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RED SQUIRREL.

The most active of all squirrels. He scolds loudly t anpthir.
displeases him. Also vert destructive to the eggs and acung of
birds.

NATURE STUDIES

pee

FIELD AND WOOD

BY

CHESTER A. REED, B. S.

Author of ‘‘Land Birds,” ‘‘Water Birds,’’ Flower Guide,”
“N. A. Birds’ Eggs,” ‘‘Camera Studies of Wild Birds,''etc.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR.

1911
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & Co.
GARDEN City, N. Y.

Copyright,
1911
Chas. K. Reed, Worcester, Mass.

CONTENTS

PAGE
Tewtui-Tarte Tracks

Rabbit, Fox, Weasel............ 000000 eeeeeee 5
Tue AWAKENING

First Flowers, Bumblebees .............-.-0---5 12
TuHrovucH Fietp anp Meapow

The American Toad ........ 0... cece eee eee 20

Phe: Wise Ames ie bcs ec cbns Sodan ks ae Laie dh coacace 24

Wasps; Mud-daubers ............... 000.0 00005 29

Webs and Their Makers ........... 0.000: eeee 32

Milkweed. .ci:A0+ ve dxicnecn “hlde eee eee eee ees 39

Reptiless Snakes ani. gag) ech arsceela age eee bak ode 41

The Inoffensive Skunk .............0 cece ec eeeee 46
Ponp anp Swamp Lire

Dragon-flies ............. Beatin he Com tee eaten neuer toe 49

OP at ES siasiedd njd-aed eeodeewranc husclee Paaile eS Meee aS 52

Frogs: saebsdecgeear teks ieee ie eee e 56

The Pitcher Plant <. seca “she. ali eee ees wey 59

ORGHIAS! aces tel Paces a dae es ahs fain pidans anaes 61
Atone THE Brook

The: Brook Trout isc weseavae wear e es eerenaes 64

CBA AISA ERS oe sics tasers ees EOE GO AG is RRS 70

Wateér-Striders: 6-5 S423 ao eee Ger ee eee e7O

TuroveH Tue Woops

Squirrels. 55 havi ierGieher a kee: Were 73
Tree Brg: cic ci epee Sehes Sarin’ Gees alas Feed 76
Cocoons and Chrysalids ........... 6.00 e eee 78
Tehnetimon EWe6S 2 csaee yes eee as eee eee 85

SrEp TRAVELERS? 02.5.8 dGn Ga Sieh eee ES 89

INTRODUCTION

Natural History is a great subject,—a stupendous one.
It embraces all out-of-doors. Go where he will, the natur-
alist will find a wealth of material awaiting him. This
book is not in any sense a Natural History,—it is merely
an ‘‘awakener” to bring to the attention of those who like
to ramble in field and wood, the many absorbingly interest-
ing things that await the investigator.

There is nothing that will so develop the senses of per-
ception and the powers of observation as the study of the
hosts of animate and inanimate things that abound every-
where. I have often taken country walks with people who
certainly must miss more than half the joys of such outings.
The song of a Scarlet Tanager directly overhead attract-
ed not a single glance; the angry chipperings of a squirrel
were unheard; the beautiful canary-like song of the Indigo
Bunting might just as well not have been sung as far as
my companion was concerned; even the scare and surprise
at the thunderous noise of a Ruffed Grouse that flushed
from almost under foot did not interest him enough to
notice the nest-full of eggs that she hed left.

While such things are not all-important, it would appear
to me that a person alive enough to note the common things
that were happening about him would be better able to
cope with any situation in life that might occur, than one
blind to them. I believe every boy and every girl should
be educated to know the common birds, flowers, mammals,
insects, ete. I think it will not be a very distant day when
this recreative-study will be a regular part of every school
course, even as it is now in a great many.

TELLTALE TRACKS:

It is not necessary for the Nature student to forego his
pleasures during the winter months, in fact a great many
things may be learned at that season that are impossible to
discover during the warm months. Snow is a great tell-
tale —it records everything that passes on foot. One ac-
customed to staying at home, would be surprised at the
numbers of creatures that are abroad when the ground is
covered with snow.

A Tame Bunny and her Litter.

In a sheltered spot in a wooded hollow where the sun’s
rays are able to produce quite a degree of heat even on a
cold day. we find an old stump. On the white mantle about
it are innumerable tiny footprints.—just the merest pairs of
dots showing that the creature was exceedingly light in

rc
U

weight. So it was, for the one or ones that made the
tracks were the tiny White-footed Mice that we often find
in woods. In a great many places we will find straight
dashes between or alongside the foot-prints—made by the
long tails of the little rodents. They live in comfort far
down mnong the roots of the old stump, having plenty of
food stored therein to last them through the winter, but
they like. when the weather is fine, to come outside and
romp about.

Showing the form of rabbit tracks; the wide-spread hind feet in front
and the smaller fore-feet prints behind

Even in winter, though, mice are not without enemies,—
apt to come upon them at any moment. A sly weasel may
scent out their retreat and his lithe, sinuous body enables
him to follow them to the innermost recesses of their homes;
ora hungry fox, Jacking other, larger food, may condescend
to dig them out if the stump should prove soft enough.

7

Among the trails most commonly seen are those of rab-
bits——unmistakable footprints, the two fore feet near to-
gether then the wider-spread, over-reaching hind ones. I
followed a trail for some distance since it happened to be
going in my direction. Bunny was loping along at a leis-
urely gait, the footprints being two to three feet apart.
Suddenly the regular groups of prints stopped; an irregu-
lar blotch showed that she was sitting up listening. The
next group of prints was about eight feet distant and,
from then on, they varied from six to ten feet apart. What
had alarmed bunny became apparent about two hundred
yards farther on; the tracks of a hound came into the rab-
bit trail at right angles and then followed rapidly along it.
I could imagine the deep baying as the hound followed the
trail with nose and eyes.

Once around a swamp it led, and then across a large
field. Half way across the two animal trails were aug-
mented by two more,—the big footprints of two men.
From all appearances, the trail was getting warm and
would soon terminate. Sure enough, it did,—at the stone
wall bounding the farther side of the field. Here a large
pile of stones (pulled from the wall but, as usual, not re-
placed) showed where bunny had taken refuge from his
four-legged pursuer, only to be pulled out by the two-legged
ones. From this spot two pairs of shoe prints and one
hound-trail led away as the owners went off in search of
more game.

Another trail that has interested me is that of foxes. Of
course, to follow the trail of a single fox through his wan-
derings of a day and night would involve a tramp beyond
the physical abilities of any man. Still, quite a complete
record of the doings of Reynard can be made out of the
trails that have come to our notice from time to time. For
instance, we may see where he has nosed about the farmer’s
hen house, hoping to find some way of entrance; we find a
spot where he has successfully stalked a grouse or a pheas-
ant, the snow plainly showing where he slyly sneaked up

THE RED FON

Perhaps the most cunning of all wild mammals. His food cousrsts
largely of rabbits, mice and bys.

behind a stump. and the fatal spring.--only a few teathers
testifying of his success: again we judge that he failed be-
eause of the lack of these feathers. We may find where he
has tried the same tacties, quite often suecesstully, upon
feeding flocks of snowflakes, Juncos or sparrows.

We may find where hounds have taken up the ehase and,
should we care to follow the long trail we may find where
he has succeeded in throwing them off his trail by walking

9

along the top of a wall, or a fencerail or even up the bed
of a brook. Less often we may find where the hunter had
waited in ambush and laid him low with a broadside of shot
when he was least expecting it.

Ah! Here we find the trade-mark, as it is. of another
animal cressing the fresh snow,—the trail of a

WEASEL.

No animal may tread on Winter’s mantle without writing
its name as plainly before the naturalist as though it were
spelled in letters. We follow the pairs of dots, indicating
the leisurely lope of a weasel, across the field and along
the wall. Presently he stops. even as we do, and closely
examines another trade-mark in the form of footprints,—
those of a red squirrel. leading from some small trees to
the wall. The snow shows plainly where the white animal
sniffed at the tracks of the red one and then followed it in
through a crevice between the stones. Probably even now,
somewhere in the length of the w=ll the weasel is drinking
the life blood of its victim.

We often see weasel tracks in winter and the results of
their depredations both in winter and summer, but we very
seldom see the animals themselves for they are exceedingly
sly. In winter their coats are as white as the snow itself
so that even should they show themselves in the open it
would be very difficult to see them. In this winter fur. they
are known, trapped and sold as ermine. The best and
largest ermine or weasel skins are those secured in the most
northern countries,—Siberia, Russia, Lapland, Canada and
Alaska.

With the exception of a tiny weasel, barely six inches
long, found in the northwestern states, every known spe-
cies has a black tip to the tail. All northern forms change
from white in winter to brown in summer, so that they are
practically “‘ground color” all the time.

Rabbits, mice, squirrels, all kinds of birds and poultry

10

have regular places on the weasel bill of fare. Although
small animals requiring comparatively little food, weasels
are the most bloodthirsty of all animals; their Just for kill-
ing leads them invariably !. kill many times what they
need. Lithe and powerf. © they ean, if necessury, in a
few bounds overtake the fleetng rabbit; they are nearly as
active in trees, if oceasion demands, as are squirrels; they
can follow the tortuous course of the tinicst of animals
through walls or underground passages; or. and this is the
usual manner of hunting, they can stalk their game and
spring upon it unawares.

WEASEL IN WINTER DRESS

A little sinuous body that allows tt to follow it’s prev through walls or
along underground tunnels.

Tt is small wonder that the hand of man is ever raised
against them, both because of the value of their fur and
because of their destructive habits. Cruel as they certain-

41
ik

ly are, they are not lacking in courage; indeed, I know of
no animal that will show as much fight to the last gasp. I
have seen several of them killed by dogs but every one of
them managed to turn and sink his fangs through the dog’s
lips. I once “‘cut’’ one off from retreat to a stone wall; in-
stead of running, it faced me, with ears flattened, eyes blaz-
ing and needle-like teeth exposed. When I attempted to
touch it with a stick it launched itself straight at me. They
are particularly ferocious in summer when they have a fam-
ily of little weasels close at hand.

12

THE AWAKENING—FIRST FLOWERS.

After months of snow-covered ground, what more natur-
al than that one should feel a thrill of satisfaction at seeing
the first returning bird or finding the first flower . There is,
however, a difference of opinion as to which is the first
flower, some claiming one species, some another. Perhaps
I should say that this difference of opinion is really con-
fined to the second flower to bloom for it is almost univer-
sally conceded that, in the northern half of the United
States, the common, lowly Skunk Cabbage first pokes its
curious blossom above ground; many, however, refuse to
consider this as a flower,—hence the dispute.

A careful search of many records and opinions shows
that a large majority favor Hepatica which coincides with
my experience as I have always found these beautiful blos-
soms several weeks in advance of anything else except
Skunk Cabbage.

Sometimes in January, more often in February and al-
ways by March we find these commonly despised flowers in
full bloom in marshy meadows. Curious things,—thick,
brittle-skinned with a twisted point that seems to have be-
come bent and mis-shapen forcing its way up through the
frozen earth; such is the outward appearance, but this is
not the real flower,—just a spathe or protector for them.
To some it may appear almost sacreligious to mention the
beautiful calla lily in the same breath with skunk cabbage,
but the two are very closely related, the pure white face of
the calla being a spathe just as is the purplish, distorted
covering of the present species.

Inside this spathe, we will find the real flowers clustered
about a very stout, corrugated spadix. Even though bloom-
ing so early in the season, skunk cabbage is largely depen-
dent upon bees and flies for the setting of its seed; the
staminate flowers are clustered at the top and the pistil-
late ones at the bottom of the spadix, the former maturing
first requires the services of flies as messengers to carry the

is

pollen from one plant to another more advanced one in
which the lower flowers are developed. Many small, bee-

?

*
'
'
4

SKUNK CABBAGE

The thick fteshy blossoms appear and commence to wither before the
bright green foliage shows ttself.

14

like flies hibernate under the leaves and awaken at the first
warm sun-rays; it is these that are commonly found about
the first skunk cabbages. A little later, early in April,
many forms of carrion flies and beetles are attracted to
them by the offensive odor that pervades the air for yards
about them.

Although possessing the same mal-odorous properties, the
handsome, large light green leaves that follow the flowers
are, nevertheless an attractive addition to the appearances
of marshes and brook-sides.

When we seek the second flower on our list we must hie
away to some dry wooded hillside. Early in March, in
New England, we may find them smiling at us from among
the dead leaves or it may be that we must first brush the
snow aside to get a glimpse of them, for they often bloom
under the snow. It is so long a time since we have seen
real, wild flowers that we must stop to admire them, no mat-
ter what our errand or how great our hurry. As though
to recompense us for the ugliness of the skunk cabbage,
this second arrival is one of the fairest and most beautiful
flowers that we have.

Hepatica is one of the few plants producing flowers of
differing shades. On one plant the flowers may be pale
blue, on another pink and on a third pure white; they vary,
too, in size, some spreading twice as wide as others. Leaves
of the previous year, of a dull reddish hue, are on the plant
during the flowering season; new bright green ones appear
after the blossoms have passed away.

