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THE

NATURE-STUDY
REVIEW

Volume XIII, 1917

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

SECRETARY-EDITOR
Cornell University

Published by

THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING CO.

Ithaca, N. Y.

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Devoted Primarily to all Scientific Studies
of Nature in Elementary Schools

Vol. 13, No. 1 JANUARY, 1917

One year (nine issues) $1.00

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^o

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 13

January, 1917

No. 1

To the Nature-Teachers,
Greeting :
The new year is before
us, and the year is always
young. It is our privilege
to maintain interest in
life, and to impart this
interest to those whom we
teach. I hope that the
year will seem good to
you.

L. H. Bailey.

SONG
Charles De Kay

The winter woods, the

winter woods,
They bevel best with all
our moods.
With hardihood and
wild despair.
With tender love and

joyousness:
The crimes of cities they
redress.
And broken faiths re-
pair.

The winter woods, the

winter woods
Are better far than house
and goods.
Than food and raiment
better far,
Than gilded walls and

canopies :
They break but do not
stop the breeze.
And never hide a star.

Agreement as to the Nature-Study Program

By James G. Needham

Are we not agreed as to the fundamentals of a nature-study
program? Professor Trafton raises this question in the October
number of The Nature-Study Review, and I want to go on
record as believing that we are agreed quite as far as we should be.

The essentials of our agreement may be grouped under these
•three heads: -

I. The nature-study course should be general — as general as
the child's principal interests in the things and in the processes of
nature.

II. It should be organized from the child's standpoint, pro-
ceeding from what he knows to what he can find out, and following
the natural order of his developing aptitudes, putting wholes before
parts, large things before small ones, attractive things before the
less attractive.

III. It should fit the environment and be adapted to season,
locality and conditions. •

What certain critics have mistaken for disagreement among
nature-study teachers is merely lack of uniformity, and is generally
wholesome and desirable. Among the causes of this lack of uni-
formity are the following :

I. The infinity of nature. Her offerings are innumerable. No
one can know or use them all, and with so much from which to
choose not all teachers will choose the same things, though all may
use what they choose to meet the same good ends.

II. The difference of locality, in accordance with which nature's
offerings differ. Good natiire-study teachers use things that are
common and near at hand. They should not be expected to use
the same things in the same manner all the way from Maine to
California, any more than fishermen should be expected to do their
fishing by the same methods.

III. Personal knowledge of nature possessed by the teacher.
Each teacher should use what she can use best ; what she knows
best, likes best, and succeeds with best.

IV. Shifts of emphasis that grow out of increase to scientific
knowledge. Such work with mosquitoes, with flies, or with bac-
teria as is often stressed now-a-days would not have been tolerated
a generation ago, before the sanitary importance of these pests was
known.

2

needham] NATURE-STUDY PROGRAM 3

V. Control by the educational over-lords. Superintendents as
a rule are sadly lacking in knowledge of nature, yet they have not
hesitated to set metes and bounds to the nature-study work done
in their schools, even by thoroughly competent teachers. Adminis-
tration tends to uniformity — and to mediocrity.

It is neither surprising nor regrettable, therefore, that nature-
study teachers are not all using the same things in the same way
the country over. It is sufficient that they are working toward a
common end, and that end, the education of the children in the
love of nature and in acquaintance with and ability to use their
own environment. When used to these ends real nature-study is
never found wanting.

There are fashion-mongers in pedagogy as elsewhere; and they
like to set us to cutting the cloth just a little different each season,
and they like to get us to using new names for things. Thus they
make quite a show of doing something original. Just now they
are juggling with the "Junior High Schools" and with "general
science." The content of general science courses, in so far as it has
any value in primary education, is purely and solely nature-study
renamed. And it must be so; for the primary educational need
of human kind will ever be knowledge of mother nature, the source
and sustenance of all human affairs — the great primal educator,
who sets all our fundamental tasks for us, and offers all our
permanent rewards. And at all stages of our progress, whatever
we name our tasks, we shall only get on by the first hand study of
nature, using the two old methods that have wrought achievement
in the past — observation and experiment.

The report of the New York Meeting of the American
Nature-Study Society will appear in the February issue.

The Index for Volume 12 of the Review will also be
mailed with the February issue.

Nature-Study in Milwaukee and Its Vicinity

By Florence J. Kane

Nature-study may be made one of the most profitable' subjects
taught in the common schools. However, teachers should not
labor under an erroneous idea of what nature-study is. Reading
about the duckbill-platypus of Australia or the ant-eater of South
America or listening to the teacher's tale of the life story of the
octopus or the crocodile may be highly entertaining natural history
for a boy and may give him considerable erudition, but it can hardly
be called nature-study. First of all, nature-study should be
practical and suited to the environment in which the child lives.
Hence a lesson on the common house fly, the clothes moth, or the
cockroach — not from reading but from direct observation of the
insects' Hfe habits — ^may be made practical nature-study for the
child, and if the lessons are conducted in a psychological way, may
give him no little mental training. Nor need a teacher fear that
the material for study that lies within the surroundings of the
child's own home will ever be exhausted, however humble and
limited in area that abode may be; for the living things of earth
are like the stars of the heavens in this : that the more intensified
study reveals but a greater infinitude. As Longfellow said of
Nature and Agassiz:

"And whenever the way seemed long,

Or his heart began to fail.
She would sing a more wonderful song.

Or tell a more marvelous tale."

I like the idea of gardening and tree planting for the child
because from these useful activities may be derived innumerable
lessons in seed testing, seed sprouting, seed planting, soil cultiva-
tion and drainage, plant cultivation, and the conservation of that
animal life which is beneficial to man's existence.

When it is almost time for a child to buy his seeds in the spring,
he will enjoy a lesson on seed testing. When he has buried his
seeds in the soil, seed germination under a bell jar will be highly
instructive and entertaining. He will be pleased mth a lesson on
the earthworm and the ant when he knows they are directly con-
cerned in the fertilization, cultivation and drainage of his soil.
He will regard the bee as his assistant in fruit production. The
hideous, despised toad, the reptile-like salamander, the frog, the
loathed garter snake — animals he has been reared to look upon

4

KANE] NA TURE-STUD Y IN MILWA UKEE AND VICINITY 5

with aversion — will, under the wise instruction of his teacher, show
their economic value; and the child will take steps toward their
conservation rather than their destruction. My pupils were very
much interested in a colony of earthworms that they had set up
in a lamp chimney where they could observe their burrowing and
also their feeding on dead carnation leaves. Thus they had a
miniature exhibition of what the earthworms in the garden do in
making passages for the rain to descend to the roots and in mixing
humus and loam. The general ignorance of the value of the toad
as an indispensable garden assistant is often quite surprising. I
once asked a class of seventh and eighth grade Milwaukee boys to
bring me what they thought a toad would eat. I received bits of
roast beef, bread, cake, and candy. Not a child thought of an
insect or a worm. The toad, of course, remained immovable on
the presentation of the children's delicacies; but when I set before
it a caterpillar and it snapped up the wriggling creature with
quick intelligence, there was great surprise and excitement among
the audience. I asked the same class if it was true that toads
gave people warts. They firmly declared that it was, while
several of them pointed out certain warts they had received from
toads, stating the time and occasion of the transfer.

In connection with the garden work we should teach the little
one how birds are of personal use to him both as insect and as seed
eaters. Let him study preferably those birds that he is likely
to meet in his yard, in the trees about his residence, on the margin
of river and lake. He should be taught how to attract desirable
birds to live about his home.

It has been my experience that a child is more interested in a
garden of his own at his home than he is in a class garden on the
school ground. Some of the rural schools are giving credit
toward graduation to those children who do successful home plant-
ing and cultivating. This of course, requires inspection by the
teacher. Perhaps teachers may imagine that their poorest pupils
cannot find a place about their homes for this work ; but it would
not be difficult for such people to secure window boxes. Mr.
Peaslee of the Milwaukee Public Museum saw and took a picture
of one child's garden that was made in an old shoe.

If we look about our city streets to see how sadly Milwaukee
trees are neglected, — some of them allowed to be overcome by
disease, others mutilated by the work of ignorant trimmers — we

6 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:1— Jan., 1917

may realize how beneficial it would be to Milwatikee to give the
young instruction in the care of trees. Were we to teach otir
children to thoroughly admire and respect a noble tree, to call it
by name, to know how many years it has taken it to arrive at its
beautiftil maturity, to know something of the insect pests that
infest it and the best methods of eradicating these pests, we might
one day rear a generation of citizens whose legislation would
provide Milwaiikee with a chief forester and enough assistants to
prevent the devastation of hundreds of our trees by the cottony-
scale and the white-marked tussock moth. How Milwaukee
people respect an old tree was shown last year when two noble
elms on the comer of State and Twelfth Streets were felled for the
accommodation of the streetcar compan}^ because the beautiful
intricate lace-work of their branches interfered with the hideous
trolley wires; and scarcely a protesting voice was raised against
this outrage on two trees that had given a protecting shadow to
Milwaukee pedestrians when the city was in its youth.

The education given in our common schools is supposed to
provide the child of the masses with the rudiments of what he will
need in his struggle for an existence. Yet the great agriculttiral
United States has not, until quite recently, seen fit to introduce
into its courses of study for elementarv^ schools an^^thing that will
incline a child to agricultiire. A city boy who is interested in the
planting of trees, shrubs, vegetables, and flowers is learning prac-
tical lessons everv^ day that are not only useful to him as a child
but will lay the foundation for more extensive work along that
line for the future whether his manhood is to be spent in tirban or
in rural districts. The majority of people have no use in after
life for a large percentage of the arithmetic and the geography
taught in the grades. Could not the time be better employed by
giving the child something more practical and enjoyable? And
why should a child not be directed toward horticulture or bee
culture rather than toward some unrenumerative city employ-
ment^— a position as dr^'-goods clerk or the work of a pale-faced,
emaciated bookkeeper? Even city people may successfully
carry on some branches of farming, such as the raising of mush-
rooms, celer>% or poultrv'.

I believe also that nature-study will gi\^e a student a good
foundation for the biolog>" and geology of the college, because
he will have a broader understanding of plant and animal life and

KANE] NATURE-STUDY IN MILWAUKEE AND VICINITY 7

will be more interested in plant and animal evolution and structure
as a consequence of the preliminary nature training, while his little
lessons in physiography will bear the same relation to his geology.
Science has been making such great strides of advancement in
recent years that the demand for scientifically trained men and
women to fill a variety of positions is greater than it has ever been.
The nature-study may lead some child toward the pursuit of a
scientific education who might otherwise never realize he would
have a liking for that kind of work.

In teaching nature in the Milwaukee public schools the teacher
labors at a decided disadvantage under the meager and impractical
course of study supplied her. The entire course consists of
vegetables, flowers, trees, and birds. With the exception of birds,
animal life has been entirely neglected. It would be more practi-
cal for a Milwaukee child to study about the horse or the toad than
the cedar waxwing. A certain little fifth grade girl who had studied
the cedar waxwing lamented because she had never beheld the
exquisitely colored creature. Yet she probably never would see it
in the heart of the city where she lived ; for the bird is spasmodic
in its flight, and its appearance can be depended upon at no certain
time or place. It likes to frequent regions abounding in cherries
and strawberries; consequently a little girl might have co watt a
long time before seeing it in the busy streets of a large city. While
a Milwaukee child is spending time on the sea gull or the night-
hawk, a small citizen of Sturgeon Bay, a city surrounded by cherry
orchards, might study the waxwing quite advantageously.

If a man could cast out from his life one of his greatest plagues — •
the destructive work of insects — ^with that ease and nonchalance
that Milwaukee has eliminated insect study from its course, what a
cheerful prospect life would present for the future ! I argue that
it. would be far more profitable for a city child to be familiar with
the habits of himian and household insect pests than dwell at
length on the phlox or petunia as he is supposed to do in the second
and fourth grades respectively. It is not necessary for a child
to spend a great amount of time on the structure of a great variety
of flowers, because that sort of work can be more properly taken
up in high schools and colleges. The elm-leaf beetle, the plant
louse, and the garden slug are more vital problems for the city
people than the structure of the geraniimi or the poetulaca work
designated for the eighth and fifth grades respectiv-ily. No refer-

8 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [ 13:1— Jan., 1917

ence is made in the course of study to the different kinds of soils,
rock formations or disintegrations, or the work of sand, pebbles,
or streams. There are not enough suggestions for teaching given
in the little book to enable teachers to get an idea how to approach
this subject that is generally acknowledged to be poorly taught;
nor is there a reference to show where approved reading matter or
methods may be found.

I believe that some teachers who fail in the teaching of this
subject do so because they do not have the object to be studied
before the eyes of the child, and they tell or read him the nature
story instead of allowing him the pleasure of discovery. I recently
asked a Milwaukee child, who was supposed to study the squash
in the fifth grade, what she knew about the plant and what the
teacher and pupils had done with it. She had seen a squash and
its seeds and had eaten squash at her own dinner table, and she
told" me with some pride that her teacher illustrated everything
beautifully on the blackboard; but the child had never been
induced to plant a squash and had never witnessed the wonderful
sprouting of its seed which shows so nicely plant differentiation
and adaptation. Then, too, a teacher often hesitates about under-
taking the teaching of nature because she feels ignorant of the
subject matter and imagines one must have a scientific education
to do successful work. Though undoubtedly training in science is
a distinct advantage, one cannot possibly be a specialist in all the
branches she is required to teach in the common schools, and
creditable work may be done by any teacher who is willing to make
the preparation necessary for each individual lesson. Without
this preparation she does not know what possibilities for the child
lie iu the subject she is to present.

A nature lesson should be conducted by the teacher's questions,
directions, and suggestions of how to work, the teacher telling as
little as possible, the child doing his assigned work with practically
no help. He is thus kept alert in his observations of natural
phenomena. His ability to eliminate unnecessary details and to
abstract from his observations that which will be most useful to
him in the interpretation of some new situation or condition in-
creases with each lesson until he is often able to surprise his teacher
with his thinking power. An interesting instance of this was
shown me last week by my fourth grade pupils. I had written some
questions on the board about crayfish among which were these :

KANE] NATURE-STUDY IN MILWAUKEE AND VICINITY 9

Can a crayfish hear? If so, where are its ears?
Can a crayfish smell? If it can, find its nose.

I did not expect my pupils to answer either of these questions.
I like to give them occasional ones that I know they cannot answer,
just to set them to thinking. But to my surprise, several pupils
insisted that the little white spots at the base of the antenules
were its ears. I pondered for some time over the way in which
they got the information. There was no book at their command,
and I thought it hardly possible any one could have told them. I
afterwards discovered that they had arrived at their conclusion in
this way: It could hear; that was evident from its behavior.
There were no ears in the place where ears were supposed to be.
They had come upon the little white spots at the base of the
antenules when they were studying the animal ; and remembering
a lesson they had had last fall on the grasshopper when on each
front leg on each knee joint was found a roundish spot which
proved to be an ear, they decided that if grasshoppers could have
their ears on their knee joints, crayfish might have them at the
base of their feelers. They could find nothing that looked like a
nose ; so they decided that the sense of smell lay in the antennae by
the way the animal used them when walking and when examining
its food. They also brought their knowledge of ants' sense of smell
to their assistance in the solution of this problem.

A question requiring a thoughtful answer may often be given
incidentally without any great preparation on the part of the
teacher. For example, in the spring the children come with pussy-
willow twigs which I place in water so that the emergence of the
blossoms from the furry coats may be seen. It is a great surprise
to the children to learn that willows, elms, and maples have blos-
soms. The flowers, being comparatively inconspicuous, have
escaped their observation. I ask them, "Which appears first on a
plant in the spring — leaves or blossoms?" They answer leaves, of
course, and reference is generally made to the apple tree. But we
turn to our pussies in the window that are yellow with pollen when
not a green leaf is in sight. Here is an apparent inconsistency;
but they have learned by experience that there is no such thing as a
freak in nature, that there is some reason for every deviation from
the beaten path. I ask them to watch the blossoming of various
trees and to let me know some day why the apple tree sends out its

10 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:1— Jan., 1917

leaves before its blossoms, and why the willows, the elms, and the
maples blossom before the coming of their leaves.

Though the practical part of the lessons and the work in thought
development should be given due prominence, the side of moral
and esthetic training should not be neglected. A child should
learn how unrelenting and uncompromising Nature is in her pun-
ishment of him who disobeys her laws, how she rewards him that
heeds them. For example, when a child has once seen the inside
working of formica sanguinea, a species of ants common in Mil-
waukee County that capture and enslave other ants — he will be
forcibly impressed and ready to assimilate what the teacher has to
say on the inevitable degeneracy of the mistress ants and the
ascendency of the slaves. This lesson may be associated with his
history lessons on American slavery, and he will reahze as never
before how the abolition of the slave was necessary to save the
white people of the south. When man disobeys the decree, that he
must earn his living by the sweat of his brow, he will one day find
that Nature has meted out his punishment to him in his inefficiency.
The association may be carried still further to the child's work in
physiolog}^ where he learns how the unused part of his own body
deteriorates ; and thus he may be made to see how necessary it is
for him to solvfe his problems, to do his work so that his brain and
his body may develop to their greatest efficacy.

It has fallen to my lot to teach among the poor, people with
homes usually devoid of artistic pictures, music, or literature, and
my pupil's parents are often too ignorant or too busy with life's
drudgery to give him any instruction that will lead to the formation
of a beautiful thought or a noble ideal. Certainly his school
should fill this breach for him, and if he is destined to become a
factory laborer like his father, how much richer his life will be if,
through his school literature, music, painting and nature-study, he
feels a thrill of delight at the fleck of the tanager's feather or the
melody of its song. What if he never hears the voice of Shumann-
Heink? He may listen to the mellow contralto of the bluebird.
His eyes may never feast upon the grandeur of the western moun-
tains, but the majesty of the flight of the great blue heron ascending
from Milwaukee River is his own. I should dislike having a pupil
of mine grow into the adamantean condition of an old farmer I
once knew who gave me a ride one fall day along a country road.
Suddenly a woods burst upon my view — a woods aglow in its

KANE] NATURE-STUDY IN MILWAUKEE AND VICINITY 11

beauty of autumnal opalescence. The farmer seemed busy in the
contemplation of his wagon bed. I did not like to have him miss a
sight so beautiful, and I called his attention to the scene before us;
whereupon he looked up, gave a sort of grunt, and quickly fell to
musing on his wagon bed again as if he had been loath to have his
attention diverted by anything so trivial as an autimm woods. It
was pitiful to see him living in the midst of so much beauty with
eyes incapable of seeing it.

I would have my pupil appreciative of the wonders of nature —
the harmony in the community life of ants, the wonderful evolution
of the toad, the metamorphosis of a dragon-fly, the peculiar
differentiations evolved by plants and animals to secure the best
adaptation to environment ; and thus he may learn to venerate the
Power that makes each plant and animal, each stone and grain of
sand fulfill its little destiny in the great scheme of oirr universe.

Extracts from Bulletin of the Massachusetts- Fish
and Game Protective Association

GAME CONDITIONS

Pheasants are less common than they have been and fewer are
being killed this year. They are much shyer and do not flush as
readily but run when disturbed. The bolder birds living along the
roadsides have been killed and now the gunner must hunt to find
the wilder and wiser ones that are hiding in the more remote and
sheltered places. The severe winter killed many adult birds and
the late, cold spring destroyed many eggs and young.

The Ruffed Grouse are to be found in fair numbers, especially in
the western part of the State. There are not, however, as many as
there were last year.

Bob white are reported to be fairly numerous on the Cape, in
Plymouth County and in southern Bristol County. These splen-
did birds are practically extirpated throughout the central and
western parts of the State. The five-year closed season in Essex
County came none too soon and there is a growing demand among
those interested in the conservation of our wild life that Bob white
be afforded the protection of such a five-year reprieve throughout
the State.

Deer are quite numerous, especially in the western counties.
They are learning the necessity of avoiding man during the open
season and after the first few days are difficult to approach.

Fig. 1. A typical swamp scene in the autumn.

12

Botanizing in the Fall and Winter Months

By Dr. R. W. Shufeldt

(Illustrated with photographs by the author)

As everyone knows who studies wild flowers afield, the collecting
locality and the season are two very important factors to be taken
into consideration. In most high northern latitudes the botanist
finds but little to interest him, after the autumn days have sur-
rendered, to the advance of all that winter brings with it. This
is not the case, however, in the typically tropical regions, for there
we find vegetation of all kinds flourishing throughout the year.
Very well do I remember, when I lived in Cuba, in the suburbs of
Havana, how the plant and tree growths astonished me; I saw
orange trees in blossom, with dead-ripe oranges on the same tree.
In the dense tropical jungle and forest there is a perpetual plant
strife going on 'at all times throughout the entire year. Trees,
great vines, hundreds of varieties of flowering plants struggle
eternally with their neighbors to hold their ground, keep erect, and
in many cases to maintain positions and attitudes whereby they
may receive what sunlight comes to them.

In tropical forests I have seen trees where, when their fruit has
ripened, it has fallen and lodged in one of the forks or crotches
formed by limbs springing from either the main trunk, or from
larger limbs. Such places often have a mass of decayed leaves or
other rotten plant refuse in them, and here the ripened seeds of
which I speak would take root, soon become young trees, and
threaten the life of the parent tree. The roots struggle down to
the ground, and with this added sustenance they soon become trees
growing upon another tree, which latter begins to weaken under the
burden it is called upon to support. Then along would come
some parrot or monkey, and make a home in the parasitic tree.
They carry nuts and other kinds of seeds there, and among them
perhaps the seeds of some great vine. These in turn take root in
some crotch or other, and the vine in time sends its roots down to
mother earth. In a little while the vine spreads all over both trees,
while a second vine, coming up from the ground, fills in all below
as it creeps from limb to limb. The trees now die, rot, and fall
over. This causes both vines to come down in a heap, and, the
seeds of some more vigorous growth lodging upon them, the day
comes when the vines, too, die as did the trees they strangled.

13

14 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:1— Jan., 1917

This may happen before the last gro^vth gains a good hold upon the
ground; and, as the vine rots and cnunbles, it in turn falls over, to
die or to grow up as some sort of distorted weakling, or a crooked
support for still other growths.

All this goes on continually from one year's end to another, and
man but rarely penetrates into such places ; though thousands of
creatures, from a jaguar to a humming-bird, not to say thousands
of different kinds of insects, spiders, reptiles, and other forms, live
and die in such wildernesses where, for the most part, the gloom
of dense shadow reigns, and the light of day rarely enters.

In the United States we have no such tropical forests, and I have
only seen them in Cuba and southern Mexico. Oiu: tier of south-
ern Gulf states support but subtropical forests, and in them the
botanist meets with most interesting plant growths at all times of
the year, as I can vouch for from my experiences in Florida,
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. 1\ is not to this
belt, however, that I desire to invite attention, but to the strictly
north temperate one that extends across the coimtry to the
Mississippi Valley, where the winters are never as severe as in the
northern tier of states, or as mild as they are further southward
Northern Virginia and South Maryland lie directly in this belt,
and it extends westward to the region I have mentioned above.
Here a very severe winter may send the sap of trees and shrubs
far down, and eliminate every green thing above ground; or, on
the other hand, a mild winter may allow many plants — quite a
nimiber of plants — ^to thrive in sheltered places from November
until spring comes again. As I write these lines in my Washington
home, we will have the first of November in three days ; but if one
thinks that botanizing in the open is over and done with, one had
better think again and come nearer the truth next time.

To be sure, much of the country resembles the scene I here
present in Figure i ; but even in such places the botanist will meet
with much to study and admire. All manner of pond growths have
gone to seed, as have nimierous other plants which do not depend
on the presence of water during the simimer months. Here one
may study the manner of many grasses of going to seed, — also the
cattails, pickerel" weed, arum, and marsh mallow, ^vith a host of
other interesting growths.

As we pass to the fields and woods during these days in this
region, it is truly surprising to note that some of the early summer

Fig. 2. A magnificent specimen of the common Poke-berry bush
{Phytolacca decandra).

15

Fig. 3. A monarch butterfly resting upon blue boneset.

16

SHUFELDT] BOTANIZING IN FALL AND WINTER . 17

flowers are still in bloom — late fellows, that seem to take pride in
exhibiting their staying powers. Next Wednesday, only three days
off, it will be, as I say, the first of November; and yet one would
be astonished to see what a bouquet of wild flowers one could
gather within the radius of a mile or more from where I am sitting.
Such, a bunch would contain black-eyed Susans, stmmier daisies,
joint weed, self-heal, lobelia, purple asters, golden-rod and not a
■few others. In some localities a poke-berry bush, five feet or more
in height, may appear almost as fine as the one I here show in
Figiu"e 2, barring the loss of nearly all of its leaves.

It is delightful to live in a region where one can go into the fields
during the early part of November and find blue boneset {Eupa-
torium coelestinum) in bloom in some protected corner of an old,
overgrown pasture, where the eye may catch the gay lilac color
of its dense corymb of flowers, as it peeps over the bunch of dry
grasses which nearly hides its withering foliage below. Perhaps
even at this season there may be a belated Monarch butterfly
resting upon the flower ; if so, my Figure 3 will give a fair idea of the
combination, after the surrounding growth of autumn plants and
grasses have been removed.

As we ramble through the woods; as we pass through the
meadows and brakes, or tramp into the marshes and wet places
during these fall days, we will soon appreciate the fact that one of
the most fascinating, perhaps one of the most profitable things to
study, are the various ways in which various plants go to seed.
Such studies are not only of value to the nature student, but they
are very materially so to the practical botanist, to the wild flower
culttirist, and to the testers of seeds, who work with the economic
researcher in that line of general agriculture.

Recently I have made many fine negatives of wild flowers as they
go to seed, and I intend to publish these in various avenues from
time to time. The present article can touch but lightly upon this
question owing to space limitations; but my aim will be largely
met through the presentation of one good example chosen to demon-
strate what I have in view. I have selected a beautiftil example of
the common Velvet Leaf, also called" Indian Mallow" and'' Ameri-
can Jute," a plant that has escaped from cultivation and now
grows wild. It is the Ahutilon avicenncB of Gray, and I present
here in Figure 4 a lovely picture of its seed pods, which, as any one
will admit, are truly artistic-looking little structures. My nega-

Fig. 4. Seed pods of the Velvet Leaf (Abiitilon aviccnncr).

18

LEAVES FROM A JANUARY NOTE BOOK 19

tive gives them exactly natiiral size; but of a necessity they are
here reproduced somewhat under that, though not very much so.
Note the elegant little green caterpillar on the stem. This plant
has very handsome, deep yellow flowers that may sometimes be
seen quite late in the season — even as late as the end of October in
the South. The leaves are of a velvety feel, hence its name.

Leaves from a January Note Book

Notes taken at a window commanding a bird-feeding station:

Jan. 13. — The male Downy remarks "tsip" quite frequently.
He and his wife were here together all the morning. The weather
has a rather thawy feeling and there are flurries of snow. The
sky is thick and gray-white to the horizon and the distant woods
are brownish-gray. A ;>> cold color, even though

there is red in it. The ^^>^ hemlocks are coated with
snow, while the pines ^^^^^^^ hold very little of it,
quite a difference in the (^/\\ '^'^'^ ^^ ''^^^'^ respect. A

snow storm of great soft flakes has just begun and

many perfect crystals of this type are to be seen.

Jan 14. — "The snow that began in the gloaming" has heaped
everything in sight with a silence deep and white. Even the
telegraph wires were cables three inches in diameter, and on the
limbs of the tree in front of the window the snow is heaped five
inches high. In just a few places the wind has blown it off so that
the tree looks as if it were decorated with wads of cotton wool.
Under this heavy snowfall the pines are more weighted than the
hemlocks. Harriet (the female hairy woodpecker), has just come
with a "tsip-tsip" and has hunted out the suet under the snow.
She tried to get it from above, failed, and then tried it from below
successfully. The little Madam (the female downy) came after-
wards and did the same, then came the chickadees and had their
breakfast, bottom side up.

Jan 15. — It is a cold windy morning with udw and then a cold
flurry of hard snow. Madam Downy has been hanging on the lee-
ward side of the tree, drawn up into a little bunch and her feathers
fluffed out. Occasionally she cleaned a feather or scratched herself
with her beak quite at ease. Heard a chickadee singing his little
high note, "teedle-chk-teeledle." It is a sort of chickadee yodle.

20 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:1— Jan, 1917

Jan 1 6. — Mr. Downy was eating suet to-day and drove his beak
into it in such a manner that he got as much on the outside as he
did on the inside, and this disturbed him. He thrust out his long
tongue and drew what he could inside, and then tried to rub his
beak clean on a twig, but not till he began to pick a hole in the bark
of the twig did he succeed in getting his beak clean. Though the
wind has blown quite severely the snow is not yet all dislodged
from the pines. ^

Jan 17.— One great branch of scarlet oak has retained most of
its russet leaves. It makes a brown spot in the white and gray
landscape. I discovered to-day that Sir Hairy has his red cap
parted with a black line. As he sits eating his suet, the wind
blows up his feathers and I can see how long and soft and warm
they are. A woodpecker sitting on a limb is a squat looking
creature.

Jan. 19. — It was 22 below zero last night and I look at the world
through a beauteous lace ciirtain of frost all worked in one pattern.
I spoil the pattern with alcohol to make a peep-hole and am re-
warded by seeing a blue jay eating suet in front of me. The sim
glinting on the metallic blue of his topknot, his wing primaries, and
his tail make him a beautiful object. That tail is a wonderful
one, it seems to me. He drives his beak into the suet like a wood-
pecker, and though he hammers hard, his beak goes in just far
enough.

Jan. 20.^ — ^The first thing I saw was the blue jay eating suet.
I had to smile to see him pry it up, he acts as if he were chopping
wood. He stands on top of it, stretches back on his toes, and
brings his head and beak down hard and consecutively until he
loosens a piece.

Jan. 21. — The blue jay is a great bully and has bad manners.
He will not let Mrs. Blue Jay eat until he is full to bursting, and both
of them drive away the little birds. The blue jay has heaven on his
wings and hell in his disposition.

Jan. 23. — Some winter days are mighty disagreeable and this
is one. We had sleet this morning and fine snow now that has
a mind to change to rain. The whole sky and earth are snowy;

i

LEAVES FROM A JANUARY NOTE BOOK 21

even the birds seem discotiraged and the chickadees fliiff up their .
feathers and do not sing a note.

Jan. 25. — Such a thick , , frost curtain on my double

window that I can not see ^v^^ ^^]^ "' ^•' through it ! When I clean
off a space it is soon '^^.JJ^f*/ V covered again with a frost
layer which forms a spec- -v^^.f/^V trum and I see the world
outside through exquisite rainbow colors.

Afternoon. — The sunshine is warmer and brighter and the nut-
hatches call in polysyllables instead of monosyllables.

Jan. 26 — ^A cold day full of snow flurries and rather dreary.
I think the blue jays have estranged me more or less from the other
birds. They are like some people I have met — the more they are
with you, the more other folks aren't.

Jan. 30. — It has been warmer today though still wintry, but the
nuthatches think spring has come. They repeat their notes over
and over, and one, probably the male, struts on the tree trunk,
his tail spread like a little turkey cock, showing his white feathers.
The chickadees sing ' ' phoebe' ' too, and give their singing yodle.

Jan. 31. — ^Another cold wave has been billowing toward us all
day, yet I heard the chickadees sing "phoebe" and yodle too, and
we heard a Hairy drum and saw him at it. He is surely crowding
the season.

THE FEBRUARY HUSH

Snow o'er the darkening moorlands;

Flakes fill the quiet air;
Drifts in the forest hollows

And a soft mask everywhere.

The nearest twig on the pine tree

Looks blue through the whitening sky,

And the clinging beech-leaves rustle
Though never a wind goes by

But there's red on the wild rose berries

And red in the lovely glow
On the cheeks of the child beside me

That once were pale as snow.

— Thomas Wentworth Htgginson.

The Diplomacy of the Good Teacher

John Walton Spencer
A bit of sage advice from the unpublished MS. of " Uncle John"

In some respects children and bicycles have the same characteris-
tics. Keep them moving and they are all right ; check them and
they wabble; stop them and they fall down. If you would do a
kindness to a child, keep it busy. Blessed be the name of the
mother who invented the rattle box. It gives the baby its first
employment and happy moments.

The best helping hand you can give any and every child is
■Occupation and Appreciation : two simple things but to be effec-
tive, they must be given in a simple way — in a way which the child
likes and not in a way which you think the child ought to like. It
has as much right to its own way as you have to yours. A child
can be led to find as much pleasure in an occupation with utilitarian
ends as in one of thrashing the air. When small they never tire of
playing with the sand. Good garden soil is just as acceptable.
With the soil give some quick germinating seed. Then join with
the youngster in the surprise and happiness of having given birth
to a plant. No matter if the plant does not reach maturity, you
have helped to make the first step in plant growth a pleasure and
with it will come the desire to try again. Let the child adopt
largely its own methods while you see that the course lies in the
right direction. Do not discourage him with a lot of dont's.
Government by the negative is the method of the superficial and
the lazy.

Once upon a time there was a fond mother who no doubt had the
best interests of her child at heart but she had the '' don't method,"
thoroughly in her nature. From the child's earliest recollection,
he had heard but little else than "Johnny mustn't touch it."
When the little fellow first went to school, the teacher said, "Now
my little man, can you tell me your name?" The child, embar-
rassed by the newness of the scenes about him was slow to answer
and the teacher repeated the inquiry. Still no answer. So the
inquiry was given a variation. "Tell me what your mamma calls
you." "Johnny mustn't touch it," came the murmured reply.
I leave the question to you mothers and you teachers if Johnnie
would not have been happier and had greater development if he
had been provided with a lot of things to do than to have suffered

22

spencer] diplomacy OF THE GOOD TEACHER 23

deprivation and been made to look prim. Though early results
may be somewhat slattern, praise the effort which produced them
and the child will be encouraged to try again. Remember the
child's first footsteps. You were proud of the attempt and
encouraged frequent repetition until at last the firm and confident
step was acquired.

After pro\riding occupation and stimulation by your approach,
next incite wonder. Nothing can be more true than, "Knowledge
begins with Wonder." By wonder, I mean a keen, active interest.
You then have a hungry mind and a hungry mind is easily fed with
information that is fully digested. Children and a comparatively
large number of grown people have no relish for acquiring facts
for some future use. They do not care to put knowledge into cold
storage in the expectation of some coming time when it may be
handy to have. If you have some mental wares you wish them to
• take off your hands, create a problem where those people can use
your facts and your goods will be in demand.

I lately read an accoimt of an American shoe merchant or manu-
facturer who wrote our Consul in a tropical town to know if there
were many shoe stores in the town where he represented American
interest. The Consul wrote back "Not a blessed shoe store in the
whole town." He omitted to add that the natives had been bare-
foot since a thousand years before Coltmibus discovered this
America.

The enterprising Yankee sent a large consignment and an agent
to dispose of them. The ag^nt, on his arrival, was not long in
seeing that the reason no shoes were sold was because the popula-
tion did not feel the need of them. The agent, instead of shipping
the stock back from whence it came, sent a cablegram ordering a
hundred bales of cockleburs to be shipped by the next steamer.
On arrival, those cockleburs were clandestinely scattered in places
where the bare feet trod the most, with the result that the burrs
sown not only tortured the pedestrians but grew a crop to continue
the misery. Then for the first time, the natives felt the need of
shoes and the Yankee established a fine trade. A desire for knowl-
edge can be created after the same method. In these three things,
occupation, sympathy and wonder, you have the development of
learning by doing.

The Old Pine Tree's Story

By Anna Botsford Comstock

A suggestion as to a method of teaching history in connection with the life

of a tree.

I am so old that I have forgotten the number of my years, but I
was a middle aged tree before I ever saw a white man. I remember

when I was one of twin seeds under a
scale of a cone on my mother tree which
stood yonder on the hill. One night a
terrible wind blew dow^n the lake and
tore me from my protecting cone ; but
I had a little wing of my own and I
went whirling around in great glee and
finally settled to the ground under an
old oak that stood over yonder. My
bed was of leaves and verv^ thick, and
though I was safe and cosy, I feared I
could never send my rootlet down to the
earth through those dead leaves. And
there I waited and wondered a whole
year until one day a black bear came
there hunting acorns. He scratched
away the leaves with his great paws and
though his visit was rather hard on the
acorns, to me he was very kind for he threw me down next to the
bare earth and pressed me down with great flat feet. So when spring
came I nestled into the warm soil and put a little root down so
far as I could push it, and then I pushed my head up with my
seed cap still on. But I wriggled and shook it off and soon
stood up with my tassel of needles free and with a little bud
in the center that would reach up into the world.

Those first years were full of difficulties. There were around me
many other plants that grew faster than I and spread their leaves
above me and stole my sunlight. But I was a patient little tree
and waited, and when they died with the first frosts of auttmm
I had all the light to myself and made the most of it. I stretched
out my rootlets as far as possible and next year I was not so
crowded. Later the great trees tried to crowd me out and shade
me down but I would not give up. Once when I was quite young,
some red men built a camp fire close to me and if the wind had not

24

COMSTOCK] THE OLD PINE TREE'S STORY 25

been- my friend that day and carried the flame off away from me, I
should have been crippled for life. When I was quite tall, a beetle
killed my leader as you call my topmost tip. At once two of the
branches of my upper whorl tried to take the place of my dead
leader; if one only had succeeded I should have been a straight and
single shafted tree; but both those branches were so ambitious
that neither would give up; so I was obliged to grow two tops
instead of one. Finally, after many years I got my head above the
trees that lose their leaves in winter and then I was all right.

I wish I could tell you the things I saw here in those days when
all was forest except that ledge over there. The red men often
passed here carrying their canoes for fishing excursions on the lake.
And sometimes they had races there that were as exciting as those
the crews row to-day but the trees were the only folk that crowded
the shores to see them. The deer and the moose passed near me
on their way to their feeding grounds up the marshy inlet valley,
where the beaver builded. When there was a strong branch where
you see that lower broken stub on my side, it was a favorite resting
place for a great panther ; there she would lie hidden until a deer
passed below ; then would she hurl herself upon it with such force
that the creature never knew what killed it. Then she would drag
her quarry to that little ravine and call her young ones from their
den and they would feast together. The den was under the
upturned roots of a fallen oak over there where that building now
stands and it was kept very clean with no bones near it to attract
the wolves that used to hunt there in packs at night with their nos,es
to the ground like your dogs.

The red men often held their feasts on this hill. Here they made
offerings to He-no, the thunderer, and to Ga-oh the spirit of the
winds. Many times when I see the games played by the boys now
I think of the games played here before a white man ever set foot
on this hill. One of these games was snow-snake that was played
over beyond the ledge ; the snake was a hickory sapling as long as a
tall man and polished with wax. The Indian youth took one end of
it with his thumb and fingers and running a certain distance, threw
it down a track made by drawing a small log straight over the
snow. There was one boy here then who could shoot a snake
twelve hundred feet, which is farther than any boy here now can
throw a ball. But he was old and died before the white man came.
When the white man came, all changed. He was a foe to the

26 . NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:1— Jan., 1917

red man, the deer, the panther, the wolves, and the forest; most
of all was he an enemy of the pines. I can see now over in
yonder field a row of the naked roots of my ancestors which man
dragged from the ground to fence his little fields; they are
still strong and undecayed though the rains of a hundred years
have whitened them. Look at those great bleaching roots and see
the foundations on which the pine trees build !

I am aged now, and mayhap soon this spot where I have stood
for more than two hundred years shall know me no more. But I
am not sad or lonely. Listen, I will tell you a secret: My old
heart is kept sweet and warm by the bees that have found there an
abiding place. My branches which have ever bowed in adoration
before the wind-god Ga-oh are stiff now and must break before his
majestic sway. But Ga-oh is the friend of the old pine as well as
the companion of his strength and he will soon lay me on the dear
earth whence I came.

"The speckled sky is dim with snow
The light flakes falter and fall slow;
Athwart the hill-top, rapt and pale,
Silently drops a silvery veil ;
The far-off mountains mist}'- form
Is entering now a tent of storm;
And all the valley is shut in
By flickering curtains gray and thin.
But cheerily the chickadee
wSingeth to me on fence and tree;
The snow sails round him, as he sings.
White as the down on angel's wings."

— /. T. Trowbridge.

The Lombardy Poplar

A Kindergarten Story

By Margery B. Loughran

TIME — SPRING

Introduction

How wide-awake you
are this morning, chil-
dren! Come with me
and visit a tree that is
just waking up from its
long sleep. Did you know
that some of our trees
sleep all winter ? I know
a tree that is just stretch-
ing and trying very hard
to wake up just as you
do in the morning. Come
and let us listen to what
it has to say to us.

Here is our friend a
Lombardy Poplar. See
how tall and straight,
just like a soldier. Let
me see you all standing
straight and tall just like
this Lombardy Poplar.
We may call this our
soldier tree because it
stands so straight and
tall.

I think the tree is
talking in its sleep for
it says : ' ' Do you think
I am dead because you
see no leaves? I am
only asleep; just look
for my pointed buds!
There are my leaves
all folded awav and

27

28 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:1— Jan., 1917

ready to come out when the days are warm." Children!
shall we come out again another day and see the leaves when they
come out ?

Look at the branches of this tree. Let us all show by our arms
how these branches grow up — pointing to the sk3^ Listen to my
story that tells why the branches of the Poplar always point
upward.

Once an old man took the bag of gold from the end of the
rainbow and came into the deep woods. All the trees were as
asleep and he quietly stepped from tree to tree, so as not to make a
bit of noise. He saw no one, and as he thought he heard a sound
of a footstep, he pushed the bag of gold far out of sight among the
thick branches of the poplar tree. Then he hurried out of the wood
as rapidly as he could.

The next day, the tree awoke and heard a cry ring through the
wood. It was Iris, the goddess of rainbow. "The bag of gold
at the foot of the rainbow has been stolen, ' ' she said. ' ' Who knows
anything about it?" The trees all shook their heads for they
would not be so mean as to steal the bag of gold from beautiful
Iris.

Away flew Iris to tell Father Jupiter who was very angry.

' ' We will find the gold, my daughter, ' ' said he. " Who knows the
hiding place of the bag of gold?" he thundered.

"Not I," said the maple and all the trees at the same time.

"Lift up your branches to show you speak the truth," said
Jupiter.

What do you suppose happened? (Opportuitity given for
children to tell) . No one was more surprised than the Poplar tree,
who trembled and shook from head to foot. Soon the Poplar tree
spoke and said very solemnly.

"Never again shall my branches shelter stolen goods for others.
My branches shall forever point to heaven to show truthfulness.
This happened a long time ago, but the branches always point
upward as you have seen them to-day.

The class all take one parting look at the sleeping soldier tree.
Promise to find other Lombardy Poplar in the neighborhood and
plan to visit this tree again to see its leaves and flowers.

January Nature- Study

Anna Botford Comstock

"There isn't any nature-study in January, there is just coasting
and skating," asserted a small boy friend of mine stoutly; and the
teacher who has to give a nature-study lesson every day during
this midwinter month will be constrained to agree with him. It is
a pity that the significance of January's reign in the natural world
should be fitted only for grown-up comprehension. However,
there are some topics in nature-study that belong to winter, suited
for even the youngest children.

SECOND GRADE

The Canary. — It is quite possible in most
places for the teacher to borrow a canary and
keep it in the schoolroom for a few days; or
she may take her pupils to some home and
visit a canary, and through the study of this
long-suffering little cage bird, the children
may come to understand the nature of the
birds and their adaptations for life in the
fields.* The obs. i, 2, 3, p. 51 will serve for
the first lesson. These questions should be
asked and a few days given for answering
them. Obs. 4 is sufficient for one lesson if
the bird has variegated colors. Obs. 5, 6, 7,
8, 9 suggest another lesson which will cover the food habits
of the bird. Obs. 10, 11, 12 suggest a lesson on its interest-
ing ways. Especial attention should be given to the different

*The references are to The Handbook of Nature-Study.

