+jelly-fish, _Cyanea_, or the blue-jelly, appeared, I swam ashore with all
+speed. This great jelly is usually more of a reddish liver-colour than a
+purple, and is much to be dreaded. Its tentacles are of enormous length. I
+have seen specimens which measured two feet across the disc, with
+streamers fully forty feet long, and one has been recorded seven feet
+across and no less than one hundred and twelve feet to the tip of the
+cruel tentacles! These trail behind in eight bunches and form a living,
+tangled labyrinth as deadly as the hair of the fabled Medusa--whose name
+indeed has been so appropriately applied to this division of animals. The
+touch of each tentacle to the skin is like a lash of nettle, and there
+would be little hope for a diver whose path crossed such a fiery tangle.
+The untold myriads of little darts which are shot out secrete a poison
+which is terribly irritating.
+
+On the crevice bottoms a sight now and then meets my eyes which brings the
+"devil-fish" of Victor Hugo's romance vividly to mind,--a misshapen squid
+making its way snakily over the shells and seaweed. Its large eyes gaze
+fixedly around and the arms reach alternately forward, the sucking cups
+lined with their cruel teeth closing over the inequalities of the bottom.
+The creature may suddenly change its mode of progression and shoot like an
+arrow, backward and upward. If we watch one in its passage over areas of
+seaweed and sand, a wonderful adaptation becomes apparent. Its colour
+changes continually; when near sand it is of a sombre brown hue, then
+blushes of colour pass over it and the tint changes, corresponding to the
+seaweed or patches of pink sponge over which it swims. The way in which
+this is accomplished is very ingenious and loses nothing by examination.
+Beneath the skin are numerous cells filled with liquid pigment. When at
+rest these contract until they are almost invisible, appearing as very
+small specks or dots on the surface of the body. When the animal wishes to
+change its hue, certain muscles which radiate from these colour cells are
+shortened, drawing the cells out in all directions until they seem
+confluent. It is as if the freckles on a person's face should be all
+joined together, when an ordinary tan would result.
+
+From bottoms ten to twenty fathoms below the surface, deeper than mortal
+eye can probably ever hope to reach, the dredge brings up all manner of
+curious things; basket starfish, with arms divided and subdivided into
+many tendrils, on the tips of which it walks, the remaining part
+converging upward like the trellis of a vine-covered summer house. Sponges
+of many hues must fairly carpet large areas of the deep water, as the
+dredge is often loaded with them. The small shore-loving ones which I
+photographed are in perfect health, but the camera cannot show the many
+tiny currents of water pouring in food and oxygen at the smaller openings,
+and returning in larger streams from the tall funnels on the surface of
+the sponge, which a pinch of carmine dust reveals so beautifully. From the
+deeper aquatic gardens come up great orange and yellow sponges, two and
+three feet in length, and around the bases of these the weird serpent
+stars are clinging, while crabs scurry away as the mass reaches the
+surface of the water.
+
+Treasures from depths of forty and even fifty fathoms can be obtained when
+a trip is taken with the trawl-men. One can sit fascinated for hours,
+watching the hundreds of yards of line reel in, with some interesting
+creature on each of the thirty-seven hundred odd hooks. At times a glance
+down into the clear water will show a score of fish in sight at once,
+hake, haddock, cod, halibut, dog-fish, and perhaps an immense "barndoor"
+skate, a yard or more square. This latter hold back with frantic flaps of
+its great "wings," and tax all the strength of the sturdy Acadian
+fishermen to pull it to the gunwale.
+
+Now and then a huge "meat-rock," the fishermen's apt name for an anemone,
+comes up, impaled on a hook, and still clinging to a stone of five to ten
+pounds weight. These gigantic scarlet ones from full fifty fathoms far
+surpass any near shore. Occasionally the head alone of a large fish will
+appear, with the entire body bitten clean off, a hint of the monsters
+which must haunt the lower depths. The pressure of the air must be
+excessive, for many of the fishes have their swimming bladders fairly
+forced out of their mouths by the lessening of atmospheric pressure as
+they are drawn to the surface. When a basket starfish finds one of the
+baits in that sunless void far beneath our boat, he hugs it so tenaciously
+that the upward jerks of the reel only make him hold the more tightly.
+
+Once in a great while the fishermen find what they call a "knob-fish" on
+one of their hooks, and I never knew what they meant until one day a small
+colony of five was brought ashore. _Boltenia_, the scientists call them,
+tall, queer-shaped things; a stalk six to eight inches in length, with a
+knob or oblong bulb-like body at the summit, looking exactly like the
+flower of a lady-slipper orchid and as delicately coloured. This is a
+member of that curious family of Ascidians, which forever trembles in the
+balance between the higher backboned animals and the lower division, where
+are classified the humbler insects, crabs, and snails. The young of
+_Boltenia_ promises everything in its tiny backbone or notochord, but it
+all ends in promise, for that shadow of a great ambition withers away, and
+the creature is doomed to a lowly and vegetative life. If we soften the
+hard scientific facts which tell us of these dumb, blind creatures, with
+the humane mellowing thought of the oneness of all life, we will find much
+that is pathetic and affecting in their humble biographies from our point
+of view. And yet these cases of degeneration are far from anything like
+actual misfortunes, or mishaps of nature, as Buffon was so fond of
+thinking. These creatures have found their adult mode of life more free
+from competition than any other, and hence their adoption of it. It is
+only another instance of exquisite adaptation to an unfilled niche in the
+life of the world.
+
+Yet another phase of enjoying the life of these northern waters; the one
+which comes after all the work and play of collecting is over for the day,
+after the last specimen is given a fresh supply of water for the night,
+and the final note in our journal is written. Then, as dusk falls, we make
+our way to the beach, ship our rudder and oars and push slowly along
+shore, or drift quietly with the tide. The stars may come out in clear
+splendour and the visual symphony of the northern lights play over the
+dark vault above us, or all may be obscured in lowering, leaden clouds.
+But the lights of the sea are never obscured--they always shine with a
+splendour which keeps one entranced for hours.
+
+At night the ripples and foam of the Fundy shores seem transformed to
+molten silver and gold, and after each receding wave the emerald seaweed
+is left dripping with millions of sparkling lights, shining with a living
+lustre which would pale the brightest gem. Each of these countless sparks
+is a tiny animal, as perfect in its substance and as well adapted to its
+cycle of life as the highest created being. The wonderful way in which
+this phosphorescence permeates everything--the jelly-fish seeming elfish
+fireworks as they throb through the water with rhythmic beats--the fish
+brilliantly lighted up and plainly visible as they dart about far beneath
+the surface--makes such a night on the Bay of Fundy an experience to be
+always remembered.
+
+                 Like the tints on a crescent sea beach
+                   When the moon is new and thin,
+                 Into our hearts high yearnings
+                   Come welling and surging in--
+                 Come, from the mystic ocean,
+                   Whose rim no foot has trod--
+                 Some of us call it longing,
+                   And others call it God.
+                                         W. H. Carruth.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+JULY
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS IN A CITY
+
+
+We frequently hear people say that if only they lived in the country they
+would take up the study of birds with great interest, but that a city life
+prevented any nature study. To show how untrue this is, I once made a
+census of wild birds which were nesting in the New York Zoological Park,
+which is situated within the limits of New York City. Part of the Park is
+wooded, while much space is given up to the collections of birds and
+animals. Throughout the year thousands of people crowd the walks and
+penetrate to every portion of the grounds; yet in spite of this lack of
+seclusion no fewer than sixty-one species build their nests here and
+successfully rear their young. The list was made without shooting a single
+bird and in each instance the identification was absolute. This shows what
+a little protection will accomplish, while many places of equal area in
+the country which are harried by boys and cats are tenanted by a bare
+dozen species.
+
+Let us see what a walk in late June, or especially in July, will show of
+these bold invaders of our very city. Wild wood ducks frequently decoy to
+the flocks of pinioned birds and sometimes mate with some of them. One
+year a wild bird chose as its mate a little brown female, a pinioned bird,
+and refused to desert her even when the brood of summer ducklings was
+being caught and pinioned. Such devotion is rare indeed.
+
+In the top of one of the most inaccessible trees in the Park a great rough
+nest of sticks shows where a pair of black-crowned night herons have made
+their home for years, and from the pale green eggs hatch the most awkward
+of nestling herons, which squawk and grow to their prime, on a diet of
+small fish. When they are able to fly they pay frequent visits to their
+relations in the great flying cage, perching on the top and gazing with
+longing eyes at the abundant feasts of fish which are daily brought by the
+keepers to their charges. This duck and heron are the only ones of their
+orders thus to honour the Park by nesting, although a number of other
+species are not uncommon during the season of migration.
+
+Of the waders which in the spring and fall teeter along the bank of the
+Bronx River, only a pair or two of spotted sandpipers remain throughout
+the nesting period, content to lay their eggs in some retired spot in the
+corner of a field, where there is the least danger to them and to the
+fluffy balls of long-legged down which later appear and scurry about. The
+great horned owl and the red-tailed hawk formerly nested in the park, but
+the frequent noise of blasting and the building operations have driven
+them to more isolated places, and of their relatives there remain only the
+little screech owls and the sparrow hawks. The latter feed chiefly upon
+English sparrows and hence are worthy of the most careful protection.
+
+These birds should be encouraged to build near our homes, and if not
+killed or driven away sometimes choose the eaves of our houses as their
+domiciles and thus, by invading the very haunts of the sparrows, they
+would speedily lessen their numbers. A brood of five young hawks was
+recently taken from a nest under the eaves of a school-house in this city.
+I immediately took this as a text addressed to the pupils, and the
+principal was surprised to learn that these birds were so valuable. In the
+Park the sparrow hawks nest in a hollow tree, as do the screech owls.
+
+Other most valuable birds which nest in the Park are the black-billed and
+yellow-billed cuckoos, whose depredations among the hairy and spiny
+caterpillars should arouse our gratitude. For these insects are refused by
+almost all other birds, and were it not for these slim, graceful creatures
+they would increase to prodigious numbers. Their two or three light blue
+eggs are always laid on the frailest of frail platforms made of a few
+sticks. The belted kingfisher bores into the bank of the river and rears
+his family of six or eight in the dark, ill-odoured chamber at the end.
+Young cuckoos and kingfishers are the quaintest of young birds. Their
+plumage does not come out a little at a time, as in other nestlings, but
+the sheaths which surround the growing feathers remain until they are an
+inch or more in length; then one day, in the space of only an hour or so,
+the overlapping armour of bluish tiles bursts and the plumage assumes a
+normal appearance.
+
+The little black-and-white downy and the flicker are the two woodpeckers
+which make the Park their home. Both nest in hollows bored out by their
+strong beaks, but although full of splinters and sawdust, such a
+habitation is far superior to the sooty chimneys in which the young
+chimney swifts break from their snow-white eggs and twitter for food. How
+impatiently they must look up at the blue sky, and one would think that
+they must long for the time when they can spread their sickle-shaped wings
+and dash about from dawn to dark! Is it not wonderful that one of them
+should live to grow up when we think of the fragile little cup which is
+their home?--a mosaic of delicate twigs held together only by the sticky
+saliva of the parent birds.
+
+A relation of theirs--though we should never guess it--is sitting upon her
+tiny air castle high up in an apple tree not far away,--a ruby-throated
+hummingbird. If we take a peep into the nest when the young hummingbirds
+are only partly grown, we shall see that their bills are broad and stubby,
+like those of the swifts. Their home, however, is indeed a different
+affair,--a pinch of plant-down tied together with cobwebs and stuccoed
+with lichens, like those which are growing all about upon the tree. If we
+do not watch the female when she settles to her young or eggs we may
+search in vain for this tiniest of homes, so closely does it resemble an
+ordinary knot on a branch.
+
+The flycatchers are well represented in the Park, there being no fewer
+than five species; the least flycatcher, wood pewee, phoebe, crested
+flycatcher, and kingbird. The first two prefer the woods, the phoebe
+generally selects a mossy rock or a bridge beam, the fourth nests in a
+hollow tree and often decorates its home with a snake-skin. The kingbird
+builds an untidy nest in an apple tree. Our American crow is, of course, a
+member of this little community of birds, and that in spite of
+persecution, for in the spring one or two are apt to contract a taste for
+young ducklings and hence have to be put out of the way. The fish crow, a
+smaller cousin of the big black fellow, also nests here, easily known by
+his shriller, higher caw. A single pair of blue jays nest in the Park, but
+the English starling occupies every box which is put up and bids fair to
+be as great or a greater nuisance than the sparrow. It is a handsome bird
+and a fine whistler, but when we remember how this foreigner is slowly but
+surely elbowing our native birds out of their rightful haunts, we find
+ourselves losing sight of its beauties. The cowbird, of course, imposes
+her eggs upon many of the smaller species of birds, while our beautiful
+purple grackle, meadow lark, red-winged blackbird, and the Baltimore and
+orchard orioles rear their young in safety. The cardinal, scarlet tanager,
+indigo bunting, and rose-breasted grosbeak form a quartet of which even a
+tropical land might well be proud, and the two latter species have, in
+addition to brilliant plumage, very pleasing songs. Such wealth of
+aesthetic characteristics are unusual in any one species, the wide-spread
+law of compensation decreeing otherwise. More sombre hued seed-eaters
+which live their lives in the Park are towhees, swamp, song, field, and
+chipping sparrows. The bank and barn swallows skim over field and pond all
+through the summer, gleaning their insect harvest from the air, and
+building their nests in the places from which they have taken their names.
+The rare rough-winged swallow deigns to linger and nest in the Park as
+well as do his more common brethren.
+
+The dainty pensile nests which become visible when the leaves fall in the
+autumn are swung by four species of vireos, the white-eyed, red-eyed,
+warbling, and yellow-throated. Of the interesting and typically North
+American family of wood warblers I have numbered no fewer than eight which
+nest in the Park; these are the redstart, the yellow-breasted chat,
+northern yellow-throat, oven-bird, the yellow warbler, blue-winged,
+black-and-white creeping warblers, and one other to be mentioned later.
+
+Injurious insects find their doom when the young house and Carolina wrens
+are on the wing. Catbirds and robins are among the most abundant breeders,
+while chickadees and white-breasted nuthatches are less often seen. The
+bluebird haunts the hollow apple trees, and of the thrushes proper the
+veery or Wilson's and the splendid wood thrush sing to their mates on the
+nests among the saplings.
+
+The rarest of all the birds which I have found nesting in the Park is a
+little yellow and green warbler, with a black throat and sides of the
+face, known as the Lawrence warbler. Only a few of his kind have ever been
+seen, and strange to say his mate was none other than a demure blue-winged
+warbler. His nest was on the ground and from it six young birds flew to
+safety and not to museum drawers.
+
+
+
+
+NIGHT MUSIC OF THE SWAMP
+
+
+To many, a swamp or marsh brings only the very practical thought of
+whether it can be readily drained. Let us rejoice, however, that many
+marshes cannot be thus easily wiped out of existence, and hence they
+remain as isolated bits of primeval wilderness, hedged about by farms and
+furrows. The water is the life-blood of the marsh,--drain it, and reed and
+rush, bird and batrachian, perish or disappear. The marsh, to him who
+enters it in a receptive mood, holds, besides mosquitoes and
+stagnation,--melody, the mystery of unknown waters, and the sweetness of
+Nature undisturbed by man.
+
+The ideal marsh is as far as one can go from civilisation. The depths of a
+wood holds its undiscovered secrets; the mysterious call of the veery
+lends a wildness that even to-day has not ceased to pervade the old wood.
+There are spots overgrown with fern and carpeted with velvety wet moss;
+here also the skunk cabbage and cowslip grow rank among the alders. Surely
+man cannot live near this place--but the tinkle of a cowbell comes faintly
+on the gentle stirring breeze--and our illusion is dispelled, the charm is
+broken.
+
+But even to-day, when we push the punt through the reeds from the clear
+river into the narrow, tortuous channel of the marsh, we have left
+civilisation behind us. The great ranks of the cat-tails shut out all view
+of the outside world; the distant sounds of civilisation serve only to
+accentuate the isolation. It is the land of the Indian, as it was before
+the strange white man, brought from afar in great white-sailed ships, came
+to usurp the land of the wondering natives. At any moment we fancy that we
+may see an Indian canoe silently round a bend in the channel.
+
+The marsh has remained unchanged since the days when the Mohican Indians
+speared fish there. We are living in a bygone time. A little green heron
+flies across the water. How wild he is; nothing has tamed him. He also is
+the same now as always. He does not nest in orchard or meadow, but holds
+himself aloof, making no concessions to man and the ever increasing spread
+of his civilisation. He does not come to his doors for food. He can find
+food for himself and in abundance; he asks only to be let alone. Nor does
+he intrude himself. Occasionally we meet him along our little meadow
+stream, but he makes no advances. As we come suddenly upon him, how
+indignant he seems at being disturbed in his hunting. Like the Indian, he
+is jealous of his ancient domain and resents intrusion. He retires,
+however, throwing back to us a cry of disdain. Here in the marsh is the
+last stand of primitive nature in the settled country; here is the last
+stronghold of the untamed. The bulrushes rise in ranks, like the spears of
+a great army, surrounding and guarding the colony of the marsh.
+
+There seems to be a kinship between the voices of the marsh dwellers. Most
+of them seem to have a muddy, aquatic note. The boom of the frog sounds
+like some great stone dropped into the water; the little marsh wren's song
+is the "babble and tinkle of water running out of a silver flask."
+
+The blackbird seems to be the one connecting link between the highlands
+and the lowlands. Seldom does one see other citizens of the marsh in the
+upland. How glorious is the flight of a great blue heron from one
+feeding-ground to another! He does not tarry over the foreign territory,
+nor does he hurry. With neck and head furled close and legs straight out
+behind, he pursues his course, swerving neither to the right nor the
+left.
+
+            "Vainly the fowler's eye
+            Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
+            As darkly painted on the crimson sky
+              Thy figure floats along."
+
+The blackbirds, however, are more neighbourly. They even forage in the
+foreign territory, returning at night to sleep.
+
+In nesting time the red-wing is indeed a citizen of the lowland. His voice
+is as distinctive of the marsh as is the croak of the frog, and from a
+distance it is one of the first sounds to greet the ear. How beautiful is
+his clear whistle with its liquid break! Indeed one may say that he is the
+most conspicuous singer of the marshlands. His is not a sustained song,
+but the exuberant expression of a happy heart.
+
+According to many writers the little marsh wren is without song. No song!
+As well say that the farmer boy's whistling as he follows the plough, or
+the sailor's song as he hoists the sail, is not music! All are the songs
+of the lowly, the melody of those glad to be alive and out in the free
+air.
+
+When man goes into the marsh, the marsh retires within itself, as a turtle
+retreats within his shell. With the exception of a few blackbirds and
+marsh wrens, babbling away the nest secret, and an occasional frog's
+croak, all the inhabitants have stealthily retired. The spotted turtle has
+slid from the decayed log as the boat pushed through the reeds. At our
+approach the heron has flown and the little Virginia rail has scuttled
+away among the reeds.
+
+Remain perfectly quiet, however, and give the marsh time to regain its
+composure. One by one the tenants of the swamp will take up the trend of
+their business where it was interrupted.
+
+All about, the frogs rest on the green carpet of the lily pads, basking in
+the sun. The little rail again runs among the reeds, searching for food in
+the form of small snails. The blackbirds and wrens, most domestic in
+character, go busily about their home business; the turtles again come up
+to their positions, and a muskrat swims across the channel. One hopes that
+the little colony of marsh wren homes on stilts above the water, like the
+ancient lake dwellers of Tenochtitlan, may have no enemies. But the habit
+of building dummy nests is suggestive that the wee birds are pitting their
+wits against the cunning of some enemy,--and suspicion rests upon the
+serpent.