Following closely on the heels of hepatica come the fuz-
zy pussy-willows and the far-famed arbutus which, unfor-
tunately, is being gathered much more freely than its nat-
ural increase warrants. It has already become very scarce
in the neighborhood of large cities. I hope that all readers
who gather these beautiful, fragrant blossoms will avoid
disturbing the roots at least. The flowers following hepa-
tica come in such profusion and the order varies so greatly
in a slight change of locality that a single such list is avail-
able only in the spot that it was made.

15

AWAKENING FERNS

The tightly coiled fronds are entirely swathed in brown wool. This
wool 1s used by a great many birds for nesting matertal, the interior of
that of the humming bird betng almost entirely composed of this substance.

16
THE BUMBLEBEE.

Many flies and small bees make their appearance earlier
in the year than the large bumblebee (Bombus); a few
warm days in succession, however, will bring Bombus bum-
bling around in search of pollen and honey. We will look
into the life history of Bombus just a bit, because we will
see her at work or see results of her labor wherever we go
in wood or field, and because she is one of the most useful
of insects.

New colonies of bumblebees have to be produced each
year, for upon the approach of winter the workers and the
drones die, leaving only some of the females which hide
away and remain in a comatose state during cold weather.
Immediately upon emerging from her winter retreat, Bom-
bus visits such pollen-bearing flowers as are open and allays
her hunger, then she looks up a suitable place for a nest,
on the ground in the grass or perhaps under the edge of a
stone. :

Wax cells are built, one at a time, until the little hive con-
tains a dozen or more. Each cell is filled with a mixture
of honey and pollen as food for the larvae that will hatch
from the egg she deposits in each—then the cell is serled.
The first family is composed wholly, or chiefly, of workers;
they build more cells in which the original queen lays eggs,
and the larvae are fed and cared for by the workers. This
second crop of bees usually appearing early in August; is
composed of females and drones (males).

The social life practically terminates at this time, the
nest being deserted and its occupants going in all directions,
mingling with those of other colonies. Therefore it is
seen that the social life is not nearly as complete as with
the well known honey-bees and the colonies are never nearly
as large.

JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT.
Common tn swamps or other motst places. The slippery
intertor often proves a fatal trap to msects that enter for food or
shelter.

MOUNTAIN LAUREL.

Locally abundant in woods. Each stamen 1s sprung mto ¢
pocket and upon its release spreads pollen about.

17
VALUE OF BEES.

Bees may safely be reckoned as one of our nation’s most
valuable assets. It is not the honey they produce that is
their chief value, but the fact that they are necessary and
useful for the reproduction of a very great many of our
plants. This is very commonly known but is so interest-
ing that it will bear repetition. Before mentioning some of
the cases in which the visits of bees are necessary to flowers
it will be quite necessary to say something about the man-
ners (also well known) in which so-called specialized flow-
ers are fertilized.

-- Stigma
--Pisti

‘Saiva\
| Neral

PEAR BLOSSOM
Showing the parts of a perfect flower.

T have taken as an illustration of a perfect flower, a pear
blossom. Notice particularly the stamens and pistil; the
|

18

former are tipped with anthers containing pollen grains,
the latter has at the top a sticky stigma from which a very
slender tube leads to the base containing the ovules. In
order to quicken or set the seed, pollen from the anthers
must be deposited upon the stigma.

The least highly developed plants fertilize themselves,
that is the anthers and stigma are so located that pollen
falls directly from one to the other, or the stamens may
gradually curve inward when the pollen is ripened so as to
place it in contact with the stigma.

A great many of the more highly developed plants have
the pistils and stamens so situated that self-fertilization is
impossible. In which cases it is necessary that some
medium transport the valuable grains from the anthers to
their destined places of repose.

The great naturalist Darwin discovered that the intro-
duction of new stock is just as vital to a strong healthy race
of plants as it is among animals, and that many plants were
so arranged that reproduction could not take place without
the introduction of pollen from another blossom and, in
some cases, from another plant. Certain flowers are infer-
tile to their own pollen; others have the pollen ripen before
the stigma of the same flower is in condition to receive it,
still others have only stamens on one blossom and anthers
on others, sometimes on the same and sometimes on different
plants. These conditions mean that pollen must be carried
from flower to flower or plant to plant, and the agency for
doing this is principally insects. Certain specialized flow-
ers require the assistance of certain moths, the tongues of
which are of just the right length to reach the store of
nectar and also accomplish the purpose to the flowers. The
big bumblebee, however, is the benefactor of a greater va-
riety of flowers than any other one insect.

Bees, of all kinds, are particularly well adapted by na-
ture for this work. They are comparatively heavy, strong
and are steady workers. Butterflies flit aimlessly about,
often stopping to rest for hours at a time; they have no-
body but themselves to look after so they can dine when

19

hungry and rest when tired. On the other hand, bees are
always bustling about; they have many babies at home to
feed and can stop work neither to play nor rest.

Investigation will show, too, that bees are very constant
in their work. Although they feed upon many kinds of
flowers, they do not mix their foods; if they are visiting
clover, they continue to visit it, passing by any other spe-
cies that may intervene. It seems almost as though they
must realize that they should not leave clover pollen at the
door of self-heal or any other different species of flower.
Not that it would do any damage, for nearly all flowers
are infertile to pollen from any other species, but it would
be a useless waste of precious pollen.

Bombus finds the latchstring out at many flowers that are
permanently closed to most insect visitors. For instance
her weight is just sufficient, when hanging on the lower lip
of toadflax or “‘butter-and-eggs” to open its pouting mouth
so she can insert her tongue and drain its nectary. Smaller
bees and, sometimes, ants finding that the large orange
palate blocks access to the honey by legitimate channels,
often gnaw through the spur and steal it from without.
Another excellent example of a flower closed to plebian in-
sects is that of closed gentian. The five parts of its corolla
come together so closely at the top that, try as they will,
ant, fly or small bee cannot force it open, but they do some-
times gnaw through the outside. Bombus, however, by
using the great strength in her legs and her tongue grad-
ually forces the petals apart so she can squeeze her head
and perhaps three-quarters of her body inside the tube,
from which position she can get at the abundant supply of
nectar at the bottom.

Probably the orchids offer the most interesting studies in
plant fertilization. Concrete examples of how bees and
moths pollenize some of these will be found in another
chapter about orchids.

20
THROUGH FIELD AND MEADOW.

Let us drop our business cares for awhile and hie away
to the fields. Perhaps we can find something to while
away the time for a few hours. We certainly can:—Show
me an acre field dotted with a few thorn bushes and oc-
casional blackberry vines and I will show you material
enough to keep a naturalist busy for years.

Perhaps the first thing we spy is a toad,—just a plain,
every-day, hop-toad. Here is a good study,—where do
toads come from, what do they do and where do they go?
We will pry a little into the affairs of

THE AMERICAN TOAD (Bufo americanus).

We do not even have to go to the fields to study the
habits of toads for we can find them on the lawns or in the
gardens about houses even in cities. A long-limbed, sleek,
brightly-marked frog may be regarded as an object of
beauty but a toad cannot be so considered; squat, fat, lazy
and covered with a rough, warty skin, they are the very
opposite of frogs in comeliness. But, we will not judge
them by appearances but by actions; they are insect de-
stroyers of the highest order. While they sleep all win-
ter, they eat quadruple rations all the rest of the vear for
their digestion is very rapid, requiring that their stomach
be completely filled about four times each day. I believe
it has been estimated that owing to the nature and quantity
of insects captured by toads, that each individual toad is
worth to the community the sum of nineteen dollars and
eighty-eight cents.

We will watch a toad closely and see what insects he
eats and how such an apparently slow creature is able
to catch them. The best way to see how his food is taken
is to place him on a piazza or in the back yard where flies
are fairly abundant. And, slow as the toad appears, you
will have to watch very closely. He keeps perfectly still,
a fly alights within about two inches of him, his mouth
opens,—and the fly is gone. He was too quick for us that

Bal

time, for surely the insect did not fly down his throat of its
own accord, although it seems as though it must have done
so to have disappeared so mysteriously. Another fly stops
about six inches ahead of him; he eves it intently, gives a
lazy hop toward it, at the same time opening his mouth,—
and again the fly has disappeared apparently without his
having touched it. When catching ants or worms, our toad
sometimes moves more deliberately so that we can see how
his prey is seized.

Showing the attachment of the tongue of the tront of the lower lip and
the method of capturing insects.

The tongue of a toad is a wonderful organ. Instead of
being attached to the back parts of the mouth, it is hinged
to the very front and the tip lies near the throat. Like a
flash, it can be projected forward for about two inches, the
insect aimed at being glued to its sticky tip and instantly
carried back into the throat.

Very conclusive and convincing observations of toads
have been made at various agricultural experiment stations,
notably at Amherst, Mass., where it was found that 88
per cent. of the food consumed by toads was composed of

22

injurious insects. It was estimated that the insects eaten
by each toad would average nearly ten thousand in three
months. This vast number includes flies, grasshoppers,
crickets, spiders, hard-shelled beetles, caterpillars of all
kinds including the destructive tent and tussock-moth spe-
cies, slugs, earthworms, ants, etc. I doubt if any one spe-
cies of bird, any one kind of animal or any single variety
of insect is as valuable for destroving injurious insects as
is the common toad.

Dampness is necessary for a toad’s existence; he needs
water, not to drink but with which to moisten his skin.
Nothing pleases him more than to squat in a shallow pud-
dle and soak for hours at a time. Unless disturbed, he
sleeps during a large part of the day but becomes quite
active towards evening and remains so as long as there is
a ray of light to guide him in his search for food. They
often remain all night under the street lights in cities,
gathering in all kinds of beetles and moths that come to
the ground.

The skin of a toad is rough and “warty”; its color and
texture harmonize perfectly with loose soil so that it can-
not readily be seen by enemies while it is quiet. These
“warts” or excrescences are protective features in other
ways too, for they secret a fluid, disagreeable to the taste,
causing many animals and birds, that otherwise, would
eat them, to avoid them. Still a great many of them are
destroyed, especially by snakes and by skunks.

Toads change their old clothes for new ones at least
four times each year. This shedding of the old skin is a
very interesting performance, but as it takes but a few
minutes to do it and we have no warning as to when it will
occur, it is a performance not commonly seen. We may
often find dried skins that have been shed by snakes but
we never find those of toads for the simple reason that
they always swallow their old clothes. When the new skin
is fully formed, the old is loosened from it, splits up the
back, down the belly and along each leg. By much wrig-
gling and freely using his hands, the skin is freed from his

23

hind legs and sides and rolled in a ball in front of the
chest; it is then with difficulty gulped down and our toad
appears in a bright new shining garment, that however
rapidly dries and darkens to nearly the same shade as the
old one. Toads are perfectly harmless and can be handled
freely, in spite of the old superstitions of ill-luck, poison-
ous and “wart-making” properties ascribed to them.

In winter they hibernate, burrowing several inches un-
der ground and remaining torpid until the warm weather
of the following spring awakens them. Immediately upon
emerging from their long “‘sleep”, they make for some
pond where they sport about in company with many other
toads and frogs. At this time they are very happy and
their low, musical, crooning trill is heard constantly. The
female deposits her eggs in the water in long, continuous
strings coiled upon the water plants. They develop more
rapidly than those of frogs, the tiny black tadpoles appear-
ing without the jelly mass in four or five days. Within
about ten days, their mouths have opened and they are full-
fledged “polly-wogs.” It is a peculiarity of very young
toad-tadpoles that they go about in large compact schools.
In less than two months from the time the eggs are laid,
the tadpoles have changed into tiny frogs and many have
left the pond. They are very small and very dark,—
smaller than any of the frogs, and their backs have no
sign of the roughness or warts that will appear later.
Young toads shed their coats usually a half dozen times
before winter; this is necessary because of their rapid
growth,—they become too large for their garments and of
course must have new ones.

I have said that toads eat many ants, so what more ap-
propriate than that we turn our attention to these ants.
Like toads, we find plenty of them right in our yard as well
as in the fields.

24
THE WISE ANTS.

An ant is a tiny, a very tiny creature whose career and
that of all his fellows would terminate instantly if the good
housewife could have her way. Small as he is, however,
if the truth were known I fear we should have to admit
that he is the most intelligent, most industrious and most
determined living thing in proportion to his size.

The study of ants is not a lofty enterprise for it de-
mands that one literally come down to earth on his hands
and knees,—‘‘grovel in the dust” as a certain friend of
mine would say. Yet I can assure you that an hour can-
not be more pleasantly nor more profitably spent than in
watching a single one or a colony of these too-often despis-
ed insects. I could name a number of savants who would
be benefitted immeasurably by such a study. I am quite
sure they would change some of their present views in
regard to the question of animal instinct and intelligence.
It is a very common failing for biologists or ‘closet natur-
alists’ to class as instinctive all acts that they cannot ex-
plain; in other words, the term ‘‘animal instinct” is too of-
ten used to shield ignorance.

Ants are subject to moods and passions just as we are:
They have their deadly wars with foreign nations of other
species; they sometimes, but rarely, have civil wars; they
have hunting expeditions, large parties of them banding
together to kill other insects and carry them home for food,
—for ant-food consists of both animal and vegetable mat-
ter; they also have their regular daily domestic duties
such as marketing, house-cleaning, milking the cows, etc.
Perhaps it will be well to pause and be a little more explicit
about these cows, for that is really what they amount to.

