Transcriber Note
Text emphasis is denoted as _Italics_ and =Old English Text=.
Young Folks' Nature Field Book
[Illustration: Photograph by J. Alden Loring.
WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH ON A BIRD-HOUSE.]
=Young Folks'=
=Nature Field Book=
_By_
_J. ALDEN LORING_
Formerly Field Naturalist to the United States Biological Survey and
the United States National Museum at Washington, D. C., Curator of
Mammals at the New York Zoological Park and Field Agent for the New
York Zoological Society; Member of the American Ornithologists' Union,
etc.
[Illustration]
_BOSTON_
=Dana Estes & Company=
_PUBLISHERS_
_Copyright, 1906_
By Dana Estes & Company
All rights reserved
_COLONIAL PRESS_
_Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co._
_Boston, U.S.A._
Publishers' Preface
The plan of this work contemplates a short, timely nature story, or
seasonable hint for every calendar day in the year, telling the reader
just what time in the successive seasons to look for the different
birds, beasts, flowers, etc., how to recognize and study them when
taking observation walks for pleasure or instruction. Recognition
of different creatures, etc., is assisted by numerous excellent
illustrations, and alternate pages are left blank for reader's notes
or record of things seen. A yearly report so kept, either by a single
young person or a small group or club, cannot fail to be a source
of continuous interest, not only while being made but after its
completion. A club competing for the best and complete record so made
should produce pleasure and instruction throughout the year.
Dedication
_This book is dedicated to my first wild pet, who was the most
interesting and intelligent creature I have tamed. He chased the
children into their houses by pinching their legs; he awoke the dog by
pulling its tail, and he pecked the horse's feet, then jumped back and
crouched low to escape being kicked. Because of his thieving instinct
he kept me at war with the neighbors. His last mischievous act was to
pull the corks from the red and the black ink bottles, tip them over,
fly to the bed, and cover the counterpane with tracks. I found him dead
in the work-room the following morning, his black beak red and red
mouth black._
Preface
This little book was written for the lover of outdoor life who has
neither the time nor the patience to study natural history. There are
many persons who are anxious to learn the common animals and flowers,
their haunts and their habits, that they may enjoy Nature when they
visit her. If they will take a minute each day to read the entry for
that date, or if they will carry the book with them on their strolls
into the country and while resting turn its pages, it may prove the
means of discovering in fur or feather or flowering bud something
before unknown to them.
The subjects chosen are of common interest, and nearly all can be found
by any person who hunts for them assiduously. As the seasons vary in
different localities, it has been impossible to set a date for the
appearance or disappearance of an animal or a flower, that will apply
alike to all parts of the country for which this volume is intended.
Eastern United States.
J. Alden Loring.
_Oswego, N. Y._
List of Illustrations
PAGE
White-breasted Nuthatch on a Bird-house _Frontispiece_
White-breasted Nuthatch 15
English Sparrow 25
Purple Martins 35
Northern Shrike 39
Prairie Horned Lark 47
Loon 53
Hibernating Woodchuck 57
European Hedgehog 75
Nest of a Meadow Mouse Exposed by Melting Snow 85
Screech Owl 89
Meadow Lark 99
Downy Woodpecker 105
Fox at Den 119
Chimney Swift 125
"One of your bird-houses should be tenanted by a wren" 129
Male Bobolink 141
Barn Swallow 153
Belted Kingfisher 165
Catbird 171
Woodchuck 183
Song Sparrow 191
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 199
Kingbird 207
Red-winged Blackbirds 215
Cedar Waxwing 221
Yellow-breasted Chat 245
Skunk Hunting Grasshoppers 255
American Redstart 259
Grebe 277
Spotted Sandpiper 281
Chickadees (Upper, Mountain; Lower, Hudsonian) 287
"The great horned owl and the snowy owl can be tamed" 301
Blue Jays 305
A Four-storied Warbler's Nest. Each Story Represents
an Attempt by the Warbler to Avoid Becoming
Foster-parent of a Young Cowbird 311
Snow Bunting 315
Cotton-tail Rabbit Taking a Sun Bath 331
Bonaparte Gull 337
[Illustration: WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH.]
=January=
January First
The best New Year's resolution a lover of nature can make, is a promise
to provide the feathered waifs of winter with free lunches. This may
be done by fastening pieces of suet to limbs and trunks of trees, and
by placing sunflower seeds, bird seeds, or cracked nuts on the veranda
roof or on the window-sill of your room, where sharp eyes will soon spy
them.
January Second
Your boarders will be the birds that either remain with you throughout
the year, or have come from the frozen North to spend the winter. These
are the birds that feed upon seeds of various kinds, or the feathered
carpenters that pry into the crevices of the bark, and dig into the
rotten wood in search of the insects and the insect larvæ hidden there.
January Third
The chickadee, white-breasted nuthatch, and the downy woodpecker,
keep company during the long winter months. They will appreciate your
lunches most, and will call on you frequently throughout the day.
Notes
January Fourth
Do not attempt to tame your visitors until they have made several calls
for lunches. Then put a crude "dummy," with a false face, near the
window, and raise the sash to let the birds enter. Within a few days
the chickadees will perch upon Dummy's shoulders and take nut meats
from his buttonholes.