+
+As evening approaches and the shadows from the bordering wood point long
+fingers across the marsh, the blackbirds straggle back from their
+feeding-grounds and settle, clattering, among the reeds. Their clamour
+dies gradually away and night settles down upon the marsh.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+All sounds have ceased save the booming of the frogs, which but emphasises
+the loneliness of it all. A distant whistle of a locomotive dispels the
+idea that all the world is wilderness. The firefly lamps glow along the
+margin of the rushes. The frogs are now in full chorus, the great bulls
+beating their tom-toms and the small fry filling in the chinks with
+shriller cries. How remote the scene and how melancholy the chorus!
+
+To one mind there is a quality in the frogs' serenade that strikes the
+chord of sadness, to another the chord of contentment, to still another it
+is the chant of the savage, just as the hoot of an owl or the bark of a
+fox brings vividly to mind the wilderness.
+
+Out of the night comes softly the croon of a little screech owl--that cry
+almost as ancient as the hills. It belongs with the soil beneath our
+towns. It is the spirit of the past crying to us. So the dirge of the frog
+is the cry of the spirit of river and marshland.
+
+Our robins and bluebirds are of the orchard and the home of man, but who
+can claim neighbourship to the bittern or the bullfrog? There is nothing
+of civilisation in the hoarse croak of the great blue heron. These are all
+barbarians and their songs are of the untamed wilderness.
+
+The moon rises over the hills. The mosquitoes have become savage. The
+marsh has tolerated us as long as it cares to, and we beat our retreat.
+The night hawks swoop down and boom as they pass overhead. One feels
+thankful that the mosquitoes are of some good in furnishing food to so
+graceful a bird.
+
+A water snake glides across the channel, leaving a silver wake in the
+moonlight. The frogs plunk into the water as we push past. A night heron
+rises from the margin of the river and slowly flops away. The bittern
+booms again as we row down the peaceful river, and we leave the marshland
+to its ancient and rightful owners.
+
+    And the marsh is meshed with a million veins,
+    That like as with rosy and silvery essences flow
+    In the rose and silver evening glow.
+            Farewell, my lord Sun!
+    The creeks overflow; a thousand rivulets run
+    'Twixt the roots of the sod; the blades of the marsh grass stir;
+    Passeth a hurrying sound of wings that westward whirr.
+                                                      Sidney Lanier.
+
+
+
+
+THE COMING OF MAN
+
+
+If we betake ourselves to the heart of the deepest forests which are still
+left upon our northern hills, and compare the bird life which we find
+there with that in the woods and fields near our homes, we shall at once
+notice a great difference. Although the coming of mankind with his axe and
+plough has driven many birds and animals far away or actually exterminated
+them, there are many others which have so thrived under the new conditions
+that they are far more numerous than when the tepees of the red men alone
+broke the monotony of the forest.
+
+We might walk all day in the primitive woods and never see or hear a
+robin, while in an hour's stroll about a village we can count scores. Let
+us observe how some of these quick-witted feathered beings have taken
+advantage of the way in which man is altering the whole face of the land.
+
+A pioneer comes to a spot in the virgin forest which pleases him and
+proceeds at once to cut down the trees in order to make a clearing. The
+hermit thrush soothes his labour with its wonderful song; the pileated
+woodpecker pounds its disapproval upon a near-by hollow tree; the deer and
+wolf take a last look out through the trees and flee from the spot
+forever. A house and barn arise; fields become covered with waving grass
+and grain; a neglected patch of burnt forest becomes a tangle of
+blackberry and raspberry; an orchard is set out.
+
+When the migrating birds return, they are attracted to this new scene. The
+decaying wood of fallen trees is a paradise for ants, flies, and beetles;
+offering to swallows, creepers, and flycatchers feasts of abundance never
+dreamed of in the primitive forests. Straightway, what must have been a
+cave swallow becomes a barn swallow; the haunter of rock ledges changes to
+an eave swallow; the nest in the niche of the cliff is deserted and phoebe
+becomes a bridgebird; cedarbirds are renamed cherrybirds, and catbirds and
+other low-nesting species find the blackberry patch safer than the
+sweetbrier vine in the deep woods. The swift leaves the lightning-struck
+hollow tree where owl may harry or snake intrude, for the chimney
+flue--sooty but impregnable.
+
+When the great herds of ruminants disappear from the western prairies, the
+buffalo birds without hesitation become cowbirds, and when the plough
+turns up the never-ending store of grubs and worms the birds lose all fear
+and follow at the very heels of the plough-boy: grackles, vesper sparrows,
+and larks in the east, and flocks of gulls farther to the westward.
+
+The crow surpasses all in the keen wit which it pits against human
+invasion and enmity. The farmer declares war (all unjustly) against these
+sable natives, but they jeer at his gun and traps and scarecrows, and
+thrive on, killing the noxious insects, devouring the diseased
+corn-sprouts,--doing great good to the farmer in spite of himself.
+
+The story of these sudden adaptations to conditions which the birds could
+never have foreseen is a story of great interest and it has been but half
+told. Climb the nearest hill or mountain or even a tall tree and look out
+upon the face of the country. Keep in mind you are a bird and not a
+human,--you neither know nor understand anything of the reason for these
+strange sights,--these bipeds who cover the earth with great square
+structures, who scratch the ground for miles, who later gnaw the
+vegetation with great shining teeth, and who are only too often on the
+look out to bring sudden death if one but show a feather. What would you
+do?
+
+
+
+
+THE SILENT LANGUAGE OF ANIMALS
+
+
+What a great difference there is in brilliancy of colouring between birds
+and the furry creatures. How the plumage of a cardinal, or indigo bunting,
+or hummingbird glows in the sunlight, and reflects to our eyes the most
+intense vermilion or indigo or an iridescence of the whole gamut of
+colour. On the other hand, how sombrely clad are the deer, the rabbits,
+and the mice; gray and brown and white being the usual hue of their fur.
+
+This difference is by no means accidental, but has for its cause a deep
+significance,--all-important to the life of the bird or mammal. Scientists
+have long known of it, and if we unlock it from its hard sheathing of
+technical terms, we shall find it as simple and as easy to understand as
+it is interesting. When we once hold the key, it will seem as if scales
+had fallen from our eyes, and when we take our walks abroad through the
+fields and woods, when we visit a zoological park, or even see the animals
+in a circus, we shall feel as though a new world were opened to us.
+
+No post offices, or even addresses, exist for birds and mammals; when the
+children of the desert or the jungle are lost, no detective or policeman
+hastens to find them, no telephone or telegraph aids in the search. Yet,
+without any of these accessories, the wild creatures have marvellous
+systems of communication. The five senses (and perhaps a mysterious sixth,
+at which we can only guess) are the telephones and the police, the
+automatic sentinels and alarms of our wild kindred. Most inferior are our
+own abilities in using eyes, nose, and ears, when compared with the same
+functions in birds and animals.
+
+Eyes and noses are important keys to the bright colours of birds and
+comparative sombreness of hairy-coated creatures. Take a dog and an oriole
+as good examples of the two extremes. When a dog has lost his master, he
+first looks about; then he strains his eyes with the intense look of a
+near-sighted person, and after a few moments of this he usually yelps with
+disappointment, drops his nose to the ground, and with unfailing accuracy
+follows the track of his master. When the freshness of the trail tells him
+that he is near its end he again resorts to his eyes, and is soon near
+enough to recognise the face he seeks. A fox when running before a hound
+may double back, and make a close reconnaissance near his trail, sometimes
+passing in full view without the hound's seeing him or stopping in
+following out the full curve of the trail, so completely does the
+wonderful power of smell absorb the entire attention of the dog.
+
+Let us now turn to the oriole. As we might infer, the nostrils incased in
+horn render the sense of smell of but slight account. It is hard to tell
+how much a bird can distinguish in this way--probably only the odour of
+food near at hand. However, when we examine the eye of our bird, we see a
+sense organ of a very high order. Bright, intelligent, full-circled, of
+great size compared to the bulk of the skull, protected by three complete
+eyelids; we realise that this must play an important part in the life of
+the bird. There are, of course, many exceptions to such a generalisation
+as this. For instance, many species of sparrows are dull-coloured. We must
+remember that the voice--the calls and songs of birds--is developed to a
+high degree, and in many instances renders bright colouring needless in
+attracting a mate or in locating a young bird.
+
+As we have seen, the sense of smell is very highly developed among
+four-footed animals, but to make this efficient there must be something
+for it to act upon; and in this connection we find some interesting facts
+of which, outside of scientific books, little has been written. On the
+entire body, birds have only one gland--the oil gland above the base of
+the tail, which supplies an unctuous dressing for the feathers. Birds,
+therefore, have not the power of perspiring, but compensate for this by
+very rapid breathing. On the contrary, four-footed animals have glands on
+many portions of the body. Nature is seldom contented with the one primary
+function which an organ or tissue performs, but adjusts and adapts it to
+others in many ingenious ways. Hence, when an animal perspires, the pores
+of the skin allow the contained moisture to escape and moisten the surface
+of the body; but in addition to this, in many animals, collections of
+these pores in the shape of large glands secrete various odours which
+serve important uses. In the skunk such a gland is a practically perfect
+protection against attacks from his enemies. He never hurries and seems
+not to know what fear is--a single wave of his conspicuous danger signal
+is sufficient to clear his path.
+
+In certain species of the rhinoceros there are large glands in the foot.
+These animals live among grass and herbage which they brush against as
+they walk, and thus "blaze" a plain trail for the mate or young to follow.
+There are few if any animals which care to face a rhinoceros, so the scent
+is incidentally useful to other creatures as a warning.
+
+It is believed that the hard callosities on the legs of horses are the
+remains of glands which were once upon a time useful to their owners; and
+it is said that if a paring from one of these hard, horny structures be
+held to the nose of a horse, he will follow it about, hinting, perhaps,
+that in former days the scent from the gland was an instinctive guide
+which kept members of the herd together.
+
+"Civet," which is obtained from the civet cat, and "musk," from the queer
+little hornless musk deer, are secretions of glands. It has been suggested
+that the defenceless musk deer escapes many of its enemies by the
+similarity of its secretion to the musky odour of crocodiles. In many
+animals which live together in herds, such as the antelope and deer, and
+which have neither bright colours nor far-reaching calls to aid straying
+members to regain the flock, there are large and active scent glands. The
+next time you see a live antelope in a zoological park, or even a stuffed
+specimen, look closely at the head, and between the eye and the nostril a
+large opening will be seen on each, side, which, in the living animal,
+closes now and then, a flap of skin shutting it tight.
+
+Among pigs the fierce peccary is a very social animal, going in large
+packs; and on the back of each of these creatures is found a large gland
+from which a clear watery fluid is secreted. Dogs and wolves also have
+their odour-secreting glands on the back, and the "wolf-pack" is
+proverbial.
+
+The gland of the elephant is on the temple, and secretes only when the
+animal is in a dangerous mood, a hint, therefore, of opposite significance
+to that of the herding animals, as this says, "Let me alone! stay away!"
+Certain low species of monkeys, the lemurs, have a remarkable bare patch
+on the forearm, which covers a gland serving some use.
+
+If we marvel at the keenness of scent among animals, how incredible seems
+the similar sense in insects--similar in function, however different the
+medium of structure may be. Think of the scent from a female moth, so
+delicate that we cannot distinguish it, attracting a male of the same
+species from a distance of a mile or more. Entomologists sometimes confine
+a live female moth or other insect in a small wire cage and hang it
+outdoors in the evening, and in a short time reap a harvest of gay-winged
+suitors which often come in scores, instinctively following up the trail
+of the delicate, diffused odour. It is surely true that the greatest
+wonders are not always associated with mere bulk.
+
+
+
+
+INSECT MUSIC
+
+
+Among insects, sounds are produced in many ways, and for various reasons.
+A species of ant which makes its nest on the under side of leaves produces
+a noise by striking the leaf with its head in a series of spasmodic taps,
+and another ant is also very interesting as regards its sound-producing
+habit. "Individuals of this species are sometimes spread over a surface of
+two square yards, many out of sight of the others; yet the tapping is set
+up at the same moment, continued exactly the same space of time, and
+stopped at the same instant. After the lapse of a few seconds, all
+recommence simultaneously. The interval is always approximately of the
+same duration, and each ant does not beat synchronously with every other
+ant, but only like those in the same group, so the independent tappings
+play a sort of tune, each group alike in time, but the tapping of the
+whole mass beginning and ending at the same instant. This is doubtless a
+means of communication."
+
+The organ of hearing in insects is still to be discovered in many forms,
+but in katydids it is situated on the middle of the fore-legs; in
+butterflies on the sides of the thorax, while the tip of the horns or
+antennae of many insects is considered to be the seat of this function. In
+all it is little more than a cavity, over which a skin is stretched like a
+drum-head, which thus reacts to the vibration. This seems to be very often
+"tuned," as it were, to the sounds made by the particular species in which
+it is found. A cricket will at times be unaffected by any sound, however
+loud, while at the slightest "screek" or chirp of its own species, no
+matter how faint, it will start its own little tune in all excitement.
+
+The songs of the cicadas are noted all over the world. Darwin heard them
+while anchored half a mile off the South American coast, and a giant
+species of that country is said to produce a noise as loud as the whistle
+of a locomotive. Only the males sing, the females being dumb, thus giving
+rise to the well-known Grecian couplet:
+
+                  "Happy the cicadas' lives,
+                  For they all have voiceless wives."
+
+Anyone who has entered a wood where thousands of the seventeen-year
+cicadas were hatching has never forgotten it. A threshing machine, or a
+gigantic frog chorus, is a fair comparison, and when a branch loaded with
+these insects is shaken, the sound rises to a shrill screech or scream.
+This noise is supposed--in fact is definitely known--to attract the female
+insect, and although there may be in it some tender notes which we fail to
+distinguish, yet let us hope that the absence of any highly organised
+auditory organ may result in reducing the effect of a steam-engine whistle
+to an agreeable whisper! It is thought that the vibrations are felt rather
+than heard, in the sense that we use the word "hear"; if one has ever had
+a cicada _zizz_ in one's hand, the electrical shocks which seem to go up
+the arm help the belief in this idea. To many of us the song of the
+cicada--softened by distance--will ever be pleasant on account of its
+associations. When one attempts to picture a hot August day in a hay-field
+or along a dusty road, the drowsy _zee-ing_ of this insect, growing louder
+and more accelerated and then as gradually dying away, is a focus for the
+mind's eye, around which the other details instantly group themselves.
+
+The apparatus for producing this sound is one of the most complex in all
+the animal kingdom. In brief, it consists of two external doors, capable
+of being partly opened, and three internal membranes, to one of which is
+attached a vibrating muscle, which, put in motion, sets all the others
+vibrating in unison.
+
+We attach a great deal of importance to the fact of being educated to the
+appreciation of the highest class of music. We applaud our Paderewski, and
+year after year are awed and delighted with wonderful operatic music, yet
+seldom is the _limitation_ of human perception of musical sounds
+considered.
+
+If we wish to appreciate the limits within which the human ear is capable
+of distinguishing sounds, we should sit down in a meadow, some hot
+midsummer day, and listen to the subdued running murmur of the myriads of
+insects. Many are very distinct to our ears and we have little trouble in
+tracing them to their source. Such are crickets and grasshoppers, which
+fiddle and rasp their roughened hind legs against their wings. Some
+butterflies have the power of making a sharp crackling sound by means of
+hooks on the wings. The katydid, so annoying to some in its persistent
+ditty, so full of reminiscences to others of us, is a large, green,
+fiddling grasshopper.
+
+Another sound which is typical of summer is the hum of insects' wings,
+sometimes, as near a beehive, rising to a subdued roar. The higher,
+thinner song of the mosquito's wings is unfortunately familiar to us, and
+we must remember that the varying tone of the hum of each species may be
+of the greatest importance to it as a means of recognition. Many beetles
+have a projecting horn on the under side of the body which they can snap
+against another projection, and by this means call their lady-loves,
+literally "playing the bones" in their minstrel serenade.
+
+Although we can readily distinguish the sounds which these insects
+produce, yet there are hundreds of small creatures, and even large ones,
+which are provided with organs of hearing, but whose language is too fine
+for our coarse perceptions. The vibrations--chirps, hums, and clicks--can
+be recorded on delicate instruments, but, just as there are shades and
+colours at both ends of the spectrum which our eyes cannot perceive, so
+there are tones running we know not how far beyond the scale limits which
+affect our ears. Some creatures utter noises so shrill, so sharp, that it
+pains our ears to listen to them, and these are probably on the borderland
+of our sound-world.
+
+             Pipe, little minstrels of the waning year,
+               In gentle concert pipe!
+             Pipe the warm noons; the mellow harvest near;
+               The apples dropping ripe;
+
+             The sweet sad hush on Nature's gladness laid;
+               The sounds through silence heard!
+             Pipe tenderly the passing of the year.
+                                   Harriet Mcewen Kimball.
+
+                  I love to hear thine earnest voice,
+                    Wherever thou art hid,
+                  Thou testy little dogmatist,
+                    Thou pretty Katydid!
+                  Thou mindest me of gentlefolks,--
+                    Old gentlefolks are they,--
+                  Thou say'st an undisputed thing
+                    In such a solemn way.
+                               Oliver Wendell Holmes.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+AUGUST
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+THE GRAY DAYS OF BIRDS
+
+
+The temptation is great, if we love flowers, to pass over the seed time,
+when stalks are dried and leaves are shrivelled, no matter how beautiful
+may be the adaptation for scattering or preserving the seed or how
+wonderful the protective coats guarding against cold or wet. Or if insects
+attract us by their many varied interests, we are more enthusiastic over
+the glories of the full-winged image than the less conspicuous, though no
+less interesting, eggs and chrysalides hidden away in crevices throughout
+the long winter.
+
+Thus there seems always a time when we hesitate to talk or write of our
+favourite theme, especially if this be some class of life on the earth,
+because, perchance, it is not at its best.
+
+Even birds have their gray days, when in the autumn the glory of their
+plumage and song has diminished. At this time few of their human admirers
+intrude upon them and the birds themselves are only too glad to escape
+observation. Collectors of skins disdain to ply their trade, as the
+ragged, pin-feathery coats of the birds now make sorry-looking specimens.
+But we can find something of interest in birddom, even in this interim.
+
+Nesting is over, say you, when you start out on your tramps in late summer
+or early autumn; but do not be too sure. The gray purse of the oriole has
+begun to ravel at the edges and the haircloth cup of the chipping sparrow
+is already wind-distorted, but we shall find some housekeeping just
+begun.
+
+The goldfinch is one of these late nesters. Long after his northern
+cousins, the pine siskins and snowflakes, have laid their eggs and reared
+their young, the goldfinch begins to focus the aerial loops of his flight
+about some selected spot and to collect beakfuls of thistledown. And here,
+perhaps, we have his fastidious reason for delaying. Thistles seed with
+the goldenrod, and not until this fleecy substance is gray and floating
+does he consider that a suitable nesting material is available.
+
+When the young birds are fully fledged one would think the goldfinch a
+polygamist, as we see him in shining yellow and black, leading his family
+quintet, all sombre hued, his patient wife being to our eyes
+indistinguishable from the youngsters.
+
+But in the case of most of the birds the cares of nesting are past, and
+the woods abound with full-sized but awkward young birds, blundering
+through their first month of insect-hunting and fly-catching, tumbling
+into the pools from which they try to drink, and shrieking with the very
+joy of life, when it would be far safer for that very life if they
+remained quiet.
