Part 4

If the bird observer upon his first birding trip could be introduced to the song of a winter wren, there is scarcely a doubt that he would be a bird enthusiast from that minute. Mrs. Florence Merriam Bailey has come nearest to describing its song; "Full of trills, runs, and grace notes, it was a tinkling, rippling roundelay."

Notes

June Nineteenth

Throughout the mountainous region of the eastern States, the mountain laurel (spoonwood, broad-leafed kalmia, or calico bush) is in full blossom. It is a beautiful, sweet-scented, flowering shrub, and the bushes are ruthlessly destroyed by those who have no regard for Nature's future beauty.

June Twentieth

The habits of wasps and bees differ widely. Both orders are very intelligent. Wild bees live in hollow trees and make their cells of wax. At first they feed their young on "bee bread," which is made from the pollen of flowers, and afterward on honey. Wasps subsist on the juices of fruits, and insects; but they will eat meat. They make their homes in burrows in the ground, or in wood, or they construct nests of paper or mud.

June Twenty-first

The Maryland yellow-throat is more like a wren than a warbler, but it belongs to the warbler family. As you pass a thicket or a swamp, he shouts "_This way sir, this way sir, this way sir_;" or "_Witchety, witchety, witchety_;" and you might watch for hours without seeing him. But by placing the back of your hand against your lips, and making a low squeaking noise, you are likely to bring him to the top of a reed or bush.

Notes

June Twenty-second

It is quite easy to tell the difference between butterflies and moths. Remember, first of all, that butterflies are _sunlight_ loving insects, while moths stir about only on cloudy days, or after dark. Butterflies, when at rest, hold their wings together over their backs; moths carry them open and parallel with the body. Again, the antennæ, or "feelers," of butterflies are quite club-like in shape, while the "feelers" of moths inhabiting the United States and Canada resemble tiny feathers.

June Twenty-third

If you are so fortunate as to have a pair of catbirds nesting in a _small tree_ or a _bush_ near your house, you have learned that the male is an accomplished songster. Have you ever noticed the father bird, when perched where he can overlook the nest, gently quivering his wings as though delighted at the thought of a nest full of little ones? After the eggs have hatched, these periods of delight are more frequent.

June Twenty-fourth

The bracket fungi that are attached to the trunks of forest and shade trees live to an old age. Some have been found over seventy-five years old. They are the fruit of the fungous growth that is living on and destroying the tissues of the tree. The puff-balls are edible fungi before they have dried.

Notes

June Twenty-fifth

Some one has rightly called young Baltimore orioles the "cry-babies of the bird world." The approach of their mother with food is the sign for a general outcry, and even during her absence, they whimper softly, like disconsolate children. For the next ten days you may hear them in the shade-trees about our streets, particularly after a rain.

June Twenty-sixth

The long-billed marsh wren is found in tall, rank vegetation bordering rivers and lakes, and in the marshes at tide water. It nests in colonies in the rushes, and the male will build several other nests near the one his mate occupies. "While singing it is usually seen clinging to the side of some tall swaying reed, with its tail bent forward so far as almost to touch its head." (Chapman.)

June Twenty-seventh

The kingbird, because of its pugnacity, is considered a ruler of other birds, although it might rightly be called a watchman and protector of the feathered world. It is a sober colored bird, save for the concealed patch of orange on the crown of the head. It is always the first bird to detect the presence of a feathered enemy. With loud, defiant cries it sallies forth to attack, and is not content until it has driven the intruder beyond range.

Notes

June Twenty-eighth

The spittle insect, or spittle bug, _not a snake, frog, or grasshopper_, is responsible for that bit of froth found on the stems of weeds and grasses. Push away the foam, and you will find a small, helpless insect apparently half-drowned. The liquid is a secretion from the body, whipped into froth by the creature's struggles. These are the larvæ of the insects which, when full grown, fly up before you in myriads as you walk through the fields.