January Fifth
Having thus gained the chickadees' confidence, hurry to the window when
you hear them call, and quietly take the place of the dummy. Of course
they will be suspicious at first, and probably you will meet with many
disappointments, but when you have succeeded in taming them to alight
upon your hand or shoulder, you will find enjoyment in calling them to
you by the gentle whistle to which you should accustom them.
January Sixth
Tempting food, and slow movements when in the presence of birds, are
the main secrets to successful bird taming. The chickadee, as you will
find, is the easiest of these birds to tame. He has several songs
and call notes, so do not expect always to hear him repeat his name,
"_chick-a-de-de-de-de_."
Notes
January Seventh
Persons not familiar with birds often mistake the white-breasted
nuthatch for a woodpecker, for their actions are much alike. The
nuthatch creeps about the trees in all kinds of attitudes, while the
woodpecker assumes an upright position most of the time and moves in
spasmodic hops. The young and the female downy woodpecker do not have
the red crescent on the back of the head. The hairy woodpecker is
another "resident" that looks like his cousin, the downy, but he is
once again as large.
January Eighth
Winter in the North is a season of hardship and hunger to wild
creatures. The otherwise wary and cunning crow often puts discretion
aside when in search of food, and fearlessly visits the village refuse
heaps, or the farmer's barn-yard. In the orchards you will find where
he has uncovered the decayed apples and pecked holes into them.
January Ninth
Even the mink, after days of fasting, is driven by starvation to leave
his retreat in a burrow along a creek or river bank, and to forage upon
the farmer's poultry. Poor fellow, he does not hibernate, so he must
have food; fish is his choice, but when hard pressed, he will take
anything, "fish, flesh, or fowl."
Notes
January Tenth
In the fields and lowlands, the scattered coveys of Bob-whites that
have escaped the hunter, huddle for shelter from a storm under a
stump or in a hollow log. Sometimes several days pass before they are
able to dig through the drifts that imprison them. Should a heavy
sleet-storm cover the snowy mantle with a crust too thick and hard
for them to break through, starvation is their fate. Sportsmen living
within convenient reach of quail coverts should watch over them in such
weather and provide food and shelter for the birds.
January Eleventh
Even the flocks of horned (or shore) larks that feed on the wind-swept
hilltops, pause occasionally and squat close to the ground to keep from
being blown away. They have come from the North, and after passing the
winter with us, most of them will return to Canada to nest.
January Twelfth
A long period of cold freezes the marshes to the bottom, and compels
the muskrats to seek the bushy banks, or to take shelter under the
corn-shacks or hay-stacks in the fields. Poor things, they of all
animals endure hardship; for one can often track them to where they
have scratched away the snow while searching for grass-blades, roots,
acorns or apples that have fallen and decayed.
Notes
January Thirteenth
When the wind sweeps over the fields and the cold nips your ears, you
are apt to come suddenly upon a flock of snowflakes, or snow buntings.
Hastening back and forth among the weeds along the bank, they reach up
and pick the seeds and crack them in their strong bills. They, too,
like the horned larks, have come from the North, and in March will
return again.
January Fourteenth
You cannot show your friendship for our native birds in any better way
than by being an enemy of the English sparrow. He is a quarrelsome
little pest and seems to be getting more pugnacious every year. He not
only fights the other birds, but he has been seen to throw their eggs
to the ground and to tear their nests to pieces. Be careful that he
does not steal the lunches that you have provided for other birds.
January Fifteenth
How do the insects pass the winter? Much in the same way that our
plants and flowers do. As the cold weather kills or withers the plants,
leaving their seeds and roots to send forth shoots next summer, so most
of the insects die, leaving their eggs, their larvæ, and their pupa to
be nourished into life by the warm days of spring.
[Illustration: ENGLISH SPARROW.]
Notes
January Sixteenth
Insects are more dependent on climatic conditions than are birds or
mammals. Nevertheless, even on the coldest days of winter, one may
tear away the bark of a forest tree and find spiders which show signs
of life, and if kept in a warm room for a few hours, they become quite
active.
January Seventeenth
The life of an insect which undergoes what is termed a "complete
transformation," is divided into four stages: First, the egg; second,
the larva; third, the pupa or chrysalis, and fourth, the adult insect
or imago. Each of these changes is so complete and different from
any of the others, that the insect never appears twice in an easily
recognized form.
January Eighteenth
Let us take the common house-fly for an example, and follow it through
the changes that it must undergo before becoming adult. The mother fly
deposits more than a hundred eggs at a time, in a dump at the back of
the stable. The eggs hatch in half a day.
Notes
January Nineteenth
Now we have the larvæ (maggots), as the second stage is called. These
little creatures are white and grow very fast, shedding their skin
several times before they take on a different form, which they do at
the end of three or four days.
January Twentieth
The third, or pupa, stage is reached when a tiny brown capsule-like
formation has taken the place of the maggot. In this stage no movement
is apparent, nor is any food taken; there is only a quiet waiting for
the final change, which comes in about five days, when, out from one
end of a chrysalis, a fully developed fly appears.
January Twenty-first
The wonderful changes just described take place throughout most of the
insect world. The larvæ of butterflies and moths are caterpillars; the
larvæ of June bugs or May beetles are grubs. Some moth and butterfly
caterpillars weave silken cocoons about themselves; some make cocoons
from leaves or tiny chips of wood; some utilize the hair from their own
bodies, while others attach themselves to the under side of boards,
stones, and stumps, where, after shedding their skin, they hang like
mummies until spring calls them back to life.