+
+It is a delightful period this, a transition as interesting as evanescent.
+This is the time when instinct begins to be aided by intelligence, when
+every hour accumulates fact upon fact, all helping to co-ordinate action
+and desire on the part of the young birds.
+
+No hint of migration has yet passed over the land, and the quiet of summer
+still reigns; but even as we say this a confused chuckling is heard; this
+rises into a clatter of harsh voices, and a small flock of blackbirds--two
+or three families--pass overhead. The die is cast! No matter how hot may
+be the sunshine during succeeding days, or how contented and thoughtless
+of the future the birds may appear, there is a something which has gone,
+and which can never return until another cycle of seasons has passed.
+
+During this transition time some of our friends are hardly recognisable;
+we may surprise the scarlet tanager in a plumage which seems more
+befitting a nonpareil bunting,--a regular "Joseph's coat." The red of his
+head is half replaced with a ring of green, and perhaps a splash of the
+latter decorates the middle of his back. When he flies the light shows
+through his wings in two long narrow slits, where a pair of primaries are
+lacking. It is a wise provision of Nature which regulates the moulting
+sequence of his flight feathers, so that only a pair shall fall out at one
+time, and the adjoining pair not before the new feathers are large and
+strong. A sparrow or oriole hopping along the ground with angular,
+half-naked wings would be indeed a pitiful sight, except to marauding
+weasels and cats, who would find meals in abundance on every hand.
+
+Let us take our way to some pond or lake, thick with duckweed and beloved
+of wild fowl, and we shall find a different state of affairs. We surprise
+a group of mallard ducks, which rush out from the overhanging bank and
+dive for safety among the sheltering green arrowheads. But their outspread
+wings are a mockery, the flight feathers showing as a mere fringe of quill
+sticks, which beat the water helplessly.
+
+Another thing we notice. Where are the resplendent drakes? Have they flown
+elsewhere and left their mates to endure the dangers of moulting alone?
+Let us come here a week later and see what a transformation is taking
+place. When most birds moult it is for a period of several months, but
+these ducks have a partial fall moult which is of the greatest importance
+to them. When the wing feathers begin to loosen in their sockets an
+unfailing instinct leads these birds to seek out some secluded pond, where
+they patiently await the moult. The sprouting, blood-filled quills force
+out the old feathers, and the bird becomes a thing of the water, to swim
+and to dive, with no more power of flight than its pond companions, the
+turtles.
+
+If, however, the drake should retain his iridescent head and snowy collar,
+some sharp-eyed danger would spy out his helplessness and death would
+swoop upon him. So for a time his bright feathers fall out and a quick
+makeshift disguise closes over him--the reed-hued browns and grays of his
+mate--and for a time the pair are hardly distinguishable. With the return
+of his power of flight comes renewed brightness, and the wild drake
+emerges from his seclusion on strong-feathered, whistling wings. All this
+we should miss, did we not seek him out at this season; otherwise the few
+weeks would pass and we should notice no change from summer to winter
+plumage, and attribute his temporary absence to a whim of wandering on
+distant feeding grounds.
+
+Another glance at our goldfinch shows a curious sight. Mottled with spots
+and streaks, yellow alternating with greenish, he is an anomaly indeed,
+and in fact all of our birds which undergo a radical colour change will
+show remarkable combinations during the actual process.
+
+It is during the gray days that the secret to a great problem may be
+looked for--the why of migration.
+
+A young duck of the year, whose wings are at last strong and fit, waves
+them in ecstasy, vibrating from side to side and end to end of his natal
+pond. Then one day we follow his upward glances to where a thin, black
+arrow is throbbing southward, so high in the blue sky that the individual
+ducks are merged into a single long thread. The young bird, calling again
+and again, spurns the water with feet and wings, finally rising in a
+slowly ascending arc. Somewhere, miles to the southward, another segment
+approaches--touches--merges.
+
+But what of our smaller birds? When the gray days begin to chill we may
+watch them hopping among the branches all day in their search for
+insects--a keener search now that so many of the more delicate flies and
+bugs have fallen chilled to the earth. Toward night the birds become more
+restless, feed less, wander aimlessly about, but, as we can tell by their
+chirps, remain near us until night has settled down. Then the irresistible
+maelstrom of migration instinct draws them upward,--upward,--climbing on
+fluttering wings, a mile or even higher into the thin air, and in company
+with thousands and tens of thousands they drift southward, sending vague
+notes down, but themselves invisible to us, save when now and then a tiny
+black mote floats across the face of the moon--an army of feathered mites,
+passing from tundra and spruce to bayou and palm.
+
+In the morning, instead of the half-hearted warble of an insect eater,
+there sounds in our ears, like the ring of skates on ice, the metallic,
+whip-like chirp of a snowbird, confident of his winter's seed feast.
+
+
+
+
+LIVES OF THE LANTERN BEARERS
+
+
+To all wild creatures fire is an unknown and hated thing, although it is
+often so fascinating to them that they will stand transfixed gazing at its
+mysterious light, while a hunter, unnoticed, creeps up behind and shoots
+them.
+
+In the depth of the sea, where the sun is powerless to send a single ray
+of light and warmth, there live many strange beings, fish and worms,
+which, by means of phosphorescent spots and patches, may light their own
+way. Of these strange sea folk we know nothing except from the fragments
+which are brought to the surface by the dredge; but over our fields and
+hedges, throughout the summer nights, we may see and study most
+interesting examples of creatures which produce their own light. Heedless
+of whether the moon shines brightly, or whether an overcast sky cloaks the
+blackest of nights, the fireflies blaze their sinuous path through life.
+These little yellow and black beetles, which illumine our way like a cloud
+of tiny meteors, have indeed a wonderful power, for the light which they
+produce within their own bodies is a cold glow, totally different from any
+fire of human agency.
+
+In some species there seems to be a most romantic reason for their
+brilliance. Down among the grass blades are lowly, wingless creatures--the
+female fireflies, which, as twilight falls, leave their earthen burrows in
+the turf and, crawling slowly to the summit of some plant, they display
+the tiny lanterns which Nature has kindled within their bodies.
+
+Far overhead shoot the strong-winged males, searching for their minute
+insect food, weaving glowing lines over all the shadowy landscape, and
+apparently heedless of all beneath them. Yet when the dim little beacon,
+hung out with the hopefulness of instinct upon the grass blade, is seen,
+all else is forgotten and the beetle descends to pay court to the poor,
+worm-like creature, so unlike him in appearance, but whose little
+illumination is her badge of nobility. The gallant suitor is as devoted as
+if the object of his affection were clad in all the gay colours of a
+butterfly; and he is fortunate if, when he has reached the signal among
+the grasses, he does not find a half-dozen firefly rivals before him.
+
+When insects seek their mates by day, their characteristic colours or
+forms may be confused with surrounding objects; or those which by night
+are able in that marvellous way to follow the faintest scent up wind may
+have difficulties when cross currents of air are encountered; but the
+female firefly, waiting patiently upon her lowly leaf, has unequalled
+opportunity for winning her mate, for there is nothing to compare with or
+eclipse her flame. Except--I wonder if ever a firefly has hastened
+downward toward the strange glow which we sometimes see in the heart of
+decayed wood,--mistaking a patch of fox-fire for the love-light of which
+he was in search!
+
+In other species, including the common one about our homes, the lady
+lightning-bug is more fortunate in possessing wings and is able to fly
+abroad like her mate.
+
+Although this phosphorescence has been microscopically examined, it is but
+slightly understood. We know, however, that it is a wonderful process of
+combustion,--by which a bright light is produced without heat, smoke, or
+indeed fuel, except that provided by the life processes in the tiny body
+of the insect.
+
+               So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
+                                            Shakespeare.
+
+
+
+
+A STARFISH AND A DAISY
+
+
+Day after day the forms of horses, dogs, birds, and other creatures pass
+before our eyes. We look at them and call them by the names which we have
+given them, and yet--we see them not. That is to say, we say that they
+have a head, a tail; they run or fly; they are of one colour beneath,
+another above, but beyond these bare meaningless facts most of us never
+go.
+
+Let us think of the meaning of form. Take, for example, a flower--a daisy.
+Now, if we could imagine such an impossible thing as that a daisy blossom
+should leave its place of growth, creep down the stem and go wandering off
+through the grass, soon something would probably happen to its shape. It
+would perhaps get in the habit of creeping with some one ray always in
+front, and the friction of the grass stems on either side would soon wear
+and fray the ends of the side rays, while those behind might grow longer
+and longer. If we further suppose that this strange daisy flower did not
+like the water, the rays in front might be of service in warning it to
+turn aside. When their tips touched the surface and were wet by the water
+of some pool, the ambulatory blossom would draw back and start out in a
+new direction. Thus a theoretical head (with the beginnings of the organs
+of sense), and a long-drawn-out tail, would have their origin.
+
+Such a remarkable simile is not as fanciful as it might at first appear;
+for although we know of no blossom which so sets at naught the sedentary
+life of the vegetable kingdom, yet among certain of the animals which live
+their lives beneath the waves of the sea a very similar thing occurs.
+
+Many miles inland, even on high mountains, we may sometimes see thousands
+of little joints, or bead-like forms, imbedded in great rocky cliffs. They
+have been given the name of St. Cuthbert's beads. Occasionally in the
+vicinity of these fossils--for such they are--are found impressions of a
+graceful, flower-like head, with many delicately divided petals, fixed
+forever in the hard relief of stone. The name of stone lilies has been
+applied to them. The beads were once strung together in the form of a long
+stem, and at the top the strangely beautiful animal-lily nodded its head
+in the currents of some deep sea, which in the long ago of the earth's age
+covered the land--millions of years before the first man or beast or bird
+drew breath.
+
+It was for a long time supposed that these wonderful creatures were
+extinct, but dredges have brought up from the dark depths of the sea
+actual living stone lilies, or _crinoids_, this being their real name. Few
+of us will probably ever have an opportunity of studying a crinoid alive,
+although in our museums we may see them preserved in glass jars. That,
+however, detracts nothing from the marvel of their history and
+relationship. They send root-like organs deep into the mud, where they
+coil about some shell and there cling fast. Then the stem grows tall and
+slender, and upon the summit blooms or is developed the animal-flower. Its
+nourishment is not drawn from the roots and the air, as is that of the
+daisy, but is provided by the tiny creatures which swim to its tentacles,
+or are borne thither by the ocean currents. Some of these crinoids, as if
+impatient of their plant-like life and asserting their animal kinship, at
+last tear themselves free from their stem and float off, turn over, and
+thereafter live happily upon the bottom of the sea, roaming where they
+will, creeping slowly along and fulfilling the destiny of our imaginary
+daisy.
+
+And here a comparison comes suddenly to mind. How like to a many-rayed
+starfish is our creeping crinoid! Few of us, unless we had studies about
+these creatures, could distinguish between a crinoid and one of the frisky
+little dancing stars, or serpent stars, which are so common in the rocky
+caves along our coast. This relationship is no less real than apparent.
+The hard-skinned "five finger," or common starfish, which we may pick up
+on any beach, while it never grew upon a stem, yet still preserves the
+radial symmetry of its stalked ancestors. Pick up your starfish, carry it
+to the nearest field, and pluck a daisy close to the head. How interesting
+the comparison becomes, now that the knowledge of its meaning is plain.
+Anything which grows fast upon a single immovable stem tends to grow
+equally in all directions. We need not stop here, for we may include sea
+anemones and corals, those most marvellously coloured flowers of the sea,
+which grow upon a short, thick stalk and send out their tentacles equally
+in all directions. And many of the jelly-fish which throb along close
+beneath the surface swells were in their youth each a section of a pile of
+saucer-like individuals, which were fastened by a single stalk to some
+shell or piece of coral.
+
+We will remember that it was suggested that the theoretical daisy would
+soon alter its shape after it entered upon active life. This is plainly
+seen in the starfish, although at first glance the creature seems as
+radially symmetrical as a wheel. But at one side of the body, between two
+of the arms, is a tiny perforated plate, serving to strain the water which
+enters the body, and thus the circular tendency is broken, and a beginning
+made toward right and left handedness. In certain sea-urchins, which are
+really starfishes with the gaps between the arms filled up, the body is
+elongated, and thus the head and tail conditions of all animals higher in
+the scale of life are represented.
+
+
+
+
+THE DREAM OF THE YELLOW-THROAT
+
+
+Many of us look with longing to the days of Columbus; we chafe at the
+thought of no more continents to discover; no unknown seas to encompass.
+But at our very doors is an "undiscovered bourne," from which, while the
+traveller invariably returns, yet he will have penetrated but slightly
+into its mysteries. This unexplored region is night.
+
+When the dusk settles down and the creatures of sunlight seek their rest,
+a new realm of life awakens into being. The flaring colours and loud
+bustle of the day fade and are lost, and in their place come soft, gray
+tones and silence. The scarlet tanager seeks some hidden perch and soon
+from the same tree slips a silent, ghostly owl; the ruby of the
+hummingbird dies out as the gaudy flowers of day close their petals, and
+the gray wraiths of sphinx moths appear and sip nectar from the spectral
+moonflowers.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+With feet shod with silence, let us creep near a dense tangle of
+sweetbrier and woodbine late some summer evening and listen to the sounds
+of the night-folk. How few there are that our ears can analyse! We huddle
+close to the ground and shut our eyes. Then little by little we open them
+and set our senses of sight and hearing at keenest pitch. Even so, how
+handicapped are we compared to the wild creatures. A tiny voice becomes
+audible, then dies away,--entering for a moment the narrow range of our
+coarse hearing,--and finishing its message of invitation or challenge in
+vibrations too fine for our ears.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+Were we crouched by a dense yew hedge, bordering an English country lane,
+a nightingale might delight us,--a melody of day, softened, adapted, to
+the night. If the air about us was heavy with the scent of orange blossoms
+of some covert in our own southland, the glorious harmony of a mockingbird
+might surge through the gloom,--assuaging the ear as do the blossoms
+another sense.
+
+But sitting still in our own home tangle let us listen,--listen. Our eyes
+have slipped the scales of our listless civilised life and pierce the
+darkness with the acuteness of our primeval forefathers; our ears tingle
+and strain.
+
+A slender tongue of sound arises from the bush before us. Again and again
+it comes, muffled but increasing in volume. A tiny ball of feathers is
+perched in the centre of the tangle, with beak hidden in the deep, soft
+plumage, but ever and anon the little body throbs and the song falls
+gently on the silence of the night: "I beseech you! I beseech you! I
+beseech you!" A Maryland yellow-throat is asleep and singing in its
+dreams.
+
+As we look and listen, a shadowless something hovers overhead, and,
+looking upward, we see a gray screech owl silently hanging on beating
+wings. His sharp ears have caught the muffled sound; his eyes search out
+the tangle, but the yellow-throat is out of reach. The little hunter
+drifts away into the blackness, the song ends and the sharp squeak of a
+mouse startles us. We rise slowly from our cramped position and quietly
+leave the mysteries of the night.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+SEPTEMBER
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+THE PASSING OF THE FLOCKS
+
+
+It is September. August--the month of gray days for birds--has passed. The
+last pin-feather of the new winter plumage has burst its sheath, and is
+sleek and glistening from its thorough oiling with waterproof dressing,
+which the birds squeeze out with their bills from a special gland, and
+which they rub into every part of their plumage. The youngsters, now grown
+as large as their parents, have become proficient in fly-catching or
+berry-picking, as the case may be. Henceforth they forage for themselves,
+although if we watch carefully we may still see a parent's love prompting
+it to give a berry to its big offspring (indistinguishable save for this
+attention), who greedily devours it without so much as a wing flutter of
+thanks.
+
+Two courses are open to the young birds who have been so fortunate as to
+escape the dangers of nestlinghood. They may unite in neighbourly flocks
+with others of their kind, as do the blackbirds of the marshes; or they
+may wander off by themselves, never going very far from their summer home,
+but perching alone each night in the thick foliage of some sheltering
+bush.
+
+How wonderfully the little fellow adapts himself to the radical and sudden
+change in his life! Before this, his world has been a warm, soft-lined
+nest, with ever anxious parents to shelter him from rain and cold, or to
+stand with half-spread wings between him and the burning rays of the sun.
+He has only to open his mouth and call for food and a supply of the
+choicest morsels appears and is shoved far down his throat. If danger
+threatens, both parents are ready to fight to the last, or even willing to
+give their lives to protect him. Little wonder is it that the young birds
+are loth to leave; we can sympathise heartily with the last weaker
+brother, whose feet cling convulsively to the nest, who begs piteously for
+"just one more caterpillar!" But the mother bird is inexorable and stands
+a little way out of reach with the juiciest morsel she can find. Once out,
+the young bird never returns. Even if we catch the little chap before he
+finishes his first flight and replace him, the magic spell of home is
+broken, and he is out again the instant our hand frees him.
+
+What a change the first night brings! Yet with unfailing instinct he
+squats on some twig, fluffs up his feathers, tucks his wee head behind his
+wing, and sleeps the sleep of his first adult birdhood as soundly as if
+this position of rest had been familiar to him since he broke through the
+shell.
+
+We admire his aptitude for learning; how quickly his wings gain strength
+and skill; how soon he manages to catch his own dinner. But how all this
+pales before the accomplishment of a young brush turkey or moundbuilder of
+the antipodes. Hatched six or eight feet under ground, merely by the heat
+of decaying vegetation, no fond parents minister to his wants. Not only
+must he escape from the shell in the pressure and darkness of his
+underground prison (how we cannot tell), but he is then compelled to dig
+through six feet of leaves and mould before he reaches the sunlight. He
+finds himself well feathered, and at once spreads his small but perfect
+wings and goes humming off to seek his living alone and unattended.
+
+It is September--the month of restlessness for the birds. Weeks ago the
+first migrants started on their southward journey, the more delicate
+insect-eaters going first, before the goldfinches and other late nesters
+had half finished housekeeping. The northern warblers drift past us
+southward--the magnolia, blackburnian, Canadian fly-catching, and others,
+bringing memories of spruce and balsam to those of us who have lived with
+them in the forests of the north.
+
+"It's getting too cold for the little fellows," says the wiseacre, who
+sees you watching the smaller birds as they pass southward. Is it, though?
+What of the tiny winter wren which spends the zero weather with us? His
+coat is no warmer than those birds which have gone to the far tropics. And
+what of the flocks of birds which we occasionally come across in
+mid-winter, of species which generally migrate to Brazil? It is not the
+cold which deprives us of our summer friends, or at least the great
+majority of them; it is the decrease in food supply. Insects disappear,
+and only those birds which feed on seeds and buds, or are able to glean an
+insect diet from the crevices of fence and tree-trunk, can abide.
+
+This is the month to climb out on the roof of your house, lie on your back
+and listen. He is a stolid person indeed who is not moved by the chirps
+and twitters which come down through the darkness. There is no better way
+to show what a wonderful power sound has upon our memories. There sounds a
+robin's note, and spring seems here again; through the night comes a
+white-throat's chirp, and we see again the fog-dimmed fields of a Nova
+Scotian upland; a sandpiper "peets" and the scene in our mind's eye as
+instantly changes, and so on. What a revelation if we could see as in
+daylight for a few moments! The sky would be pitted with thousands and
+thousands of birds flying from a few hundred yards to as high as one or
+two miles above the earth.
+
+It only adds to the interest of this phenomenon when we turn to our
+learned books on birds for an explanation of the origin of migration, the
+whence and whither of the long journeys by day and night, and find--no
+certain answer! This is one of the greatest of the many mysteries of the
+natural world, of which little is known, although much is guessed, and the
+bright September nights may reveal to us--we know not what undiscovered
+facts.