It was the naturalist Huber who first made the wonder-
ful discovery that ants regularly visited certain kinds of
plant lice or aphids for the purpose of procuring nectar
which they got from two tiny tubes on the backs of the
aphids. These plant lice are slow-moving, almost helpless
mites. They are very numerous and propagate with ex-

A. The fully developed male and female ants have wings in the first
stages of their lives.

‘B. Aphids feed npon the juices of plants, making honev which the ants
procure from two tubes located on the back.

C. Ants will carry burdens the weights of which exceed thetr own,
over seemingly tmpossible obstacles.

26

treme rapidity, a fact that is quite necessary because they
are preyed upon and furnish food for a large number of
insects, especially smaller kinds of flies. These latter in-
sects consider the aphids themselves as food, not as sources
of food supply, while ants realizing that the lice are more
valuable to them alive, than dead, often defend them from
other enemies or transport them bodily to other plants
where they will be less likely to be attacked and where they
can get a good supply of fodder. Each colony of ants has
its own herd of these “cows” and attends to them mosi as-
siduously for they are regarded as among their most valued
possessions.

Not only do ants keep cows but they very frequently
have slaves to work for them. Large colonies of warrior
ants sometimes make raids upon neighboring cities of other
species, defeat them in pitched battles and carry home pris-
oners of war to work for them. The ant wars are no pink-
tea affairs, but are bloody conflicts. They go at one an-
other hammer and tongs, one side fighting for conquest, the
other for life. Many a head is nipped cleanly off by a
clever antagonist and many a soldier limps homeward after
the fray, minus one or more of his six legs.

As is very well known, bees and wasps have their work-
ers and their drones. Ants are even more social and carry
class distinction or caste even farther. They have several
classes ;—drones, workers,—these being undeveloped fe-
males, warriors, slaves, ete. The fully developed males
and females of most species are equipped with wings which
they shed after wearing for a short time.

The tiny, yellowish-white eggs laid by the queen ants,
hatch in about two weeks, forming little helpless, white
larvae. These larvae are tended and fed by the worker
ants, being carried from chamber to chamber as they re-
quire more or less warmth. The larvae are fed until they
are full grown, taking three or four weeks, and then trans-
form into whitish pupae or cocoons. It is these tiny co-
coons that the workers are so busily carrying about when

27

a colony is disturbed, trying to find places of safety for
them.

The load that an ant can carry is astonishing and it is
amusing to see how they will overcome almost insurmount-
able obstacles and arrive safely home with the burden.
Just imagine a man weighing one hundred and fifty pounds
trying to climb eight foot fences and walls, while carrying
as a burden a box three by three by eight feet weighing
perhaps two hundred pounds and the comparison will just
about balance the work that ants are constantly doing.

The ant family is a very extensive one, comprising over
four thousand species, and inhabits every temperate and
torrid part of the globe. They live in all sorts of houses,—
large mounds, subterannean earthy cells, hollows bored in
decayed wood, etc. Some species live almost exclusively
in or about houses, these of course being the ones that
bring down the wrath of good housekeepers upon all ant
heads.

As we have seen, ants are fond of sweet substances, a
fact which draws them to the nectar which most flowers
offer as a lure to attract insects useful to them. Ants, with
- their small shining bodies, are of no use for transferring
pollen from flower to flower and their pilfering often
cheats the flower of its chance of receiving a visit from bee
or moth that would prove useful to it. Many plants have
apparently grown defenses to avoid visits by crawling in-
sects; these barriers usually take the forms of hairy or
sticky stems or tufts of hair in the throats of the flow-
ers. Everyone knows that a sticky surface offers an un-
passable obstruction for all crawling insects. If anyone
doubts that the tufts of tiny hairs in the throats of flowers
or on the stem would bar out an ant, let him just reflect
for a moment; remember that those same hairs represent
to the ant what a very broad hedge of very closely set, very
tall telegraph poles would to a man.

Every animate or inanimate thing in Nature has its ene-
mies and ants are no exception. Predatory insects, ani-
mals, birds, plants, the hand or foot of man, disease and

28

other dangers lurk on every hand. One of the most dead-
ly enemies they have in our country is the Flicker or Gol-
den-winged Woodpecker. One of these birds, under my
observation, worked busily over a small ant hill for about
fifteen minutes, his head darting back and forth with al-
most clock-like precision, each plunge being the death
knell of an ant or a larvae. When he left, I prodded about
with a stick but could not discover a single one of the
former residents in the mound.

Among other insects we are sure to meet in the field and
also about houses in the country are wasps. There are
many species of wasps and as everyone knows they all, or
at least the females, sting severely when aroused to anger.
Therefore studies of their lives, interesting as they are,
must ke conducted so as not to form too intimate relations
with them. I have sampled the stinging qualities of quite
a number of species so that I have little desire to anger
them.

29
WASPS.

Wasps are divided into two classes, solitary and social.
The social wasps are quite similar to bees in their habits
and dispositions but the so-called solitary ones are very
different and exceedingly interesting.

A volume on the habits of the solitary wasps (Sphe-
coide ) would make one of the most interesting and most
readable books that can be imagined. Many species of
these solitary wasps are commonly found about country
houses so their habits can quite easily be determined.

Mud-Dauber carrying spider to it’s cell. When filled, an egg is laid
on the last spider and the cell sealed.

Under the eaves of barns and in old attics we usually
find domiciles of the mud-daubers belonging to the genus

30

Sceliphron. A few facts concerning the habits of some liv-
ing in a certain old house will give a little idea of the char-
acteristics of all solitary wasps.

There were two nests under way, about six feet apart,—
one in the very apex of the roof and the other on the side
of a beam. They were evidently commenced at about the
same time, but there was a vast difference in the methods
and workmanship of the two wasps. One was exceedingly
nervous, always flirting her wings and working with fever-
ish haste; the other was quiet, painstaking and methodical
with the result that her nest was far superior to that of the
first in finish even though it answered its purpose no bet-
ter.

The mud of which the nests were made was brought
from the barnyard, a plentiful supply always being avail-
able near the old pump. Entrance to the old attic was
through a broken corner in one of the window panes.

These nests usually consist of several cells, but one of
which is built at a time. The rapid worker had one of her
cells shaped before night on the first day; while no meas-
urements were taken I should say that it might have been
three-quarters of an inch diameter on the inside and per-
haps an inch deep. Early the next morning a spider was
found neatly tucked in one corner and, as I watched, the
worker came buzzing in through the window carrying an-
other. It was quite a large black spider, weighing fully as
much as the wasp but it was carried without much effort,
being closely held up against her body by the middle and
last pair of legs. This was tucked in beside the first and,
a little later, another one was brought, the purpose for
which will be seen later. The three spiders completely
filled the cell; in about an hour she had it completely seal-
ed over with mud. Without stopping to rest she at once
commenced journeying back and forth between the barn-
yard and the attic carrying material for another cell to
be built beside the first. In five days she had four of these
little sealed mud nests completed.

The other wasp, the careful worker, only had two of her

3]

cells finished but they were evenly made and smoothed off,
making those of her neighbor odious by comparison. The
differences were nearly as great and reminded me of the
shacks and mansions often seen near together in the
southern states. Of course this comparison is hardly a
just one for the mansion required capital and the shack
did not, while both wasps had the very same material to
work with. The only difference seemed to be in the taste,
the skill or intelligence of the two individuals.

Now let us look into the spider question. How and why
did the wasps get them? I do not know where these par-
ticular wasps mentioned above secured their prey but I
have seen other of the same species in the act. Most people
have an inborn horror of spiders so that it is almost im-
possible for them to see the good points or beauties of
some of them. There are ugly spiders and there are spid-
ers that look ugly but there are also spiders that are pretty.
It is one of the pretty field spiders, the black and yellow
Argiope, that the mud daubers like best.

An Argiope spider had its web-trap set near the ground
among some cinquefoil vines. When I discovered it, it was
repairing a large hole in the web, made by an insect stronger
than its silken meshes could restrain. A mud-danher land-
ed on a leaf near the web apparently to rest herself, for
she remained still except for an occasional nervous flirting
of the wings common to all wasps and hornets.

Wasps appear to be near-sighted or have poor vision
for it seems to be difficult for them to distinguish motion-
less objects. The spider was quiet for a minute or two
after the new arrival, then re-commenced work. The vel-
vety-black and yellow body of the working spider soon at-
tracted the attention of the wasp and she dashed quickly
at it. A spider is usually very agile but this one could not
avoid the sudden attack. The wasp landed on its back and
stung it probably before it was aware of danger. Wasp
and spider tumbled to the ground but the only movement
shown by the latter was a convulsive twitching of the legs.
The wasp sting evidently carries a very powerful anaes-

32

thetic that stupefies spiders almost instantly. This coma-
tose state lasts for several days, long enough for the pur-
poses of the wasp, at the end of which time the spider dies
provided that he is not devoured before.

The wasp clasps its legs about the victim firmly and flies
off with it to its cell,—usually provided beforehand as we
have seen. When the cell is filled with spiders, the wasp
deposits a single egg upon the last one and seals up the
house. In a day or two this egg hatches and the little
grub starts working on the large store of provender provid-
ed for it by its thoughtful parent. It grows rapidly in
size and soon consumes all of the spiders at which period it
spins a cocoon about itself and becomes a chrysalid. The
change to the wasp stage may come in a few weeks or a few
months depending upon the season.

Other species of solitary wasps build their cells in holes
in the ground, filling them with other kinds of spiders,
with caterpillars or even, as one species does exclusively, of
harvest flies or cicadas.

We have seen that spiders of many kinds are in demand
among the wasp family as food for their babies, but spid-
ers have other aims in life than to be served to wasp-grubs.
We will investigate the owners of some of the many webs
we see everywhere, in the grass and among the blackberry
vines, and see what they do for a living.

WEBS AND THEIR MAKERS.

An early morning walk through the fields discloses num-
bers of beautiful webs glistening with dew. How dainty
and exquisite some of the patterns! What skilful workers
spiders must he to produce such designs! Yet spiders are
loathed by most persons. Why? Probably because they
are not informed as to the value of spiders in the economic
world and very greatly over-estimate the dangers from
them. True some spiders will sting; so will a dog bite;
so will a eat scratch; and so will a man clench his fist in
self defence. It is human, animal and insect nature to

COMMON MILKWEED.

The milkweed butterfly is inseparably connected with mnatk-
weed. Its juices impart a disagreeable taste to the insects that
protects them from birds.

BLUE FLAG; IRIS.

Usually growing tn situations where rubber boots are desir-
ahle if we wish to gather them.

33

defend when attacked and we must admire them for it.
A spider is never the aggressor in an attack on man.

There are big spiders and little spiders, handsome ones
and plain ones, but they are all interesting studies as you
will find if you will but cast aside your abhorrence and
watch for a while.

One of the prettiest of the spiders and one of the most

When covered with the early morning dew, spiders’ webs are very con-
spicuous and good subjects for the camera.

34

common in eastern United States, is the Orange (Argiope
aurentium). This creature also sets one of the most regu-
larly graceful webs for the ensnaring of its insect vic-
tims; the silken meshes are very closely stretched about the
center, making a firm base on which she often rests while
awaiting her prey.

Sooner or later a blundering fly will be caught in its
threads or a grasshopper or locust will try to hop through
it. Unless the intruder be a bee or a wasp, Argiope will
immediately rush at it, grasp it in her legs and commence
walking over it, meanwhile spinning a strong silken web
about it until it is very securely trussed up. This supply

Spiders quickly pounce upon insects that become entangled in thetr nets.
They are swathed in silk and hung up until thev are needed for food.

35

of fresh living food is then swung in to the center of the
web where it will be in easy reach when hunger calls. It
is but natural to pity the insect that is tied up awaiting
the appetite of its captor, but we must remember that it
always has been and ever will be the way of the world,—
the strong and the cunning live upon the weak and ignor-
ant. Furthermore the insects that spiders capture are al-
most without exception ones that are injurious to vegetation
or public health. Spiders play a very important role in
keeping down undue increase of insect life.

The “traps” of these orange and velvety-black spiders
are very commonly erected among blackberry vines or
among the white chrysanthemums that dot the fields. Each
species of spider has its own style of architecture; many
kinds set their nets in erect positions like Argiope and
many others spread theirs horizontally near the ground.
The former apparently entangle more insects but the latter
offer a safer retreat for the owner which generally lies in
wait in a covered, silken tube leading down into the ground.
Although spiders prey upon other insects they are in turn
preyed upon. Nearly all kinds are regarded by birds as
dainty morsels but even greater than the danger from this
source is that from many of the solitary wasps which use
them as food for their babies as described in the sketch
of a mud-dauber.

