the ground or in the trees, out very rarely voluntarily entering
water. The so-called water lizards are not lizards at all, but belong
to the salamanders and are distinguished by having a naked body not
covered with scales. Most of the true lizards are of very graceful
form, exceedingly quick at running; others display the most gorgeous
coloration which, in many of them, such as the chameleons, changes
according to the light, or the temperature, or the mood of the animal.
Not all of them have four legs, however, there being a strong tendency
to develop legless species which then externally become so much like
snakes that they are told apart with some difficulty. Thus our
so-called glass-snake, common in the Southern states, is not a snake
at all, but a lizard, as we may easily see by observing the ear
openings on each side of the head, as no snake has ears. This
beautiful animal is also known as the joint-snake, and both names have
reference to the exceeding brittleness of its long tail, which often
breaks in many pieces in the hands of the enemy trying to capture the
lizard. That these pieces ever join and heal together is of course a
silly fable. As a matter of fact, the body in a comparatively short
time grows a new tail, which, however, is much shorter and stumpier
than the old one. The new piece is often of a different color from the
rest of the body and {99} greatly resembles a "horn," being conical and
pointed, and has thus given rise to another equally silly fable, viz.,
that of the horn snake, or hoop snake, which is said to have a sting
in its tail and to be deadly poisonous. The lizards are all perfectly
harmless, except the sluggish Gila monster (pronounced Heela, named
from the Gila River in Arizona) which lives in the deserts of Arizona
and Mexico, and whose bite may be fatal to man. The poison glands are
situated at the point of the lower jaw, and the venom is taken up by
the wound while the animal hangs on to its victim with the tenacity of
a bulldog. All the other lizards are harmless in spite of the dreadful
stories told about the deadly quality of some of the species in
various parts of the country.
[Illustration: Rattlesnake palate]
The snakes form the last group of the reptiles. Universally legless,
though some of the boas and pythons have distinct outer rudiments of
hind limbs, they are not easily mistaken. And it is perhaps well so,
for unless one is an expert at distinguishing between the poisonous
and the harmless kind it is just as well to keep at a respectful
distance from them. It is safest not to interfere with them,
especially as those that are not poisonous are usually very useful in
destroying rats and mice and other vermin, except perhaps those living
in trees and feeding on eggs and young birds, which certainly do not
deserve our protection. Of course the rattlesnake is not to be
mistaken. The horny appendix to its tail, with which it sounds the
warning of its presence, is enough to distinguish it. It should here
be explained that both lizards and snakes at various intervals shed
the outer layer of their skin, the so-called epidermis. This
transparent layer, after a certain length of time, loosens and is
usually stripped off whole by the animal crawling out of it and
turning it inside out, as a tight glove is turned. Now, at the end of
a rattlesnake's tail there is a horny cap which is {100} called the
button, and being narrowed at the base and more strongly built than
the rest of the epidermis it is not shed with the rest of the skin,
but remains attached.
Thus for each shedding a new joint or ring is added to the rattle. How
often the shedding takes place depends on various circumstances and
may occur an uncertain number of times each year. Such a rattle,
loose-jointed as it is, is rather brittle and the tip of the sounding
instrument is easily broken and lost. It will therefore be easily
understood that the common notion that a rattlesnake's age can be told
by the number of the rings in its rattle is absolutely erroneous.
Another equally common and equally erroneous notion relates to the
tongue of the snake, which the ignorant often term its "sting" and
which they believe to be the death-dealing instrument. Of course, the
soft, forked tongue which constantly darts out and in of the snake's
mouth is perfectly harmless. It serves rather as a "feeler" than as a
taste organ. The wound is inflicted by a pair of large, curved, teeth
or fangs, in the upper jaw. These fangs are hollow and connected by a
duct with the gland on the side of the head, in which the poison is
formed. Pressure on this gland at the time of the strike--for our
poisonous snakes strike rather than bite--squirts the poison into the
wound like a hypodermic syringe. The fangs when shed or damaged are
replaced within a short time with new ones, so that a poisonous snake
can only be made harmless for a short period by breaking them off.
Only in exceptional cases need snake bites prove fatal. It is
estimated that in North America only about two persons in a hundred
bitten are killed by the poison, though many more die from
carelessness or bad treatment, the worst of which is the filling up
with whiskey, which aids the poison rather than counteracts it. The
essential things in case of snake bite are: (1) keeping one's wits;
(2) tying a string, or the like, tightly around the wounded limb
between the wound and the heart, and loosening it about once in
fifteen minutes, so as to admit the poison slowly into the
circulation; (3) making the wound bleed freely by enlarging it with a
knife or otherwise; (4) if permanganate of potash be handy it should
at once be applied to the {101} wound; (5) treat the wound as
antiseptically as it is possible with the means at hand and hurry to a
doctor.
[Illustration: Copperhead]
The danger depends greatly on the amount of the poison injected, hence
upon the size of the snake. It is for this reason that the big Florida
rattlesnakes which grow to six feet and over are more to be feared
than are other poisonous snakes. Of these, we have in our country,
besides the rattlesnakes, the water moccasin, or cotton mouth, the
copperhead, and the coral snake. The latter is a bright-colored snake
of red, yellow, and black rings found in the South, but it is usually
small, and not aggressive, so that but few cases of poisoning are
known. The other two are common enough, the former from Norfolk, Va.,
south, the other all over the eastern country from Texas to
Massachusetts. They are usually confounded, however, with two
perfectly harmless snakes, the cotton mouth with the common water
snake, the copperhead with the so-called spreading adder, but as
their differences have to be learned from actual inspection and are
very hard to express in a description which would help to identify
living specimens, it is wisest to keep away from all of them.
See "The Poisonous Snakes of North America." By Leonard Stejneger,
published by Government Printing office, Washington.
[Illustration: Water moccasin]
[Illustration: Chrysalis]
INSECTS AND BUTTERFLIES
_United States Bureau of Entomology_
(Illustrations are copies from Comstock's "How to Know the
Butterflies," through courtesy of D. Appleton & Company.)
There is an advantage in the study of insects over most other branches
of nature, excepting perhaps plants, in that there is plenty of
material. You may have to tramp miles to see a certain bird or wild
animal, but if you will sit down on the first patch of grass you are
sure to see something going on in the insect world.
Butterflies
Nearly all insects go through several different stages. The young bird
is very much like its parent, so is the young squirrel or a young
snake or a {102} young fish or a young snail; but with most of the
insects the young is very different from its parents. All butterflies
and moths lay eggs, and these hatch into caterpillars which when full
grown transform to what are called pupae or chrysalids--nearly
motionless objects with all of the parts soldered together under an
enveloping sheath. With some of the moths, the pupae are surrounded by
silk cocoons spun by the caterpillars just before finally transforming
to pupae. With all butterflies the chrysalids are naked, except with
one species which occurs in Central America in which there is a common
silk cocoon. With the moths, the larger part spin cocoons, but some of
them, like the owlet moths whose larvae are the cutworms, have naked
pupre, usually under the surface of the ground. It is not difficult to
study the transformations of the butterflies and moths, and it is
always very interesting to feed a caterpillar until it transforms, in
order to see what kind of a butterfly or moth comes out of the
chrysalis.
Take the monarch butterfly, for example: This is a large,
reddish-brown butterfly, a strong flier, which is seen often flying
about in the spring and again in the late summer and autumn. This is
one of the most remarkable butterflies in America. It is found all
over the United States. It is one of the strongest fliers that we
know. It passes the winter in the Southern states as an adult
butterfly, probably hidden away in cracks under the bark of trees or
elsewhere. When spring comes the butterflies come out and begin to fly
toward the north. Wherever they find the milk-weed plant they stop and
lay some eggs on the leaves. The caterpillars issue from the eggs,
feed on the milkweed, transform to chrysalids; then the butterflies
issue and continue the northward flight, stopping to lay eggs farther
north on other milkweeds. By the end of June or July some of these
Southern butterflies have found their way north into Canada and begin
the return flight southward. Along in early August they will be seen
at the summer resorts in the Catskill Mountains, and by the end of
October they will have traveled far down into the Southern states
where they pass the winter.