+
+             I see my way as birds their trackless way.
+             I shall arrive; what time, what circuit first,
+             I ask not; but unless God sends his hail
+             Of blinding fire-balls, sleet or driving snow,
+             In sometime, his good time, I shall arrive;
+             He guides me and the bird. In his good time.
+                                           Robert Browning.
+
+
+
+
+GHOSTS OF THE EARTH
+
+
+We may know the name of every tree near our home; we may recognise each
+blossom in the field, every weed by the wayside; yet we should be
+astonished to be told that there are hundreds of plants--many of them of
+exquisite beauty--which we have overlooked in very sight of our doorstep.
+What of the green film which is drawn over every moist tree-trunk or
+shaded wall, or of the emerald film which coats the water of the pond's
+edge? Or the gray lichens painting the rocks and logs, toning down the
+shingles; the toadstools which, like pale vegetable ghosts, spring up in a
+night from the turf; or the sombre puff balls which seem dead from their
+birth?
+
+The moulds which cover bread and cheese with a delicate tracery of
+filaments and raise on high their tiny balls of spores are as worthy to be
+called a plant growth as are the great oaks which shade our houses. The
+rusts and mildews and blights which destroy our fruit all have their
+beauty of growth and fruition when we examine them through a lens, and the
+yeast by which flour and water is made to rise into the porous, spongy
+dough is just as truly a plant as is the geranium blossoming at the
+kitchen window.
+
+If we wonder at the fierce struggle for existence which allows only a few
+out of the many seeds of a maple or thistle to germinate and grow up, how
+can we realise the obstacles with which these lowly plants have to
+contend? A weed in the garden may produce from one to ten thousand seeds,
+and one of our rarest ferns scatters in a single season over fifty
+millions spores; while from the larger puff-balls come clouds of
+unnumbered millions of spores, blowing to the ends of the earth; yet we
+may search for days without finding one full-grown individual.
+
+All the assemblage of mushrooms and toadstools,--although the most deadly
+may flaunt bright hues of scarlet and yellow,--yet lack the healthy green
+of ordinary plants. This is due to the fact that they have become brown
+parasites or scavengers, and instead of transmuting heat and moisture and
+the salts of the earth into tissue by means of the pleasant-hued
+chlorophyll, these sylvan ghosts subsist upon the sap of roots or the
+tissues of decaying wood. Emancipated from the normal life of the higher
+plants, even flowers have been denied them and their fruit is but a cloud
+of brown dust,--each mote a simple cell.
+
+But what of the delicate Indian pipe which gleams out from the darkest
+aisles of the forest? If we lift up its hanging head we will find a
+perfect flower, and its secret is discovered. Traitor to its kind, it has
+dropped from the ranks of the laurels, the heather, and the jolly little
+wintergreens to the colourless life of a parasite,--hobnobbing with
+clammy toadstools and slimy lichens. Its common names are all
+appropriate,--ice-plant, ghost-flower, corpse-plant.
+
+Nevertheless it is a delicately beautiful creation, and we have no right
+to apply our human standards of ethics to these children of the wild,
+whose only chance of life is to seize every opportunity,--to make use of
+each hint of easier existence.
+
+We have excellent descriptions and classifications of mushrooms and
+toadstools, but of the actual life of these organisms, of the conditions
+of their growth, little is known. Some of the most hideous are delicious
+to our palate, some of the most beautiful are certain death. The splendid
+red and yellow amanita, which lights up a dark spot in the woods like some
+flowering orchid, is a veritable trap of death. Though human beings have
+learned the fatal lesson and leave it alone, the poor flies in the woods
+are ever deceived by its brightness, or odour, and a circle of their
+bodies upon the ground shows the result of their ignorance.
+
+
+
+
+MUSKRATS
+
+
+Long before man began to inherit the earth, giant beavers built their dams
+and swam in the streams of long ago. For ages these creatures have been
+extinct. Our forefathers, during historical times, found smaller beavers
+abundant, and with such zeal did they trap them that this modern race is
+now well-nigh vanished. Nothing is left to us but the humble
+muskrat,--which in name and in facile adaptation to the encroachments of
+civilization has little in common with his more noble predecessor. Yet in
+many ways his habits of life bring to mind the beaver.
+
+Let us make the most of our heritage and watch at the edge of a stream
+some evening in late fall. If the muskrats have half finished their mound
+of sticks and mud, which is to serve them for a winter home, we will be
+sure to see some of them at work. Two lines of ripples furrow the surface
+outward from the farther bank, and a small dark form clambers upon the
+pile of rubbish. Suddenly a _spat!_ sounds at our very feet, and a muskrat
+dives headlong into the water, followed by the one on the ground. Another
+_spat!_ and splash comes from farther down the stream, and so the danger
+signal of the muskrat clan is passed along,--a single flap upon the water
+with the flat of the tail.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+If we wait silent and patient, the work will be taken up anew, and in the
+pale moonlight the little labourers will fashion their house, lining the
+upper chamber with soft grasses, and shaping the steep passageway which
+will lead to the ever-unfrozen stream-bed. Either here or in the snug
+tunnel nest deep in the bank the young muskrats are born, and here they
+are weaned upon toothsome mussels and succulent lily roots.
+
+Safe from all save mink and owl and trap, these sturdy muskrats spend the
+summer in and about the streams; and when winter shuts down hard and fast,
+they live lives more interesting than any of our other animals. The ground
+freezes their tunnels into tubes of iron,--the ice seals the surface, past
+all gnawing out; and yet, amid the quietly flowing water, where snow and
+wind never penetrate, these warm-blooded, air-breathing muskrats live the
+winter through, with only the trout and eels for company. Their food is
+the bark and pith of certain plants; their air is what leaks through the
+house of sticks, or what may collect at the melting-place of ice and
+shore.
+
+Stretched full length on the smooth ice, let us look through into that
+strange nether world, where the stress of storm is unknown. Far beneath us
+sinuous black forms undulate through the water,--from tunnel to house and
+back again. As we gaze down through the crystalline mass, occasional
+fractures play pranks with the objects below. The animate shapes seem to
+take unto themselves greater bulk; their tails broaden, their bodies
+become many times longer. For a moment the illusion is perfect; thousands
+of centuries have slipped back, and we are looking at the giant beavers of
+old.
+
+Let us give thanks that even the humble muskrat still holds his own. A
+century or two hence and posterity may look with wonder at his stuffed
+skin in a museum!
+
+
+
+
+NATURE'S GEOMETRICIANS
+
+
+Spiders form good subjects for a rainy-day study, and two hours spent in a
+neglected garret watching these clever little beings will often arouse
+such interest that we shall be glad to devote many days of sunshine to
+observing those species which hunt and build, and live their lives in the
+open fields. There is no insect in the world with more than six legs, and
+as a spider has eight he is therefore thrown out of the company of
+butterflies, beetles, and wasps and finds himself in a strange assemblage.
+Even to his nearest relatives he bears little resemblance, for when we
+realise that scorpions and horseshoe crabs must call him cousin, we
+perceive that his is indeed an aberrant bough on the tree of creation.
+
+Leaving behind the old-fashioned horseshoe crabs to feel their way slowly
+over the bottom of the sea, the spiders have won for themselves on land a
+place high above the mites, ticks, and daddy-long-legs, and in their high
+development and intricate powers of resource they yield not even to the
+ants and bees.
+
+Nature has provided spiders with an organ filled always with liquid which,
+on being exposed to the air, hardens, and can be drawn out into the
+slender threads we know as cobweb. The silkworm encases its body with a
+mile or more of gleaming silk, but there its usefulness is ended as far as
+the silkworm is concerned. But spiders have found a hundred uses for their
+cordage, some of which are startlingly similar to human inventions.
+
+Those spiders which burrow in the earth hang their tunnels with silken
+tapestries impervious to wet, which at the same time act as lining to the
+tube. Then the entrance may be a trap-door of soil and silk, hinged with
+strong silken threads; or in the turret spiders which are found in our
+fields there is reared a tiny tower of leaves or twigs bound together with
+silk. Who of us has not teased the inmate by pushing a bent straw into his
+stronghold and awaiting his furious onslaught upon the innocent stalk!
+
+A list of all the uses of cobwebs would take more space than we can spare;
+but of these the most familiar is the snare set for unwary flies,--the
+wonderfully ingenious webs which sparkle with dew among the grasses or
+stretch from bush to bush. The framework is of strong webbing and upon
+this is closely woven the sticky spiral which is so elastic, so ethereal,
+and yet strong enough to entangle a good-sized insect. How knowing seems
+the little worker, as when, the web and his den of concealment being
+completed, he spins a strong cable from the centre of the web to the
+entrance of his watch-tower. Then, when a trembling of his aerial spans
+warns him of a capture, how eagerly he seizes his master cable and jerks
+away on it, thus vibrating the whole structure and making more certain the
+confusion of his victim.
+
+What is more interesting than to see a great yellow garden-spider hanging
+head downward in the centre of his web, when we approach too closely,
+instead of deserting his snare, set it vibrating back and forth so rapidly
+that he becomes a mere blur; a more certain method of escaping the
+onslaught of a bird than if he ran to the shelter of a leaf.
+
+Those spiders which leap upon their prey instead of setting snares for it
+have still a use for their threads of life, throwing out a cable as they
+leap, to break their fall if they miss their foothold. What a strange use
+of the cobweb is that of the little flying spiders! Up they run to the top
+of a post, elevate their abdomens and run out several threads which
+lengthen and lengthen until the breeze catches them and away go the
+wingless aeronauts for yards or for miles as fortune and wind and weather
+may dictate! We wonder if they can cut loose or pull in their balloon
+cables at will.
+
+Many species of spiders spin a case for holding their eggs, and some carry
+this about with them until the young are hatched.
+
+A most fascinating tale would unfold could we discover all the uses of
+cobweb when the spiders themselves are through with it. Certain it is that
+our ruby-throated hummingbird robs many webs to fasten together the plant
+down, wood pulp, and lichens which compose her dainty nest.
+
+Search the pond and you will find another member of the spider family
+swimming about at ease beneath the surface, thoroughly aquatic in habits,
+but breathing a bubble of air which he carries about with him. When his
+supply is low he swims to a submarine castle of silk, so air-tight that he
+can keep it filled with a large bubble of air, upon which he draws from
+time to time.
+
+And so we might go on enumerating almost endless uses for the web which is
+Nature's gift to these little waifs, who ages ago left the sea and have
+won a place for themselves in the sunshine among the butterflies and
+flowers.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the balsam-perfumed shade of our northern forests we may sometimes find
+growing in abundance the tiny white dwarf cornel, or bunch-berry, as its
+later cluster of scarlet fruit makes the more appropriate name. These
+miniature dogwood blossoms (or imitation blossoms, as the white divisions
+are not real petals) are very conspicuous against the dark moss, and many
+insects seem to seek them out and to find it worth while to visit them. If
+we look very carefully we may find that this discovery is not original
+with us, for a little creature has long ago found out the fondness of bees
+and other insects for these flowers and has put his knowledge to good
+use.
+
+One day I saw what I thought was a swelling on one part of the flower, but
+a closer look showed it was a living spider. Here was protective colouring
+carried to a wonderful degree. The body of the spider was white and
+glistening, like the texture of the white flower on which he rested. On
+his abdomen were two pink, oblong spots of the same tint and shape as the
+pinkened tips of the false petals. Only by an accident could he be
+discovered by a bird, and when I focussed my camera, I feared that the
+total lack of contrast would make the little creature all but invisible.
+
+Confident with the instinct handed down through many generations, the
+spider trusted implicitly to his colour for safety and never moved, though
+I placed the lens so close that it threw a life-sized image on the
+ground-glass. When all was ready, and before I had pressed the bulb, the
+thought came to me whether this wonderful resemblance should be attributed
+to the need of escaping from insectivorous birds, or to the increased
+facility with which the spider would be able to catch its prey. At the
+very instant of making the exposure, before I could will the stopping of
+the movement of my fingers, if I had so wished, my question was answered.
+A small, iridescent, green bee flew down, like a spark of living light,
+upon the flower, and, quick as thought, was caught in the jaws of the
+spider. Six of his eight legs were not brought into use, but were held far
+back out of the way.
+
+Here, on my lens, I had a little tragedy of the forest preserved for all
+time.
+
+         There was no bud, no bloom upon the bowers;
+           The spiders wove their thin shrouds night by night;
+         The thistledown, the only ghost of flowers,
+           Sailed slowly by--passed noiseless out of sight.
+                                         Thomas Buchanan Read.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+OCTOBER
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+AUTUMN HUNTING WITH A FIELD GLASS
+
+
+One of the most uncertain of months is October, and most difficult for the
+beginner in bird study. If we are just learning to enjoy the life of wood
+and field, we will find hard tangles to unravel among the birds of this
+month. Many of the smaller species which passed us on their northward
+journey last spring are now returning and will, perhaps, tarry a week or
+more before starting on the next nocturnal stage of their passage
+tropicward. Many are almost unrecognisable in their new winter plumage.
+Male scarlet tanagers are now green tanagers, goldfinches are olive
+finches, while instead of the beautiful black, white, and cream dress
+which made so easy the identification of the meadow bobolinks in the
+spring, search will now be rewarded only by some plump, overgrown
+sparrows--reedbirds--which are really bobolinks in disguise.
+
+Orchard orioles and rose-breasted grosbeaks come and are welcomed, but the
+multitude of female birds of these species which appear may astonish one,
+until he discovers that the young birds, both male and female, are very
+similar to their mother in colour. We have no difficulty in distinguishing
+between adult bay-breasted and black poll warblers, but he is indeed a
+keen observer who can point out which is which when the young birds of the
+year pass.
+
+October is apt to be a month of extremes. One day the woods are filled
+with scores of birds, and on the next hardly one will be seen. Often a
+single species or family will predominate, and one will remember "thrush
+days" or "woodpecker days." Yellow-bellied sapsuckers cross the path,
+flickers call and hammer in every grove, while in the orchards, and along
+the old worm-eaten fences, glimpses of red, white, and black show where
+redheaded woodpeckers are looping from trunk to post. When we listen to
+the warble of bluebirds, watch the mock courtship of the high-holders, and
+discover the fall violets under leaves and burrs, for an instant a feeling
+of spring rushes over us; but the yellow leaves blow against our face, the
+wind sighs through the cedars, and we realise that the black hand of the
+frost will soon end the brave efforts of the wild pansies.
+
+The thrushes, ranking in some ways at the head of all our birds, drift
+through the woods, brown and silent as the leaves around them. Splendid
+opportunities they give us to test our powers of woodcraft. A thrush
+passes like a streak of brown light and perches on a tree some distance
+away. We creep from tree to tree, darting nearer when his head is turned.
+At last we think we are within range, and raise our weapon. No, a leaf is
+in the way, and the dancing spots of sunlight make our aim uncertain. We
+move a little closer and again take aim, and this time he cannot escape
+us. Carefully our double-barrelled binoculars cover him, and we get what
+powder and lead could never give us--the quick glance of the hazel eye,
+the trembling, half-raised feathers on his head, and a long look at the
+beautifully rounded form perched on the twig, which a wanton shot would
+destroy forever. The rich rufous colouring of the tail proclaims him a
+singer of singers--a hermit thrush. We must be on the watch these days for
+the beautiful wood thrush, the lesser spotted veery, the well named
+olive-back and the rarer gray-cheeked thrush. We may look in vain among
+the thrushes in our bird books for the golden-crowned and water thrush,
+for these walkers of the woods are thrushes only in appearance, and belong
+to the family of warblers. The long-tailed brown thrashers, lovers of the
+undergrowth, are still more thrush-like in look, but in our
+classifications they hold the position of giant cousins to the wrens. Even
+the finches contribute a mock thrush to our list, the big,
+spotted-breasted fox sparrow, but he rarely comes in number before mid
+October or November. Of course we all know that our robin is a true
+thrush, young robins having their breasts thickly spotted with black,
+while even the old birds retain a few spots and streaks on the throat.
+
+If we search behind the screen of leaves and grass around us we may
+discover many tragedies. One fall I picked up a dead olive-backed thrush
+in the Zoological Park. There were no external signs of violence, but I
+found that the food canal was pretty well filled with blood. The next day
+still another bird was found in the same condition, and the day after two
+more. Within a week I noted in my journal eight of these thrushes, all
+young birds of the year, and all with the same symptoms of disorder. I
+could only surmise that some poisonous substance, some kind of berry,
+perhaps some attractive but deadly exotic from the Botanical Gardens, had
+tempted the inexperienced birds and caused their deaths.
+
+As we walk through the October woods a covey of ruffed grouse springs up
+before us, overhead a flock of robins dashes by, and the birds scatter to
+feed among the wild grapes. The short round wings of the grouse whirr
+noisily, while the quick wing beats of the robins make little sound. Both
+are suited to their uses. The robin may travel league upon league to the
+south, while the grouse will not go far except to find new bud or berry
+pastures. His wings, as we have noticed before, are fitted rather for
+sudden emergencies, to bound up before the teeth of the fox close upon
+him, to dodge into close cover when the nose of the hound almost touches
+his trembling body. When he scrambled out of his shell last May he at once
+began to run about and to try his tiny wings, and little by little he
+taught himself to fly. But in the efforts he got many a tumble and broke
+or lost many a feather. Nature, however, has foreseen this, and to her
+grouse children she gives several changes of wing feathers to practise
+with, before the last strong winter quills come in.
+
+How different it is with the robin. Naked and helpless he comes from his
+blue shell, and only one set of wing quills falls to his share, so it
+behooves him to be careful indeed of these. He remains in the nest until
+they are strong enough to bear him up, and his first attempts are
+carefully supervised by his anxious parents. And so the glimpse we had in
+the October woods of the two pair of wings held more of interest than we
+at first thought.
+
+In many parts of the country, about October fifteenth the crows begin to
+flock back and forth to and from their winter roosts. In some years it is
+the twelfth, or again the seventeenth, but the constancy of the mean date
+is remarkable. Many of our winter visitants have already slipped into our
+fields and woods and taken the places of some of the earlier southern
+migrants; but the daily passing of the birds which delay their journey
+until fairly pinched by the lack of food at the first frosts extends well
+into November. It is not until the foliage on the trees and bushes becomes
+threadbare and the last migrants have flown, that our northern visitors
+begin to take a prominent place in our avifauna.
+
+           Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
+             Close bosom friend of the maturing sun;
+
+           Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?
+             Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--
+           While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
+             And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
+           Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
+             Among the river-sallows, borne aloft
+               Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
+           And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
+             Hedge-crickets sing, and now with treble soft
+             The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft,
+               And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
+
+                                                  JOHN KEATS.
+
+
+
+
+A WOODCHUCK AND A GREBE
+
+
+No fact comes to mind which is not more impressed upon us by the valuable
+aid of comparisons, and Nature is ever offering antitheses. At this season
+we are generally given a brief glimpse--the last for the year--of two
+creatures, one a mammal, the other a bird, which are as unlike in their
+activities as any two living creatures could well be.
+
+What a type of lazy contentment is the woodchuck, as throughout the hot
+summer days he lies on his warm earthen hillock at the entrance of his
+burrow. His fat body seems almost to flow down the slope, and when he
+waddles around for a nibble of clover it is with such an effort that we
+feel sure he would prefer a comfortable slow starvation, were it not for
+the unpleasant feelings involved in such a proceeding.