Spiders, especially the smaller ones, as well as all other
animate things have the wanderlust and they construct re-
markable vehicles to carry them on their voyages. They
are aeronauts of no mean ability. If we closely watch
them at the proper time, usually in October, we may see
them construct their airship and incidentally see how they
spin their silken webs. When a spider’s ambition turns
to ballooning it hies away to the top of a fence post, the
end of a twig or it may be the top of a golden-rod. Our
spider takes a firm hold with its legs, elevates its body at
an angle of about forty-five degrees and commences spin-
ning silken threads. The liquid silk comes in five tiny

36

jets from the spinnarets on the lower part of the abdomen;
solidifying on contract with the air, if atmospheric condi-
tions are right these fine threads will float upward. As
the silk strands lengthen we can see that the spider is
gripping the support for all he is worth to counteract the
lifting effect of his Almy balloon. When the threads have
attained a length of from six to twenty feet if he thinks
the pull is sufficient, the little aeronaut springs upward,

BALLOONING SPIDERS

grasps a cord with each foot and goes sailing upward and
away on the breeze. Often the silk thread does not prove
sufficiently buoyant in which case it will be cast adrift and
a new one started. These cast-aside cords may often be
seen caught on bushes or floating in the air.

37

If conditions are favorable, our spider may journey for
miles in his self-made airship. He has, moreover the pow-
er of coming to earth at will for he has but to wind up in
a little ball with his legs sufficient of his supporting cord
to take away its buoyancy.

Far from being as dreadful as generally supposed, I
think you will agree that some spiders at least may prove
interesting; you will never know how very interesting
until you go afield and study them in life. They all
have different manners of securing their prey and of
handling it afterwards; they make interesting silk cocoons
of many forms to receive their eggs; they have interest-
ing methods of evading pursuit from their enemies as weil
as ways of luring their victims.

Nearly all creatures that have enemies have, or try
to devise, ways of escaping them. Because of the enmity
of wasps and because wasps do not hunt at night, the ma-
jority of spiders remain in concealment during daylight
but become active, spin their webs and catch their prey
at night. Even this does not serve to escape the solitary
huntress wasps for they ferret out their victims in their
hiding places.

In the southwestern states there is a large vicious wasp
known as the Tarantula-hawk because of its fondness for
these large, poisonous spiders. This same wasp also preys
upon a slightly smaller spider known as the Trap-door
Spider, so called because, to escape this wasp, it makes a
silk-lined underground house covered with a perfectly-fit-
ting, silk-hinged cover; this cover is made of alternate lay-
ers of silk and earth, the top being a perfect imitation of
the surrounding ground. The spider runs into her home,
pulls the lid down, and stays during daylight trusting that
her hiding place may remain undiscovered.

But our fields do not cater solely to those Nature-stu-
dents who desire to study insects for on every hand are
beautiful flowers,—daisies, buttercups, dandelions, bluets,
clovers, milkweeds, etc., turn their faces upward inviting
out inspection. If we make a little study of any of these

38

TRAP-DOOR SPIDER AND NEST

Showing the sitk-lined underground portion as well as the door. This
cover fits so perfectly that close examination 1s necessary to see the joint.

39

we will find that they lead right back to some of the insects.
In fact, insects seem to be everywhere and in everything
sometimes playing an useful part but more often a destruc-
tive one.

As those milkweeds along the wall seem to be so attrac-
tive to the bees and butterflies we will give them some of
our attention too. There are several species of milkweed,
some with white flowers, some with purple, cream-color and
orange. Most abundant of these is the

COMMON PURPLE MILKWEED.

The pretty, drooping clusters of lilac-colored flowers
have a very sweet odor, so sweet that many people do not
like it. They are favorites of many insects though, for
within each flower are five little cells or cups, each over-
flowing with nectar or “honey”.

Commonest among its butterfly visitors is the large black
and red kind shown in the little colored picture. This is
called the “Milkweed Butterfly” because it likes these flow-
ers so well and because its caterpillar feeds upon the leaves
of the milkweed. The milky juices of milkweed are very
bitter; it is supposed that these give a disagreeable taste
to both the caterpillar and to the butterfly for few birds
will eat either of them. ;

We have shown earlier in this book that pollen from one
blossom must be transferred to the stigma of another in
order that the seed may be fertile, or capable of growing
other plants, and that in many cases it was necessary for
insects to do this. Milkweeds have a very clever and inter-
esting arrangement to force insects to work for them.
An insect in moving about on the flower gets his leg
caught in one of the five clefts at the base of the
flower; it easily slides up the slot and catches firmly in
a tiny notch on the slender stalk that connects two little
pollen masses. In order to get free, the insect must tear

40

these from their places and then can go flying away to
other flowers with them dangling from his foot.

Often small bees and butterflies are unable to get free
from this trap and die hanging to the flower ;—victims be-
cause they are not strong enough to do as the plant wishes
and carry the pollen to other blossoms.

Ants are of no value to most plants and they do steal a
great deal of nectar, if they can get to the flowers; most
plants try to prevent this by growing small hairs on the
stems so that it is difficult for ants to crawl up. The stem
of milkweed is smooth but the outer skin is so thin that
the ant’s sharp claws break through it and he gets some of
the sticky, milky fluid on his feet; if he persists in climb-
ing, he gets so hopelessly entangled as to often cause his
death.

The final effort of plants each year is to spread their
seed. Milkweed has adopted the very excellent plan of pro-
viding each seed with a beautiful, silky parachute so that
they may float away for long distances on the wind. A
great many of these seeds, with their parachutes closely
folded, are clustered in a large pod that takes the place
of the flower cluster until it bursts and lets loose the
silky-plumed seeds.

There is another class of inhabitants of field and mea-
dow that I am particularly glad to mention for two rea-
sons :—Because their economic importance is seldom recog-
nized and they are ruthlessly slain at every opportunity;
and because of the natural, inborn horror that is needless-
ly experienced by nearly every one at the sight of

41

SNAKES.

Snakes may be regarded in several ways:—One may
scream and run at the mere sight of one, which of course is
unreasonable; one may secure a rock or club and destroy
them, which is crue] and unwise; one may handle all kinds
with impunity, which is folly; or one may quietly study
their habits and become familiar with the different species
and their values, which of course is the sane and prudent
course to take.

Snakes may he found on any warm day after the appearance of skunk
cahbage.

42

There are but two species of poisonous snakes in the
northern half of the country,—small Rattlesnakes and
the Copperhead. Both of these are very dangerous and
should be avoided,—an easy matter since they are not com-
mon, are found usually only in rocky ground or ledges
where few go unless in search of them, and they always
warn one of their presence before striking. The “rattler”
warns by shaking the horny rattles on the tip of the tail,
making a whirring sound like the rapid rustling of dried
leaves. The Copperhead makes a similar sound by rapid-
ly vibrating the tip of his tail among the leaves. Both of
these species will glide away and escape if possible from
man; they strike only in self-defense. All the viparine
snakes, to which class the Rattler and Copperhead belong
have broad, triangular-shaped heads viewed from above
and the tail portion of the body is stout and rather abrubtly
pointed ; avoid snakes so formed.

It is not the intention of these sketches to identify the
different species; large volumes would be required to do so.
Our aim is rather to show that reptiles as a whole are not
creatures to be dreaded, but rather to be admired for most
of them occupy quite important places in the economic
scheme of Nature. As books devoted to snakes are so
very few in number, I will call to the attention of any who
are desirous of studying the subject, the “Reptiles” by
Raymond L. Ditmars,—a very complete, very readable and
comprehensive, and finely illustrated work.

Snakes are of two kinds, oviparous and viviparous.—the
former laying eggs and the latter bringing forth their
young alive. Fox Snakes, erroneously called “adders”,
Black Snakes and Green Snakes lay eggs, while Water
Snakes and Striped Garter or Garden Snakes produce liv-
ing young. These are the species most commonly found
in northern United States and are all perfectly harmless.

The Black Snake is one of the most active of reptiles,—
so active that often it is with difficulty captured. Far from
being the aggressive creature that many like to picture it,
it will glide away very rapidly upon our approach and un-

43

doubtedly wishes that it might go twice as fast. It has
small teeth that are capable of: scratching the hand but it
has no venom. They will fight when cornered and large
specimens should be handled carefully, not because they
are snakes, but because scratches of any nature may prove
serious.

If a large individual is grasped back of the head, it will
at once coil about the arm but with only a slight pressure
for it has no power of constriction. Its food consists
chiefly of mice and frogs and, in summer, of young birds
and eggs; in search of the latter, it often ascends trees and
bushes. It is therefore, both a beneficial and destructive
creature.

During June, the female deposits from ten to twenty,
elongated, white eggs under a stone or in soft earth.
These hatch in about a month, the tiny snakes, about eight
inches long, being blotched with gray and white.

Green and Striped Garter Snakes feed almost wholly
upon insects, with mice and frogs for variety and occasion-
ally bird eggs. They are most inoffensive creatures and
many farmers encourage them to remain on the premises.

Both the Green and Garter Snakes have tiny teeth, too
small to make an impression on the hand, but designed to
assist them in swallowing their prey. Snakes when ex-
cited or alarmed have a habit of rapidly projecting and
retracting their forked tongues. The tongue is an organ
of touch, solely and, of course, is perfectly harmless, al-
though it is often regarded by mis-informed children as the
snake’s “‘sting”’.

Green Snakes are perfectly at home among the branches
of bushes; in fact one of the best ways to find them is to
shake the bushes in favorable localities and then watch for
movements; they are very difficult to see for they match
the leaves perfectly in color. I had found a nest of a
White-eyed Vireo one day; it was in a thick tangle of
briers but I managed to make an opening and put my head
in to see what the nest contained. I was conscious of some-
thing swaying directly in front of me and, focussing my

44

eyes upon it, I saw the wide open mouth of a green snake
not more than three inches from my eyes. I dodged back
so quickly that, for days following, I had numerous

Snakes often climb among the lower branches of bushes.

scratches from the briers to remind me of the event. This
particular snake which by the way was the southern va-
riety that attains greater size than the northern ones, was
the largest that I ever saw, measuring four and one-half
feet although the body was scarcely a half inch through.

It is a common habit for all large snakes to eat smaller
ones of other species. I have often seen Water Snakes dis-

- 45

gorge other species when captured and I once saw one of
these handsome snakes slowly gulping down a garter
snake that in turn had been struggling to down a frog.
Both disappeared down the throat of the cannibal easily,
although the victim was at least two-thirds as long as its
captor.

That snakes have any mesmeric, hypnotic or “charming”
power, as is often believed, has been amply disproved by
many observers. A person under sudden great fear or
peril may become “rooted to the spot”. Perhaps an occa-
sional bird might become so afflicted at the sudden appear-
ance of a snake, but if so it would be no power of the ser-
pent that caused it.

There is a certain mammal] that may sometimes be seen
in fields, particularly towards dusk,—a handsome black
and white mammal usually regarded as offensive, namely

THE SKUNK.

Now this animal is offensive if, as usually happens, it
is pelted with sticks and stones whenever seen; under such
circumstances we might expect it to use any’ defensive
weapons that it could. And skunks do like poultry,—there
is no question about it. But the man that admits that one
of these animals is stealing his chickens, admits that his
poultry yard or farm is not kept as it should be. A skunk
or a fox cannot steal chickens that are properly fenced.

This little sketch is not written in defense ot’ Mephitis
putida, as the skunk is technically termed, but to prove
that even under unusual circumstances this animal is not
at all offensive if properly treated. The following actually
occurred and was witnessed by many people besides being
photographically recorded.

Dr. R. and wife were tenting on Wigwam Hill. Pro-
visions were kept in baskets and boxes in one corner of
the tent beside one of the cots. One night the Doctor was

46

awakened by a rustling and crunching in the corner. He
cautiously reached his pocket electric light and turned it
in that direction. Lo and behold,—a real, live, wild skunk
had the cover off a basket and was vigorously and greedily
sampling the contents. The turning on of the light did
not alarm his skunk-ship at all and the Doctor, a Nature-
student himself, being President of the Worcester Natural
History Society, instead of throwing something at the in-
truder as others might have done to their sorrow, aroused
his wife and they watched the animal until it left of its
own accord.

Evidently this was too good a “strike” to be neglected
for the skunk reappeared at the same hour the following
night and also the next one. It was found that cheese
was his favorite of everything that was offered and it was
also discovered that he would come just the same at the
same time even if the Doctor and visitors were waiting to
watch him in the dimly lighted tent. He would come
marching boldly in as though he owned the place and we
were his guests. any evening parties were formed for
the purpose of witnessing the novel sight.

As he did not care when the rays from an electric lamp
were thrown upon him, it was suggested that probably he
would stand for a flash-light photograph. So the experi-
ment was tried. It was with many misgivings that the first
flash was touched off. Doubtless most of the ten persons
present were wondering what they would wear the follow-
ing day should the worst happen. The experiment worked
like a charm; not a movement on the part of the animal
showed that he thought the flash anything out of the ordin-
ary. His nerves proved more steady than those of most of
the humans present. He was portrayed in about ten dif-
ferent poses, taking food from the hands of several of
those present, one of the best of which is the one that
shows him reaching up for a bit of cheese Mrs. R. is hold-
ing.

This animal made almost nightly visits for more than
a month and then disappeared, but this goes to show that

47

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Jysta ye poydeasojpoyd
‘ANVH GHL WOU ONTIGHHA ANOMS AIM V

48

a skunk, if not molested, is. very inoffensive and need not
necessarily be avoided. Nor was this skunk an excep-
tional one. I have repeatedly passed them at distances of
from three to six feet without their acting in any untoward
manner. Those who have kept them in confinement agree
that they are very mild mannered.