[Illustration: Empty chrysalis and butterfly]
The caterpillar of the monarch or milkweed butterfly is a very
striking creature. It is nearly two inches long when full grown. Its
head is yellow striped with black; its body is white with narrow black
and yellow cross-stripes on each {103} segment. On the back of the
second segment of the thorax there is a pair of black, whiplash-like
filaments, and on the eighth joint there is a similar shorter pair.
When this caterpillar gets ready to transform to chrysalis, it hangs
itself up by its tail end, the skin splits and gradually draws back,
and the chrysalis itself is revealed--pale pea-green in color with
golden spots. Anyone by hunting over a patch of milkweed anywhere in
the United States during the summer is quite apt to find these
caterpillars feeding. It will be easy to watch them and to see them
transform, and eventually to get the butterfly.
The same thing may be done with anyone of the six hundred and
fifty-two different kinds of butterflies in the United States.
[Illustration: Larva getting ready to transform]
[Illustration: Full grown larva]
Moths
When it comes to moths, there is a much greater variety.
Instead of six hundred and fifty-two, there are fifty-nine hundred and
seventy in Doctor Dyar's big catalogue. Perhaps the most interesting
of these caterpillars are the big native silk-worms, like those of the
cecropia moth, the luna moth, the polyphemus moth, or the promethia
moth. These caterpillars are very large and are to be found feeding
upon the leaves of different trees, and all spin strong silken
cocoons. People have tried to reel these cocoons, thinking that they
might be able to use the silk to make silk cloth as with the domestic
silk-worm of commerce, but they have been unable to reel them
properly. The polyphemus moth, for example, has been experimented with
a great deal. It is found over a greater part of the United States,
and its caterpillar feeds upon a great variety of trees and shrubs
such as oak, Butternut, hickory, basswood, elm, maple, birch,
chestnut, sycamore, and many others. The caterpillar is light green
and has raised lines of silvery white on the side. It grows to a very
large size and spins a dense, hard cocoon, usually attached to leaves.
There {104} are two generations in the Southern states, and one in the
Northern states. The moth which comes out of the cocoon has a wing
spread of fully five inches. It is reddish-gray or somewhat buff in
color with darker bands near the edge of the wings, which themselves
are pinkish on the outside, and with a large clear spot near the
centre of the forewing and a regular eyespot (clear in part and blue
in the rest) in the centre of the hind wing.
One wishing to know about butterflies and moths should consult a book
entitled, "How to Know the Butterflies," by Prof. J. H. Comstock of
Cornell University and his wife, Mrs. Comstock, published by D.
Appleton & Co., of New York, or, "The Butterfly Book," by Dr. W. J.
Holland of Pittsburg, published by Doubleday, Page & Co., of New York,
and "The Moth Book," also by Doctor Holland, and published by the same
firm.
[Illustration: Caterpillar to chrysalis]
Other Insects
There are many more different kinds of insects than there are of
flowering plants, and if we were to add together all of the different
kinds of birds, mammals, reptiles, fishes, crabs, mollusks, and all of
the lower forms of animal life, they would not all together amount to
so many different kinds as there are insects. This makes the
classification of insects quite complicated. There are eighteen or
nineteen main orders, and each one is subdivided almost indefinitely.
There is not one of these that is not full of interest. The habits of
ants, for example, living in communities by themselves, afford a
tremendous opportunity for interesting observation. A good book about
them has been recently written by Dr. W. M. Wheeler, of Harvard,
entitled "Ants, their Structure, Development, and Behavior," published
by the Columbia University Press, New York.
{105}
Many insects live in the water, and to follow their life histories in
small home-made aquaria is one of the most interesting occupations one
could have, and there is a lot to be learned about these insects. Go
to any stagnant pool and you will find it swarming with animal life:
Larvae or "wigglers" of mosquitoes, and a number of other aquatic
insects will be found, feeding upon these wigglers. Water bugs of
different kinds will be found and the life histories of most of these
were until quite recently almost unknown.
Beetles and Wasps
The order _Coleoptera_, comprising what we know as beetles, has
thousands of species, each one with its own distinctive mode of life;
some of them feeding upon other insects, others boring into wood,
others feeding upon flowers, others upon leaves, and so on in endless
variety.
The wasps also will bear study. Here, too, there is a great variety,
some of them building the paper nests known to every one, others
burrowing into the surface of the ground and storing up in these
burrows grasshoppers and other insects for food for their young which
are grub-like in form; others still burrowing into the twigs of
bushes, and others making mud nests attached to the trunks of trees or
to the clapboards of houses or outbuildings.
This is just a hint at the endless variety of habits of insects. The
United States National Museum publishes a bulletin, by Mr. Nathan
Banks, entitled "Directions for Collecting and Preserving Insects,"
which gives a general outline of the classification, and should be
possessed by everyone who wishes to take up the study from the
beginning.
FISHES
_By Dr. Hugh M. Smith, Deputy Commissioner United States Fisheries_
There is no more fascinating and profitable study than the fish life
of the lakes, ponds, rivers, brooks, bays, estuaries, and coasts of
the United States; and no more important service can be rendered our
American boys than to teach them to become familiar with our native
food and game fishes, to realize their needs, and by example and
precept to {106} endeavor to secure for the fishes fair consideration and
treatment.
[Illustration: _Esox lucius_--Common pike pickerel]
[Illustration: _Oncorhynchus tschawytscha_--Chinook salmon]
[Illustration: _Coregonus clupeiformis_--Common whitefish]
[Illustration: _Salvelinus fontinalis_--Brook trout: speckled trout]
[Illustration: _Ictalurus punctatus_--The speckled catfish]
Classes of Fish
Fishes may be roughly classified as (1) fresh water, (2) migratory
between fresh and salt water, and (3) marine. Among the families of
American fresh-water fishes that are conspicuous on account of their
size, abundance, or economic importance, or all of these, there may be
mentioned the sturgeons, the catfishes, the suckers, the minnows or
carps, the pikes, the killifishes, the trouts, salmons, and
whitefishes, the perches, and the basses, and sun fishes.
Migratory Fish
The migratory fishes fall into two groups, the anadromous and the
catadtomous. The anadromous fishes pass most of their lives in the
sea, run up stream only for the purpose of spawning, and constitute
the most valuable of our river fishes. In this group are the shads and
the alewives or river herrings, the white perch, the striped bass or
rock fish, some {107} of the sturgeons, and the Atlantic salmon, all
of which go back to sea after spawning, and the Pacific salmons (five
species), all of which die after spawning. Of the catadromous fishes
there is a single example in our waters--the common eel. It spends
most of its life in the fresh waters and sometimes becomes permanently
landlocked there, and runs down to the sea to spawn, laying its eggs
off shore in deep water.
Marine Fish
The marine fishes that are found in the coastal waters of the United
States number many hundred species, some of them of great value as
food. Among the most important are cod, haddock, hake, halibut,
Flounder, herring, bluefish, mackeral, weakfish or squeteague, mullet,
snapper, drum, and rock fishes.