29

30 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:1— Jan., 1917

notes of the bird, for the canan^ gives vocal expression to
several emotions which we may understand. On p. 50 may
be found a short accoimt of the habits of this bird on its
native islands; a more complete story is given in the Pet Book,

p. 138.

The Guinea Pig. — This little cousin
of the rabbit is a long way from being
any kind of a pig, nor does it come from
Guinea, but it and all its relatives flour-
ish in South America. It would be better
if we could learn to call it by its real name, ' ' cavy. ' ' The ancestors
of our common pet are supposed to have been domesticated in
ancient times by the Incas of Peru, since mimimies of cavies are to
be found in the cemeteries. Cavies were esteemed highly as food
by various tribes of South American Indians.

The guinea pig is a stout, compact little creature with short,
rounded ears and no tail ; its legs are short compared with its body ;
the front feet have four toes and the hind feet three ; the toes are
armed with rather stubby nails ; although the cavy is a true rodent
it has short incisors, and the back teeth have crosswise ridges.
The language of the guinea pig is not very extensive, consisting of
squeaks and grunts. In a wild state the cavies are not truly
diurnal in habits, although they are partly so. They make their
homes in burrows or in crevices in rocks. They are vegetable
feeders, and eat almost any kind of succulent food. In their native
country, where it is never cold enough to freeze, they have green
food all the year round. We feed them on grass, lettuce, apples,
and especially upon carrots. They are also fond of rolled oats.
Although they do not drink often, when fed upon vegetables, we
always keep them supplied with water.

Guinea pig babies are very precocious. They are fully clothed
and have their eyes open from the first, and are able to take care of
themselves if necessary when only a day or two old. The best
known varieties of this pet are as follows : The English, which has
a short smooth coat, like the original wild cavy, and with varying
colors. The Abyssinian, which has a rough coat, arranged in cow-
licks of rosettes. The Angora, which has a smooth coat of long,
soft hair, and occurs in many colors and patterns. The Peruvian
has the long hair of the Angora, and the rosettes of the Abyssinian,
and is a most frowsy little creature. While all these varieties may

comstock] JANUARY NATURE-STUDY 31

have several colors, there are those of one color which are called
self-colored.

A lesson on the guinea pig should include the following points:
What does it eat? What does it like best of all? Does it drink
often ? How do we make a home for our pet guinea pig ? Where
and how do their wild relatives make homes for themselves? Are
its legs long to fit it for nmning; are its hind legs strong to fit it
for leaping ? How many toes has it on its front feet and on its hind
feet ? Describe the toe nails. Are its ears movable ? What colors
in the eyes? Observe the teeth. Are they fitted for gnawing like
those of the rabbit ? Has it ' ' whiskers' ' to feel with ? Where is its
tail? Describe its fur, whether fine, coarse, long or short, or in
rosettes. Is it for warmth or ornament? In what position does
it sleep? How does it play; how does it show anger or pleasure ?
Describe its voice; what does it say? How does it keep itself
clean ? How does it care for its young ?

The Cockroach — This slippery little haunter of crevices has some
interesting qualities even if it is a pest. In order that grown-up
people be competent to deal with a pest, it is necessary that they
know all about it, and this knowledge is gained more easily and
thoroughly in childhood. A cockroach should be placed in a vial
with a bit of bread and safely corked in, and then it may be passed
around for observation. The questions in the lesson on p. 379 are
sufficient for two lessons. Obs. 6 on how a cockroach cleans itself
is enough for one lesson and should point a moral ; for this insect
dwells in places which are far from clean, but with its polished coat
and habits of scrubbing itself, it keeps clean and lives long. No
mention of how to get rid of this pest need be made, since the
poisons used for destroying it should be appHed only by adults.

A Chippy's Nest. — Any nest will do, but the chippy's is usually
nearest at hand and easiest to get. The observations should be as
follows: What bird built it? What for? Do the Httle birds
come back to the nest after they once leave it ? (This question is
quite important to emphasize the fact that yoimg birds do not
rettim to the nest.) Of what material is the outside, the inside?
Why is the lining so soft? How is the nest supported? For out-
line of study of chippy's nest, see p. 89. On p. 88 is material for a
story to supplement this lesson.

A Cocoon — ^Any cocoon with a pupa in it will do, but that of the
Cecropia is best, since it is largest. |This lesson is for the purpose

32 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:1— Jan., 1917

of teaching how the cocoon protects the insect from weather and
enemies. Cut open cocoon and use obs. 1-5, p. 334.

THIRD GRADE

The Mouse. — I hope that no teacher will scream or climb upon a
chair when she sees this topic suggested for a nature-study lesson.
A mouse, confined in a glass jar, (see " Method," p. 228) is one of the
most interesting subjects for nature-study that I know; it can be
kept captive for a month and studied at recess or at any conven-
ient time. Mice are thirsty and must be given fresh water every
day, and a shelter of strips of paper should be put in to afford the
captive a place to hide and make it comfortable. A mouse is a very
clever animal and has many cunning ways, the watching of which
soon removes the ridiculous fear which the idea of a mouse inspires
in some people.

Each of the Obs. 1-3, p. 228 is enough for a lesson. Obs. 4, 5, 6
constitute another lesson. Obs. 7,8,9 suggest respectively a story
to be told by the teacher to make the lesson interesting.

The Wolf — ^Winter is just the season for reading about wolves;
and an understanding of the habits of this animal is necessary
before undertaking the study of a dog. Kipling's Mowgli stories
and Thomson Seton's " Lobo" "Tito," "Bad Lands Billy," and the
"Winnipeg Wolf " all give fascinating accounts of the wolf and its
habits. See p. 255. The topics in the last paragraph on p. 256
should be used as subjects for oral questioning or for written
accounts.

The Goldfish — It is a pity that these golden idlers in a school
aquarium are so seldom used to illustrate the adaptations of a fish
for life in the water. One goldfish will afford enough material for
the nature-study lessons for a week.

For the first lesson, use Obs. 2, 3, 4, p. 152; Obs. 5, 6 for the
second ; 7 , 8 for the third ; 9 , i o f or the fourth ; 1 1 , 1 2 f or the fifth ;
13-16 for the sixth lessons. Obs. 17 ,18 suggest topics for a story.
See Pet Book, p. 226.

The Sun — January is an excellent season for beginning the study
of the sun, for it rises after we awaken in the morning, and sets
long before we go to sleep. Of coxirse a serious study of the sun is
too advanced for third grade, but certain observations can be made
and stories told, so that the children may know that it is a great
blazing star. See p. 905-6. Observations on the time of the

COMSTOCK] JANUARY NATURE-STUDY 3

rising and setting of the sun should be made once a week and the
curved shadow of the shadow stick should be examined once a week
to show what has happened : First that the sun may rise thirteen
minutes earlier in the morning on the 31st than on the ist of
January, and that it may set thirty-three minutes later, the gain
in the length of day being mostly in the afternoon. The almanac
should be used to correct the children's observations. The
shadow-stick will show that the sun is higher at noon — each
successive week.

The Polar Constellations — The dark comes so early in January
that the stars mav be studied by even the young children before

f-~

- -

k

^

4

bedtime. The first constellation to be taught should be the Big
Dipper, and how to find the Pole Star by means of its pointers.
The next constellation to be learned is Cassiopeia's Chair, and the
next is the Little Dipper. For third grade it is sufficient to teach
that a constellation means a group of stars that appear to us to be
near to each other or to form a figure of some sort ; and that the
polar constellations are those which in our latitude never set
but may always be seen above the horizon all night on any clear
night of the A^ear. See p. 889.

FOURTH GRADE

The Screech Owl — This interesting little night flier manages to
eke out an existence in winter by hunting field mice and other
small creatures. It sometimes gathers in a feast through finding a
sparrow roost. It is very desirable that the pupils observe a live

34 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:1— Jan., 1917

owl, whether in the school room or in the zoological gardens.
However, screech owls are not always so accommodating as to be

present for nature-study lessons, and
the habits of this bird are so interesting
and important, that we may be allowed
to use a picture as a peg on which to
hang a lesson. This is even one of those
rare occasions where a stuffed specimen
may be used without causing a scandal
in the nature-study ranks. For a lesson
with the live bird, or without it, for that matter, the Obs. i-ii, p.
io6, each affords a topic for a short written lesson.

The Pig. — This most clever and most misunderstood of all the
domestic animals offers a fine opportunity for the observ^ations and
deductions which constitute the right sort of nature-study lesson.
The pig is an animal fitted to roam at large in woods and forests,
especially in the neighborhood of streams where it finds ample food
in acorns, roots, etc., and fights its battles with its own strong
weapons, and protects itself from stinging insects by wallo^ving in
the mud, and in general leads a successful life. On p. 303-306
information is given which will enable the teacher to present the
lesson in an interesting manner. Obs. i, p. 307 is enough for one
lesson when v^Titten. Obs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 form another lesson. Obs.
6 another, and Obs. 8, 9, 10, 11 another. Obs. 12 suggests topics
for more serious essays.

The Pines — ^We have in America several common native pines
and several that are generally planted in parks and grounds that
have been introduced from Europe. On p. 112 of the Tree Note
Book is given the table for determining these pines by the nimiber
and length of the needles and sheaths. For this lesson, choose a
pine near the schoolhouse so that it may be obser\^ed for several
months. Obs. i , 2 , 3 , p. 795 constitute an observation lesson out of
doors, while Obs. 4 includes a sketch and perhaps a comparison
with the leaves of some other species, and Obs. 5 and 6 constitute
two lessons that may be completed in the schoolroom with the
specimens brought in by the pupils and the results written.
Information for Obs. 8 and 9 should be obtained through reading
reference books. The age of the tree should be ascertained if
possible, and if it is an old tree, its life should be correlated with
history. See "The Old Pine Tree's Story" in this issue.

comstock] JANUARY NATURE-STUDY 35

Orion — This beautiful constellation adds a splendor to the sky
in winter evenings that may not be equalled at any other season.
At eight o'clock in early January it fills the
southeastern quarter of the sky. It* is the
constellation that most people know because
of the three stars that ornament the belt of
Orion, the mythical hunter. However, the
constellation contains two magnificent, stars,
and learning to know them adds much interest
to the study of it. Old Betelgeuse whose fires
are red and therefore waning, is the most
interesting of them all because, in oiir fancy
we can imagine its fires extinguished, and
it growing cold, — great dark, dead star. On the other hand,
Rigel is a young star as we can tell by its white and blue light
and has just started on its career. A diagram of Orion, as
here given, should be placed upon the board and left there for
several days. The questions in the lesson on p. 896 should be
asked a few at a time, and the answers given the next day.

The Building of Bird Houses — This is an excellent occupation
for January, since the bird houses when completed may be put up
before our song birds return. In making a bird house, the pupil
should have in mind definitely the bird for which it is meant. Size
of the hole and depth of the cavity below the hole and behind the
hole are all of the utmost importance. Directions for making these
nests may be had by applying to the Audubon Society. When a
boy makes a nest box, he should also put it up. This will lead him
to study the natural haunts of the bird and to learn the height
above the ground at which the bird usually nests.

The Sumac Winter Banquet — Sumac "bobs" spread a banquet
for birds all winter and it would be well to encourage the pupils to
note any birds that are eating them. They also harbor many
insects, and an interesting lesson may be had in a nature's winter
quarters by taking to pieces one of the "bobs" on a newspaper and
noting all the living creatures that may have been hidden in it.
Use Obs. 4, 5, p. 809 for a lesson on the sumac fruit.

An ideal turkey country. They will go a long way to roost in trees
growing in water

36

The Grandest Bird of the American Continent

The Wild Turkey and its Hunting. By A. Mcllhenny. Pp. xi-245.
1 914. Doubleday Page and Co., $2.50.

The word" turkey" and the month of November have a wonder-
ful power to arouse many kinds of pleasant memories. Perhaps
most of these thoughts cluster about bountiful repasts, but there
are other aspects of much interest which appeal to the student of
natural history. The extermination of the wild turkey from vast
areas teaches a lesson of warning, and the present volume gives
valuable information as to how this condition may to some degree
be remedied. This very interestingly written volimie is the only
book devoted solely to this bird, and has all the internal evidence
of having been written by one who knows. A book of this charac-
ter has a permanent value, and will be of much value and interest
to those who breed turkeys.

This book is not, as one might hastily assume from its title,
merely the adventures of a hunter in quest of game, but is a care-
ful summary of prolonged field studies of the habits of this bird
by two enlightened sportsmen, Mr. C. L. Jordan and the author.
The superb illustrations, examples of which are here given, are also
the work of Mr. Jordan; Dr. R. W. Shufeldt has prepared the chap-
ters on the supposed fossil remains of turkeys, the structural
features of the various wild races, and summarizes the characteris-
tics of the eggs and skeleton. The large amount of valuable
materials on the natural history of this bird is indicated by the
discussion of such subjects as: the storage of fat on mature
gobblers, shrewdness of the bird, social relations, nesting, young
birds, association of the sexes, roosting, enemies, food, and methods
of calling turkeys. The brief chapters on hunting, camera hunting,
^nd cooking the turkey indicate the comprehensive character of
the volume. As examples of subjects of special interest mention
should be made of the fact that during the gobbling season the
males take but little food and live largely upon the fat stored on the
breast, and during floods the turkeys on the bottoms live for weeks
in the trees feeding upon buds and fruits. The calling notes and
means of imitating them are discussed very fully and may be
looked upon as an extensive experimental field study of the voice
of this bird. The book contains so much interesting material that
it should have been made readily accessible by a good index, which

37

38

ADAMS] GRANDEST BIRD OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT 39

is lacking. Alert teachers will not neglect the opportunity of
utilizing their pupils or students interest in this bird in order to
increase their knowledge of its natural history. It is of interest to
recall that the author of this book, in association with Mr. C. A.
Ward, founded the famous Ward-Mcllhenny Bird Preserve which
they presented to the State of Louisiana. This 13,000 acre
sanctuary is one of the finest preserves ever devoted to wild life.
Let us hope that the founders will some day give us a volume on
the natural history of this preserve.

Chas. C. Adams.

A NEW REPORT ON BIRD ENEMIES

The Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture has published a
very interesting bulletin on "The Natural Enemies of Birds." by
E. H. Forbush, State Ornithologist. In this book Mr. For bush
has compiled a great amount of valuable material and the con-
clusions drawn by him will serve as his professional advice to those
interested in the welfare of birds. The pith of his message is that
we should exercise the greatest care before condemning any crea-
ture as injurious. His demonstration of the complex economic
relations in nature is extremely interesting to the nature lover.
Copies of this bulletin may be obtained from the State Board of
Agriculture, Room 136, State House. It is listed as "Economic
Biology, Bulletin No. 3, The Natural Enemies of Birds."

The snow-covered hills are bathed in warm purple;

The ice-fettered brooks their freedom await ;

A blithe voice sounds in the top of the maple, —

It is the chickadee calling his mate.

In words that lovers can only translate:

Chickadee — dee — dee

I love thee — thee, thee,

Phoebe — Phoebe.

GOLD FISH

The most beautiful, interesting, and least troublesome of pets.
Our Fish are raised from choice stock of hardy breeds. We manufac-
ture a line of attractive metal frame aquaria, suitable for the most
beautiful home, conservatory or college. Special sizes made to order.

Imported Japanese and Chinese fish. Aquarium plants, fish food,
globes, castles, aquarium cement.

Illustrated Circular Free.

PIONEER GOLD FISH INDUSTRY

RACINE, WISCONSIN

American Fern Journal

Official Ors^an of the American Fern Society

Issued quarterly: Subscription, ninety cents per year.

Includes articles of both technical and popular interest with illustrations.

Editor, R. C. Benedict, High School of Commerce, N. Y. City.
Business Manager, E. J. Winslow, Lasell Seminary, Aubumdale, Mass.

The Guide to Nature

Edited by EDWARD F. BIGELOW

A Monthly Magazine from the Naturalist's Point of View.

An interchange of observations by students

and lovers of nature.

Nature is good in the school, because it is good
anywhere for all people.

Subscription $i a year Four months' trial 25c.

Single copy loc.

The Agassiz Association

ArcAdiA
sound beach : : connecticut

Kindly mention The Nature-Study Review when replying to advertisements

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 13 February. 1917 No. 2

Dr. Elliot R. Downing

Retiring Editor of The Nature-Study Review

We are glad to give to our readers this excellent portrait of him who
has for six years given his time and energies to the editing of The
Nature-Study Review with whole-hearted devotion. At the death of
Professor Fred. L. Charles, so deeply lamented by us all, Dr. Downing
took charge of The Review and thus rescued it from suspension ; for,
at that time, there seemed to be no one else at liberty who had suffi-
cient interest in it to keep the little magazine alive. Nor was Dr.
Downing at liberty, for he Hke most professors in most Universities,
had plenty to do in conducting his department and in teaching his
pupils. Yet he has, during these six years, sacrificed his scant leisure
to work for The Review and has done so cheerfully and with faith that
the result was worthy the sacrifice. Surely his efforts have met with
universal appreciation and response.

Dr. Downing has always held The Review up to a high standard,
especially in its scientific quality; and he has sought earnestly to keep
it in touch with the work of the public schools and with all phases of
civic biology. He has made it a periodical of which we all have been
proud, and it is with universal regret that his resignation as editor has
been accepted. He pleads for a vacation and an opportunity to devote
his leisure to personal work in which he is deeply interested. How-
ever, we are not without hope that he may some day be persuaded to
resume his editorial connection with The Nature-Study Review.

Dr. Downing was born in Boston, November first, i868. He gradu-
ated at Albion College in 1889 with a degree of B.S.; he then became In-
structor in Science in Beloit College Academy. He received the degree
of M.S., from Albion in 1894 and the degree of Ph. D., from Chicago
University in 190 1. He held the position of Professor of Biology in
the Northern State Normal School of Michigan from 1901 to 19 11 and
then was made Assistant Professor of Zoology in the School of Educa-
tion of Chicago University, and since 19 14 has been Associate Professor
of Natural Science in this institution.

41

The Annual Meeting and Election of Officers

At the business session of the Society, Wednesday morning,
December 27th, 1916, the secretary of the Society was instructed
to cast the ballot for L. H. Bailey as president. The following
persons were elected as vice-presidents by ballot: B. M. Davis,
E. R. Downing, C. F. Hodge, A. L. Matthews, AHce J. Patterson.
The five persons whose terms of office as Directors expired this
year were re-elected, the secretary being instructed to cast the
ballot of the Society for them, as there were no other nominees.
The resignation of E. R. Downing as secretary-editor was accepted
as he desired relief after more than five years of service. Mrs.
Anna B. Comstock was elected secretary-editor. At Mrs. Com-
stock's request Miss Cora Smith was elected news editor and
Professor J. A. Drushel ( St. Louis, Mo.) and Prof. John Deamess
(London, Ont.) were also added to the editorial board. It was
deemed advisable to extend the board still further but the addi-
tional members were left to be appointed by the Council. The
Council as at present constituted is as follows : (Those directors
whose names are followed by (i). continue for one year or more;
those marked (3) were elected chis year for a period of two years;
those indicated by (3) are representati^'es of local sections and
hold until successors are elected by such sections.) President,
L. H. Bailey, (N. Y.); vice-presidents: B. M. Da\ds, (Ohio),
E. R. Downing, (111.), C. F. Hodge (Ore.), A. L. Matthews (Utah),
Alice J. Patterson, (111.) ; directors, (2) Anna B. Comstock (N. Y.),

(2) John A. Dearness (Ont.), (3) H. C. Draye (Mo.), (i) J. A.
Drushel (Mo.), (3) F. W. McBride (Ind.), (2) L. H. DeWolfe
(Nova Scotia), (2) J. G. Needham (N. Y.), (i) C. H. Robison
(N. J.), (i) S. C. Schmucke (Pa.), (2) W. A. Slingerland (N. Y.),

(3) G. Straubenmueller (N. Y.), (i) Gilbert H. Trafton (Minn.),
(i) R. E. Wager (111.), (3) W. W. Whitney (IIU).

On the Wind in February

On the wind in February, Then the thaws swell the streams,

Snowflakes float still. And swollen rivers swell the sea:

Half inclined to turn the rain. If the winter ever ends

Nipping, dripping, chill. How pleasant it will be.

— Christina Georgina Rossetti.

42

The Great Lover

L. H. Bailey

Address of the President at the meeting of the American Nature- Study
Society, December 27, 19 16.

"All mankind loves a lover." Thus saith Emerson, philosopher
of the over soul.

The woxld loveth a lover because he is ideaHst and enthusiast.
Breaker of precedents, violater of experience, he gives himself
over to the demands of his soul, and liv^es in his dream as if the
dream were the greatest verity. All things doth he subordinate,
all obstacles doth he neglect, all transient enterprise doth he
scorn, that he may attain, that he may attain quickly and com-
pletely. His eagerness bears him on, buoys him beyond despond,
electrifies his eye. To every fellow lover he talks of his love,
explains it with the abandon of youth, and is never hindered or
abashed when the cynic on the four-corners of life scoffs at him
and asks him the way. To him the way is plain, — straight
ahead, straight ahead, on with the glow of hope and still on without
the shadow of faltering. And the farther he goes and the warmer
his ardor, the more do the people applaud. Verily, all mankind
love a lover !

When two souls meet with their loves, ardently and unashamed
do they talk of them. Whether the object is woman or man,
or the far pursuit of a desire that hath become a dream, it counteth
not, for they relieve themselves to each other. Wha' any two
persons love, that becometh the password.

The greatest rewards are the enthusiasms. The enthusiast
is the lover. Enthusiasm brooks no precedent. It is not a
lawyer immersed in tomes of old decisions. It is not a dogma,
embalmed in sad history. It is the free outlook to the future,
the dem_ocracy of the mind, the refusal to be bound and tied. It
is the solvent to the soul.

Every good student is a lover. One is a lover of books,
searching in the dim corridors that he may discover and resurrect
a great hope. One is a lover of words, following them in their
devious and fascinating histories. One is a lover of the stars,
going in far journeys beyond any man's journey. One is a lover
of his fellow men, forgetting himself. One is a lover of architec-
ture, building himself on beautiful forms and painting his dreams

43'

44 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:2— Feb., 1917

in colors. One is a lover of the earth, marvelling in its wonder,
renewing himself in its youth. Infectious is the love of the lover.
We as teachers feel it. We live with the enthsuiasm of these
precious teachers whom we teach. We try to aid them to realize
their loves.

The great loves are these : the love of life ; the love for another,
and of one's fellows; the love of things; the love of the earth.
Remove any one of them, and life loseth its savor and there is
no completeness. The love of life and of another need no urging,
neither any explanation from me. The love of Things should need
no explanation, and yet do we misunderstand. So much have we
suffered that we discard the things we have seen in our sufferings.
So common is our suffering that every common object is a token
of it. Many are the travellers who look with a shudder on every-
thing that belongs to a ship. Certain objects are emblems of
mourning. Certain forms, odors, sounds, set us into sadness.
Only in the objects and the scenes that we cannot see do we find
freedom from old associations. What we call the ideals have been
the imcomparables.

Yet now do \ve find in Things their intrinsic beauties, fashioned
of God just as truly and just as completely, do we belie\^e, as is
the soul of man. Good are they because they are what they are,
not because we would have them otherwise. The divinity is in
them, the divinity of origin, of perfectness, and of mystery.
Not one of them do we understand. The heavens were beyond
the ancients, so that the heavens declared his handiwork. The
cell is beyond the moderns, so that the cell doth declare his handi-
work. The amphioxus is beyond us, as truly as are the stars.
The slow scarce-alive amoeba is beyond us, the sparrow that
falleth is beyond us, the lilies of the field are beyond us.

Verily, all these are the marvels. Verily all these are good to
know. Within the bosom of the planet are locked all these
mysteries, yet not forbidden to anyone, not withholden of any
man. They do not represent the old racial sorrows, as once we
thought they did. New and yet old, changing, moving, drifting
in the great flux of life, they are ever mature and ever in the process
of creation, perishing utterly and yet reproducing their kind.

Here today in this great Convocation Week fifty societies meet,
devoted all to the love of the earth. These people devoted to
these great ends are, as I think of them, the great lovers. The

bailey] the great LOVER 45

enthusiasm of these many meetings the fervent greeting of one
to the other, are the burnings of love. Forgetting for the time
the sorrows and the contests of hfe, we come here for one week
in recuperation. Now will you hear me talk of my plant. Now
shall I listen to your story of your discovery. Now do chemistry
and botany and physics and zoology and mathematics all weld
themselves into fellowships. In the old celestial philosophies
whereby man was a pilgrim and a wanderer in a vale of tears,
feeling blindly for the route home, these things could not be.
Here is our home. Here are we all together. Here is the abound-
ing earth. Here are the Things, here the Phenomena.

These fellowships, these loves of the lovers, must be all to the
good of the race when considered in the large. Selfishness is yet
an attribute of the human mind, perhaps a remembrance of the
old savage struggle for food and for mates. But as we discuss
things in common, so do we forget the old limitations. If inter-
national friendships are ever to be restored after the Great Collapse
it will not be by the meeting of kings, of cabinets, of diplomats, of
politicians, of theologians, of lawyers. It will be by the meeting
in convention of students, particularly of students of science, — the
term science very broadly considered.

But I must not take 3'Our time with imagery or entertain you
with vagaries. I took the title of this address from a poet, a
poet who loved life as all true poets must, and who knew that life
is made up of the niany small concrete experiences. This poet
is Rupert Brooke, said by some to have intellectual kinship with
Shelley and Keats, a poet lost in his youth in the Great War.
Hear Rupert Brooke :

*I have been so great a lover: filled my days
So proudly with the splendour of Love's praise,
The pain, the calm, and the astonishment,
Desire illimitable, and still content.
And all dear names men use, to cheat despair,
For the perplexed and viewless streams that bear
Our hearts at random down the dark of life.

So, for their sakes I loved, ere I go hence

And the high cause of Love's magnificence.

And to keep loyalties young, I'll write those names

*Reprinted by permission of John Lane Co. from "The Collected Poems
of Rupert Brooke."

46 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:2— Feb., 1917

Golden forever, eagles, crying flames,

And set them as a banner, that men may know,

To dare the generations, burn, and blow

Out on the wind of time, shining and streaming. . . .

These I have loved:

White plates and cups, clean-gleaming,
Ringed with blue lines; and feathery, faery dust;
Wet roofs beneath the lamp-light ; the strong crust
Of friendly bread; and many- tasting food;
Rainbows; and the blue bitter smoke of wood;
And radiant raindrops couching in cool flowers;
And flowers themselves, that sway through sunny hours,
Dreaming of moths that drink them under the moon;
Then, the cool kindliness of sheets, that soon
Smooth away trouble; and the rough male kiss
Of blankets; grainy wood; live hair that is
Shining and free; blue-massing clouds; the keen
Unpassioned beauty of a great machine;
The benison of hot waters ; furs to touch ;
The good smell of old clothes; and other such —
The comfortable smell of friendly fingers,
Hair's fragrance, and the musty reek that lingers
About dead leaves and last year's ferns. ...

Dear names,
And thousand other throng to me! Royal flames;
Sweet water's dimpling laugh from tap to spring;
Holes in the ground ; and voices that do sing ;
Voices in laughter, too; and body's pain.
Soon turned to peace; and the deep-panting train;
Firm sands; the little dulling edge of foam
That browns and dwindles as the wave goes home;
And washen stones, gay for an hour; the cold
Graveness of iron; moist black earthen mould;
Sleep; and high places ; footprints in the dew;
And oaks; and brown horse-chestnuts, glossy-new;
And new-peeled sticks ; and shining pools on grass ; —
All these have been my loves.

Ye teachers, ye who stand so close to life, ye who have so firm a
hold on objects and their phenomena, here is your better half.
Here are the materials, and yet here is no materialism. Here
are realities to your fingers, realities to your sight, realities to
your nostrils. Here are things practical, abiding within the day.
Here are things you know, every waking minute one of them or
one hke them — every minute of sixteen waking hours — one
thousand realities every day.

bailey] the great LOVER 47

In every reality lies the germ of your soul. In every one is an
idea, expanding itself into a far look, into a flight of fancy, I hope
expressing itself in a poem even if unwritten, building itself into
ypur desire and power to teach.

Very precious are all these things. There is a divinity in them
that challenges the best that any man or any woman has to
give. Not long ago, freed on the bosom of the ocean, sailing
across the tropics, I found the experiences of my many crowded
years overwhelming me, solidifying themselves in my mind, and
I wrote. What I wrote I called The Holy Earth. To judge from
what I read and what they tell me, my readers seem to find in my
writing only a vivid enthusiasm for the out-of-doors, and yet I
attempted nothing less than a philosophy of life. Still do I feel
the responsibilities of that philosophy and still shall I write.
It is difficult to open the eyes to the natiire in which we live.

A year ago I gave you my estimate of the contribution that the
science-spirit may make to a democracy. Those remarks must
have sounded strange to those who now contend that the free
introduction of natural science into schools and colleges has
resulted in the deterioration of character. So far as such e\ ils
have followed, it is not that science is inadequate to the highest
results in hiiman character, but rather than we have not yet
learned how to use the vast treasures of fact and application that
have avalanched us. We shall learn in due time that science
is not merely a handmaiden to industry but that it may expand
the soul.

Today, therefore, I come with poems in my hand. Today I
would hear the heart beat. Today would I encourage you to
every quest of science, to every minuteness and exactness of
investigation, to every effort in the teaching of the young; but
I would add to this the courage of the free spirit, the hope of the
high look, the uttermost call of the soul. No bounds would I set
to your fancy. I give you the reins, and I let you drive. I hope
that the fancy which leaps from the very concrete to the very
abstract will be precious to you. Fear not to prophesy.

Spontaneity in Nature- Study

S. C. SCHUMUCKER

A paper read before the Nature- Study Society of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, New York, December 27, 1916.

Nattire-study is slowly working its way into its own place in the
schools of the land. In some it has a recognized position and its
full share of the time. To many this seems a consummation
devoutly to be wished. The longer I try to do my part in foster-
ing its growth, the more certain I become that I want for it
neither a place in the course of study nor an hour in the day's
program. To me it seems altogether better that it should be
a spirit and a method, pervading the work of the skilled elementary
teacher. It should be the drawing lesson one day, the language
lesson another, the geography lesson a third, a number lesson
still another day, a special feature some morning at opening
exercises, or a stirring round-up to keep the week's work from
"petering out" on Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile the subject of the lesson should be determined by
local circumstances perhaps more than in the case of any other
study except the vocational training. With each recurring week
new birds, new flowers, new 'insects come or pass, the weather
fosters or forbids, the community approves or frowns. All of
these must be taken into consideration. Then too, the other
subjects -studied should receive help and enrichment from the
natiire-study, and they will do much to decide what subjects
must be considered. All of this militates most severely, it seems
to me, against any attempt to arrange a program which shall be
other than most general. The utmost latitude should be left
to the teacher. Any program in nature-study should be merely
suggestive to her in case she should find herself at a loss to know
what to do.

After all, the great value of nature-study does not lie in the
information gained. Most of the mere information acquired
in our early school days is completely forgotten in later life.
I wonder whether almost everybody has not found his geography
nearly useless in following the movements of the armies in the
present great war. I find there are very few things I remember
with absolute accuracy out of my earlier school life. The earliest

48

schmucker] spontaneity IN NATURE-STUDY 49

is "The ostrich is a very lar^e bird, he runs very swiftly." Where
I got it I know not, but it is dimly associated with a town I left
at the age of six. Three dates out of fifty we sing-songed still
remain — '' 1607, Virginia was settled at Jamestown by the English;
16 14, New York was settled at Albany by the Dutch; 1620,
Massachusetts was settled at Plymouth (or so my memory runs)
by the English." All the rest has faded. Reiteration has fixed
1492 and 1776 and, except these, almost every date in American
history has fled. The multiplication table stands firm — the one
fixed, useful series of facts that really positively lasted. Then,
from my high school days comes "Ante, apud, ad, adversus"
and so on through an interminable list of prepositions that govern
the accusative case (I hope that is right). It were perhaps well
could our early lessons last better, though of this I am not sure.
Perhaps a merciful heaven has arranged the matter well.

This does not mean that I thmk there is no value in the work
done in the elementary schools. But its value consists but little
in the facts gathered, and very much in the processes learned and
in the development gained.

Now nature-study is almost unique amongst the studies of the
earlier school life. It consists of the study of things, not of words.
It inculcates a habit, and should give the student the power of
finding out things for himself. Of course while he is learning to
look into things for himself, he should be gaining the power by
gathering information that is worth while. In this matter we
must not judge too harshly the information gathered either by
these elementary students or by candidates for the degree of Doctor
of Philosophy. No one knows which part of knowledge may prove
worth while at some future time. It is almost equally difficult
to tell which portion of our acquisition will, after a while, prove
to be useless. In any event, I dread the effect of formally prescrib-
ing, rigidly foretelling, carefully drilling and conscientiously
testing the information gained in nature-study.

The best results of this discipline show themselves otherwise
than in valuable information gained. One of our great nature
lovers has recently been doing what would seem to be his first
extensive reading in the field of science. His later essays have
passages that read perilously like examination papers in high
school science. His earlier papers were altogether adorable,
though now and then a fact is wrong, or an inference doubtful.

\

50 NA T URE-ST UD Y RE VIE W [13 :2— Feb. , 1917

This latter trouble is not unknown in scientific contributions to
learned societies.

The finest results of nature-study consist in an absorbing
fondness for nature, in finding in her a solace and a refreshment
from the worry and care of life, in gaining from her a cultiire
without cost to those for whom costly culture is out of the question,
best of all, in feeling in her the throbbing in-dwelling of a power
not ourselves that works for, not only righteousness, but for
eternal uplift in all things.

To talk of standardizing, prescribing, testing this is to fail
utterly, it seems to me, in perspective.

Dean Bailey puts us in the right track in telling us, "When you
think of the subject you teach you are teaching science: When
you think of the child to whom you are teaching it, you are teach-
ing nature-study."

My suggestion to the scientist in the matter of nature-study
is clear and definite: Teach the facts, as many as you can,
as clearly as you can, as connectedly as you can, as thoroughly
tied up with the philosophy of the age as you can, but teach it to
the teachers. Standardize this knowledge, try it, test it, all you
will. Then say to the teacher "You come in contact with the
child, you know the mind of the child, you feel the developing
sovl of the child; dip now into what we have given you. Sift
from it what is good for your purpose, translate it until it is within
the grasp and the interest of your children, enrich it with yotir
own personality, and fill them with a love for the great realm of
nature that shall send them out to talk to her face to face, to ask
her questions, to find in her, strength."

My fear of what will happen if the scientist attempts to
standardize and test the nature-study of the first four years of
school life can be well illustrated by a story told by the best
primary teacher I have ever known. Miss Sara Arnold, while
supervising the primary schools of Boston came one morning
into a room where one of the teachers under her charge was hearing
a class in geography recite a lesson on Newfoundland. "John,"
said the teacher, "what is fishing?" Now John had been sitting
listlessly before he heard this question. The teacher had thus
far failed to win him. But at this he wakened. This was the
first sensible question he had heard since he got into that school.
With light in his eye he started, "You git a hook — " "Next,"

schmucker] spontaneity IN NATURE-STUDY 51

said the teacher; "WilHe, what is fishing?" Now Willie had also
wakened. He thought Johh had not started early enough in the
process to suit the teacher. "You git a worm — " "Next,"
said the teacher, and the amazed Willie sat down dumbfounded
beside the equally non-plussed John. The next was Mary to
whom a hook was a fearsome thing and a worm an impossibility.
"Fishing," said Mary, "is the chief industry of the Province."
"Right," said the teacher.

The moral of this story lies in its pathos. If this teacher had
known the things that made for her peace, she could have gripped
those boys to her with hooks of steel. She would have stood John
up to talk on what he really knew. Lapses in grammar and in
pronimciation might have gone unchecked for the time, and he
would have proudly learned that he knew things the others did
not. And Willie would have joined in the game. Newfoundland
could wait until tomorrow, for two souls were finding themselves,
and a teacher was entering into two lives. But the door into
paradise, swung open for a while, closed and the teacher "never
could know" what she missed. She had been over-standardized.

Notes on New York Meeting

A friend of the editor who is a general nature lover and whose
special interest is geology, came into the meeting of the American
Nature-Study Society in New York on Wednesday afternoon,
December 27th. He had teen attending as many as possible
of the multipilcity of meetings that always occur in connection
with the A. A. A. S. and he said he had found the Nature-Study
meeting the most interesting of any which he had yet attended.
He spoke especially of the fine spirit that was manifest there.

A Cornell student also drifted into the meeting and his comment
was, "It was full of pep," all of which was very gratifying to hear.
There is never a large attendance at these meetings but there are
always people present who have the nature-study movement at
heart, and who are alive to the questions therein discussed.

Standardizing Nature-Study

F. L. HoLTZ
A paper read before the American Nature-Study Society, Dec. 27, 1916

In the older studies of the curricultim, such as arithmetic,
reading, spelling, etc., we find more or less general agreement in
regard to what should be taught, why it should be taught, and how.
This is the result of long experience in these studies and, no doubt,
such uniformity has made for definiteness and efficiency in teach-
ing.

By contrast the newer aspirants among the school studies,
such as civics, hygiene, music, and nature-study are the matter of
much pedagogical dispute. Even among their advocates is
found the widest variance as to their educational purposes, how
they should be taught, and just what or how much of the subject
should be given. The reason is that they have not yet emerged
completely out of the ex^perimental stage. We have not yet
agreed upon the standards of aim, method, and subject rnatter
that should be the basis of a course of study in these subjects.
The result is a wide diversity of treatment, as in nature-study,
for example, throughout this and other countries. In some places
nature-study is taught with scientific formalism, in others for
its utilitarian purpose, in still others for esthetic and sentimental
reasons, — and the subject matter and the method vary cor-
respondingly widely.

Some may say, "Why bother to set up definite standards in
nature-study?"

Let us consider the value of standards in general school subjects:

There are usually several aims in the teaching of a subject.
These are not of equal value. It is the business of educators to
experiment, to see which aims are capable of realization, and to
determine the relative importance of the various aims. In the
course of time there generally results a concensus in r.egard to
these points. Clearness of aim in the teaching of a study is
essential if the study is to be successful.

The purpose or aim being established in a study, the principles
and methods of teaching it must be worked out. Here again
experiment must show the way. Those principles and methods
most surely accomplishing the aim of the study should be selected.

52

HOLTz] STANDARDIZING NATURE-STUDY 53

Naturally the principles and method will be largely determined
by the aim.

Finally the choice of subject matter will be largely, though not
entirely, governed by both the aim and the method. Of course
the subject matter has also a reflexive effect in determining the
method of teaching.

Aim, method, and sub^ject matter in a study being thus scientifi-
cally determined, we can say that standards of teaching the
subject have been evolved. The treatment of the subject is then
largely beyond dispute and there should be general uniformity
and presumably greater efficiency in the teaching of the study.

Now shall we thus standardize nature-study?

What could be the advantage? In the first place we should
have a definite statement of what we are teaching nature-study
for: Whether for general academic knowledge, for practical
knowledge, for esthetic-literary purposes, or for all. If for all
these purposes, what the relative importance of these aims is.

We are already getting together on these questions. The
tendency is toward a practical nature-study, but there are many
strong advocates toward including and even making predominant
the other values. As to methods, there is a fair agreement that
the direct or observational method should be the chief way of
presenting nature facts. But here again there are differences of
opinion, — ^varying from advocacy of formal science to informal
conversation; also there are those who would use an artistic or
literarv^ medium of presentation, especially in primary grades.

The greatest variation as to nature-study is to be found in its
subject matter. This varies immensely depending on the age
of the pupil, upon the natural environment and the economic
interests of the community. You can not have the same course
for New York city as for a country village.

And yet we can discern some tendency toward the inclusion
in the course of some facts in all courses. For example, we find
in all courses the care of domestic animals, care of house and
garden plants, the life cycle of a plant, life cycle of an animal,
adaptive devices in nature, economic aspects of nature, nature-
study applications in hygiene, etc. No doubt, as time goes on we
shall find a greater agreement.

Are we ready to standardize nature-study? Shall we appoint
an educational committee that shall be authorized, — ^like the

54 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:2— Feb., 1917

famous committees of the N. E. A. in history, etc. — ^to establish
standards for nature-study?

My own opinion is that it is not wise now to attempt such
standardization. I do not think we are ready for this step.
Nature-study is still in the experimental stage, and the permanent
value of aims, principles, methods, and subject matter are still
in question. The whole traditional curriculum is at present
■under fire. Much of it will soon be changed. New points of view
are being developed in elementary education. In this trans-
formation nature-study will be affected. That is another reason
why we should not be hasty about establishing definite standards
for this study.

I am not sure that we can or should ever formalize nature-
study like arithmetic or even geography. I think it should and
always will retain a certain flexibility. The educational field of
nature-study is too wide to permit very close standardizing for
the whole domain. It is, in my judgment, better to standardize
a course for large cities, a course for rural towns, and an agri-
cultural course for the country districts. If we did this there
might be some hope for agreement. I believe the best we can do
now is to continue to experiment in nature-study, and for the
educational leaders in nature-study to pass on the relative values
and educational usefulness of present practice, guiding the subject
along what they consider the best tendencies, and gradually
coming to agreement, if possible.

In this way some day we shall be able to convince educational
workers and school authorities as to the advisability of conforming
to a somewhat flexible set of standards for nature-study.

'High wheels the gray wing of the osprey,

The wing of the sparrow drops low;
In the mist dips the wing of the robin,
And the snow-bird's wing in the snow.
Ah me!
Chicadee !
The snow-bird sings in the snow.

I love the high heart of the osprey,

The meek heart of the thrush, below,
The heart of the lark in the meadow,
And the snow-bird's heart in the snow.
But dearest to me,
Chicadee ! Chicadee !
Is that true little heart in the snow."

Hezekiah Butterworth.

A Plan for the Study of the Ebn Tree in Primary Grades

By Susan B. Sipe

Teacher of Gardening in the J. Ormond Wilson Normal School,
Washington, D. C.

The aim of this lesson is to encourage a feeling of ownership
in one school-yard or neighborhood tree; to teach the changes
that a living tree passes through in a year, to teach the value of
trees to the pupils and to other people.

Work preceding the lesson upon which the teacher had to build
the new lesson :

1. Gathering of leaves from day to day by the children for
October's party, with incidental talks on their colors and shapes.

2 . By the study of a plant in the garden thay have learned that
the plant is held in the ground by its roots ; that the stem holds
the leaves up to the sunlight ; that the leaves need the sunlight ;
and that there are flowers and seeds.

FALL LESSON

As the leaves of different trees are brought in, and the elm leaf
is among them, the teacher should frequently say. "These are

55

56 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:2— Feb., 1917

leaves from our elm tree. We will find it some day" or "These
are leaves from our tree. We will let you show it to us some day."
When the opportunity arrives some of them will be ready to
show the rest of the little ones the elm tree or our tree. "Let us
make a circle as large as our great sunshade." Children joining
hands make a circle under the tree as large as the crown of the
tree. "Now let us see how many it will take to stretch aroimd
the handle of our big timbrella." Only two for this tree because
it isn't such a large one; but there have been elm trees that need
such great trunks to hold their leaves up to the sunlight that it
would take six of you to reach around them.