Notes
January Twenty-second
Bird lovers often make the mistake of putting out nesting-boxes too
late in the season. They forget that most of the birds begin to look
for nesting-sites as soon as they arrive in the spring, therefore the
boxes should be in place before the prospective tenants appear. March
first is none too early for many localities.
January Twenty-third
A natural cavity in a root, cut from a rustic stump, or a short length
of hollow limb, with a two-inch augur hole bored near the top, and a
piece of board nailed over each end, makes an artistic nesting-place
for birds. Some persons prefer a miniature cottage with compartments
and doors; though birds will often nest in them, the simpler and more
natural the home, the more suited it is to their wants.
January Twenty-fourth
A few minutes' work with hammer, saw, and knife, will convert any small
wooden box that is nailed (not glued) together, into a respectable
nesting-box. After it has been covered with two coats of dark green
paint it is ready to be put in place. A shelf placed in a cornice,
under a porch, or the eaves of a building, makes an excellent
resting-place for the nest of a robin or a phoebe.
Notes
January Twenty-fifth
Nesting-boxes may be placed almost anywhere that there is shade and
shelter. They ought to be put beyond the reach of prowling cats and
meddlesome children, at least fifteen feet from the ground, and to reap
the benefit of your labor, they should be near your sitting-room window.
January Twenty-sixth
It is better not to put an old nest or any nesting material in the
houses. Birds prefer to do their own nest building, and they have their
notions about house furnishing, which do not agree with our ideas.
Birds have often refused nesting-boxes simply because over-zealous
persons had stuffed them with hay or excelsior.
January Twenty-seventh
The birds that nest in bird-houses are the ones which, if unprovided
with them, would naturally choose cavities in stumps, tree trunks,
hollow limbs and the like. Almost without exception this class of
nest-builders will return to the same nest year after year, so once a
pair has taken up its abode with you, you may expect to see the birds
for several summers.
[Illustration: PURPLE MARTINS.]
Notes
January Twenty-eighth
The following are common tenants of bird-houses: Purple martin,
bluebird, house wren, chickadee, tufted titmouse, white-breasted
nuthatch, and tree or white-breasted swallow. These birds are great
insect destroyers, and most of them are sweet songsters, so they should
be encouraged to take up their abode about our grounds.
January Twenty-ninth
After a deep fall of snow, the Northern shrike, or butcher-bird, is
forced into the villages and towns for his food. Dashing into a flock
of English sparrows, he snatches one and carries it back to the country
to be eaten at his leisure. He is the bird that impales small birds,
mice, and large insects on barbed-wire fences, or thorn bushes, after
his stomach has been filled, and hence his name.
January Thirtieth
Next to the beaver, the porcupine is the largest rodent in the United
States; the largest porcupines live in Alaska. When on the ground, his
short, thick tail drags in the snow, leaving a zigzag trail. When the
snow is deep and the weather stormy, he spends much of his time in
pine, spruce, and hemlock trees, feeding on the bark and twigs.
[Illustration: NORTHERN SHRIKE.]
Notes
January Thirty-first
Hawks, before eating, tear away the skin and feathers from their prey;
but owls eat everything, unless the prey be large, even bolting small
birds and mammals entire. In the course of a few hours they disgorge
pellets of indigestible portions, the bones being encased in the
feathers or hair. The pellets may be found on the snow beneath the
owl's roost, and they often contain skulls of mice as white and perfect
as though they had been cleaned in a museum.
Notes
=February=
February First
Mourning-cloak butterflies do not all die when winter comes. Those
that hibernate are usually found singly or in clusters, hanging from
the rafters in old buildings, or from the under side of stones, rails,
limbs of trees, or boards. Those that appear in the spring with
tattered wings, have probably been confined in buildings, and in their
efforts to escape have battered themselves against the windows.
February Second
Does any one know how old the story is that tells us this is the day
on which the bear and the woodchuck rub their sleepy eyes and leave
their winter quarters for the first time? If they see their shadow they
return and sleep six weeks longer, but should the day be cloudy, they
are supposed to remain active the rest of the season. This of course is
only a myth.
February Third
Frogs usually pass the winter in the mud at the bottom of a stream,
lake, or pond, or below frost-line in a woodchuck, rabbit, or chipmunk
burrow. However, it is not uncommon to find them active all winter in a
spring, or a roadside drinking-trough supplied from a spring. I wonder
if they know that spring-water seldom freezes, and that by choosing
such a place, they will not have to hibernate.
Notes
February Fourth
The bloodthirsty weasel, which is reddish brown in summer (save the
tip of his tail, which is always black), is now colored to match his
surroundings, white. His tracks may be found in the woods and along
the stump fences in the fields, where he has been searching for mice.
He is one of the very few mammals that will shed blood simply for the
pleasure of killing.
February Fifth
Students of nature will find it much easier to identify birds if they
take this opportunity before the migrating birds arrive, to study
carefully the haunts of the common species. Many birds, you know, are
not found beyond the bounds of a certain character of country chosen
for them by nature. So should you see in the deep woods a bird that you
at first take to be a Baltimore oriole or a bobolink, a second thought
will cause you to remember that these birds are not found in the woods,
consequently you must be wrong.