[Illustration: _Perea flavescens_--Yellow perch]
[Illustration: _Pomolobus altivalis_--The alewife or river herring]
[Illustration: _Micropterus salmoides_--Large-mouth black bass]
[Illustration: _Notropis hudsonius_--Minnow or shiner]
[Illustration: _Acipenser oxyrhynchus_--The Atlantic sturgeon]
Studying Fish
The study of living fishes is most entertaining and is rendered
somewhat difficult by the medium in which they live, by their {108}
shyness, and by the necessity of approaching closely in order to
obtain any accurate view. The spawning, feeding, swimming and other
habits of very few of our fishes are so well known that further
information thereon is not needed; and the boy scout's patience,
skill, and powers of observation will be reflected in the records that
may be and should be kept about the different fishes met with. Fishes
may be studied from a bank, wharf, or boat, or by wading; and the view
of the bottom and the fishes on or adjacent thereto may be greatly
improved by the use of a "water bucket"--an ordinary wooden pail whose
bottom is replaced by a piece of window glass. A more elaborate
arrangement for observation is to provide at the bow of a row-boat a
glass bottom box over which may be thrown a hood so that the student
is invisible to the fishes.
[Illustration: _Fundulus diaphanus_--Killifish: top minnow]
[Illustration: _Catostomus commersonii_--Common sucker: white sucker]
Identification of Specimens
While many of the fishes in a given section are easily recognizable,
there are in every water fishes which, on account of their small size,
rarity, retiring habits, or close similarity to other fishes, are
unknown to the average boy. These latter fishes often afford the most
interesting subjects for study; and in all parts of the country it is
possible for energetic observers and collectors to add to the list of
fishes already recorded from particular districts.
When fishes cannot be identified in the field, the larger ones may be
sketched and notes taken on their color, while the smaller ones may be
preserved with salt, formalin, or any kind of spirits. Specimens and
drawings may be forwarded for identification to the zoological
department of the local state university, to the state fish
commission, to the Bureau of Fisheries, Washington, D. C., or to the
United States National Museum in the same city.
{109}
Angling
This most delightful of outdoor pastimes requires for its enjoyment no
elaborate or expensive paraphernalia: a rod cut on the spot, a cork
float, an ordinary hook baited with angleworm, grasshopper, grub,
may-fly, or any of a dozen other handy lures, will answer for most
occasions. At the same time, the joys of fishing will often be
increased if one possesses and learns how to use a light, jointed rod,
with reel, fine line, and artificial baits. The necessary equipment
for scientific angling is so light and compact that it should form a
part of the outfit of every one who spends much time in the open air.
It should be the invariable practice of anglers to return to the water
all uninjured fish that are not needed for food or study. "It is not
all of fishing to fish," and no thoughtful boy who has the interests
of the country at heart, and no lover of nature, will go fishing
merely for the purpose of catching the longest possible string of
fish, thus placing himself in the class of anglers properly known as
"fish hogs."
Special Service by Boy Scouts
Valuable service may be rendered by boy scouts in all parts of the
country by bringing to the attention of the proper state, county, or
municipal authorities matters affecting the welfare of the fishes.
Among the subjects that should be reported to fish commissioners, fish
wardens, or local legal officers are:
(1) All cases noticed where fish are being killed by dynamite,
poisons, or other illegal and improper means.
(2) Threatened destruction of fish by the drying of streams or ponds.
(3) The existence of obstructions to the passage of fish on their way
to their spawning grounds. All dams in streams in which are migratory
fish should have fish-ways or fish-ladders.
Aquarium
_William Leland Stowell, M. D._
Every boy should have an aquarium. The aquarium will give ten times as
much pleasure as annoyance, and the longer time you have one
undisturbed the greater will be its revelations.
A simple tank can be made from a large water bottle or demijohn. File
a line around the top and carefully break it off. For the back yard,
cut a paint barrel in two or coat a tub inside with spar varnish.
Anything that will hold a few gallons of water, two inches of clean
sand, and some water plants will be a suitable home for fish and other
creatures. A boy handy with tools can make a frame, and with plate
glass and proper cement construct a large tank.
{110}
Starting the Aquarium
You can balance your aquarium by plenty of plants. As they grow they
give off oxygen which purifies the water and is breathed by the fish.
The water need not be changed for years. The swamps and slow streams
afford great numbers of plants. If you know the plants get pond weeds,
Canadian water weed, ludwigia, willow moss, or tape grass. (Look in
the dictionary for official names of the plants or get special books
from the library.) Take some tape grass (vallisneria) to your teacher
or doctor and ask him to show you under his microscope how the sap
flows and the green coloring matter is deposited. The simplest form of
vegetation is algae which grows on the sides of the tank. Lest this
grow too thick, put in a few snails. Watch the snails' eggs develop in
clusters. Buy if you cannot find banded swamp snails that give birth
to their young instead of laying eggs.
Any pond or stream will furnish fish that are beautiful or interesting
to watch, e.g., killies, sunfish, cat-fish, carp, shiners, blacknosed
dace, minnows--the mud minnow that seems to stand on his
tail--darters, etc. If you get your supply from dealers, buy gold
fish, of which there are several varieties, fan-tailed, comets, fringe
tails and telescope eyed. Mirror carp are lively. Paradise fish are as
beautiful as butterflies.
[Illustration: A balanced aquarium]
Fish Nests
Every one knows something of birds' nests. Did you ever watch
sticklebacks build their barrel-like nest, or the Paradise fish his
floating nest, and the father fish take all the care of the young? Did
you ever see the newt roll her eggs in small leaves, or the caddis fly
make a case of bits of stick, leaves, and sand? For a real marvel
watch a pair of diving spiders weave their balloon-like nest under
water and actually carry air down to fill it, so that the young may be
dry though submerged.
{111}
Put in a few fresh-water clams and insects in variety, water boatmen,
diving spiders, and whirligigs. A tank of beetles will be full of
interest. Always add two or three tadpoles as scavengers, and watch
their legs grow out as the tail grows short and they become frogs. You
can find or buy a variety of turtles which will soon be tame and eat
from your fingers. Do not keep turtles with fish.
On every hike or tramp carry a wide-mouthed bottle for specimens and a
piece of rubber cloth in which to bring home water plants. Fish can be
carried wrapped in damp moss for hours and will be found well and
lively when put in the aquarium.
Fish Food
Fish require very little food other than the minute creatures that
develop in the water.
The dealers supply proper foods for aquaria, or you can prepare your
own. Fine vermicelli is good for gold fish, scraped lean beef is just
what the sunfish and Paradise fish want. Ant eggs suit many fish, and
powdered dog biscuit will fill many mouths. It is evident that an
article so brief as this is only suggestive. The libraries contain
many books of which two are recommended:
"Home Aquarium and How to Care For It." By Eugene Smith, 1902.
Published by Dutton, New York.
"Book of Aquaria." By Bateman and Bennett, 1890. Published by L.
Upcott Gill, 170 Strand, W. C., London.
ROCKS AND PEBBLES
_United States Geological Survey_
Geologists study the materials of the earth's crust, the processes
continually changing its surface, and the forms and structures thus
produced. In a day's tramp one may see much under each of these heads.
The earth's crust is made up chiefly of the hard rocks, which outcrop
in many places, but are largely covered by thin, loose, surface
materials. Rocks may be igneous, which have cooled from a melted
condition; or sedimentary, which are made of layers spread one upon
another by water currents or waves, or by winds.
Igneous rocks, while still molten, have been forced into other rocks
from below, or poured out on the surface from volcanoes. They are
chiefly made of crystals of various minerals, such as quartz, felspar,
mica, and pyrite. Granite often contains large crystals of felspar or
mica. Some igneous rocks, especially lavas, are glassy; others are so
fine grained that the crystals cannot be seen.
In places one may find veins filling cracks in the rocks, and {113}
made of material deposited from solution in water. Many valuable
minerals and ores occur in such veins, and fine specimens can
sometimes be obtained from them.