June Twenty-ninth

The swallows are noted for their strong and graceful flight. Watch one, as he sails gracefully through the air, now swerving to the right, now to the left, and then dipping down to take a drink or to pick an insect from the water, scarcely making a ripple. The barn and eave swallows feed their young in mid air. It would appear that they are fighting, when the food is being passed from the old bird to the youngster.

June Thirtieth

A common bird along the country roads is the indigo bunting, or indigo bird. He perches on a wire, or on the topmost limb of a tall bush or tree, and sings a song quite sparrow-like in quality. As you approach, he drops gracefully into the foliage. His nest probably contains young birds.

Notes

=July=

July First

After a shower in early July, myriads of tiny toads swarm on the lawns and walks. They have just abandoned their aquatic life as tadpoles, and have taken up a terrestrial mode of living. Their skin is so delicate that sunlight kills them, so they remain hidden until clouds have obscured the sun.

July Second

"_Whip-poor-will, whip-poor-will, whip-poor-will._" From dusk until daylight you hear its mournful song. The whip-poor-will spends the day in the forest. At twilight it comes forth to catch its insect prey, which it captures while flying. It makes hardly any pretence at building a nest, but lays its eggs upon the ground among the leaves, and so closely do both bird and eggs resemble their surroundings, that one might easily step on them unknowingly.

July Third

Attached to stones, stumps, and tree trunks along the fresh water ponds and streams, are the cast-off jackets of the larval dragon-fly. These larvæ remain in the water for more than a year, feeding upon the larvæ of other insects. Finally they leave the water, and a long rent is seen on the creature's back, and soon the dragon-fly appear.

Notes

July Fourth

Similar to the whip-poor-will in shape, the nighthawk, or bullbat, differs from it in song and habits,--though, oddly enough, it perches lengthwise on a limb as the whip-poor-will does. _It is neither a hawk nor a bat_, for it is classed close to the chimney swift, and like the swift, it is of inestimable value as an insect destroyer. It is often seen in the daytime and the large white spot on the under side of each wing helps to identify it.

July Fifth

The horned-tails are the large wasp-like insects that we see about the elm, oak, and maple trees. They bore holes a quarter of an inch in diameter in the tree trunk, and in these holes the eggs are laid. Sometimes they get their augers wedged and are unable to free themselves. The horned-tails are destructive, and should be killed whenever found. They sometimes remain in the pupa state so long, that the tree may be cut down and the wood made into furniture before they finally emerge.

July Sixth

Before now you have probably seen the ruby-throated hummingbird poising over the flowers in your garden. Sometimes he goes through strange antics. Mounting ten or fifteen feet into the air, he swoops down in a graceful curve, then turns and repeats the performance time and time again.

Notes

July Seventh

In travelling from burrow to burrow, woodchucks often make roads a quarter of a mile long through the grass. Occasionally you will get a long distance view of the "'chuck" as he scuds to the mouth of his hole, and rising on his hind legs, stands erect and watches you, then bobs out of sight. He is the most alert and keen-eyed of all American rodents, and his presence in such numbers, despite the war waged upon him, proves his ability to take care of himself.

July Eighth

"The interrupted fern is less a lover of moisture than its kindred. The fertile fronds are usually taller than the sterile leaves, and they remain green all summer. The spore-bearing organs are produced near the middle of the frond" (Clute), thus "interrupting" the pinnæ growth of the leaf. It is also called Clayton's fern.

July Ninth

The hind feet of a honey bee are provided with stiff fringes. With these the bee scrapes from the rings of its body the oily substance that is exuded, and passes it to the mouth. After chewing and working it between the mandibles (for the bee has mouth-parts for biting, and a proboscis for sucking the juices and honey from plants), it becomes soft and is then built into comb.

Notes

July Tenth

From the depths of the forest and thick underbrush, you will hear the "_teacher_, teacher, TEACHER, _TEACHER_" (in a swift crescendo) of the golden-crowned thrush, ovenbird, or teacher-bird. It is a note of such volume that, instead of a bird the size of a robin, you are surprised to find that the songster is no larger than a song sparrow. He is called ovenbird because his nest is covered over and resembles somewhat an old-fashion bake oven.

