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.
[Illustration: CATBIRD]
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.
[Illustration: Photograph by Silas Lottridge.
WOODCHUCK.]
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.
[Illustration: SONG SPARROW.]
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.)
[Illustration: YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO.]
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.
[Illustration: KINGBIRD.]
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.
[Illustration: RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS.]
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
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.
[Illustration: CEDAR WAXWING]
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