{112}
[Illustration: Fold in stratified rock]
[Illustration: Wearing the soft and hard beds by rain and wind]
[Illustration: Quartz vein in rock]
{113 continued}
Sedimentary rock are formed of material usually derived from the
breaking up and wearing away of older rocks. When first deposited, the
materials are loose, but later, when covered by other beds, they
become hardened into solid rock. If the layers were of sand, the rock
is sandstone; if of clay, it is shale. Rocks made of layers of pebbles
are called conglomerate or pudding-stone; those of limy material,
derived perhaps from shells, are limestone. Many sedimentary rocks
contain fossils, which are the shells or bones of animals or the stems
and leaves of plants living in former times, and buried by successive
beds of sand or mud spread over them. Much of the land is covered by a
thin surface deposit of clay, sand, or gravel, which is yet loose
material and which shows the mode of formation of sedimentary rocks.
Some rocks have undergone, since their formation, great pressure or
heat and have been much changed. They are called metamorphic rocks.
Some are now made of crystals though at first they were not; in others
the minerals have become arranged {114} in layers closely resembling
the beds of sedimentary rocks; still others, like slate, tend to split
into thin plates.
The earth's surface is continually being changed; the outcropping hard
rock is worn away by wind and rain, and is broken up by frost, by
solution of some minerals, etc. The loose material formed is blown
away or washed away by rain and deposited elsewhere by streams in
gravel bars, sand beds, and mud flats. The streams cut away their
beds, aided by the sand and pebbles washed along. Thus the hills are
being worn down and the valleys deepened and widened, and the
materials of the land are slowly being moved toward the sea, again to
be deposited in beds.
[Illustration: Wave-cut cliff with beach and spit built by waves and
currents]
Along the coast the waves, with the pebbles washed about, are wearing
away the land and spreading out its materials in new beds elsewhere.
The shore is being cut back in some places and built out in others.
Rivers bring down sand and mud and build deltas or bars at their
mouths.
Volcanoes pour out melted rock on the surface, and much fine material
is blown out in eruptions. Swamps are filled {115} by dead vegetable
matter and by sand and mud washed in. These materials form new rocks
and build up the surface. Thus the two processes, the wearing down in
some places and the building up in others, are tending to bring the
surface to a uniform level. Another process, so slow that it can be
observed only through long periods of time, tends to deform the
earth's crust and to make the surface more irregular. In times past,
layers of rock once horizontal have been bent and folded into great
arches and troughs, and large areas of the earth's surface have been
raised high above sea-level.
[Illustration: Rock ledge rounded smooth and scratched by ice]
[Illustration: Sand-dune with wind-rippled surface]
At almost any rock outcrop the result of {116} the breaking-up process
may be seen; the outer portion is softer, more easily broken, and of
different color from the fresh rock, as shown by breaking open a large
piece. The wearing away of the land surface is well shown in rain
gullies, and the carrying along and depositing of sand and gravel may
be seen in almost any stream. In the Northern states and Canada, which
at one time were covered by a great sheet of ice, moving southward and
grinding off the surface over which it passed, most of the rock
outcrops are smoothly rounded and many show scratches made by pebbles
dragged along by the ice. The hills too have {117} smoother and rounder
outlines, as compared with those farther south where the land has been
carved only by rain and streams. Along the coast the wearing away of
the land by waves is shown at cliffs, found where the coast is high,
and by the abundant pebbles on the beaches, which are built of
material torn from the land by the waves. Sand bars and tidal flats
show the deposition of material brought by streams and spread out by
currents. Sand dunes and barrens illustrate the carrying and spreading
out of fine material by the wind.
[Illustration: Slab containing fossil shells]
[Illustration: Conglomerate or pudding-stone]
In many regions the beds of sedimentary rocks, which must have been
nearly horizontal when formed, are now found sloping at various angles
or standing on edge, the result of slow deforming of these beds at an
earlier time. As some beds are more easily worn away than others, the
hills and valleys in such regions owe their form and position largely
to the different extent to which the harder and softer beds have been
worn down by weather and by streams. The irregular line of many coasts
is likewise due to the different hardness of the rocks along the
shore.
It is by the study of the rocks and of the remains of life found in
them, by observing the way in which the surface of the earth is being
changed and examining the results of those changes and by concluding
that similar results were produced in former times in the same way,
that geologists are able to read much of the past history of the
earth, uncounted years before there were men upon it.
Plants, Ferns, and Grasses
_By Dr. L. C. Corbett, Horticulturist,
United States Bureau of Plant Industry_
The appearance of the blossoms and fruits of the fields and forests in
any locality note the advent and progress of the seasons more
accurately than does the calendar. Plants and seeds which have lain
asleep during the winter are awakened not by the birth of a month, but
by the return of heat and moisture in proper proportions. This may be
early one year and late another, but, no matter what the calendar
says, the plants respond to the call and give evidence of spring,
summer, or autumn as the case may be. The surface of the earth is not
flat. We have valleys and we have mountains; we have torrid and we
have temperate zones. The plant life of the world has been adjusted to
these varied conditions, and as a result we have plants with certain
characteristics growing in the tropics at sea-level, but a very
different class of plants with {118} different habits and
characteristics inhabiting the elevated regions of this same zone. It
must be remembered that even under the tropics some of the highest
mountains carry a perpetual snow-cap. There is therefore all possible
gradations of climate from sea-level to the top of such mountains,
even at the equator, and plant life is as a result as varied as is
climate. Each zone, whether determined by latitude or by altitude,
possesses a distinctive flora.
But altitude and latitude are not the only factors which have been
instrumental in determining the plants found in any particular
locality. This old earth of ours has not always been as we see her
to-day. The nature we know and observe is quite different from that
which existed in earlier ages of the earth's history. The plants, the
trees, and the flowers that existed upon the earth during the age when
our coal was being deposited were very different from those we now
have. There has been a change, but, strange as it may seem, there are
in some places upon the earth to-day some of the same species of
plants which were abundant during the coal-forming periods. These are
among the oldest representatives of the plant world now extant. Then
we are told that there was a period when the north temperate zone was
covered with a great ice field which crowded down as far as southern
Pennsylvania and central Ohio. This naturally brought about a profound
change in the location and character of the plants of this region.
There are in the Black Hills of Dakota species of plants which have no
relatives anywhere in the prairie region, and no means is known by
which these representatives of a Rocky Mountain family could find
their way into the Black Hills, save that, previous to the ice age,
this species was generally scattered over the territory, and that,
during the ice age, the species was perpetuated in the hills, but was
killed out between there and the Rocky Mountains where it is found in
abundance. These are some of the natural reasons for the existence of
varied plants in different localities. They are sufficient to explain
the reason for the existence of local floras.
But nature has provided untold ways for the perpetuation as well as
the dispersal of plants for the purpose of, so far as possible,
enabling the plants of the world to take possession of all parts of
the earth's surface. If this adjustment were complete, the plants
would be practically alike all over the surface of the earth, but we
have already explained why this cannot be and why we have a different
flora in each zone, whether it be marked by lines of latitude or
height of {120} the mountains. Plants are perpetuated by seeds, by
bulbs, and by woody parts. Some seeds are highly perishable and must
be sown as soon as ripe; others remain years without losing their
power to produce plants. Some grow as soon as they come in contact
with the soil; others must fall, be buried and frozen before they will
germinate. Some plants are perpetuated by bulbs, tubers, or roots in
which a supply of food material is stored away to carry the plant over
a period when its above-ground parts cannot thrive owing to frost or
drought. Upon the return of favorable conditions, these resting parts
throw out shoots and again make the round of growth, usually producing
both seeds and underground parts for the preservation of the species.
There are both wild and cultivated plants in nearly all sections which
illustrate these methods of preservation. Besides plants which have
bulbs, tubers, or perennial roots, we have the large, woody plants
which live many years and so perpetuate themselves, not only as
individuals the same as plants with perennial roots; but they, too, as
a rule, produce seed for the multiplication of their kind.