"Let us see how large those great sticks are!" (six children
make a circle). We won't say that our great elm tree has a
stick trunk or handle but we shall say it has a trunk. Our zinnia
plant had a stem to hold its leaves to the sun. Trees have trunks.
I wonder what makes our great elm imibrella spread out so far.
The big trunk breaks up into smaller ones called branches just
like the ribs of the open umbrella. Hold your arms up the way
the elm tree holds its branches. Because the elm tree's branches
spread out so far it is a fine tree to plant on streets."

"Now let us play this is a street. You are the elm trees
on one side of the street, and you are the ones on the other side.
(Separate the children into two lines) . Put your arms up the way
the elm trees do. Then the street cars, and horses and wagons,
automobiles and people pass along the streets, how do the elm
trees help them?"

' ' I wonder what holds this great trunk with all of its green leaves
in the groimd?" Call to their memory the roots of the geranium
plant. "How much larger the elm tree's roots must be, so large
that some of us can sit in the little hollows between them where
they begin to fasten the trunk in the grotmd."

"L€t's pick up some of the leaves of our elm tree to take to
school with us. Tell me something about your leaf, Mar\%"
(probably color, green or A^ellow or shape). "Run your finger
around the edge. Rub your finger from the top to the bottom,
from the bottom to the top. Fold your leaf right down the middle
at the strong rib." From a twig in her hand teacher should call
attention to the buds that the children will call the elm tree's
secrets. "We'll find out what these secrets are; though before
we do, the snows -mil come and the rains will fall and the winds

sipe] study of elm TREE IN PRIMARY GRADES 57

will blow, but the elm tree will keep them tight and then suddenly
tell us all about them. ' '

Later visits to the elm tree will show the tree has changed its
dress from green to yellow and still later that it has taken off its
dress completely.

WINTER

Observations should be made from time to time during the
winter. Its rough bark that insects can hide under, should be
noted. The cocoons of the tussock moth can be gathered and it
may be nuthatch or downy woodpecker will help in the gathering.
During the winter observations always let them hold their arms
as the tree holds its branches that they may feel the shape of
the tree, A branch kept in the room will let them see the ladder
like arrangement of the twigs that makes it so easy for the squirrels
to reach the outermost branches. After a snow storm let them
see how the large branches and the little twigs hold the snow.
Winter is the time to talk of wood and what we do with it. The
strong wood of the elm is used for barrels and wheel hubs.

When Washington's Birthday is being celebrated an historical
touch can be given by telling them of George Washington, because
he became the head of our soldiers standing under an elm tree.
While that was years and years, and years ago the elm tree is
still living and people buy little twigs from it to plant in school
yards so that children may remember George Washington.

SPRING

Several weeks before the elm will bloom out doors, bring in
sprays to force the buds to open. Talk of the fact that last fall
we saw secrets on the tree that the elm would not tell until after
the snows. So we shall watch to see what she has to tell. There
will be the swelling of the buds. Then the little branches of
flowers with their pollen easily shaken out and then the seeds
that look so much like caps for a toy pistol. In connection with
pollenation simply state that the little elm flowers need the pollen
and so the wind whispering in the high tree tops carries it for them
instead of the bees.

Finally the leaves folded like little fans will come from the bud
and all of the elm tree's secrets have been found out. This in-door
preparation will make it possible for the children to pictiire what
is going on in the top of our elm when the spring finally makes

58 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:2— Feb., 1917

it put on first a brown dress, and then a pale green and then a

deeper green color.

Watch the tree for the birds that may come. Perhaps an oriole

may hang its nest far out on the sprays. The following poem may

be taught after the full cycle of the tree has been seen.

I wish I were an elm tree,

A great and lofty elm tree

With green leaves gay.

The wind would set them dancing

The sun and moonshine glance in

The birds would house among the boughs

And sweetly sing. — William Allingham. ,

References: Under the Washington Elm at Cambridge by
O. W. Holmes; Some Famous Elms of New England by O. W.
Holmes; The Village Elm, by Irene Putnam.

The Penn elm was 283 years old when it died.

The Washington Elm had a leaf surface of five acres.

Conservation of Wild Life

A special display illustrating the conservation of wild animal
life and the most approved methods of game farming is a new
feature announced by the College of Agriculture for the tenth
annual Farmers' Week at Cornell, beginning Februar^^ 12.

Mounted and live specimens of wild birds, fishes, and fur-
bearing animals of economic value will be exhibited; models of
houses, shelters, coops, vennin traps, and other appliances used
in the propagation of game birds will be displayed. There will
be a model farm fishpond and fish eggs in the process of hatching;
furs of common wild animals of the state will occupy a part of the
space in this exhibit.

The conservation movement, since its first application in the
handling of government forests, has broadened until it now includes
all forms of animal and plant life useful to man, and the college
believes that this work with wild game and fishes is to be of
increasing value to state and nation as our natural wild life is
being constantly destroyed. With proper care and attention,
it is stated, wild game birds, such as quail, ducks, and geese,
may be reared on our farms just as we now raise pheasants in
many places. Fresh water food fishes are disappearing from our
lakes and streams and the future, according to those who have
studied conditions, must look to the farm fishpond for a large
part of it's fresh water fish supply.

Mountain Laurel

Leah Wheeler,

Canandaigua, N. Y.

When, pale and pure against the sombre green
Of spreading hemlocks, and close-crowding pines,
In northern woods thy moonlight beauty shines, —

Thou seem'st, O stately Kalmia, like a queen

Alien and sad, exiled but not discrowned:
A wanderer from distant tropic lands.
But regal still, and bearing in thy hands

Caskets of pearl and rose, securely bound.

Fair fugitive, I would not be too bold,
Nor seek to probe thy hidden history ;
I pluck thy blossoms, not thy mystery;

Yet I were rich indeed, with wealth untold,

If in some trusting hour, thou wouldst unfold

The secrets that those cunning caskets hold.

— E. Shaw Forman.

All the year the smooth, pointed green leaves of the laurel
stand out boldly from the grey monotony of the rocks and hill-
side over which it loves to clamber, but only in middle June when
these hillsides are apparently covered with a mass of pink snow

59

.60 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:2— Feb., 1917

can we appreciate the beauty of our laurel. No flower of wood,
field or marsh can surpass the beauty of a freshly opened bud,
when it deepens and fades to paler tints according to the location,
soil, etc., and its own individuality.

Its scientific name is Kalmia latifolia and it belongs to the Heath
.family which is familiar to us since it contains the azaleas, rhodo-
'dendrons, and the dainty trailing arbutus. The buds and newly
opened flowers are rose pink in color, but these fade to white
with only pink lines showing. The flowers have been compared
with little, quaint five-pointed umbrella tops with ten recur\^ed
stameiis for the spokes— each anther securely socketed till
some bee alights. The stickv^ stigma is erect ready to receive
the pollen from another flower which the bee has visited, and
after hovering above the nectary the bee has only to descend
toward it and possibly touch one of the curved filaments, when
suddenly off will go the little " anther gun," discharging the pollen.
So delicate is this mechanism that the least jar will release the
anthers.

This laurel sometimes grows to a height of thirty feet in the
mountains of Pennsylvania, and it is more or less abundant
from Canada to Georgia. To transplant it, one has only to secure
acid soil for a border, dig the plant up carefully, and transplant
it, meanwhile being especially careful not to allow the roots to
dry out. The laurel like the huckleberry^ needs acid soil to make
it thrive.

This shrub is carefully cultivated in England, being known as
Kalmia. At Bare wood Gardens, the home of the editor of the
London Times, there are many fine shrubs of this and of ova
rhododendrons. The English papers announce the blossoming
season and the estate is thrown open to the public, people coming
from great distances to admire our laurel.

The generic name is that of a Swedish botanist Peter Kalm,
a pupil of Linnaeus, who gave the plant his name. Kalm traveled
in this country^ early in the eighteenth century and became
more impressed by its beauty than that of any other flower.
He introduced it into Europe where it is so highly prized.

The classic shrub is supposed to be identical with Laurel
nohilis. This was brought over by the colonists but it did not
thrive in its new environment. However, our laurel belongs to
this distinguished family of plants, which has crowned poets

wheeler] mountain LAUREL 61

and heroes, and this might well be an argument for having it as
our national flower; besides it possesses beauty, strength and
thriftiness, is adapted to sudden changes of American climate,
and will thrive mid the most adverse surroundings.

In 1790 fatal cases occurred in this country from eating wild
honey, which was traced to A', laitfolia by an inquiry instituted
by the government. Most cattle will leave it alone but it is said
some become victims every year, as do the grouse and partridge
when hard pressed for food. One of the swallow-tail butterflies
deposits its eggs upon the laurel leaves, and the larvae feed with
no ill effects. Dr. Barker says that Indians drink a tea made from
Kalmia leaves when they wish to commit suicide.

The wood is very hard, fine grained and solid, taking a fine
polish. It is in good demand, weighing 44 pounds to the cubic
foot. One of its uses is indicated by the name "spoonwood."

The Newark Museum

The museimi as an educational factor is coming more and more
into prominence. If anyone has an interest in the subject let
him send at once for the pamphlet, "The Educational Value of
Museums," published by the Newark, N. J. Museum Association.
This brochure discusses the subject to right and left, front side
and hind side, top side and bottom side, with a vital verve that
sets the reader tingling to create museums or get in touch with
live ones. It gives cogent reasons for establishing museimis and
for continuing them and best of all discusses their possibilities as
agencies for educating a city. The pamphlet is written by Louise
Connolly, with an introduction by J. C. Dana. Miss Connolly
came over to the nature-study meeting at New York and gave an
address, as delightful as it was pungent and true, on the nature-
study propaganda, the manuscript of which arrived too late for
this issue of the Review but will appear in the March number.
Miss Connolly is doing sincere and important work in nature-
study in the Newark Museum. She was a most successful teacher
before she was connected with musetim work and every step she
takes is in the right direction to make for true education.

A Brook Acquaintance

Catherine Bard
Gowanda, N. Y.

Once upon a time, quite a long time ago in fact, there were
two little springs in some woods, not so very far away from here.
And these little springs just bubbled away, all day long, without
doing anything very much, except to bubble in the stimmer,
and sleep in the winter, and perhaps play with the birds and skunks
who came to drink. And it wasn't very exciting. The little
springs thought "My, wouldn't it be fine, if we could play together
some day and what a lot we might do, if we could do it together!"
So both of them being little springs and anxious to see each other
started out to meet. Each decided that it had better get out of
the woods first, because it would be so much harder to find the
other in the thick tangle. They took the easiest way they could
find, and rolled down into all the little hollows which they saw,
and whenever they came tp a hill, they ran down pell-mell. Of
course, they met other springs on the way, who were just as lone-
some, and they were asked to come along, because the first little
springs knew just how they felt, so that by the time they were
out of the woods, the first two little springs had several other little
springs coming along with them, and each was a brook by itself.
But they kept on going just the same, because they were started
now and couldn't stop anyway. They went through a field,
where the grass tried with all its might to make them stay with it,
for it squeezed the brooks up into just little threads with its
roots. But the little brooks were getting anxious now, because
they saw that it wouldn't be long, before they would see each
other. Soon the}^ came to a road, and they never had seen one
before, and didn't know how to act when they met a road. They
would have been angry and would have torn it right down, if
they had not been shown that there was a nice pipe, which they
could run through. After they had gone under the road, they
knew that it could be only a little time before they would meet at
last. One little brook did not hurry ver\^ much, but played
along with the deep grass and green things growing in it, and
gave away lots of water to the dry walnut trees, which leaned
over it. But the other one was more anxious and tumbled down
over big rocks and down a hill in a hurry, although it did leave

62

"Some pools and quiet places for beetles,
water-striders, and crayfishes to play in."

63

64 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:2— Feb., 1917

some pools and quiet places for beetles and larvae to play in.
And then they met ! After all this time ! But instead of hurrying
on, as you might expect, they got acquainted ^\dth each other
and spread out in a big broad marsh, where cat-tails liked to
grow and red-winged blackbirds had their nests. Together they
filled a broad, deep place, which took up more room, than they
had ever filled before. i\fter a little while, they decided to move
on a little ; the two of them pulled together and were now one brook ;
this ran on for a little while until it wanted to pla^^ some niore,
and made another marsh. The next time it decided to move on,
it had to go, like a very well-behaved, civihzed brook, because
somebody made a very proper and straight sort of a course for it
through a meadow; tmder another road it went, and came out
again and made pools where it wanted to among all kinds of stones,
and where beetles, water spiders, cray fishes, and other brook
animals could play on it and in it.

Many kinds of trees gathered around the brook, leaning over
it to hear what it was sayitig, for it moved along faster and was
having a better time than ever before, so that even the bushes
came close to it, and as the brook hurried along they got so
interested, that they almost hid the water and you couldn't see
it at all, except by scrambling through raspberries briers and
wild cherry trees. Once it made an island, which was not as big
as Robinson Crusoe's, but was a wonderful island just the same.
Lovely flowers, violets and trilliums came and grew upon it, and
the brook was very happy. It grew very lazy in its happiness
and lapped around the island, making its edges marshy. But
even an island couldn't stop the brook now, and soon it hurried
on faster than ever, so fast that it washed all the stones from the
smooth rock and then it slipped along the stone steps at a great
rate.

But not all the time, did the brook hurry so. Sometimes it
slowed up, around some trees which fell into it; here it left stones
and sticks which it had carried along, and these would form a
little dam and a pool for birds to drink in, and for minnows to
swim in. The banks around the brook were. Oh ! verv^ high now,
and there was room for so many trees that it was almost like a
woods. The brook enjoyed this very much, and felt very glad
that its springs had started out to find other brooks, for it felt
that these ferns and trees and flowers were its verv own, and liked

bard] a brook acquaintance 65

to be so near it. Else why would they have come and grown
there? Then, because it was so happy the brook laughed in
the brook's way of laughing of course, which you know is to find
some big stones and then ripple over them and the result is the
most musical laugh, you about ever heard.

By this time, the little brook was growing up and had higher
banks and taller trees around it, and was beginning to feel that it
had really better be doing something besides play along its banks
forever. So it hurried on ever faster, and sang over its waterfalls
and laughed over its stones ever and ever louder; and very soon,
coming to the edge of the hill, it saw ahead, a brook much larger
than it had ever hoped to be, — a creek. And the brook said ' ' Now,
I know what I will do. I will go along with that creek, where it is
going. That will be doing something splendid certainly." So it
was about to plunge over the hill down to the creek, when it met
a big strong dam at the very top, which some men must have
made. This kept the brook from going as fast as it wanted to,
but nothing could hold it back entirely. It fell over the dam,
on the smooth slippery rocks a long ways down and then gathered
itself together and made a grand sweep around, just as though it
were trying to show that it could do most anything, even turn its
back on the creek, and yet go there just the same. And then
what do you think ? Instead of rushing up to the creek with a loud
how-d'ye do, the little brook, when it was not far away, modestly
sank into the ground, and went to meet the creek in that mysterious
way. So we really never saw the brook reach the creek, but we
know it got there, because it was such a determined little brook.
And what the little brook and the big creek did, you must read in
the next chapter.

'Tis the world's winter;
Autumn and summer
Are gone long ago.
Earth is dry to the centre,
But spring, a new comer,
A spring rich and strange
Shall make the winds blow
Round and round,
Through and through,
Here and there,
Till the air
And the ground
Shall be filled with life anew.

Alfred Tennyson.

The Red-headed Woodpecker

By Mary Loesch
Kindergartner in Madison School, Pittsburgh, Pa.

One fine spring morning late in April a red-headed woodpecker
flew upon the telegraph wire; he sat there looking about as though
he were looking for someone and since no one was in sight he
began drumming on the wire to see if he could drum up someone.
Soon two more woodpeckers came, one was a Mr. Red Head
and one was a Miss Red Head. The woodpecker on the telegraph
wire noticed Miss Red Head and thought he would like to have
her for his wife. He could not sing to her because he has no song,
but he kept on drumming imtil she thought he was the finest
drummer in the world; finally she flew down on the ground, then
down he went too, he made a nice bow to show her his beautiful
red-bead, then he stepped forward and backward then sideways
and then he made another bow coaxing her all this time to be his
mate; finally she decided to go with him, so they flew away
together to the woods to build a house to live in. They began
talking of house-keeping, for each kind of woodpecker has its own
style of housekeeping. They build in either the tnmk or branches
of a decayed or hollow tree, if they cannot find one of these, they
build in a sound tree. It took several days for these woodpeckers
to find a desirable place to live, because they wanted to be sur-
rounded by other trees. At last they found a place that both
of them liked very much. The first thing they did was to strike
out a circle in the bark as large as the doonvay was to be and this
was just large enough for one of them to go in and out one at a time
and strange to say they made a perfect circle all of little dots.
If you think this is easy just try to draw free-hand a circle of dots
just like the one the woodpecker strikes out with his bill and see
whether it is easy or not. Just as soon as the size and shape of the
doorway suited the woodpecker he began to scale off the bark
inside his circle of holes, and while he was doing this work, he
clung to the tree with his stout toes and braced himself by his pointed
tail, the chips flew out past him as he dug, if they dropped into
the hole he swept them out with his bill and dug again. The
pair took their turn at doing this work and it took a week or more
to dig the nest, which extends horizontally for a few inches then
curves down ending in a little chamber large enough to make a

66

Red-headed Woodpecker

67

68 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:2— Feb., 1917

comfortable nest for the mother bird and also the baby birds
when they should arrive. '

It was either in May or Jime that the mother woodpecker laid
six glossy white eggs in the nest. Then she sat there for two
weeks; she did not have a place to look out, for you know the
woodpecker's home has no windows, but by and by six little naked
blind helpless nestlings came, then the parents were very busy
getting enough food to fill these hungr>^ babies ; they would catch
flies on the wing and drill holes into the bark of the tree to find
other insects hiding there. No one could disturb these babies,
unless it were the little squirrel ; they would lie in their warm dark
nest and as soon as they could see they would look up at the ray
of light that came in through the doorway, until they could hear
the scratching of their mother's feet as she alighted oh the outside
of the tree to feed them. In about two weeks the babies were
fully feathered and were able to climb up to the top of the nest
from Avhich they could look out of the doorway with great curiosity
but if they heard the slightest noise they slipped back into their
nests, but in a day or two they were ready to leave their nest and
began to fly. They loved to fly to the tin roofs where the children
live and drum a merr\^ tune.

Then they all began to store up food for future use, they stored
up acorns, insects, and nuts, especially beechnuts; they put them
in little holes and crevices, cavities of old tree-trunks, in fence
posts, and, even in crannies in barns. They have all kinds of
storehouses. You know their bill is like a Httle pickaxe so they have
no trouble in getting the food out of these places. At first the
baby birds do not look like their parents ; they are gray and do not
have the beautiful red-head and breast with a blue black color
on their back and white below, but it is not long before their gray
head turns to a beautiful red and they wear the black and white
uniform and become real red-headed woodpeckers.

Ah, may I be as cheerful

As yonder winter birds,
Through ills and petty crosses,

With no repining words;
So, teaching me this lesson.

Away, away they go,
And leave their tiny footprints

In stars upon the snow.

— George Cooper.

February Nature-Study

Anna Botsford Comstock

To the nature-lover February is the winter month of special
charm. The forests on the snowy hills take on many lovely tints
varying from dull to dark blue and from lilac purple to amethyst.
The snow is toned with purple shadows and the skies in the morning
are dull blue at the horizon and rosy and misty above until the
blue of the upper skies is reached. Let us enjoy every day of
February whatever the weather and then will our spirit be strong
for blustering March.

SECOND GRADE

The English Sparrow. — This doughty little brigand is always
with us and always in the foreground until he discovers we are
trying to study him, then he disappears like magic. For pupils
of second grade a February lesson may be found in Obs. i, 2, 7, p.
87.* The cock-sparrow is a very difficult bird to describe, his
coat is of so many shades and patterns but the children can see
his black cravat and white wing bars and the white sides to his
throat, all of which ornaments his peppery-tempered wife lacks.
The pupils should be encouraged to listen to and understand as
much as possible of sparrow talk. The chief value of this special
lesson is to make the pupils perfectly acquainted with both sexes
of this sparrow, that later, when they study birds in the field,
they will not be confused if English sparrows appear on the scene;
the hen-sparrow seems to have protean forms and is often mistaken
for other species.

The Blue jay. —This bird of heavenly hues is a joy to the eye
and a pain to the ear. The pupils should observe the colors

*Reference to author of Handbook of Nature- Study.

69

70 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:2— Feb., 1917

and markings carefiilly. They should note that the back is not
so blue as the wings, that the forehead and collar are black, that
the wings and tail of exquisite blue are cross-barred with black
and tipped with white and the wing bars are white. The crest on
the head of the blue jay is used to express his feelings and should
be studied as a guide to his emotions. A pet bluejay is the most
mischievous of birds. It will destroy books, upholsterv% and
almost anything that it can tear, and it will steal pins and jewelry.
This bird is also an imitator and learns the notes of other birds,
and seems to enjoy playing practical jokes upon his companions.
One will scream like a hawk and then seem to chuckle to see all the
little birds scared and seek to hide. The jays cease to be noisy
at nesting time. They slip away, build their nest, and rear their
young in some secluded spot, and talk in low tones to each other,
and are as retired and modest now as they were formerly aggres-
sive.

Treatment of Pets. — ^We cannot begin too early to impress upon
children their duties toward the lower animals and especially
toward their pets. Dr. Hornaday has declared that "being a pet
is at best a hazardous occupation," and he being at the head of
one of the largest zoological gardens in America should surely
know. There are plenty of lessons to enforce the necessity of
constant kindness and care to those creatures dependent upon
the child, who should be impressed with his duties as caretaker.
He should be made to think of what would happen to him if his
parents should forget to give him food or drink for a day or two.
The teachers should have talks with the children about the proper
care to be given to cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, canaries,
pigeons, goldfish, etc.

Reference — Pet Book, Comstock.

The Language of Animals. — Children are far more sensitive
to the meaning of sounds made by animals and birds than are
grownups. As a child I knew by the notes of my canary whether
he was happy, discontented, angr>'., or merely talkative. I also
knew at least twelve of the emotions expressed in the rather
extensive language of the hens, and I never thought of mentioning
this knowledge to anybody. I just knew it and that was all there
was to it. I was alike conversant with the talk of the dair\^ herds
and the pigs and the cat and dog. It is well to impress upon
children that every sound made by bird or animal has its meaning

comstock] FEBRUARY NATURE-STUDY 71

for its companions and that it is very interesting to try to discover
these raeanings for ourselves. I have seen many a dog that knew
more of his master's language than his supposedly more intelligent
master knew of his. Teach the children to repeat the lines from
Hiawatha —

"Then the little Hiawatha,
Learned of every bird its language." etc.

If Hiawatha learned the language of all the wild animals and birds,
our little children should surely learn the language of their pets.

The Big Dipper. — It is quite impracticable for the teacher to
take the children out for star gazing. Luckily this is not needful.
The diagram Jan. Review p. 33 should be placed on the blackboard
and left there for a week or more. The children should be taught
which direction is north and east and northeast. Then ask them
to look in the evening at seven or eight o'clock in the northeast
part of the sky and there the}^ will find the Big Dipper with handle
tiimed down, and they should also learn to find the North Star
by the pointers.

The Magnet. — There is no plaything more fascinating to the
children than the horseshoe magnet. While the extended lesson
on the magnet is fitted only for the upper grades, the second grade
children may learn many important and interesting things about
the magnet. As to method the teacher should have two or three
toy horseshoe magnets of different sizes and some tacks and iron
filings. A magnet and some iron filings in a box cover may be
given the child to play with during busy work or as a reward of
merit. The questions and Obs. 3, 4, 5, 6, p. 840 may be asked a
few at a time.

THIRD GRADE

The Moon. — As a teacher of University students in nature-
study classes I have been astonished at their ignorance concerning
the simplest things in astronomy and especially their ignorance
concerning the moon, and I have been forced to the conclusion
that all of these things should have been taught to them in child-
hood. The third grade children may be taught certain things
about this little dead world that belongs so especially to us,
before they begin physical geography. The phases of the moon
may be shown by holding an orange or a baseball in the flash
light in a darkened room and they can come to understand that

72 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:2— Feb., 1917

the light coming from one direction can only light half of the ball
at a time. If the light is on the same side of the ball as we are,
we see all of the ball facing toward us lighted, which is comparable
to the full moon, but if the light is at one side we see only a part.
Thus can be shown the full moon, the last quarter, the old moon
crescent, the dark of the moon, the new moon crescent, the first
quarter, and back to the full moon, simply by moving the light
around the suspended ball. The experiment on p. 921-22 is too
complicated for the third grade, but with the earth eliminated,
Obs. 1-6, p. 922 suggest what shall be shown. The story "A
Visit to the Moon," p. 919 should be read, or, what is better,
told in simpler terms to fit third grade intelligence. By asking
the questions on Obs. 18-29 on p. 923 a few at a time and talking
over the answers with the pupils, a very fair start may be made in
knowledge of our earth's one satellite.

The Dog. — The dog and his habits can be better understood
by comparing him with the wolf which he resembles in form and
habits and by contrasting him with the cat which he does not
resemble either in appearance or habits. Obs. 1-3, p. 265 form
the first lesson, Obs. 4, 5, 6 the second, Obs. 7, 8 the third, 9 the
fourth, 10 the fifth, 11 the sixth, and 12 the seventh. The pupils
should be encouraged to read all the dog stories adapted to their
abilities. See supplementary^ reading, p. 267.

The Cat. — Puss is a very interesting animal and just at present
her status as a member of the community is by no means settled.
Times have changed since the days of Dick Whittington when a
cat was worth her weight in gold. It is only through statements
of history you can come to appreciate the economic importance of
cats. Wherever pioneers have planted their crops, rats and mice
have followed in abundance to help in the harvest. Therefore
our forefathers especially prized the cat which helped them to save
their grain from these marauders. The cat is still an important
factor in keeping rats and mice in check. Our government
appropriates money every year to support cats in the post offices
and other public buildings. However, at present the whole
economic question of bird preservation is before us and the cat
is surely an enemy to birds. We should at least demand that all
cats be licensed by their owners and that all stray cats be elimi-
nated. Obs. I, 2, p. 272 form one lesson; Obs. 3, 4, 5, p. 273
suggest material for another lesson; 6, 7, 8, 9 another; 10, 11

comstock] FEBRUARY NATURE-STUDY 73

another, and 12 another with many comments by the teacher.
Obs. 14 suggest several stories, all of which should have a bearing
upon the habits of pussy. See three Jittle volumes containing
stories from St. Nicholas magazine; Cat Stories, Lion and
Tiger Stories and Panther Stories.

The Crow. — The winter is a good time for beginning the study
of the crow for that is the time this big clever bird is a hero.
It endures the cold, flies long distances to find food to ward off
starvation, and has been known to divide up his meager rations
with his comrades who have been crippled through being frozen.
Although I cannot say that I welcome crows to my bird feeding
stations, yet I never see one sitting on a tree at a safe distance
wistfully contemplating the food on the tree too near the house for
his daring, without feeling sorry that I cannot feed him too.
The crow is too wary to permit of close observation ; but in most
localities one or more of Obs. i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 14, p. 132 may
be made. Thomson Seton's story of ''Silver Spot" may well be
made the basis for information about crow ways. "Crow Ways — ■
Ways of Woodf oik" by Long; "Jim's Babies in Nestlings of Forest
and Marsh" by Wheelock; "How the Crow Baby was Punished"
in True Bird Stories by Olive Thorne Miller; and the story on p.
117 in the Second Book of Birds by the same author; and "Not
So Black as He is Painted' ' in Outdoor Studies by Needham ; and
"Jack Crow" in American Birds by Finley should all be read to
make the study of the bird complete.

The Yellow Jacket's Nest. — February is a far safer period for
the study of a wasp's habitation than is July. The wasps deserve
our respect for inventing wood pulp paper of a water proof quality
and a study of one of these empty nests will be a revelation of the
home habits of the little socialists who built it. A nest shotild be
brought in and Obs. i, 2 p. 435 be made, then the side of the nest
shoiMd be removed (see p. 457) and Obs. 3 and 4 will outline a
lesson. The questions in Obs. 5-10 may be answered from the
Teacher's Story p. 43 2 . The description of the colors of the yellow
jacket as suggested in Obs. 11 may be made from a museum
specimen or from one of dead specimens which is likely to be found
in the deserted nest.

FOURTH GRADE

The Cedars. — In a recent number of the Literary Digest was given
a deHghtful song to the cedars, quoted from "After Hours" by

74 NA T URE-STUD Y RE VIE W [13 :2— Feb. , 1917

William Frederick Weld. One" stanza is especially appeal-
ing:

A toss of my cap to the cedars !

The lovingest trees that be.

The time tides roll and the seasons veer,

Yet tender, sweeter, year by year,

My cedars are true to me.

I like this because it expresses a personal relation of the poet to
the cedars, the kind of relation with trees which I believe every
himian being is richer for experiencing.

The two species commonly called cedars are ths Arborvitae or
white cedar, and the Juniper or red cedar, and are the ones chosen
for this lesson. There is also a Coast White Cedar and a Grotmd
Juniper, planted in parks and grounds. The observations should
cover the following: (i) Ths size of the tree. (2) The sketch
to show its form and the direction of its branches. (3) If wild,
where was it found? On hillside, open field, forest, valley, near
a stream? (4) Color of bark. (5) A twig sketch showing how
the leaves are set like scales upon it. (6) The red cedar has two
kinds of foliage, one sharp and needle-like, the other scale-like.
(7) A sketch of the fruit and the seed and also a written descrip-
tion.

The Sheep. — These beautiful domesticated animals are far more
interesting than most people suppose. This study should be
a serious attempt to understand how the sheep is fitted in form and
habits for life in mountains and in countries where it developed as a
wild animal. There are enough observations to be made on this
animal and enough to learn of the various industries connected
with sheep raising to provide lessons for the entire month. Obs. i ,
p. 284 and Obs. 4, 5, 6, p. 285 form two observation lessons on the
animal; Obs. 7 another lesson; Obs. 2,3,8 and 9 each suggest a
subject for a written theme or a talk. Obs. 10 should lead to-the
reading of "Bob, Son of Battle" by Oliphant, and "Wully" by
Thompson Seton, in Wild Animals I Have Known, and "The
Kootenay Ram" in Lives of the Hunted by the same author.

The Junco. — This little slate colored bird so smooth and well
tailored, so well marked by his flesh colored bill and the two white
patches for flash colors in his tail, comes in numbers to the feeding
stations in February and March. It should be of great interest
to us to find a bird that thinks southern New York far enough

comstock] FEBRUARY NATURE-STUDY 75

south to be a desirable winter resort. The junco nests in northern
New York, Canada to Alaska. Their nests are built of grass,
moss, and rootlets, and lined with fine grass or hairs and are built
on or near the ground. The eggs are bluish white and spotted
or blotched with reddish brown. The observations should cover
the following: (i) Where is the bird seen? (2) Compare its
size with that of the sparrow. (3) Its most striking colors.
(4) Its flash colors. (5) The colors on breast, under parts, back,
wings, etc. (6) The shape and color of bill. (7) Its actions.
(8) Its flight. (9) Its call notes. (10) Its food..

The Pleiades and the Hyades. — ^After having studied Orion it is
easy to find and become familiar with these two constellations.
■ The accompanying map gives their position and relation to Orion.
The Hyades form a V-shaped constellation, all the stars of which
are small and faint except the one marking the end of the left arm
of the V. This is Aldebaran, a red star and a very large one.
It is a sun that gives off about forty-five times as much light as
does our sun. Aldebaran in the minds of the ancients, was the
eye of the infuriated bull which Orion is getting ready to strike.
The Pleiades seem to have interested people of all times. They
seem to us to be six stars set in a halo of faint light, **just a little
misty bunch of stars." Yet astronomers believe they form a
great star system just being evolved. It is known that there are
more than three-thousand stars in this constellation instead of
only six, and they are so far away that the light reaching us from
them mmst have started before Columbus discovered America.
See lessons pp. 897-98.

Snow Crystals — These exquisite structures should be studied
whenever it is possible to do so. It is one of the beautiful miracles
of this world that, water vapor freezing in the air always develops
six rays although these may be ornamented in many different
ways. Mr. W. A. Bentley has with his microscope discovered at
least fifteen hundred different types of these six-rayed snow stars.
The crystals may be studied out of doors with a lens on a day
when fine, dry flakes are falling.; they should be caught on dark
flannel. See last paragraph p. 851 and Obs. 12, p. 856.

•.^
V
•

it

We Star ^

-X-^..-*

Ca/>e//a if^ F/eiac/es

Hyac/es

I

*-*

\ /

^

\ ^ ^ ' '

Sir Jus M^ "

' 'i

Sout^

Hold this diagram above the head to fir

id the stars

7t)

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Published monthly, except June, July and August. Subscription price, including mem-
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inipOrtailt wrapper. Subscriptions must be paid in advance to comply with postal
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Co., Ithaca, N. Y. Manuscripts for Publication and Books to be Reviewed should be sent
to the Editor.

Editorial

It is with many misgivings that the newly elected editor of the
Nature-Study Review assumes her duties ; and her first impulse
is to send a S. O. S. call for help to everybody interested in nature-
study, asking them so send notes upon interesting happenings
and accoimts of their work, to be pubUshed in the Review;
the call also asks for private letters, explaining how the Review
may become of more real use to teachers.

Dr. Downing in his nearly six years as editor has developed the
Nature-Study Review to its present state of efficienc}^ and
excellence. He has always held a high standard as to the scientific
quahty of its contributions, and as to its practical helpfulness to
teachers; it is the earnest desire of the new editor that this stand-
ard shall not be lowered.

Sometime since, there was an informal meeting of several of the
directors of the Nature-Study Review and there was a consensus
of opinion that there should be in each number of the magazine
direct aids for teaching, good natural history based on original
observations, articles on civic improvement where such work
impinges on nature, practical pedagogical discussions, garden
work when combined with nature-study, some special helps for
kindergarten and first grade, and in each number a little poetry.
All the items in this plan seem good and an effort will be made to
carry it out. ^T,

For one thing the present editor is deeply grateful,— she is
to have the aid of associate editors, Professor J. A. Drushel,
Director of Nature-study in Harris Teachers College in St. Louis,
Mo., whose interest in the Review has always been both keen

77

78 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:2— Feb., 1917

and practical, and Dr. John Deamess, head of Normal School,
London, Ontario, whose noble work in nature-study through
many years has been of the greatest influence in the Dominion,
and has reached out into the United States in a thousand practical
and helpful ways, were elected as associate editors. Miss Cora
Smith, teacher of Biolog}^ in the high school of Erie, Pa., was
elected news editor. Miss Smith is an admirable teacher in
Biology and an enthusiastic nature student, and she is perhaps
more remarkable still for her human interests; she likes people
because she is genuinely interested in them; she has an out-
reaching and sympathetic spirit, and we hope through her to keep
the Review in close touch with the everyday work of many
teachers and nature-study clubs throughout the land.

It is the present plan to have each number of the Review
specialize in som^e general subject. Dr. Downing found the bird
number a great success and this encourages us to get together all
the subject matter available on some phase of nature-study for
each number. Thus the teacher can have in condensed form the
work on trees, flowers, birds, etc. The March number will be
given to the study of animals including fish, etc. The April
number is to be devoted to spring wild flowers, and the May
number to birds. If this plan proves successful it will be carried
to a farther degree next year.

If any of our readers have any notes on birds, we hope they will
send them to us by April first ; the notes on wild flowers are due
March first. We hope that each teacher receiving the Review
will feel that it is his or hers and will respond with notes to help
make the magazine alive and of use.

Winter Twilight

'No summer sunset afterglow
Can match the soft rose of the snow

Upon the pure-browed hill:
Blue shadows fill the dells below,
Sweet airs from fields of silence flow,

And earth and sky are still.

Between the outer deeps of night
And this low vale, the lingering light

Builds of the evening mist
High walls of glory fair and far;
And in the glory shines a star

Through trembling amethyst."

— Anna Boynton Averill.

Book Review

Wild Animal Stamp Primer. New York, 2001 Park. 85c + 7c
postage.

I have ^vritten, in the course of I will not say how many years,
stories about almost everything under the sun; I do not like to
think of the number of words I have put upon paper, and I cannot
help but feel glad that all the words have not been printed, for
the world never did anything to me to cause the exaction of such a
penalty. Though my clippings show my offence has been severe,
I still keep on writing — and receiving checks(?). But now I am
going to tackle a new subject. I'll not say what kind of a writer
I am, but I know I am no book reviewer; yet the new subject is a
book, and I'm going to say a little about it.

The book in question is so new, novel and interesting that I
feel that I want to tell others about it, and if they are half as much
in love with the outdoors as I am, I beheve they will find it as
entertaining and instructive as I did, even if it is supposed to be a
"kids' book." In fairness, perhaps I should say that I have
absolutely nothing to gain by this writing; it is done honestly
and spontaneously.

The title is: "Wild Animal Stamp Primer," illustrated from
photographs taken in the New York Zoological Park. The
Primer stands as the realization of an idea of Mr. H. R. Mitchell,
manager of Privileges of the Park, and was prepared and copy-
righted (November, 19 16) by him. The fifty, natural colored
pictures are by Mr. El win R. Sanborn, the official photo-
grapher of the Society, whose work needs no introduction. The
foreword is written by Dr. William T. Homaday. The Primer
is composed of fifty short stories, many written in a personal,
confidential letter-form, and is well fitted to serve as a text -book.
It is primarily for children but "grown ups" will enjoy it, for
the stories are well written and contain bits of information not
easily to be gleaned.

Each story deals with an animal or bird, giving the chief habits
and characteristics, correcting popular but false beliefs regarding
it, with little sideHghts and "secrets" concerning the particular
specimen. Heading or footing each is a space in which the picture
of the animal written about is to be pasted. The pictures, or
stamps, go with the book in a sheet, ready gummed and perforated;

79

80 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:2— Feb., 1917

and on the back of each there is a little additional information.
Tiny pen and ink drawings with each story give the book an
attractive featiire. The educational possibilities are at once
apparent.

Among other things, Dr. Hornada\" says in the foreword:
"Anyone who writes truthfully about animals, in a language
suitable to yoimg people, is sure of an appreciative audience.
Every normal and healthy child is born with a natiiral love for
animals, and a desire to know them intimately. Through lack
of opportunity that interest may not develop with the lapse of
time, and in the adult it may finally become so dormant as to seem
absent.

"The time is rapidly passing wherein to know a wild' creature is
to desire to 'kill it.' The desire is an inheritance from savagery.
Boys and girls of today are more anxious to know the wild creatures.
A dead animal quickly ceases to be interesting. The most wonder-
ful thing about any animal is its mind, and its modes of life — how
it travels, eats, drinks, sleeps, fights and hides from enemies.
Every wild creature represents a collection of animal stories.
To know these animals in their haunts is to know also a great deal
of the geography of the world, and much of its climates, soils and
plants.

"The chief object of the New York Zoological Society is to
bring to the millions fine representatives of the interesting wild
creatures which can not be seen by all in their haunts. The
pictures and descriptions set forth in this voltmie are intended to
convey truthful impressions of the most interesting animals of
the Zoological Park collection.

G. T. K. N.

Dr. Elliot R. Downing

1

Notes from Correspondents

Miss M\Ttle Boice who has charge of the Nature-study in the
Ethical School in New York City writes :

' ' School opened yesterday and now we are in full swing. We are
doing some work with the stars, etc., winter bird work in the park,
also trees in winter."

Miss Adeline Thurston who has charge of the nature-study
in the New Paltz, N. Y., normal school, writes:

"My work is delightful here. Just now the pupils are most
interested in establishing feeding stations for the winter birds
at their homes and in the fields and woods. I have organized
groups of boys to maintain the more distant stations. It is a
real pleasure to see the happiness of the girls when the chickadees
and downies accept their hospitality. The children have had
great fun in trimming a Christmas tree for the birds which they
will put on the campus tomorrow. The tree is very gay with
strings of nuts, crackers and popcorn and pieces of suet.

"What do you think? We have hepaticas in blossom in our
moss jars and the arbutus buds look as if they soon would be in
bloom. The children have taken a great pride in making terraria
and aquaria for their grade rooms this fall. The students are
growing hyacinths and narcissus in their rooms this year. O, we
have just been doing lots of nice things this fall."

The Texas Farmers Seek to Save the Mourning Dove

When farmers stand firm, legislators must give way. That is
exemplified in our history over and over. There comes to us from
the Texas Farmers' Congress, held at College Station, July,
resolutions remonstrating against the change in the law, making
open season for hunting mourning doves to begin September first
instead of November first. There is a ring of firmness and warning
in these resolutions and the legislatures had better listen to the
"wind whistling in the trees." The resolutions are embodied in a
Bulletin No. 67 from the University of Texas, Depai-tment of
Extension on the Mourning Dove by W. S. Taylor, Professor of
Agricultural Extension. It is an admirable bulletin from every
point of view and ought to save this attractive bird from extinc-
tion.

81

COMING

Three special numbers of the Nature-Study Review.

March— ANIMAL NUMBER

April— WILD FLOWER NUMBER
May— BIRD NUMBER

Order your extra copies in advance.
Single copies 15c each Ten or more 12c each

Address THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

ITHACA, N. Y.

American Fern Journal

Official Organ of the American Fern Society

Issued quarterly: Subscription, ninety cents per year.

Includes articles of both technical and popular interest with illustrations.

Editor, R. C. Benedict, High School of Commerce, N. Y. City.
Business Manager, E. J. Winslow, Lasell Seminary, Auburndale, Mass.

The Guide to Nature

Edited by EDWARD F. BIGELOW

A Monthly Magazine from the Naturalist's Point of View.

An interchange of observations by students

and lovers of nature.

Nature is good in the school, because it is good
anywhere for all people.

Subscription $i a year Four months' trial 25c.

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THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 13 March, 1917 No. 3

. . ,

The White Rat as a Pet

H. D. Bailey

Professor of Biology, Muhlenberg College
With illustrations by the Author

The little boys in the accompanying photographs have had
many animal pets, but the one they loved most — and it is not
improper to use the word love in this connection — was the white
rat shown in the views.

Happy was the day when they obtained this beautiful animal,
and happy were all of the days, the days of play and companion-
ship, that they spent with it. There are persons, I suppose, who
doubt that a rat can be a companion to a human being, but let
such persons argue the matter with the little boys pictured; the
latter will soon convince them that their doubts are unwarranted,
and, moreover, will tell them a nimiber of very surprising facts
about rats.

They will show them, for one thing, that rats, and particularly
white rats, are not the dangerous and repulsive creatures that
most people believe them to be. "Why, you don't know anything
about rats," William, the older lad, will say frankly, when he
detects the falseness and injustice of any statement made about
his pet. "Here, I'll show you one." And he will go to the box
and get his pet.

"Watch out, lad, it will bite you," the observer may say.

"No it won't. White rats don't bite," the child will answer.

"But you shouldn't let it crawl up so close to your face. It
might hurt you sometime."

"Oh, no. It won't hurt anybody. Now watch it crawl in my
pocket. See, there! Now watch it peep out."

"But it may bite you, Wihiam. You can't trust a rat."

"I'm not afraid. Why, I played with it hundreds of times.
It likes to play. See here!"

83

84

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

And he will put the rat on the floor, and go to the other side of
the room and utter a peculiar call note. The rat will run over to

him and spring
up on his hands.
"It knows me,"
he will exclaim.
" It comes
whenever I call
it and follows
me around,
sometmes all
the way up-
stairs."