July Eleventh

Some "glow-worms" are female fire-flies or lightning-bugs. There are at least a score of common insects that are luminous, besides some rare ones. With some species of fire-flies (our common fire-fly included) both sexes are winged, while with others the females lack wings and are known as "glow-worms."

July Twelfth

With most birds, the female only builds the nest and incubates the eggs, after which both birds usually assist in bringing up the young. Some of the exceptions to this rule are the male Bob-white, house wren, catbird, blue-headed, yellow-throated, and warbling vireos, and the barn and eave swallows, each of which does his share of the domestic duties and takes care of the young birds.

Notes

July Thirteenth

Through ignorance we often persecute our best friends. The ichneumon fly is a parasitic insect that all should know. It lays its eggs in the larvæ of many injurious insects, and its larvæ feeds upon them. A great enemy to the horned-tails, it is invariably misjudged and killed, when discovered with its ovipositor inserted in one of the borings of the horned-tail fly.

July Fourteenth

How beautiful is the awakening of the evening primrose. No sooner is the sun beneath the horizon, than the calyx begins to swell and out springs a yellow petal. Then another and another appear before your very eyes, until the petals look like the blades of a screw propeller. The blossom is often less then five minutes in opening, and is immediately surrounded by tiny black insects.

July Fifteenth

Young spotted sandpipers, or "tip-ups," are able to leave their nest (in a slight depression in the ground) soon after the eggs hatch. It is indeed interesting to watch a family of these animated woolly balls on stilts, running along the shore with their parents. When pursued they sometimes will take to the water and cling to the vegetation on the bottom.

Notes

July Sixteenth

The perfectly round white heads of the button bush are now conspicuous along the streams, bogs, and lakes. The long slender styles project from all sides like the quills on the back of a frightened hedgehog. Although this shrub is a lover of water and damp soil, "it is sometimes found on elevated ground, where it serves, it is claimed, as a good sign of the presence of a hidden spring. The inner bark is sometimes used as a cough medicine." (Newhall.)

July Seventeenth

During the haying season the birds hold high carnival. Robins, song and chipping sparrows, orioles, bobolinks, goldfinches, meadow larks, and flickers, all feed upon the insects that are now so easy to catch. A seat in the shade overlooking a new mown field is at present a good point from which to study birds.

July Eighteenth

Huckleberries, red raspberries, and shad or service-berries, when ripe, are eaten by birds, squirrels, and chipmunks during the day, while at night various species of mice harvest them. The choke-cherries, elderberries, and blackberries are beginning to lose their bright red color, and they, too, will soon be feeding Nature's people.

Notes

July Nineteenth

The pickerel-weed and arrow-head are in full bloom side by side at the water's edge of stream and pond. The blue flower-heads of the former contrast strikingly with the round white blossoms of the latter.

July Twentieth

The female flies and mosquitoes are the ones that bite, and it is the female and the worker bees and wasps that sting. The males of the two former groups are not provided with blood-sucking mouth parts, and the males of the bees and wasps lack stingers. When a less offensive remedy is not at hand, insect tormentors may be kept away by rubbing a piece of fat pork or bacon on one's face and hands.

July Twenty-first

The leaf-cutting bees resemble the bumblebees. Examine the bushes and trees and you will find circular holes in the leaves from which pieces have been cut. Hundreds of these tiny bits are used to line the rows of cells that the bees make in the ground or in wood. The cells are filled with pollen for the young bees to feed upon when they emerge from the eggs that are laid on top of the supply of "bee-bread."

Notes

July Twenty-second

Do you miss the rollicking song of the bobolink? Have you seen him recently in his spring dress of black and white? No; he has sung himself silent, and, as though in hope of escaping the guns of the Southern rice planters, whose crops he will plunder on his way South, he has disguised himself in a plumage of buff color, streaked with brown, quite like that of his mate.

July Twenty-third

"The summer is nearly over when the Joe-Pie weed (purple boneset) begins to tinge with 'crushed raspberry' the lowlands through which we pass. 'Joe Pie' is supposed to have been the name of an Indian who cured typhus fever in New England by means of this plant." (Dana.)