+
+As far as I know there are but two things which, can rouse a woodchuck to
+strenuous activity; when a dog is in pursuit he can make his stumpy feet
+fairly twinkle as he flies for his burrow, and when a fox or a man is
+digging him out, he can literally worm his way through the ground,
+frequently escaping by means of his wonderful digging power. But when
+September or October days bring the first chill, he gives one last yawn
+upon the world and stows himself away at the farthest end of his tunnel,
+there to sleep away the winter. Little more does he know of the snows and
+blizzards than the bird which has flown to the tropics. Even storing up
+fruits or roots is too great an effort for the indolent woodchuck, and in
+his hibernation stupor he draws only upon the fat which his lethargic
+summer life has accumulated within his skin.
+
+As we might expect from a liver of such a slothful life, the family traits
+of the woodchuck are far from admirable and there is said to be little
+affection shown by the mother woodchuck toward her young. The poor little
+fellows are pushed out of the burrow and driven away to shift for
+themselves as soon as possible. Many of them must come to grief from hawks
+and foxes. Closely related to the squirrels, these large marmots (for they
+are first cousins to the prairie dogs) are as unlike them in activity as
+they are in choice of a haunt.
+
+What a contrast to all this is the trim feathered form which we may see on
+the mill pond some clear morning. Alert and wary, the grebe paddles slowly
+along, watchful of every movement. If we approach too closely, it may
+settle little by little, like a submarine opening its water compartments,
+until nothing is visible except the head with its sharp beak. Another step
+and the bird has vanished, swallowed up by the lake, and the chances are a
+hundred to one against our discovering the motionless neck and the tiny
+eye which rises again among the water weeds.
+
+This little grebe comes of a splendid line of ancestors, some of which
+were even more specialised for an aquatic life. These paid the price of
+existence along lines too narrow and vanished from the earth. The grebe,
+however, has so far stuck to a life which bids fair to allow his race
+safety for many generations, but he is perilously near the limit. Every
+fall he migrates far southward, leaving his northern lakes, but if the
+water upon which he floats should suddenly dry up, he would be almost as
+helpless as the gasping fish; for his wings are too weak to lift him from
+the ground. He must needs have a long take-off, a flying start, aided by
+vigorous paddling along the surface of the water, before he can rise into
+the air.
+
+Millions of years ago there lived birds built on the general grebe plan
+and who doubtless were derived from the same original stock, but which
+lived in the great seas of that time. Far from being able to migrate,
+every external trace of wing was gone and these great creatures, almost as
+large as a man and with sharp teeth in their beaks, must have hitched
+themselves like seals along the edge of the beach, and perhaps laid their
+eggs on the pebbles as do the terns to-day.
+
+The grebe, denied the power to rise easily and even, to ran about on land
+without considerable effort, is, however, splendidly adapted to its water
+life, and the rapidity of its motions places it near the head of the
+higher active creatures,--with the woodchuck near the opposite extreme.
+
+
+
+
+THE VOICE OF THE ANIMALS
+
+
+Throughout the depths of the sea, silence, as well as absolute darkness,
+prevails. The sun penetrates only a short distance below the surface, at
+most a few hundred feet, and all disturbance from storms ceases far above
+that depth, Where the pressure is a ton or more to the square inch, it is
+very evident that no sound vibration can exist. Near the surface it is
+otherwise. The majority of fishes have no lungs and of course no vocal
+chords, but certain species, such as the drumfish, are able to distend
+special sacs with gas or air, or in other ways to produce sounds. One
+variety succeeds in producing a number of sounds by gritting the teeth,
+and when the male fish is attempting to charm the female by dashing round
+her, spreading his fins to display his brilliant colours, this gritting of
+the teeth holds a prominent place in the performance, although whether the
+fair finny one makes her choice because she prefers a high-toned grit
+instead of a lower one can only be imagined! But vibrations, whether of
+sound or of water pressure, are easily carried near the surface, and
+fishes are provided with organs to receive and record them. One class of
+such organs has little in common with ears, as we speak of them; they are
+merely points on the head and body which are susceptible to the watery
+vibrations. These points are minute cavities, surrounded with tiny _cilia_
+or hairs, which connect with the ends of the nerves.
+
+The ears of the frogs and all higher animals are, like the tongue-bone and
+the lower jaw, derived originally from portions of gills, which the
+aquatic ancestors of living animals used to draw the oxygen from the
+water. This is one of the most wonderful and interesting changes which the
+study of evolution has unfolded to our knowledge.
+
+The disproportionate voices are produced by means of an extra amount of
+skin on the throat, which is distensible and acts as a drum to increase
+the volume of sound. In certain bullfrogs which grow to be as large as the
+head of a man, the bellowing power is deafening and is audible for miles.
+In Chile a small species of frog, measuring only about an inch in length,
+has two internal vocal sacs which are put to a unique use. Where these
+frogs live, water is very scarce and the polliwogs have no chance to live
+and develop in pools, as is ordinarily the case. So when the eggs are
+laid, they are immediately taken by the male frog and placed in these
+capacious sacs, which serve as nurseries for them all through their
+hatching and growing period of life. Although there is no water in these
+chambers, yet their gills grow out and are reabsorbed, just as is the case
+in ordinary tadpoles. When their legs are fully developed, they clamber up
+to their father's broad mouth and get their first glimpse of the great
+world from his lower lip. When fifteen partly developed polliwogs are
+found in the pouches of one little frog, he looks as if he had gorged
+himself to bursting with tadpoles. To such curious uses may vocal organs
+be put.
+
+Turtles are voiceless, except at the period of laying eggs, when they
+acquire a voice, which even in the largest is very tiny and piping, like
+some very small insect rather than a two-hundred-pound tortoise. Some of
+the lizards utter shrill, insect-like squeaks.
+
+A species of gecko, a small, brilliantly coloured lizard, has the back of
+its tail armed with plates. These it has a habit of rubbing together, and
+by this means it produces a shrill, chirruping sound, which actually
+attracts crickets and grasshoppers toward the noise, so that they fall
+easy prey to this reptilian trapper. So in colour, sound, motion, and many
+other ways, animals act and react upon each other, a useful and necessary
+habit being perverted by an enemy, so that the death of the creature
+results. Yet it would never be claimed that the lizard thought out this
+mimicking. It probably found that certain actions resulted in the approach
+of good dinners, and in its offspring this action might be partly
+instinctive, and each generation would perpetuate it. If it had been an
+intentional act, other nearly related species of lizards would imitate it,
+as soon as they perceived the success which attended it.
+
+That many animals have a kind of language is nowadays admitted to be a
+truism, but this is more evident among mammals and birds, and, reviewing
+the classes of the former, we find a more or less defined ascending
+complexity and increased number of varying sounds as we pass from the
+lower forms--kangaroos and moles--to the higher herb-and-flesh-eaters, and
+particularly monkeys.
+
+Squeaks and grunts constitute the vocabulary, if we dignify it by that
+name, of the mammals. The sloths, those curious animals whose entire life
+is spent clinging to the underside of branches, on whose leaves they feed,
+may be said almost to be voiceless, so seldom do they give utterance to
+the nameless wail which constitutes their only utterance. Even when being
+torn to pieces by an enemy, they offer no resistance and emit no sound,
+but fold their claws around their body and submit to the inevitable as
+silently and as stoically as did ever an ancient Spartan.
+
+Great fear of death will often cause an animal to utter sounds which are
+different from those produced under any other conditions. When an elephant
+is angry or excited, his trumpeting is terribly loud and shrill; but when
+a mother elephant is "talking" to her child, while the same sonorous,
+metallic quality is present, yet it is wonderfully softened and modulated.
+A horse is a good example of what the fear of death will do. The ordinary
+neigh of a horse is very familiar, but in battle when mortally wounded, or
+having lost its master and being terribly frightened, a horse will scream,
+and those who have heard it, say it is more awful than the cries of pain
+of a human being.
+
+Deer and elk often astonish one by the peculiar sounds which they produce.
+An elk can bellow loudly, especially when fighting; but when members of a
+herd call to each other, or when surprised by some unusual appearance,
+they whistle--a sudden, sharp whistle, like the tin mouthpieces with
+revolving discs, which were at one time so much in evidence.
+
+The growl of a bear differs greatly under varying circumstances. There is
+the playful growl, uttered when two individuals are wrestling, and the
+terrible "sound"--no word expresses it--to which a bear, cornered and
+driven to the last extremity, gives utterance--fear, hate, dread, and
+awful passion mingled and expressed in sound. One can realise the fearful
+terror which this inspires only when one has, as I have, stood up to a mad
+bear, repelling charge after charge, with only an iron pike between one's
+self and those powerful fangs and claws. The long-drawn moan of a polar
+bear on a frosty night is another phase; this, too, is expressive, but
+only of those wonderful Arctic scenes where night and day are as one to
+this great seal-hunter.
+
+The dog has made man his god,--giving up his life for his master would be
+but part of his way of showing his love if he had it in his power to do
+more. So, too, the dog has attempted to adapt his speech to his master's,
+and the result is a bark. No wild coyotes or wolves bark, but when bands
+of dogs descended from domesticated animals run wild, their howls are
+modulated and a certain unmistakable barking quality imparted. The
+drawn-out howl of a great gray wolf is an impressive sound and one never
+to be forgotten. Only the fox seems to possess the ability to bark in its
+native tongue. The sounds which the cats, great and small, reproduce are
+most varied. Nothing can be much more intimidating than the roar of a
+lion, or more demoniacal than the arguments which our house-pets carry on
+at night on garden fences.
+
+What use the sounds peculiar to sea-lions subserve in their life on the
+great ocean, or their haunts along the shore, can only be imagined, but
+surely such laudable perseverance, day after day, to out-utter each other,
+must be for some good reason!
+
+Volumes have been written concerning the voices of the two remaining
+groups of animals--monkeys and birds. In the great family of the
+four-handed folk, more varieties of sound are produced than would be
+thought possible. Some of the large baboons are awful in their
+vocalisations. Terrible agony or remorse is all that their moans suggest
+to us, no matter what frame of mind on the part of the baboon induces
+them. Of all vertebrates the tiny marmosets reproduce most exactly the
+chirps of crickets and similar insects, and to watch one of these little
+human faces, see its mouth open, and instead of, as seems natural, words
+issuing forth, to hear these shrill squeaks is most surprising. Young
+orang-utans, in their "talk," as well as in their actions, are
+counterparts of human infants. The scream of frantic rage when a banana is
+offered and jerked away, the wheedling tone when the animal wishes to be
+comforted by the keeper on account of pain or bruise, and the sound of
+perfect contentment and happiness when petted by the keeper whom it learns
+to love,--all are almost indistinguishable from like utterances of a human
+child.
+
+But how pitiless is the inevitable change of the next few years! Slowly
+the bones of the cranium thicken, partly filling up the brain cavity, and
+slowly but surely the ape loses all affection for those who take care of
+it. More and more morose and sullen it becomes until it reaches a stage of
+unchangeable ferocity and must be doomed to close confinement, never again
+to be handled or caressed.
+
+
+
+
+THE NAMES OF ANIMALS, FROGS, AND FISH
+
+
+When, during the lazy autumn days, the living creatures seem for a time to
+have taken themselves completely beyond our ken, it may be interesting to
+delve among old records and descriptions of animals and see how the names
+by which we know them first came to be given. Many of our English names
+have an unsuspected ancestry, which, through past centuries, has been
+handed down to us through many changes of spelling and meaning, of
+romantic as well as historical interest.
+
+How many people regard the scientific Latin and Greek names of animals
+with horror, as being absolutely beyond their comprehension, and yet how
+interesting these names become when we look them squarely in the face,
+analyse them and find the appropriateness of their application.
+
+When you say "wolf" to a person, the image of that wild creature comes
+instantly to his mind, but if you ask him _why_ it is called a wolf, a
+hundred chances to one he will look blankly at you. It is the old fault,
+so common among us human beings, of ignoring the things which lie nearest
+us. Or perhaps your friend shares the state of mind of the puzzled old
+lady, who, after looking over a collection of fossil bones, said that she
+could understand how these bones had been preserved, and millions of years
+later had been discovered, but it was a mystery to her how anyone could
+know the names of these ancient animals after such a lapse of time!
+
+Some of the names of the commonest animals are lost in the dimness of
+antiquity, such as fox, weasel, sheep, dog, and baboon. Of the origin of
+these we have forever lost the clew. With camel we can go no farther back
+than the Latin word _camelus_, and elephant balks us with the old Hindoo
+word _eleph_, which means an ox. The old root of the word wolf meant one
+who tears or rends, and the application to this animal is obvious. In
+several English and German names of persons, we have handed down to us a
+relic of the old fashion of applying wolf as a compliment to a warrior or
+soldier. For example, Adolph means noble-wolf, and Rudolph glory-wolf.
+
+Lynx is from the same Latin word as the word _lux_ (light) and probably
+was given to these wildcats on account of the brightness of their eyes.
+Lion is, of course, from the Latin _leo_, which word, in turn, is lost far
+back in the Egyptian tongue, where the word for the king of beasts was
+_labu_. The compound word leopard is first found in the Persian language,
+where _pars_ stands for panther. Seal, very appropriately, was once a word
+meaning "of the sea"; close to the Latin _sal_, the sea.
+
+Many names of animals are adapted from words in the ancient language of
+the natives in whose country the creatures were first discovered. Puma,
+jaguar, tapir, and peccary (from _paquires_) are all names from South
+American Indian languages. The coyote and ocelot were called _coyotl_ and
+_ocelotl_ by the Mexicans long before Cortes landed on their shores.
+Zebra, gorilla, and chimpanzee are native African words, and orang-utan is
+Malay, meaning Man of the Woods. Cheetah is from some East Indian tongue,
+as is tahr, the name of the wild goat of the Himalayas. Gnu is from the
+Hottentots, and giraffe from the Arabic _zaraf_. Aoudad, the Barbary wild
+sheep, is the French form of the Moorish name _audad_.
+
+The native Indians of our own country are passing rapidly, and before many
+years their race may be extinct, but their musical, euphonious names of
+the animals they knew so well, often pleased the ear of the early
+settlers, and in many instances will be a lasting memorial as long as
+these forest creatures of our United States survive.
+
+Thus, moose is from the Indian word _mouswah_, meaning wood-eater; skunk
+from _seganku_, an Algonquin term; _wapiti_, in the Cree language, meant
+white deer, and was originally applied to the Rocky Mountain goat, but the
+name is now restricted to the American elk. Caribou is also an Indian
+word; opossum is from _possowne_, and raccoon is from the Indian
+_arrathkune_ (by further apheresis, coon).
+
+Rhinoceros is pure Greek, meaning nose-horned, but beaver has indeed had a
+rough time of it in its travels through various languages. It is hardly
+recognisable as _bebrus_, _babbru_, and _bbru_. The latter is the ultimate
+root of our word brown. The original application was, doubtless, on
+account of the colour of the creature's fur. Otter takes us back to
+Sanskrit, where we find it _udra_. The significance of this word is in its
+close kinship to _udan_, meaning water.
+
+The little mouse hands his name down through the years from the old, old
+Sanskrit, the root meaning to steal. Many people who never heard of
+Sanskrit have called him and his descendants by terms of homologous
+significance! The word muscle is from the same root, and was applied from
+a fancied resemblance of the movement of the muscle beneath the skin to a
+mouse in motion--not a particularly quieting thought to certain members of
+the fair sex! The origin of the word rat is less certain, but it may have
+been derived from the root of the Latin word _radere_, to scratch, or
+_rodere_, to gnaw. Rodent is derived from the latter term. Cat is also in
+doubt, but is first recognised in _catalus_, a diminutive of _canis_, a
+dog. It was applied to the young of almost any animal, as we use the words
+pup, kitten, cub, and so forth. Bear is the result of tongue-twisting from
+the Latin _fera_, a wild beast.
+
+Ape is from the Sanskrit _kapi_; _kap_ in the same language means tremble;
+but the connection is not clear. Lemur, the name given to that low family
+of monkeys, is from the plural Latin word _lemures_, meaning ghost or
+spectre. This has reference to the nocturnal habits, stealthy gait, and
+weird expression of these large-eyed creatures. Antelope is probably of
+Grecian origin, and was originally applied to a half-mythical animal,
+located on the banks of the Euphrates, and described as "very savage and
+fleet, and having long, saw-like horns with which it could cut down trees.
+It figures largely in the peculiar fauna of heraldry."
+
+Deer is of obscure origin, but may have been an adjective meaning wild.
+Elk is derived from the same root as eland, and the history of the latter
+word is an interesting one. It meant a sufferer, and was applied by the
+Teutons to the elk of the Old World on account of the awkward gait and
+stiff movements of this ungainly animal. But in later years the Dutch
+carried the same word, eland, to South Africa, and there gave it to the
+largest of the tribe of antelopes, in which sense it is used by zoologists
+to-day.
+
+Porcupine has arisen from two Latin words, _porcus_, a hog, and _spina_, a
+spine; hence, appropriately, a spiny-hog. Buffalo may once have been some
+native African name. In the vista of time, our earliest glimpse of it is
+as _bubalus_, which was applied both to the wild ox and to a species of
+African antelope. Fallow deer is from fallow, meaning pale, or yellowish,
+while axis, as applied to the deer so common in zoological gardens, was
+first mentioned by Pliny and is doubtless of East Indian origin. The word
+bison is from the Anglo-Saxon _wesend_, but beyond Pliny its ultimate
+origin eludes all research.
+
+Marmot, through various distortions, looms up from Latin times as _mus
+montanus_, literally a mountain mouse. Badger is from badge, in allusion
+to the bands of white fur on its forehead. The verb meaning to badger is
+derived from the old cruel sport of baiting badgers with dogs.
+
+Monkey is from the same root as _monna_, a woman; more especially an old
+crone, in reference to the fancied resemblance of the weazened face of a
+monkey to that of a withered old woman. Madam and madonna are other forms
+of words from the same root, so wide and sweeping are the changes in
+meaning which usage and time can give to words.
+
+Squirrel has a poetic origin in the Greek language; its original meaning
+being shadow-tail. Tiger is far more intricate. The old Persian word _tir_
+meant arrow, while _tighra_ signified sharp. The application to this great
+animal was in allusion to the swiftness with which the tiger leaps upon
+his prey. The river Tigris, meaning literally the river Arrow, is named
+thus from the swiftness of its current.
+
+As to the names of reptiles it is, of course, to the Romans that we are
+chiefly indebted, as in the case of reptile from _reptilus_, meaning
+creeping; and crocodile from _dilus_, a lizard. Serpent is also from the
+Latin _serpens_, creeping, and this from the old Sanskrit root, _sarp_,
+with the same meaning. This application of the idea of creeping is again
+found in the word snake, which originally came from the Sanskrit _naga_.
+
+Tortoise harks back to the Latin _tortus_, meaning twisted (hence our word
+tortuous) and came to be applied to these slow creatures because of their
+twisted legs. In its evolution through many tongues it has suffered
+numbers of variations; one of these being turtle, which we use to-day to
+designate the smaller land tortoises. Terrapin and its old forms
+_terrapene_ and _turpin_, on the contrary, originated in the New World, in
+the language of the American Redskin.
+
+_Cobra-de-capello_ is Portuguese for hooded snake, while python is far
+older, the same word being used by the Greeks to denote a spirit, demon,
+or evil-soothsayer. This name was really given to designate any species of
+large serpent. _Boa_ is Latin and was also applied to a large snake, while
+the importance of the character of size is seen, perhaps, in our words
+_bos_ and _bovine_.
+
+The word viper is interesting; coming directly from the Romans, who wrote
+it _vipera_. This in turn is a contraction of the feminine form of the
+adjective _vivipera_, in reference to the habit of these snakes of
+bringing forth their young alive.