"Yes," the
observer will
conclude, after
a period of ob-
serA^ation," "It
does like you,
that's certain.
And it hkes to
play. But it is a
rat. Rats are
dirty animals,
William."

"Well, I guess

they're not.

This one washes

itself as clean as anybody. And we clean its cage out every^ day."

"But it destroys things about the house, doesn't it?"

"Oh, no. Yes — it did once. One day it got out of its box,

while we were away, and crept into the kitchen, and then upstairs.

When we got home, it had eaten holes in a table cloth and in some

white kid gloves. But they don't do that often."

"But it would eat meat and apples and other things if it found
them, wouldn't it?"

"Sure, but other animals would do that, too, wouldn't they?
We don't keep it in the house, anyway; we keep it in the play-
house. Come out and I'll show you its run- way."

William delights to show his friends his rat's run-way. This

William

BAILEY

THE WHITE RAT AS A PET

85

consists of strips of wood, toy ladders, clothes props and a chair,
all joined together as shown in the diagram. It was constructed
as the result of a discovery made by the lad one day while he was
feeding his pet. He brought it some scraps of apple, and, for
amusement, placed them on top of its cage. The rat, smelling
the apple, tried to get up to it. It had difficulty in crawling
over the edge of the cage but finally succeeded, and then noticing a
nimiber of pieces of apple, seized one of them, and dragged it to
the cage below. Immediately it returned for another piece.

LcLdidutrS

The Run-way

By making repeated trips — and it risked a fall each time it did
so — ^it cleared the box of food.

William watched it closely. Upon its last return, finding no
food on the box, the rat stood on its hind legs, sniffed of the air,
and looked appealingly toward the lad. The latter watched it
for awhile and then ran to the cellar for another apple. When he
returned the rat was in its box, eating, but hearing someone about,
climbed up on top of the box again. Then a happy thought came
to the lad. In the corner of the room stood an ironing board;
getting this, he placed one end of it on the top of the cage and the
other end on a chair; then he put a handful of apple chips on the
farther end of the board.

The rat, standing on the edge of the box, sniffed of the air

86 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

for a few moments, and then cautiously ventured on the board.
It crept up with jerky movements, a few steps at a time, until it
reached the top, where it grasped a piece of apple, and, turning
about, carefully made its way down to the box again. In a few
moments it returned. This time it ran up the board at full speed,
never pausing imtil it reached the top, and there seized another
piece of apple. In a few minutes it transported all of the apple to
the cage.

William was delighted and set about to secure additional boards
to lengthen the run- way. The rat, teed on by its desire for food,
lent itself to his schemes readily, and shortly the nm-way grew to
the size shown in the diagram. It was then over forty feet long
and quite impassable in several places. Two ladders, each two
feet in length, stood upright, and the rodent had to ascend the
one and descend the other each time it passed along the route.
A four foot strip of wood stood upright also and necessitated
ascent and descent each time a complete trip was made. The
passage up over the back of the chair was not as easy as it might
seem from the diagram; it demanded a flying start, a trick the
rodent soon learned, and, once learned, did not forget; descent
here required skilful bracing with the legs. The end of the run-
way was about five inches from the cage.

It seems inconceivable that an animal would repeatedly
make this arduous joiuney for the sake of obtaining small pieces
of food. Yet the rat did this for hours at a time. One day the
writer watched it make sixty-seven successive trips ; he does not
know how often it might have gone the route had a thorough test
been made — certainly many more times than it did, for it showed
no signs of tiring on the last trip observed.

Some of the food particles placed on the run-way were very
large, so large, in fact, that the rat had to employ its claws as
well as its jaws in transporting them. But it never faltered.
The journey up and down the ladders was perilous, but only
once did it fail to drag its load over them, and that was when the
load was so large and heavy that it could not possibly cling fast
to it. Straining, pulling, tugging, losing its balance and regaining
it again, digging its nails deep into the wood of its support, some-
times clinging with its tail, it transported load after load until it
had filled its cage to overflowing. Even then it did not stop, but
kept adding to the pile outside the door.

bailey] the white RAT AS A PET 87

To William it was remarkable that an animal would make
such a roundabout joiirney to accomplish a purpose that it might
have attained by taking a leap of five inches from the run-way
to the cage. "Why don't it look and see where it is?" he would
ask repeatedly. I answered his question as best I could and then
suggested that he place the end of the run-way still closer to the
cage. He put it but four inches away. The rat failed to notice
the change. Then he placed it two inches away. This time the
spell of the long trip over the sticks and ladders was broken, and
the rat, pausing for a moment, as if wondering whether it could
really be true, hopped briskly to its cage and in three seconds
hopped back again. The word excitement scarcely describes
its action just at this time; it seemed overjoyed. I suppose it
was cruel to continue experimentation at this juncture, but in a
few moments I suggested to William that he draw the run-way to
one side, and find out if the rat would resume the long journey
again. He did so. The rodent stood at the edge of the cage
for a while and then, without further ado, turned around, and ran
over toward the ironing board. Five minutes later the long trips
over the run-way were in full swing again.

The deepest tragedy that ever came to William and his little
brother came to them about three months after the above experi-
ments were made. One day they went to get their pet and found
that it was gone. The door of its cage was wide open, and the
floor about the cage was splashed with blood. Tufts of silky
white fur, much like that of the rodent, were scattered about
everywhere, and a number of scratches on the door of the cage
evidenced a struggle that had taken place a short while before.
The little boys, realizing that their pet had been wounded and
probably killed, cried bitterly. No trace of the^ assassin or of the
rat could be found anywhere, although a search was kept up all
afternoon. Later in the day, however, a large gray cat appeared
on the lawn, and stealthily made its way toward the play-house.
Then everything became clear. In the absence of the children,
the cat had evidently entered the play-house, and, seeing the rat,
had clawed its cage-door open, and then had killed it.

"Why did it do it?" Jimior, the younger child, sobbed piteously.
I tried to explain to him that the cat was not really responsible
for the grief that its act had caused. But I doubt if the Httle
fellow imderstood me.

88 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

The white rat is an albino. Over in west-central Africa there
is a race of men, of negro extraction, whose hair and skins are white
and whose eyes are of deep pink color. Long ago the Portuguese,
observing these people, called them albinos, a name referring to
their white color. We now know that albinism is a common
occurrence in both the plant and animal Idngdoms. By isolating
albino individuals and breeding them together we may obtain
albino races. Thus have arisen white blackberries, white rasp-
berries, white currants and white strawberries. Albino races
among animals are even more nimierous ; we have them in rabbi cs,
mice, rats, guinea-pigs, sheep, goats, cattle, dogs, cats, horses
and many others.

Albinism is due to the absence of pigment or coloring matter
in tissues that normally possess them — in skin, hair and eyes,
for example. Just what causes some individuals of a species
to lack pigment, and other individuals to possess it, we do not
fully understand The Laboratory for Experimental Evolution,
maintained by the Carnegie Institution at Cold Spring Harbor,
L. L, is working on this problem at the present time and hopes
to solve it shortly. Its workers have already arrived at a partial
solution. They tell us that there is a correlation between new
cases of albinism and consanguinity, and that albinos, when
mated together, alw^ays produce albinos. Albino rats, for instance,
mating with each other, produce albino young only. When an
albino rat mates with a black or brown rat, however, it produces
both albinos and blacks or browns, in the proportion of about
half albinos and half blacks or browns.

The white rat shown in the views had pink eyes, a character
possessed by most albinos. The cause of this color is very simple,
although a mystery to most persons. The iris and retina of eyes
are richly supplied with blood vessels. Now, in normal eyes,
these blood vessels are concealed by pigment and so are never
seen, but in albino eyes, which lack this pigment, they are exposed
to view, and give the eyes a deep-pink color. We are looking at
a complex web of minute blood tubes when we look at a white
rat's eye.

Pink eyes have advantages and disadvantages. In sunlight,
they are easily blinded, due to their transparency and inability
to withstand bright rays of light. But at night time they more
than make up for this deficiency; then they become powerful,

bailey]

THE WHITE RAT AS A PET

89

far more jDowerful than our own eyes, and give their possessor
advantages over most other nocturnal animals. The writer
well remembers the actions of the albino rat pictured. Dining the
day it was not very active, making little effort to get away from
a person handling it; but at night it became another creature.
Then it would speed off whenever given opportunity, and avoid
capture as long as it could do so. Running, jimiping, dodging,
twisting its head about and flashing its blood-red eyes, like balls
of fire, upon its pursuer, it would outrun, outdodge and invariably
outwit him. To catch it was an accomplishment well worth while,
as William and his little brother always thought, and many was
the good romp that they had with it.

White rats are not very popular as pets at the present time.

This is partly
due to the
aversion that
people have
for animals
that resemble
the so-called
house-rat, and
partly to the
lack of knowl-
edge concern-
ing the nature
and habits of
white ,rats.
As knowledge
of this kind
increases, re-
spectability
and favor will
be bestowed
upon white
rats, and
event uaUy
these animals
will attain the

popularity that they deserv^e. Comparatively few of our animal
pets^are so kind and gentle, so beautiful and^so interesting.

Junior

Nature- study and Humaneness

Guy a. Bailey

Professor of Biology and Nature-Study, State Normal School, Geneseo, N. Y.

What may one naturally expect of a boy or girl after having
followed an average course in Nature-Study for eight years?
This means a course where some time is devoted to the subject
either directly under the name nature-study or in connection with
other subjects like geography and in general topics that may be
discussed in connection with boy scout's work, bird clubs and the
like.

It seems to me that so far as the pupil's study of mammals
is concerned that there are certain facts that should be studied
and certain points of view that should be emphasized. The
point of view is more important to society in my judgment than
the facts studied.

Among the facts that he should have in mind are the general
adaptive features of mammals, such as the feet and teeth of
squirrels, the tail of the muskrat, the feet of the mole together
with the small eyes, etc. — how these structures are serviceable
to the animal? Of course the animals to be studied are those
that the boy or girl knows about. In some cases domestic animals
may be the only ones available and those will do just as well as
long as the adaptation of parts is kept in mind.

The facts about how the young are cared for and where they
are cared for. For example if foxes are familiar, where they care
for the young and what time of 3^ear the young are born. Where
the young squiiTcls are kept by the parents and how many litters
they produce in a season, how many in a litter? Where do the
rabbits keep their young and how many in a litter? How many
litters may they produce in a year and in what months are they
born? Information may come from those who know of the
domesticated rabbits as well as the \\nld ones. In general facts
about the hfe history of such animals as come under their observa-
tion whether domestic or wild.

For a third class of facts I would recommend .those that have
to do with the animals behavior towards our northern winter.
As we know some hibernate. What ones hibernate and where
do they hibernate and for how long?' Can you show how the ani-
mal would fail if he attempted to survive our winter season b}'

90

BAILEY] NATURE-STUDY AND HUMANENESS 91

remaining active? For example what would happen to a wood-
chuck if he attempted to get food when the snow was on the
ground? What food would be available? Several questions to
bring out the point that what the animal has done is the best for
that particular animal. Chipmunks, and some kinds of bats
hibernate also.

Grey squirrels have been known to migrate from one region
where food was scarce to regions where it was plentiful, even
swimming lakes and rivers. Few of our mammals are able to
migrate like the birds when the food supply becomes reduced.
Some animals like the weasel, mink and fox are active all winter.
The weasel having white fur in winter and brown fur in summer.
How does this give the weasel an advantage for survival? Skunks
are dormant for short periods. What advantage is even a short
period of hibernation to the skunk? In general a study of local
animals to the end that pupils may know where they are and what
they do during the winter season.

For a fourth class of facts to be considered I would prefer the
study of the economic side of the mammals. Form personal
observations and reliable authority classify the mammals into
helpful and harmful groups.

Some care and considerable study is needed before an intelligent
classification can be made. The food of the animal for a year —
month by month — ^is necessary before we are sure where they
belong. The fact that an animal eats small chickens at rare
intervals need not be proof that the animal is harmful. For
example the skunk does this rarely. But the most of the food of
the skunk is insects and mice. If one skunk eats chickens it is
by no means true that all do. If one skunk is guilty it does not
mean that the skunk family should be put down as harmful.
The whole total of the work of skunks is beneficial rather than
harmful. Some care should be exercised in forming opinions
either in favor of the animal or against it.

Then there is the esthetic side of animal study. It is the side
that has no debit or credit. It is far removed from the "cash and
comfort" side of our nature. Why is it that in some communities
there may be seen squirrels in the tree tops and the parks? Boys
and girls, men and women carry peanuts to feed the grey squirrels.
People stop to watch them eat the nut or carry it away to be stored
elsehwere. Why do people do that? What is the point of view

92 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

of the person who feeds the squirrels? What is the reaction on
the community that tolerates sqmrrels within its borders? I
leave that to any one who has lived in such a community. I
know of no factor in nature-study more potent than the object
lesson of squirrels running through the streets and on to the porches
of the houses where these boys and girls are gro\\^ng up. It
takes several generations to get the squirrel proposition working
right. There are at first complaints when they take fruit from
the trees and n.in through the house early in the morning but there
comes a time when people are willing to tolerate them just to see
them about. Squirrels at large are so much more interesting
than the caged ones. They are real. The deHght of seeing the
young ones come out and master the trick of sitting up on their
hind legs for the first few times is worth waiting for. The whole
story of the squirrel is interesting to any one whether he is a
biologist, animal psychologist or an average observer. Few
boys that are raised with the squirrels have the heart to go out
and kill them in the fall. . More than that they are out of sympathy
with the whole slaughter movement of the hunting fraternity. If
every chronic hunter could have had a dose of close-up squirirel
acquaint ancy with a brood of young squirrels and had fed them
through a winter and had them eat from his shoulder or go himting
through his pockets for nuts there would be little need of a law
to protect them.

After all our nature-study work absolutely fails if we bring up
the boys so that they see no more in a squirrel than a pot-pie
or a day's outing for his little bit of flesh. May we train him
awa}^ from the ancient, primeval hunter towards the man who can
see beauty in the living form and not hanker after the taste of
the blood.

i

"Because of his tendency to grab things quickly one had to be careful in
allowing him to take food from the hand." Because of this care, Mr. Knight
seems to have only one hand.

De Sachet, A Pet Skunk

Harry H. Knight

Investigator in Entomology — -Cornell University

My acquaintance with Sachet began on the 1 5th of July when
we chanced to meet on the edge of a woodland. It was doubtless
not far distant from the family den from whence he had strayed
in search of food. Having heard that young skunks make inter-
esting pets I quickly decided that here was my chance to learn
something of this Httle known animal. Before he could get out
of sight I had him safely caught in my insect net. He was
frightened but emitted no odor so I let him crawl into the darkness
under my coat. Sachet was perhaps six weeks old at the time
I found him and after keeping him two weeks, I removed his
scent glands. This was a fairly simple operation and was per-
formed while the animal was under the influence of ether. After
this the prefix " De" was added to his name and I was able to rear
my pet without fear of disagreeable odors. De Sachet soon
learned to drink milk from a dish but only after many attempts
spent in digging in the dish with front feet a performance followed
by licking his paws dry of the milk. It appeared to be an instinc-
tive habit with the animal that to acquire food he must first dig

93

94 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

for it. However, within a week he began to drink milk after the
manner of a house cat.

One activity that furnished much amusement while he was still
small was to give him an egg on the grassy lawn. He knew the
egg contained food but all efforts to crush the shell were futile
and this caused him much displeasure; his game of egg-ball
afforded him more entertainment than enjoyment.

It is well known that skunks dig up lawns in search of white
grubs but the manner in which these morsels are located was
interesting to see. The front feet were used to part the grass and
scratch the earth along a narrow path while the animal slowly
backed tip keeping his nose held close to the fresh earth thus
exposed. In this manner three or foiu* feet might be imcovered
before finding the right spot to dig.

De Sachet's most comical activity was barbering woolly-bear
caterpillars, for evidently skunks are fond of all caterpillars, but
do not like their dainty morsel fur coated. When he foiind
one of these little hurried travellers, he would seize it and knead
it under his front paws, which he moved with great rapidity.
Meanwhile he would look aroimd as if interested in the scenery,
like a boy nonchalantly twirhng his thumbs, apparently giving
no attention to his whirhng paws or the unfortunate caterpillar,
which was rolled over and over at a rate that must have made it
die of dizziness rather than because it was crushed. One day we
placed De Sachet on a newspaper while he rolled a caterpillar,
and when he got through, the poor shorn insect was still squirming,
though as bare as an earthworm; and the amount of hair and
fuzz of various lengths left on the newspaper gave us a new respect
for the furs worn by the woolly-bear. Sometimes De Sachet
would make a slip and the caterpillar would be flung a few inches
to one side, but would quickly be recovered. The closeness of
the shave he gave his victims depended upon the degree of his
hunger.

I was much surprised one afternoon when De Sachet found a •
bumblebee's nest at the foot of a fence post where he had been
tied. What fears I had for my pet were shortly dispelled when he
began to dig into the nest and seize the bees with avidity. The
contents of the nest kept him busy for some time but later other
bees returned to attack the intruder from the rear. As a safe-
guard De Sachet kept his tail waving over his back and it was this

i

KNIGHT] DE SACHET, A PET SKUNK 95

the buzzing bees usually struck first. The buzz of a bee in the
tangle of fur called his immediate attention and the rapidity and
swiftness with which paws and teeth responded to the rescue was
amazing. At times he would drop over on one side that the bee
might try to alight on a spot where the paws could be more easily
brought into play. After the nest was well cleared out the return-
ing stragglers were caught one by one, being snapped up quickly
as they would alight to sting. The animal's head was always
turned toward the sound and many bees appeared to Hght on
his nose only to be met by a lightning snap of teeth. The skunk's
eyesight is very poor, at least in the day time, and thus the animal
depends largely on smell and sound for seizing insects. From
this first nest De Sachet was seen to eat no less than 27 bees.
He appeared to get stung twice, once on the jaw and again on the
shoulder, which was not bad considering it was his first experience
with bimiblebees. At a later date he was given opportunity
to attack a very large nest where he caught and ate no less than
48 bees before his appetite failed, and this time without being
stung once. He refused to go near the bees once his hunger was
appeased.

Grasshoppers were eaten with avidity and appeared to be a
favorite food. He appeared never to see insects but would pounce
upon them with lightning speed once they were located by smell.
He also would eat quantities of a most common millipede usually
found beneath leaves in damp places and occasionally in potato
fields. Because of his tendency to grab things quickly one had to
be careful in allowing him to take food from the hand. This was
especially true of insect food. On two occasions De Sachet
was soundly boxed for grabbing a finger in place of some meat held
out for him. A day later he made the same mistake, and realizing
this he turned away with a whining whistle, at the same time
backing up tow^ard me apparently expecting to be punished. It
was so comical I did not have the heart to touch him.

The skunk has a quick temper and may be fierce in the face
of an enemy or when sufficiently hungry. When De Sachet
could smell meat which was withheld it was not safe to stroke
him. He was all business then and gave vent to his impatience
in anger. If he were allowed to seize a large piece of meat while
one held him firm he gave forth a peculiar whistling sound com-
bined with snorting and blowing, which was undoubtedly meant

96 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

to frighten one into turning him loose. I thought to teach him
to go into my pockets for food but found that impossible for he
always took the shortest route by trying to tear through the cloth
with his teeth. It was then with some difficulty that he was made
to release his hold on the pocket. He did learn to sit up for food
and even hold that position while disposing of a small piece, doing
this apparently to save the trouble of making the effort to sit up
again.

As De Sachet grew older the instinctive shyness of the young
kitten was lost and he came eagerty toward me in expectation of
food. After being well fed he was always ready for a playful
romp. He would seize my hand with teeth and feet, clinging
to it and clawing it in much the same manner of a playful kitten.
This was varied by jumping back three or four feet and going
through all the actions employed in fighting a real enemy, such as
raising the tail to throw scent, dancing up and down stiff legged
with tail held high in the air, then forward in hops. This was a
most comical performance and one always enjoyed by both
parties.

In order to give De Sachet as much freedom as possible a small
cat collar was placed about his neck and thus he was leashed to the
end of a light chain. The chain was always tied from a point
overhead to prevent dragging as much as possible. At night he
was kept in an old feed bin and later with a change of residence,
a large box was substituted. During October and November he
grew exceedingly fat, was always hungry and in fact ate as much
as most dogs. As cold weather came on he gave evidence of
needing more bedding and remained curled up most of the time;
head and tail being tucked under so that all one could see was a
round black ball of fur with two small white stripes at one point
to indicate the head end. If I disturbed him after he had spent
a cold night in this hibernating position, I was greeted by a sleepy-
eyed, much mussed up and damp, matted black head, caused by
breathing in such a restricted position.

De Sachet took his departure into a hostile world on the night
of December fifth, having slipped his collar which had been
loosened to accommodate his growing size. He was seen but once
afterward but has with the coming of continued cold doubtless
settled into more extended hibernation under som>e building on
the Cornell campus.

A Reading of the Nature-Study Barometer

Louise Connolly

Of the Newark, N. J. Museum
An address delivcrcti Ijefore the x\merican Nature-Study »Society, Dec. 27, 191 6

When I was young, I knew an old farmer in Virginia, who was a
very poor fanner, but who struck all the city folks who heard him
talk as "extremely intelligent for a farmer."

There were three reasons for his being a farmer. First, his
father had been a farmer. That will be accepted by all those
advocates of vocational education who want to teach the principles
of metallurgy to the children of a mining region, and the applica-
tions of trade discount into the public schools near Wall Street.
Second, he owned a farm. That will appeal to those who give
their children music lessons because they own a piano. And
third, he fell in love the year before his father died. We all
know about that. If you fall seriously in love in your sophomore
year, you decide that you don't need a college education, and you
go into your uncle's commission house. If in your senior year,
you forego the law and accept a position as principal of a country
school.

This farmer one day drove a sorrel mare of thirteen summers
that he had raised from a colt to the county court house and put
up the mare at a livery. And he had to wait that night until
everyone else had gone, and take the horse that was left, because
he couldn't identify his own mare.

Once I taught across the hall from a graduate of Yincevard
and when he went off to be married I took his class for a week, and
put a substitute into mine. That young A.B. had had his mental
arithmetic taken apart and rebound with interleaves containing
all the problems worked out by his college chum, because he
couldn't do them himself.

These are not irrelevant, fancy sketches; they bear directly
on our subject.

Within the schools there are three foes of nature-study^the
school officials, the teachers, and the janitors.

The janitors are justified; nature-study is the natural foe of
tidiness — not to say cleanliness.

The teachers have more than one reason for their enmity.
Many of them were asked in the high school their goal in life,

97

98 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

and on designating the profession, were advised to take a classical
cotirse. Whether the high school principal gave the advice with
the approbation of the normal school principal is a question.
But the result is evident. Many of them were bom with the
idiosyncracies of my farmer friend. No skillful incitement
to interest, no well developed lesson, no generalization, no formu-
lation, no application, no drill could have made them close
observers of natural phenomena or could have brought them
near to nature's heart with an}i:hing but a literary or philosophic
appreciation of her influences.

There is, in many school systems, nature-study at the bottom,
and science at the top, but a vacuum in the middle. The kinder-
garten and first grade have much work with plants and birds,
and insects, and domestic animals; the second grade has an appre-
ciable amount; there is a diminution in grade three, and a trace
in grade four. But the grammar grades are bare of ever^^thing
but the deleterious effects of alcohol and the rotation and denuda-
tion of the earth. And this is largely due to the lack of scientific
knowledge among teachers.

But the chief reason of the teacher's reluctance is her common
sense. She has in every class pupils like the 3^oung college
graduate. He has gone now where his ignorance of mathematics
can do no harm. For the same reason which causes heated air
to rise, he has become a superintendent. And now he hires a
business college girl at ten dollars a week to calculate for him.
But every teacher knows how he got his degree. He has the
intellectual maturity, so far as mathematics go, of a Tierra del
Fuegian, but he has a diploma. And he got it by bluffing, by
cheating, by remembering, and by taking chances. His neighbors
from the third grade up, all boosted him with kindly common
sense, and his professors overlooked errors, ignored audible
promptings, gave credit for vicarious class efforts, and made out
fool-proof questions — all as palliatives for the preposterous
conditions which systematizations of the unsystematizable
produce.

Now a teacher who has to teach Newton's principles to a
Tierra del Fuegian, Adam Smith's economics to a direct descendant
of Ashurbanipal, Myron's sculpture to a Hungarian peasant,
and the morality of Jesus to congenital Hotentots doesn't want
to add the interpretation of Thoreau and Theodore Gill to the

CONNOLLY] READING OF THE BAROMETER 99

children of Syrian Jews. They may accept the virus or they may
remain immune. And her innate maternal instinct, entirely
wrong as all instincts are when conditions change, will cause her
to devote all her time to the hopeless cases, to the infinite boredom
of such pupils as have native ability, and to her own nervous
undoing. She does this now in thirteen subjects, and hopes to
be spared a similar desecration of nature.

The school official is to blame. So long as he demands certain
visible results he will get certain invisible concomitants. Just so
soon as he gets nature graded and distributed, so that he can
examine on it for promotion will the teacher show her usual
inventive ability in making of the subject a dead and deadening
drill. And if he spares nature, just so long as he examines and
promotes on other subjects nature will be neglected.

Hence our courses of study are full of high sounding phrases
about the intellectual and moral values of the study of nature, and
our class rooms are too often devoid of its practice.

There are, outside the school, two agencies which are ready to
cooperate with the nature study propaganda, and another which
has great potenialities for usefulness. The two agencies already
at work, and likely to do much more as soon as mutual confidence
becomes more general, are the museums and agencies such as
park commissions, zoos and aquaritims, botanic gardens, and the
like. The agency not yet involved, but ready for very valuable
usefulness, is the grange.

At the last meeting of the American Museum Association there
was one session devoted to this subject, but no session was devoid
of it. It is the great center of musetim interest everywhere.
My pamphlet on the Educational Value of Museums published by
the Newark Museum, finds response from all parts of Europe,
even amid the present convulsions. And, though only two years
old, it is past history — so fast are museum activities among
children increasing. This is true of both Art and Science museums,
but the correlations of science with the work of the schools are
the more varied.

This movement has not always — indeed has not preponderat-
ingly — begun with the schools. Would that it were so. The
proper sequence is for the schools to desire material for their
activ ties, and for the museums to respond. The museum too
often has to create its market.

100 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

A few years ago a certain museum spent several thousand
dollars in putting up an industrial exhibit that involved much of
science, of mechanics, of geography, history and art, directly
related to the work of the schools. One of the superintendents
of the schools said, in refusing to let the pupils come as a part
of their school work, "We have constantly to defend our schools
against the well-meant efforts of people who would distract them
from their fundamental function of teaching reading, writing, and
arithmetic."

But at least the janitor's resistance can be largely overcome by
museum cooperations. A case of birds, lent by the New York
Museum is compact and clean. The teachers of Brooklyn and
Boston, doing their science work in the parks around their children's
museums, make no litter. Our specimens of minerals, a case
for each child, and a larger one for the teacher, accompanied by
neatly mounted related pictures, and with a half-dozen books on
the same subject from the library in which our museum is housed,
incommode no one.

The teacher who does not know the details of her subject is
succored by the museum. One hardly expects the museum
docent to do the actual teaching, but in small places this really
happens. One of Miss Griffin's most telling stories is of her talk
to the teachers, at Saint Johnsbury, on how to familiarize their
pupils with birds. She noticed on the faces of her audience
expressions of agony, and she paused, enlightened. "Perhaps,"
said she, "you would like me to give some of these lessons for you."
There was a rustle, and then acclaim — ^" Oh, we would, certainly we
would." And she did — until she was called by Boston to a
larger field.

If in your own homes you have not help from out-of-door
institutions, you should investigate what is being done by Mr.
Madison, who draws upon the Roger Williams Park in Providence,
or by the Bronx Botanical Gardens and the New York Aquarium.

What we in Newark can do for the schools in the way of lending
is but a drop in the bucket to what is asked of us, and yet the
asking is merely due to the sporadic interest of individuals.
Were the course on paper suddenly to be vivified into reality by
power from above, we should be entirely swamped. In any centre
it seems wise for the school authorities who are in earnest to push
the double service, the schools providing the teaching, and the

CONNOLLY] READING OF THE BAROMETER 101-

rausevuns and other supplementary educational agencies the
material, and to go slow — -to let their next point of attack be known
by the museums before introducing new features into the schools.
And it is of the utmost importance that both organizations
should educate their public by wise publicity as they go along.
I have watched this movement, which has been glacial, rather
than torrential in its pace, for thirty odd years and I have seen
the best cooperations in the world debouch into a morass for the
lack of this feature. Fifteen or twenty years ago Superintendent
Powell of Washington, through the good offices and connections
of his brother, Major Powell of the Geologic Survey, had all the
scientific corps of the Govermnent in the service of the Washington
schools. The teachers w^ere taken on excurisons and instructed
in their schools by botanists, geologists, bird-, beast-, and fish-men;
the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Weather Bureau gave of
their best; classes sketched in the parks, visited out-door features
and public buildings; and all sorts of things were lent and used.
But when a local poHtician wanted an excuse for attacking Mr.
Powell the parents were, at the most, vaguely sympathetic. A
superintendent who thinks children are being diverted from the
true aims of education when they are encouraged to see what they
look at, feel what they handle, and hear what they listen to is
in most places in no danger of losing his position for his views.
The old road is still the safe road.

As to the grange, I speak with the diffidence of ignorance, but
every grange has, besides the grange master, a grange lecturer —
the educational and intellectual leader. And these lecturers
belong to a kind of mildly persuasive hierarchy. They hold
meetings where they get inspiration and exchange experiences.
There are many experiments being made in single localities
with rural schools, and from these centers the virus is slowly
spreading upward. Were it injected into the arteries, the trans-
formation might be made more rapid. From what I heard at the
New Jersey meetings, I can aver that the thing called Domestic
Science, closely correlated with the alimentary nature of man,
is much cultivated in the grange.

I have now to suggest the two possible ways which it seems to
me promise for nature-study best progress in the elementary
schools. Neither is entirely new.

Wherever the alternating, or Gary, school is tried there is a

102 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

chance to put one or more teachers really interested in the subject,
and aiming at a definite performance, in charge of nature-study.
Of course where the alternating corps has to be obtained from the
faculty of the former school, and where the former school was
steeped in sin, that will make of nature-study a farce. And,
indeed, with great freedom to select, the Gary school will find a
dearth of well prepared applicants. Normal pupils usually get a
limited range of natiire work, and college science graduates rarely
have pedagogy or power of class control.

The other suggestion is a science supervisor, not only belonging
to the school system, but connected also with the local museum,
or park system, or science department of the state or city college
or normal school. Such schemes have been tried, I believe.
St. Louis subsumes the museum under the school system; Buffalo
pays a nominal price for science delivered from outside. New
York refuses science in toto, and takes it piecemeal, at the hands
of outside agencies. Each locality has its own conditions. My
belief is that, all other things being equal, the supervisor should
be of the schools; should do more about teaching than about
science, for if teaching methods were good science could easily
be taught; should get her scientific pabulum and material from
the best sources in the locality, by some definite and even legal
relation rather than by cotirtesy, and should be well provided
with two things — means of conveyance for herself and her
materials, and opportunity for advertisement and public com-
mendation of her functions and results. When using public
ftmds to do for the children of a community what was not done
for their parents in their young days, never fail to let your right
hand know what your left hand does, and secure public encomiums
for each apparently doubtful feature of the work. Do not let
the townsfolks know that there is a chicken in the kindergarten
and a turtle in the cloak room, that the first grade is studying
pumpkins and the fifth grade junketing in the fields during school
hours, through your critics first. When the accusation comes,
see to it that the judges "knowed it afore."

So, in time, may the children of our country regain their lost
heritage which too many of us feel has been sold to the academic
ideal at a great price.

To A Wood-Rat

(Whose home was destroyed by a class in Zoology)

James Leo Duff

Och, it pulls at me heart

to see you afflicted,
You with the great

sobbin' eyes of ye there;
Could the Irish stand by

to see one evicted
An' say, "I don't care?"

You that have labored

your home to be earnin',
You've toiled in the buildin'

be day an' be night.
Now they've pulled it apart ^-^j.^ *

for the sake of their learnin' — -J ^'.

God send thim light!

Reprinted by permission from "A Stanford Book of
Verse" by the English Club of Stanford University. '^h

*•:

m

f*^^#fe

103

A Pet Pine Snake on a Wisconsin Farm

Karl P. Schmidt

American Museum of Natural History, New York City

A big yellow snake or two hanging over a roadside fence,
victims of the snake kilHng zeal prevalent in rural communities,
was not many years ago a common sight in the farming country
of our Middle West. The Pine Snake or Bull Snake {Pityophis
catenifer sayi) is most likely to meet this unmerited fate, for
snakes of this species frequent especially the hay and grain fields
in search of the destructive short-tailed field mice, and so meet
their own destruction at the hands of the farmer or the farmer's
boy. Although the sight becomes yearly less common, the
increasing rarity is not, I fear, an evidence of increasing intelligence
among farmers, but of the alarming decrease in ntnnbers of this
species, one of the largest and handsomest as well as agriculturally
most useful of North American snakes.

As a ]jart of a campaign against the indiscriminate slaughter
of snakes in general, it has been a yearly practice on our Wisconsin
farm to keep a snake or two caged on the back porch for a time
in summer, to demonstrate their harmlessness to the neighbors.
Never until last summer, however, did we have a Pine Snake
(always our favorite species) that would feed in captivity. Our
last year's pet proved interesting in more ways than one.

104

i

SCHMIDT] PET SNAKE ON A WISCONSIN FARM 105

Early in July I caught a specimen of this species about three
and a half feet long, which I judged from its stockiness to be a
female with eggs. It did not offer the vigorous resistance
to capture that the larger ones usually make, and when placed in
our glass fronted cage, instead of becoming sluggish and "tame" in
a day or two, in accordance with our experience of Pine Snakes,
this one continually^ tried to escape, pushing against the glass
until its nose was quite mangled. This continued day after day,
and we would surely have let it go in pity had we not hoped to see
the egg laying process.

An especial joy of ours is the intense interest in snakes of those
who claim to be most afraid of them. It was while two young
women of the neighborhood were watching that our pet decided
to deposit her eggs, which seemed to them even more scandalous
conduct on the part of the snake than was ours in keeping such
animals. But nothing could move them from the snake cage
while the egg laying continued, a matter of some hours.

The first eggs were laid at intervals of about ten minutes, the
interval gradually increasing so that it took nearly four hours
to deposit the entire batch of fifteen. They were about as long
as pigeons eggs and about half as broad as long, white, and very
sticky, so that they clung together in a mass, about which the
mother remained coiled. To our great disappointment the eggs
did not develop, and we were unable to follow the life-cycle
through as we had hoped.

Before the egg laying our snake had refused food, as is the some-
what unusual custom of snakes with eggs or young, and we did
not think of feeding again until we gave up all hope of the develop-
ment of the eggs. Then, when we offered a live mouse, the result
was highly exciting. The snake threw itself on the mouse, grasp-
ing it by the shoulder with the jaws, and coiled around it with
the middle portion of the body. The body followed the head
so quickly that separate motions of striking and constriction
could not be distinguished. After a few minutes of constriction,
so tight that the mouse's eyes bulged out of their sockets, the hold
was released, and the mouse proved to be quite dead. The snake
nosed its prey until it found the head, and immediately began
the swallowing process. The remarkable mechanism of a snake's
jaws whereby unbelievably large objects can be swallowed, is
easily observed. First one side, then the other of the separate

106 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

lower jaws is moved forward, while the backward pointing teeth
of the upper jaw, and of the inactive half of the lower, retain all
that is gained. The snake literally draws itself over its food.
To our surprise, since we had always supposed that snakes ate
only at considerable intervals, and had no experience as to the
amount of a single square meal, our Pine Snake cheerfully accepted
a second mouse on the next day. We never did succeed in finding
its limit, for it ate every mouse we offered it, twenty-one in all,
from August i6th to September 7th, an average of nearly one a day.
A number of these were young field mice brought in from the hay
field, and they were taken directly from the fingers, with no
striking or constriction, and swallowed head or tail or back fore-
most as was convenient. A half grown field mouse seemed to leave
some doubt in the snake's mind as to the proper procedure. It
struck and grasped the mouse with the jaws as usual, but instead
of constricting, simply coiled on top of it, somewhat as the black
snakes and racers are said to do. Finding that the prospective*
dinner made no serious struggle, swallowing was at once begun,
without relaxing the hold, so that the mouse went down back
first, its head and tail doubled together.

The largest number of mice taken at one time was seven, a
full grown short tailed field mouse and six young. The swallo^ving
process occupied from three to four minutes for an adult mouse.

By the last of August the snake's eyes had become very opaque,
and the color dull, so that we knew it was preparing to shed its
skin. Young field mice were still accepted, but larger ones placed
in the box were either left undisturbed, or killed and left uneaten.
The fast continued until September 15th, when with a little
assistance the old skin was shed, and the eyes were again bright
and the new skin brilliant with its yellow and black pattern.
Not long after this we gave all our snakes their freedom.

This was by far our most successful experience with a Pine
Snake. We may surely hope, and indeed we know, that some at
least of our neighbors who saw the feeding, and heard our glowing
accounts of a Pine Snake's insatiable appetite for mice,
were convinced of the usefulness of at least one species of snake.
We had contributed our mite, as an old Scotch relative said,
toward "keeling a supersteeshun."

The Goat — ^An Appreciation

William P. Alexander
Assistant in The Natural History of the Farm Course — Cornell University.

The Rocky Mountain Goat

Where the rocky ramparts raise

Slcyward into regions sterile,
Where the storm at random plays,

And the heights are fraught with peril ;
Where the falcon sends his note

Defiant from the cliff a-ringing.
There the fearless mountain goat

To his awful path is clinging.

On the crag with ragged face

Where man has never tried his daring.
Upward with a daunting pace

Still the great, white goat is faring;
For the scanty tuft of grass

Still he mounts the dizzy fastness,
Up beyond the clouds that pass

Below him in a sea of vastness.

On the treeless shelf and crag

Little knows he of the fearing
Of the forest hunted stag.

Anxious eyed, and timid peering;
Never comes the shaggy bear

Where the lone height finds him sleeping,
Never panther from its lair

Fears he, through the midnight creeping!

One alone to do him wrong,

Still in mad, foolhardy risking
Mounts the ramparts, wild and strong

Up to where the kid is frisking;
Man, the huntsman, void of sense

Still the savage blood displaying.
Revels yet in violence

And a pleasure finds in slaying!

With the hissing leaden ball,

Man the pinnacle doth ravage,
And the mountain goat must fall,

For the pleasure of the savage;
Jagged peak that rends the slcy

Lends him not a habitation,
Where from danger he may fly.

Or the path of devastation!

Would the old time reigned anew,
■ When the golden morn arousing,
The mountain goat might shake the dew

From his pelt, and wander, browsing,
Still secure o'er rugged rift,

In the haunts of soaring eagle.
Where the mighty mountains lift

Their heads in silence, stem and regal !

107

108 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

THE GOAT IN HISTORY

The goat has been of use to man from the earliest time. Just
when or where this animal was subdued and domesticated is
not known, but the pages of recorded history, even from the first,
have made mention of it in many important connections. The
Old Testament, the writings of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians,
the records of the Chinese, the Sanskrit scroll, and the Prakrit
legend, all make mention of the goat. There was a time when the
great men of the earth named their riches in the number of goats
they owned; we find traces of this method of rating, even in this
country as early as 1640; John Joslyn writing in Massachusetts
in that year made this interesting statement, ''He was counted a
nobody who had no goats.'' It is of interest also to note that in
Spain the Pleiades have from time immemorial been called the
Seven Little Goats. Today they are found ever^^vhere on the face
of the globe where the climate is suited to their extremely flexible
nature, in very hot countries, and in very cold regions as well.
Economically, they are in many countries today the most import-
ant of all animals. Greece has one-hundred and twenty goats
to every hundred of its population, and little wonder when we
consider that the yield of perfectly good wholesome milk from
these animals is greater than that of the cow, when the goat is
measured comparatively. Although this is intended for a dis-
cussion of the domesticated goat, it will not be out of place here
to say a word or two of some of the wild relatives of this beneficial
animal, one of which is found in the United States, the
Rocky Mountain Goat {Oreamnos montamis). This is the only
representative of this great family of quadrupeds. Ungulates,
now found in North America in a wild state. It is a noble if not
handsome member of its family; it is covered with long white
hair that lengthens out on the breast into a flowing "apron";
the shapely eye, straw-yellow in color is set in a fine-cut head
that bears a pair of thin, black, curved horns. It is the characteris-
tic manner of carrying the head, generally below the broad
shoulders, that inspired the Indians of the mountainous West
to name our great white goat, "the little white buft'alo." Some
writers have spoken of this goat as being extremely stupid and
dull, mistaking the confiding fearlessness of the animal for want
of intelligent keenness. Another writer though, Mr. Frederick
Irland, more ably describes it as being "the most chamiing and

ALEXANDER] THE GOAT— AN APPRECIATION 109

innocent creature" to be found in the Cascade Mountains.

The hoofs of all goats are particularly well developed for climb-
ing; but in this art the Rocky Mountain Goat excels. He is
unbelievingly daring and adroit in his passage through the rugged
mountain wilds that he inhabits. He seems to risk limb and Hfe
itself in every move it makes on the rock barrens, and ice fields
that it delights to roam in. Here in the bleak upper world, where
only a stiff coarse grass and a hard and almost lifeless lichen is
found to sustain these animals, they thrive and are seemingly
well protected from beasts of prey ; for few or none of the creatures
that could devour them are able to follow the treacherous ways
that are broad highways for the mountain goats. They have
small means of defense, the horns of the males being only six or
seven inches long, nor are they willing fighters; but the world
they have conquered for their own would be sufficiently secure
were it not for man, who in the role of the hunter, has proved a
hundredfold more deadly an enemy to the Mountain Goat than
is the panther. Man must play the Nimrod, must keep alive
the passion inherited from a savage ancestry. Man must kill,
and to prove that he must, will often risk his foolish limbs in
situations that the hungry bear is wise enough to shun. The noble
White Mountain Goat has suffered much as "game" for such
hunters, and in many places has been exterminated.

The Ibex is another wild goat, — the largest of the family and
it has so often been described that it need only be mentioned here,
and the same is true of the great Markhor, a wild Himalayan goat
with peculiar corkscrew-like horns that Mr. Hornaday says,
"is the finest of all wild goats and in every way a picturesque
creature. Their wonderful horns may be fifty or sixty inches
long and make two complete turns before reaching full length."
This goat is believed by many to be the parent, in part at least,
of the valued Angora goat that is now so widely cultivated.

As stated in the beginning, the goat as a domesticated animal
dates back to the dim gray dawn of civilization. It is closely
related to the sheep, differing from it only in a few minor respects.
Goats lack the hoof glands found in sheep and often have a rank
odor. The hoofs of sheep and goats are cloven in like manner,
the teeth are formed in the same way, but sheep have wool instead
of straight hair, and the goat has in addition the beard in the
male of the species. Tame goats, especially the old males are

no NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

prone to show ill temper and butt, a character that they have
retained from their wild progenitors doubtlessly ; but Mr. Fred
Smith tells us that this is but empty bravado on the part of old
Billy: "If his beard be seized he at once loses all courage, and
begins to bleat in a very pitiful way." The goat is said to be a
much more intelligent animal than the sheep and many interesting
stories are told to prove this.

The native nursery of the goat may be said to be Asia. The
wild goat of Persia which occurs from Crete to the desert hills
of Cutch is the progenitor of most of our domesticated breeds.
Today Europe could hardly do without the goat. This animal
figures largely in the live stock of Italy, France, Spain, Germany,
and Scandinavia. We can better understand this when we note
that in little Corsica alone, as many as 90,000 goats are made to
serve man.

