Part 5

Often spending the entire winter in southern New York and New England, the American goldfinch and the cedar waxwing are the latest birds to begin nest building. The young have just now left the nest, while the other birds have long since ceased their domestic duties, and the white-breasted swallow will soon start on his southward journey.

August Seventeenth

If you will visit the zoological park at this time, you will find that since you last saw the buck deer, the antlers have hardened-like bone. The velvet, too, is hanging from them in shreds, and the buck thrashes his antlers against the bushes, and rubs them on the tree trunks, in an effort to rid them of the velvet. Soon they will be in prime condition for battle with his rivals or his enemies.

August Eighteenth

Children believe that a hair from the tail or mane of a horse will turn into a snake if left in water long enough. The so-called "hair snake" lives in the bodies of insects, such as grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles. The eggs of the _worm_ are taken into the system when the insect drinks. Once hatched, the worm gnaws at its victim's vitals until the insect dies. They take to the water when full grown and lay their eggs in a long chain.

Notes

August Nineteenth

There are more than eighty species of our national flower, the golden-rod, in the United States. While a cluster of golden heads swaying in the breeze is beautiful indeed, it is with regret that we watch its ripening, for, like the harvesting of grain, and the flocking of bluebirds, it tells us of the approaching autumn.

August Twentieth

The female mosquito lays her eggs in a mass, that floats upon the surface of the water. The larvæ are the "wigglers" that swim about in a jerky sort of way in the rain barrels or pools of stagnant water. They float near the surface and breathe through a tube at the end of the body. When ready to emerge from this larval stage, they crawl out on a stick, stone, or bush, the skin on the back splits, and the mosquito emerges.

August Twenty-first

The narrow spear-pointed leaves of the walking fern cling to the moss-covered rocks, and in graceful curves reach out until their tips touch the ground and take root again. These fronds in turn take up the march, and so they creep about the rocks wherever there is soil sufficient for them to get a foothold. They are also reproduced by spores in the regular fern-like way.

Notes

August Twenty-second

The fresh-water clam furnishes us with a good quality of pearl, and from the shells pearl buttons are made. Along the muddy bottom of our inland lakes and rivers, you may see the clumsy writing in the mud where they have crawled. During a clam's infancy it lives a parasitic life, embedded in the body of a fish. It then emerges and drops to the bottom of the lake or river, where it spends the remainder of its life.

August Twenty-third

"Those horrid tomato worms are eating all my plants. They are positively the most repulsive creatures I know." A few weeks later a beautiful sphinx moth flutters into your chamber window. Do you recognize it as your hated enemy? It is he,--a "wolf in sheep's clothing."

August Twenty-fourth

The cardinal flower, or red lobelia, lives in the marshes and along the streams, where it often trespasses so near the brink, that a slight freshet floods its roots. "We have no flower which can compare with this in vivid coloring." (Dana.) In some localities it has been in bloom for weeks.

Notes

August Twenty-fifth

Some evening after a thunder-shower, take a light and stroll along the garden path, or by the flower bed. Go slowly and step with caution, and you will see large numbers of angle worms--"night walkers" the fishermen call them--stretched out on the ground. Half of their length is hidden in the hole, ready at the slightest jar or noise to pull the remainder underground.

August Twenty-sixth

Woodchucks, or "groundhogs," are very busy at this season of the year. They work overtime even on moonlight nights, for they have a contract with Nature to blanket themselves with layers of fat half an inch thick. If the contract is not filled before winter sets in, death may be the forfeit. Eat, eat, eat; they spend every minute digging up the grass roots, and eating off the clover heads, and they often make excursions into the farmer's garden.

August Twenty-seventh

Butter-and-eggs prefers the unsheltered lands where the sun can beat upon it. It came from Europe and "like nearly all common weeds this plant has been utilized in various ways by the country people. It yields what was considered at one time a valuable skin lotion, while its juices mingled with milk constitutes a fly poison." (Dana.)

Notes

August Twenty-eighth

Be sure to kill any bee-like insect that you see hovering about your horse's fore legs, for it is a bot-fly. After the eggs have been attached to the horse's leg-hairs, they hatch and the horse licks the larvæ and swallows them. Attaching themselves to the walls of the stomach, they live there for some time, but finally pass through the horse and fall to the ground, where they transform into bot-flies.

August Twenty-ninth

The solitary sandpiper is one of the early migrating birds that is now returning from its northern nesting grounds. It is always found near water, singly or in twos and threes. It has a habit of holding its wings over its head as it alights, showing conspicuously their dark tips. Like all sandpipers, it is not supposed to perch in trees or bushes; nevertheless it does so frequently when a person approaches its young or its nest.