+
+Lizard, through such forms as _lesarde_, _lezard_, _lagarto_, _lacerto_,
+is from the Latin _lacertus_, a lizard; while closely related is the word
+alligator by way of _lagarto_, _aligarto_, to alligator. The prefix may
+have arisen as a corruption of an article and a noun, as in the modern
+Spanish _el lagarto_,--a lizard.
+
+Monitor is Latin for one who reminds, these lizards being so called
+because they are supposed to give warning of the approach of crocodiles.
+Asp can be carried back to the _aspis_ of the Romans, no trace being found
+in the dim vistas of preceding tongues.
+
+Gecko, the name of certain wall-hunting lizards, is derived from their
+croaking cry; while iguana is a Spanish name taken from the old native
+Haytian appellation _biuana_.
+
+Of the word frog we know nothing, although through the medium of many
+languages it has had as thorough an evolution as in its physical life. We
+must also admit our ignorance in regard to toad, backward search revealing
+only _tade_, _tode_, _ted_, _toode_, and _tadie_, the root baffling all
+study. Polliwog and tadpole are delightfully easy. Old forms of polliwog
+are _pollywig_, _polewiggle_, and _pollwiggle_. This last gives us the
+clew to our spelling--_pollwiggle_, which, reversed and interpreted in a
+modern way, is wigglehead, a most appropriate name for these lively little
+black fellows. Tadpole is somewhat similar; toad-pole, or toad's-head,
+also very apt when we think of these small-bodied larval forms.
+
+Salamander, which is a Greek word of Eastern origin, was applied in the
+earliest times to a lizard considered to have the power of extinguishing
+fire. Newt has a strange history; originating in a wrong division of two
+words, "_an ewte_," the latter being derived from _eft_, which is far more
+correct than newt, though in use now in only a few places. Few fishermen
+have ever thought of the interesting derivation of the names which they
+know so well. Of course there are a host of fishes named from a fancied
+resemblance to familiar terrestrial animals or other things; such as the
+catfish, and those named after the dog, hog, horse, cow, trunk, devil,
+angel, sun, and moon.
+
+The word fish has passed through many varied forms since it was _piscis_
+in the old Latin tongue, and the same is true of shark and skate, which in
+the same language were _carcharus_ and _squatus_. Trout was originally
+_tructa_, which in turn is lost in a very old Greek word, meaning eat or
+gnaw. Perch harks back to the Latin _perca_, and the Romans had it from
+the Greeks, among whom it meant spotted. The Romans said _minutus_ when
+they meant small, and nowadays when we speak of any very small fish we say
+minnow. Alewife in old English was applied to the women, usually very
+stout dames, who kept alehouses. The corpulency of the fish to which the
+same term is given explains its derivation.
+
+The pike is so named from the sharp, pointed snout and long, slim body,
+bringing to mind the old-time weapon of that name; while pickerel means
+doubly a little pike, the _er_ and _el_ (as in cock and cockerel) both
+being diminutives. Smelt was formerly applied to any small fish and comes,
+perhaps, from the Anglo-Saxon _smeolt_, which meant smooth--the smoothness
+and slipperiness of the fish suggesting the name.
+
+Salmon comes directly from the Latin _salmo_, a salmon, which literally
+meant the leaper, from _salire_--to leap. Sturgeon, from the Saxon was
+_stiriga_, literally a stirrer, from the habit of the fish of stirring up
+the mud at the bottom of the water. Dace, through its mediaeval forms
+_darce_ and _dars_, is from the same root as our word dart, given on
+account of the swiftness of the fish.
+
+Anchovy is interesting as perhaps from the Basque word _antzua_, meaning
+dry; hence the dried fish; and mullet is from the Latin _mullus_. Herring
+is well worth following back to its origin. We know that the most marked
+habit of fishes of this type is their herding together in great schools or
+masses or armies. In the very high German _heri_ meant an army or host;
+hence our word harry and, with a suffix, herring.
+
+_Hake_ in Norwegian means hook, and the term hake or hook-fish was given
+because of the hooked character of the under-jaw. Mackerel comes from
+_macarellus_ and originally the Latin _macula_--spotted, from the dark
+spots on the body. Roach and ray both come from the Latin _raria_, applied
+then as in the latter case now to bottom-living sharks.
+
+Flounder comes from the verb, which in turn is derived from flounce, a
+word which is lost in antiquity. Tarpon (and the form _tarpum_) may be an
+Indian word; while there is no doubt as to grouper coming from _garrupa_,
+a native Mexican name. Chubb (a form of cub) meant a chunky mass or lump,
+referring to the body of the fish. Shad is lost in _sceadda_, Anglo-Saxon
+for the same fish.
+
+Lamprey and halibut both have histories, which, at first glance, we would
+never suspect, although the forms have changed but little. The former have
+a habit of fastening themselves for hours to stones and rocks, by means of
+their strong, sucking mouths. So the Latin form of the word _lampetra_, or
+literally lick-rock, is very appropriate. Halibut is equally so. _But_ or
+_bot_ in several languages means a certain flounder-like fish, and in
+olden times this fish was eaten only on holidays (_i.e._, holy days).
+Hence the combination halibut means really holy-flounder.
+
+The meaning of these words and many others are worth knowing, and it is
+well to be able to answer with other than ignorance the question "What's
+in a name?"
+
+
+
+
+THE DYING YEAR
+
+
+When a radical change of habits occurs, as in the sapsucker, deviating so
+sharply from the ancient principles of its family, many other forms of
+life about it are influenced, indirectly, but in a most interesting way.
+In its tippling operations it wastes quantities of sap which exudes from
+the numerous holes and trickles down the bark of the wounded tree. This
+proves a veritable feast for the forlorn remnant of wasps and
+butterflies,--the year's end stragglers whose flower calyces have fallen
+and given place to swelling seeds.
+
+Swiftly up wind they come on the scent, eager as hounds on the trail, and
+they drink and drink of the sweets until they become almost incapable of
+flying. But, after all, the new lease of life is a vain semblance of
+better things. Their eggs have long since been laid and their mission in
+life ended, and at the best their existence is but a matter of days.
+
+It is a sad thing this, and sometimes our heart hardens against Nature for
+the seeming cruelty of it all. Forever and always, year after year,
+century upon century, the same tale unfolds itself,--the sacrifice of the
+individual for the good of the race. A hundred drones are tended and
+reared, all but one to die in vain; a thousand seeds are sown to rot or to
+sprout and wither; a million little codfish hatch and begin life
+hopefully, perhaps all to succumb save one; a million million shrimp and
+pteropods paddle themselves here and there in the ocean, and every one is
+devoured by fish or swept into the whalebone tangle from which none ever
+return. And if a lucky one which survives does so because it has some
+little advantage over its fellows,--some added quality which gives just
+the opportunity to escape at the critical moment,--then the race will
+advance to the extent of that trifle and so carry out the precept of
+evolution. But even though we may owe every character of body and mind to
+the fulfilment of some such inexorable law in the past, yet the witnessing
+of the operation brings ever a feeling of cruelty, of injustice
+somewhere.
+
+How pitiful the weak flight of the last yellow butterfly of the year, as
+with tattered and battered wings it vainly seeks for a final sip of
+sweets! The fallen petals and the hard seeds are black and odourless, the
+drops of sap are hardened. Little by little the wings weaken, the tiny
+feet clutch convulsively at a dried weed stalk, and the four golden wings
+drift quietly down among the yellow leaves, soon to merge into the dark
+mould beneath. As the butterfly dies, a stiffened Katydid scratches a last
+requiem on his wing covers--"_katy-didn't--katy-did--kate--y_"--and the
+succeeding moment of silence is broken by the sharp rattle of a
+woodpecker. We shake off every dream of the summer and brace ourselves to
+meet and enjoy the keen, invigorating pleasures of winter.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+NOVEMBER
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+NOVEMBER'S BIRDS OF THE HEAVENS
+
+
+As the whirling winds of winter's edge strip the trees bare of their last
+leaves, the leaden sky of the eleventh month seems to push its cold face
+closer to earth. Who can tell when the northern sparrows first arrive? A
+whirl of brown leaves scatters in front of us; some fall back to earth;
+others rise and perch in the thick briers,--sombre little white-throated
+and tree sparrows! These brown-coated, low-voiced birds easily attract our
+attention, the more now that the great host of brilliant warblers has
+passed, just as our hearts warm toward the humble poly-pody fronds
+(passing them by unnoticed when flowers are abundant) which now hold up
+their bright greenness amid all the cold.
+
+But all the migrants have not left us yet by any means, and we had better
+leave our boreal visitors until mid-winter's blasts show us these hardiest
+of the hardy at their best.
+
+We know little of the ways of the gaunt herons on their southward journey,
+but day after day, in the marshes and along the streams, we may see the
+great blues as they stop in their flight to rest for a time.
+
+The cold draws all the birds of a species together. Dark hordes of
+clacking grackles pass by, scores of red-winged blackbirds and cowbirds
+mingle amicably together, both of dark hue but of such unlike matrimonial
+habits. A single male red-wing, as we have seen, may assume the cares of a
+harem of three, four, or five females, each of which rears her
+brown-streaked offspring in her own particular nest, while the valiant
+guardian keeps faithful watch over his small colony among the reeds and
+cat-tails. But little thought or care does mother cowbird waste upon her
+offspring. No home life is hers--merely a stealthy approach to the nest of
+some unsuspecting yellow warbler, or other small bird, a hastily deposited
+egg, and the unnatural parent goes on her way, having shouldered all her
+household cares on another. Her young may be hatched and carefully reared
+by the patient little warbler mother, or the egg may spoil in the deserted
+nest, or be left in the cold beneath another nest bottom built over it;
+little cares the cowbird.
+
+The ospreys or fish hawks seem to circle southward in pairs or trios, but
+some clear, cold day the sky will be alive with hawks of other kinds. It
+is a strange fact that these birds which have the power to rise so high
+that they fairly disappear from our sight choose the trend of terrestrial
+valleys whenever possible, in directing their aerial routes. Even the
+series of New Jersey hills, flattered by the name of the Orange Mountains,
+seem to balk many hawks which elect to change their direction and fly to
+the right or left toward certain gaps or passes. Through these a raptorial
+stream pours in such numbers during the period of migration that a person
+with a foreknowledge of their path in former years may lie in wait and
+watch scores upon scores of these birds pass close overhead within a few
+hours, while a short distance to the right or left one may watch all day
+without seeing a single raptor. The whims of migrating birds are beyond
+our ken.
+
+Sometimes, out in the broad fields, one's eyes will be drawn accidentally
+upward, and a great flight of hawks will be seen--a compact flock of
+intercircling forms, perhaps two or three hundred in all, the whole number
+gradually passing from view in a southerly direction, now and then sending
+down a shrill cry. It is a beautiful sight, not very often to be seen near
+a city--unless watched for.
+
+To a dweller in a city or its suburbs I heartily commend at this season
+the forming of this habit,--to look upward as often as possible on your
+walks. An instant suffices to sweep the whole heavens with your eye, and
+if the distant circling forms, moving in so stately a manner, yet so
+swiftly, and in their every movement personifying the essence of wild and
+glorious freedom,--if this sight does not send a thrill through the
+onlooker, then he may at once pull his hat lower over his eyes and concern
+himself only with his immediate business. The joys of Nature are not for
+such as he; the love of the wild which exists in every one of us is, in
+him, too thickly "sicklied o'er" with the veneer of convention and
+civilisation.
+
+Even as late as November, when the water begins to freeze in the tiny cups
+of the pitcher plants, and the frost brings into being a new kind of
+foliage on glass and stone, a few insect-eaters of the summer woods still
+linger on. A belated red-eyed vireo may be chased by a snowbird, and when
+we approach a flock of birds, mistaking them at a distance for purple
+finches, we may discover they are myrtle warblers, clad in the faded
+yellow of their winter plumage. In favoured localities these brave little
+birds may even spend the entire winter with us.
+
+One of the best of November's surprises may come when all hope of late
+migrants has been given up. Walking near the river, our glance falls on
+what might be a painter's palate with blended colours of all shades
+resting on the smooth surface of the water. We look again and again,
+hardly believing our eyes, until at last the gorgeous creature takes to
+wing, and goes humming down the stream, a bit of colour tropical in its
+extravagance--and we know that we have seen a male wood, or summer, duck
+in the full grandeur of his white, purple, chestnut, black, blue, and
+brown. Many other ducks have departed, but this one still swims among the
+floating leaves on secluded waterways.
+
+Now is the time when the woodcock rises from his swampy summer home and
+zigzags his way to a land where earthworms are still active. Sometimes in
+our walks we may find the fresh body of one of these birds, and an upward
+glance at the roadside will show the cause--the cruel telegraph wires
+against which the flight of the bird has carried it with fatal velocity.
+
+One of the greatest pleasures which November has to give us is the joy of
+watching for the long lines of wild geese from the Canada lakes. Who can
+help being thrilled at the sight of these strong-winged birds, as the
+V-shaped flock throbs into view high in air, beating over land and water,
+forest and city, as surely and steadily as the passing of the day behind
+them. One of the finest of November sounds is the "Honk! honk!" which
+comes to our ears from such a company of geese,--musical tones "like a
+clanking chain drawn through the heavy air."
+
+At the stroke of midnight I have been halted in my hurried walk by these
+notes. They are a bit of the wild north which may even enter within a
+city, and three years ago I trapped a fine gander and a half a dozen of
+his flock in the New York Zoological Park, where they have lived ever
+since and reared their golden-hued goslings, which otherwise would have
+broken their shells on some Arctic waste, with only the snowbirds to
+admire, and to be watched with greedy eyes by the Arctic owls.
+
+                A haze on the far horizon,
+                  The infinite tender sky,
+                The ripe, rich tints of the cornfields,
+                  And the wild geese sailing high;
+                And ever on upland and lowland,
+                  The charm of the goldenrod--
+                Some of us call it Autumn,
+                  And others call it God.
+                                         W. H. Carruth.
+
+
+
+
+A PLEA FOR THE SKUNK
+
+
+In spite of constant persecution the skunk is without doubt the tamest of
+all of our wild animals, and shares with the weasel and mink the honour of
+being one of the most abundant of the carnivores, or flesh-eaters, near
+our homes. This is a great achievement for the skunk,--to have thus held
+its own in the face of ever advancing and destroying civilisation. But the
+same characteristics which enable it to hold its ground are also those
+which emancipate it from its wild kindred and give it a unique position
+among animals. Its first cousins, the minks and weasels, all secrete
+pungent odours, which are unpleasant enough at close range, but in the
+skunk the great development of these glands has caused a radical change in
+its habits of life and even in its physical make-up.
+
+Watch a mink creeping on its sinuous way,--every action and glance full of
+fierce wildness, each step telling of insatiable seeking after living,
+active prey. The boldest rat flees in frantic terror at the hint of this
+animal's presence; but let man show himself, and with a demoniacal grin of
+hatred the mink slinks into covert.
+
+Now follow a skunk in its wanderings as it comes out of its hole in early
+evening, slowly stretches and yawns, and with hesitating, rolling gait
+ambles along, now and then sniffing in the grass and seizing some sluggish
+grasshopper or cricket. Fearlessness and confidence are what its gait and
+manner spell. The world is its debtor, and all creatures in its path are
+left unmolested, only on evidence of good behaviour. Far from need of
+concealment, its furry coat is striped with a broad band of white,
+signalling in the dusk or the moonlight, "Give me room to pass and go in
+peace! Trouble me and beware!"
+
+Degenerate in muscles and vitality, the skunk must forego all strenuous
+hunts and trust to craft and sudden springs, or else content himself with
+the humble fare of insects, helpless young birds, and poor, easily
+confused mice. The flesh of the skunk is said to be sweet and toothsome,
+but few creatures there are who dare attempt to add it to their bill of
+fare! A great horned owl or a puma in the extremity of starvation, or a
+vulture in dire stress of hunger,--probably no others.
+
+Far from wilfully provoking an attack, the skunk is usually content to go
+on his way peacefully, and when one of these creatures becomes accustomed
+to the sight of an observer, no more interesting and, indeed, safer object
+of study can be found.
+
+Depart once from the conventional mode of greeting a skunk,--and instead
+of hurling a stone in its direction and fleeing, place, if the opportunity
+present itself, bits of meat in its way evening after evening, and you
+will soon learn that there is nothing vicious in the heart of the skunk.
+The evening that the gentle animal appears leading in her train a file of
+tiny infant skunks, you will feel well repaid for the trouble you have
+taken. Baby skunks, like their elders, soon learn to know their friends,
+and are far from being at hair-trigger poise, as is generally supposed.
+
+
+
+
+THE LESSON OF THE WAVE
+
+
+The sea and the sky and the shore were at perfect peace on the day when
+the young gull first launched into the air, and flew outward over the
+green, smooth ocean. Day after day his parents had brought him fish and
+squid, until his baby plumage fell from him and his beautiful
+wing-feathers shot forth,--clean-webbed and elastic. His strong feet had
+carried him for days over the expanse of sand dunes and pebbles, and now
+and then he had paddled into deep pools and bathed in the cold salt water.
+Most creatures of the earth are limited to one or the other of these two
+elements, but now the gull was proving his mastery over a third. The land,
+the sea, were left below, and up into the air drifted the beautiful bird,
+every motion confident with the instinct of ages.
+
+The usefulness of his mother's immaculate breast now becomes apparent. A
+school of small fish basking near the surface rise and fall with the
+gentle undulating swell, seeing dimly overhead the blue sky, flecked with
+hosts of fleecy white clouds. A nearer, swifter cloud approaches,
+hesitates, splashes into their midst,--and the parent gull has caught her
+first fish of the day. Instinctively the young bird dives; in his joy of
+very life he cries aloud,--the gull-cry which his ancestors of long ago
+have handed down to him. At night he seeks the shore and tucks his bill
+into his plumage; and all because of something within him, compelling him
+to do these things.
+
+But far from being an automaton, his bright eye and full-rounded head
+presage higher things. Occasionally his mind breaks through the mist of
+instinct and reaches upward to higher activity.
+
+As with the other wild kindred of the ocean, food was the chief object of
+the day's search. Fish were delicious, but were not always to be had;
+crabs were a treat indeed, when caught unawares, but for mile after mile
+along the coast were hosts of mussels and clams,--sweet and lucious, but
+incased in an armour of shell, through which there was no penetrating.
+However swift a dash was made upon one of these,--always the clam closed a
+little quicker, sending a derisive shower of drops over the head of the
+gull.
+
+Once, after a week of rough weather, the storm gods brought their battling
+to a climax. Great green walls of foaming water crashed upon the rocks,
+rending huge boulders and sucking them down into the black depths. Over
+and through the spray dashed the gull, answering the wind's howl--shriek
+for shriek, poising over the fearful battlefield of sea and shore.
+
+A wave mightier than all hung and curved, and a myriad shell-fish were
+torn from their sheltered nooks and hurled high, in air, to fall broken
+and helpless among the boulders. The quick eye of the gull saw it all, and
+at that instant of intensest chaos of the elements, the brain of the bird
+found itself.
+
+Shortly afterward came night and sleep, but the new-found flash of
+knowledge was not lost.
+
+The next day the bird walked at low tide into the stronghold of the
+shell-fish, roughly tore one from the silky strands of its moorings, and
+carrying it far upward let it fall at random among the rocks. The
+toothsome morsel was snatched from its crushed shell and a triumphant
+scream told of success,--a scream which, could it have been interpreted,
+should have made a myriad, myriad mussels shrink within their shells!