February Sixth
The meadow lark, horned lark, bobolink, grasshopper sparrow, vesper
sparrow, and savannah sparrow, are all common birds of the fields
and meadows, and they are seldom seen in the dense woods or in the
villages.
[Illustration: PRAIRIE HORNED LARK.]
Notes
February Seventh
Among the birds that one may expect to see in the woods and groves are
the great-horned owl, hermit thrush, wood thrush, blue-headed vireo,
golden-crowned thrush, scarlet tanager, black-throated green warbler,
and the black-throated blue warbler.
February Eighth
The swamp birds, and birds found along the banks of lakes, rivers, and
streams, and seldom seen far from them, are the belted kingfisher,
red-shouldered blackbird, spotted and solitary sandpipers, great blue,
night, and little green herons, and the osprey, or fish-hawk.
February Ninth
Cleared woodlands overgrown with thick bushes, shrubs, and vines,
as well as the bushy thickets by the waysides, are the favorite
nesting-places for another class of birds. In this category the common
varieties are the yellow-breasted chat, yellow warbler, chestnut-sided
warbler, Maryland yellow-throat, catbird, brown thrasher, mocking-bird,
indigo bunting, and the black-billed and yellow-billed cuckoos.
Notes
February Tenth
The swimming birds spend the greater part of their time in the water.
Most of them nest in the lake regions of Canada. They are the ducks,
geese, and swans, of which there are nearly fifty species; the grebes
and loons, eleven species; the gulls and terns, thirty-seven species;
and the cormorants and pelicans, beside many other water birds that we
seldom or never see in Eastern United States.
February Eleventh
Then, of course, there is a miscellaneous lot that nest in the
woods, orchards, village shade trees, or any place where large trees
are found. The flicker, downy and hairy woodpeckers, screech owl,
white-breasted nuthatch, chickadee, robin, red-eyed vireo, warbling
vireo, and the yellow-throated vireo, comprise some of the birds in
this group.
February Twelfth
About spring-holes the snow melts quickly and the grass remains green
all winter. It is here that you will find the runways of meadow mice,
or voles (not moles). They live on the roots and tender blades of
grass, but at this time of the year hunger often compels them to eat
the bark from fruit trees, vines, and berry bushes, and during severe
winters they do great damage to apple trees.
[Illustration: LOON.]
Notes
February Thirteenth
The whistle-wing duck, or American golden eye, attracts your attention
by the peculiar whistling sound that it makes with its wings while
flying. As it gets its food (small fish, and mussels), by diving, it
is able to remain in the Northern States all winter and feed in the
swift-running streams, in air-holes, or other open water.
February Fourteenth
The skunk is one of the mammals who can hibernate or not, just as
he chooses. During prolonged periods of cold, he takes shelter in a
woodchuck's burrow, and "cuddling down," goes to sleep but a few inches
from the rightful owner, who, in turn, is also sleeping in a chamber
back of the thin partition of earth which he threw out in front of
himself when he retired in the fall.
February Fifteenth
The first bird to actually voice the approach of spring, is the jolly
little chickadee. His spring song, "_spring's-com-ing_," sounds more
like "_phoebe_" than does the note of the phoebe itself, for
which it is often mistaken. It is a clear, plaintive whistle, easily
imitated, and when answered, the songster can often be called within a
few feet of one, where he will perch and repeat his song as long as he
receives a reply.
[Illustration: Photograph by Silas Lottridge.
HIBERNATING WOODCHUCK.]
Notes
February Sixteenth
Even the coldest weather does not close the swift-running streams,
which gives the muskrats a chance to exercise their legs. It makes
you shudder to see one swim along the edge of the ice, then dive, and
come to the surface with a mouthful of food. Climbing upon the ice, he
eats it, then silently slips into the water again. His hair is so well
oiled, that an ordinary wetting does not penetrate to the skin.
February Seventeenth
A crow's track can always be told from the tracks of other birds of
similar size, because there is a dash in the snow made by the claw
of his middle toe. Again, his toes are long and set rather closely
together, and he seldom walks in a straight line, but wanders about as
though looking for something, which is usually the case.
February Eighteenth
Many persons believe that a porcupine has the power to throw his
quills, but it is not so. When alarmed, he hurries, in a lumbering
sort of way, for shelter. If you close in on him, he stops at once,
ducks his head, humps his back, raises his quill armor, and awaits your
attack. Approach closely, and he turns his back and tail toward you,
and the instant you touch him he strikes with his club-like tail, also
armed with quills, leaving souvenirs sticking into whatever they come
in contact with.
Notes
February Nineteenth
As the migrating birds are beginning to arrive in the Southern States,
and will soon be North, let us consider the subject of migration. The
reason why birds migrate North in the spring is not definitely-known.
Of course they leave the North because cold and snow cut off their food
supply; but why in the spring do they abandon a country where food is
plentiful and make such long flights, apparently for no other object
than to bring forth their young in the North?
February Twentieth
Is it not wonderful how birds find their way, over thousands of miles
of land and water, to the same locality and often to the same nest,
season after season? How do we know that this is true? The reappearance
of a bird with a crippled foot or wing, or one that has been tamed to
feed from one's hand, is unmistakable proof.
February Twenty-first
Ducks and geese make longest flights of any of the migrating birds.
