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.
[Illustration: YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT.]
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.
[Illustration: SKUNK HUNTING GRASSHOPPERS.]
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.)
[Illustration: AMERICAN REDSTART.]
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
Besides the large pendent nest of the Baltimore and the orchard
orioles, skilfully suspended from the end of an elm, maple, apple, or
pear tree limb, you will find many smaller _hanging_ nests built by the
several species of vireos. They are about the size of a tennis-ball;
made of birch bark, paper, and pieces of dried leaves, fastened with
spider and caterpillar webs, and they are lined with dried pine needles
or dried grass.
October Seventeenth
The American goldfinch, "thistlebird" or "wild canary," usually places
its nest in the angle of three twigs at the end of a slender branch
that is nearly or quite perpendicular. The nest is larger than a
base-ball, deeply hollowed and composed outwardly of pieces of cotton
waste, plant fibres and fine bark, with a thick lining of willow or
dandelion down, and other soft material.
October Eighteenth
The chebec (least flycatcher), wood pewee, and blue-gray gnat-catcher
saddle their nests on the upper side of limbs, as the hummingbird does,
and they use the same variety of material. They are so delicate in
construction that a severe storm will send them to the ground.
Notes
October Nineteenth
The bulky basket nests of the cedar-bird and kingbird are usually found
saddled on a horizontal limb in an orchard. The kingbird prefers to
be near water, and will often use an elm, willow, or thorn-tree for a
nesting site. From the ground, the nests resemble each other. They are
about eight inches across, are composed outwardly of sticks, leaves,
and moss, lined with fine roots and the like, and sometimes wood or
cotton is used.
October Twentieth
Crows usually build in pine-trees, but where there are no pines, they
will choose an oak, chestnut, maple, or poplar, not always high ones
either. The nest is made of sticks, leaves, bark, and mud, lined with
dried grass or fine bark. Most of the large hawks make their nests in
oak, maple, chestnut, or beech trees, in the groves or forests. They
often occupy the same nest year after year.
October Twenty-first
Of the birds that build in bushes or small trees, the following are
the common species: catbird (twigs, leaves, and grass, lined with
fine roots), black-billed and yellow-billed cuckoo (a sort of stick
platform with a few dried leaves for a lining), and yellow-breasted
chat (leaves, sticks, and bark, deeply hollowed and lined with soft
grasses). Song sparrows' nests are very common.
Notes
October Twenty-second
If it becomes necessary to protect their young, most birds seem to lose
all fear. When surprised with her brood of chicks, the ruffed grouse
and nearly all ground-dwelling birds will feign injury and flutter
a few feet in front of the intruder, seemingly in great agony. The
cries and actions are intended to lure you from the young. During the
interval that you are watching or chasing her, the chicks have fairly
melted into the earth.
October Twenty-third
The stickleback is a small fish that inhabits the brackish waters from
Cape Ann to New Jersey. Mr. Hornaday says that the abdomen of the male
has been provided with a gland filled with a clear secretion which
coagulates into threads when it comes in contact with the water. By
means of this, a hood-like nest large enough for the female to enter is
fastened to the vegetation at the bottom of the sea, and the eggs are
deposited in the nest.
October Twenty-fourth
Birds seem to have a common language, so far, at least, as conveying
a warning of danger is concerned. The appearance of a hawk, or an
owl, will cause a catbird, robin, vireo, or song sparrow to give a
warning note which is at once heeded by every feathered neighbor within
hearing. Instantly all is quiet until danger has passed.
Notes
October Twenty-fifth