The goat gives birth to two kids in April, and when young these
little animals are pretty and truly interesting in their frisking play.
The older animals are expert in getting a living from exceedingly
scanty fare; they are browsers, and will eat bush, leaf, and ill
tasting herbs with great complacency, and their climbing habits
stand them in good stead, for the}^ can reach a morsel of green
herbage in this fashion that is physically beyond the mouths of
most other browsing quadrupeds. It would be interesting to
know how far back in the history of the goat the climbing habit
was developed. Geologically, the goat has been traced back
to the Pliacene : probably there he was as good a climber as he is
today.

The goat is made use of in different countries according to the
taste of the inhabitants. In some regions its flesh is much
relished, especially the kids furnish good meat; the older goats
become musky and inedible. Again, it is the milk that is valued
and in Italy and Switzerland a cheese is made from goats' milk
that natives of those countries are exceedingly fond of. It
might be mentioned that the milk of this animal is peculiar to
the taste and is not relished until one has acquired a Hking for it.
Skins of goats are used in many countries extensively for making
morocco, gloves andm any other articles. Mohair is also obtained
from certain goats and this is valuable and much in demand.
There are two famed breeds of Mohair goats: one, the Cashmere,
which has long, straight, silky hair and has a winter under-coat

ALEXANDER]

THE GOAT— AN APPRECIATION

111

of very delicate wool which is used to make the famous Cashmere
shawls; the other, the Angora, that has long, silky, curly hair
which is used for all mohair fabrics. The Angora has been intro-
duced into America and is now an animal of importance in
California, Texas, Arizona and to some extent in the Middle
West. In this country goats are sometimes used for pets only and
happy is the small boy that owns a fine big buck with harness and
equipage to match; he is happy indeed and j)roud, for the man
who rides is proud, and what are our boys but little men. Many
of us have seen the goat carriages on the Mall in Central Park,
New York, and it has aff otded a keen pleasure to many, I am sure,
to sit on the pleasant benches under the noble elms' that shade
the Mall and there watch the tots making merry with the animal
that has furnished the subject for this rather rambling talk.

News Note

The President of the American Nature-Study Society, Professor
Liberty Hyde Bailey with Mrs. Bailey and their daughter, Ethel,
are sailing for China as this Review goes to press. They expect to
be gone several months, and visit Professor and Mrs. Sailor at
St. John's College, Shanghai. Mrs. Sailor was formerly Mi s Sara
Bailey. They also expect to travel extensively in Japan. Pro-
fessor Bailey and Miss Ethel hope to do some very interesting
botanical collecting m both China and Japan. May good fortune
attend their footsteps !

• ^J -A'-:^

■ ' jp«i4«^.^^^^^^^.^

The Living Spring — below the tidal wave of winter.

Fishing in Winter

Mathilde Schlegel

East Aurora, N. Y.

When fierce Brother North Wind conies rampaging around
with his icy blasts straight from the Pole, all the little creatures
of the meadows and forests either make sure of their hoards
of nuts or seeds, or locate food supplies, — for this is the season of
high cost of living for them, even they do not escape that ; or perhaps
they go fast asleep for the whole winter, — which is by far the easiest
way out of the difficulty. We know who these sleepers are among
the big folk; Buster Bear, Johnny Chuck, Bobby Coon, and a
good part of the time, Whitefoot the D^er-mouse (but the finding
of Whitefoot hibernating is another story).

To those who seek to have more than a superficial acquaintance
with Nature, who look beneath the surface, we find it is not alone
among these that Nature has her problems. As Jack Frost that
page-sprite to Brother North Wind trips along and draws his
fingers over everything, — the meadow grass, the trees and bids

112

SCHLEGEL] FISHING IN WINTER 113

them cease their work for rest time is approaching, he Hghtly
fingers even the surface of the ponds and more quickly the tiny
pools and all the forms of life within are affected and begin their
long winter sleep we call hibernation.

Yet Nature is not wholly helpless, subject to the pranks of
Jack Frost or even the will of the fierce North Wind. Always she
can hold out a restraining hand and say "So far and now cease."
Her ways of protecting dormant creatures are wonderful; she
may give them storage of food-fat, or cradle them high in cold and
damp proof casing, or snuggle them deep within the ground in
their burrows snug and warm ; but it is not often that she permits
any of her children who ought to be fast asleep to live their lives
in an almost normal manner though the temperature outside
may hover close to zero. There is one way in which this is pos-
sible. From the base of a low hill she sends forth a tiny trickle
of water, always running, from some inexhaustible reservoir
deep within, beyond the possibility of reach by either of Winter's
Aides; verily a Living Spring. How well has it been named,
living water in the midst of icy fetters of hard frozen pastures
or among the forest ** trees at leisure." We always pause when we
find one during a winter tramp on snowshoes or skis.

Where a living spring flows you may always find something of
interest, but if it has been boxed and thus given a reservoir there
are greater possibilities; and so, one day, passing The Spring
we went over to investigate its depths. The temperature outside
was less than twenty degrees, within the clear water of the pool
we saw water plants were growing, gently waving in its slight
agitation, the purifying char a \ and along the edges of the overflow
showed the tiny green leaves of watercress which kept beneath
the surface, for did one venture above, it quickly was nipped into
a blackened wraith of a leaf.

Looking more closely we saw moving on the bed of the pool
large yellow and green salamanders out of whose way wriggled
big bullfrog polywogs. Water-beetles and water-boatmen came
to the surface for air as they would any time in simimer and small
species of their kind scurried about. .

We must come again with a fish-net. Fishing in the winter
was a unique and fascinating idea, beside here was an opportunity
to replenish the stock for the aquarium. So another day, after
the deep snow had come and settled down sufficiently, we went

114

XATURE-STUDY REVIEW fl3:3— Mar.. 1917

The veriiication of the expedition

a-fishing. The snow lay deep over the fields, but equipped with
snowshoes it always is possible to carry the camera, and this
expedition must be illustrated, for verification if nothing more.
In addition to this, carrying the net was a problem for, besides
its bulkiness I really did not quite dare being seen with it, so few
people understand that one can be quite sane on a scientific
expedition of investigation. I compromised, taking along a tea
strainer and a bamboo stick (originally this had been a broom
handle). A wide mouthed bottle in my pocket was to be the
container for the specimens, — if not victims for they might
freeze on the way home.

Arrived at the pool, passing on the way over, "the tidal wave
of winter," the snowdrifts, the fishing apparatus was made by
the simple expedient of tying the strainer to the bamboo pole and
then I discovered a good reason for the ring in the handle of the
strainer for I had to slip the cord through this to fasten it firmly

SCHLEGEL] FISHING IN WINTER 115

enough. Later, when fishing, it proved quite adequate; the
large net would have been awkward in the samll dimensions of
the pool, while the strainer scooped up everything there was about.

The Salamanders

Before this I set up the scoop-net in the snow beside the pool,
left my snowshoes too because they always are picturesque, and
made the study so you may see the character and setting of this —
sketch.

The "fishing" proved even more interesting than expected, for,
besides the species already noted, the "net" brought up many
forms of pond-life, water-bearr., larvae and microscopic forms so
interesting to examine, and finally a frog, a nice green frog. It
kicked in protest and I returned it to the pool. Here in this tiny
stretch of water measuring ten feet in diameter and about two
feet in depth, all of these creatures were living their lives as
merrily as in summer. They could prowl in the muddy depths,
or seek shelter beneath the long fringes of meadow grass which
had fallen over its banks when nipped by frost, or hide under the
plants growing in the pool all unmindful that outside the tempera-
tiu-e might be zero or less and, if removed they would be frozen
instantly. Thus Nature has still her way with them.

Their transportation was a problem and knowing that, I worked
rapidly to collect what specimens were necessary yet not to
exhaust the supply (the pool being fairly well stocked). Upon
the return the bottle was carried in the pocket of my coat while

116 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

all the way I held my big fur mitten over it. Even then there was
ice in the bottle and the newts were quite dormant when put into
cold water. They revived, however, and were soon so active
that two of them (the best ones of course) escaped in the night
to their death crawling about upon the dry floors. The beetles
and boatmen and polywogs quickly learned to share the food of
the goldfish so all goes merrily here also.

Species active December 29 and January 20 : yellow salamanders,
leopard frog, predacious diving beetles {Dytiscids), small water
beetles (Haltphids) , mosquito larvae (Corethra), water boatmen
(Coristds), several species of snails, lower forms of microscopic
life, and water plants including water cress.

A Remarkable Achievement in Animal Illustration

The National Geographic Magazine for November 19 16 is epoch
making in the history of the mammals of America. This number
contains 6 1 superb illustrations in color of the larger North Ameri-
can mammals by Louis Agassiz Fuertes ; and accompanying each
figure is a terse, comprehensive and especially well written account
of the animal's habits by Mr. E. W. Nelson.

The public has learned to think of Mr. Fuertes as an illustrator
of bird life, but these pictures show that he is equally as strong
if not stronger as an illustrator of animals. When Mr. Fuertes
was a boy in college his Professor of Entomology said : "One feels
in looking at his pictures of the grasshopper that the insect is
actually crawling and getting ready to jump." This same quality
of aliveness is evident in each and every one of these pictures.
The thrilling presentation of the Peary caribou attacked by Artie
wolves, or that of the free striding prong-horned antelope, or that
of the howling Arizona cayote all exemplify this quality to a
remarkable degree. We have always had a great admiration
for Mr. Fuertes' backgrounds. They are true to nature and at
the same time artistic and exquisitely appropriate. His spirited
picture of the Arctic foxes in their snowy surroundings is beautiful
from every point of view. Mr. Fuertes' contribution to science
is of the highest importance and we return thanks to the Geographic
Magazine for enabling him to put on record and place before the
public these beautiful and life-illuminating pictures.

" My ears are very, very tall "

Animal Folk in the Meadow

a play for primary grades
Jane M. Beilby

Teacher of Nature-Study in Miss Faulkner's School Dedham, Mass.

CHARACTERS

Indian Boy, Toad, Squirrel, several Sheep, and seven Rabbits.

SETTING

A meadow with trees and several children representing sheep,
who are pulling grass and wandering about, always following
the one in the lead and frequently calling, "Ba-ah, Ba-ah." A
little boy appears in Indian costume and sits on a stone.

Indian Boy.

"Of all the beasts he learned their language,
Learned their names and all their secrets,
How the beavers built their lodges,
Where the squirrels hid their acorns,
How the reindeer ran so swiftly,
Why the rabbit was so timid,
Talked with them when e'er he met them,
Called them 'Hiawatha's Brothers'."

Toad.

{A toad hops in and meets squirrel near a tree.)
"How do you do, Mr. Squirrel'. What are you doing to-day?"

117

118 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

Squirrel.

"Oh, I am gathering acorns and storing them in various handy
places near home for use this winter. Do you want to see my
home? It is right in this tree. I am just about to take up a
load and will show it to you." {He climbs the tree, the toad leaps
and hops after him to the base of the tree.)

Squirrel.

"Come on Mr. Toad, what is the matter? Don't you want to
see my home?"

Toad.

"Oh no, I'm too busy catching flies and insects. I'm on my
way to Hiawatha's garden to catch the insects there that injure
his plants."

{Seven rabbits appear from different places where they have been
hiding in bushes and brush heaps.)

Toad.

"Oh, here come the bunnies." {He turns to the sheep and says)
"Come on comrades, the -rabbits have come out to play. Let's
all wait here and listen to what they have to say."

{The sheep gather, the squirrel comes from the tree and they all
listen while the rabbits recite. The rabbits skip about and play
leapfrog between the verses.)

First Rabbit :

"I am little Molly Cottontail.
My fur is nice and gray.
And if to see me you should fail,
I was meant to be that way,
I look just like the hay."

Second Rabbit :

My ears are very, very tall.

When I listen for my foe.
And down along my back they fall,

When I am lying low.

But every sound I know."

Third Rabbit :

"My eyes are placed so I can see,
Behind and front as well.
My nice nose wabbles constantly,
My enemy to smell,
Before he comes pell mell."

Fourth Rabbit :

"I have some bunny comrades gay.
By night we jump and run,
Leap frog and tag, we like to play,
And have whole loads of fun.
And fear not dog nor gun."

BEiLBv] ANIMAL FOLK IN THE MEADOW 119

Fifth Rabbit:

"Do you know we always have a guard,
A sentinel to peer,
Who thumps the ground so very hard.
That all of us can hear.
If an enemy comes near."

Sixth Rabbit :

"We flee through briar and thorn.
In run-ways none can follow,
My home is in a cosy form »

Down in the grassy hollow.
Where all the weeds run fallow."

Mamma Rabbit:

"And there I make the nest

For my bunnies blind and wee.
I pluck the soft fur from my breast
To cover them when it is best
That I should elsewhere be.

{When the rabbits stop reciting, the Sheep, Rabbits, Squirrel,

Frog and Indian boy all join hands and recite together this verse

from "Wind and Weather'' by L. H. Bailey.)

"Weather and wind and waning moon,

Plain and hilltop under the sky,

Ev'ning, morning and blazing noon.

Brother of all the world am I."

News Notes from Rhode Island

The Park Museum of Providence is another Hve wire in the
nature-study circuit. Sunday afternoon lectures by specialists on
many interesting scientific subjects were a part of the Musetnn
program. On Saturday mornings at 10:30 Miss Eva W. Magoon,
Assistant Curator, gives half hour talks to children. Her topics
are interesting and pique curiosity, such as Who's Who Among
the Stars." "How Birds are Named," "Nature's Alphabet,"
"Nature's Hiding Places."

The Park Museimi Bulletin for Januar}^ lists the lectures given
in the Museum and outside of it, field trips, loan material, Audubon
library, and gives a very interesting graphic table showing the
number of questions answered by the Museimi during each month
for the past four years. The increasing use of the museum in this
department is most gratifying.

The Audubon Society of Rhode Island had a Christmas Bird
Census meeting.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Published monthly, except June, July and August. Subscription price, including mem-
bership in the American Nature Study Society, 11.00 per year (nine issues). Canadian postage,
10 cents extra: foreign postage, 25 cents extra.

TfYfnnTfa'nf P^^^-se note date of expiration of your subscription on the label of the
*-i-*^yyJ'- I'O-i^l' wrapper. Subscriptions must be paid in advance to comply with postal
requirements. Subscriptions and advertisements should be sent to The Comstock Publishing
Co., Ithaca, N. Y. Manuscripts for Publication and Books to be Reviewed should be sent
to the Editor.

Editorial

Nature-study and natural history are terms that are confused
in the minds of most people and especially in the minds of most
teachers, yet the fields of the two are sharply defined in the terms
themselves. A nature-study lesson is one in which the pupil
consults Nature to ascertain the answer to his questions; but
when he consults books to ascertain his facts, he is stud>dng
natural history.

As a matter of practical teaching the two work hand in hand
in the school-room as in the laboratory. All that is possible to
be discovered through observing an object is first accomplished
and then books are consulted to round up the knowledge of the
subject. The two are equally legitimate in a course of nature-
study planned for the grades in the elementary and primary
schools. However, great discretion is needed on the part of the
teacher to know just how to use the two in order to make each
stimulate a desire for the other.

A rule that should be closely adhered to with young pupils is
not to permit them to read about an object until they have studied
it and have become interested in it. There was a series of readers
published about thirty years ago, devoted to descriptions of
animals, birds and insects and their habits. The reaction against
these stories on the part of the children was often most unfavor-
able. We once talked to a boy who said he hated ants, and on
inquiring the reason for this attitude, we found his dislike came
from having to read a story about these insects in one of these
readers.

120

EDITORIAL 121

It is well to remember in this connection that the child is
interested only in the story of action; and the more dramatic
the action the better. The boy who hated ants, liked the stories
of lions, panthers, and bears very much, because all these stories
he had found not only interesting but thrilling. It is a matter of
experience that after a child has observed a creature, he becomes
interested in reading about what it does, even if there is no thrilling
story connected with it. In a certain school reader which we
recall, there is a page or two devoted to the habits of the lobster
that did not seem especially attractive to anyone. But, one day
the teacher brought to the schoolroom a live lobster which acted
properly indignant at being handled, and an interest in the
animal was suddenly developed and rose to a high pitch as its
queer appendages and actions were observed. That afternoon,
in the street car, we met a small acquaintance who was poring
over the lobster story in his reader; his face was alight with
enthusiasm as he explained what he was reading about and
recounted his observations on this creature. If the little boy who
hated ants had been able to watch all of the wonderful things
that happen in an ant nest he would not have loathed the story
in his reader.

There are many nature-study lessons during which only a
small part of what there is to be known about an object can be
observed. Take for example the screech owl which has been
captured and brought to the schoolroom. The appearance and
actions of the bird can be observed to the fullest extent ; but the
story of the bird's habits, its noiseless nocturnal hunts for mice,
its loving loyalty to its mate, its intimate nesting ways, and many
other things about it must be given to the pupils by the teacher
orally or he must read about them in the bird books.

No good course in natiu*e-study is independent of natural
history; and a Course in nattiral history would be arid and mean-
ingless without nature-study. Happy is the teacher who under-
stands how to supplement the one with the other and to make
each a stimulus to further interest in the other.

The Teacher's Comer

At the beginning of the year it was part of the plan of The
Review that the present editor should write lessons for each
month on timely topics, and since everyone who has The REviEW
has access to the Handbook of Natiire Study, these lessons were
supplementary to the ones published in the volume. However,
the situation has changed. It is scarcely becoming to an editor
to fill pages of a periodical with his or her own writing. There-
fore, hereafter there will simply be a list of topics for the grades
given.

Owing to the new plan of making each ntimber of The Nature
Study Review specialize in some particular subject, it has seemed
to the editor that lessons outlined on the subjects discussed in each
niimber of The Rcview by different writers would be a practical
help. Thus in this number you have interesting stories of the
skunk, the goat, and the white rat. The plan for using these
in school work follows.

the skunk

In a nature-study lesson we needs must have some actual
observation in order to stimulate a desire for further knowledge.
I had in mind to suggest that just a smell of the skunk, if strong
enough, is a quite sufficient basis for a nature study lesson, simply
because through being able to emit this odor, the skunk has been
influenced fundamentally in its habits The odor has been such
a powerful means of defense that this little creature is practically
fearless and walks about where and when it wills, being certain
that nothing will happen to it. To be sure this feeling of safety
leads to tragedies with trolley cars and autos; but these are too
late inventions to have become a part of the skunk's racial philoso-
phy.

Thus the leading thought in giving this lesson should be a
study of the effect upon the animal's habits by this means of
protection. Almost every child in the country has had some
experience with the skunk and should be asked to express his
ideas and opinions upon the subject. Further than this the
following points should be covered by observations, if possible,
(i) The skunk does its hunting at night and its black fur protects
it from being seen by its prey which consists largely of mice.
On the contrary, its white stripes render it sufficiently conspicuous
from above to the large animals that might attack it to render

122

THE TEACHER'S CORNER 123

it safe from molestation. Its fiir is very valuable. Its bushy
tail helps to keep it warm in winter and, as Mr. Knight shows,
helps to defend it from the bumblebees. (2) The head is triangular
and sharply pointed at the nose. The eyes are not very keen.
(3) The front legs are much shorter than the hind legs and are
armed with sharp claws for digging both for food and in making a
burrow. Although it holds its food fast in its front paws it never
uses them to Hft the food to its mouth as does the squirrel. (4) Its
food consists largely of grasshoppers, white grubs, mice, moles
and insects. On the whole it is beneficial to the farmer. The
only harm it does is to raid the hen-house occasionally and to
destroy the nests of beneficial birds that build on the ground,
and to destroy bumblebees that are of great importance to the
clover crop, the pumpkin, the squash, and many valuable plants.
(5) The skunk's home is in a burrow which it may make for Itself
or steal from a woodchuck. It also makes its nest in protected
places sometimes under barns. The young are born in May
in an enlarged portion of the burrow where a nice bed of grass
has been placed by the mother for their comfort. (6) Skunks
get fat in the fall and sleep during the winter.

THE GOAT

It is to be hoped that in the neighborhood some child has a pet
goat that may be used for observation. The following points
should be brought out. (i) Goats are among our most interesting
domesticated animals and have played an important part in the
history of mankind. (2) The goat is fitted to climb high and
dangerous places; it is very agile and quite able to get its food
on high mountains where vegetation is scarce. (3) The covering
is of hair which is a great protection in the cold heights of moun-
tains; the male has>a beard or goatee. The hair of the Angora
goat is used in making mohair goods. (4) The teeth consist of
six molars on each side of the jaw. There are eight lower incisors
below and none above. The teeth are especially fitted for brows-
ing. (5) The goat's sense of smell is very acute and so is its sense
of hearing. The eyes are full and intelligent. (6) The horns are
somewhat flattened and knobby in front and curled backward;
they are very efficient weapons of offense and defense. (7) The
legs are strong and fitted for running and leaping. The hoof is
cloven, that is, the goat walks on two toe nails. There are two

124 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

smaller toes above and behind each hoof. The tail is natiirally
short. (8) When angry, the goat shakes its head and stamps.
(9) There are many breeds of goats and they are of use in the
following ways: To produce milk which is very nutritious and
from which a special cheese is made ; the flesh is eaten ; the hair
is woven into fabrics ; the skin is used to make gloves and morocco,
and is also used for bags in which water is carried in the Orient;
goats are used as pets.

THE W^HITE RAT

This should be a study of the interesting ways of this pet as
suggested in Professor Bailey's article. The observations should
cover the following points and many more :

(i) The length of the tail compared with its body, the covering
of the tail and its use when the rat is climbing. (2) The hind legs
are long and strong fitted for jumping. Compare front feet with
hind feet. Describe the claws and their uses. (3) Note the eyes,
shape of ears, shape of snout, the whiskers and their use, the mouth
and arrangement of teeth. (4) Actions of the rat when it is
reaching up to examine something, how does it hold its front feet?
(5) Describe how a rat washes its face — ^its back and its feet.
-(6) Note how a rat acts when eating. (7) Does it make any noises,
if so what do they mean ?

NATURE-STUDY TOPICS FOR MARCH

Second grade (i) A study of the buds of trees, includmg both
leaf and flower buds, brought into the schoolroom and observed as
they open. (2) The planting of seeds m pots and boxes or "egg-
shell farms" and the study of their development, (3) A bird calen-
dar for the first appearance of our most common and well known
birds.

Third grade: (i) Migration stories of our most common birds.
(2) Begin a detailed "line a day" story of the robins and of their
activities from the time of their first appearance. (3) The rabbit;
a study of the domesticated varieties should lead to a study of the
wild hare * * the cottontail' ' . (4) A study of the pussy willow includ-
ing as well the pistillate catkins that produce the seeds.

Foiuth grade: (i) The meadowlark; personal observations
should be supplemented by reading. (2) The muskrat; this may
be personal observation and natural history. (3) Skunks cabbage;
compare with jack-in-the-pulpit and calla lily. (4) Seed testing.

The Book Shelf

The Way Life Begins, by Bertha C. Cady and Vernon M. Cady.

American Social Hygiene Association, 105 W. 48th Street,

New York City. $1.00
This very interesting and beautifully illustrated volume is a
scientific and logical introduction to sex education. It is for
parents and teachers essentially, although, if it should fall into
the hands of a child, it could do nothing but good. However,
the material is arranged so as to be given in a series of lessons
which in the case of plants should be illustrated by observation.
The first chapter is a sermon that should be taken to heart
on the deeper meaning of nature-study. The first lesson is a
charming one on the pollenation of the lily including the carrying
of the pollen from flower to flower by moths. This study forms
a basic lesson in reproduction. The next lesson is the life story
of the Cecropia moth. There follows this the story of the fertili-
zation of the eggs of fish through the agency of the milt, — as
impersonal a story as that of the pollenation of the lily. The next
natural step involves a more personal relation of the parents,
as illustrated in the life histories of the frog and toad. Then
comes the mysterious inner history of the egg traced from its
beginning to the hatching of the chick. This leads up to a study
of the rabbit which gives a complete history of the fertilization of
the ovum of the mammal, stress being placed upon the fact that
the reproductive organs of the male and female are essentially
alike in origin and thus shows that the development of sex is
nature's way of dividing the labor of reproduction. After these
lessons the step to the origin and growth of the human embryo is
but a short one and this chapter is written with detailed and
straightforward information.

Mrs. Cady was formerly a very successful nature-study teacher
in the Oakland, Cal., schools and was thus peculiarly fitted for her
part in this important voltmie. The last chapter deals with
nat lire-study and the personal problems of life and should be
be read by every one. She makes it very plain that when the
child is young and without sex consciousness is the time when it
should become familiar naturally with the methods of reproduc-
tion in plants and lower animals. A child thus trained is ready
for the revelation of its own origin and as Mrs. Cady well says
when we are thus trained " we shall no longer thmk of sex reproduc-
- - 125

126 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917

tion as debased or alien to our hiimanity." The book is ideal in
its straight-forward simple method of approaching this most
important subject and it forms a worthy guide to be used in setting
the feet of youth in the path of chastity and righteous living.
Judging Farm Animals by Charles S. Plimib, Professor of Animal
Husbandry in Ohio College of Agriculture, Orange Judd Co.,

*2.25.

Any book written by Professor Plimib is sure to be interesting
and this volume is no exception. It begins with a clear and incisive
discussion of form and function which gives the basis for judging
animals. The Score Card and its use are fully explained; then
follows chapters on judging horses, cattle — sheep, and swine.
Each chapter contains a study of the internal anatomy of the animal
and of the different types which have been developed ; what makes
this book of special practical value is that a Scale of Points is
given for each breed of farm animal. At the end of the book there
are given the rules governing live stock judging contests and the
rtdes of students' contests in judging dairy cattle at the National
Dairy Show of 19 16. It is a well writcen, clear and comprehen-
sive book fitted equally well for the farm library and also for a
text in agricultural colleges.

General Science Quarterly

Devoted to Science in the Elementary and Junior High Schools

"I do not think that any amoimt of pains and ability
in the high school can make up for a wrong start or
even a failure to get the right start (in science) in
the grades". John Dewey.

Some articles of interest to elementary school teachers are:

Connecticut System of Elementary School Science. Higgins
General Science in the Rochester Junior High School. Carpenter

Why Science in the Grades Rowell

An Experiment in Eighth Grade Science . • . . Patton
Method in Science Teaching . . • . . Dewey

Project Teaching Kilpatrick

Twilight Whitman

Ask to have this journal in your school library and subscribe
yourself. It will give you many practical helps.

Send 25c for a sample copy or $1.25 for a year's subscription.
If you wish back numbers of vol. I, please so state in your letter.

W. G. Whitman, Managing Editor, State Normal School

SALEM - . - . MASS.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 13 April, 1917 No. 4

Royalty in the Plant Kingdom

or

A Glimpse of Court Life at the Court of the Royal
Lady-Slipper (Cypripedium reginae Walt)

E. Eugene Barker

Assistant Professor of Plant Breeding, Cornell University

"Rushes tilting their burnished spears,
These are her courtly cavaliers,
Heart of my heart, we forswear the rose.
We have been where the lady-slipper grows."

With these words the poet acknowledges the stately graces of a
wild flower that outvies the charms of that queen of flowers, the
rose itself. Any person, who has been privileged to see this flower
growing in its native habitat, rising regal and stately from softest
cushions of exquisite mosses and bearing full flowers of purple and
white, must be constrained to agree with him.

Not a little of this plant's charm is due to the glamour of its
surroundings and to its habits. Exclusive to a degree, it prefers
the retreat of some cedar swamp or sphagnum bog, where its thick,
fibrous roots penetrate the cool substratum of muck, and its broad,
ribbed leaves expand in the hot humid air that swathes such places
during the intense days of summer. About the last week of June,
usually, the stout hairy stem with its great column of leaves attains
full height and discloses flower-buds at the top — one, often two,
occasionally three, round as nuts and creamy white. They are
nodding and modest at first; later, as they grow in size, they are
lifted, and one fine day the sepals are unfurled as gleaming white
banners, and the great inflated pouches flushed with royal purple
are borne proudly erect at the top of the stem.

One feels, as he stumbles upon a group of these magnificent
plants, in some wilderness, that he has bltmdered into an en-
chanted precinct, where they are holding court in a different world

127

128 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 191 7

of their own. He feels himself an intruder, and moves about with
deference amongst them. He notices the bees coming and going
from flower to flower and, if he is a sentimentalist, he will regard
them as courtiers; if he has a smattering of biological knowledge,
he will say they are servants carrying the golden pollen masses so
that the needs of reproduction may be fulfilled; if he is a gross
materialist, he will perceive that the bees are visiting the flowers
for the sake of gathering pollen and possibly nectar intent solely
on satisfying their own selfish needs, and that the flowers in turn
are passively securing the ser\dces of the bees to effect what they
cannot do unaided— insure a set of seeds. For this purpose the
flaunting expanded sepals of gleaming white, the labellum suffused
with color; for this puipose its marvelous shape, that forces the
insect visitor to crawl thru it and out underneath the sticky stigma,
leaving upon its surface the vital fecundating pollen substance, and
then to scrape onto her thorax again, more pollen from this flower's
anthers, to be carried to the next flower she visits and thus bring
about cross-fertilization. Cold, utilitarian facts in the economy of
nature, but showing such marvelous perfection of mechanical
structures for definite f mictions, such correlation between the
needs of plant and insect and withal such beauty of color and form
appealing to man's esthetic sensibilities that there is forced upon
the observer an admiration for the ways of nature's working and
the beauty of her perfected forms. One can search far, in the
kingdom of nature, before discovering more perfect illustrations of
adaptation of structure to fimction or of dependence of one organ-
ism upon another than he will find here exemplified in this member
of that wonderful group — the orchid family.

The flower is so constructed that no seed could ever be produced
without the service of some agent to transfer the pollen from
anther to stigma; it is utterly incapable of effecting self-fertiliza-
tion. The question arises, then: What insects are sponsors for
this plant's continued existence, and what species are these colors
and shapes and this rich, heavy odor especially suitable to attract?
Natural philosophers of a different age might have speculated and
theorized ingeniously, but we of to-day seek answer to such ques-
tions in the simple and commonsense way of going and watching
the plants where they are growing.

The writer once had the opportunity of making some interesting
observations that threw light on this question of the interdepen-

barker] royalty in THE PLANT KINGDOM 129

dence of flower and insect in this case. Provided with a butterfly-
net and a lunch he entered a bog where the lady-sUppers were in
full bloom — ^he also carried a bottle of citronella — (you see, this
was not an enchanted fairyland, else there would have been no
mosquitoes). Presently he found himself in the midst of a royal
compan}' of orbed blossoms; they surrounded him on all sides;
by turning around he could count 200 within sight, and there were
countless others beyond. They rarely grew singly but usually in
clumps of several to as many as 20 or even more from a single root.
Here was an ideal place to seek an answer to the question. Would
it be answered here and now? What insects might he see in the
very act of pollinating the flowers ? Everywhere about him were
the remains of last year's crop — old stems, almost all of which still
bore empty seed pods, which mutely attested the fact that each
flower had been pollinated.

The observer settled himself as comfortably as possible amidst
the hummocks of wet moss, and the stunted cedars, and waited.
The minutes lengthened into hours, the hours passed, but not
unpleasantly in such a place amidst such company. Occasionally
a gay butterfly fluttered past, perhaps hesitated and approached
a flower, attracted by its color and faint oily perfume. Perhaps
he even alighted for a moment on the labellum of the flower. And
then the excitement of the observer waxed intense and the col-
lecting net^ was grasped tightly in readiness for action. But
quickly the butterfly always passed on — for why should he remain
when the flower set forth no available nectar, and even if it had
done so, of what use would have been his long, slender proboscis?
The shape of the flower was obviously not adapted to him. Once
a pert little green grasshopper accidentally landed on the lip of the
flower, but he too went on his way as he had come. But some-
times a bee, flying swift and straight, came in a business-like man-
ner, alighted upon the labellum, proceeded immediately to enter it
thru the large aperture at the top and then crawled to the only
exit up under the column of the flower. This led her directly
underneath the stigma. There was just room for her body to pass
out on either side right underneath an anther, where she could not
avoid having her thorax smeared with the sticky pollen mass. The
flower was perfectly adapted to an insect of this size and shape and
the bee's acts and manner were tacit recognition of this fact.
Furthermore, such plants, as grew in the shade of the cedars and

130

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 1917

were somewhat sequestered from the flight of the sim-loving bees,
set fewer seed-capsules than those which grew in the open. The
proportion was about one-half for the latter and only a little over
one-fifth for the flowers that grew amidst the trees. The specimens

At the left a moccasin flower in section showing the bee on her way-
out of the sac with the stigma and anther above her. At the right
the bee is shown crawHng out of the small opening and becoming
smeared with pollen from the anther that brushes along her back.

of bees captured by the observer in the act of visiting these lady-
slippers all belonged to the genus Andrena.

Such, then, is a glimpse of the intimate life of royalty in the plant
kingdom, as seen by one who has been privileged to spend some
time at court and observe and record these incidents himself.

The Royal Moccasin Flower

Edna Louise Barker

When June, the magic month, comes 'round

With all her fairy train,
I long to quit the city streets

And roam the hills again.
I long to hear the wild birds sing

In far, secluded bowers,
And back among the green-girt hills,

To seek the Moccas'n Flowers.

The noisy pavements, grey with dust,

May hold my lagging feet —
My spirit wanders, as of old.

Thro' young grass, lush and sweet.
Beyond the walls that hem me in

Thro' all the golden hours
I know the mountain breezes blow

Across the Moccas'n Flowers.

Swayed on their slender velvet stems,

All leaved in emerald dresses.
In whispered conversation each

Her loveliness confesses.
Like silver-frosted moon-moths poised

Above their painted shells
Their frail twin petals draw the light

Down to their scented wells.

For them the pollen gathering-bee

Serves well for hidden pay.
Round them the gorgeous butterflies

Their rain-bow wings display ;
The cricket tunes his eerie viol,

The thrush pours forth her song;
Green fern and brake and slender rush

Bend to the stately throng.

Oh, soft and cool the breezes blow

By those deep-hidden nooks.
And sweet the ceaseless melodies

Of sun-ensnaring brooks.
When June, the magic month, returns

To her enchanted bower
And brings the queen of loveliness —

The Royal Moccas'n Flower.

131

The Skunk Cabbage, a Swamp Hostelry

E. Laurence Palmer
Professor in Science in Iowa State Teacher's College

It is fortunate that the likes and dislikes of all living things are
not the same. It is also remarkable that some of the most disliked,
ugly and disagreeable and unpretentious objects about us may be
the most interesting. Many of us have had the experience of
walking through a bunch of skunk cabbage in the spring. Few
of us, probably, cherished the experience as a pleasant one and yet
these seemingh' disagreeable plants of the marsh are very interest-
ing, indeed.

A glance at one of the first shoots sent up by this announcer of
spring cannot hell) but give one the impression that here in the

132

palmer] the skunk CABBAGE 133

woods is a little house of some sort. The overhanging roof, the
open door, all of these things remind one of the entrance to some
of our hotels. The comparison is not far wrong for here, in fact, is
the retreat or temporary home of some of the inhabitants of the
region round about.

Most of us would not cherish a visit to a hotel possessing the
aroma which fills the air about these plants but then, we are not
the welcome guests. As in Postuni, "There's a reason" so here
there's a reason for all of these "airs." Very probably, the odor
serves the purpose of advertising to certain passing insects the
fact that here is a place where board and room may be had for the
asking. In these days of the reign of the H. C. of L. such an hotel
would undoubtedly prove very popular to most of us.

If we look under the portico of this wet-woodland hostelry, we
will see within a large room with a structure which looks not unlike
a ball in the center. Possibly the visiting insects interpret the ball
differently then we for at any rate they proceed to enjoy them-
selves in this "ball-room." If we look into two or three different
hoods we will find that the balls are not all alike. Some, we will
find covered with groups of stamens, four in each group. Others
show only the tip ends of the pistils. If we visit these same
plants later on, we may find the order reversed or we may find still
other plants in which the stamens and pistils appear at the same
time. In this latter case, the stamens will probably be foimd at the
top and the pistils showing below. There seems to be no fixed
program for the appearance of these different parts as either the
stamens or pistils may appear first.

It has been suggested that the insects which attend the parties
given in this "ball-room" may be carrion flies. Their visit results
in "carryin' " pollen, however, and it is probably because of this
trait that so much attention is paid them by the plant to make them
welcom.e. At any rate, the insects which enter the door, find a
large, airy (?) room where wind and rain cannot bother. To be
sure, the roof serves the double function of protecting the pollen
and protecting the insect guests. For that matter, all hotels not
only serve to give a temporary home for travelers but also serve
the purpose of caring for the owner of the building. What is more
the woodland hotel is a decided improvement upon the man-made
imitation for here we find not only food and shelter for the guests
but the wherewithal to pay for that food and shelter. In the

134 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 1917

invention of man, the guests depart minus more or less wealth. In
the "Skimk Cabbage Hotel, Ltd.", we find the parting guest
dusted all over with pollen which may be used to pay for room and
board at the next hotel visited. Anyone who has spent time and
other things in a modem city hotel can readily appreciate the
advantages of this obscure and out of the way swamp hostelry.

In spite of all of these inducements to patrons, there is always
the possibility that the desired guests will not arrive and when one
looks at a patch of skunk cabbage he can easily realize that there
may be considerable competition. Fortunately for the skunk
cabbage, everything is not absolutely dependent upon insect
visitors. If no guests arrive, those plants in which the stamens
show first can still keep on a running basis for we find that the
pollen from some flowers in the head will fall on the pistil tips of
other flowers in the same head. In that way we see that there is
little danger of failure in gaining the desired result.

After the pollen has been deposited on the pistil either by a
visiting insect guest or by dusting from neighboring flowers in the
same head, we find that guests are no longer welcome. The hotel
begins to close its doors. Undoubtedly any man-made hotel would
of necessity close its doors too if it were to run on the same plan.
At any rate, the hood bends down and the regular well-known
leaves appear. All summer long these leaves work laying up food
both underground and in the treasure vaults where the pollen has
been deposited. If we should look for the remains of the spring
flower we will find that it has transformed into a sort of berry
sunken in the fleshy part which made up the ball for the most part.
These seeds often enter into the menu of some wandering muskrat
or better still grow into a new skunk cabbage plant.

The whole plant seems to live an unattractive life. There are
no brightly colored flowers for us to pick and the odor certainly
doesn't make a favorable impression upon our noses. But then,
the skunk cabbage doesn't grow for our particular benefit. If it
weren't for the odor we probably should never notice the plant at
all. Muskrats, insects and creatures of that sort can find plenty
of interest in the homely plant. There is interest and to spare for
us there too if we only go after it. Any effort devoted to finding
out some of the secrets which it holds will be well repaid and our
concept of the skunk cabbage will be much more pleasant than the
first impression we get by means of our noses.

bailey] AMERICAN ATTITUDE TOWARD FLOWERS 135

A very similar lesson or story may be made using the Jack-in-the-
pulpit in place of the skunk cabbage. "Jack" makes just as good
an inn-keeper for the purpose of a story as he does a minister.
The odor of "Jack's Hotel" is only slightly less fragrant than that
of the "Skunk Cabbage Hotel, Ltd." and the guests are quite
similar.

The American Attitude Toward Flowers

L. H. Bailey

America is the land of cut flowers. Nowhere else does the cut-
flower trade assume such commanding importance. Churches
and homes are decorated with them. One sees the churches of the
Old World decorated with plants in tubs or pots. The Englishman
or German loves to care for a plant from the time it sprouts until
it dies; it is a companion. The American snips off its head and
puts it in his buttonhole; it is an ornament. I have sometimes
wondered whether the average flower buyer knows that flowers
grow on plants. Flowers are fleeting.

All of us have known people who derive more satisfaction from
a poor plant that never blooms than others do from a bimch of
American Beauty Roses at $5. There is individuality — I had
almost said personality — in a growing, living plant, but there is
little of it in a detached flower. And it does not matter so much if
a plant is poor and weakly and scrawny. Do we not love poor and
crippled and crooked people ? A plant in the room on washday is
worth more than a bunch of flowers on Sunday.

Extract from The Nature-Study Idea.

Good News

The good news has reached us that Professor L. H. Bailey and
family have had a successful voyage as far as Honolulu where they
spent twenty-four hours, which time was mostly spent in a cele-
bration of their advent by the overjoyed Cornellians who have
found homes and work on those delectable islands. The Baileys
plan a more extended visit in the Hawaiian Islands on their return ;
they are now arriving in Japan.

^^^^P^T^

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The Columbine

Jay R. Traver
Willoughby, O.
"Columbine is dancing,

Lithesome, blithesome maid,
Where the sun is glancing
Thru the woods' new shade.
On her rocky ledges,
Tilting on their edges.
In a pose entrancing
Gay]}^ unafraid."

vSpring comes, April, May and June, brinj^ing a riot of beauties
and exposinj^: miracles ever new, of unfolding leaf and flower.
"Then it is that the coltmibine begins its reign of fire among the
granite rocks of old hillside ])astures," and high up on the inaccessi-
ble gray cliffs of gorges and ravines. It is well for this fairy flower
that it is enabled to find a foothold where man cannot climb, for
such an entrancing bit of flame, dancing with every passing breeze,
would fall an easy prey to many, who with thoughtless hand might

136

TRAVKRl THE COLUMBINE 137

snatch it up b>' the roots and bear it away, too often to cast it by
the roadside before even reaching their destination, when their
passing whims had fled. For there is no flower, however beautiful,
in its native haunts, that does not lose its charm when taken away:
as Emerson wrote of the sparrow,

"For I did not bring home the river and sky,
He sang to my ear, — they sang to my eye."

But no cliff is too sheer, no rock too steep, to keep away the
visitors whom the columbine invites, with its flaunting yellow and
red tasselled bonnet nodding a welcome as they approach. Hither
come bees great and small, hawkmoths and humming birds on swift
wings and for them a feast is spread.

"So in her red gown, trim and fine,
Merrily dances the columbine."

Columbine or Aquilegia belongs to the crowfoot family. From
England our Pilgrim fathers brought the hardy perennial colum-
bine {Aquilegia vulgaris), a native of Europe and Asia, not knowing
that in their new home they would find the even more beautiful,
wild perennial, the red columbine {A. canadensis), the common
form native to New England and the Middle States, often erron-
eously called wild honeysuckle. In the western states two other
forms, the western columbine {A. formosa) and the Colorado
columbine {A. caerulea), are found, the latter having been voted
the state flower of Colorado.

The five peaks of columbine's bonnet are formed from the five
petals, each a veritable horn of plenty, the tip end filled with
nectar. As the flowers bow their heads, this nectar probably flows
slowly down into the lower part of the horns, allowing bees and
other short-tongued insects to have a taste. The greedy bee, while
clinging to the tassel of stamens and pistils, becomes dusted on the
under side of her body with the ripe pollen, some grains of which
she is almost sure to leave on the stigmas of the next flower she
visits. But the "burly, dozing bumble bees" are less polite, and
often bite thru the tip end of the horn, thus getting the nectar
without repaying the flower by transporting some of its pollen. If
no insects should come, it is probable that cross-fertilization would
take place. But there is small chance of such an event, as long-
tongued visitors, the butterflies, hawk-moths and humming-birds,

138 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 1917

are not slow in accepting the proffered sweets, carrying away on
their throats the precious golden pollen grains.