Economically, the skunk is both good and bad. When in-
sects are to be had, the bulk of his food is made of them,
chiefly grasshoppers and crickets. Many mice are dug
from their burrows, snakes are caught, an occasional rabbit
is captured while asleep. All their prey must of neces-
sity be caught by stealth for they are very clumsy animals
and can neither spring nor run fast. If they did not so
often destroy the eggs and young of ground-nesting birds,
they would be regarded as very useful creatures.

POND AND SWAMP LIFE.

Many of my pleasantest excursions have been those
around, about or even in small ponds such as are to be
found dotting the country everywhere. Such localities
furnish a great wealth of the most interesting material
for study and thought.

Our approach is heralded by the warning rattle of a
Kingfisher, perched on a dead branch where he can easily
watch the placid waters in hopes of securing some of the
small fish living therein. A bittern, standing knee-deep
in the water, waiting for a chance to spear a venturesome
frog, raises his head and assumes a rigid attitude mimick-
ing the rushes about him, but as we continue to approach
he flaps heavily and disgustedly away.

Whirligig-beetles chase themselves in eccentric circles,
water-striders skim over the surface, mosquito larvae, back-
swimmers, water-boatmen, caddis-worms, salamanders, tad-
poles, frogs, turtles and hosts of other creatures may be

A. BLUETS; INNOCENCE.
B. PARTRIDGE VINE; TWINBERRY.

Bluets are among the most abundant of our field flowers,
while Partridge Wine carpets the ground in woods.

A. COMMON VIOLET.
B. CANADA VIOLET.
Evervone likes violels. A number of varieties grow in most
swamps or in motst places.

49

seen in the water. Surely there is material in abundance
here to last one a life-time.

We will, however, focus our attention for awhile on those
great insect-hawkers,

DRAGON-FLIES OR DARNING-NEEDLES.

Just as the Marsh Hawk or Harrier courses over marsh
and meadow ready to pounce upon mouse or mole that
chances to expose itself, so do dragon-flies hawk over ponds
looking for mosquitoes and midges. For they are among
our most useful insects, feeding almost exclusively upon
the many tiny, obnoxious species that multiply so rapidly.
They are absolutely harmless and it is very unfortunate
that the old superstition that they sew up the ears, eyes or
mouths of children should be drilled into the rising genera-
tions at an early age.

If you watch one for a time, you will see that his actions
are much like those of the common Kingbird. He has his
favorite lookout perches and dashes out suddenly after his
prey with a rapidity that the eye can scarcely follow. He
also has the habit, very disconcerting to those not famil-
iar with it, of rushing out and hovering in front of a stran-
ger in order to carefully look him over. He means well
but is quite near sighted, but not as much so as most other
insects, and has to get within six feet of you before he can
make out what you are.

I doubt if any living thing is without its enemies; those
of the dragon-fly, besides other predacious insects, consist
chiefly of birds one of which is that same kingbird that
we compared to the dragon-fly in actions. In this con-
nection we might cite an interesting cycle of events that
may occur every day:—Mosquitoes prey upon man; dra-
gon-flies devour the mosquitos; a kingbird snaps up the
dragon-fly; and along comes a bad man and shoots the
kingbird,—and so life goes.

4

50

DAMSEL FLY (at the left)
DRAGON FLY (in the center)
NYMPTH OF DRAGON FLY

Flies and dragon-flies have most wonderful eyes,—huge
convex, compound eyes containing upwards of twenty
thousand simple eyes. Each of these eyes sees by itself,
taking in very narrow rays of light, but the whole aggrega-

51

tion of them located as they are can see in practically every
direction. Just think how fortunate this creature is,—
possessed of twenty thousand eyes while many insects and
animals have none at all; but then the dragon-fly has to
hunt harder for his food and has to keep very sharp watch
to escape his enemies.

Dragon-flies lay their eggs in the water, either dropping
them singly or glueing them to the stems of plants just
below the surface. The first stages of those insects that
do not go through a complete metamorphosis are known as
nymphs; consequently the little creatures that hatch from
the dragon-fly eggs are dragon-fly nymphs. Like grass-
hoppers they get their growth by a process of moulting,
shedding their old, dried skin as often as it becomes too
small for them. While the nymph bears practically no re-
semblance to the adult dragon-fly in the first stages, each
moult brings out the likeness a little more, but the wings
are not obtained until the final one. During its life in the
water, the young dragon-fly feeds upon mosquito “wrig-
glers” and other small insect larvae. Thus, in its early
stages, the darning-needle does as much, or even more,
good than later when it preys upon the winged insects.

Dragon-fly nymphs are extremely voracious; the lower
jaw is provided with an extendable scoop armed with teeth,
known as a mask because it fits closely to the face so as
to conceal its dangerous character. This mask is extended
to grasp prey and then draws it back into the mouth. As
the nymphs arrive at the last stages of their under-water
life they are active and strong enough to overpower small
fish and quite large aquatic insects. When ready for the
final change, it crawls out on weeds or rocks, the skin
splits down the back and the adult insect emerges, its wings
developing rapidly from little packets on each side.

Adult dragon-flies are even more voracious than their
larvae; their appetite seems to be insatiable. Their prey
is almost wholly captured while in flight and is also devour-
ed on the wing; it is done so quickly that it is almost im-
possible to ascertain just how. Small insects are apparent-

52

ly seized directly in the jaws, while large ones are grasped
in the legs, all of which point forward for this very pur-
pose and which are entirely unsuited to walking. They
often seize smaller dragon-flies, small moths and butter-
flies, occasionally one as large as a Papilio, but the food
consists in the main of flies and gnats.

There are several thousand species of dragon-flies and
the complete life histories of none of them are known.
They furnish an excellent field for the careful investigator
and an interesting one for all Nature-lovers. With this
brief mention we will leave the dragon-flies and turn our
attention to those dark oval objects perched on the float-
ing log across the pond:—

TURTLES.

The turtles most often met with are the Painted Terra-
pin, the Speckled Terrapin and the Mud or Snapping
Turtle . The two former species are most frequently seen
basking on floating logs or stumps, ready to slide off at the
least indication of danger. The Painted Terrapin is the
most beautiful of all pond turtles, readily recognized by
the red and black markings around the circumference of
its shell, these showing most brilliantly on the under side.
The Speckled Terrapin, which has bright yellow spots on
its black upper shell, is also very common in slow moving
brooks and ditches.

The natural food of pond turtles consists of water in-
sects, shell-fish, tadpoles, frogs and fish. Therefore it is
not safe to introduce any except the very smallest into
aquaria containing fish. They can be easily kept by them-
selves, however, feeding them upon bits of raw meat, fish
and flies. There is some doubt as to the economic value of
turtles, some maintaining that they are very useful for
destroying weak or sick fish that might otherwise contam-
inate the healthy ones, while others claim that they catch
and devour quantities of healthy food fishes. I think there

MOCCASIN FLOWER.

Other “Ladv’s Slippers”’ are white, vellow or red and white;
the pink one is the most abundant. Tt 1s found in dry woods.

PITCHER PLANT.

Growing in swamps where the carpet of spagnum moss allows
one to sink into water at each step.

53

is little doubt but what the Snapping Turtle is a menace
to all kinds of fish.

The flesh of the Snapping Turtle is highly prized by
some human epicures but it is so well protected by its shell

PAINTED TERRAPIN (upper)

SPECKLED TERRAPIN (lower)

54

that no other animal seems able nor cares to feed upon
it after it becomes of fair size, except leeches which are
usually found clinging to the fleshy parts of old-timers.
It is the most ferocious and omnivorous of American tur-
tles, preying upon fishes, batrachians, mollusks, dead ani-
mals or even pulling quite large ducks beneath the surface
of the water and devouring them; other food supplies run-
ning short, it will fill its stomach with any succulent vege-
tables.

A LARGE SNAPPING TURTLE.

Each individual or pair seems to have its own particular
territory and one seldom encroaches on the preserves of
another unless the latter be much smaller and weaker.
Passing the greater portion of its existence under water
groping in the muddy bottoms, they nevertheless often
make long journeys overland in search of new pastures
or ponds for feeding. It is during these wanderings that
most of them are captured, although occasionally an angler

55

will get one on his hook or a marksman bring one down
with a well-placed rifle ball. They are very tenacious of
life, chloroform seeming to be about the only medium to
quickly end their career. They also have a bulldog-like
stubborness in hanging to anything when their anger is
aroused. I have seen one weighing forty pounds carried
a distance of half a mile while suspended from a stick
solely by the grip of its jaws.

Upon the approach of winter, they bury themselves

A turtle weighing 4o pounds hanging solely by the grip of his jaws.

56

several inches deep in the mud and pass the cold weather
in a torpid condition. During June, the females lay in
the neighborhood of forty eggs each in holes that they dig
near the edges of ponds or rivers. The little turtle grows
rapidly for the first year, but their development there-
after is slow, being more and more retarded as they in-
crease in years. Turtles live to be very old. Undoubtedly
some of the forty and fifty pounders are older than the
most aged living humans. Some of the captured Gala-
pagos Tortoises are estimated to be more than two thou-
sand years old.

All turtles have the snake-like habit of hissing when
angry and of very suddenly and unexpectedly darting the
head forward to seize their prey.

FROGS.

Frogs and their tadpoles are, of course, familiar objects
to everyone but they are always interesting—doubly so,
perhaps, because they can so easily be raised in captivity.
Every well-regulated schoolroom has one or more tanks
for the study of amphibious creatures.

There are differences in the habits of many species of
frogs. Their eggs are always jelly-like in substance but
some are laid in long strings, some in masses attached to
plants, some floating and some dropped singly. Some
tadpoles, too, develop into frogs within a few months,
some do not change for a year and those of the common
bullfrog remain in the “‘polly-wog” stage for two or more
years often being enormous creatures before changing.
We will delve a bit into the life history of the most attrac-
tive species,—

THE LEOPARD FROG (Rana pipiens).

Besides being a handsome frog, the leopard is probably
the most abundant and most widely distributed species.

57

It does not even confine itself strictly to the neighborhood
of ponds but often wanders to long distances from water.
We are apt to see them giving long, low leaps ahead of us
as we cross any meadow. If water is near they make
straight for it and with a most graceful dive, disappear
with comparatively little splashing. The frogs vary
greatly in gound color, being green, gray or brown, but as
would be suspected from their name, they are strongly
and handsomely blotched, each spot being margined with
a lighter color. *

Leopard Frogs are among the first to appear in spring,
being preceded only by the small tree frogs, usually
designated as “Spring peepers.” The leopards have pe-
culiar but musical voices, low in pitch and low in volume.
During the latter part of March, their eggs are laid in
masses in the shallow water about the edges of ponds.
These masses may be attached to vegetation or left float-
ing; they contain usually from two thousand to eight
thousand eggs. These numerous eggs are tiny, black
above and white below, the white being food-yolk upon
which the developing tadpole is to live; each egg is
encased in a gelatinous substance.

If we look at these eggs daily with a magnifying glass
we can see the interesting changes that take place. On
the third day the eggs commence to elongate and in two
days more we can make out the head and where the tail
is to be. On the ninth or tenth day, the tiny tadpole wrig-
gles out from the jelly mass, being then about one quarter
of an inch in length.

They remain rather quiet for a few days, their internal
organs meantime developing. On about the sixteenth day
their mouths open and they become full-fledged tadpoles,—
very active, dashing quickly and aimlessly about, devour-
ing the slime or minute algae that is always forming om
stones or plant life. They have turned lighter in color,
in fact just matching in shade the muddy bottoms on which
they rest when not swimming wildly about. This color-
protection seems to be the only protection they do have

58

from enemies for they are apparently heedless of danger.
And dangers await them at every turn. Eight thousand
eggs seems a vast number for a single frog to lay, and it
is; but the enemies of “polly-wogs” are so very numerous
that barely enough of them mature to maintain the usual
frog population. Fish, turtles, birds and scores of
kinds of water beetles and ferocious larvae take their daily
toll from the unsuspecting tadpoles.

LEOPARD FROG

By May, the hind legs have commenced to sprout and
during the next two months the fore legs will develop,
and the tail will be absorbed, the eyes and mouth take the
shapes of those of the adult frogs and in July and August
the pools will be swarming with small, brightly-spotted
Leopard Frogs. Those that live to become frogs get their
revenge upon many of the insects that preyed upon their
comrades for the food of frogs is largely insectivorous. In
the water they devour the larvae of all sorts of insects and
on the land they capture hosts of grasshoppers, crickets,

59

spiders, etc. They are wary now, and they have to be
for they are regarded as delicacies by man, beast, bird and
fish. With the chances about one hundred to one in favor
of their dying a violent death, it would not seem that life
held very rosy prospects for frogs but a visit to the
marsh or pond when the frog chorus is practising, and it
usually is, would convince anyone that these batrachians
think life worth the living.

PITCHER PLANT.

Bogs and swamps furnish excellent hunting grounds for
the naturalist. Rare birds, little-known insects, exquisite
orchids, beautiful butterflies, that can be found nowhere
else, may be located in such little frequented places.