They have been known to cover three hundred miles without resting. The
smaller birds advance as the season advances, the early arrivals being
the ones that do not winter very far south. Storm-waves often check
their progress and compel them to turn back a few hundred miles and
wait for the weather to moderate.
Notes
February Twenty-second
Most birds migrate at night; and a continued warm rain followed by a
clear warm night is sure to bring a host of new arrivals. If you listen
on moonlight nights, you can often hear their chirps and calls as they
pass over. During foggy weather many meet with accidents by getting
lost and being blown out to sea, or by flying against monuments,
buildings, or lighthouses.
February Twenty-third
Mr. Chapman tells us that, when migrating, birds fly at a height of
from one to three miles, and that our Eastern birds leave the United
States by the way of the Florida peninsula. They are guided in their
flight by the coast-line and the river valleys.
February Twenty-fourth
Some migrants fly in compact flocks of hundreds, like the ducks, for
example, while others, like the swallows, spread out. Then, again,
there are birds that arrive in pairs or singly. With still others, the
male precedes his mate by a week or ten days. Not infrequently a flock
of birds containing several different species will be seen. This is
particularly true of the blackbirds and grackles.
Notes
February Twenty-fifth
You will notice that the birds are usually in full song when they
arrive from the South. Save for a few calls and scolding notes, most of
them are silent during the winter, but as spring approaches they begin
to find their voices and probably are as glad to sing as we are to hear
them.
February Twenty-sixth
The snow-shoe rabbit, or Northern varying hare, changes its color twice
a year. In winter it is snow white, but at this season it is turning
reddish-brown. In the far Northwest these hares are so abundant that
they make deep trails through the snow, and the Indians and white
trappers and traders shoot and snare large numbers of them for food.
February Twenty-seventh
It makes no difference to the "chickaree," or red squirrel, how much
snow falls or how cold it gets. He has laid by a stock of provisions
and he is not dependent on the food the season furnishes. He is as spry
and happy during the coldest blizzard as he is on a midsummer day, for
he knows well where the hollow limb or tree-trunk is that contains his
store of nuts or grain.
Notes
February Twenty-eighth
The Carolina wren is the largest member of the wren family in the
Eastern United States. It breeds sparingly in Southern New York and New
England, but is common about Washington, D. C., where it is a resident.
It is found in the forests, thickets, and undergrowth along streams and
lakes. Mr. Hoffman says that its song "is so loud and clear that it can
be heard easily a quarter of a mile."
Notes
=March=
March First
A lady once asked me how to destroy the "insect eggs" on the under
side of fern leaves. The ferns are flowerless plants, and they produce
spores instead of seeds. Usually the spores are arranged in dotted
lines, on the underside of the leaves (or fronds as they are called),
and these are the "insect eggs" the lady referred to.
March Second
Even at this early date the female great-horned owl or hoot owl, in
some sections of the country, is searching for a place to build her
nest. She usually selects an abandoned hawk's or a crow's nest, and
after laying her four chalky-white eggs, she is often compelled to sit
on them most of the night to prevent them from freezing.
March Third
A question that is often asked is, what do the early migrating birds
eat, when the ground is frozen and insect life is still slumbering.
If you knew where to look, you would find many of the fruit-trees
and vines filled with dried, or frozen fruit. Frozen apples and
mountain-ash berries constitute a large part of the robin's and
the cedar-bird's food early in the spring, and the bluebirds and
cedar-birds eat the shriveled barberry fruit.
Notes
March Fourth
In Florida, the black bear can get food throughout the entire year, but
in the North he is compelled to hibernate during the winter. He is now
beginning to think of leaving his den (in a cave, crevice of the rocks,
or under the roots of a partially upturned tree) to begin his summer
vacation. We are apt to think that bears are poor when they leave the
den, but this is not always true, although their pelage does get very
much worn from coming in contact with protuberances in their winter
quarters.
March Fifth
The first plant to thrust its head above ground and proclaim the coming
of spring is the skunk cabbage, or swamp cabbage. Even before the snow
has entirely left, the plant will melt a hole and by its own warmth
keep itself from freezing. In many localities at this date the leathery
hoods are several inches above the ground.
March Sixth
In America the cowbird, like the European cuckoo, lays its eggs in the
nests of other birds. All of our American cuckoos build their nests and
raise their young in a manner creditable to parents.
Notes
March Seventh
Clinging to the cliffs and rocks in the forests, the dark green
leathery leaves of the polypody fern are nearly as fresh and green
as when first snowed under. Hunt among the clusters until you find a
fertile frond, then examine the back of it and see how closely together
the spores are placed.
March Eighth
We will awaken some morning to find that during the night the song
sparrows have arrived from the South; not all of them, to be sure, but
just a few that are anxious to push North and begin nesting. All winter
their merry song has been hushed, but now it gushes forth, not to stop
again until the molting season in August.
March Ninth
A porcupine should never be called a hedgehog. The hedgehog, an
insectivorous animal, inhabiting Europe, is not found in the Western
Hemisphere. It rolls itself into a ball when attacked, and the spines,
which _do not come out_, are shorter, duller, and less formidable than
those of the porcupine.
[Illustration: Photograph by E. R. Sanborn.
EUROPEAN HEDGEHOG]
Notes
March Tenth
People, knowing that the robin is an early spring arrival, are always
alert to see or hear the first one. Consequently the first song that
catches their ear is supposed to be that of a robin, whereas often it
is the spring song of the white-breasted nuthatch, which really has no
resemblance to the robin's song.