+
+From gull to gull, and from flock to flock, the new habit spread,
+imitation taking instant advantage of this new source of food. When to-day
+we walk along the shore and see flocks of gulls playing ducks and drakes
+with the unfortunate shell-fish, give them not too much credit, but think
+of some bird which in the long ago first learned the lesson, whether by
+chance or, as I have suggested, by observing the victims of the waves.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+No scientific facts are these, but merely a logical reasoning deduced from
+the habits and traits of the birds as we know them to-day; a theory to
+hold in mind while we watch for its confirmation in the beginning of other
+new and analogous habits.
+
+            The world is too much with us; late and soon,
+              Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
+            Little we see in Nature that is ours;
+            We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
+            This sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
+              The winds that will be howling at all hours,
+             And are up-gather'd now like sleeping flowers;
+            For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
+            It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
+              A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
+            So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
+              Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
+            Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
+              Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
+                                         William Wordsworth.
+
+
+
+
+WE GO A-SPONGING
+
+
+When a good compound microscope becomes as common an object in our homes
+as is a clock or a piano, we may be certain that the succeeding generation
+will grow up with a much broader view of life and a far greater
+realisation of the beauties of the natural world. To most of us a glance
+through a microscope is almost as unusual a sight as the panorama from a
+balloon. While many of the implements of a scientist arouse enthusiasm
+only in himself, in the case of the revelations of this instrument, the
+average person, whatever his profession, cannot fail to be interested.
+
+Many volumes have been written on the microscopic life of ponds and
+fields, and in a short essay only a hint of the delights of this
+fascinating study can be given.
+
+Any primer of Natural History will tell us that our bath sponges are the
+fibrous skeletons of aquatic animals which inhabit tropical seas, but few
+people know that in the nearest pond there are real sponges, growing
+sometimes as large as one's head and which are not very dissimilar to
+those taken from among the corals of the Bahamas. We may bring home a twig
+covered with a thick growth of this sponge; and by dropping a few grains
+of carmine into the water, the currents which the little sponge animals
+set up are plainly visible. In winter these all die, and leave within
+their meshes numbers of tiny winter buds, which survive the cold weather
+and in the spring begin to found new colonies. If we examine the sponges
+in the late fall we may find innumerable of these statoblasts, as they are
+called.
+
+Scattered among them will sometimes be crowds of little wheels, surrounded
+with double-ended hooks. These have no motion and we shall probably pass
+them by as minute burrs or seeds of some water plant. But they, too, are
+winter buds of a strange group of tiny animals. These are known as
+Polyzoans or Bryozoans; and though to the eye a large colony of them
+appears only as a mass of thick jelly, yet when placed in water and left
+quiet, a wonderful transformation comes over the bit of gelatine....
+"Perhaps while you gaze at the reddish jelly a pink little projection
+appears within the field of your lens, and slowly lengthens and broadens,
+retreating and reappearing, it may be, many times, but finally, after much
+hesitation, it suddenly seems to burst into bloom. A narrow body, so
+deeply red that it is often almost crimson, lifts above the jelly a
+crescentic disc ornamented with two rows of long tentacles that seem as
+fine as hairs, and they glisten and sparkle like lines of crystal as they
+wave and float and twist the delicate threads beneath your wondering gaze.
+Then, while you scarcely breathe, for fear the lovely vision will fade,
+another and another spreads its disc and waves its silvery tentacles,
+until the whole surface of that ugly jelly mass blooms like a garden in
+Paradise--blooms not with motionless perianths, but with living animals,
+the most exquisite that God has allowed to develop in our sweet waters."
+At the slightest jar every animal-flower vanishes instantly.
+
+A wonderful history is behind these little creatures and very different
+from that of most members of the animal kingdom. While crabs, butterflies,
+and birds have evolved through many and varied ancestral forms, the tiny
+Bryozoans, or, being interpreted, moss-animals, seem throughout all past
+ages to have found a niche for themselves where strenuous and active
+competition is absent. Year after year, century upon century, age upon
+age, they have lived and died, almost unchanged down to the present day.
+When you look at the tiny animal, troubling the water and drawing its
+inconceivably small bits of food toward it upon the current made by its
+tentacles, think of the earth changes which it has survived.
+
+To the best of our knowledge the Age of Man is but a paltry fifty thousand
+years. Behind this the Age of Mammals may have numbered three millions;
+then back of these came the Age of Reptiles with more than seven millions
+of years, during all of which time the tentacles of unnumbered generations
+of Bryozoans waved in the sea. Back, back farther still we add another
+seven million years, or thereabouts, of the Age of the Amphibians, when
+the coal plants grew, and the Age of the Fishes. And finally, beyond all
+exact human calculation, but estimated at some five million, we reach the
+Age of Invertebrates in the Silurian, and in the lowest of these rocks we
+find beautifully preserved fossils of Bryozoans, to all appearances as
+perfect in detail of structure as these which we have before us to-day in
+this twentieth century of man's brief reckoning.
+
+These tiny bits of jelly are transfigured as well by the grandeur of their
+unchanged lineage as by the appearance of the little animals from within.
+What heraldry can commemorate the beginning of their race over twenty
+millions of years in the past!
+
+The student of mythology will feel at home when identifying some of the
+commonest objects of the pond. And most are well named, too, as for
+instance the Hydra, a small tube-shaped creature with a row of active
+tentacles at one end. Death seems far from this organism, which is closely
+related to the sea-anemones and corals, for though a very brief drying
+will serve to kill it, yet it can be sliced and cut as finely as possible
+and each bit, true to its name, will at once proceed to grow a new head
+and tentacles complete, becoming a perfect animal.
+
+Then we shall often come across a queer creature with two oar-like feelers
+near the head and a double tail tipped with long hairs, while in the
+centre of the head is a large, shining eye,--Cyclops he is rightly called.
+Although so small that we can make out little of his structure without the
+aid of the lens, yet Cyclops is far from being related to the other still
+smaller beings which swim about him, many of which consist of but one cell
+and are popularly known as animalculae, more correctly as Protozoans.
+Cyclops has a jointed body and in many other ways shows his relationship
+to crabs and lobsters, even though they are many times larger and live in
+salt water.
+
+Another member of this group is Daphnia, although the appropriateness of
+this name yet remains to be discovered; Daphnia being a chunky-bodied
+little being, with a double-branched pair of oar-like appendages, with
+which he darts swiftly through the water. Although covered with a hard
+crust like a crab, this is so transparent that we can see right through
+his body. The dark mass of food in the stomach and the beating heart are
+perfectly distinct. Often, near the upper part of the body, several large
+eggs are seen in a sort of pouch, where they are kept until hatched.
+
+So if the sea is far away and time hangs heavy, invite your friends to go
+sponging and crabbing in the nearest pond, and you may be certain of
+quieting their fears as to your sanity as well as drawing exclamations of
+delight from them when they see these beautiful creatures for the first
+time.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+DECEMBER
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+NEW THOUGHTS ABOUT NESTS
+
+
+Our sense of smell is not so keen as that of a dog, who can detect the
+tiny quail while they are still invisible; nor have we the piercing sight
+of the eagle who spies the grouse crouching hundreds of feet beneath his
+circling flight; but when we walk through the bare December woods there is
+unfolded at last to our eyes evidence of the late presence of our summer's
+feathered friends--air castles and tree castles of varied patterns and
+delicate workmanship.
+
+Did it ever occur to you to think what the first nest was like--what home
+the first reptile-like scale flutterers chose? Far back before Jurassic
+times, millions of years ago, before the coming of bony fishes, when the
+only mammals were tiny nameless creatures, hardly larger than mice; when
+the great Altantosaurus dinosaurs browsed on the quaint herbage, and
+Pterodactyls--those ravenous bat-winged dragons of the air--hovered above
+the surface of the earth,--in this epoch we can imagine a pair of
+long-tailed, half-winged creatures which skimmed from tree to tree,
+perhaps giving an occasional flop--the beginning of the marvellous flight
+motions. Is it not likely that the Teleosaurs who watched hungrily from
+the swamps saw them disappear at last in a hollowed cavity beneath a
+rotten knothole? Here, perhaps, the soft-shelled, lizard-like eggs were
+laid, and when they gave forth the ugly creaturelings did not Father
+Creature flop to the topmost branch and utter a gurgling cough, a most
+unpleasant grating sound, but grand in its significance, as the opening
+chord in the symphony of the ages to follow?--until now the mockingbird
+and the nightingale hold us spellbound by the wonder of their minstrelsy.
+
+Turning from our imaginary picture of the ancient days, we find that some
+of the birds of the present time have found a primitive way of nesting
+still the best. If we push over this rotten stump we shall find that the
+cavity near the top, where the wood is still sound, has been used the past
+summer by the downy woodpecker--a front door like an auger hole, ceiling
+of rough-hewn wood, a bed of chips!
+
+The chickadee goes a step further, and shows his cleverness in sometimes
+choosing a cavity already made, and instead of rough, bare chips, the six
+or eight chickadee youngsters are happy on a hair mattress of a closely
+woven felt-like substance.
+
+Perhaps we should consider the kingfisher the most barbarous of all the
+birds which form a shelter for their home. With bill for pick and shovel,
+she bores straight into a sheer clay bank, and at the end of a six-foot
+tunnel her young are reared, their nest a mass of fish bones--the residue
+of their dinners. Then there are the aerial masons and brickmakers--the
+eave swallows, who carry earth up into the air, bit by bit, and attach it
+to the eaves, forming it into a globular, long-necked flask. The barn
+swallows mix the clay with straw and feathers and so form very firm
+structures on the rafters above the haymows.
+
+But what of the many nests of grasses and twigs which we find in the
+woods? How closely they were concealed while the leaves were on the trees,
+and how firm and strong they were while in use, the strongest wind and
+rain of summer only rocking them to and fro! But now we must waste no time
+or they will disappear. In a month or more almost all will have dissolved
+into fragments and fallen to earth--their mission accomplished.
+
+Some look as if disintegration had already begun, but if we had discovered
+them earlier in the year, we should have seen that they were never less
+fragile or loosely constructed than we find them now. Such is a cuckoo's
+nest, such a mourning dove's or a heron's; merely a flat platform of a few
+interlaced twigs, through which the eggs are visible from below. Why, we
+ask, are some birds so careless or so unskilful? The European cuckoo, like
+our cowbird, is a parasite, laying her eggs in the nests of other birds;
+so, perhaps, neglect of household duties is in the blood. But this style
+of architecture seems to answer all the requirements of doves and herons,
+and, although with one sweep of the hand we can demolish one of these
+flimsy platforms, yet such a nest seems somehow to resist wind and rain
+just as long as the bird needs it.
+
+Did you ever try to make a nest yourself? If not, sometime take apart a
+discarded nest--even the simplest in structure--and try to put it together
+again. Use no string or cord, but fasten it to a crotch, put some marbles
+in it and visit it after the first storm. After you have picked up all the
+marbles from the ground you will appreciate more highly the skill which a
+bird shows in the construction of its home. Whether a bird excavates its
+nest in earth or wood, or weaves or plasters it, the work is all done by
+means of two straight pieces of horn--the bill.
+
+There is, however, one useful substance which aids the bird--the saliva
+which is formed in the mucous glands of the mouth. Of course the first and
+natural function of this fluid is to soften the food before it passes into
+the crop; but in those birds which make their nests by weaving together
+pieces of twig, it must be of great assistance in softening the wood and
+thus enabling the bird readily to bend the twigs into any required
+position. Thus the catbird and rose-breasted grosbeak weave.
+
+Given a hundred or more pieces of twigs, each an inch in length, even a
+bird would make but little progress in forming a cup-shaped nest, were it
+not that the sticky saliva provided cement strong and ready at hand. So
+the chimney swift finds no difficulty in forming and attaching her mosaic
+of twigs to a chimney, using only very short twigs which she breaks off
+with her feet while she is on the wing.
+
+How wonderfully varied are the ways which birds adopt to conceal their
+nests. Some avoid suspicion by their audacity, building near a frequented
+path, in a spot which they would never be suspected of choosing. The
+hummingbird studs the outside of its nest with lichens, and the vireo
+drapes a cobweb curtain around her fairy cup. Few nests are more beautiful
+and at the same time more durable than a vireo's. I have seen the nests of
+three successive years in the same tree, all built, no doubt, by the same
+pair of birds, the nest of the past summer perfect in shape and quality,
+that of the preceding year threadbare, while the home which sheltered the
+brood of three summers ago is a mere flattened skeleton, reminding one of
+the ribs and stern post of a wrecked boat long pounded by the waves.
+
+The subject of nests has been sadly neglected by naturalists, most of whom
+have been chiefly interested in the owners or the contents; but when the
+whys and wherefores of the homes of birds are made plain we shall know far
+more concerning the little carpenters, weavers, masons, and basket-makers
+who hang our groves and decorate our shrubbery with their skill. When on
+our winter's walk we see a distorted, wind-torn, grass cup, think of the
+quartet of beautiful little creatures, now flying beneath some tropical
+sun, which owe their lives to the nest, and which, if they are spared,
+will surely return to the vicinity next summer.
+
+         That time of year thou may'st in me behold,
+         When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
+         Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,--
+         Bare, ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
+                                                  SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+
+
+LESSONS FROM AN ENGLISH SPARROW
+
+
+Many people say they love Nature, but as they have little time to go into
+the country they have to depend on books for most of their information
+concerning birds, flowers, and other forms of life. There is, however, no
+reason why one should not, even in the heart of a great city, begin to
+cultivate his powers of observation. Let us take, for example, the
+omnipresent English sparrow. Most of us probably know the difference
+between the male and female English sparrows, but I venture to say that
+not one in ten persons could give a satisfactory description of the
+colours of either. How much we look and how little we really see!
+
+Little can be said in favour of the English sparrows' disposition, but let
+us not blame them for their unfortunate increase in numbers. Man brought
+them from England, where they are kept in check by Nature's wise laws.
+These birds were deliberately introduced where Nature was not prepared for
+them.
+
+When we put aside prejudice we can see that the male bird, especially when
+in his bright spring colours, is really very attractive, with his ashy
+gray head, his back streaked with black and bay, the white bar on his
+wings and the jet black chin and throat contrasting strongly with the
+uniformly light-coloured under parts. If this were a rare bird the
+"black-throated sparrow" would enjoy his share of admiration.
+
+It is wonderful how he can adapt himself to new conditions, nesting
+anywhere and everywhere, and this very adaptation is a sign of a very high
+order of intelligence. He has, however, many characteristics which tell us
+of his former life. A few of the habits of this bird may be misleading.
+His thick, conical bill is made for crushing seeds, but he now feeds on so
+many different substances that its original use, as shown by its shape, is
+obscured. If there were such a thing as vaudeville among birds, the common
+sparrow would be a star imitator. He clings to the bark of trees and picks
+out grubs, supporting himself with his tail like a woodpecker; he launches
+out into the air, taking insects on the wing like a flycatcher; he clings
+like a chickadee to the under side of twigs, or hovers in front of a heap
+of insect eggs, presenting a feeble imitation of a hummingbird. These
+modes of feeding represent many different families of birds.
+
+Although his straw and feather nests are shapeless affairs, and he often
+feeds on garbage, all aesthetic feeling is not lost, as we see when he
+swells out his black throat and white cravat, spreads tail and wing and
+beseeches his lady-love to admire him. Thus he woos her as long as he is
+alone, but when several other eager suitors arrive, his patience gives
+out, and the courting turns into a football game. Rough and tumble is the
+word, but somehow in the midst of it all, her highness manages to make her
+mind known and off she flies with the lucky one. Thus we have represented,
+in the English sparrows, the two extremes of courtship among birds.
+
+It is worth noting that the male alone is ornamented, the colours of the
+female being much plainer. This dates from a time when it was necessary
+for the female to be concealed while sitting on the eggs. The young of
+both sexes are coloured like their mother, the young males not acquiring
+the black gorget until perfectly able to take care of themselves. About
+the plumage there are some interesting facts. The young bird moults twice
+before the first winter. The second moult brings out the mark on the
+throat, but it is rusty now, not black in colour; his cravat is grayish
+and the wing bar ashy. In the spring, however, a noticeable change takes
+place, but neither by the moulting nor the coming in of plumage. The
+shaded edges of the feathers become brittle and break off, bringing out
+the true colours and making them clear and brilliant. The waistcoat is
+brushed until it is black and glossy, the cravat becomes immaculate, and
+the wristband or wing bar clears up until it is pure white.
+
+The homes of these sparrows are generally composed of a great mass of
+straw and feathers, with the nest in the centre; but the spotted eggs,
+perhaps, show that these birds once built open nests, the dots and marks
+on the eggs being of use in concealing their conspicuous white ground.
+Something seems already to have hinted to Nature that this protection is
+no longer necessary, and we often find eggs almost white, like those of
+woodpeckers and owls, which nest in dark places.
+
+We have all heard of birds flocking together for some mutual benefit--the
+crows, for instance, which travel every winter day across country to
+favourite "roosts." In the heart of a city we can often study this same
+phenomenon of birds gathering together in great flocks. In New York City,
+on One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, there stands a tree--a solitary
+reminder of the forest which once covered all this paved land. To this,
+all winter long, the sparrows begin to flock about four or five o'clock in
+the afternoon. They come singly and in twos and threes until the bare
+limbs are black with them and there seems not room for another bird; but
+still they come, each new arrival diving into the mass of birds and
+causing a local commotion. By seven o'clock there are hundreds of English
+sparrows perching in this one tree. At daylight they are off again,
+whirring away by scores, and in a few minutes the tree is silent and
+empty. The same habit is to be seen in many other cities and towns, for
+thus the birds gain mutual warmth.
+
+Nature will do her best to diminish the number of sparrows and to regain
+the balance, but to do this the sparrow must be brought face to face with
+as many dangers as our wild birds, and although, owing to the sparrows'
+fearlessness of man, this may never happen, yet at least the colour
+protections and other former safeguards are slowly being eliminated. On
+almost every street we may see albino or partly albino birds, such as
+those with white tails or wings. White birds exist in a wild state only
+from some adaptation to their surroundings. A bird which is white simply
+because its need of protection has temporarily ceased, would become the
+prey of the first stray hawk which crossed its path. We cannot hope to
+exterminate the English sparrow even by the most wholesale slaughter, but
+if some species of small hawk or butcher bird could ever become as
+fearless an inhabitant of our cities as these birds, their reduction to
+reasonable numbers would be a matter of only a few months.
+
+                 So dainty in plumage and hue,
+                   A study in gray and brown,
+                 How little, how little we knew
+                   The pest he would prove to the town!
+
+                 From dawn until daylight grows dim,
+                   Perpetual chatter and scold.
+                 No winter migration for him,
+                   Not even afraid of the cold!
+
+                 Scarce a song-bird he fails to molest,
+                   Belligerent, meddlesome thing!
+                 Wherever he goes as a guest
+                   He is sure to remain as a King.
+                                 Mary Isabella Forsyth.
+
+
+
+
+THE PERSONALITY OF TREES
+
+
+How many of us think of trees almost as we do of the rocks and stones
+about us,--as all but inanimate objects, standing in the same relation to
+our earth as does the furry covering of an animal to its owner. The simile
+might be carried out more in detail, the forests protecting the continents
+from drought and flood, even as the coat of fur protects its owner from
+extremes of heat and cold.
+
+When we come to consider the tree as a living individual, a form of life
+contemporaneous with our own, and to realise that it has its birth and
+death, its struggles for life and its periods of peace and abundance, we
+will soon feel for it a keener sympathy and interest and withal a
+veneration greater than it has ever aroused in us before.
+
+Of all living things on earth, a tree binds us most closely to the past.
+Some of the giant tortoises of the Galapagos Islands are thought to be
+four hundred years old and are probably the oldest animals on the earth.