The Pitcher Plant is one of these swamp flowers that
comparatively few ever see growing in its haunts because
it usually is necessary that rubber boots be worn in orders
to reach them. The shape of the leaves and form of
flowers is shown in the colored picture. The leaves, which
number from four to a dozen or more, all radiate from the
center, forming a rosette that may be as much as two feet
in diameter.

The young leaves are a very light green, the older ones
are dark green and leaves of the preceding year are more
or less of a reddish-brown hue. The openings of these
leaves all turn upwards and the interiors are usually filled
about half of water, some of which comes from rains and
some probably being sucked from the soil below.

The handsome nodding blossoms attract our attention
during May and June but the pitcher-shaped leaves are
interesting all the year. Examine one closely and you will
find that the interior near the opening is covered with tiny
hairs pointing downwards. Insects are often attracted to
these leaves perhaps for a drink from its cup, perhaps as
a place of concealment or more likely by the slightly
sticky sweet substance found just below the rim, within.
The plant is very inhospitable for many -insects, having

60

entered the pitcher, never leave it alive. Whether
imprisonment and ultimate drowning is due to their in-
ability to scale the slippery walls and the barrier of hairs
or whether, as some botanist claim, the fluid in the leaf
takes the form of a mild drug or intoxicant and overcomes
them, can only be guessed at until experiments have proved
conclusively.
These trapped insects are absorbed into the plant’s
“system as they decompose; as the pitcher plant thus lives
partially at least, upon animate matter it is usually known
as one of the insectivorous plants. The sundews, little
plants with leaves also arranged in the forms of rosettes,
are also insect-eating plants. Their leaves are covered
with fine hairs that are in reality little tubes. Tiny drops
of very sticky, dew-like liquid are exuded from the tips of
these hairs; attracted by these, small flies become en-
tangled and the leaf slowly furls up and devours its victims.
Probably the most wonderful insectivorous plant in the
world is the Venus’ Fly-trap, a plant that is found in
certain bogs in eastern North Carolina: It certainly has
the most restricted area of distribution of any North
American plant. Each leaf of Venus’ Fly-trap, and by the
way they, too, all radiate from the base, rosette-like, has
a circular section at its end, the two sides of which have
the power of closing together quickly upon the midrib as
an axis. The surfaces of these tips are sensitive,—a fly
alighting on one is almost invariably caught by its sudden
closing. After having caught a victim, that leaf remains
dormant for several days while the prey is being devoured.
Most interesting of all plants, however, are

ORCHIDS.

Orchids are the most highly specialized flowers that
exist. They include some of the rarest and most valuable
plants known, from a monetary point of view. Some are
exquisitely beautiful, others are very ugly, and all are very
peculiar in shape. Practically all of them are infertile to

CHIPMUNK.

He hives in stone walls or in holes in the ground. He can
climb trees but 1s nowhere near as agile as the other squirrels.

S WEETBRIER; EGLANTINE.
In rocky pastures aud along stone walls, this rose mav usual-
ly be found. Not as large as the common Swamp Rose, it
attracts our aduuration because of its profusion of bloom.

61

their own pollen and very many of them are adapted to
the visitation of certain species of insects. It is because
this certain, necessary insect so often fails to appear that
many of the orchids are so very scarce. The corollas of

GREEN ORCHIS—SPHINX MOTH

all orchids are composed of six parts but at least one of
these is always peculiar in form; sometimes it is a large
irregular pouch, again it may be a platform for insects to
alight upon or it may be a slender nectary tube.

A common, but interesting species, that grows in many
bogs and swamps is the large Green Orchid of the genus
Habenaria. The lower petal retreats into a slender tube
about an inch in length, this tube being a reservoir for
nectar with which to reward the proper insect visitor.
The tube is much too long and too slender for any of the
bees to reach the sweets and the color is not an attractive

62

one for butterflies. What, then, is the creature that this
blossom is designed to woo? It proves to be one of the
sphinx moths,—those night-flying, hummingbird-like
insects that we may find about our garden flowers on nearly
any pleasant evening after dusk.

An examination of the structure of the flower shows that
the stigma is a little sticky patch in the throat of the
blossom. The pollen is gathered into two tiny pear-
shaped bundles in pockets, one on either side of the
throat; each of these bundles is connected by a short,
slender filament to a sticky disk or “button.” The
sphinge, as sphinx-moths are commonly called, appears.
Sometimes it takes its food while hovering as a humming-
bird does or it may alight on the petal-platform that is
extended for it. In either case. in order to reach the
nectar with its long tongue, the face is pushed well into the
throat of the flower and each eye comes in contact with
one of the sticky pollen-buttons. As the moth head is
withdrawn, the pcllen-masses are also withdrawn from
their pockets, one plastered to either eve of the sphinge.
Strange as it might seem, these do not to a great extent
annoy the insect for it must be remembered that each of
the apparent eyes is in reality a great compound one
composed of thousands of simple eyes and the covering
of a few of them would not affect the sight of the creature
in the least.

When the sphinge leaves the flower these pollen masses
are pointing upward and if they remained in the same
position they would simply be pressed into the pockets of
the next blossom visited. But on exposure to the air the
connecting stalk between the pollen and the button con-
tracts, and the pollen masses are brought forward into
just the position to be pressed against the stigma. Some,
at least, of the grains are left at the door of this blossom
and the moth may even get other buttons attached to its
eyes. They have been caught and found to have four or
five on each eye.

63

Nearly every species of orchid has a way of its own
for compelling visiting insects to work for them, so that
there is practically an unlimited fields for the observer
along these lines. I will mention but one other, the
common pink Moccasin Flower or Ladies Slipper. That
most useful of insects, the bumblebee, is the one that we
shall see visiting the Moccasin Flower. He knows that
there is plenty of food inside the handsome pink sac. The
only entrance for him is in the fissure in the front; after
considerable struggling he is able to force his burly frame
through and the opening closes behind him.

Dinner finished, the next thing is to get out; he looks up
to the base of the flower where two spots of light show,—
that is the way. He struggles along the narrowing passage
past an obstructing stigma that brushes from his back any
pollen that he may have received from the last “‘slipper”
visited. Continuing along the passage, he reaches an
anther waiting to clap a fresh load of pollen on him; thus,
fully charged, he emerges and flies to the next plant to
repeat the operation.

64

ALONG THE BROOK.

There is a strange fascination in following along the
winding banks of streams. Well-trodden paths show that
for ages the same fascination has existed. This fascina-
tion may be the soft murmuring, gurgling notes of the
water eddying around corners and tumbling over boulders;
it may be the songs and visions of beautiful birds that
are likewise fascinated by these surroundings; it may be
the attractive flowers that bloom by the brookside,—the
Dog-tooth Violet, called “Fawn Lily” and ‘Trout Lily”
because of the handsome spotting of its leaves, and the
brilliant Cardinal-flower, that gem so attractive to hum-
mingbirds and to mankind; and then we have the fisher-
man, attracted by and hoping to capture in some of the
deep pools, that most beautiful of fresh-water fish.

THE BROOK TROUT.

Like shadows, we may see the dark forms moving slowly
to and fro in the darker, deeper parts of the brook.
Occasionally one, deciding to seek new feeding grounds
or perhaps to visit a neighbor up-stream, dashes through
the rapids, just a glimmer of gold and silver marking his
course. To look at trout from the foot-bridge crossing
the stream or from a rock overhanging a favorite pool
one can admire their grace and speed but can get no idea
of their beauty of form and coloring.

Gamey,—they will fight every instant from the strike
of the cruel hook until placed in the creel, and toothsome;
the two attributes that endear them to the fisherman to
such an extent that they are being hunted to death. Many
streams know them no more, where once they were abundant.
Years ago, trout weighing five to eight pounds were a
common occurrence; now the capture of one in any except
the most remote streams weighing more than two or three
pounds is a noteworthy event.

65

Many trout, especially the larger and older ones frequent
the cold depths of lakes, but the younger and active fish
inhabit brooks, particularly those with swiftly running
water over sandy bottoms, with numerous deep pools and
rapids, and well fringed with bushes for protection. Trout
have excellent appetites and like a variety of food. A
White-footed Mouse accidentally loses his hold while climb-
ing about the exposed, overhanging roots of a tree, and
falls into the pool below. It is the signal for a short but
very exciting race between the three trout that happened
to dwell in that very pool. A violent upheaval of the water,
and the winner seized the unfortunate rodent, his momen-
tum from the swift dash carrying him full out of the water.
A blundering moth barely touches the surface of the water,
but ere it can free itself, it is in the capacious maw of a
hungry fish.

A dragon-fly alights upon the end of a dead twig, two
or three inches above water. He, too, has a voracious
appetite and is at the very moment looking about for pass-
ing insects upon which to pounce. Alas,—his thousands
of eyes failed to note the enemy below him. With a swish,
a silvery, speckled body hurls from the water, turn grace-
fuliy on one side and disappears within the depths, but
the dragon-fly has gone with the trout, back to the very
eler-ent, perhaps to the same pool in which it lived while
in the larval or nymphal stage.

A Striped Dace hurries by on its way up-stream, but its
hurry is too slow for the. lightning-like dash of the
“‘speckled-teauty,” and there is enacted another of those
very frequent tragedies when fish eats fish. A sand-darter
that had been quietly resting on the bottom, concealed by
its protecting coloring, suddenly leaped for a “wriggler”
that was floating with the current but almost before it had
caught its prey, it in turn became a victim.

A Leopard Frog, wandering slong the edge of the
brook, startled by a boy coming along the path gave one
long, lusty leap,—the last that he ever would make, for a
large trout that had been lying in wait, met him as he

5

66

BROOK TROUT

67

struck the water. The small boy paused in wonder:—‘“My,
that must have been a whopper!’ With which words he
hurried home, got a hook and line, hastily cut a short pole
and scoured the meadow until he found a frog. With this
combination he soon landed a four-pound beauty that the
city man with his expensive tackle and large book of flies
had spent days trying to secure.

But trout have their fads; at certain seasons or even on
certain days they conclude that they want a certain kind
of food and nothing else, no matter how temptingly offered,
will serve to attract them.

During the fall, the males are more brightly colored
than at any other season. This is the time that they
choose their mates or are chosen by them. The spawning
season is from September until the end of November, at
which time the fish ascend the smallest streams almost to
their sources. The number of eggs laid varies from about
one hundred to two thousand depending upon the size and
age of the individuals. These lay upon the gravel bot-
tom in shallow water until the water is warmed during the
following spring, at which time they hatch. Thus from
three to six months may elapse between the laying and
hatching of the eggs. During the next few months, the
young trout fry in common with those of other fish are
subject to the depredations of countless enemies, worst of
which are the very numerous water insects and larvae of
those species that hatch in water.

Trout can very easily be kept in an aquarium provided
with running water and will do well if fed with chopped
liver, varied at times with small fish and insects. It is
only in such confinement that the beauty of the living fish
can be fully realized.

68
CADDIS FLIES.

Probably most of my readers have at some time or other.
stretched themselves at full length on the bank of the
brook and idly watched the things that went by with the
current or that made up the bed of the brook. Many
curious things may be found in the brook.

Perhaps the bottom of the brook is covered with pebbles.
As you watch vou may be astonished to see some of these
pebkles moving,—not only moving but travelling slowly
against the current. Let us take one of the moving peb-
bles and look at it closely:—We find it is not a pebble but
a lot of little pebbles firmly held together; still further
investigation shows that it is not solid but is a hollow tube
of pebbles lined on the inside with silk. We look inside,
but see nothing. Put it carefully in shallow water where
you can watch it closely. Presently it rocks a little, then
2 kead appears at the opening, then a quarter of an inch
of kody, its tiny legs frantically clawing at the bottom;
at last they get a grip, the pebble house turns over into a
ketter position and under the influence of a strong pull
slowly moves ahead.

The occupant of this novel house is the caddis worm,
larva of the caddis fly. There are a good many species of
ecddis flies, the larvae of all of them living under water.
All of these worms build some sort of a house,—some use
pebbles, some tiny sticks or straws and some leaves. What-
ever they are made of, the material is held firmly together
with silk spun from the mouth of the worm, and the cavity
is smoothly lined with the same material. You often see
several styles of homes side by side in the same brook.

Of course the object of making these houses is a pro-
tective one; there are many predatory water beetles that
would ke glad to get at such toothsome morsels as ciddis
worms but the latter either escape notice or their armor is
too strong. Some of these cases are anchored to larger
stones or pebkles but the majority of them are free to
drift or to ke carted about by their occupants.

TURK’S CAP LILY.

A very common lily in suttable places. Some stalks have
very many ofthe handsome pendant blossoms at the top.

JEWELWEED; TOUCH-ME-NOT.
We find these liltle orange cornucopias in moist places, usu-
ally about ponds. In fall therr seeds are shot forcibly from
cotled pods.

od

A. Home of the Net-building Caddis fly. B. House made of hollow
section of stick. C. Made of snail shells. D. Home of pebbles. E.
Composed of straws.

Since these worm-like creatures are in reality larvae,
they must enter the dormant or pupal state before be-
coming a full-fledged fly. When ready to change, the
larvae blocks up the entrance to the home with a pebble,
leaving sufficient space for a circulation of water, or it
may weave a gauze web across the entrance.