March Eleventh
When you see a bird with a crest (not one that simply raises its head
feathers) it must be one of the following species: A blue jay, tufted
titmouse, pileated woodpecker, cardinal grosbeak, (also called redbird
and cardinal), Bohemian waxwing, or a cedar-bird. These are the only
birds inhabiting the Eastern States that wear true crests. The belted
kingfisher and many of the ducks and herons have ruffs and plumes but
these can scarcely be considered crests.
March Twelfth
Some scientists contend that, owing to their intelligence, ants should
rank next to man and before the anthropoid apes. They have soldiers
that raid other ant colonies and capture eggs, and when the eggs hatch,
the young are kept as slaves; they have nurses that watch and care for
the eggs and helpless larvæ, and cows (_Aphids_) that are tended with
almost human intelligence.
Notes
March Thirteenth
The Audubon Society has stopped the slaughter of grebes. Before the
enactment of the laws framed by the society, these duck-like birds were
killed for their snow-white breasts, which were used for decorating (?)
women's hats. Grebes are now migrating to the lakes of the North, where
they build floating nests of reeds.
March Fourteenth
The only sure way to tell a venomous snake is to kill the reptile, open
its mouth with a stick, and look for the hollow, curved fangs. When
not in use they are compressed against the roof of the mouth, beneath
the reptile's eyes. They are hinged, as you can see if you pull them
forward with a pencil. The venom is contained in a sack hidden beneath
the skin at the base of each fang.
March Fifteenth
As a mimic and a persistent songster, the mocking-bird has no rival,
but when quality is considered, I think we have several songsters that
are its equal. The bobolink and the winter wren both have rollicking
songs that are inspiring and wonderful, but to my ear there are no
songs that equal those of the hermit thrush and the wood thrush. Still,
the selection of a bird vocalist is a matter of choice which is often
influenced by one's association with the singer.
Notes
March Sixteenth
If you will look into one of the large cone-shaped paper nests of the
bald-faced hornet, which hang to the limbs of the trees or under the
eaves of the house, you will be almost certain to find a few house
flies that have passed the winter between the folds of paper. They now
show signs of life, and are ready to make their appearance during the
first warm spell.
March Seventeenth
Before the snow has left, you are likely to see dirt-stained spots on
the hillsides where the woodchuck or ground-hog has thrown out the
partition of dirt which kept the winter air from his bed-chamber.
Of course he has not come out for good, but on warm, sunny days he
will make short excursions from his burrow to see how the season is
progressing. In the early spring, before vegetation sprouts, he finds
it difficult to find good food in plenty.
March Eighteenth
The herring gulls that have been about our harbors and bays all winter,
will not remain much longer. They are about to leave for their nesting
grounds, in the marshes and on the islands of New England and Canada.
In the fall they will return with their young, which wear a grayish
plumage.
Notes
March Nineteenth
In winter meadow mice build neat little nests of dried grass on the
ground beneath the snow. They are hollow balls, about the size of a
hat crown, with a small opening in one or two sides. The outside is
made of coarse, rank grass, while the lining is of the finest material
obtainable. The heat from the little animals' bodies soon melts an air
chamber around the nest, into which lead many tunnels through the snow.
As soon as the snow has melted, you will find these nests scattered
about the fields and meadows, but they are empty now.
March Twentieth
The fish crow is a small edition of the common crow. He is a resident
of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from South Carolina to Louisiana. His
note resembles the "caw" of the Northern crow, minus the _w_, being
more of a croak: "_cak, cak, cak, cak_." You will find him on the coast
and along the rivers.
March Twenty-first
The white-tailed deer of the deep forests have dropped their antlers by
this time, and a new set has started to grow. (Elk, moose, caribou, and
deer have antlers; sheep, goats and cattle have horns, and retain them
throughout life.) Antlers are cast off annually, and a new set will
grow in about seven months.
[Illustration: Photograph by Alden Lottridge.
NEST OF A MEADOW MOUSE EXPOSED BY MELTING SNOW.]
Notes
March Twenty-second
The purple grackle, or crow blackbird, should make his appearance in
Southern New York about this time. He is the large, handsome fellow
who lives in colonies and builds his nest in pine, hemlock, and spruce
groves near human habitations. As soon as his young are hatched, he
frequents the banks of rivers and lakes and walks along in quest of
insects. He is one of the few birds that _walks_.
March Twenty-third
Screech owls are now nesting in natural cavities in apple-trees, but
they should not be disturbed, for they feed on mice, beetles and other
harmful animals. Owls are very interesting birds, but their wisdom is
only in their looks. Their eyes are stationary, so in order to look
sidewise, they must turn their head. Watch one and notice him dilate
and contract the pupil of his eyes, according to the light, and the
distance of the object at which he is gazing.
March Twenty-fourth
The American goldfinch, thistlebird, or wild canary, often spends the
winter with us, but in his grayish-brown suit he is not recognized by
his friends who only know him in his summer garb of black and yellow.
The male and the female look alike now, but soon the male will don
gorgeous colors and wear them until after the nesting season.
[Illustration: SCREECH OWL.]