The sepals, five in number, are placed, one between each two
petals, and are of the same color as the petals, in the wild columbine
scarlet bordered with yellow. The stamens and pistils hang in a
tassel below the flower, five pistils and many stamens. The
anthers, before ripening, are arranged "in an inverted pyramid,"
each curled up at the tip, making them look "fat, yellow and globu-
lar." but when the pollen is ripe, the anther uncurls, extending
down below its unripe comrades; but alwa^^s the stigmas are lower
still.

The plant grows from one to two feet in height, the leaves being
olive-green in color, some growing from the root and others being
placed alternately along the flower stem. The lower leaves are
three-lobed, and the lobes are lobed, but the upper leaA^es are
simply bracts at the bases of the flower pedicels. The seed capsule
consists of five pockets, each opening near the tip when the seeds
are ripe.

The name columbine is derived from the Latin columba, meaning
a dove. Some think this name is appro-
priate because the claws of the blossom seem
to associate it with the bird. Mr. Prior
sees "the resemblance of the nectaries to
heads of pigeons in a ring around a dish, a
favorite device of ancient artists." Jean
Ingelow writes :

"Columbine, open your folded wrapper,
Where the two twin turtle-doves dwell."

while others says it is derived from the fact that one petal and two

sepals of the white columbine are said to look like a dove. Perhaps

no one has interpreted this flower so perfectly as has Professor

L. H. Bailey in his poems, "Wind and Weather," of which a part is

given :

"Columbine

What doest thou here

Upon this chine

Of rock-cliff sheer?
* * *

A quickened thing drawn from a stone
With stems and buds and seed-pods grown

traver] the columbine ■ 139

Seemly flowers with filaments therein
And pearling tubes with nectar in
Leaflets modelled tenderly
Rainbow hues
Winds and dews
And the spring's transparency
All in sweetest unity.
* * *

Ah. the wonder that has run

That some sweet alchemy has won —

Kissed together stone and sun !

O Columbine,
The world is thine!

January Wild Flowers

The California spring is far in advance of oiirs as the following
note written in the middle of January by Miss Alice Eastwood,
Botanist, of the California Academy of Sciences attests: "I was
up to my place (on Mt. Tamalpais) yesterday and found a blue
Iris in bloom, a wild one that hugs the ground and keeps its seed
pod below the surface of the ground; it is called Iris macrosiphon,
for the entire stem is the calyx tube. There were also in blossom
Zygadenus pediciilaris and a pretty Umbellifera called "belaea.''
The Manzanitas and Ceanothus are in bloom higher up, and have
been in bloom for weeks.

I keep up an exhibition of the native and exotic flowers in bloom
in the vestibule of the Academy of Sciences building (in Golden
Gate Park). I have a stand with three shelves, each one smaller
than the one below. I put a label on each kind of flower containing
its scientific and its common name and the name of the country
where it is native. Some day, I hope to have in one place in the
park a representative collection of the plants in the park, arranged
according to the system of claosification and all labelled correctly.
The park is so large that to find all the kinds of plants would be a
task of years. There is probably no place in California where so
many different species are to be found as in Golden Gate Park."

*A Schedule for Arbor Day Compositions on
Conversation

Mrs. N. L. Britton

New York Botanical Gardens

Editor's Note. — Mrs. Britton has kindly prepared a schedule for Arbor
Day compositions for The Nature-Study Review. The topics are three in
number; the points mentioned under A or B or C should be covered by the
essay on that topic but not merely answered as if they constituted an examina-
tion paper. The best essay on each topic will be printed in The Review and
should not contain more than one thousand words.

A. OUR NATIVE TREES

1 . How many and where are our National Parks ? Name them.

2. What trees are most abundant in various parts of the United
States? Which grow the tallest? Which live the longest?

3. Are there still any large areas in natural forest' Where'

4. Why is it important to preser\^e forest areas? How do they
control our water supply and the flow of owe streams and rivers'

5. Give the present prices of lumber and state the various uses
to man.

6. What countries of che Old World have been largely de-
forested ?

7. Which European countries have seen the necessity for
reforestation ?

8. What states have learned by experience to protect and
increase their forest areas?

9. Have you ever camped in the woods? What rules should
you observe in camping?

ID. Are you a boy-scout or a camp-fire girl?

II. What cities are noted for their street trees? Which trees
are usually most planted? Which are the best?

Ans. The Red Oak. (The Ailanthus, Oriental Plane and Nor-
way Maple are of the best, but are not native.) Native Maples
and Poplars are brittle and short-lived.

*The schedule given above has been modified to suit the needs of teachers in
other cities, from one which has been used for Arbor Day compositions in
191 5- 19 1 6 in the pubhc schools of Great<-r New York. The best compositions
were selected and printed in the Journal of the New York Botanical Garden
and reprinted for free distribution. Copies may be had on application to
Mrs. N. L. Britton.

140

britton] arbor day COMPOSITIONS 141

12. How are street trees injured? How can they be protected
from injury ?

13. Have you ever planted a tree? Is there any special prep-
aration necessary ? What does it cost ?

14. Why was Arbor Day founded? Is it generally observed?

B. OUR SHOWIEST SHRUBS AND TREES

1. What native trees or shrubs have showy flowers or fruits?
Ans. Azaleas, laurel, rhododendrons; dogwood, magnolias,

holly, winterberry, etc.

2 . What is the color and size of the flowers or fruit ?

3. Name the places where you have seen them growing wild.

4. Which are becoming rare or extinct? (Laurel and holly).

5 . How are they destroyed ?

6. Is there any way of preventing this?

7. Are there any of them in cultivation?

8. Is there any special preparation or protection necessary?
Ans. Most of these prefer leaf-mold to manure, and need

mulching, some both in winter and in summer. (Rhododendron
and laurel) .

9. Have you ever planted a shrub? What?

10. Which ones are your favorites?

11. Are they native or introduced? What are their native
coimtries ?

12. Which ones are most attractive for their color?

13. Which ones are most attractive for their odor?

14. Are any of them used for perfumery?

15. What countries are famous for cologne and soap?

16. How are the perfumes extracted?

C. OUR NATIVE WILD FLOWERS

It is well known that in many places where wild flowers used to
be abundant they are rapidly becoming rare or extinct. In the
case of annuals, this is due to the fact that so many are picked that
an insufficient number remain to form seed. In other cases, it is
due to the clearing and burning of the woods, the draining of
swamps, or the cultivation of the fields. Roadsides also are
robbed of all their natural charm by insensate clearing and the
automobile makes it possible to go further afield in search of wood-
land treasures ! The spring flowers are most in need of protection

142 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 1917

and should be picked in moderation without disturbing the roots :
Arbutus, hepatica, Jack-in-the-pulpit, spring beauty, wild pink, wild
columbine, bird-foot violet, wild orchids, particularly the moccasin
flowers, pink and yellow, and fringed orchis; the laurel, dogwood,
rhododendron and magnolia; also the \\\\6. field and water-lilies, and
the American lotus, the cardinal flower Sind fringed gentian and holly
The ferns also should not be forgotten, maiden-hair, climbing, and
Hart' s-tongue ferns, etc. All these need protection, and the owners
of places where they grow should try to save them! Many wild
flowers can be grown and improve under cultivation, if proper soil
and shade are given them and they are mulched with leaves.

Many associations are endeavoring to protect them and litera-
ture and information may be had from the following:

Wild Flower Preservation Society — New York Botanical
Garden.

Chicago Chapter — Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois.

Pennsylvania State Chapter — State College, Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia Chapter-^University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Society for the Protection of Native Plants — Horticultural
Society, Boston.

Federation of AVomen's Clubs — Local State Chairmen.

Garden Club of America — Miss Marble, Bedford, Westchester
County, New York.

To Louis Agassiz Fuertes

William P. Alexander

Written on a fly leaf of ''Birds of New York"

A master mind, an all-observing eye,

Combined to make his art most consummate;
With pigments blending tints of earth and sky

In pictured forms, that life doth simulate
In full perfection ; he an art doth ply

That Nature's self can straight impersonate: —
His feathered folk might from the canvas fly

Instinct with song and wholly animate.

The sylvan idyl of melodious May

Is caught ; and here the fierce, grim tragedies

Enacted oft amid the woodland trees

Is seen — the pinioned hunter and his prey.

Hail to the craft and skill that can ensnare

Our birds, vet leave them free in wood and air!

The group of adder's tongues.

How the Plants Wake Up from Winter Sleep

Frederick V. Coville

Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture

Once upon a time there were two little boys who Hved upon a
farm that was their very own. It was a stony, hilly, half-wild,
woods}' farm, with a brook and a spring; and a bog where the
sparkling sundew set its baited trap. The farm ran down on one
side to a lake where the boys built castles in the sand, or frightened
the darting pickerel through the lily pads, or played water tag
with schools of curious minnows. There was a dark pine woods
where the brook went over mossy stones and the trout lay watching
in the pools, and farther down a thicket of alders where the wood-
cock hunted over the soft wet ground and left the mud full of
holes, as he prodded with his long bill for worms. There were
great red oaks, where the grey squirrels grew fat in autumn, and
dark hemlocks in which the red squirrels chittered and scolded.
There were berries to be picked, wild strawberries, and blueberries,

143

144 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 1917

and red fragrant raspberries, and great sour thimbleberries, and
blackberries, and dewberries. There were shady places among the
sugar maples where one could hide completely in the ferns, and
where the red ne\^^s came out of the dead leaves after a rain.

All the places were calling to the boys, and all the animals, to
come and play, to come and hear their tales. They went often
and they learned much, many and many a charming story. But
the flowers were silent. The little boys used to pick them and
carry them home, or make them dance in fairy circles on the sandy
shore, or stand guard like steadfast soldiers along the brook. But
the flowers told no tales. The little boys wondered and then they
asked, but the flowers still were silent. One warm day in spring,
howe^xr, as the smaller of the two boys sat on the brook bank
putting on his sandals and looking at the sod dam he had just built,
he heard a voice at his side, and being used to such things it did not
startle him. "We flowers," it said, "are mostly a silent people.
We do not come and go like the animals, or sing like the birds, nor
do we crawl and eat like the caterpillars. We stay where we were
born, and we are silent, but we are a very ancient people and we
have learned many things, what we must do and what we must not
do. We have taught the bee and the butterfly to work for us and
we pay them for their labor. The wind works for us too, but him
we do not pay. We are wise in the wisdom of our kind. If you
will come again, I will tell you a tale."

The next days were cold and windy and cloudy, and the boys
played in the snug old barn, burrowing in the haymows, building
toy boats on the barn floor, and cracking butternuts on the solid
oak sills. On the fourth day the wind turned northwest and the
sun came out. It was warm in the southerly nooks and cold in
the windy shade.

The tiny sailboat, after many crossings, had drifted unheeded
to the sod dam, and the smaller bo}^ was squatting before a group
of adder's tongues, asking them questions. "Weren't you cold?"
he said.

"Not at all," replied the one with the sunniest smile. "We nev^er
feel cold."

"Well you must have felt awfully cold last winter, any way."

"No indeed," she laughed. "We like it that way. And if you
won't pull us up, I'll tell you all about it."

And then she told the story of the cold. During the long siim-

HOW THE PLANTS WAKE UP

145

most

mer and autumn the plants are laying up a store of food for coming
winter and spring. Day by day they add to the store, mineral food
brought up from the soil through the roots, and starch manu-
factured in the leaves. The
plant's active growth of spring
and early summer has lessened
or ceased, and in full leaf and
full vigor for acquiring food,
but with little or no present
use for it, the

r

plant stores its

daily surplus in

whatever place

convenient : the

adder's tongue, in the bulbs;

spring beauty, in the tubers;

anemonella, in the thick roots;

the trees and shrubs, in the

sapwood, the roots, the twigs,

and sometimes even in the

pith, when that stays alive

from year to year.

The annual plants lay up
nothing and when the frosts of
autumn come they die, with
the grasshopper and the stiffen-
ing katydid. But the other
plants shed their leaves and
begin their winter's sleep
gorged, and surfeited, and fat
with food. In the evergreens
even the nooks and crannies
of the leaves are used for
storage.

" In the fall," said the adder's tongue, "we are so sleepy. Even
the mellow Indian summer doesn't make us wide awake. And its
well for us that it doesn't . If we started growing in those tempting
days we should use up our winter's supply of food, and freeze to
death later. The warm-country plants that came north and were
foolish enough to start growing in Indian summer were all killed

The adder's tongue, showing its under-
ground storehouse.

Drawn by F. Dana Gibson, a pupil in
seventh grade.

146 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 191 7

off thousands of years ago, and they didn't leave any descendants
with that bad habit. No, indeed. We wait for the cold.

"The cold! Oh, how good it feels. It is so comfy. In Indian
summer one feels all stuffed up, sort of bilious. Too much carbo-
hydrates, the doctor would say. But when settled cold weather
comes everything is all right again. Some of us don't really freeze
at all. We are under a warm cover of leaves and a thick blanket
of snow, and often even in zero weather, as the wise old wood-
chopper can tell you, the ground about us doesn't freeze. But
most of us do freeze. The trees and the large shrubs, which stand
up through the snow, freeze through and through. When we are
frozen w^e are sound asleep. There is nothing else doing."

"It is when the temperature is just above freezing that things
begin to happen. One gets numb and relaxes, and dozes along in
serene half conscious happiness, like a boy on a visit, waking up in
a new and strange bed, comfortable, contented.

"When the storage for the winter is first completed the various
materials are in special compartments. The starch, for example,
is in starch cells, where it is held tight and sound. But when our
live parts get cold and numb ever\i:hing begins to leak, I guess.
At any rate, all through the Indian summer the starch had remained
in stubborn solid grains which couldn't be used in making new
growth, but now something was coming in contact with these
grains which dissoU^ed them and turned them into sugar. Appar-
ently there had been a leak somewhere.

"Oh, the starch, and the cold, and the sugar ! Most people think
the sugar maple has a monopoly of the sugar business in this
neighborhood, but the fact is that nearly all of us plants are making
sugar out of starch whenever there is a thawing day in winter time.
Even a potato gets sweet if it is down at nearly freezing for a month
or two. The sugar maple hasn't any sugar in the fall. It is
simply gorged with starch. You see that maple over yonder?
Last January in a warm spell a squirrel bit off some of its twigs, and
it shed sugary tears all over the place. It makes sugar just Hke
the rest of us, at any time during the winter when it is cold but not
frozen.

"When the starch begins to change into sugar something else
happens. Did you ever hear of osmotic pressure? Well, never
mind. It's this way. When one of our little inside compartments
has sugar in it it gets thirstier than usual. It drinks in water and

coville] now THE PLANTS WAKE UP 147

swells until it almost biirsts. Indeed, it actually would burst if it
didn't have a very strong wall about it. A pollen grain of Indian
com swells up and explodes if it can get a particle of pure water to
drink. Try it, under a microscope.

"Well, the more the sugar develops the more we want to swell,
until we get up a pressure inside greater than that of a steam
engine. To tell it in words only a little different, we want to grow.
We're crazy about it. We simply must grow; and that is why,
when the least bit of warm weather comes, in spring, you find us
bursting into bloom.

"Next Indian summer, cut some pussy willow twigs, or some
alders, or some cherry branches, and bring them into a warm room,
with water to drink. They won't bloom. Then try it a month
later, and another, and another month, and you'll see what happens.
Just try it. Do.

"Did you hear about the apple tree that was planted in Panama?
It grew at a furious rate for about six months. Then it got sleepy
and waited for the cold, but the cold never came and the tree never
really woke up again. It grew a little at times but never vigor-
ously, and finally it died.

"We northern plants cannot live without our yearly chilling."

As the boys went home to lunch the older one said "Perhaps it's
the same way with people. Don't you remember how tired we
were that year we stayed in the Canal Zone, and how we braced up
in two months of cold weather after we came back? I wonder if
we northern people don't need some cold weather just like the
plants."

And the smaller boy said, "I wonder."

The Twin-Flower

W. p. A.

Wonderful flower in hue and form!

Thy dainty bells, — a pair
Of dangling spice-cups in the warm

Sweet, mellow summer air.

No opulent and flaming bloom
That lights the tropic wild

Has charm for man, like thy perfume
Thou flawless mountain child.

Enchanted with a glad surprise
His eye looks down on thee,

Smiling beneath the clear, cool skies
In shade of Northern tree.

The Wild Flowers And The Teachers

Guy a. Bailey

Professor of Biology and Nature-Study, State Normal School, Geneseo, N. Y.

Where are the wild flowers of yesterday? What is the attitude
of the school on the subject of picking them and bringing them in
imsightly bunches, to fade on the teacher's desk?

Improvement of the land and the clearing up of waste patches
have reduced the range of many species of wild flowers. To this
we can offer no serious objection. Still there are many areas that
for one reason or another will be allowed to produce just such a
crop of native plants as conditions justify. These will be the places
that a large number of out-door people will have to use in common
with each other. They will be the picnic grounds for the children
and grown-ups. Over these same areas nature-lovers will tramp
for birds, wild flowers, ferns, mosses, insects and all the various
forms that draw people from the sheltered life of office, school-room
and library. They will be the oases for the pent-ups. As time
goes on the ntimber of the visitors will increase while the number of
such breathing places will be diminished. Each year sees an
increase to an already long list of out -door people. Unless more
care is exercised by those who now use these places a large amoimt
of the material that makes them attractive will be destroyed and
only the bare places left for succeeding generations.

There seems to be a sort of sequence in the disappearance of the
flora and faima of those regions over which civilized man roams at
will. As far as the flora is concerned there is some variation in the
order of disappearance. In places where trailing arbutus grows
naturally this species seemed to be the first to go. Its manner of
growth and short stems call for the piilHng up of the entire plant
by those who place immediate pleasure first in their code of ethics.
The result is that this delicate spring flower is pushed back and
away from the cities and Adllages to remote hills where it is still
being pursued with a perseverance worthy of a better cause. Even
now as far as the majority of this generation is concerned it is
exterminated. When a flower occurs as sparingly as does this
little plant it is time for all to refrain from picking it and allow
the plant to regain some of its lost ground. . What are the school
people doing ? If a boy or girl can bring arbutus in from the coim-
try how eager the teacher is to wear a piece in her waist and many
of the children can also boast of a little sprig of this much perse-

148

bailey] wild flowers AND THE TEACHERS 149

cuted little plant ! Isn't it time for the teacher to stop to explain
what all this will lead to before its actual extermination confronts her ?

Another plant that has been pushed back to the regions where
few travel is the pinxter or wild azalea. Its delightful fragrance
has long since been but a memory in many wood-lots and along
roadsides ! To whom shall we look for the cause of this ? In the
past teachers failed to teach the lesson of restraint when it was
necessary. They preferred to share with the children the fleeting
pleastire of a handful or armful on the desk — ^just for the day.
And each year saw less of it to break away ; then the time came
when there was none, — none for a generation more capable of
appreciating its natural beauty than the thoughtless generation
which, unwittingly, put out of existence one of the most beautiful
of wild flowers. Then there are the wonderful orchids ! Where is
arethusa? Have you any? Then try to save it. It is worth
going to see. It is worth going a long way just to see. Take
along your camera and get it that way. Leave it on its stem that
another, journeying with a camera, will have the same opportunity
that you have. Where are the moccasin flowers? There are a
few of them left but they are growing less in number and will
continue so to do until there is a change in sentiment in regard to
picking them. Why should the most beautiful flowers be picked
and exterminated while the weeds thrive on with no one to molest
them? What a flne thing it would be if those who pick should
suddenly decide on the weeds and visit them with the calamity
which now threatens those flowers we all want to save !

The list of threatened wild flowers can be extended for there are
many on the verge of extinction. What is to be done? Really,
when is a wild flower a flower ? The best answer I know is the one
which says that a wild flower is a wild flower only when it is growing
on its stem in its natural setting. It needs all the woods, and the
trees and the soil and the air to make it a real wild flower. Bunches
of wild flowers packed together and set in a vase are not attractive
to people with good taste, but only appeal to a crude appreciation.
Even if they were thus really attractive, it would be a most
extravagant way to exhaust the beauties of the fields and woods.

If we would have succeeding generations share the pleasures we
derive from a walk in the woods, it is necessary that teachers take
the lead in giving boys and girls a proper conception of wild flower
appreciation.

The Spring Wild Flowers

The Beginning of The Trail From Notes "On The Trail of The Wild Flowers."

Lucy L. Stratton

Erie, Pa.

It is a great pleasure to present to the readers of The Review this charming
and intimate account of the spring wild flowers from one, who now at the ripe
age of eighty, is still working with them and loving them. Mrs. Stratton has
sketched and painted over 1300 species of wild flowers and has her sketches
classified and arranged botanically, a personal and glorified herbarium; and
she is still painting and writing, a beautiful and inspiring example of what the
companionship of plants will do in keeping youthful the body, mind and spirit.
— The Editor.

The valley of the Connecticut on the Vermont-side — an upland
farm a mile from the valley — the farm half A^alley and half hill —
the hills half wooded and half tilled— all watered by a brook some-
times in a glen almost Alpine in its wildness and inaccessibleness,
sometimes meandering through a flowery meadow; a lovely view
over into picturesque New Hampshire upon the near Moosilank and
the not distant Franconia and Presidential ranges : — such was the
setting of the over a hundred years old farm house where toward
the close of the last century, a summer was spent by the WTiter and
the scheme conceived and commenced of securing and drawing in

150

STRATToxI SPRING WILD FLOWERS

51

water colors the flora about nie there and wherever thereafter I
mi^ht chance to be.

All around the house were stately elms spreading their branches
with dignity graceful yet benignant over the mossy roofed old
buildings and standing as guard each side of a grassy lane leading
down to the west to the brook and meadow beyond the brook, the
elms barely giving way to the brook and rustic bridge over it and
beginning again with undisturbed statehness on the other side.

Jean Paul says if you would be happy make a collection of some-
thing; but Solomons' supplement was found indispensible at the
outset in collecting and painting wild flowers. Solomon says
"The slothful man roast eth not that which he took in hunting, but
the substance of a diligent man is precious."

It was not enough to hunt up and down that wild glen as I did
ever}^ day in the early spring, sometimes on one side of the roaring
brook sometimes on the other, crossing it on trees fallen across it
or stepping from stone to stone, a precarious footing, searching for
the first spring flowers. That which was caught in hunting must
be "roasted"; must be carried home unharmed, placed in water
and drawn and painted before it withered. In short the substance
must be taken precious care of with the utmost diligence or hunting
was of no use. Little or nothing was taken in April, however,
which was cold and stormy, though with newly aroused ardor the
hunting was carried on unweariedly.

But one of the first days of May, growing near or partly in a
lingering snow bank, on the wooded hill east of the house between it
and the river the beautiful trailing Arbutus {Epigaea repens) was
discovered and with that my first campaign ' ' On the Trail of the
Wild Flowers" set merrily on.

If you have never found the trailing arbutus growing in its own
wooded fastness in early spring, if you have never scraped among
the winter covering of dead leaves and seen the bunches of grateful
blossoms peeping up at you smiling and blushing in their virgin
beauty when there was scarcely another green not to say flowering
thing on the face of world round about, you have missed one of the
sweetest joys my memory cherishes. We used to clamber down a
steep bank above a river when small children and find such charm-
ing bunches of Mayflowers — no joy can ever be quite like that.
Never shall I forget the delight each cluster gave us, as we liberated
it from its covering of dead leaves — how it seemed to us as if the

152 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 191 7

clusters leaped for joy from their winter imprisonment into our
eager hands.

A whole troop of flowers followed at once the lead of the arbutus.
The delicate spring beauty {Claytonia virginica) was indeed the
very first flower found and as such it stands the initial specimen
of my collection. Early in May in the glen high up the brook
appeared those showy three-rayed stars the white and red trilliums.
also dearly loved flowers of our childhood. What cared we that
they were not sweet-scented as we eagerly plucked them till our
little fingers could not clasp another stem. Then the yellow
adder tongue, yellow violets, wild oats, blood root and many others
kept me busy every morning "roasting" that taken in hunting the
previous afternoon.

In the field toward the east there were large patches white as
snow of innocence, {Houstonia ccerulea) that pigmy Alpin-like flower
scarcely two inches high, and the swampy ground south of the field
was yellow with the marsh marigold, or cowslips {Caltha palvestris).
One can but feel a kind of pity for this pretty spring flower which
with all the beauty of its gay, golden sepals and large shining oval
leaves has begged the English language in vain for a true name.
Though often called marsh marigold it is no marigold nor related
to that family and it is no more a cowslip than a marigold. It does
not seem, however, to mind in the least the ignominy of these
borrowed names but embellishes swamps and ditches with its
golden cups early in May.

For these first weeks on my "Trail" (which has proved to be a
long and devious one) all was fish that came to my net ; no matter
how common or insignificant the flower it was new to my pencil
and must take its place in my collection.

The wood anemone, the blue, pink and white blossoms of the
hepatica, the buttercup — even the dandelion, the first one found
sat for its picture — its leaves still too small for pot greens.

The first dandelion blossom of the season always reminds me of a
little incident I once heard related by the Superintendent of the
Hartford Asyliim for the insane; how having plucked one in his
walk, the first of the season he had seen, he held it unconsciously in
his hand when he was called to help subdue a raving maniac, a
woman who was smashing everything possible in her room and
whom no one dared approach ; how unlocking the door he went in
and reached out toward her his hand in which he held the dandelion

stratton]

SPRING WILD FLOWERS

153

The Spring Beauty.

blossom; how she looked at the flower an instant and said **Did
you pick that for me?" and burst into tears completely subdued by
the simple little flower. This story gave the blossom for me the
title of nobility which it has always retained.

One of the dearest of the spring trophies was the little twin
flower (LinncEa horealis) a veritable Alpine flower growing in the
moss in New England woods, two little pink cups always nodding
on one stem with a delicate perfume perfectly in harmony with the
delicate beauty of the twins.

Though for many years interested more or less in the study of
wild flowers it was surprising in this new alertness, this collection
greediness how I discovered every day something new which I had
walked over all my life, so to say, without noticing. One of these
the little Veronica serpyllifolia, smallest of the small family of the
speedwells perpetuates in my collection the white lie which in the
demands of science must be confessed. As every botanist knows,
the tiny monopetalous cups of these veronicas are most deciduous
and fall when a few hours old at the slightest touch from the stock.
Charmed with the tiny, violet-like wayside blossom, hitherto
unnoticed, I carried it home and placed it in water to paint next

154 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 19 17

morning. But lo ! in the morning every blossom had dropped off
and lay floating on the surface of the water. They were all perfect,
however, and it seemed quite right and an easy thing to do to paint
the little plant and put a flower at each place where it belonged,
copying them as they lay on the water. They had to be turned
over face up and it went on finely — only as I discovered afterwards
I put every flower wrong side up, the largest, lavender striped
petal belonging abo^^e instead of below as I painted it !

As the days grew longer and the sun warmer bolder and more
brilliant flowers appeared. Champions of this movement were
that pert, little, black parson Jack-in-the pulpit and hobnobbing
with him without color prejudice the pale and graceful false lily of
the valley, Clintonia horealis daring to be false face to face with
his reverence. There was a wood path leading I know not where
(that is the charm of a wood path the no end of possibilities as to
where it may take you and what you might find if you were to follow
it long enough) a widish, grass-grown, shadowy path leading up in
the hilly woods to the east and each side of it as spring advanced
was a flower garden where I revelled for many a day before its
treasiires were exhausted. One day — where to the left of the wood
road was a deep glen — I shall never forget how a bit of lovely rose
color caught my eye and beckoned me to the glen; how I sprang
down the steep bank and found that orchid loved and coveted of
botanists, the pink lady's slipper, (Cyprypedium acaulis) not one
but many, here and there one, all around. Near them the ground
was covered with the shining leaves and quaint flowers of the fringe
polygala, the largest species of the polygala family I have found.
By the side of the path or in it the northern columbine (Aquilegia
Canadensis) sent up its shafts of red and yellow blossoms while all
around the ground was dotted with the white four-sepaled flowers
of the low Cornel or bunchberry- — a bunch of red berries when ripe
— sweetish and harmless — not quite so good as they look as every
child knows. vStill more deceptive than the fruit is the flower — this
large white four sepaled flower being in fact not the flower at all
but a showy involucer around the minute real flowers that bear the
berries.

And each one of these countless wood flowers — a thing of beauty
that would have graced the garden of a mansion growing here in
careless profusion to grace a forgotten wood path where nobody
everv went ! Ah ! do not be too sure of that ! Somewhere awav

stratton]

SPRING WILD FLOWERS

155

Bloodroot.

Up and over that hill in some secret place of the woods there might
be for ought I knew a fairy grotto and troops of fairies led by
Titania may have danced up and down this grassy path on spring
moonlight nights ; may perhaps have sown the seeds of the flowers
so in due time to enjoy them. The cut bono question began to
puzzle me early in my wild flower pursuit and has puzzled me all
the way on (Darwin not being the least relief to me) and of the
many solutions I have given myself this first one suits me as well as
any. For in a way I believe in fairies. Who am I that I should set
limits to the creative power and will of the Author and Giver of all
good things, denying the existence of what I cannot comprehend
and see ' By day and by night everywhere from the farthest star
on the outskirts of the universe to the tiniest mosses on which I
tread I know there is life, life, life, and the varieties are as infinite
as their Creator. Go on then imagining, Grimm, Anderson, poet,
story teller, whoever you are, all the new phases of life you will,
you never can approach the reality.

By the end of May the lilies of the field and mountain (though
they toil not nor spin) blazed out splendidly, the former nodding,
the latter looking the midday sun straight in the face and that is
doubtless whv thev blushed so scarlet. This mountain lih^ stood

156 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 1917

at intervals a scarlet sentinel by the side of my wood path; the
meadow lily beckoned to me from the meadow below as I strolled
down the western lane, a whole troop of them tall as my head and
sometimes eight or ten lilies nodding on one stem. Their orange
petals had taken the sun in spite of their drooping till their maroon
freckles made work for me in copying. Farther out in the meadow
where imless the weather was for a long time dry, the roots of the
rough grass were immersed, searching one day, in rubber boots, I
found hidden among the grass roots several minute flowers that set
me to wondering again of what use they were. There was that
smallest of the St. John's wort family, two or three inches high with
its little yellow blossom, and the curious {carnivorous?) little sun-
dew with its pretty rosette of tiny roimd leaves fringed with red
hairs and its very small white flower on a steam scarcely two inches
high. Why were these ciiriously wrought and beautiful things
hidden here where one, even a fairy, might live a lifetime on the
farm and never find them? Perchance some little being incon-
ceivably small has, with his family, his home in the tremendous
shelter of one of these fringed leaves and is happy, and the erect
stock two inches high topped by two or three white blossoms may
be the beacon to guide him back home when he travels far away —
a foot or so. How do I know?

One day early in June came the report that Cypripedium
spectahile was in blossom. Up to that time in my life I had existed
in some way without knowing there was such a flower. That
Orchids were an irresponsible race, that you were never, sure what
they might take it into their heads to do in the way of beauty or
oddity to surprise you I had already learned but as yet had become
personally acquainted with none but the beautiful pink lady slipper
Cypripedium acaule. The Spectahile, the queen of sHppers, should
be seen growing in its proud beauty to be appreciated. In blossom
it stands from two to three feet high the stalk sheathed with its
large clasping leaves almost up to the flower which rears itself in
truly regal grandeur clothed in white and purple, by far the largest
and noblest orchid growing wild in these latitudes.

And now as if following their queen the whole floral world
seemed to blaze out till one must think nothing more in the way
of blowing could possibly be done. Oxe-eye daisies, black-eyed
Susan, Queen Ann's lace, blue vervain, yarrow, fire weeds, rock
saxifrages and innumerable others covered all the fields, hillsides,
roadsides, brooksides till there really was room for nothing more.

H

s

^^^H

H

p

^^^^^^^^Hj^^-^^^H

1

1

mi I

^v ^b ^^^lE^^^I

^m '

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SI

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1

Ho For Hepaticas!

Harry G. Bull

And now bring in the hepaticas; they are yonrs for the taking.
Do you remember where the prettiest ones grew last season — the
pinks and lavenders and blues ? Then that's the place to go, now's
the time, and the snow is already melcing. Take along your
hatchet to chop the frozen ground with, for you'll want a good-sized
handful of earth with each plant.

Look for the largest clusters of last year's leaves, all red and
green and brown, and pressed flat by the heavy blanket they have
been sleeping under all winter. Then look again, and closer:
way down in the middle, cuddled together like "a small wee furry
nest of root-mice," are all the furry biids, asleep. Be sure you get
good plants with plenty of buds- — the woods are fuU of them, so its
no robbery^and you will have a fuller bowl of blossoms later.

Take up four or five plants, and don't forget the dirt. Crowd
them together in a shallow flower bowl or box. Let the warmth of
your home or schoolroom play the part of April air, and a sunny
window attract hot Titan's beams; water them once in a while,

157

158 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 1917

and — sh-h ! in less than no time the sleepy babies wiU feel the touch
of your artificial Spring and begin to stretch their sleepy arms.
Out they come, farther every day, at a surprising rate, until
suddenly some morning you will find them at full length, with a
beauty in every hand. Presto ! vSpring is here, though the robins
are still looking for worms in Baltimore and the bluebird has yet to
sing as he flies along our fence posts.

After the petals have fallen the downy leaves will appear, and
as the real Spring arrives you can set the plants in some friendly
corner and they will bloom again next year, none the worse for the
trip away from home so early in their infancy.

An April Stanza from ** Spring Rivulet''

From Wind and Weather by L. H. Bailey

Through the pastures hif^h

Now free of their snows

On gray matted sod

The rivulet grows, —

Dips under a root

Falls over a stone

Slips under a. bank

With a muffled tone,

Shines out in the sun

Then sweeps round a knoll

And spreads clear and still

In a weed-edged bowl.

It drains the mud slews

In the fields of wheat

And lays down the silt

Where the currents meet.

Bubble and bubble tumbles the foam.

Grasses and twigs will find a new home.

Oh robin, my robin, you are with me again :

The sap's in the maple and the wood-twigs arc bright,

The fence-rows are waking and afield are the men,

The March-winds are roaming and the willows are white.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Published monthly, except June, July and August. Subscription price, including mem-
bership in the American Nature Study Society, $1.00 per year (nine issues). Canadian postage.
10 cents extra: foreign postage, 25 cents extra.

T x_^x Please note date of expiration of your subscription on the label of the

AIIipOilM'Ilt wrapper. Subscriptions must be paid in advance to comply with postal
requirements. Subscriptions and advertisements should be sent to The Comstock Publishing
Co., Ithaca, N. Y. Manuscripts for Publication and Books to be Reviewed should be sent
to the Editor.

Editorial

WHITE OF SELBOURNE

The Editor has a leisurely feeling this morning, although no cog
has slipped in the routine machinery of her day that turns out a
duty for every hour with clock-like precision. The reason for her
delectable state of mind is that she has been reading with her
senior class in Nature-Study the writings of that first great expon-
ent of our cult, Gilbert White of Selbourne, England. He had all
the time there was in his days ; and there is no note of hurry in his
wonderful letters, so full of what he saw in his garden and during
his strolls in the country round about. Time to see, time to think
about what he saw, and time to write to his friends about what he
saw and thought, what an ideal life!

Gilbert White was a man who was interested in the world and
wished to see it ; but instead of setting out on a journey to see it,
he sat down and saw it. Other men of like mind, travelled in far
away lands, around about the globe. What did they see ? Moun-
tains, valleys, birds, animals, insects, trees, plants, rocks, fossils
and different kinds of men. Gilbert White stayed at home in his
own dear English nook, and he also saw hills, valleys, insects, trees,
plants, rocks, fossils and different kinds of men; and he saw them
far better than most of those who went abroad to see. Not only
did he see, but he thought about what he was seeing and tried to
place it in its right relation to the rest of the universe. What he
saw meant something fundamental to him, and to his friends.
Had it not been for his friends we should never have known aught
of Gilbert White; he wrote letters to them constantly containing

159

i6o NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 1917

delightful and detailed descriptions of what he had seen of impor-
tance in his world that week or yesterday.

His interests were as varied as his talents; one letter may con-
tain a poem, the next a study of the swallows or some other birds,
the next a description of some fake, like the curing of cancer by
toads, the next, an account of archeological treasures unearthed in
the neighborhood or a sympathetic study of Timothy, his pet
tortoise. We know only incidentally what his friends wrote to
him, but as long as our language stands, we shall know what he
wrote, for what he wrote is as fresh and vivid to-day and even more
interesting than it was when it was penned more than a century and
a half ago. What he could describe better by making drawings, he
recorded in this manner, making ideal illustrations for text.

If there is anyone like Gilbert White left in this bus}^ modern
world, who has time and inclination to see, think and write and
who has leisure for contemplation, the Editor would be pro-
foimdly grateful to be informed of the fact; she would make a
pilgrimage and look at him from afar, through field glasses, so as
not to disturb him and then she would come home and announce
the glad tidings to the readers of The Nature-Study Review.

THE PEACEABLENESS OF NATURE STUDY.

The Editor is a peace-loving person, coming from Quaker stock,
and never has the study of the birds, trees and flowers seemed
so sweet and comforting to her as since this war carnival has been
drenching European soil with the blood of her bravest sons. In
fact, the little brethren of the fields and woods have been about
the only companions able to beguile the mind to forgetfulness of
the stupendous calamity. Because of this there has come a new
sense of the importance of giving to the rising generation this
power to find companionship in the study of life out-of-doors; for
it has ever been a source of strength to those possessing it.

Gilbert White lived and saw and wrote during the American
Revolution and when England was at war with France and Spain
also. But no word of these struggles finds its way into these whole-
some, serene letters to his friends. We cannot doubt that he was
deeply stirred by the events of his time; but he had learned that
when he placed his hand in that of Mother Nature, he could afford
to forget his anxieties and yield himself to the comfort of hei com-
panionship.

The Teacher's Corner

There is a special charm in the study of the spring flowers which is lacking
later in the season when we have forgotten about winter in the wealth of sum-
mer blossoming. The topics selected by the writers of The Nature-.Study
Review this month are exceedingly interesting as special subjects for study.

The Lady's Slipper or Moccasin Flower. The observations on this flower
should consist in the following: Describe and sketch the leaves showing how
they join the stem and whether they are alternate or opposite; descr-^'be the
sepals and their position in relation to the flower; note that there are three
petals, the middle one of which is very different from the others in form;
describe the petal sac, the entrance to it, the color around the entrance to
attract the inseict; the exit and the reason why an insect would not be hkely to
come out by the same door that it went in ; note the two roundish bodies which
project into the openings of the sac at the exit, thrust a pencil against the
underside of one of these and note that the pollen comes off "in a plaster";
cut away one side of the petal sac and find the stigma; describe it and its
situation with relation to the anthers and to the exit through which the insect
crawls out; note how the bees visiting the flowers one after another may carry
the pollen of one flower and deposi^^, it upon the waiting stigma of another;
describe the seed capsule from the outside, cut it across and note the arrange-
ment of seeds and how the capsule opens to let the seeds out.

The Skunk Cabbage. I know a place by a tiny lake where a cold spring wells
out of a tree-covered bank and feels its lucid way past the root-stalks of staunch
ferns and around mossy logs until it reaches the water below. Near-by it the
crinkle-root and miter-wort blossom and the adder tongue and trillium shake
their nodding bells, and a little at one side of the spring, between it and the
lakelet, grows a mass of great, spreading, bright green leaves which make the
nook look most tropical. Surely we plant near our ponds many things which
are not nearly so beautiful or luxuriant in foliage as is the much despised skunk
cabbage. It was this very spot that Mary Rogers Miller describes in her
delightful Brook Book, where she discovered that the skunk cabbage not only
blossoms earlier in the spring than other flowers, but that it is able to germinate
enough heat to thaw for itself holes through the snow covering; she says
characteristic ah y, "I like hardy folk — people who can germinate their own
fires and do work in spite of everything. Skunk cabbage is just such a sturdy
citizen." A study of this sturdy citizen which blossoms before the hepatica,
and even before the pussy-willow lifts its soft fur, ' will make for us an in-
teresting page in Nature's book.

Observations on the Skunk Cabbage: Where does the skunk cabbage
grow? Have you discovered that snow melts quicker above the skunk cabbage
than elsewhere in its vicinity, if so describe it! Do the flowers or the leaves
appear first? Show by sketch how it looks when it first appears above ground ?
What is the color of the spathe? Does the spathe change its shape as it grows
older? Describe the spadix and the floweis bo+h in color and form. Do all
the flowers mature at the same time? If some of the stamens mature before
the pistils tell on what part of the spadix they grow. How early do you find
skunk cabbage in blossom in your locality? When do the leaves appear?

i6i

i62 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 1917

Sketch the leaves as they look when just starting. Take one of these leaf
buds apart, leaf by leaf, and note how compactly nature does up her packages.
When does the fruit mature ? Does the spathe remain after the fruit is mature ?
How does the fruit look when matured? What is the use to the plant of its
odor? What insects do you find visiting the flowers? If possible, study the
roots of skunk cabbage and describe how they are fitted to live in the places
where the plant usually grows. Compare the skunk cabbage with the Jack-
in- the pulpit and the calla lily. Why do you think these plants are related to
each other?

A dder's tongue. This plant should be studied in the woods, notes being made
on it there; but a plant showing the corm, roots, leaves, and blossom should be
brought to the school house for detailed study and then planted in a shady
place in the school garden. The following points should be observed: Where
the adder's tongue grows, how early its leaves appear above the ground, and the
date of its first blossoming; the number of leaves on each plant and their
colors ; do they remain mottled as they grow older ? Do the plants occur singly
or in patches, why do they grow so many together? How far below the
surface of the soil is the corm? How does this differ from a bulb and of what
use is it to the plant? Note the shape of the flower, the three sepals are petal-
like but they are sepals just the same because they protect the bud; note the
lobes on the base of each petal, note the flower is bell-like and its clapper is
made up of pistil and stamens., note that the flowers close on dark days, when
there are no insects to visit: describe or sketch a stamen and pistil; describe a
seed capsule and the seeds within it.

The Hepatica. This is perhaps the best loved of all the wild flowers and the
plant may be potted early and its blossoming watched in the school room.
The following points should be observed: That the hepaticas always grow in
woods but not in open fields; note the color of the leaves in early spring and
sketch them in color; note the young leaves that come up late in spring, that
they are covered with down; describe the flower bud. the stem and the three
little blankets that hold the bud, which are really bracts and not sepals; note
all the colors of hepaticas; do the flowers remain open in dark weather and
stormy weather? Note how they close and bend in a snow storm; do they
remain fragrant? Note that after their stigmas are fertihzed the flowers remain
open in dark weather and are not fragrant and explain that this is because they
no longer need to save their pollen and induce insects to visit them ; note that
the three outer petals are really sepals in position and act like sepals, when the
flower closes, although they look like petals; note the long stamens with the
greenish white anthers and the many pistils at the center of the flower, each
pistil holding up a little whitish stigma, and that each pistil produces one seed ;
note that the three bracts remain to protect the seeds when ripening.

The Columbine. While the form of the columbine flower may be studied in
the school room yet the observations of the changes in position of the anthers
from day to day and the actions of the insect visitors should be made in the
fields. Note that the columbine has five petals which form nectaries; there is
a sepal between each two nectaries which is of the same color as the petals and
adds to the beauty of the flower; the flower droops and hanging below it are
the stamens, and the stigmas; there are many anthers and when unripe they

THE TEACHERS CORNER

163

are fat, yellow and globular; each anther has a short filament which curls up
at the tip and holds the stamen up ; but when the pollen ripens, the filament
straightens out and the opening anther hangs down below its unopened com-
rades, but never so far down as the stigmas; note that each day a few more
stamens straighten down; note that there are five stigmas tipping the thread-
like styles each of which leads back to an ovary filled with ovules. The whole

ix^ctaries

process of shedding pollen should be watched, and also the hummingbird and
insect visitors and their actions in getting nectar from the flower; note that
the columbine buds are at first all green and describe the changes that take
place until the flower blossoms: describe and sketch the seed capsule with its
five pockets each with an opening near the tip to let the seeds out ; note that
the lower leaves are three-lobed and the lobes are lobed ; and the upper leaves
are simple and bract-like at the bases of the flower stems; have the pupils
describe all of the kinds of columbines that they know.