August Thirtieth

Have you ever watched a spider making its web? The sticky fluid, which becomes a silk strand upon coming in contact with the air, pours from several holes, or spinnerets, at the end of the body. The threads are guided by the feet, and when the spinnerets are held apart, several strands are spun, but by contracting them one heavy rope is made.

Notes

August Thirty-first

Most crickets die at the approach of winter, but some hibernate. It is only the males that sing, and they do it by rubbing together the inner edges of the outside wings. They live on the moisture from the roots of various kinds of vegetables, and are not above eating insects.

Notes

=September=

September First

In various localities the Oswego tea is known as "bee balm," "fragrant balm," "Indian plume," and "mountain mint." "The bee balm especially haunts those cool brooks, and its rounded flower-clusters touch with warmth the shadows of the deep woods of midsummer. The Indians named the flower, _o-gee-chee_, 'flaming flower,' and are said to have made a tea-like decoction from the blossoms." (Dana.)

September Second

Small mammals are abundant in the Adirondacks. Chipmunks and red squirrels are very tame, and if one sits still in the woods they will approach within a few feet. By watching at the base of logs and stumps, you can often see a red-backed mouse or a long-tailed shrew. The latter is the smallest of American mammals, its body being scarcely two inches in length.

September Third

Mr. Scudder says that katydids have a day and a night song. He has watched one, and when a cloud obscured the sky, it, and all of those within his hearing, stopped singing and began their night song, but as soon as the sun came out, they again changed to their original song.

Notes

September Fourth

What a fine time the robins, cedar-birds, catbirds, and flickers are having in the choke-cherry bushes these days! Twenty or thirty of them may fly from a bush of ripened fruit as you approach. The streaked and speckled breasted young robins and cedar-birds are loath to leave their feast.

September Fifth

It is hard to believe that the yellow butterflies with the black tips and spots on their wings, so common about moist spots in the road, were once cabbage worms. Mr. Packard says that this species was introduced from Europe to Quebec about 1857. It rapidly spread into New England and has reached as far south as Washington, D. C. About Quebec it annually destroys $250,000 worth of cabbages.

September Sixth

The bottle, closed, or blind gentian loves the damp fields and somewhat open road-sides. It resembles a cluster of bright blue buds about to open, but they never do. Neltje Blanchan says that bumblebees have hard work to rob it of its nectar and pollen. Climbing clumsily over the corolla, it finds the space between the lips and forces its head and trunk through the opening. Presently it backs out, and, with its feet and velvety body covered with pollen, flies away to fertilize some other gentian.

Notes

September Seventh

Muskrats, like children, make "collections." A muskrat's "playhouse" is usually placed on a partly submerged stump, log, boulder, or the float of a boat-house. In some such place is piled all sorts of rubbish,--sticks, stones, bones, iron, glass, clam shells, and what not. Near by one may find a thick mat of aquatic grass, used by the owner as a resting-place. When camped in the vicinity of a playhouse, you will hear the clink of touching stones at night, and the splash of water.

September Eighth

Damp, shaded flats along streams or spring-holes, are where the jewel-weed, or touch-me-not, clusters. The orange-colored blossoms have gone to seed and hang in tiny pods upon the stems. Touch one, and if it is ripe, it will burst with a suddenness that startles you.

September Ninth

You must be unfamiliar with the country if you have never felt the sting of the nettle. The rib of the nettle leaf is armed with tiny, hollow spines, each of which is connected with a microscopic sack or bulb filled with poison, called formic acid. When the skin is pierced by the spines, the bulb is pressed, and the poison injected into the wound. Every boy of outdoor life knows that mud will relieve the irritation.

Notes

September Tenth

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

September Eleventh

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

September Twelfth

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

Notes

September Thirteenth

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

September Fourteenth

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

September Fifteenth

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

Notes

September Sixteenth

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

September Seventeenth

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

September Eighteenth

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

Notes

September Nineteenth

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

September Twentieth

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

September Twenty-first

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

Notes

September Twenty-second

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

September Twenty-third

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

September Twenty-fourth

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

Notes

September Twenty-fifth

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

September Twenty-sixth

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

September Twenty-seventh

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

Notes

September Twenty-eighth

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

September Twenty-ninth

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

September Thirtieth

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

Notes

=October=

October First

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

October Second

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

October Third

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

Notes

October Fourth

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

October Fifth

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

October Sixth

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

Notes

October Seventh

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

October Eighth

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

October Ninth

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

Notes

October Tenth

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

October Eleventh

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

October Twelfth

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

Notes

October Thirteenth

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

October Fourteenth

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

October Fifteenth

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

Notes

October Sixteenth