{119}
[Illustration: _Pinkster Flower_--It shows its pink flowers in rocky
woods and thickets during spring.]
[Illustration: _White Pine_--Common evergreen tree of the Northeastern
states. Needle-like leaves in bundles of five.]
[Illustration: _Butterfly Weed_--The bright, orange colored flowers are
conspicuous in dry meadows from June to September.]
[Illustration: _Poison Ivy_--Can be distinguished from the harmless
woodbine by its three-lobed leaves.]
{120 continued}
The agencies which serve to spread plants about over the earth's
surface are very varied and interesting. Nature has provided seeds
with many appendages which assist in their dispersal. Some seeds have
wings, and some parachutes to take advantage of the wind. Some seeds
are provided with hooks and stickers by which they become attached to
the fur of animals and are in this way enabled to steal a free ride.
Other seeds are provided with edible coverings which attract birds,
but the seeds themselves are hard and not digestible; the fruit is
eaten and the seeds rejected and so plants are scattered. Besides
these methods of perpetuation and dispersal, some plants are
perpetuated as well as dispersed by vegetative reproduction, i. e., by
cuttings as in the case of willows; by runners as in the case of the
strawberry; and by stolons as with the black raspberry. (For further
information on this point see Bailey's "Lessons with Plants.")
Some plant characteristics, however, of greatest interest to the scout
may be enumerated. Plants not only mark zones, but they indicate soils
with certain characteristics, and the crop wise say that the soil on
which chestnut abounds is suitable for buckwheat or peaches. Plants
also indicate the influence of local conditions such as lakes, ponds,
or even variations in contour. A knowledge of the local flora of a
region will at once tell one whether he is upon a northern or a
southern hillside by the plants of the area. The creek bottom will
{121} abound with species not to be found on the hillsides, but species
common to both plain and mountain will mark the progress of the season
up the slope.
In the north temperate zone the moss if any will be found growing upon
the north side of the tree trunk. Each hundred feet of elevation in a
given latitude makes from one to two days difference in time of
blooming of plants. The character of the vegetation of a region is an
index to its climate. Certain plants are adapted to frigid regions,
others to temperate, and still others to tropical areas. Some plants
are adapted to humid sections, while others are admirably adjusted to
desert conditions. A knowledge of these differences in plants will be
of the greatest value to the scout, and if this is supplemented by
information about the value and uses of the various plant products
many hardships can be avoided. Many plants produce valuable juices,
gums, and resins, while others yield us valuable timber for building
and cabinet uses.
While it is impossible to even suggest the great variety of plants
found within the confines of the United States, the following books on
botany will be found helpful in each of the different sections for
which they are designed.
Bibliography
For the botany of the Northeastern United States use:
"New Manual of Botany," 7th ed. Asa Gray.
"Illustrated Flora of the United States and Canada." N. L. Britton and
Hon. Addison Brown.
For the botany of the Southern United States use:
"Flora of the Southern United States." A. W. Chapman.
"Southern Wild Flowers and Trees." Alice Lounsberry.
For the Botany of the Rocky Mountain region use:
"New Manual of Botany of the Central Rocky Mountains." John M.
Coulter; Revised by Aven Nelson.
"Rocky Mountain Wild Flower Studies." Burton O. Longyear.
"The Trees of California." Willis Linn Jepson.
For general information regarding the shrubby plants of the United
States use:
"Our Shrubs of the United States." Austin C. Apgar.
"Our Northern Shrubs." Harriet Louise Keeler.
For the wild flowers outside of those already mentioned for the
Southern United States and the Rocky Mountain region use:
"Our Garden Flowers." Harriet Louise Keeler.
"How to Know the Wild Flowers." Frances Theodora Parsons.
"Field Book of American Wild Flowers." F. Schuyler Mathews.
{122}
For the ferns and grasses it will be found worth while to consult:
"How to Know the Ferns." Frances Theodora Parsons.
"The Fern Collector's Guide." Willard Nelson Clute.
"New England Ferns and Their Common Allies." Helen Eastman.
"The Grasses, Sedges, and Rushes of the North United States." Edward
Knobel.
For the study of the monarchs of our forests the following books will
all be found exceedingly useful:
"Manual of the Trees of North America." Charles Sprague Sargent.
"Trees of the Northern United States." Austin C. Apgar.
"Handbook of the Trees of the Northern United States and Canada."
Romeyn Beck Hough.
"North American Trees." N. L. Britton.
"Familiar Trees and Their Leaves." 1911. F. Schuyler Mathews.
Besides these, several states have issued through their state
experiment stations bulletins dealing with the local plant
inhabitants. In some instances these publications cover forest trees,
grasses, and shrubs, either native or introduced. Several of the
educational institutions, as well as the experiment stations, now
regularly issue nature study leaflets or bulletins which treat of
popular subjects of interest in connection with outdoor things. It
would be well to write the state experiment station in your state for
literature of this nature.
MUSHROOMS, FUNGI, OR TOADSTOOLS
_By Ernest Thompson Seton, Chief Scout
Revised by Dr. C. C. Curtis_
There are thousands of different kinds of toadstools or mushrooms in
the world; most of them are good to eat, yet all have a bad
reputation, because some are deadly poisonous.
False tests. First of all let us dispose of some ancient false tests
that have led many into disaster.
Cooking or otherwise trying with silver proves absolutely nothing. It
is believed by many that the poisonous mushrooms turn silver black.
Some do; some do not; and some eatable ones do. There is nothing in
it.
Bright colors on the cap also mean nothing; many gorgeous toadstools
are wholesome food. But the color of the pores {123} means a great
deal, and this is determined by laying the fungus cap gills down on
gray paper for six or eight hours under a glass.
[Illustration: Moose horn clavaria.]
[Illustration: Spindle clavaria.]
[Illustration: Club clavaria.]
[Illustration: Golden clavaria.]
Poisonous Toadstools
Of all the poisonous kinds the deadliest are the Amanitas. Not only
are they widespread and abundant, but they are unhappily much like the
ordinary table mushrooms. They have however one or two strong marks:
Their stalk always grows out of a "poison cup" which shows either as a
cup or as a bulb; they have white or yellow gills, and white spores.
The worst of these are:
Deathcup, Destroying Angel, Sure-death, or Deadly Amanita
(_Amanita phalloides_)
One and one half to five inches across the cup; three to seven inches
high; white, green, yellowish olive, or grayish brown; {124} smooth but
sticky when moist; gills white; spores white; on the stem is an
annulus or ring just below the cap.
Fly Amanita (_Amanita muscaria_)
About the same size; mostly yellow, but ranging from orange red to or
almost white; usually with raised white spots or scales on the top;
gills white or tinged yellow; spores white; flesh white.
Hated Amanita (_Amanita spreta_)
Four to six inches high; cap three to five inches across; white,
tinged with brown in places especially in the middle of the cap, where
it has sometimes a bump.
[Illustration: Deadly amanita]
[Illustration: Fly amanita]
[Illustration: Hated amanita]
There are over a score more of amanitas varying in size and color, but
all have the general style of mushrooms, and the label marks of
poison, viz., white or yellow gills, a poison cup, and white spores.
Emetic Russula (_Russula emetica_)
In a less degree this russula is poisonous. It is a short-stemmed
mushroom, two to four inches high, about the size of the Fly Amanita;
its cap is rosy red, pinkish when young, dark red when older, fading
to straw color in age; its gills and spores white. Its peppery taste
when raw is a fair notice of danger.