+There is, however, nothing to compare with the majesty and grandeur of the
+Sequoias--the giant redwoods of California--the largest of which, still
+living, reach upward more than one hundred yards above the ground, and
+show, by the number of their rings, that their life began from three to
+five thousand years ago. Our deepest feelings of reverence are aroused
+when we look at a tree which was "one thousand years old when Homer wrote
+the Iliad; fifteen hundred years of age when Aristotle was foreshadowing
+his evolution theory and writing his history of animals; two thousand
+years of age when Christ walked upon earth; nearly four thousand years of
+age when the 'Origin of Species' was written. Thus the life of one of
+these trees spanned the whole period before the birth of Aristotle (384
+B.C.) and after the death of Darwin (A.D. 1882), the two greatest natural
+philosophers who have lived."
+
+Considered not only individually, but taken as a group, the Sequoias are
+among the oldest of the old. Geologically speaking, most of the forms of
+life now in existence are of recent origin, but a full ten million of
+years ago these giant trees were developed almost as highly as they are
+to-day. At the end of the coal period, when the birds and mammals of
+to-day were as yet unevolved, existing only potentially in the scaly,
+reptile-like creatures of those days, the Sequoias waved their needles
+high in air.
+
+In those days these great trees were found over the whole of Canada,
+Greenland, and Siberia, but the relentless onslaught of the Ice Age
+wrought terrible destruction and, like the giant tortoises among reptiles,
+the apteryx among birds, and the bison among mammals, the forlorn hope of
+the great redwoods, making a last stand in a few small groves of
+California, awaits total extinction at the hands of the most terrible of
+Nature's enemies--man. When the last venerable giant trunk has fallen, the
+last axe-stroke which severs the circle of vital sap will cut the only
+thread of individual life which joins in time the beating of our pulses
+to-day with the beginning of human history and philosophy,--thousands of
+years in the past.
+
+Through all the millions of years during which the evolution of modern
+forms of life has been going on, then as now, trees must have entered
+prominently into the environment and lives of the terrestrial animals.
+Ages ago, long before snakes and four-toed horses were even foreshadowed,
+and before the first bird-like creatures had appeared, winged
+reptile-dragons flew about, doubtless roosting or perching on the Triassic
+and Jurassic trees. Perhaps the very pieces of coal which are burned in
+our furnaces once bent and swayed under the weight of these bulky animals.
+Something like six millions of years ago, long-tailed, fluttering birds
+appeared, with lizard-like claws at the bend of their wings and with jaws
+filled with teeth. These creatures were certainly arboreal, spending most
+of their time among the branches of trees. So large were certain great
+sloth-like creatures that they uprooted the trees bodily, in order to feed
+on their succulent leaves, sometimes bending their trunks down until their
+branches were within reach.
+
+On a walk through the woods and fields to-day, how seldom do we find a
+dead insect! When sick and dying, nine out of ten are snapped up by frog,
+lizard, or bird; the few which die a natural death seeming to disintegrate
+into mould within a very short space of time. There is, however, one way
+in which, through the long, long thousands of centuries, insects have been
+preserved. The spicy resin which flowed from the ancient pines attracted
+hosts of insects, which, tempted by their hope of food, met their
+death--caught and slowly but surely enclosed by the viscid sap, each
+antenna and hair as perfect as when the insect was alive. Thus, in this
+strangely fortunate way, we may know and study the insects which, millions
+of years ago, fed on the flowers or bored into the bark of trees. We have
+found no way to improve on Nature in this respect, for to-day when we
+desire to mount a specimen permanently for microscopical work, we imbed it
+in Canada balsam.
+
+If suddenly the earth should be bereft of all trees, there would indeed be
+consternation and despair among many classes of animals. Although in the
+sea there are thousands of creatures, which, by their manner of life, are
+prohibited from ever passing the boundary line between land and water, yet
+many sea-worms, as for example the teredo, or ship-worm, are especially
+fashioned for living in and perhaps feeding on wood, in the shape of stray
+floating trees and branches, the bottoms of ships, and piles of wharves.
+Of course the two latter are supplied by man, but even before his time,
+floating trees at sea must have been plentiful enough to supply homes for
+the whole tribe of these creatures, unless they made their burrows in
+coral or shells.
+
+The insects whose very existence, in some cases, depends upon trees, are
+innumerable. What, for example, would become of the larvae of the cicada,
+or locust, which, in the cold and darkness of their subterranean life, for
+seventeen years suck the juicy roots of trees; or the caterpillars of the
+moths, spinning high their webs among the leaves; or the countless beetles
+whose grubs bore through and through the trunk their sinuous, sawdusty
+tunnels; or the ichneumon fly, which with an instrument--surgical needle,
+file, augur, and scroll saw all in one--deposits, deep below the bark, its
+eggs in safety? If forced to compete with terrestrial species, the tree
+spiders and scorpions would quickly become exterminated; while especially
+adapted arboreal ants would instantly disappear.
+
+We cannot entirely exclude even fishes from our list; as the absence of
+mangroves would incidentally affect the climbing perch and catfishes! The
+newts and common toads would be in no wise dismayed by the passing of the
+trees, but not so certain tadpoles. Those of our ditches, it is true,
+would live and flourish, but there are, in the world, many curious kinds
+which hatch and grow up into frogs in curled-up leaves or in damp places
+in the forks of branches, and which would find themselves homeless without
+trees. Think, too, of the poor green and brown tree frogs with their
+sucker feet, compelled always to hop along the ground!
+
+Lizards, from tiny swifts to sixty-inch iguanas, would sorely miss the
+trees, while the lithe green tree snakes and the tree boas would have to
+change all their life habits in order to be able to exist. But as for the
+cold, uncanny turtles and alligators,--what are trees to them!
+
+In the evolution of the birds and other animals, the cry of "excelsior"
+has been followed literally as well as theoretically and, with a few
+exceptions, the highest in each class have not only risen above their
+fellows in intelligence and structure, but have left the earth and climbed
+or flown to the tree-tops, making these their chief place of abode.
+
+Many of the birds which find their food at sea, or in the waters of stream
+and lake, repair to the trees for the purpose of building their nests
+among the branches. Such birds are the pelicans, herons, ibises, and
+ospreys; while the wood ducks lay their eggs high above the ground in the
+hollows of trees. Parrots, kingfishers, swifts, and hummingbirds are
+almost helpless on the ground, their feet being adapted for climbing about
+the branches, perching on twigs, or clinging to the hollows of trees.
+Taken as a whole, birds would suffer more than any other class of
+creatures in a deforested world. The woodpeckers would be without home,
+food, and resting-place; except, possibly, the flicker, or high-hole, who
+is either a retrograde or a genius, whichever we may choose to consider
+him, and could live well enough upon ground ants. But as to his nest--he
+would have to sharpen his wits still more to solve successfully the
+question of the woodpecker motto, "What is home without a hollow tree?"
+
+Great gaps would be made in the ranks of the furry creatures--the mammals.
+Opossums and raccoons would find themselves in an embarrassing position,
+and as for the sloths, which never descend to earth, depending for
+protection on their resemblance to leaves and mossy bark, they would be
+wiped out with one fell swoop. The arboreal squirrels might learn to
+burrow, as so many of their near relations have done, but their muscles
+would become cramped from inactivity and their eyes would often strain
+upward for a glimpse of the beloved branches. The bats might take to caves
+and the vampires to outhouses and dark crevices in the rocks, but most of
+the monkeys and apes would soon become extinct, while a chimpanzee or
+orang-utan would become a cripple, swinging ever painfully along between
+the knuckles of crutch-like forearms, searching, searching forever for the
+trees which gave him his form and structure, and without which his life
+and that of his race must abruptly end.
+
+Leaving the relations which trees hold to the animals about them and the
+part which they have played in the evolution of life on the earth in past
+epochs, let us consider some of the more humble trees about us. Not,
+however, from the standpoint of the technical botanist or the scientific
+forester, but from the sympathetic point of view of a living fellow form,
+sharing the same planet, both owing their lives to the same great source
+of all light and heat, and subject to the same extremes of heat and cold,
+storm and drought. How wonderful, when we come to think of it, is a tree,
+to be able to withstand its enemies, elemental and animate, year after
+year, decade after decade, although fast-rooted to one patch of earth. An
+animal flees to shelter at the approach of gale or cyclone, or travels far
+in search of abundant food. Like the giant algae, ever waving upward from
+the bed of the sea, which depend on the nourishment of the surrounding
+waters, so the tree blindly trusts to Nature to minister to its needs,
+filling its leaves with the light-given greenness, and feeling for
+nutritious salts with the sensitive tips of its innumerable rootlets.
+
+Darwin has taught us, and truly, that a relentless struggle for existence
+is ever going on around us, and although this is most evident to our eyes
+in a terrible death battle between two great beasts of prey, yet it is no
+less real and intense in the case of the bird pouring forth a beautiful
+song, or the delicate violet shedding abroad its perfume. To realise the
+host of enemies ever shadowing the feathered songster and its kind, we
+have only to remember that though four young birds may be hatched in each
+of fifty nests, yet of the two hundred nestlings an average often of but
+one lives to grow to maturity,--to migrate and to return to the region of
+its birth.
+
+And the violet, living, apparently, such a quiet life of humble sweetness?
+Fortunate indeed is it if its tiny treasure of seeds is fertilized, and
+then the chances are a thousand to one that they will grow and ripen only
+to fall by the wayside, or on barren ground, or among the tares.
+
+At first thought, a tree seems far removed from all such struggles. How
+solemn and grand its trunk stands, column-like against the sky! How puny
+and weak we seem beside it! Its sturdy roots, sound wood, and pliant
+branches all spell power. Nevertheless, the old, old struggle is as
+fierce, as unending, here as everywhere. A monarch of the forest has
+gained its supremacy only by a lifelong battle with its own kind and with
+a horde of alien enemies.
+
+From the heart of the tropics to the limit of tree-growth in the northland
+we find the battle of life waged fiercely, root contending with root for
+earth-food, branch with branch for the light which means life.
+
+In a severe wrestling match, the moments of supremest strain are those
+when the opponents are fast-locked, motionless, when the advantage comes,
+not with quickness, but with staying power; and likewise in the struggle
+of tree with tree the fact that one or two years, or even whole decades,
+watch the efforts of the branches to lift their leaves one above the
+other, detracts nothing from the bitterness of the strife.
+
+Far to the north we will sometimes find groves of young balsam firs or
+spruce,--hundreds of the same species of sapling growing so close together
+that a rabbit may not pass between. The slender trunks, almost touching
+each other, are bare of branches. Only at the top is there light and air,
+and the race is ever upward. One year some slight advantage may come to
+one young tree,--some delicate unbalancing of the scales of life, and that
+fortunate individual instantly responds, reaching several slender side
+branches over the heads of his brethren. They as quickly show the effects
+of the lessened light and forthwith the race is at an end. The victor
+shoots up tall and straight, stamping and choking out the lives at his
+side, as surely as if his weapons were teeth and claws instead of delicate
+root-fibres and soughing foliage.
+
+The contest with its fellows is only the first of many. The same elements
+which help to give it being and life are ever ready to catch it unawares,
+to rend it limb from limb, or by patient, long-continued attack bring it
+crashing to the very dust from which sprang the seed.
+
+We see a mighty spruce whose black leafage has waved above its fellows for
+a century or more, paying for its supremacy by the distortion of every
+branch. Such are to be seen clinging to the rocky shores of Fundy, every
+branch and twig curved toward the land; showing the years of battling with
+constant gales and blizzards. Like giant weather-vanes they stand, and,
+though there is no elasticity in their limbs and they are gnarled and
+scarred, yet our hearts warm in admiration of their decades of patient
+watching beside the troubled waters. For years to come they will defy
+every blast the storm god can send against them, until, one wild day, when
+the soil has grown scanty around the roots of one of the weakest, it will
+shiver and tremble at some terrific onslaught of wind and sleet; it will
+fold its branches closer about it and, like the Indian chieftains, who
+perhaps in years past occasionally watched the waters by the side of the
+young sapling, the conquered tree will bow its head for the last time to
+the storm.
+
+Farther inland, sheltered in a narrow valley, stands a sister tree, seeded
+from the same cone as the storm-distorted spruce. The wind shrieks and
+howls above the little valley and cannot enter; but the law of
+compensation brings to bear another element, silent, gentle, but as deadly
+as the howling blast of the gale. All through the long winter the snow
+sifts softly down, finding easy lodgment on the dense-foliaged branches.
+From the surrounding heights the white crystals pour down until the tree
+groans with the massive weight. Her sister above is battling with the
+storm, but hardly a feather's weight of snow clings to her waving limbs.
+
+The compressed, down-bent branches of the valley spruce soon become
+permanently bent and the strain on the trunk fibres is great. At last,
+with a despairing crash, one great limb gives way and is torn bodily from
+its place of growth. The very vitals of the tree are exposed and instantly
+every splintered cell is filled with the sifting snow. Helpless the tree
+stands, and early in the spring, at the first quickening of summer's
+growth, a salve of curative resin is poured upon the wound. But it is too
+late. The invading water has done its work and the elements have begun to
+rot the very heart of the tree. How much more to be desired is the manner
+of life and death of the first spruce, battling to the very last!
+
+A beech seedling which takes root close to the bank of a stream has a good
+chance of surviving, since there will be no competitors on the water side
+and moisture and air will never fail. But look at some ancient beech
+growing thus, whose smooth, whitened hole encloses a century of growth
+rings. Offsetting its advantages, the stream, little by little, has
+undermined the maze of roots and the force of annual freshets has trained
+them all in a down-stream direction. It is an inverted reminder of the
+wind-moulded spruce. Although the stout beech props itself by great roots
+thrown landward, yet, sooner or later, the ripples will filter in beyond
+the centre of gravity and the mighty tree will topple and mingle with its
+shadow-double which for so many years the stream has reflected.
+
+Thus we find that while without moisture no tree could exist, yet the same
+element often brings death. The amphibious mangroves which fringe the
+coral islands of the southern seas hardly attain to the dignity of trees,
+but in the mysterious depths of our southern swamps we find the strangely
+picturesque cypresses, which defy the waters about them. One cannot say
+where trunk ends and root begins, but up from the stagnant slime rise
+great arched buttresses, so that the tree seems to be supported on giant
+six- or eight-legged stools, between the arches of which the water flows
+and finds no chance to use its power. Here, in these lonely
+solitudes,--heron-haunted, snake-infested,--the hanging moss and orchids
+search out every dead limb and cover it with an unnatural greenness. Here,
+great lichens grow and a myriad tropical insects bore and tunnel their way
+from bark to heart of tree and back again. Here, in the blackness of
+night, when the air is heavy with hot, swampy odours, and only the
+occasional squawk of a heron or cry of some animal is heard, a rending,
+grinding, crashing, breaks suddenly upon the stillness, a distant boom and
+splash, awakening every creature. Then the silence again closes down and
+we know that a cypress, perhaps linking a trio of centuries, has yielded
+up its life.
+
+Leaving the hundred other mysteries which the trees of the tropics might
+unfold, let us consider for a moment the danger which the tall, successful
+tree invites,--the penalty which it pays for having surpassed all its
+other brethren. It preeminently attracts the bolts of Jove and the lesser
+trees see a blinding flash, hear a rending of heart wood, and when the
+storm has passed, the tree, before perfect in trunk, limbs, and foliage,
+is now but a heap of charred splinters.
+
+Many a great willow overhanging the banks of a wide river could tell
+interesting tales of the scars on its trunk. That lower wound was a deep
+gash cut by some Indian, perhaps to direct a war-party making their way
+through the untrodden wilderness; this bare, unsightly patch was burnt out
+by the signal fire of one of our forefather pioneers. And so on and on the
+story would unfold, until the topmost, freshly sawed-off limb had for its
+purpose only the desire of the present owner for a clearer view of the
+water beyond.
+
+Finally we come to the tree best beloved of us in the north,--the
+carefully grafted descendant of some sour little wild crab-apple. A
+faithful servant indeed has the monarch of the old orchard proved. It has
+fed us and our fathers before us, and its gnarled trunk and low-hanging
+branches tell the story of the rosy fruit which has weighed down its limbs
+year after year. Old age has laid a heavy hand upon it, but not until the
+outermost twig has ceased to blossom, and its death, unlike that of its
+wild kindred, has come silently and peacefully, do we give the order to
+have the tree felled. Even in its death it serves us, giving back from the
+open hearth the light and heat which it has stored up throughout the
+summers of many years.
+
+Let us give more thought to the trees about us, and when possible succour
+them in distress, straighten the bent sapling, remove the parasitic
+lichen, and give them the best chance for a long, patient, strong life.
+
+             In the far North stands a Pine-tree, lone,
+               Upon a wintry height;
+             It sleeps; around it snows have thrown
+               A covering of white.
+
+             It dreams forever of a Palm
+               That, far i' the morning-land,
+             Stands silent in a most sad calm
+               Midst of the burning sand.
+
+               (_From the German of Heine._) SIDNEY LANIER.
+
+
+
+
+AN OWL OF THE NORTH
+
+
+It is mid-winter, and from the northland a blizzard of icy winds and
+swirling snow crystals is sweeping with fury southward over woods and
+fields. We sit in our warm room before the crackling log fire and listen
+to the shriek of the gale and wonder how it fares with the little bundles
+of feathers huddled among the cedar branches.
+
+We picture to ourselves all the wild kindred sheltered from the raging
+storm; the gray squirrels rocking in their lofty nests of leaves; the
+chipmunks snug underground; the screech owls deep in the hollow apple
+trees, all warm and dry.
+
+But there are those for whom the blizzard has no terrors. Far to the north
+on the barren wastes of Labrador, where the gale first comes in from the
+sea and gathers strength as it comes, a great owl flaps upward and on
+broad pinions, white as the driving snowflakes, sweeps southward with the
+storm. Now over ice-bound river or lake, or rushing past a myriad dark
+spires of spruce, then hovering wonderingly over a multitude of lights
+from the streets of some town, the strong Arctic bird forges southward,
+until one night, if we only knew, we might open our window and, looking
+upward, see two great yellow eyes apparently hanging in space, the body
+and wings of the bird in snow-white plumage lost amidst the flakes. We
+thrill in admiration at the grand bird, so fearless of the raging
+elements.
+
+Only the coldest and fiercest storms will tempt him from the north, and
+then not because he fears snow or cold, but in order to keep within reach
+of the snowbirds which form his food. He seeks for places where a less
+severe cold encourages small birds to be abroad, or where the snow's crust
+is less icy, through which the field mice may bore their tunnels, and run
+hither and thither in the moonlight, pulling down the weeds and cracking
+their frames of ice. Heedless of passing clouds, these little rodents
+scamper about, until a darker, swifter shadow passes, and the feathered
+talons of the snowy owl close over the tiny, shivering bundle of fur.
+
+Occasionally after such a storm, one may come across this white owl in
+some snowy field, hunting in broad daylight; and that must go down as a
+red-letter day, to be remembered for years.
+
+What would one not give to know of his adventures since he left the far
+north. What stories he could tell of hunts for the ptarmigan,--those
+Arctic fowl, clad in plumage as white as his own; or the little kit foxes,
+or the seals and polar bears playing the great game of life and death
+among the grinding icebergs!
+
+His visit to us is a short one. Comes the first hint of a thaw and he has
+vanished like a melting snowflake, back to his home and his mate. There in
+a hollow in the half-frozen Iceland moss, in February, as many as ten
+fuzzy little snowy owlets may grow up in one nest,--all as hardy and
+beautiful and brave as their great fierce-eyed parents.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Log of the Sun, by William Beebe
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