July Twenty-fourth

The ostrich fern is so named because the dark green fertile fronds which appear about this time, and form the centre of the vase-shaped leaf-cluster, resemble ostrich plumes. Mr. Clute says: "It is at its best in wet, sandy soil of a half-shaded island or river shore. Its development is rapid, often lengthening six inches in a day."

Notes

July Twenty-fifth

A cuckoo pleading for her nest of young would soften a heart of stone. With wings and tail spread, she flutters almost into one's face, uttering pathetic and heartrending cries that beseech you not to touch her treasures. In pinfeathers the young of this bird, as well as those of the chimney swift, resemble baby European hedgehogs.

July Twenty-sixth

Trees and flowers must sleep as well as animals. The dandelion closes its petals late in the afternoon, and as night approaches the water lily folds up tightly. Although summer in the North is shorter than the summer in the South, the days are several hours longer, so vegetation is growing here while their trees and flowers are sleeping. This provision of Nature gives the northern Indian vegetables and flowers in a country which we often call "a land of snow and ice."

July Twenty-seventh

The common milkweed is another one of Nature's fly traps. Examine some of the fragrant flower heads and you are almost sure to find a captive held firmly by the foot. "The silky hairs of the seed-pods have been used for stuffing pillows and mattresses, and can be mixed with flax or wool and woven to advantage." (Dana.)

Notes

July Twenty-eighth

One of the simplest duties of a spider's life, is the stretching of a parallel web. Tiring of her location, the spider begins to spin a thread, or tangle a mass of threads together, until they are of sufficient buoyancy to support her weight. Then she fastens one end of a strand to the point she is about to leave, and clinging to the under side of her improvised balloon, floats away with the breeze. She pays out silk until the thread parts, or she finally comes in contact with some object, and so the cable is laid.

July Twenty-ninth

Young song sparrows, chipping sparrows, field sparrows, cedar-birds, bluebirds, and robins are streaked and mottled on the breast during the first few months of their lives. Another noticeable fact is that young birds fluff their feathers, and as the old birds are often thin from care and worry, the youngsters seem larger than their parents.

July Thirtieth

The dobson, or "hellgrammite," is honored with about sixteen other names. Its chalky-white mass of eggs about the size of a dime are now common objects along inland waterways. As soon as the eggs hatch, the young dobsons drop into the water and hide beneath stones for three years, feeding on aquatic larvæ of insects.

Notes

July Thirty-first

The river crab, or crawfish, has five pairs of walking legs and six pairs of swimming legs. If a leg is lost, another will grow within a year. The female lays a large number of eggs, which are attached to the fringes of her body. These crabs have two pairs of antenna-like organs, one to feel with and the other for hearing. The compound eyes are set on two pegs that can be protruded or depressed at will.

Notes

=August=

August First

The mid-air gyrations of the kingbird are not very often seen. Flying some distance into the air, the bird utters a series of indescribable notes, and as he does so, he dodges, twists, and zigzags through the air as though trying to escape the talons of a hawk. After repeating the performance several times, he sails gracefully to a perch on a telegraph wire or the topmost twig of a tree or a bush.

August Second

During the summer, gray squirrels leave their winter homes, in hollow tree trunks and limbs, and construct summer nests. These nests are simply balls of leaves placed in oak, chestnut, maple, or beech trees. A squirrel will build several nests close to one another, from which he never wanders far.

August Third

The _aphides_, or plant lice, are known to every horticulturist and lover of flowers. They cluster on the under side of leaves, causing them to curl and wither. There are a great many species, and they are the insects that the ants care for. They are sometimes called "ant's cows," because they secrete a sweet substance of which ants are very fond.

Notes

August Fourth

The clusters of white berries of the red-twigged osier, or kinnikinnik, so common in damp localities, will turn blue later on. The northern Indians remove the thin outer bark from the twigs, and after scraping off the inner green bark with a knife, they dry it over a camp fire, powder it between the palms of the hand, then mix it with tobacco and smoke it.