_Symptoms of Poisoning_: Vomiting and purging, "the discharge from the
bowels being watery with small flakes suspended {125} and sometimes
containing blood," cramps in the extremities. The pulse is very slow
and strong at first but later weak and rapid, sometimes sweat and
saliva pour out. Dizziness, faintness, and blindness, the skin clammy,
cold, and bluish, or livid; temperature low with dreadful tetanic
convulsions, and finally stupor.
_Remedy_: "Take an emetic at once, and send for a physician with
instructions to bring hypodermic syringe and atropine sulphate. The
dose is 1/180 of a grain, and doses should be continued heroically
until 1/20 of a grain is administered, or until, in the physician's
opinion, a proper quantity has been injected. Where the victim is
critically ill, the 1/20 of a grain may be administered." (McIllvaine
& Macadam.)
[Illustration: Emetic russula: russula emetica (after Marshall)]
[Illustration: Mushrooms]
WHOLESOME TOADSTOOLS
IMPORTANT NOTE.--Experimenting with mushrooms is dangerous; it is
better not to eat them unless gathered under expert direction.
The Common Mushroom (_Agaricus campestris_)
Known at once by its general shape and smell, its pink or brown gills,
white flesh, brown spores and solid stem.
Coprinus
Also belonging to the gilled or true mushroom family are the ink-caps
of the genus.
They grow on dung piles and rich ground. They spring up over night and
perish in a day. In the last stage the gills turn as black as ink.
Inky Coprinus (_Coprinus atramentarius_)
This is the species illustrated. The example was from the woods; often
it is less tall and graceful. The cap is one inch {126} to three
inches in diameter, grayish or grayish brown, sometimes tinged lead
color. Wash and stew: Stew or bake from twenty to thirty minutes after
thorough washing, being the recognized mode.
All the Clavarias or Coral Mushrooms are good except Clavaria
dichotoma which is white, and has its branches divided in pairs at
each fork. It grows on the ground under beeches and is slightly
poisonous; it is rare.
The Delicious Morel (_Morchella deliciosa_)
One and a half to three inches high; greenish with brown hollows.
There are several kindred species of various colors. This is known by
the cylindrical shape of its cap. Wash, slice, and stew.
[Illustration: Inky coprinus]
[Illustration: Morel]
Puffballs (_Lycoperdaceae_)
The next important and safe group are the puffballs before they begin
to puff. All our puffballs when young and solid white inside are good,
wholesome food. Some of them, like the brain puffball or the giant
puffball, are occasionally a foot in diameter, and yield flesh enough
to feed a dozen persons.
[Illustration: Brain puffball]
[Illustration: Pear puffball]
[Illustration: Cup puffball]
They are well known to all who live in the country, their smooth
rounded exterior, without special features except the {127} roots, and
their solid white interior are easily remembered. Peel, slice, and
fry.
Bibliography
The following are standard and beautifully illustrated works on
mushrooms and toadstools. They have been freely used for guidance and
illustrations in the preparation of the above:
"Edible Fungi of New York." By Charles H. Peck. Published by New York
State Museum, Albany, 1900.
"The Mushroom Book." By Nina L. Marshall. Published 1902 at New York
by Doubleday, Page & Co. $3.50.
"One Thousand American Fungi." By McIllvaine and Macadam. Published by
the Bobbs-Merrill Company of Indianapolis, 1902. $3.00. Add 40 cents
express.
"Mushrooms." G. F. Atkinson. Holt & Co.
"The Mushroom." M. E. Hard. The Ohio Library Co., Columbus, Ohio.
COMMON NORTH AMERICAN TREES
White Pine (_Pinus strobus_)
A noble evergreen tree, up to 175 feet high. This is the famous pine
of New England, the lumberman's prize. Its leaves are in bunches of
five, and are 3 to 5 inches long; cones 4 to 6 inches long. Wood pale,
soft, straight-grained, easily split. Newfoundland to Manitoba and
south to Illinois.
[Illustration: White pine]
[Illustration: Hemlock]
[Illustration: Red cedar]
{128}
There are many different kinds of pines. They are best distinguished
by their cones.
Hemlock (_Tsuga Canadensis_)
Evergreen. Sixty to seventy feet high. Wood pale, soft, coarse,
splintery, not durable. Bark full of tannin. Leaves 1/2 to 3/4 inches
long; cones about the same. Its knots are so hard that they quickly
turn the edge of an axe or gap it as a stone might; these are probably
the hardest vegetable growth in our woods. Its topmost twig usually
points easterly. Nova Scotia to Minnesota, south to Delaware and
Michigan.
[Illustration: Cottonwood]
[Illustration: Shagbark]
[Illustration: Walnut]
Red Cedar (_Juniperus Virginiana_)
Evergreen. Any height up to 100 feet. Wood, heart a beautiful bright
red; sap wood nearly white; soft, weak, but extremely durable as
posts, etc. Makes a good bow. The tiny scale-like leaves are 3 to 6 to
the inch; the berry-like cones are light blue and 1/4 of an inch in
diameter. It is found in dry places from Nova Scotia to Florida and
west to British Columbia.
Cottonwood (_Populus deltoides_)
Small and rare in the Northeast, but abundant and large {129} in West;
even 150 feet high. Leaves 3 to 6 inches long. Found from Quebec to
Florida and west to the mountains.
Shagbark or White Hickory (_Hicoria ovata_)
A tall forest tree up to 120 feet high. Known at once by the great
angular slabs of bark hanging partly detached from its main trunk,
forced off by the growth of wood, but too tough to fall. Its leaves
are 8 to 14 inches long, with 5 to 7 broad leaflets.
Black Walnut (_Juglans nigra_)
A magnificent forest tree up to 150 feet high. Wood, a dark
purplish-brown or gray; hard, close-grained, strong, very durable in
weather or ground work, and heavy; fruit round, 1-3/4 inches through.
Leaflets 13 to 23, and 3 to 5 inches long. Found from Canada to the
Gulf.
White Walnut or Butternut (_Juglans cinerea_)
A much smaller tree than the last, rarely 100 feet high, with much
smoother bark, leaves similar but larger and coarser, compound of
fewer leaflets, but the leaflet stalks and the new twigs are covered
with sticky down. Leaves 15 to 30 inches long, leaflets 11 to 19 in
number and 3 to 5 inches long; fruit oblong, 2 to 3 inches long. New
Brunswick and Dakota and south to Mississippi.
Common Birch or Aspen-leaved Birch (_Betula populifolia_)
A small tree on dry and poor soil, rarely 50 feet high. Wood soft,
close-grained, not strong, splits in drying, useless for weather or
ground work. A cubic foot weighs 36 pounds. Leaves 2 to 3 inches long.
It has a black triangular scar at each armpit. The canoe birch is
without these black marks. New Brunswick to Ontario to Pennsylvania
and Delaware.
Black Birch, Sweet Birch, or Mahogany Birch (_Betula lenta_)
The largest of the birches; a great tree, in Northern forests up to 80
feet high. The bark is scarcely birchy, rather like that of {130}
cherry, very dark, and aromatic. Leaves 2-1/2 to 6 inches long.
Newfoundland to Western Ontario and south to Tennessee.
[Illustration: Ashen-leaved birch]
[Illustration: Black birch]
[Illustration: Beech]
Beech (_Fagus Americana_)
In all North America there is but one species of beech. It is a noble
forest tree, 70 to 80 and occasionally 120 feet high, readily
distinguished by its smooth, ashy-gray bark. Leaves 3 to 4 inches
long. It shares with hickory and sugar maple the honor of being a
perfect firewood. Nova Scotia to Wisconsin, south to Florida and
Texas.
Chestnut (_Castanea dentata_)
A noble tree, 60 to 80 or even 100 feet high. The most delicious of
nuts. Leaves 6 to 8 inches long. Maine to Michigan and south to
Tennessee.