April

Phoebe Bird

Gaunt forests, misty green with young leaves, seem
Reflections pale of emerald fields below.

Athwart their depths, white shad-bush pennants stream,
Fair springtime dreams of branches hung with snow.

News Notes

The report of the Commissioner of Elementary Schools of California is at
hand and is very interesting. California has a live wire in its Commissioner
of Elementary Schools, Dr. Margaret Schallenberger McNaught. She has
under her charge 432,562 pupils and they may be counted fortunate. x\mong
the bulletins edited by her for the state is one on good manners. Realizing
the difficulty of teaching manners and morals, subjects which are required by
law to be taught, this bulletin was written by Dr. McNaught and should be
in the hands of ever\^ grade teacher in the United States,

In northern California, the work of introducing the nature-study field
excursion into the schools has finally met with the same success as the campaign
to introduce manual training and domestic science. They now have these
field excursions just as one sees them all over what might be called the "fair
complexioned" part of Europe.

On Burbank Day, March 7th, a newspaper campaign was started by the
Sacramento Bee for the purpose of eventually organizing Audubon Societies at
some 150 points throughout the Sacramento Valley. The first part of the
campaign was devoted to birds ; the second, to tree planting for supplying bird
refuges, as well as for replacing the losses of the primeval trees of the valley
floor. Sets of the Mumford Colored Bird Prints are being supplied to each of
these 150 centers by Mr. C. M. Goethe of Sacramento. This campaign will be
followed by systematic work throughout the year.

A circular has been issued by Dr. A. H. MacKay, Secretary of Public
Instruction of Nova Scotia, to be handed to each teacher in the Province.
This circular outlines nature-study observations and gives tables to be filled
in by the teachers and returned to the school inspector. These tables ask first
for the general topographical and geographical conditions surrounding ^he
school; then gives a list of 52 wild plants and 13 cultivated plants, asking
when the blossoming of each is first observed and when it becomes common.
Information is also asked for the date of beginning certain farm operations;
also record of the meteorology of the region. The time of spring and fall
migration of 18 birds is asked for; also the dates of first piping of frogs and
appearance of snakes. This circular should be the means of collecting very
important data.

A committee of leading educators has been formed for promoting physical
education in the public schools of the United States. This committee holds
that, "physical training rather than purely military training is desirable."
Account of the work of this committe > may be had by sending to Mrs. Harriet
P. Thomas, Room 647, Munsey Bldg., Washington, D. C.

From Clayton F. Palmer, Superintendent of Agriculture in Los Angeles,
California city schools, comes a very interesting report on the garden work in
that city. Tw(j acres have been made into gardens, which are used as a center

164

NEWS NOTES 165

for teaching, inspiration, and the growing of plants for distribution to other
schools. The forty teachers who conduct the garden work in the elementary-
schools meet at this center once a month for conference, instruction, and plant
material. Connected with this garden is a bungalow for collections, labora-
tories, and class room, a lath-house, potting -house, propagation yard, compost-
ing yard, and a model home is to be constructed. In the garden itself are
plots for wild flowers, iris, vegetables, bush fruits, fruit trees, grapes, etc., also
a rockery, and water garden. When all this plan is finally realized Los Angeles
will have an ideal center for conducting city garden work.

The people of Portland, Oregon, are making ready to give the teachers of the
N. E. A. a cordial welcome. A rose carnival is to be held for their benefit and
every teacher will be given a rose bouquet every morning of the meeting; or
if she prefers, the teacher may clip her own roses, and "the bathing pavilions
will furnish a rose for the hair of every swimmer."

There are many interesting trips to be taken from Portland as a center, and
those teachers who are fortunate enough to attend this meeting are sure to have
the time of their lives.

Dr. R. W. Shufeldt ^ends the following news notes on Nature-Study in the
public schools of Washington, D. C:

For many years past I have been much interested in the matter of the
development of the observational powers of boys and girls, in their school and
home training, to begin as early in their childhood as possible. Malobserva-
tion on the part of individuals of either sex, at any age, is responsible for more
misunderstandings, defective education, criminal acts, and general misery and
unhappiness among us, than all the other causes in the world put together.
We have not far to seek, at any time, abundant evidence to sustain this state-
ment. When malobservation is combined with gossip, it often results in the
severance, o^ friends, and in breaking up of families. It has the power at all
times to fill the literature of science of every description with error, to be passed
into schools of education of every grade and description; and it may be the
cause of losing everything or anything, from a case of infantile paralysis to the
most momentous battle fought in the history of mankind. Indeed, there is no
end to what malobservation may be responsible for either in private or public
life. For this reason we should do all in our power to properly develop and
train the faculty in our children, at every stage of their education, in the matter
of seeing, and seeing correctly, and when the proper age is arrived at to report
truly — that is, to write out correct accounts of what they have seen.

Nature-study, when properly incorporated into the educational scheme of
children, in the family and in the schools, constitutes a method that is amply
able to effect what we aim to accomplish along such lines, and accomplish it
most thoroughly. These facts are so well known to the best of our teachers of
children throughout the country, that it will not be necessary to occupy fur-
ther space here touching the matter at this time.

Recently, Miss Cora A. Smith, News Editor of The Review, has requested
me to report upon what is being done in such directions in the Public Schools
of Washington, D. C. In taking the initial steps toward gaining the necessary

i66 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 1917

information in the premises, I communicated with Miss Susan B. Sipe,
teacher in the James Ormond Wilson Normal School of this city, one of the
best equipped of all our Public Schools. Miss Sipe most kindly and very
promptly responded to my application for information. As the teacher in the
Nature-Study Department, Miss Sipe "requires every student to take at least
one walk in the country each month and make observations at the same time.
As most of them have done nothing of the kind before in their school life, they
have difficulty in seeing. They are improving from month to month. I also
encourage the feeding of birds by the students who live in the suburbs. The
two papers I am sending you show the endeavors of one of them." The two
papers referred to are reproduced in extenso below.

Miss Beard being a student in the Normal School, is, of course, a
young lady grown. These two examples of nature-study observation are dated
23, I9i6and January28, 1917. The latter is a most interesting contribution
December and is entitled "A January Walk in the Country," and the former "A
December Visit to my Bird Tables." Both papers are in evidence of excellent
powers of observation on the part of their writer, and they show marked im-
provement when we consider that they were written less than a month apart.

A JANUARY W^ALK IN THE COUNTRY

The world was covered with a soft white blanket last night and when I went
out the sun had sprinkled it ^ith myriads of diamonds. But I did not go out
to look at the beauties of nature, I went out seeking facts. Since nothing was
to be seen on the ground but snow, I went to th woods to find my facts. As I
walked along I looked at the buds on the different trees and I found that many
of them are much larger than they were when the leaves first fell off, especially
those on the hickory, tulip magnolia, silver poplar, Judas tree, and dog wood.
The little round, fiat buds on the dog wood w^ere all holding tiny candles of
snow. These round buds are the ones which will make the flowers next spring.
The leaf buds are still very tiny. In the same way it is only the buds. that will
make the "cat-tails" on the silver poplar, which are so large now. The leaf
buds are still very small. The buds on all kinds of oaks, willows, black walnuts,
elms, and maples are still as small as they w^ere early in the fall. It was very
easy to tell which oaks belong to the white oak family because they still have a
great many of their leaves sticking on their branches. The pine trees all had
their needles drawn closer to their branches than they are in the summer and
the tips of the branches had tiny snowballs in them. I looked in the clusters
of needles at the end of the branches to see whether the young shoots had
started to grow and I found that they had not. Most of the berries have fallen
off of the cedar trees but I looked on the tips of some of the branches and I
found the tiny little waxy balls which will make the berries for next year.
They were not any larger than a pinhead. These were only on the trees which
had berries on them. On the other trees I found little yellow scaly looking
balls which were about half as big as one of the blue berries. These are the
buds of the staminate flowers. The trees which bear the berries do not bear
the staminate flowers. As I crossed the creek at one place I noticed that the
tails on the alder and hazel bushes seemed to be longer than they were in the
fall, and they are not so dark in color.

NEWS NOTES 167

Since I can tell the names of all of the trees around here by their bark, I am
teaching mj^self to know them from a distance by the way in which they grow.
You may not think this is possible, but it is, because I have found that no two
different kinds of trees hold their branches in the same way. I have made it
into a game which I rather enjoy playing as I go through the woods. This is
the way I do it. I pick out several trees while I am too far away from them to
be able to tell what they are by their bark, and I decide as to what I think they
are, then I go up close to them to see if I was right. It is one of the most
original and fascinating guessing games that I have ever played. Try it and
see if you don't agree with me. I am beginning to know the trees around here
so well by the growi:h of their branches that I very seldom make a mistake any
more. For instance, these are some of the things I have learned ; the branches
of the black walnut while comparatively few are large and spreading and very
stiff looking, even the smallest twigs are stubby and thick; the willow has
slender branches which grow upward and are covered with long yellow switches ;
the branches of the elms bend down in the shape of an umbrella and are a soft
gray in color, even the tiny little twigs (which are very slender) carry out this
same scheme of growth ; all the top branches of the tulip magnoUa try to grow
as near vertical as possible ; these trees also have rather stiff looking branches
but they grow so much more vertical and are so very much lighter in color
that they cannot possibly be mistaken for black walnut. I might go on
indefinitely and describe any number of trees in this same way without men-
tioning their bark so you see I am learning a few things out of school simply
by observation walks. Pearl Beard

Miss Beard's report on her visit to her bird tables will appear
in the Bird Number of The Review.

The Book Shelf

Messages of Good Cheer, No. i and No. 2, by The Trotty Veck Messengers,
Saranac Lake, N. Y. The two numbers mailed for 20 cts., twelve for
$1.00, not sold separately.

These tiny booklets came to the editorial desk a month ago and have
established there a permanent place of their own, where a momentary glance
at one of their messages may gladden an hour and replenish editorial courage.
Trotty Veck was a weak, spare old messenger described by Dickens in the
"Chimes," but he was strong at heart and of good cheer and had entire faith
in his ability to deliver messages. The Trotty Veck Messengers are two young
men who are obliged, on account of ill health, to live at Saranac Lake and who,
instead of giving themselves over to the boredome of convalescence in exile,
have gathered together enough cheerful messages to make two booklets, each
worth its weight in gold to anybody who can read. The messages are quoted
from poets, philosophers, noted writers, with here and there a few words from
the Messengers" themselves, such as: "Your friend is the man who knows all
about you and likes you," "How to make a shadow: stand in your own sun-
shine," "Even a tombstone will say good things of a fellow when he is down,"
"Don't Grouch! smash a window or a chair or take a cold plunge, anything
to get it over with." The No. i booklet is entitled "Good Cheer," the No. 2,
"Be not afraid," These young men surely are living up to their principles:
"When you reach the mountain top, wig-wag courage to the fellow in the
foothills," and we hope every reader of The Review will send 20 cts. and
receive these two little treasure caskets of cheer.

Poultry Breeding and Management. By James Dryden, Professor of Poultry
Husbandry at Oregon College of Agriculture. Orange Judd Co. 402 pp.
$1.60.

"When man himself became tame he set about training the wild things of the
forest and plain in order that he might better supply his needs for food and
raiment." "To exercise his God-given dominion over the earth, man had to
bring to his assistance plants and animals that hitherto existed only in a wild
state." Thus in the first chapter does Professor Dryden pleasantly introduce
to us the history of poultry raising and breeding. A chapter is given to each of
the following topics: Historical Aspect, Evolution of Modern Fowl, Modern
Development of Industry, Classification of Breeds, Origin and Description of
Breeds, Principles of Poultry Breeding, Problem of Higher Fecundity, Systems
of Poultry Farming, Housing of Poultry, Kind of House to Build, Funda-
mentals of Feeding, Common Poultry Foods, Methods of Feeding, Methods of
Hatching Chickens, Artificial Brooding, Marketing Eggs, and Poultry,
Diseases and Parasites of Fowls.

Professor Dryden writes in a lucid, crisp style and has his subject matter
"boiled down" to crystallization. There are no superfluous words in this book
which is a clear comprehensive and up-to-date treatise on the poultry industry.
There are about 200 illustrations which are both pertinent and interesting.

168

THE BOOK SHELF 169

Modern Fruit Marketing. By Bliss S. Brown, Professor of Horticulture in the
Maine College of Agriculture. Orange Judd Co., $1.25.
If our great grandfathers could awake from their long sleep and come back
to see how we are getting along, probably nothing except automobiles, aero-
planes, and telephones would surprise them more than our present methods of
marketing farm products. In their day they shook the apples from the trees,
put them in barrels and carted them to the nearest town and sold for what they
could get. Now the process of marketing is as complex as is everything else
in our modern life, — as is well shown by this book written by a high authority;
it deals with the subject of marketing fruit with a thoroughness that is note-
worthy. In it are discussed fruit harvesting operations, preparing fruit for
the market, fruit packing and package, the storage of fruit and its effects on it,
transportation, selling agencies, and methods of selling, organizations of fruit
growers and fruit shows. The book is written tersely and clearly and is pro-
fusely illustrated ; it is a volume that should be in every fruit grower's library.

The Book of Forestry. By Frederick F. Moon, Professor of Forest Engineering,
Syracuse University. D. Appleton and Co. 351 pp. $2.00.

This volume is dedicated to young America and to Daniel Carter Beard, New
York Scout Commissioner. It is written with a thought that "the best way
to reach the citizen of to-morrow is to interest and instruct the boy of to-day."
Part I covers the following topics: What is forestry? — what the forests do for
us, saving Uncle Sam's biggest bank account, how big trees from tiny seedlings
grow, properties of wood and their uses, making money out of forestry, the
life of a forester, how the forest is guarded, measuring the forest crop, harvest-
ing the forest crop, the most interesting forest products, how wood is preserved,
city forestry and shade trees, the future of forestry in the United States.
Part II is given over to a description of the trees and shrubs which are of eco-
nomic importance and has a key for determining wood sections.

Part I has 15 interesting full page illustrations and Part II has many line
drawings to aid in determining species of trees. The book is written in a simple
and chatty style which will surely make it attractive to boys and girls ; and it
will undoubtedly fulfill the author's desire that it may "awaken the love of the
forest in the heart of young America, and a realization that forestry is necessary
for the comfort, health, and prosperity of future generations."

Experimental Plant Physiology. By Lucy E. Cox. vii + 1 1 1 pp. Longmans
Green & Co., London. 1915. $.60

The book contains directions for sixty-nine physiological experiments
designed for pupils of high school age. It is particularly interesting as restric-
ting itself wholly to physiology. It indicates better than any other manual of
the reviewer's acquaintance the possibilities that lie before elementary plant
physiology in our secondary schools.

As the book is of British authorship it naturally reflects some methods which
are not in accord with current American practice. For instance, the labora-
tory directions not only give the aim and method, but also set down in con-
siderable detail the expected observations and inferences.

The directions are clearly given, assisted by illustrations when necessary,
and a number of experiments are new.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 13 May, 1917 No. r,

Concerning Wild Ducks

Elsa Guerdrum Allen
Ithaca, N. Y.

Photos by A. A. Allen

"Whither, midst falHng dew.

While glow the heavens with the last steps of day
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
Thy solitary way?"

These lines of Bryant are imbued with the spirit of the wild.
The poet, out in the twilight, sees the princely game bird, safe,
after a day of peril, wing^ine his evening fiis-ht to pond or lake
unknown. But he cannot follow him. He can only wonder
and ask:

"Seekst thou the plashy brink

Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide.
Or where the rocking billows, rise and sink.
On the chafed ocean-side?"

The waterfowl appearb as a beautiful mystery, stealing, from out
the sky, upon the inner consciousness, just long enough to draw us,
yearning, to some knowledge of its secrets, and then, —

"Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven

Hath swallowed up thy form ; yet on my heart
Deeply has sunk the lesson thou hast given
And shall not soon depart.

He who, from zone to zone,

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone.

Will lead my steps aright."

Bryant's "To a Waterfowl" has been called America's finest
short poem. Its appeal is tremendous for ii: sets forth, in match-
less language, the reverence we all feel for wild hfe. It attributes
to the waterfowl a sort of hallowed unapproachableness.

171

372 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:5— May, 1917

But had Bryant been able to follow the bird to its "weedy lake or
river wide," he would have pictured for us a different sort of a
duck — a duck of the earth earthy, with a short, squat bod^s and great
webbed feet, a duck with a broad, busy bill and a glistening eye;
a duck that rid^s the water like a cork, then suddenly flips into the
wave, rising in a moment, juggling a strand of eel grass, while the
beads of water roll from its back like milky pearls. Such birds one
must now stir far frora his fireside to see. Long persecution has
made them both scarce and wary, so that, if one would know them
intimately, he must follow them away to their native stretches of
marsh and water, and live with them a while.

In colonial days, when this country was more or less in a state
of pristine nature, the number of wild ducks, and indeed all wild
life was almost phenomenal, but too soon this wealth was prodi-
gally wasted. The early settlers doubtless though c it inexhaustible
and shot, and trapped, and netted, practically unrestricted by law,
until but a small remnant was left.

The Laborador duck and the passenger pigeon are now extinct,
but these calamities served to rouse the country to the need of
protecting birds. Good laws are at last in force, helping bird-life
to regain its own. We are passing through a national awakening
to the value and beauty of birds, and wild ducks, although as yet
imperfectly known, and so difficult to study, are no small part of
the new and fascinating field of nature-study.

Central New York is the home of large flocks of wild ducks from
November to April. ]\lost species, nest west and north of this
region but they come south in the fall, the pond and river ducks
continuing to the Southern States where small bodies of water
remain open, while many of the bay or diving ducks stop on the
Finger Lakes.

The ducks are a large group of water birds which, with the geese
and swans, are classified as the family Anatidae of the order
Anseres. There are two hundred species of ducks, geese, and
swans, found throughout the world, of which approximately fifty
occiir in North America. About forty of these are ducks, the rest
being geese and swans. The ducks, in turn, are divided into three
subfamilies, the Merginae (fish-eating dticks with serrate bills), the
Anaiifiae (the pond and river ducks which secure their food by
dabbling in shallow water), and the Fuligulinae (che bay or diving
ducks which dive for their food in water from five to one hundred.

i

ALLEN] CONCERNING WILD DUCKS 173

or one hundred and fifty feet deep) . The diving ducks can remain
beneath the surface of the water for minutes at a time, probably
owing to the air which they store in their five pairs of air sacs.

Representatives of all three sub-families visit central New York.
There are nine species of merganser, or sheldrake, or saw-bill, as
thev are variously called, three of which, the American merganser.

A Pair of Wild Mallards

the red-breasted merganser, and the hooded merganser occur on our
lakes between October and April. The first fall migrants are the
dull colored immature birds, and those in "eclipse" plumage.
Later in the winter the lakes are dotted with small flocks of the
bright colored adults. All the mergansers are handsome, crested
birds with rather slim bodies, the males having very striking plimi-
age. They feed on fish, frogs, crayfish, etc., which they secure
by diving, and the mandibles are provided with saw-like teeth
which prevent their slippery prey from escaping.

The early fall, September and October, brings in mostly the
dabblers or river ducks (Anatinae) among which are the black
duck, the mallard, the blue and green- winged teals, the pincail,
the widgeon, and the wood duck. The western gadwall and
shoveller rarely come here. Black ducks, mallards, and blue-
winged teal, occasionally nest here in the larger marshes and iso-

174 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:5— May, 1917

lated upland bogs. Wood ducks, also, sometimes nest here in
hollow trees, high above water or even far removed from it, and the
ducklings, soon after hatching, drop out of the nesc, collect them-
selves as well as they can, and follow the mother to the nearest
pond or stream.

The green-winged teal, the pintail, the widgeon, and most of the
blue-winged teal, black ducks, and mallards nest in the west and
north, coming here only as fall and spring migrants. Their nests
are rough structures, lined with down from the ducks' breasts
which conceals the eggs when the parent birds go in search of food.
Ducks lay from eight to twenty eggs, a provision of nature against
the great mortaHty among young ducks, for the young maturing
from a brood average only four or five. The river ducks migrate in
rather small flocks, but by the time they reach their winter quar-
ters in southern United States, especially some of the large game
refuges, they combine into flocks sometimes mmibering thousands.

The common winter ducks of central New York are the bluebills
(or scaup ducks), the canvasbacks, the redheads, and the golden-
eyes. Ic is not uncommon fo: black ducks and a few mallards also,
to winter as far north as this, and, when the snow is not deep, they
supplement their feeding on the lake with trips to the upland fields
where they find grain and weed seed. The diving ducks (Fuligu-
linae) are, however, the cypical winter resident ducks of New York
State. In fair weather they usually mass their numbers into a few
large fiocks far from shore, but on stormy days chey are restless,
circling about on whistling wings, hunting a sheltered bay in which
to feed.

They nest in the large marshes of norchwestern United States
and Canada coming south only far enough to find food. Usually
the Finger Lakes do not freeze their entire length, so that these
ducks have good feeding on the beds of eel grass and other pond
weeds which cover parts of the lake bottom, but in severe winters,
when only a few holes stay open, the local bird club and game
wardens have had to take them large quantities of grain. At such
times many of them become so tame that they feed close to shore,
even on the shore, seeming to forget that they ever were hunted.

Their fear is mostly for motion, so that if one keeps perfectly
still, he may have the joy of studying them within a few feet —
their wonderful plumage, their curious calls, their feeding habits,
and their constant fighting with each other.

ALLEN] CONCERNING WILD DUCKS 175

The canvasbacks and scaups, althou^i;h supposed to be very
wary, are usually the first to find the feed, and, after scrutinizing
the shore from every angle, they begin to dive. The water boils
and churns with the multitude of paddling feet and buoyant
bodies, and more ducks swim in from all directions until there is a
great flock. Beside the graceful, aristocratic canvasbacks the
scaups look very chubby and their beady yellow eyes set in their
dark round heads give them a shrewd if somewhat uncultivated
expression.

The redheads keep clanishly to them.selves, diving out towards
the middle of the lake, and if ever one finds itself with the more
docile scaups and canvasbacks, it swims about suspiciously with
every sign of being an alien. Sometimes, in the early morning, or
in che dusk of evening, small flocks of black ducks and mallards
come in but they too seem out of their elemenc. Being dabblers
rather than divers, they are perhaps loath to show their inex-
perience in deep water. They edge toward the corn and finally
wich much splashing and complete lack of finesse, they essay a few
dives in the shallower water. These pond and river ducks dive
with a little flip of their wings, as well as their feet, while the diving
ducks use only their feet.

It is often all one can do to hold in his chuckles while watching
from ambush on che shore, such a seething, bobbing mass of ducks,
but it is imperative that he do so, no matter what ridiculous bout
may be transpiring a few feet away. The canvasbacks, albeit very
dignified at times, are fighters ac heart. For no reason that an
onlooker can discover, two birds advance gloweringly toward each
other, with heads bene threateningly to one side, while each
tranfixes his opponent with his glittering red eye. Then they
clinch bills and struggle till one is exhausted and attempts to
escape, whereat the vanquisher grabs him unmercifully by what-
ever part he can seize, — neck, wing, or tail, — and pursues him till
his spirit is chastened.

Sometimes a pair of whistlers or golden eyes, one of the most
beautiful and distinctive species, swim in, although apparently not
for the corn. They are well named ' ' whistler' ' for their wings make
several times the noise of other ducks' wings and, furthermore, the
sound is quite vocal in quality (although of course it is made
entirely with the wings) , and it can be heard as far as the bird can
be seen. The male often executes his curious courting figure

176 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:5— May, 1917

before the female. Stretching head and neck, he throws them clear
back over his body till his bill touches his tail. Then suddenly
he recovers himself uttering his characteristic call of ''Beard'' very
sharph^ while the female sometimes acknowledges this attention
by flattening herself upon the water, swimming rapidly away with
head and neck extended straight out from the body.

The notes of wild ducks are perhaps the strangest and most
surprising revelation to the bird student. Contrary to common
beHef, there are rather few ducks which "quack." Female black
ducks and mallards quack, but, cA^en with these, there is con-
siderable variation and the males make a much softer, subdued
sound. The red heads on the middle of the lake, keep up a more
or less continual calling — a loud, nasal, rather shrill ''can'' some-
what resembling the note of a }'oung crow, while the scaups crill
low and resonantly and occasionally utter their characteristic
"scaup." The male canvasbacks, perhaps che strangest of all,
have a note which suggests a cow mooing far off in the distance.
This they are able to do with the bill closed. The female canvas-
backs, when alarmed, titter a very low "quack." Doubtless there
are other notes of each species, those of the males and females
differing widely.

The ducks are a large and perplexing family of birds, the more so
because of the inaccessibility of their haunts, their great wariness
under most circumstances, and their varying plumages. But if these
fascinating water fowl each with its life history, its individuality,
and its curious litcle marks of character that we do not expect of the
animal world, could be as familiar to us as the birds of our feeding
stations and nest boxes, what a wealth of new pleasure would be
ours. Let us follow the wild duck to the lakes and marshes and
learn its secrets.

The following key based largely on the wing markings which are
conspicuous in flight is offered in the hope that it may simplify
the field identification of our commoner wild ducks. Immature
birds of both sexes closely resemble the females and therefore no
particular mention is made of them. The various plumages of
the eiders and harlequin duck have been omitted because these
birds are very^ rare in the United ^States.

Canvasbacks on Cayuga Lake

Color Key to the Ducks of the Eastern
United States

The various plumages of the Eiders and the Harlequin are omitted
because these ducks are very rare.

A. Birds with conspicuous white in wings.
B. White patches large.

C. Plumage largely black and white.

D. Plumage, except for white patches, black.
White-winged Scoter
DD. Wings and back white, head reddish.
Male Canvashack
DDD. Large areas of black and white.

E. Bills long and narrow, heads more or less crested.
F. Head entirely black.
G. Breast entirely white.
Male American Merganser.
GG. Breast with dark band.

Male Red-breasted Merganser.
FF. Head with large white patch.

177

178 NA T U RE-STUD Y RE VIE W [13 :5— May, 1917

Male Hooded Merganser.
EE. Bills short and broad, heads not crested.
F. Head with large white patch.

Male Bufflehead.
FF. Head with small circular white patch at base of
bill.

Male American Golden-eye.
■ FFF.Whitecrescentic patch at base of bill.

Barrow's Golden-eye.
CC. Plumage largely grey and brown.
; D. Shoulders white or greyish-white.

E. Shoulders white. Adult male Widgeon
EE. Shoulders greyish-white. Female or immature male
Widgeon.
DD. Speculum white.

E. Bills narrow; heads reddish-brown and crested.

F. Colors of head and neck sharply defined.

Female American Merganser.
FF. Colors of head and neck blending.
G. Breast whitish, larger.
Female Red-breasted Merganser.
GG. Breast grey, smaller.

Female Hooded Merganser.
EE. Bills broad, heads not crested.
F. Sides of head with indistinct white blotches, size
small.

Female Bufflehead.
FF. Head uniformly brownish like back.

Male and female Gadwall.
FFF. Head uniformly brownish, back grey.
Female Golden-eye.
BB. Narrow lines of whice in wings.
C. Flanks white or whitish.

D. White ring around neck, bill yellow.

Male Mallard.
DD. No white ring, bill blue.

E. Bill crossed by broad dark band, speculum grey,
neck with brownish band.

ALLEN] COLOR KEY TO DUCKS 179

Male Ring-necked Duck.
EE. Bill bluish.

F. Head greenish.

Male Greater Scaup.
FF. Head purpHsh.

Male Lesser Scaup.
CC. Flanks brownish like back.
D, White at base of bill.

E. Bill bluish crossed by dark band.

Female Ring-necked Duck.
EE. Bill bluish, withoui band.

F. Bird larger, wing over eight inches in length.
Female Greater Scaup.
FF. Bird smaller, wing less than eight inches in length.
Female Lesser Scaup.
DD. No white at base of bill.

Female Mallard.
BBB. White under wings, bird uniformly dark.

C. Bill yellowish, Male Black Duck.
CC. Bill greenish, Female Black Duck.
AA. Birds with conspicuous hght blue in wing.

B. Broad white band nearly encircling neck, bill broad.

Male Shoveller.
BB. White bar in front of eye, bill normal.
Male Blue-winged Teal.
BBB. Plumage uniformly brownish, except for wing marks.
C. Bill broad. Female Shoveller.
CC. Bill normal. Female Blue-winged Teal.
AAA. No conspicuous marks in wings but not uniformly dark.
B. Tail long and pointed.

C. White of breast extending along sides of neck and

behind cheeks. Male Pintail.
CC. No white on neck. Female Pintail.
BB. Tail normal.

C. Wings and back grey.

D. Head reddish. Male Redhead.
DD. Head brownish. Female Redhead.
DDD. Head and neck cinnamon, profile sloping.

180 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:5— May, 1917

Female Canvasback.
CC. Wings and back brownish, speculum green.
D. Head chestnut with green stripes.

Male Green-winged Teal.
DD. Head like back. Female and immature male.
Green-winged Teal.
A A A A . B irds wi th unif orml y dark wings .

1. Head largely white tail pointed, white areas on body in some

plumages. Old Squaw.

2. Head greenish with white stripes. Male Wood Duck.

3. Head brownish with white area about eye. Female Wood

Duck.

4. Plimiage entirely black.

C. Base of bill yellow. Male American Scoter.
CC. Plumage black except for white spots on head.
Male Surf Scoter.

5. Plumage reddish-brown, cheeks white, tail stiff and erectile.

Male Ruddy Duck

6. Plumage greyish -brown, cheeks light, tail stiff' and erectile.

Female Ruddy Duck

April 19. 8 a. m. (1852) — Down river to half mile below Carlisle
Bridge, the river being high, yet not high for the spring.

Saw and heard the white bellied swallows this morning for the
first time. Took boat at Stedman Bittrick's, a gunners boat,
smelling of muskrats and provided with slats for bushing the
boat. Having got into the Great Meadows, after grounding
once or twice on low spits of grass ground, we begin to see ducks
which we have scared, flying low over the water, always with a
striking parallelism in the direction of their flight. They fly like
regulars. They are like rolling-pins with wings. * * * Ducks
are most commonly seen flying by twos or threes.

Thoreau's Journal.

Hummingbirds

Louis Agassiz Fuertes
Ithaca, New York

Once when I was a litcle boy, playing in an orchard, I was sud-
denly- startled by a loud velvety buzzing sound that came in
"waves," accompanied by a faint but angry chippering. It made
me feel very queer and spine-chilly, because I could see nothing,
yet the sound was quite near. Finally though I saw the cause of

the s Grange noise, — a worried

little hummingbird was swinging
back and forth on buzzing wings
like an angry little pendulum, and
shrilly squeaking at me to go away.
By one of those rare chances
just then my eye fell upon a little
greenish lump on a drooping branch
of the apple tree, and guessing
what the fuss was all abouc I
drew the branch down until I
could see. Sure enough, it was
che hummingbird's nesu, a tiny
cup of dandelion down and fern
"felt", covered with cobweb and
inch and a half across and just big
white eggs.

Nest of the Ruby-Throat

Hummingbird

Covered with lichens

green scale-moss, only an

enough inside to hold two tiny rather long,

Since then I have had many chances to watch hummingbirds all
the way from Alaska to South America, and I have always been
thrilled by their tiny size and great courage as much as by their
indescribable beauty.

East of the Mississippi there is only one kind, the ruby-throated.
From Texas to California there are about half a dozen, and the
little rufous hummingbird goes all the way up to Alaska.

The male ruby-throat has the whole throat covered with polished
scale-like feathers of a mosc lustrous and intense ruby-red which in
different angles of light changes from orange to nearly purple.
It is hard to imagine so tiny a creature — ^really little larger than a
good sized insecc — spending his summer in our eascern states and
Canada, flying in the fall all the way to Central America where it

181

182 NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW [13 :5— May, 1917

passes the winter. Yec it is true and the hiimmingbird has a much
longer migration than most of our common birds, and its winter
companions instead of being the squirrels, chick-a-dees, and war-
blers we know are parrots, canagers, howling monkeys and jaguars.
In North, Central and South America there are over five hundred
different kinds of hummingbirds, and there are none in any other
part of the world. Only the Sunbirds of Africa and che Birds of
Paradise compare with them in the glory of their colors. Yet to
show these colors hummingbirds must be seen in only a certain
way for their glow "goes out" like a light turned off when the bird
changes from one angle of light to another.

In the brilliant forests of South America or high in the Andes
above the growth of trees, a dark dull moth-like little thing, bob-
bing from flower to flower or shrub to shrub will suddenly catch
the right light and burst into gorgeous green, yellow, red, blue or
purple flame for an instanc, only to "go out" again with the next
dash or poise. Most of their brilliant colors are on the head, throat
and breast but many have enormously long tails of fierv^ red, green,
or blue, and all but one must be seen from in front to show their
brilliancy. There is one, however, all rust-red excepc for the back
between the wings and tail, where the feathers are intensely
glittering, light green above, passing chrough pink to gleaming
lilac. I have often wondered why this one kind should go against
the rule of all the others, and show his brightness only from behind !
But he does.

Many questions come up when we think about these lovely little
things: why did only two kinds out of over five hundred get into
the way of migrating — leaving the warm tropics and flying far, far
north to build their nests and raise their babies? How, indeed,
did chese two kinds get started in their habit?

The biggest hummingbird of all is a dull, ruscy brown bird as
big as a chimney swift. The smallest is an inch long without the
bill — about the size of a bumble-bee. Indeed, his Latin name is
Bombus, which means bumble-bee.

Hummers are brave little mites, as the one I told of at first has
shown. They do not hesitate to angrily attack a crow or hawk,
and usually drive them quickly away when they come near their
nests. Many kinds are especially beautifully fitted for their parti-
cular lives. One kind has a bill four inches long, for feeding in
deep trumpet flowers; others have short needle-sharp bills to

FUERTES] HUMMINGBIRDS 183

pierce through the flower into the honey-cups they cannot reach
otherwise, or curved bills to slip into queer tropical flowers that a
straight one could not enter. They live both on the nectar of
flowers and on small insects.

Their feet are tiny and deHcate, but strong, for they perch a good

deal. The variety of special

^^flRjk decoration that the different ones

^^(«^^^^F^^\ have is almost beyond belief,

fl^ ^ and a mounted collection of rare

^H^jjB^ hummingbirds is sure to be the

l^B^^^^^ chief attraction in any museum of

^^^^^^^^L Natural History. Some have

^^^H^^Hk great forked and glittering tails,

^^^ ^^^^N> others fancy crowns of different

^B colors, or gleaming bibs of red,

Wk gold, green or purple; still others

have wide ruffs or frills dotted

with emeralds or rubies, which stand out on each side of the throat

like a broad cravat. Many have beautiful little "swansdown"

frills about each foot — dainty little snowy pantallettes, while others

are all glittering golden green everywhere.

Then there are many which live in the dark, damp, dripping
forests of the lowlands, where insects eat one's belongings and
mildew soon ruins everything. These are without bright color of
any kind, dull, smoky, little sprites, sharing the somber dismal air
with the army-ants and mosquitos and whose heavy, humming
merges with that of the stinging, devouring insect pests that make
these places dangerous and terrible for men to stay.

"The slender hummingbird whose molten-tinted wing but spoke the song
of fluttering joy, and in thy very hand turned to motley gray." — Patience
Worth.

A Prize for the Best Arbor Day Essay

Mrs. Britton very kindly offers a copy of Alice Lounsberry's
Wild Flowers For Young People as a prize for the best essay on
the topics included in the schedule for Arbor Day compositions
as given in the April number of the Nature-Study Review.

The Bluebird

W. P. Alexander

One bird I know, that haunts the bhssful scene

Where idling Spring renews her lavish wiles,
And stores her gold, and countless tints of green

To come with emerald step, and gracious smiles
Some glad fresh mom : — but ah ! my bird before

Her train, wdth full, and strong impatient wing,
Will bear the tidings to my very door,

And I shall hear, deep stirred with wondering!

My bird has caught the gentian-hue of skies

That over-arched those orient isles he found;
Has cloaked himself in such becoming guise.

And touched his breast to musk rose teeming ground ;
He learned the low, sweet cadence of the wind

That touched with unseen lip the golden reed,
And in his w^arble audibly entwined

The lingering lilt, of zeph^^rs on the mead.

When ]\Iarch is harsh, and blustering bends the bough

Of leafless tree, with young buds still asleep,
All unawares, some morning, and somehow,

I know again my sluggish blood will leap.
When on my ear the old familiar strain

Will fall, and I shall catch a flash of blue
And know the gates of Paradise again

Have open swung, and let m^^ bluebird through.

For after him will come the myriad throng

Of varied joys, that lead to perfect June,
The upland glades, and vales a-ring with song

And meadows with a mantling bloom bestrewn,
But oh! the gentle warble, first to steal

Into our ear, gives joy no other brings
For winter- weary every heart must feel

A benediction, when the bluebird sings!

184

Family of Wilson's Thrushes Showing Cowbird in the Middle

The Thrush Family

Gilbert H. Trafton
Professor of Nature-Study, State Normal School, Mankato, Minn.

Photographs by the Author

Nine thrushes are found in the Eastern United States: the
hermit, wood, Wilson's, willow, olive-backed, gray-cheeked, and
Bicknell's thrushes, and the robin and bluebird. The species may
be distinguished as follows: the wood, hermit, Wilson's, and
willow thrushes are brlghc brown above, while the oHve-backed,
gray-cheeked, and Bicknell's thrushes are ohve above. The wood
thrush is brightest on the head, the hermit is brightest on the tail,
while the Wilson's thrush is of uniform color above. The olive-
backed and gray-cheeked thrushes are very similar, but the former
may be distinguished by its buff cheeks and eye ring. Bicknell's
thrush is similar to the gray-cheeked thrush but smaller. The
willow thrush is similar to Wilson's thrush buc slightly darker
above.

The characteristics of the thrush family in which all agree are
given by Chapman as follows :

"Length over 5.50; bill moderate, the tip of the upper mandible
notched; tarsus smooth, the scales, if any, fused and indistinct;

185

186 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:5— May, 1917

tail square; wings long and pointed, 3.75 or over, third primary the
longest, the first very short, less than one inch in length."

Range. — The bluebird breeds thruout eastern United States and
northward into Canada; the robin breeds from the central states
northward into Canada. The wood thrush breeds in che southern
and eastern states up to the northern tier of states. The Wilson's,
hermit, olive-backed, and Bicknell's thrushes breed in the northern
states and in Canada. The gray-cheeked thrush breeds in
northern Canada. The willow thrush is found in western North
America, coming eastward in migration to Indiana and Illinois, and
is found nesting in Minnesota.

Nesting Habits. — The thrushes show a great variation in their
nesting habits. The robin, bluebird, and wood thrush have
adapted themselves to man's presence and nest near human
habitations. The bluebird nests in cavities and frequently occu-
pies nesting boxes provided for it, while the robin sometimes
occupies the open type of nesting box.

The hermit and Wilson's thrushes nest on or near the ground;
the gray-cheeked and olive-backed thrushes nest in low trees or
bushes; the wood thrush generally places its nest in small trees
about 8 or 10 feet up; the robin locates its nest in a great variety
of situations, but chiefly in trees from 5 to 25 feet up.

The robin and wood thrush use mud in the construction of their
nest. The eggs of all the thrushes are bluish. The bluebird and
robin generally rear two broods, while the other thrushes rear'
only one brood.

Songs. — The first place among bird songsters is quite universally
given to the thrushes. There is a ringing, resonant quality about
their notes that makes them the most pleasing sounds in nature.
Some students give first place to the wood thrush, while others give
it to the hermit thrush. The song of the wood thrush is more
widely known and ap]3reciated because it nests near human habita-
tions and so is m.ore often heard. One man records that he has
heard over 70 different songs of the wood thrush. It usually sings
near the sunset hour as well as in the morning. As the season
progresses the wood thrush continues to sing after most of the
other birds have closed their song season, thus making it one of the
conspicuous bird notes during the early summer.

Economic Status. — The thrushes are a valuable insectivorous

i

TRAFTON

THE THRUSH FAMILY

187

group destroying many insect pests. Insects comprise more than
half of their food, the remainder being composed chiefly of wild
fruit. The robin does some harm to cultivated fruit, but this is
more than balanced by the injurious insects eaten. The thrushes
all eat a few beneficial insects, but this is small when compared
with the injurious insects eaten.

The following table gives a brief summary of the food habits of
some of the thrushes as determined by the studies made by the
Bureau of Biological Survey:

(Figures indicate per cent, of food)

Insect
Pests.

Beneficial
Insects.

Cultivated
Fruit.

Bluebird

Robin

47
33
55

%

41

38

9
6
3
3
3
1
2

8

Gray-cheeked Thrush

Hermit Thrush

1

Olive-backed Thrush

(12)*

Wilson's Thrush

Wood Thrush

(12)*
4

*(Practically no harm is done by the olive-backed and Wilson's thrushes in eating culti-
vated fruit, because most of it is either waste fruit or is taken from wild plants.)

A Hermit Thrush at the Lunch Counter

Our Most Intimate Bird Neighbors

Laura A. L. Turner

Buffalo, N. Y.

All through the cold bleak winter days the writer had been
telling school children, inexperienced teachers and Mothers' Clubs,
just how to have fine neighbors. AVith the coming of the migrant
birds, the chance remark of an incredulous listener, sounded like a
challenge to prove the value of suggestions made to others. As
a resulc, this accurate account is given of how five species of birds
come to nest in a 45 x 150 foot lot in a closely settled residence
section of the city of Buffalo, N. Y.

The house, framed by shrubbery, stood thirty feet back from
the street. The grass plot and garden at the rear was surrounded
by a strong board fence bordered by shrubs and young trees. A
bird bach, made in the top of a 12-inch sewer tile was an important
feature. This bath was cleaned each morning and filled with
fresh water.

Three species of birds had nested on the lot the previous year.
Late in April a pair of robins were observed to be prospecting. A
dish of thick mud was at once made ready and various scrings, rags
and long rootlets, were left carelessly about the lawn. These
helps appealed at once to "Betsy" Robin and in building her nest
on a bracket under the eaves, on the south side of the house, she
freely made use of the available material. Four young robins flew
out from this nest and got safely on the wing.

On the warm bright morning of April 25, the Tree Swallows,
"Top" and "Topsy" arrived and wenc at once to the box, 20 feet
up, on the rear of the house which had been their home the previous
season. No one who watched the familiarity of these birds with
their surroundings could doubt but that they were the same birds,
which had nested here before. Their joy in homecoming was
unmistakable. However, they soon discovered a new box of the

188

TURNER OUR MOST INTIMATE BIRD NEIGHBORS 189

same proportions as those of their former home, (5x6x11 inches)
but with an eastern exposure on a telephone pole at the rear of the
lot. A week of indecision followed and material was carried into
each house — but they finally decided on the new location. Two
families were reared and ten young swallows came out from this
box. These beautiful birds with their delightful twittering warble
and wonderful flight gave pleasure to the entire neighborhood.