As soon as the newly developed insect leaves the pupal
case it swims rapidly to the surface, using its middle pair
of legs as oars. Its wings are folded in little packets on
each side of the body but instantly upon ecnming into
contact with the air, they expand to their normal size and
away flies the fully developed caddis-fly. Comstock esti-

70

mates the time of leaving the water and fiight to be less
than a second. This rapid drying of the wings occurs in
many insects hatched below water; it allows them to
emerge and take flight before being deluged or washed
away by the constant ripples or little waves.

THE CADDIS-FLY

Caddis-flies are very common in woods and often are
attracted by lights and found in houses. Their wings are
gauzy and covered with fine hairs instead of scales like
those of moths and butterflies. The four quite large wings
are folded, when the iusect is at rest, so that they slope at
an acute angle. My illustrations will serve better than
words to give the reader an adequate idea of the appear-
ances of both the flies and the houses that the larvae live
in.

WATER STRIDERS.

Where is the boy who has not played with or watched
the strange maneuvers and acrobatic stunts performed by
water-striders or “lucky-bugs” and whirligigs or “‘dizzy-
bugs?” As soon as the brooks are free from ice, the first
striders appear. They have passed the winter hidden in
the mud or under stones and leaves in a quiet portion of
the brook.

It is difficult to study the actions of these striders while
they are in the brook because they are too active and we

71

cannot get as near them as we would like. But we can
easily catch one in a net, take it home, place it in the
aquarium and study it at leisure.

We find this to be its general appearance:—Body one
quarter to three quarters of an inch long, dark brown above
and silvery-white below. Some specimens of each species
have wings while others do not, irrespective of sex. They
have quite large bead-like eves and rather long antennae.
What interests us most, however, are the six legs; the two
forward ones are short and quite strong.—very evidently
adapted to grasping objects; the middle and hind pairs
are long. slender and covered with fine hairs.

The tips of the long legs form the supporting surface;
the body does not. unless accidentally, touch the water.
We see a little dimple or hollow in the water where each
foot rests. The bug is held up by the antipathy of water
to un-wetted surfaces. just as a dry needle, with due care,
can ke made to float on the surface.

Try to touch one on the back and you find that you can-
not; his legs are quicker than vour hand. How does he
skate about so easily. You will have to watch very closely
to see and then vou will probably be in doubt. The fine
hairs on his feet give him sufficient purchase on the water
so that he can spring forward. at the same time carrying
his feet forward to their normal position. The feet do
not seem to leave the water but just skim along the surface.

Catch one of them and put him under water—he will
come to the surface dry for he is clad in oilskins; this
explains why he can safely navigate the sometimes turbu-
lent brook waters.

Of course everybody and everything eats. What does
the water-strider feed upon? Just drop a few mosquitos
or flies in the water near them and the chances are that
several of the striders will rush for them at once. Their
food is chiefly insectivorous; they grasp it in their front
legs, pierce it with their sharp beaks and suck its juices.
Many tiny gnats and millers are continually hovering over
the water, often touching the surface. It is those unfor-

72

tunates that are unable to get a-wing quickly enough that
furnish the natural food for striders.

In May the females deposit round, white eggs on grass-
stems; these hatch in about three weeks into tiny striders
which at once start their career of walking on the water.
There are no larval and pupal changes as with most insects,
the baby striders simply growing from little ones to full-
size.

He sometimes come upon a buck deer in our woodland rambles.

73
THROUGH THE WOODS.

The great trees tower above us,—giant chestnuts,
sturdy oaks and, here and there, a pine that had the
temerity to cast its lot with the others. Under foot is a
covering of dead leaves and club mosses, partridge vines,
chestnut burrs, and here and there a delicate, pink moc-
casin-flower with broad green leaves sheathing the flower
stem.

Sharp-voiced warblers flit about everywhere; from a
distance comes the rasping song of the brilliant tanager,
while from nearly overhead sounds the sweeter, more
melodious tune of a handsome grosbeak; on the side hill
we hear the rolling, descending notes of a Veery, while
down by the brook a Wood Thrush sings intermittantly ;
a self-satisfied vireo sings so incessantly that we become
heartily tired of the song, pretty as it is. An Ovenbird
dashes out from under foot and discloses a handsome
arched nest containing five frail eggs. Out from under a
fallen tree a grouse speeds away with a thunderous roar,
leaving behind in a leafy hollow fourteen yellowish-brown
treasures.

Birds and flowers are forgotten for a time when we
happen to lean against a tall decayed stub of a tree. We
see something apparently fall from the top like a bit of
bark but instead of landing at the foot of the stump as
it properly should under the influence of gravity, it falls
in an oblique direction and finally reaches the foot of a
neighboring tree. Of course we can see now that the
supposed bit of bark is

THE FLYING SQUIRREL.

These little fellows are so very nocturnal] in their habits
that they are seldom seen during daylight unless they are
routed out of their hiding places, and then only in the short
space of time it takes them to reach another tree and
clamber up.

74

Often they take up their abode in deserted woodpecker
holes; again you may shake a little tree in which you notice
a ball of leaves and see three or four of them sail out in
as many directions. Their flight is, of course, merely a
glide or a slide down the air, the skin between the fore and
hind legs forming when the legs are out-stretched a plane
that supports them sufficiently to enable them to glide at an
angle of about sixty degrees. They are as nimble as any
of the squirrels and whisk away up the trunks, flattening
themselves out against the limbs so that they resemble bits
of bark or lichens.

If you visit the vicinity of their homes at twilight you
will see them chasing one another about, their shadowy
forms sailing from tree to tree. We wish that our eyes
were as keen as theirs so that we might watch them at
their play. They are very easily tamed, but they keep

FLYING SQUIRREL

75

curled up in their little house during daylight. At night,
however, their big, round, black eyes are wide open and
full of mischief. They will chase one another about the
room, up the curtains and along picture moulding until,
hard pressed by the pursuer, they make flights across the
room and start all over again.

I have caught several of the little sprites and photo-
graphed them on the ends of stumps, but I have tried in
vain to induce one of them to scale through the air so that
I might picture it in flight.

Flying Squirrels and the little striped Chipmunks, while
of little use economically except that trees often take
their origin from nuts and seeds that they have planted,
do no harm, but the same cannot be said concerning the
larger Red and Gray Squirrels.

Red Squirrels are very active and very destructive to
the nests and eggs of birds during the breeding season.
Time after time I have seen them sit in robin nests and
drain the eggs, have seen them pull down bush-nests and
devour the contents and have caught them in the act of
taking young birds. Gray Squirrels are clumsy compared
to the red species which accounts for their doing a little
less damage but their inclinations are just the same and
they never pass by a favorable oportunity to devour both
eggs and little birds. Beautiful as these squirrels are, our
country would be the gainer if every one was exterminated
and in their place we would have a large increase in the
more beautiful, more musical and more useful birds.

TREE FROGS.

We are all familiar with pond frogs, and with field
toads but not so many of us have ever seen that frog of
the woods, the Tree Frog. From June until August the
trilling of these frogs is one of the familiar sounds not
only of the woods but also of the orchards and often it
comes from the shade trees or ornamental shrubs about the
house. While we cannot help hearing the song, it is quite

TREE FROG

a difficult matter to search out the singer. I have found
quantities of them but in nearly every case it was acci-
dental and not by looking for them. Sometimes we may
come across them on the ground; perhaps they were passing
from one tree to another or it may be that they missed
their footing on one of their long aerial leaps. Again,
but less often, we may see one dozing on a limb, in a
crevice of the bark or on a large leaf.

\Ooe dan
weeee eee

aD
coir}
ed
yy
»

The Black Swallow-Tail and the small Sulphur Butterfly
feed commonly tn clover felds.

BLACK-EYED SUSAN; CONE FLOWER.

In dry fields and pastures we mar find quantitics of these
tough-stemmed darstes,

Adult Tree Frogs measure about two inches exclusive
of their long legs. Their toes all terminate in round
“buttons” that are sticky on the under side. These enable
them to “‘stick’”’ wherever their feet may touch, so they
can easily climb trees or leap from branch to branch.

Another very interesting feature about them is their
chameleon-like changing of color. Those found on leaves
will have a conspicuously green color, those on stones or
gray bark will te a handsome shade of gray, while the one
on brown tree trunks will be colored with brown. Take
one from one object and place it upon another and in about
two hours it will have changed so as to harmonize with it,
provided that it is one of these three shades. To further
the deception, they are mottled, have an irregular star-
shaped mark on the back and two darker stripes across the
legs; these markings, combined with the appropriate colors
cause the little fellow to blend into a stone or bark back
ground. They often spend weeks at a time in the same
tree securing, after dark, an abundance of food in the
shape of caterpillars, spiders, plant lice, etc.

As usual with frogs, winter is passed in the mud, either
at the bottom of shallow ponds or about its edges. The
common Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor) does not come out
of its winter slumber until the latter part of April. Another
species (Hyla pickeringi), known as the “Spring-peeper”
appears in March, just as soon as the ice commences to
leave. This frog is the earliest of all to appear,—its
voice is usually heard weeks in advance of any other.

The eggs of Tree Frogs are deposited singly among the
grass in shallow water. The development of both the eggs
and tadpoles is very rapid; by the end of October, at
which time they hibernate, the young frogs are about an
inch in length.

78
COCOONS AND CHRYSALIDS.

Doubtless my reader has often, in his rambles, seen
caterpillars of many kinds,—some bright colored or
beautifully striped, other peculiarly shaped, stout or covered
with spines. Interesting nature studies may easily be made
of most caterpillars for, of course, they represent the
larval stage of some species of moths or butterflies. You
have but to take them home, place them in a box, one side
of which is screened, and keep them supplied with the
same kind of leaves upon which you found them feeding;
you will then witness the interesting changes that occur.

To illustrate the life cycle of a moth I have selected the
Cecropia (Samia cecropia) one of the largest and most
beautiful species in our country. We may find the larva
or caterpillar feeding in maples, elms and willows and less
often on other deciduous trees, or one may have taken a
tumble and be found crawling along on the ground. The
full grown larva is fully three inches in length, very stout
and a dull whitish-green color; it is covered with tubercules
that are blue on the sides, yellow on top and reddish near
the head. Before reaching its full size, the larva has moult-
ed or shed its skin, three or four times. It is not a beauti-
ful object to look upon and gives little promise of the ex-
quisite moth into which it will develop.

Within a few days after attaining its full growth, the
larva will be ready to pupate or go into the “sleeping
stage” from which it will emerge a moth. Taking its
position at a favorable point on a branch, it will commence
to spin silken threads about it, the outer ones being firmly
fastened to the twig and often drawing several leaves into
the frame work. The first stages of this spinning process
are very interesting for we can watch the caterpillar
through the growing walls,—turning around and around
and often doubling up as it lays its silken trail.

When finished, the cocoon is very firm, attached strongly
to its support and is waterproof. Within, the larva be-

Caterpillar, Cocoon and Cecropia Moth just after emerging. In two
hours the wings will attain an expanse of five or six tiches and the beautt-
Jul moth wall be capable of flight.

80

comes dormant: its outer skin hardens and becomes a
chrysalis; the caterpillar is really going through a fifth
moult but does not immediately leave the hardened skin or
chrysalis. If it is early summer, the chrysalid state will
last but two or three weeks but if our larva was of a fall
brood, it will remain in the cocoon throughout the winter.

When the time for emergence arrives, the cocoon will
show some signs of the movements within; the newly born
moth breaks through the chrysalid and exudes juices that
soften the upper part of the cocoon and allow it to slowly
drag itself out. It is now a sorry looking object,—large,
fat spotted body but with tiny limp wings. It climbs
down and hangs from the bottom of the cocoon or from a
twig while its wings are developing; these commence to
grow immediately after it gets out into the air,—you can
actually see them grow and in about half an hour they have
attained their full size, but are still limp. In another hour,
our moth will be slowly opening and shutting the handsome
wings and may make a flight at any time. He does not have
to learn to fly as little birds do; his first attempt will be a
strong swift and steady one. Surely it is a most wonder-
ful transformation from an ugly caterpillar to the beauti-
ful imago as the moth forms are termed.

One of the most common and most beautiful of the
larger butterflies is the Black Swallow-tail (Papilio
asterias). We commonly see it in fields of clover as well
as about thistle blossoms. Its life history will serve as
typical of that of most butterflies.

Although the butterfly gets its food from many plant
families, its larvae live almost exclusively upon members
of the parsley family, either wild or cultivated; therefore
the female Asterias visits these plants to lay her eggs.
These are abort the size of pin-heads, globular, yellow-
isk-wlite. In a few days these turn gray, soften and the
little dark-colored larvae gnaw their way out. After feed-
ing ravenously upon the flowers, foliage and seed pods for
akont three weeks, and moulting five or six times, it attains
its full length of nearly three inches. It is of a pale

81

Caterpillar of Black Swallow-tatl about to pupate, and the chrysalid.

greenish color crossed by black bands on which are yellow
spots; just back of the head are two tubercules or horns
that are projected when the creature is disturbed; these
horns are also capable of giving out an offensive odor that
forms a sort of protection against insectivorous birds. The
larva is now ready to go into the chrysalid state and we
must watch it closely if we are to see the wonderful per-
formance.