Notes
March Twenty-fifth
The scarlet heads of the velvet, or stag-horn sumach are very
conspicuous on the rocky hillsides and gravelly bottoms. The fruit
of the poison sumach hangs more like a bunch of grapes, while
the stag-horn fruit is in a massive cluster. Persons susceptible
to poisonous plants should never approach any poisonous shrub,
particularly when the body is overheated.
March Twenty-sixth
From the swamps and river-banks comes the clatter of loud blackbird
voices. Flocks containing hundreds of these noisy fellows perch in the
tops of the trees, resting after their long migration flight. From
the babble, you recognize the "_konk-a-ree_" of the red-shouldered
blackbird, the harsh squeaky notes of the rusty grackle, and the purple
grackle. As you approach, the flock takes flight, and you discover that
all of the red-wing blackbirds are males; the females have not yet
arrived.
March Twenty-seventh
In the dead of winter you may sometimes see a belted kingfisher along
some swift-running stream, but as a rule, north of Virginia, few stay
with us throughout the year. Most of them appear about this time, and
you see them perched on some low limb overhanging a pond or a stream.
Notes
March Twenty-eighth
From bogs, shaded woods, and sheltered highways. Nature's
question-marks, the "fiddle-heads," appear above the loam. They are
baby ferns, preparing to expand and wave their graceful leaves in the
face of all beholders. These queer, woolly sprouts the Indians use for
food, and birds also eat them.
March Twenty-ninth
The clear, sweet, and plaintive whistle "_pee-a-peabody,
peabody, peabody_," (which to the French Canadian is interpreted
"_la-belle-Canada, Canada, Canada_") of the white-throated sparrow, or
Canada bird, is a common, early spring song, now heard in the swamps
and thickets. This sparrow may be found about New York City all winter,
but it passes North to nest.
March Thirtieth
Beneath hickory-nut. Walnut, and butternut trees, you are sure to find
large numbers of nut-shells that have been rifled of their contents by
red squirrels, chipmunks, meadow mice, and white-footed mice. In nearly
every instance, the intelligent little rodents have gnawed through
the flat sides of the shell, directly into the meat, and taken it out
as "clean as a whistle." But who "_taught_ them" to select the _flat_
side?
Notes
March Thirty-first
The noisy kildeer is rare in Pennsylvania and New York, but it is a
common plover in Ohio. Its note, "_kildeer, kildeer, kildeer_," is
emitted while the bird is on the ground or in the air. This plover is
very abundant in the far West, and when a hunter is stalking antelope,
it often flies about his head, calling loudly and warning the game of
danger. For this trait it is sometimes called "tell-tale plover."
Notes
=April=
April First
A question which puzzles scientists, is how the turtles and frogs
(which have lungs) are able, at the close of summer, to bury themselves
in the mud at the bottom of a river or pond and remain there until the
following spring. The frogs appear a few days before the turtles are
seen.
April Second
The meadowlark's song, "_spring-o-the-year_," is heard at its best
in this month and in May; but the note is one of the few that may be
frequently heard in southern New England, during the entire winter. As
its name implies, the meadowlark is a bird of the fields and meadows
only, but it will often alight in the top of a tall tree and send forth
its joyful song. Watch and listen for it now.
April Third
As soon as spring arrives and the ice has left the streams, hordes
of May or shad fly nymphs can be found working their way against the
current a few inches from the shore. Catch a few of them and put them
in a tumbler of water and watch their external or "trachea" gills
working. The adult insects are abundant in summer, but at this time of
the year (even earlier), the stone flies which flit over the melting
snow are often mistaken for May, or shad flies.
[Illustration: MEADOW LARK]
Notes
April Fourth
The name "purple finch" is very misleading, for the head, neck, breast,
and throat of the bird are more crimson than purple. The female is
often mistaken for a sparrow, as her color is dull, and her breast
streaked. This finch often takes up its abode in the coniferous trees
in the villages. "Its song bursts forth as if from some uncontrollable
stress of gladness, and is repeated uninterruptedly over and over
again." (Bicknell.)
April Fifth
If the season is not belated, you may expect to find the blood-root
peeping through the rocky soil, on exposed brushy hillsides, or along
the margins of the woods. You must look for it early, for its petals
drop soon after the flower blossoms. The Indians used the blood-red
juice which flows when the root is broken, to decorate their bodies.
April Sixth
The brush lots, roadways, and open forests in the Northern States, are
now filled with juncoes on the way to their nesting grounds in Canada
and the mountainous portions of this country. They are with us but
a few weeks and will not be seen again until next fall. The pinkish
bill and the two white outer tail-feathers are of great assistance in
identifying this bird, for they are very conspicuous when it flies.
Notes
April Seventh
While walking along the bank of a stream you are quite apt to surprise
a pair of pickerel lying side by side in shallow water. Save for the
vibration of their fins, and the movement of their gills, they do not
stir. As you approach they dart off, and you see a roily spot, where
they have taken shelter among the aquatic plants.
April Eighth
The birds having white tail-feathers, or tail-feathers that are tipped
with white, which show conspicuously when the owners are on the
wing, are the meadowlark, vesper sparrow, chewink, snowflake, junco,
blue jay, white-breasted nuthatch, Northern shrike, kingbird, hairy
woodpecker, downy woodpecker, nighthawk, and whip-poor-will.