Red Oak (_Quercus rubra_)
A fine forest tree, 70 to 80 or even 140 feet high. Hard, strong,
coarse-grained, heavy. It checks, warps, and does not stand for
weather or ground work. The acorn takes two {131} seasons to ripen.
Leaves 4 to 8 inches long. Nova Scotia to Minnesota, south to Texas
and Florida.
White Oak (_Quercus alba_)
A grand forest tree, over 100 up to 150 feet high. Wood pale, strong,
tough, fine-grained, durable and heavy, valuable timber. Called white
from pale color of bark and wood. Leaves 5 to 9 inches long. Acorns
ripen in one season. Maine to Minnesota, Florida and Texas.
[Illustration: Chestnut]
[Illustration: Red oak]
[Illustration: White oak]
White Elm or Swamp Elm (_Ulmus Americana_)
A tall, splendid forest tree, commonly 100, occasionally 120 feet
high. Wood reddish-brown, hard, strong, tough, very hard to split,
coarse, heavy. Soon rots near the ground. Leaves 2 to 5 inches long.
Flowers in early spring before leafing. Abundant, Newfoundland and
Manitoba to Texas.
Sycamore, Plane Tree, Buttonball or Buttonwood (_Platanus occidentalis_)
One of the largest of our trees; up to 140 feet high; commonly hollow.
Little use for weather work. Famous for shedding {132} its bark as well as
its leaves; leaves 4 to 9 inches long. Canada to Gulf.
Black or Yellow Locust, Silver Chain (_Robinia pseudacacia_)
A tall forest tree up to 80 feet high; leaves 8 to 14 inches long;
leaflets 9 to 19, 1 to 2 inches long, pods 2 to 4 inches long, 4 to 7
seeded. This is the common locust so often seen about old lawns.
[Illustration: White elm]
[Illustration: Sycamore]
[Illustration: Black locust]
Red, Scarlet, Water, or Swamp Maple (_Acer rubrum_)
A fine, tall tree, often over 100 feet high. Noted for its flaming
crimson foliage in fall, as well as its red leaf stalks, flowers, and
fruit, earlier. Leaves 2 to 6 inches long. Like all the maples it
produces sugar, though in this case not much. Western North America.
The sugar maple is a larger, finer tree.
[Illustration: Red maple]
[Illustration: White ash]
White Ash (_Fraxinus Americana_)
A fine tree on moist soil. Seventy to 80 or even 130 feet high. Yellow
in autumn; noted for being last to leaf and first {133} to shed in the
forest. Called white for the silvery under sides of the leaves; these
are 8 to 12 inches long, each leaflet 3 to 6 inches long. Nova Scotia
to Texas.
For a full unbotanical account of one hundred and twenty of our finest
trees with their uses as wood, their properties, and the curious and
interesting things about them see:
"The Forester's Manual: or Forest Trees That Every Scout Should Know."
By Ernest Thompson Seton.
NATIVE WILD ANIMALS
Every scout ought to know the principal wild animals that are found in
North America. He need not know them as a naturalist, but as a hunter,
as a camper. Here is a brief account of twenty-four of them, and those
who wish to know more will find the fullest possible account in "Life
Histories of North America," by E. T. Seton. (Scribners, 1909.) These
two volumes are found in all large libraries.
[Illustration: Elk]
Elk or Wapiti (_Cervus canadensis_)
This is smaller than the moose. It stands four to five feet at the
shoulder and weighs four hundred to eight hundred pounds. It is known
by its rounded horns and the patch of yellowish-white on the rump and
tail. At one time this splendid animal was found throughout temperate
America from the Atlantic to the Pacific, north to Massachusetts, the
Ottawa River, the Peace River, and British Columbia; and south to
Georgia, Texas, and southern California. It is now exterminated except
in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta; Vancouver Island, Washington,
Wyoming and a few localities in the mountain states and in parks where
it has been reintroduced.
{134}
The elk of Washington is very dark in color; that of the
Southwest is very pale and small.
White-tailed Deer (_Odocoileus virginianus_)
This is the best known of the common deer of America. It is
distinguished by the forward bend of the horns, with the snags
pointing backward, and by its long tail which is brown or blackish
above and pure white below. Its face is gray, its throat white. A fair
sized buck weighs two hundred pounds, live weight. A few have been
taken of over three hundred and fifty pounds weight. In the Southern
states they run much smaller. Several varieties have been described.
It was found formerly in all of the timber states east of the Rockies;
also in Ontario south of Lake Nipissing, in south Quebec and south New
Brunswick. At present it is exterminated in the highly cultivated
states of the Middle West, but has spread into northern Ontario, New
Brunswick, and Manitoba.
[Illustration: White-tailed deer]
[Illustration: Mule deer]
[Illustration: Moose]
Mule Deer (_Odocoileus hemionus_)
This is the commonest deer of the hill country in the centre of the
continent. It is found in the mountains from Mexico to British
Columbia and northeasterly Saskatchewan and the Lake of the Woods. It
is known by its {135} double-forked horns, its large ears, the dark
patch on the forehead, the rest of the face being whitish. Also by its
tail which is white with a black bunch on the end. This is a larger
deer than the White-tail. There are several varieties of it in the
South and West.
Moose (_Alces americanus_)
This is the largest of the deer tribe. It stands five and a half to
six and a half feet at the withers and weighs eight hundred to one
thousand pounds. It is readily distinguished by its flat horns and
pendulous, hairy muzzle. It is found in all the heavily timbered
regions of Canada and Alaska and enters the United States in Maine,
Adirondacks, Minnesota, Montana, Idaho, and northwestern Wyoming.
Those from Alaska are of gigantic stature.
In all our deer the antlers are grown and shed each year, reaching
perfection in autumn for the mating season. They are found in the
males only, except in the caribou, in which species the females also
have small horns.
[Illustration: Antelope]
Antelope (_Antilocapra americana_)
The antelope is famous as the swiftest quadruped native in America. It
is a small creature, less than a common deer; a fair-sized buck weighs
about one hundred pounds. It is known by its rich buff color with pure
white patches, by having only two hoofs on each foot, and by the horns
which are of true horn, like those of a goat, but have a snag or
branch and are shed each year. In the female the horns are little
points about an inch long.
Formerly the antelope abounded on all the high plains from Manitoba to
Mexico and west to Oregon and California. It is now reduced to a few
straggling bands in the central and wildest parts of the region.
Mountain Goat (_Oreamnos montanus_)
The mountain goat is known at once by its pure white coat of wool and
hair, its black horns, and peculiar shape. It is {136} above the size
of a common deer; that is, a full grown male weighs two hundred and
fifty to three hundred pounds; the female a third less. It is famous
for its wonderful power as a rock climber and mountaineer. It is found
in the higher Rockies, chiefly above timber lines, from central Idaho
to Alaska.
[Illustration: Goat]
[Illustration: Woodchuck]
[Illustration: Beaver]
Woodchuck (_Marmota monax_)
The common woodchuck is a grizzly brown on the back, chestnut on the
breast, blackish on the crown and paws, and whitish on the cheeks. Its
short ears and bushy tail are important characteristics. It measures
about twenty-four inches of which the tail is five and a half inches
and weighs five to ten pounds.
It is found in all the wooded parts of Canada from the Rockies to the
Atlantic and south in the eastern states to about 40 degrees latitude.
Beaver (_Castor canadensis_)
The beaver is known by its great size--weighing from twenty-five to
fifty pounds--its chestnut color, darker on the crown, its webbed
feet, and its broad, flat, naked, scaly tail. The pelt of this animal
is a valuable fur. The creature is famous for building dams and
digging canals. It was found wherever there was water and timber in
North America north of Mexico, but is now exterminated in most highly
settled regions.