August Fifth

The ant lion is the peculiar larva of a fly. It forms small, funnel-like depressions in the dry sand or dust, throwing out the grains with its broad, flat head. You probably have seen an unfortunate ant struggling desperately to gain the top of the death pit. Gradually the drifting sand carries it nearer and nearer the jaws of the ant lion, waiting at the bottom, and finally it falls a victim to Nature's ingenuity.

August Sixth

The moist and shaded highland where the thorn apple, willow, red-twigged osier, and second-growth maples thrive, is the haunt of the mild and timid woodcock. Tracks in the mud may be seen where one has been walking about, and here and there clusters of holes smaller than a lead pencil tell that it has been "boring" for worms with its long, sensitive bill.

Notes

August Seventh

The harvest fly (cicada, "lyre-man," or dog-day locust) is really not a _locust_. Unlike its relative, the seventeen-year locust, which for seventeen years remains in the ground, a larva, it produces young yearly. In the woods and villages, its monotonous buzzing, sizzling note is heard, and is taken as a sign of warm weather.

August Eighth

As though ashamed of man's carelessness. Nature covers the fire-swept forests with beds of purple flowers, called "fireweed." Sometimes acre after acre of these tall flowers sway back and forth beneath the charred or naked tree trunks, a pleasant relief to the eye of the traveller.

August Ninth

Look carefully among the leafy boughs and you may find the home of a leaf-rolling caterpillar. "The little creature begins by spinning a thread and fastening one end to some fixed point, and then attaches the other end to the loose leaf. By means of powerful, muscular movements of the front part of the body, ... it hauls away on the ropes, slowly pulling it to the desired point, where it is held in place by a new and stronger thread. In this tent it resides, eating out the interior, and adding new stores of food, by sewing new leaves to the outside of the tent." (Packard.)

Notes

August Tenth

Families of barn and eave swallows now begin to congregate and to act restlessly. Flocks of red-shouldered blackbirds, mixed with purple and bronzed grackles, feed silently in the willows along the waterways, or are flushed from the grain fields. In the woods the chickadees, vireos, and warblers of many kinds keep company while they search among the trees for food. These are the first real signs to make the bird lover feel his feathered friends are soon to leave him.

August Eleventh

The muskrats now begin to build their winter houses, mounds of leaves, sticks, reeds, and aquatic vegetation, brought from the borders or the bottom of the ponds and streams, and piled from two to four feet above the surface of the water. The entrance to the _one large chamber_ is always below the surface, and in this snug room a family of muskrats will spend the winter, but they _do not hibernate_.

August Twelfth

The Indian pipe, or corpse flower, is found only in heavily shaded woods. Like the fungi, to which it is kin, it subsists on decaying vegetation. Its ashy color and queer, fantastic shape make you hesitate to pick it, and after you have overcome the feeling and snipped off the stem, you find that it soon turns black, and is useless as an ornament.

Notes

August Thirteenth

Queen Anne's lace, wild carrot, and bird's nest, are the names given to the delicate, white lace-like flower which grows in such abundance in the open countries throughout the eastern States. Several flat-topped flower heads are arranged on stems along the stalk, and after the flowers have bloomed the stems of each head contract and form a sort of basket about the size of a hummingbird's nest.

August Fourteenth

"Now comes the season of our insect instrumentalists.... I have called them instrumentalists, for there are no insects, to my knowledge, that make any sounds with their mouths; they seem to be entirely void of vocal organs.... The song is produced by the rubbing or beating of some portion of the body against some other portion, these portions being so modified as to produce the rasping sound." (Brownell.)

August Fifteenth

The small-mouthed black bass is one of the gamiest of our fresh water fish. "The eggs are bound together in bands of ribbons by an adhesive substance. They adhere to stones on which they are deposited. The small-mouthed black bass ceases to take food on the approach of cold weather, and remains nearly dormant throughout the winter." (Bean.)

Notes

August Sixteenth