April Ninth
The clustering liverwort, hepatica, or squirrel cup, with its fuzzy
stems and pretty flowers of various shades of blue, grow side by side
with the white wood anemone, or wind-flower. As soon as the wood
anemone blossoms, a slight breeze causes the petals to fall; that is
why it is called "wind-flower."
[Illustration: DOWNY WOODPECKER]
Notes
April Tenth
One of the birds that sportsmen have protected by prohibiting spring
shooting, is Wilson's snipe, or jacksnipe. Like many of the early
migrants it does not nest in the United States; consequently it is only
seen in the spring and fall. It is a bird of the marsh and bog, seldom
seen except by those who know where and how to find it.
April Eleventh
The gall-flies, or gall-gnats, cut tiny incisions in the oak leaves and
golden-rod stems, and lay their eggs between the tissues. These wounds
produce large swellings which furnish the larval insects with food.
If broken into at this season, one discovers that the galls on the
golden-rod stems are pithy. Embedded in the pith is a white "worm," or
a small black capsule, but if the "gall" is empty, a hole will be found
where the fly emerged.
April Twelfth
The red-shouldered hawk is one of our common birds of prey. Its loud,
somewhat cat-like cry, coming from the dense hardwood forests which
border swamps, lakes, and rivers, at once attracts attention. A pair
has been known to return to the same nesting locality for fifteen
consecutive years. This hawk has proved itself to be of inestimable
value to the farmer, and deserves his protection.
Notes
April Thirteenth
For the past six weeks, chipmunks have occasionally come out from their
nests of dried grass and leaves, made in one of their several tunnels
beneath the line of frost under a stone pile, or a stump. Now they are
seen every day. It is only of recent years that we have discovered that
chipmunks destroy grubs and insects, thus rendering service for the
nuts and grain that they carry away in the fall.
April Fourteenth
Have you noticed how the robins congregate in the evening and battle
with each other on the house-tops until dark? It is during the mating
season that these fights take place. Long after the other birds have
gone to bed. Cock Robin is awake, and shouting loud and defiant
challenges to whoever will accept them.
April Fifteenth
Fungi are the lowest forms of plant life. They subsist on living and
dead organic matter, and not from the soil, as do most other plants.
The bread molds, downy mildew on decaying fruit and vegetables, and the
fungus that kills fish and insects, are all forms of fungi. Patches of
luxuriant grass are seen where decaying fungi have fertilized the soil.
Notes
April Sixteenth
The continuous "_chip-chip-chip-chip-chip-chip----_" of the chipping
sparrow, like a toy insect that must run down before it can stop, is
always a welcome sound at this time of the year. He can easily be tamed
to take food from one's hand. Although a neat nest-builder, "chippy"
selects poor nesting sites, and often the wind upsets his hair-lined
cup and destroys the eggs or young.
April Seventeenth
At first the song of the spring peeper, which is really a _frog_, is
heard only in the evening, but as the days get warmer, a perfect chorus
of piping voices comes from swamps and stagnant pools. He strongly
objects to singing before an audience, but it is well worth one's
while to wait patiently and catch him in the act of inflating the skin
beneath his chin.
April Eighteenth
On account of its tufted head, and clear, ringing song, "_peto, peto,
peto, peto_" or "_de, de, de, de_," much like a chickadee (Chapman)
the tufted titmouse is a well-known bird throughout its range: eastern
United States, from northern New Jersey, and southern Iowa to the
plains.
Notes
April Nineteenth
Where is the country boy or girl who does not know the "woolly bear,"
or "porcupine caterpillar," the chunky, hairy, rufous and black-banded
caterpillar, that curls up when touched and does not uncoil until
danger is over? They are the larvæ of the Isabella moth, and the reason
for their appearance on the railroad tracks and wagon roads, is that
they have just finished hibernating and are now looking for a suitable
place to retire and change to chrysalides and then into moths.
April Twentieth
In the Northern States, where the red-headed woodpecker is not very
common, it is apt to be confused with other species of woodpeckers. The
red-headed woodpecker is _scarlet down to its shoulders_. The eastern
woodpeckers that have the red crescent on the back of the head are
flicker, downy, and hairy woodpeckers.
April Twenty-first
The gardener, while spading about the roots of a tree, will often throw
out a number of white, chunky grubs, about the size of the first joint
of one's little finger. These are the larvæ of the June, or May beetle.
In the fall, they dig below frost line, where they remain until the
following spring. After three years of this life, they emerge from the
ground in May and June, perfect beetles.
Notes
April Twenty-second
The myrtle, or yellow-rumped warbler, which spends the winter from
Massachusetts, south, into the West Indies and Central America, and
nests usually north of the United States, is very common now. It is
found in scattered flocks. If in doubt of its identity, look for the
yellow patch on the crown, and on the rump.
April Twenty-third
The dainty little spring beauty, or claytonia, is another of the early
blooming flowers. "We look for the spring beauty in April or May, and
often find it in the same moist places--on a brook's edge or skirting
of wet woods--as the yellow adder's tongue." (Dana.)
April Twenty-fourth
Toads are now beginning to leave their winter beds, in the leaves,
under stones and the like. Did you ever tie a piece of red cloth on a
string, dangle it over a toad's head, to see him follow and snap at it?
Toads exude a strong acid secretion from the pores of the skin, which
is distasteful to most predatory animals, excepting the snakes.
Notes