For this great change, it often leaves its food plant and
takes a position on a dead limb of a neighboring tree or
even on a fence rail. A tiny silken pad is firmly attached
to the side of its support; this is designed to be grasped
by the terminal pair of legs and to form the principal
means of support for the chrysalid. Having anchored
itself firmly to this pad, the caterpillar attaches a thread
to one side of the limb, then reaching its head far back

6

iA
ine

until a sufhcient length has been spun, attaches it to the
oposite side; this operation is repeated until a dozen or
more strands pass trom side to side. The caterpillar then
passes its head under the silken thread and wriggles up
until they support the body about midway. This silken

BLACK SWALLOW-TAIL (Papilio asterias)

loop and the cushion pad are now its only supports. The
creature remains at rest with head bent forward for about
twenty four hours, then the body commences to twitch;
the skin has become dry. it cracks and splits and the
larva moults for the last time, losing the pro-legs from
this hind end of the body. It has assumed the typieal
chrysalid form, the outer skin hardens, turns green or
wood-colored and the creature remains at rest for a period
of ten to twenty days—that is, if the caterpillar was of
an early brood; later ones of course pass the winter in the
chrysalid state.

Little spottcd fawns mav rarely be seen in summer.

When the time arrives for the butterfly to appear, the
case becomes duller in color. moist and soft; it soon
splits up the back allowing the new-born butterfly to extend
its legs: as it gathers strength it slowly emerges from the
case and crawls to the branch above. Under the action
of the air and sunlight the wings grow. expand and take
on their brilliant colors until, in about two hours we see

GRAY SQUIRREL

Nuts, roots and cone-seeds are his usual diet but he also eats bird eggs
mm Season

a full-grown, beautiful butterfly ready to fly away and
seek flowers from which to get the nectar upon which it is
now to subsist until death.

Studies of butterfly and moth life are of more than
ordinary interest because of the complete changes of form
of the insects and because they can so easily be observed
by taking the larvae into the home or school.

iva)
Or

Examples of incomplete metamorphosis. in which the
form from youth to adult does not undergo radical changes,
may be found among grasshoppers. crickets and like in-
sects. The young are born from eggs laid in the ground
and moult a number of times before attaining their full
growth and wings. :

ICHNEUMON ELIES.

Among the most grotesque of insects commonly seen
among the hordes that frequent the autumn woods are the
ichneumon flies. These flies all have an “ugly” appearance
and are much feared by those who do not know of their
harmless disposition. Far from being dangerous, these
insects. of which there are many species, are really valuable.
They are all parasitic. that is their larvae live upon those
of other usually destructive insects. We will follow some
of the steps in the life cycle of one of the largest species
and see what occurs.

This species, technically known as “Thalessa lunator,”
is a very imposing insect frequently measuring more than
six inches over all. More than half of the length is
composed of the “tail.” technically known as the oviposi-
tor and what is usually known by children as the “sting.”
Fortunately this ovipositor is not a sting, although its use

86

means the sure death of a certain species of insect upon
which halessa preys, known as the Pigeon Tremex
(Tremex columba). Adult insects of this latter family are
known as horn-tails because the end of the body terminates
in a sharp point or horn. The larvae are known as wood-
borers, many of them doing a great deal of damage to
shade trees.

Tremex is an enemy to oak and elm trees. She has a
short but strong ovipositor with which she bores directly
into the wood for a depth of about an inch, at which depth
she deposits her eggs. In about two weeks these eggs
hatch and the grubs, or Tremex larvae, commence to bore
through the wood; they live upon the wood and its juices,
the boring of which when persisted in by numbers of them
saps the life of the tree.

Now Thalessa enters upon the scene; with her arrival,
the fate of the Tremex worm is sealed. How she knows
just where to bore is a mystery man cannot solve, but she
always selects a spot just over the tunnel in which Tremex
larva is working. It is then that her wonderful ovipositor
comes into play; this is one of the most marvellous drills
in the world, the like of which is beyond the power
and skill of man to create. Little larger than an
ordinary horsehair, yet it is a tube through which
Thalessa can lay her eggs; flexible as a hair, yet it is
sturdy enough to penetrate oak. Taking her position on
tiptoe, body perpendicularly elevated relative to the

branch, ovipositor curved sharply over the back, Thalessa
commences drilling. It is slow work and hard work; it
may be several hours before she gets to the necessary
depth, which may vary from one to three inches. Usually
when she has to drill to the latter depth she is so exhausted
by the labor of boring and egg-laying that she is unable
to withdraw the drill and perishes.

The ‘Red Squirrel ts one of the most destructive forces with which the
small birds have to contend.

The eggs hatch within a few hours and the tiny, but
active, larvae immediately wriggle along in search of the
food that they know is somewhere near. They soon over-
take and attach themselves to the Tremex worms upon
which they subsist, growing very rapidly. So one insect
gives up its life that another may live. Fortunately Tre-
mex larva has a habit of occasionally boring to the surface,
or the Thalessa worms would find themselves in a prison

88

from which they could not escape. Hurrying back along
the passage until it reaches one of these breathing spots,
the larva goes into the pupal state, covering itself with a
brownish cocoon from which, in due course a new adult
Thalessa will emerge.

Other species of Ichneumon Flies lay their eggs upon
various caterpillars before or after they have entered the
pupal state. Very often the collector, carrying home a
cocoon of some prized moth, will be disheartened to find
that it has hatched out a fine family of Ichneumon Flies.

89

A great many plants are regarded as weeds
because they are so abundant and because
they spread so rapidly over the country. But
why is it that some plants are so prolifle and
increase so rapidly while others are becoming
scarce and difficult to find? It is because the
“weeds” grow many seeds, make sure of set-
ting them and then take pains to have them
properly distributed.

Foreign immigrants almost with-
out exception, they are natural born
travelers,—or perhaps tramps is the
better word. They come to our coun-

: try by “steerage,” by cattle ship,
| tramp steamer,—any way to get here. Once

’ W on our soil, though unbidden and not wanted,

they use all their energies in an endeavor to
travel from end to end of our land.

By hook or by crook they are bound to accomplish their
purpose. Seeds are shot from guns, they travel by means
of two legs, some go by four, others go on wheels, many
go via parachutes and quantities go a-wing. Oh, they are
interesting little beggars, every one of them. They are so
very interesting that I have seen persons who cared ab-
solutely nothing about plants or botany, spend hours work-
ing over the seeds.

90

Every day during Autumn, these little beggars put forth
the glad hand to every wanderer through fields or woods.
So slyly is this greeting extended that it usually is un-
noticed until the clothes may have accumulated hundreds
or even thousands of the clinging pests. Our wanderer,
be he preacher or layman, scientist or laborer, must per-
force sit him down and patiently take his lesson in botany,
picking them off one by one. Probably however, beyond a
few remarks in regard to ‘“beggar-lice’”’ in general, he will
not realize that these clinging little things are seeds and
that’ he has unwittingly founded a new colony of the
plants.

Let us consider a few of these very interesting types of
plants and their ways of sending their seedlings out into
the world, first taking some of those that use no sentient
agency for their transportation.

Everyone knows the littlh DANDELION that grows
everywhere and blooms in season and out. Why do its
flower-stems that when tipped with the golden blossoms
were curved and often lying close to the ground, straighten
out and grow so that the feathery balls are elevated above
the grass tops? Not for display and not as objects for
children to play with, but solely so that the seeds, each of
which has a silky, feathery parachute attached, may get a
chance to float away on the breezes, unobstructed. Of
course many of them come to earth within a short distance
of the parent plant, but under favorable conditions some
of them may travel for miles before finding their final
resting place.

The aviation method of dispersal is also chosen by the
milkweeds. The large fragrant clusters of blossoms that
greet us in June and July are replaced in late summer by
large, coarse, pointed pods. Each of these pod houses a
large number of black seeds and each one of these seeds
has a number of silken filaments attached. When the
proper time arrives, the pod-house bursts and the seeds go
trooping out like children after schoo] hours, to become the
playthings of the winds until at last they reach secure,

OI

final lodging places. Thistles, golden-rods, cat-tails,—in
fact a great many kinds of plants send their seed-babies
out into the world on the arms of the wind.

More hazardous than trusting to the wind, but equally
efficient when it finds its victim, is the practice of some
plants of arming their seeds with hooks designed to catch
in the hair of passing animals or the clothing of people.
One of the best examples of this kind of dispersal is shown
by the common burdock. The burs are commonly used
by children for making cradles, houses, funny men, balls to
throw to one another, etc..—uses for which the burs readily
lend themselves but of course entirely different from what
the plants intended. These burs are very annoying to
dogs and sheep for it is almost impossible to extract them
from hair without first breaking them in bits. They do not
trouble people so much because on account of their size
and conspicuity they can be readily seen and avoided.

There are other seeds, however, which attach themselves
to us without our knowledge, being noticed only when parts
of our clothing are set as thickly with seeds as a hedgehog
is with quills. One of the worst offenders in this respect
is the bur-marigold, more commonly known perhaps as
“stick-tight,” the seeds of which are universally described
as “beggar’s ticks.” We do not get a “square deal” from
bur-marigold for it literally hands us its seeds by the
hundred but we must pick them off one by one. It may be
interesting to know that the generic name of these plants
is ‘Bidens,’ meaning two teeth, referring of course two
the two teeth on the seeds that bits so tenaciously into our
clothing.

Then there are the tick-trefoils, often known as
“beggars-lice,” those small, pouch-like” seeds that literally
bury themselves in our garments. We know not where we
get them,—they steal upon us unwares and they stay until
plucked off individually, one by one.

Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, checkerberries,
etc. are eaten by birds and the seeds dropped in various

92

places; during migrations they may thus travel hundreds
of miles.

Other seeds are thrown about by the bursting, curling
or compression of the seed-pods. One is often startled
when walking about the edges of ponds in autumn, by the
sudden exploding of coiling pods of snap-dragon or
touch-me-not as he brushes against them. The seeds are
thrown about for a distance of several feet. The witch
hazel pod gradually closes upon its elongated seeds until
the pressure becomes so great that they are forcibly
ejected, sometimes to a distance of thirty feet or more.

PAGE

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Books by Chester A. Reed, B. S.

BIRD GUIDE—-LAND BIRDS.

Describes and ILLUSTRATES IN COLOR every
Song and Insectivorous Bird, east of the Rocky Moun-
tains. 210 species pictured in NATURAL COLORS.
The most popular and most widely sold bird book ever
published (over 200,000 copies). Pocket size, 3 1-2 x
5 1-2 in.; 220 pages.

In flexible leather, $1.00 net.
In sock-cloth, 75c net; postage 5c.

BIRD GUIDE—WATER BIRDS.

The companion book to the above, illustrating in
COLOR and describing every Water Bird, Game Bird
and Bird of Prev found east of the Rockies, 230 species.
240 pages.

In flexible leather, $1.25 net.
In sock-cloth, 75¢e net; postage 5c.

FLOWER GUIDE.

Illustrating in NATURAL COLORS and describing
over 200 of the Wild Flowers of eastern North America.
This book has had the largest sale of any book upon wild
flowers. Used with the Bird Guides in schools and col-
leges everywhere. Pocket size.

In flexible leather, $1.00 net.
In sock-cloth, 75¢ net; postage 5c.

NORTH AMERICAN BIRD’S EGGS.

The only book ever published, illustrating the eggs of
nearly every species of North American Bird. Each egg
shown FULL SIZE from a photograph of an authentic
specimen. Also many halftones of nests and nesting
sites. 350 pages, 6 x 9 in. Finely printed and bound in
cloth.

$2.50 net; postage 25¢

Books by Chester A. Reed, B. S.

CAMERA STUDIES OF WILD BIRDS.

A photographic and pen history of more than fifty of
the common song birds. Probably the finest collection of
photographs of living, wild, song birds ever published in
one volume,—over 250 of them. Shows many very inter-
esting and unusual scenes of home life. 300 pages;
finely bound.

$2.00 net; postage 20c.

NATURE STUDIES—BIRDS.

Stories of bird life, as related by Uncle George to Dor-
othy and Dick. Especially valuable and desirable for
starting children on the right path in Nature Study. 100
pages, 5 x 7 in.

60c net; postage 10c.

NATURE STUDIES IN FIELD AND WOOD.

Designed to call the attention of the reader to the miny
very interesting studies of Nature to be found on every
hand. Interesting facts concerning the lives of certain
mammals, insects, plants, reptiles, ete. 100 pages,
5.x 7 in.

60c net; postage 10c.

GUIDE TO TAXIDERMY.

Complete instruction for the proper mounting by the
most approved methods, of Birds, Mammals, Fishes,
Game Heads, Rug Work, etc. Finely illustrated and
handsomely bound.

$1.50 net; postage 15c.

EVERY

BIRD STUDENT

AND

NATURE
LOVER

Field Glass

We carefully examined more than a hundred makes of field
glasses, to select the ones best adapted for bird study.

We found one make that was superior to any other of the
same price and equal optically, and nearly as well made as
those costing three time as much.

They magnify about three diameters, and have an unusual-
ly large field of vision or angle of view, making it easy to find

a bird or keep him in sight. Price only $5.00 postpaid.

CHAS. K. REED, Worcester, Mass.