Muskrat (_Fiber zibethicus_)
The muskrat is about the size of a cat; that is, it is twenty-one
inches long, of which the tail is ten inches. In color it somewhat
resembles the beaver, but its feet are not conspicuously webbed, its
tail is long and flattened vertically, not {137} horizontally. This
abundant animal is found throughout North America within the limit of
trees wherever there is fresh water. It is the most abundant fur on
the market.
[Illustration: Muskrat]
[Illustration: Black-tailed jack rabbit]
Jack Rabbit (_Lepus Californicus_)
The jack-rabbit, famous for its speed and its ears, is known by its
size, which about doubles that of a common rabbit and the jet black
stripe running from its back into its tail. It is found on the plains
from Nebraska to Oregon and south to Mexico. There are several
different varieties.
Cottontail (_Sylvilagus floridanus_)
The common eastern cottontail is known from the snowshoe by its
smaller feet and its much larger, longer tail, which is gray above,
and snow-white underneath. Sometimes the common tame rabbit resembles
the cottontail in general color, but the latter has the top of its
tail black.
The cottontails do not turn white in winter. They are found in most
parts of the United States, entering Canada only in the Ontario
peninsula and southern Saskatchewan.
[Illustration: Cottontail]
Cougar or Panther (_Felis couguar_)
The cougar has been called the American lion; it is the largest cat in
the western world except the jaguar or American {138} tiger. It is
known by its unspotted brown coat, its long, heavy tail, and its size.
A male cougar weighs one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds; a
few have been taken over that. The females are a third smaller. The
young in first coat have black spots.
The cougar never attacks man but preys on deer, horses, calves, etc.
There are several different forms; one or other of these is (or was)
found from Ottawa, Minnesota, and Vancouver Island to Patagonia.
[Illustration: Cougar]
[Illustration: Lynx]
[Illustration: Wild cat or bob cat]
Wild Cat or Bob Cat (_Lynx rufus_)
This is somewhat like the Canada lynx but is more spotted, has smaller
feet, and the tail has several dark bars above and is pure white on
the under side of the tip.
There are several species of bob cats; they cover the timbered states
and enter Canada in Ontario, going north to Lake Simcoe.
Fox (_Vulpes fulvus_)
The fox is about four feet from snout to tail tip; of this the tail is
sixteen inches or more; it stands about fifteen inches at the
shoulder. It rarely weighs over fifteen pounds and sometimes barely
ten. The fox is known by its bright, sandy-red coat, black ears and
paws, its white throat, and the white tip at the end of the tail. At a
distance the fox's ears and tail look very large. The silver or black
fox is a mere color freak with black coat and white tail tip. Red
foxes are found throughout the heavily timbered parts of North America
north of latitude thirty-five degrees.
Gray Wolf (_Canis occidentalis_)
The wolf is simply a big wild dog with exceptionally strong jaws and
general gray color, becoming dirty white on the under part. The wolf
is found in all parts of North America, except where settlement has
driven it out, and varies in color with locality. The Florida wolves
are black, Texan wolves are reddish, and Arctic wolves are white.
Wolves weigh from {139} seventy-five to one hundred and twenty pounds
and are distinguishable from coyotes by the heavy muzzle and jaws,
greater size, and comparatively small tail, which is often held aloft.
Wolves nowadays rarely molest man.
Coyote (_Canis latrans_)
The common coyote is like a small and delicate edition of the gray
wolf. It is much smaller, weighing only twenty to thirty pounds, and
is distinguished by its sharp, fox-like muzzle and large bushy tail,
which is rarely raised to the level. In color it is much like the
ordinary gray wolf but usually more tinged with yellow. It is found in
all the interior country from Wisconsin to Oregon and from Mexico to
Great Slave Lake. There are several different varieties. It never
attacks man.
Otter (_Lutra canadensis_)
The otter is a large water weasel with close, dense, shiny fur and
webbed feet. It is known by its color--dark brown above shaded into
dark gray below and white on the cheeks without any markings--and by
its size. It is about forty inches long and weighs about twenty
pounds. It is found throughout North America within the limit of
trees. Its fur is very valuable. It feeds on fish.
[Illustration: Otter]
[Illustration: Weasel]
Weasel (_Putorius noveboracensis_)
The common weasel of New England is about the size of a big rat; that
is, it is sixteen inches long and all brown with the exception of
white chin, throat, breast, and paws, and black tip to the tail. In
winter it turns white except the tail tip; that does not change.
The whole continent is inhabited by weasels of one kind or another. To
the north there is a smaller kind with shorter tail; on the prairies a
large kind with a very long tail; but all are of the same general
style and habits. A very small one, {140} the least weasel, is only
six inches long. It is found chiefly in Canada.
Mink (_Putorius vison_)
The mink is simply a water weasel. It is known by its size, larger
than that of a common weasel, as it is twenty-four inches long of
which the tail is seven inches; also by its deep brown color all over
except the throat and chin which are pure white. Its fur is brown,
harder and glossier than that of the marten, and worth about a quarter
as much. It does not turn white in the winter. One form or another of
mink is found over all the unarid parts of North America from the
north limit of trees to the Gulf of Mexico.
[Illustration: Mink]
[Illustration: Skunk]
[Illustration: Badger]
Skunk (_Mephitis mephitica_)
The skunk is known at once by its black coat with white stripes, its
immense bushy tail tipped with white, and its size, nearly that of a
cat. It weighs three to seven pounds. It ranges from Virginia to
Hudson Bay. In the Northwest is a larger kind weighing twice as much
and with black tip to tail. Various kinds range over the continent
south of latitude 55 degrees. It is harmless and beautiful. The smell
gun for which it is famous is a liquid musk; this is never used except
in the extreme of self-defence.
Badger (_Taxidea taxus_)
The common badger is known by its general whitish-gray color, the
black and white markings on the head, the black paws, and the strong
claws for digging. It weighs from twelve to twenty-two pounds. That
is, it is about the size of a 'coon. {141} It is found in all the
prairie and plains country from the Saskatchewan Valley to Mexico and
from Wisconsin to the Pacific.
Raccoon (_Procyon lotor_)
The 'coon looks like a small gray bear with a bushy ringed tail and a
large black patch on each eye. Its paws look like hands, and it has
the full number of five fingers or toes on each extremity. It is found
in all wooded regions from Manitoba south to Mexico and from Atlantic
to Pacific, except the desert and Rocky Mountain region.
[Illustration: Racoon]
[Illustration: Opossum]
[Illustration: Gray Squirrel]
Opossum (_Didelphis marsupialis_)
The opossum is famous for carrying its young in a pouch in front of
the body. It may be known by its dirty-white woolly fur, its long,
naked, prehensile tail, its hand-like paws, its white face and sharp
muzzle, and the naked pink and blue ears. In size it resembles a cat.
The 'possum is found from Connecticut to Florida and westerly to
California.
Gray-squirrel (_Sciurus carolinensis_)
America is particularly rich in squirrels. Not counting
ground-squirrels or chipmunks, we have over seventy-five different
forms on this continent. The widest spread is probably the
red-squirrel; but the best known in the United States is the common
gray-squirrel. Its gray coat white breast, and immense {142} bushy
tail are familiar to all eastern children. It is found in most of the
hardwood timber east of the Mississippi and south of the Ottawa River
and the State of Maine. Most of the nut trees in the woods of this
region were planted by the gray-squirrel.
Black Bear (_Ursus americanus_)
This is the common bear of America. It is known at once by its jet
black color and brown nose. Its claws are short, rarely over an inch
long, and curved, serving better as climbers than do the long claws of
the grizzly. Two hundred pounds would be a good sized female, three
hundred a male; but Florida black bears have been taken weighing five
hundred pounds. Sometimes freaks with cinnamon-brown coats are found.
This bear is found throughout North America wherever there is timber.
NOTES
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Notes
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Notes
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