On May 3, "Pat" and "Patsy" Yellow Warblers, came back to
the lawn. Bunches of cotton were tied on the Forsythia branches
and in two days a beautiful white nest was completed among the
green leaves, in almost the same spot as the nest of the previous
year. This made a fine setting for dear little yellow "Patsy."
The nest was about 15 inches from the window of the living room,
on a level with the sash, and was viewed many times a day by the
family and guests. Three baby warblers left this nest in safety and
spent the summer days in the vicinity.

On May 5 the long hoped for wren arrived. He had a painful
seige of indecision between four houses in the neighborhood
suitable for a new home. In fact, bubbling with song, he carried
material into each of the four boxes. After a week "Jenny Wren"
appeared and she very quickly made decision in favor of a shabby
little old box, on the back of the house, which was up for its fourth
season, in faith that, sooner of later, it would have a tenant. The
wrens once settled, there was scarcely a quiet daylight moment.
Our appearance on the lawn or in the garden, sent "Jen" to the
peach tree near the little home, where he poured out a variety of
songs, which were a delighc. If a cat came near, Jen gave the
alarm note which he knew would bring assistance. When four
baby wrens were on the peach tree and the English sparrows began
to annoy the babies, "Jen" called loudly for help, and when it
arrived, sat fearlessly by, while lumps of dirt flew past him in the
direction of the sparrows. This wren family was visited by many
admirers and their disappearance on August 15 caused universal
regret.

On May 28 a pair of small birds came to the young elm cree in
plain view from my desk window — a moment's watching of attitude
suggested that horse hair would be needed right away, if chese
prospectives were held as tenants. The cover of a hair pillow was
hastily ripped and bunches of hair tied to the trunk and branches
of the ekn. Mrs. Chipping Sparrow found the proffered material

190 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:5— May, 1917

at once and constructed a nest, well up in the young tree, that
looked very comfortable. If these birds had invited me to selecc
the site for their nest, I could not have placed it to better advan-
tage for observation of all the little family "spats" and "making-
up" peculiar to the little "hair birds." "Chip" was frequently
met about the rosebushes, where he paid rent by eating aphides,
while " Chippy" incubated the eggs.

From dawn till noon sweet bird music filled the air. Oppor-
timities to study bird characteristics were more abundant than
time in which to do the studying. All of the birds perched on
telephone wires, but each species had its own precinct. Wires are a
valuable asset in bird attraction.

Time, thought and eternal vigilance for more than three months,
resulted in constant enjoym.ent of an intimate acquaintance with
my bird guests and a happy memory that will not fade.

The Nature Lover

George B. Staff

He leaves the city scenes behind,
Forsakes the binding office walls,

And goes where Mother Nature kind
Is waiting, where the low wind calls

Through leafy branches, cool and dim,
That spread a welcome shade for him.

And as with seeing eyes he wends
His way through forest solitude,

There comes a knowledge that transcends
All creeds and science, where his mood

Is one with Nature, and the Power

That grants the peaceful twilight hour !

House Wren

With head up and tail up,
The wren begins to sing.

He fills the air with melody,
And makes the welkin ring.

Bird Notes

-Photo by C. W. Leister

THE CHESTxNUT-SIDED WARBLER
C. W. Leister, Ithaca, N. Y.

The nest was found on June 17th on a bushy hillside about three
miles from the city. The situation is quite a desolate one, covered
with a tangle of briers and slash from old lumbering operations.
The nest was in a patch of raspberry vines and was about three
feet from the ground. It was rather loosely constructed of inter-
woven grasses, lined with shreds of grass and fine rootlets.

The eggs had already hatched, and the ever hungry young kept
the parents busy carrying food. The mother-bird did most of the
feeding while the father furnished music, from a nearby sapling.
He occasionally helped in the work, however, and sometimes both
would be at the nest at che same time.

The food brought to che young consisted of caterpillars, chiefly
cutwoms and leaf rollers. An occasional spider was also eaten.

The nest was in such an isolated locality that it was not visited
again,

191

192 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:5— May, 1917

SOME ROBIN ANNALS

Georgia Sweetlaxd, Ithaca, N. Y.

An old apple tree in our back yard, which has housed many
generations of robins, has furnished a fine opportunity co observe
the individual traits of these birds. I saw in early Spring two
birds flitcing about in the apple tree, and wacched them for a time.
The male robin was hopping^ about a promising looking sice, made
by the separating of three branches. He turned his head on one
side and then on the ocher in the knowing way robins have, and
called to the lady to look, then sac down flat on the place and fitted
himself to it and nestled around as they do when placing materials
in che nest, as if to show her how fine a place it was. She assumed
an air of indifference and continued investigating on her own respon-
sibility. Again he would fly to the place of his choice and measure
it and call to Mrs. Robin, but she paid no attention, and later chose
a place in our neighbor's pear tree, way up on the tip of a limb, an

entirely different sort of place from the one selected by him.

* * *

One male tenant of the apple cree seemed to think his judgment
of building material w^as superior co his lady's, and he industriousls^
flew about getting suitable material for building, according to his
way of thinking; but as soon as she saw him with anything in his
mouth she would fly at him and he would obediently drop it.
This sort of thing went on for several days. I really felt sorry for
the disappointment of the bird. He would slyly take up pieces
of twig and weight them in his bill and look towards che nest, but
invariably he was apprehended and in no gentle way made to
understand that his services were not then required. Bub one
rainy day, when che nest was near completion, I saw her sitting on
a limb high up, and seeming to direct the labors of the father as he,
down on the ground, was gathering mud. When he had a suitable
load, they both flew to the nest and he kept this up till he had
carried the amount of mud required by his exacting mate, and a

woe-begone looking bird he was before its finish.

* * -K

A neighbor of ours rescued a young robin from a cat and brought
him to me. His wing was badly torn and only one tail feather was
left. I put him in a cage on the back ])orch and he soon became
tame and seemed to enjoy his house. I sometimes took him out

BIRD NOTES 193

to let him fly about to stren^^then his win^, but he would soon
return to his cage. He was named Goliath.

Another young robin was given me whose mother had been
caught by a cat. I put him in the cage with Goliath but Goliath's
opinions and mine were evidently not in accord on that subject,
for he foughc the robin guest so persistently the younger bird had
to be removed. Having exhausted the supply of cages, he was
given a basket in a room in the house. He took to the basket
immediately, and also became quite gentle. He was named Sam-
son. He grew quite fond of me, and when not confined in his
basket, would fly through the house after me and ride around on
my head or shoulder or hand as happened to be most convenient
to him. Samson soon came to regard the entire house as his
property, and when I brought Goliath in for his daily exercise,
Samson would immediately attack him, and although Goliath was
older and larger, he seemed to recognize Samson's right to the
house and was as meek as possible. He was even afraid to eat
when inside unless I put the food in his ever open bill. It was very
funny, as soon as Goliath came in, to see Samson jump on his back
and pull his one tail feather. But if I tried to put Samson in the
cage, the situation was reversed, and Goliath would fiercely attack
the now meek and trembling Samson, these traits evidently
indicating a respect for the property rights of others.

They regarded me as their mother and would give their food call
as soon as they heard me. Samson had a way of hiding some times
in the room, and I often would not see him, but when called, he
always answered with a chirp.

In the fall, before migration time, much to my regret, they were
taken out in the open and set free.

A BOY'S ACCOUNT OF HIS TAME CROW, JACK
Robert Parsons, Ashtabula, N. Y.

In the summer of 19 15 Carter Ellis was coming through a woods,
south of Erie and found a young crow chat was just learning how to
fly. He caught it and put it into a bag that he had with him. He
took it home and it would not eat at first but soon it learned to take
milk out of a spoon and it would go around picking up things to eac.

After Carter had the crow for about three weeks he gave it to
Henry Thomas who lived near me, and his father got tired of

194 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:5— May, 1917

having the crow around so Hank sold it to me for the sum of
twenty-five cents in August, 191 5.

I named him Jack, and he will steal anything brighc and will
hide it under leaves or anything that he can lift wich his bill. He
tipped the milk bottle over once and was in the act of tearing up
the tickets when a neighbor called and told me what he was up to.
Some carpenters were working next door and the crow went over
chere and brought some nails home after he had dragged some tools
away.

After I had had him about a month a woman told me that if I
slit his tongue he would learn to talk and a neighbor said that he
knew how and so I let him do the job. He forced the crow's
tongue out with his finger and held the crow against his knee and
then with a very sharp knife he slit the tongue a little down the
middle, about three-sixteenths inches. He said that if he had cut
any farther he would cut a blood vein and the crow would bleed to
death.

The next day I repeated "hello" over and over to it and in a
couple of days I heard him trying to sa\" it and now he can say
"hello" and "hey Bob" as plain as any one.

In April, 1916, we moved to the country and Jack went to killing
young chickens. He killed seven that we know of and I have
caught him at eating eggs. He spoiled some water melons by
pecking at them and one day my mother put two pounds of pork
on the back window sill outside and when she come to get dinner she
beheld Mr. Jack hauling it around the yard.

His feathers had grown out so that he could fly and he took to
flying awa\^ and one day he flew from one telephone pole to the
next, following my brothers to school. He stood on the fire es, ape
all day yelling "hello" with all his might. My brother caught him
after school and carried him home. I cut the feathers from one
wing that night because I did not want him to be bothering the
children at school.

With all his bad qualities, he makes a good pet anyway so I
think that I will never get rid of him.

On warm days he takes a bath about six times in a pan of water
that is meant for the chickens' water dish. The chickens and the
crow are not very good friends and the older chickens chase the
crow around and the crow fie^hts with the younfrer ones.

BIRD NOTES 195

WHAT TO DO WHEN STUDYING BIRDS
Ora Sweet, Auburn, N. Y.

I Dress inconspicuously Birds have keen eyesight.

2. Keep quiet. Birds have very acute hearing.

(a) Avoid conversation.

(b) Step noiselessly.

3. Look and listen.

4. Do not point and exclaim when a bird is sighted.

5. Never chase birds. Have patience. Stand still a great deal
and use your common sense all the time.

6. Keep the sun at your back.
7 Use field or opera glasses

8. Keep a note book.

(a) Write your observations on the spot.

(b) Absolute accuracy is essential in bird observation.

(c) Look first for the general color, then for the colors of back,
breast, wings and tail.

PURPLE MARTINS AND THE BOLL WEEVIL
Elizabeth M. Norton, Savannah, Ga.
While I was in Macon, Ga., in October of 1916, my hostess, Mrs.
Codington, told me of the very interesting experiment which is
being carried on at her father's plantation. Her father is Col. Foot
of Mt. Airy, Ga., but he owns a big plantation near Albany. A
few years ago he noticed a few purple martins on his land, and put
up houses for them. The m_artins came in increasing numbers, and
he continued to provide shelter for them, till now he has between
seven and eight hundred of them on his plantation. Meanwhile
the boll-weevil had invaded Georgia and the planters on all sides
of Coi. Foot were almost ruined by them. He has had no trouble
at all with the boll weevil, and attributes his being exempt from the
universal pest co the presence of the purple maruins on his land.
Mrs. Codington also said that he had written to the government
about ic, and that the government was keeping an expert down on
her father's place to observe the birds, etc., and see whecher the
ultimate solucion of the boll weevil problem of the South lay in
providing protection for the purple martins. I remember that she
told me of one bird which they had cut open for experimental
purposes, finding in its stomach an immense number of insects,
weevils, etc.

196 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:5— May, 1917

RULES FOR BIRD HOUSE CONTEST FOR 1917
Y. M. C. A. of Erie, Pa.

This contest shall be for any boy under 20 years of age in tne
City of Erie.

Each boy is put on his honor to do all work on the house himself.

Houses to be built to conform with dimensions given in Farmers'
Bulletin on Bird House Construction.

These dimensions may be secured from manual Graining teachers
in Public Schools or from the Boys' Work Secretary at Y. M. C. A.

First, second and chird prizes will be given for the three best
houses in each class.

Houses for following birds are to be built: Bluebird, Robin,
House Wren, Adartin, FHcker, Red Headed Woodpecker or Hairy
Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker and Food Shelter.

Contest to close April gth.

Get a card from your principal or at the Y. M. C. A., and enroll
in the contest now.

Send all entries into Y. M. C. A. immediately.

Competent judges will judge the houses.

There will be an opportunity given to sell houses at close of
contest.

Please enroll me as a contestant in the Bird House Campaign, to end
April gth, 1917.

I will make a house for (Name of Bird.)

Signed

A VISIT TO BIRD ISLAND
L. B. CusHMAN, St. Petersburg, Florida

A bird enthusiast spending the winter at St. Petersburg wrices of
a visit to Bird Island, a Government Preserve, where no one is
allowed to land, but where "I saw hundreds of Pelicans, many of
which had located on top of mangrove bushes for the night, while
numerous big Ward's herons came and alighted on top of the higher
trees. I saw an abundance of cormorants, what was said to be an
ibis, and a white heron. I contemplate going again, soon, before
da>'light or at dusk, so as to see the birds come in or go out and see
them roost. There are water ways among the trees, so we can slip
right in among them in a row boat.

I see the great scar Canopus here every night."

BIRD NOTES 197

BIRD FOUNTS IN THE GARDEN
Mathilde Schlegel, East Aurora, N. Y.

Alarble fountains are beautiful and cement basins enhance a
garden, but our bird-neighbors drink from and bathe in a ten-inch

flower pot saucer quite
as happily if it has the
proper setting of a
woodsy background ,
from whose shelter they
can flit out into the
sunshine, take a drink
and splash in the cool
water, yet loving the
warmth of the sun-
shine, and then retire
into the shady retreats
of the shrubbery to
dress their plumage and
sing their happiness
that during the sum-
mer's drought there is
this unfailing source of
water for their joy and
benefit.

It has been undoubc-
edly this source of sup-
ply which has attracted
and induced the pair of
Photo by M. Schlegel ^atbirds to ucst in the
garden and every spring and fall the white-throats come and the
shy hermit thrush lingers for awhile during his leisurely journey
either way, but always he is silent, tho I have listened longingly
for his utterance. If the white-throated sparrow will whistle from
the hedge and the white-crowned sparrow and the ruby crowned
kinglet will sing as they pause on their northward flight why does
the hermit deny us the delight of hearing his wonderful melody ?
Surely it would tone in the garden depths, and be a never forgot-
ten episode.

198 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:5— May, 191

A WILLY-NILLY STEPMOTHER AND OTHER DISASTERS
Alfred Emerson
Nature-Study Teacher in Campus School, Ithaca, N. Y.

The tragedies of the bird world were brought home to me last
spring while obser\nng the raising of twelve different families
immediately surrounding my house. These nests included three
robins', two cedar waxwing's, a chickadee's, a yellow warbler's, a
catbird's, a bluebird's, a red-eyed vireo's, a meadowlark's, and a
chipping sparrow's. All these but four raised their families to
maturit3^ One pair of robins, one pair of cedar waxwings, the
chickadees, and the catbirds brought their young through, but the
rest perished in one way or another. The red-eyed vireo raised a
fat cowbird instead of its own babies ; man was responsible for the
loss of che meadowlark's nest, and the rest, with the exception of
the chipping sparrow's, were destroyed by cats.

In the case of the chipping sparrows I observed a remarkable
occurrence which I had never observed before nor have known of any
similar case. The chippy's nest was situated in a small elm tree
■about seven feet from the ground. I first found the nest after
four eggs were already deposited. The little parents seemed quite
happy and contented, and the male especially could be heard chip-
ping away in a nearby tree for most of the day. The female was
usually found on the nest and did not mind our approach to
observing distance in the least. The chippies seem to have con-
fidence in man, more so than any other sparrows and these in
particular, trusted me completely.

One day after the eggs had hatched, I found much to my surprise
that a robin had driven the distracted parents from the nest and
was attempting to sit on the young, although she did not nestle
ver\^ close. I, of course, having sympathy for the chippies, drove
the robin off and let che rightful parents come back, but as soOn as
I was safe in distance away the robjn returned. Our whole house
became interested in the affair and each of us would drive the robin
off whenever we passed, but to little avail. The true parents were
very anxious to keep che hungry mouths filled, but the robin would
still sit on the nest while the forlorn chippies would hop within a
few inches of the nest with large amounts of food for the gaping
mouchs. They would remain very close to the nest fearlessly while
we chased che robin off', and then would come quickly to feed che

BIRD NOTES 199

young. The robin did not seem to realize the babies needed food
for quice a few days, and to my knowledge fed them only once.

Of course this state of affairs could not lasu long and in six days
from the advent of the robin I noticed the nest was deserted
When I climbed up co see what was in the nest I found the four
babies dead.

The only cause we could guess for the adoption of the nest by
the robin was that her own nest had been destroyed in some way
and her maternal instincts were so strong she had to adopt another
family. The chippies of course were so small that they could offer
no resistance while one of her own species would certainly have
fought her.

A pair of birds that I forgot to mention raised four healthy broods
in an old telegraph pole near us. Each brood had at least four
young and no trouble was found that hampered them in their
development. This species was, of course, the Enghsh Sparrow.

THE NEST OF THE BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER
Dorothy K. Cleaveland, Canton, N. Y.

July 13th was anything but an unluck\^ day for me — for on that
day I had one of my rarest bird treats. We were taking a tramp
through the upper Reservation of the Appalachian Club at North
Woodstock, New Hampshire. The fall before, a new trail had been
cut through the back part of the Reservation where the ground is
rather swampy ; it was merely blazed and in some places hard to
keep.

I was leading, breaking my way through an undergrowth of
young basswood, when suddenly from right in front of me, not three
feet away shot out a little mother-bird, crying and pretending to be
hurt and in great distress. I knew her nest must be near, so I
stepped forward and looked and there in the crotch of a young
basswood was a Httle nest with four naked, bhnd birdlings in it.
Two big leaves sheltered it from sun, wind and prying eyes.

The next thing, of course, was to identify the mother. She was
still near us, crying and fluttering around — too frightened for her
babies to go far away when we refused to follow her. I took her
points, especially the white spot on the wing at the base of the
primaries, which satisfied me that I had found the home and family
of the beautiful Black-throated Blue Warbler — though his wife had

200

.V.4 T URE-ST UD Y RE VIE W

[13:5— May, 1917

neither black nor blue on her but only a neutral olive green with
whitish underneath.

A PARENT TEACHER'S ASSOCIATION INTERESTED IN BIRDS
Margaret F. Small, Springfield, Mo.

I am enclosing the
picture of a bird-house
which was one of che
five hundred made by
the school children of
this city, che work being
done chiefly ac home, in
a con t esc given under
the auspices of che
Council of Parent-Teach-
ers Associations.

This particular house
was made from the limb
of a cherry tree where a
woodpecker had built its
nest the year before. The
inside of the nest was
]jlastered with what
seemed like wood pulp
and sand made into a
solid mass.

Can any one explain
this phenomenon?

Chrissie Reeves and the Bluebird's Nest she
Made from an Abandoned Woodpecker
Apartment.

STATIONARY BIRD HOUSES INJURE TREES
Par.\l\lee Evans, Erie, Pa.

"Never allow stationary bird-houses in any of your trees!"
Many times this statement, from a city forester, is received with
surprise by bird-house enthusiasts.

By a "stationary" bird-house, we mean one that is nailed or
wired firmly and permanently. It hinders the grownig bark and,
if the pressure is unresisting, usually kills it. If a piece of lumber
(whether a part of a bird-house or not) is nailed to a tree, it will

BIRD NOTES 201

keep the bark underneath, damp and unhealthy and insects will
find space for egg masses to hatch unmolested.

Instead of nailing the house to the tree, a better method is to
make two holes just below the roof in the back of the house as far
apart as possible, so that the house may rest solidly on two corres-
ponding nails or hooks driven into the tree. Now, the bark is free
to expand in growth, while if the board were nailed tightly, the
bark underneath by the beginning of the second summer would
show signs of decay. By this method we have the advantage of a
periodical removal of the house and examination of the bark.

A LIST OF BIRDS THAT EASTERNERS WOULD LIKE TO SEE

The editor is the recipient of the following record from Miss
Barbara Marx, eleven years old, and a member of this bird class :

"I am enclosing the list of birds we have observed. "We"
means the fifth and sixth grades of the Castilleja School of Palo
Alto, California. The other morning Miss Hayes, our teacher,
divided us into groups so that we wouldn't frighten the birds away,
and it was then we saw the owl, cedar waxwing and woodpecker.
The only peculiarity we have found worthy of note is that the
towhee scratches with both feet at once.

White Crowned Span-ow, Gold Crowned Sparrow, Oregon Robin,
California Robin, California Towhee, Willow Goldfinch, Bush-tit,
California Jay, Crested Jay, Anna Hummingbird, Ruby-throated
Hummingbird, Bluebird, Woodpecker, Barn Owl, Cedar Waxwing."

FEEDING-TABLE NOTES
The Editor

One lone but by no means lorn red-breasted nuthatch has been a
daily visitant to the feeding table all winter. When he first came
he was very shy and very poor and needy in appearance ; he had no
spunk and a chickadee could drive him away by simply appearing
within his range of vision. But as he partook of the suet and sun-
flower seeds he grew fat and his courage waxed with his plumpness.
He finally tried to boss the whole company and would drop down
in a lordly manner in front of a white-breasted cousin twice his size,
to make him beat a hasty retreat. He had may admirers among
the nature-study classes ; his ways were delightful and his appear-
ance fascinating even to che cuceness of che cut of his bob-tailed
coat. A New England lad was heard co apostrophize him thus:
"Oh, you pretty, sassy little bugger."

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The Bird Work in the Ethical Culture School
of New York City

Myrtle Bascom Boice
Teacher in Nature- Study

Bird Study in the Ethical Culture School is a very important
part of the nature-study work. Excursions to Central Park give
the pupils opportunity to observe the common wincer and summer
residents, as well as the migrants. In the class room the scudy
is made more effective by the use of colored pictures, stuffed speci-
mens, and slides, the latter loaned by the American Museum of
Natural History from their splendid collection.

Classes are taken to the Museum, where the birds not found in
the Park are studied in their natural habitats. Some of the
children spend week-ends in the country during the fall and spring
months, and do independent bird work. These obser\^ations are
reporced to the classes of which they are members.

In the primary grades the common birds are idencified, the calls
and songs learned, their food and nesting habits observed and
discussed. This is made possible by visiting the bird feeding
stations in the Park in the winter, and wacching the migrant birds
when they return in the spring. The chickadee, starling, and

202

BIRD NOTES 203

English sparrow are winter studies; the robin, oriole, and the gull
in the spring. Others are identified and observed, but we are
careful not to confuse the little people with too much information.

Beginning with the fourth grade and including the seventh
grades , the pupils are ready for more intensive bird study . A simple
classification is made and some of the bird families are studied.
Migration is made a most interesting subject for discussion.
This year we have used Mr. Chapman's excellent book "Bird
Travelers" with very good results. The economic value as well as
the aesthetic is taken up with the children. In the manual training
classes bird boxes are made by the second and fourth grade children.

This year March has been a Bird Month. The Women's
Conference of the Ethical Culture Society prepared a splendid bird
exhibit in their room in the Society building. This exhibit was
made possible by contribucions from the Museum of Natural
History, the Bronx Zoological Garden, the Audubon Society of
New York, the Department of Agriculture, the Ethical Culture
School, and the publishers of the best bird books. In this exhibit
were colored pictures of the birds of New York State arranged
according to their families and food habits, their time of arrival in
the spring, and the winter residents; a collection of bird houses,
feeding devices, and baths, stuffed specimens of the common birds,
nests, bird books, original books arranged by several children, and
the literature given out by the Department in Washington.

This exhibit has been the means of interesting many mothers
who will take up the study with their children during the summer.
On the morning of April 20th, Mr. Louis Agassiz Fuertes of Ithaca,
will give his bird lecture, illustrating with slides and bird songs.

Spring in The Swamp

Phoebe Bird

Red-wing atilt on a cat-tail fluff
His challenge sings with glee:
"Look at my epaulets scarlet and buff!
See me, Beloved, see!

It is I and I love you quite enough,

It is I, and believe me I'm the stuff,

Listen now, for it is no bluff.
Heed me, see me, see!"

Bird Protection

Guy a. Bailey

Professor of Biology and Nature Study, State Normal School
Geneseo, N. Y.

Considerable time is nowadays devoted to che manufacture of
bird boxes both by the professional wood- worker and the manual
training departments of our schools Then we have many boys
and girls who put up empty starch boxes and such other boxes as
the grocery man may have to give away. Just which kind the
birds prefer is rather difficult to answer for birds seem to use almost
any kind if the location is suitable In any event more time is put
on the making of the box in many cases than on the selection of the
location. With some che poinc seems to be to get che biids to nest
near by where they may be easily observed. If a dozen kinds of
birds could be brought to the front yard that would be highly
desirable In the case of many of our birds it would be betcer for
them and their young if the nesting sices were farther removed
from habitation for the reason that in the case of the chickadee,
house wren and some woodpeckers the young frequently come to
the groimd where they are picked up by the prowling house cats;
so that what is intended as a real benefit for the birds turns out to
be a fine piece of work for the hungr}- cat Ic would be well co
consider the cat quescion before trying to get the birds too near the
house. We should keep in mind that in the rural sections we have
a cat to one hundred acres or more, while in the towns we may have
one hundred cats to the acre. All these cats may roam through
the same little patch of woods, park or ravine as the case may be.
Is not the first consideration in bird protection the elimination of
neglected cats ?

What has been said about nesting boxes may apply to the ques-
tion of feeding birds. We have a great many kinds of bird foods.
Much time has been spent in finding out the best mixtures and
there are many useful and ingenious feeding boxes on the market.
Attracting birds, however, to a particular spot for any length of
time is sure to bring the cats. By hiding in the neighboring hedges
or brush piles or grass they have a far greater number of birds to
choose from than would be the case if there were no feeding places
nearby. The cats become clever in striking down birds in the
vicinity of feeding boxes. A place where I have been feeding

204

BAILEY

BIRD PROTECTION

205

birds for ten years has been the regular hunting ground for a half
dozen cats. They are just as regular at their meals as are the
birds. This feeding place has been discontinued because it was
merely a handy place for hungry cats. Feeding birds in many
cases is simply feeding cats. Feeding stations may be established
far enough away from town so that the cat will not follow. There
are ways of outwitting the cats in the case of some birds like wood-
peckers, nuthatches and the like but care needs to be taken in the
matter of the location of the feeding box.

After all, it seems rather unfair that a boy who shoots a song-bird
is liable to arrest and fine and possible imprisonment while a person
may keep, without a particle of responsibility, a dozen cats each of
which catches a song bird every day for a year and the law provides
no penalty. Of course we can not arrest the cat under the law but
the cat that roams should not have a place in the law. It should
be classed with sewer rats, weasels and other vermin.

New York state is considering the question of licensing cats in
order that the worthless and homeless cats may be known and
legally put out of the way. Some opposition has been offered by
the humane societies on the giound that the wearing of a collar
and a tag endangers the life of a cat when it is crawling around
through brush and trees. It would seem that any cat that is hung
is deserving of its fate for it is probably catching the birds that
some child is feeding. Speaking of cruelty how about the cruel
habit of the cat in playing wich the birds it has maimed. There
is more cruelty here than would be possible if a few cats were caught
by the neck. It seems unfortunate that a law that would be so
helpful to bird protection is opposed by some, not all, of the
humane societies. If the law is delayed, just so much| farther
away is the day of abvmdant birds.

If a Cat is Worth Anything it is Worth the Cost of a License

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Published monthly, except June, July and August. Subscription price, including mem-
bership in the American Nature Study Society, 11.00 per year (nine issues). Canadian postage,
10 cents extra: foreign postage, 25 cents extra.

JfXynctTffi'nf Pl^^se note date of expiration of your subscription on the label of the
^■^^^yyJ'-l'O'^*' wrapper. Subscriptions must be paid in advance to comply with postal
requirements. Subscriptions and advertisements should be sent to The Comstock Publishing
Co., Ithaca, N. Y. Manuscripts for Publication and Books to be Reviewed should be sent
to the Editor.

Editorial

John Burroughs

The third of April was John Burroughs' eightieth birthday.
We thought that our httle snowy trilHums, Christmas roses, snow-
drops and yellow crocuses were brighter and that the song of our
bluebirds was sweeter that day than ever before, for of course, they
were celebrating the day. We had heard with sorrow of Mr.
Burroughs' recent bereavement and had felt great concern over its
effect upon him. It was with real gratitude that we read in the
New York Times of April first, a reassurring interview with him at
his home: " Mr. Burroughs came down from the woodshed where
he had been chopping wood ! Ruddy and hearty, erecc and nimble,
there is no sign of age about the man save the whiteness of his hair
and beard and the wisdom of his eyes." And what a comfort to
us all was his assertion to the reporter ' ' I have done more literary
work this year than in any year of my whole life. It came to me
and I just wrote. I never overwork, or burn the midnight oil.
I don't draw on the future. I chop wood and work in the garden
and keep well. My interest in outdoor things and current things
is just as fresh as it ever was."

For many years we have read what he has written with such
utter satisfaction that we had never thought of reading anything
about our best beloved naturalist; then, one day, we met him and
discovered with a feeling of deep relief that he was just the kind of
man to write John Burroughs' books; many authors are personally
so alien to what they write that it is a calamity to the reader to
meet them; but not so this author; his books are just Hke him.
Still we only knew about him those things which the newspapers

206

EDITORIAL 207

tell us until last week, a kind fate brought to the Editorial book-
shelf Our Friend,'' John Burroughs, by Dr. Clara Barms, a delight-
ful volume, e\^ery page of which leads to a more personal and inti-
mate acquaintance with this man of sturdy and enriching personal-
ity. Vivid and graphic word pictures are given of his environment
and activities, a fine setting for the heart of the book which consists
of the chapters of autobiography written as informal letters to the
author.

"Slabsides" has been a part of the public consciousness for years
and it is interesting to read of the reasons for its establishment.
The teeming social current that sweeps through every home in this
day and generation, making life complex and burdensome also
flooded "Riverby" the home which Mr. Burroughs built in 1874,
and he sought retirement in a place where he could "read a little,
write a little, and dream a good deal." First he built a "study"
on a hillside near Riverby, but this was too near the current to be
even a restful eddy ; so he sought for a site for a hermitage near a
mountain stream which Whitman had described as "a stream of
hurrying amber, thirty feet wide, risen far back in the hills and
woods, now rushing with volume — every hundred rods a fall."
Here indeed was the ideal place, and Siabsides was built. But it
was not long before Slabsides had set up a social current of its own ;
pilgrims, students, artists, authors and nature lovers from afar and
near climbed the hill and invaded the hermitage that wouldn't
somehow hermit its founder. The reason is not far to seek, for
John Burroughs is essentially a social being, even though he esteems
himself a poor mixer. His readers have always felt themselves an
essential part of the triangle, the other two sides being Burroughs
and Nature. They feel that he is writing to them. Here is where
he departs widely from Thoreau who never wrote his nature notes
to be read of men ; he wrote his philosophy of life for men but he
wrote of nature merely as self expression.

Perhaps because of the uphill current that beat against the bark-
covered walls of Slabsides, Mr. Burroughs sought another retreat
at the home of his youth where every view was in the truest sense
learned by heart. Thus " Woodchuck Lodge" has come to be his
home for part of the year, distracting the social current that surges
ever toward him.

*Published by Houghton Mifflin Co., 287 pp. Price $2.00 plus postage.

208 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Was there ever such an autobiograph}^ as is presented in these
letters ! So lucid, so honest, so graphic with all the little nooks and
crannies illuminated as by sunlight flashed from a reflector I It is
a wonderful record of life in a farm home in New York during the
first half of last century. It is interesting to note that although as
a boy, sugar making in "the sapbush in the groin of the hill" was
the only part of farm work that appealed to him, yet he has always
from choice been a farmer. His child life on the farm gave Mr.
Burroughs his background as a naturalist; he writes "When I
began in my twenty-fifth or twent^^-sixth year, to write about
birds, I found that I had only to unpack the memories of the farm
boy within me to get at the main things about the common ones.
I had unconsciously absorbed the knowledge that gave the life
and warmth to my page." What a pity that the farm home of
to-day is not preparing more naturalists in this natural way ! The
farm child of this age seems to us to be always facing the road made
smooth for the whirring wheels of "the Ford", and has turned his
back to the woods and fields, but maybe this is undue pessimism.

Cheerfulness and Efficiency
Is it true that efficient people are always cheerful ? This opinion
has been forced upon us many times; but the converse is not
necessarily true, for the happy-go-lucky person is usually far from
efficient. However, to be able to do things well is in itself a
cause for gratification which stimulates a cheerful attitude toward
the world. These reflections were stirred in the editorial mind
through watching the chickadee open sunflower seeds at the feeding
table. The chickadee is cheerfulness epitomized and vitalized,
and perhaps he has gained this quality because he is always able
to cope with his own special problems. He pounces down upon
the feeding board, selects his sunflower seed with celerity and the
skill of a connoiseur, takes it over to the rim of the feeding table
and holding it flat side against the side of the rim with his two
feet, he hfts his head high to gain force, and drives blow after
blow into the tough shell until it is pierced and broken; he still
holds the seed by the ends with his capable toes while he extracts
the meat. The whole proceeding is characterized by alertness,
self-confidence and skill, which certainly combines to form chicka-
dee efficiency; and what a glorious cheerfulness it is, thus founded
on conscious power of achievement !

The Teacher's Corner

The Editor
The following outline for studying a bird is the one I have used for years and
have found it fairly satisfactory :

Date

Name of bird

1. Where is the bird seen: Woods, border of woods, bushes, open field,
trees or bushes along fences, roadsides, border of stream, marsh, pond or lake,
garden, orchard, about buildings.

2. Compare the size of the bird with that of the crow, the robin, or the
English sparrow.

3. Its most striking colors are: Gray, slate, brown, chestnut, black, white,
blue, red, yellow, orange, green, olive.

4. Does it show flash colors when flying? If so, where and what color?
Wing, rump, tail, under tail.

5. In action is it: Slow and quiet or active and nervous?

6. Does it occur alone or in a flock?

7. In flying does it go : Straight and swift, dart about, up and down, wave-
like, flap the wings constantly, sail or soar with wings steady, flap the wings and
then sail?

8. Describe its song and call note?

9. Where does it sit when singing? Does it sing while flying?

For Closer Observation

10. Colors and markings of: Breast, throat, wings, tail, top of head, eye-
streak, back.

11. Is the bill : Slender, long, short, strong, thick, medium, curved, hooked?

12. Is the tail: Forked, notched, square, rounded?

The following questions should be answered from observation, if possible;
if not, the answer may be found by consulting bird books :

13. What is the food of the bird and how obtained?

14. Where does the bird spend the winter?

15. Describe the nest, where placed, how far from the ground, how sup-
ported, of what material is the outside made, how lined? The color and num-
ber of eggs.

16. How are the young fed and cared for? The colors of plumage of the
young birds.

17. Is this bird beneficial to us, and if so, how and why?

"In the early years we are not to teach Nature-Study as science, we are not
to teach it primarily for method or for drill. We are to teach it for living and
for loving — and this is Nature-Study. On these points I make no compromise.
— L. H. Bailey.

209

News Notes

The several state universities, colleges and normal schools of the Pacific
northwest are planning their summer sessions this year with special reference to
the needs of visiting teachers who wish to attend the annual convention of the
National Education Association, to be held in Portland, Oregon, July 7-14.
Convention week will constitute a vacation period for the summer schools,
dividing the session into halves, thus making it possible for teachers to get the
full benefit of the convention without sacrificing their summer courses. The
following schools offer summer sessions: State University, Eugene, Ore.;
Oregon Agricultural College, Corvallis, Ore.; University of Washington,
Seattle, Wash. ; Normal School at Cheney, Wash. ; State Normal, Bellingham,
Wash.; Ellensburg State Normal; The State Normal school at Monmouth
Ore. ; The State Normal vSchool at Lewiston, Idaho.

The College of Hawaii is fortunate in having connected with it Prof. Vaughan
MacCaughey who is a most able naturalist and a lover of all the wonderful out
of door life of Hawaiian Islands. Prof. MacCaughey does not let us forget him
for he writes concerning the food plants of ancient Hawaii to the Scientific
Monthly and of several remarkable plants to the A merican Journal of Botany.
The most interesting account of "The little end of Hawaii" to the Journal of
Geography and gives an account of the orchids of Hawaii to the Plant World.
He gives a most practical paper in Science on the Botanical field excursion in
collegiate work. We are glad that we have Prof. MacCaughey to make such
interesting reports to us of life in the land of his adoption.

In the very interesting conservation, Bird and Arbor Day Bulletiti, published
by the State Board of Education, of California, Dr. Margaret McNaught
strikes this timely warning note :

"Too often the observance of the day is an end in itself. The people of the
school district gather on the school grounds. An appropriate program, planned
by the teacher, is successfully carried out by the children, at the close of which
all those assembled show much interest and industry in the planting of trees
and shrubs. Then the shovels and spades and watering pots are gathered toge-
ther and placed in wagons and automobiles; the fathers, mothers and children
laughingly crowd in among them and everybody goes home happy in the con-
sciousness of a day well spent. March 7th has been celebrated.

Next morning interest has waned. The children return to school and
continue their school studies, while the trustees and other "grown-ups" go
about their regular round of duties. The trees, planted with so much formality
are neglected, and for want of water droop their branches under the hot rays
of the noonday sun, then drop their leaves and die. They, too, were only a
part of the celebration of the day.

Nothing could be farther from the spirit of the law that sets aside Luther
Burbank's birthday in the school year to be known as Conservation, Bird
and Arbor Day."

A paper by Pres. Charles W. Elliott, published by the Rockefeller general
education board entitled "Changes needed in American secondary education"

210

i

NEWS NOTES 211

is one of the announcements for the modern school experiment to be tried out
at Cokimbia and it gives expression to those things which the Nature-vStudy
movement has stood for since its inception. This is a matter of rejoicing to us
all and especially so to Dr. Edward F. Bigelow, who gives a lengthy editorial in
The Guide to Nature showing how Pres. Elliott's ideas were a part of the Agassiz
Association plan from the first. Dr. Bigelow pays tribute to Mr. Harlan H.
Ballard for his great work in first organizing the Agassiz Association and thus
bringing to bear an important influence in the direction of this new education
upon the children of the United States.

Prof. P. G. Holden, Director Agricultural Extension Department, Inter-
national Harvester Company, has issued a very timely and much needed
circular, on how to vitalize the teaching of agriculture in the rural schools; he
says, with truth, "the teaching of agriculture in rural schools never will be a
success so long as we teach the same thing over and over again, year after year,
or allow the teacher to skim all the branches and leave a subject barren and
uninteresting for the teacher who follows the next year," and his remedy for
this is to rotate the subjects and suggests a four year rotation. "This method
enables us to teach more agriculture, eliminates repetition, gives us a new field
subject each year, keeps interest alive and keen, does not kill the subject by
skimming or teaching the same thing over and over again."

Teachers interested should send to the International Harvester Company,
Chicago, for the circular; its suggestions are truly valuable.

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden offers a six weeks' summer course in gardening
from July 5 to August 16. The course is not only one of theory but of practical
outdoor garden work in gardening and also work in the garden with children,
so that one is prepared to work in children's gardens or in community gardens.
The fee for this course is $20.00 For further information write to the Secretary
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Miss Margaret Aherne, who has been teaching Nature-Study in the Gary
schools, writes of her live equipment for teaching:

"I have two opossums and one has about eight young. I also have two nice
fat rabbits now besides an alligator, pigeon, rats, turtles, frogs, salamanders,
etc. I have nineteen new gold fish and a new castle. Altogether I have about
70 fish. My number of snakes increase daily. At the last counting I had
fifteen."

■^...,^ ^-T r— H It] iLi^i

\JTHE BOOK SHELF [^

Primer of Bird-Study. Ernest Ingersoll, The National Association of Audubon
wSocieties. 1974 Broadway, New York City. Price 15 cents.

The beginning of bird study should consist of understanding the wonderful
adaptations in the structure of the bird to its mode of life. This sounds as if it
should be the final effort of bird study also and both are true. But the writer
knows whereof she writes for she has taught small children about birds and
began with the adaptations which interested them far more than the learning
to know different birds by name, for the child wants to know "what they do"
and "how they do it." This primer of Mr. Ingersoll's is just what the teacher
needs for the start. It discusses feathers and their uses, colors and growth,
molting, use in flying, the wings, tails, and head dresses, feet, bills; the faculties
of birds — their senses of touch, sight and smell; the food, alimentary tract, the
egg, and incubation; nests and their purposes.

It is an admirable little book and gives the teacher just the information she
should have to interest the children in the life of birds.

Our Common Birds, by D. W. Hamilton, Mclndo Publishing Company,
Toronto, and 912 Grand Ave., Temple Building, Kansas City, Mo.
This delightful book is just what the Nature-Stud}^ teacher needs, for it is
written especially from the Nature-Study standpoint. Dr. Hamilton has been
one of the efficient workers in nature-study in the Dominion of Canada for
many years and he understands well the needs of the teacher. It begins with
short accounts, of the game birds, the birds of prey, the woodpeckers and a color
key for their determination, the sparrows and a color key for their determina-
tion, the thrushes with a color key and finally is given a color key to the
warblers. Dr. Hamilton has a happy faculty for giving interesting titles to his
chapters, "The bird with a chiseled beak" covers the woodpeckers; "Tree
inspectors," the nuthatches and chickadees; "The wily bird," the crow;
"Friendless birds," the blackbirds; "The live diadem," the hummingbirds;
"Birds with special menu," the cuckoo; "A well groomed visitor," the wax-
wing, etc. Altogether this is a most attractive and useful little book.

The Bird Study Book. T. Gilbert Pearson, Secretary Natural Association,
Audubon Societies, Doubleday Page & Co. New York City. Price $1.25.
This book is the natural outgrowth of Mr. Pearson's wide experience as
Secretary^ of the Audubon Societies. It discusses first acquaintance with the
birds. Notebooks, Blanks for reporting, Artificial cover in hiding to watch birds,
How to study the birds during nesting season, and care of young, Bird migra-
tion, Winter habits of northern birds. Economic value, The traffic in feathers,
Bird reservations. Bird-protective laws and their enforcement. The making of

212

THE BOOK SHELF 218

bird sanctuaries, and winds up with a chapter relating what various teachers
have done for bird study and gives rules for forming bird-study clubs. Mr.
Pearson has brought together in this volume very practical information for the
bird lover and the teacher. There are 16 full page illustrations from photo-
graphs and many line drawings.

The Book of the Peony, Mrs. Edward Harding. 260 pp., 44 illustrations in
color and black and white. Octavo. Handsome cloth. J. B. Lippincott
Company. Net $6.00.

It is a pleasure to take some books in the hands without reference to the
contents, and this is one of them ; as one opens it one is still more pleased for
first of all the eye revels in the beautiful and artistic colored plates and the
beautiful type and wide leisurely margins. The peony has always appealed to
the reviewer from the time when as a child she worshipped the vivid, purplish
red which every June brought forth in the farmhouse garden, and it still con-
tinues giving her a gaspy sort of happiness when she looks at the row of the pink
and white and red beauties that grace her present garden. But this book
induces a still more "gaspy" pleasure for it reveals undreamed of interesting
things about peonies.

First of all, they have a history that would make the worshipper of pedigree
envious, for it reaches back to mythology. The reason for this pedigree lies in
the fact that peonies have played such an important part as medicine, P.
officinalis, the one that excited our childish admiration, is a native of southern
Europe and has been used for medicine so long that it is a part of mythology.
The original white peony has an equally interesting history, being a native of
China from whence Japan imported it earl}^ in the Eighth Century.

After the chapter on the history follows a description of the eight types of
peonies which have been developed and six short lists of twelve each of the
most desirable varieties are given ; then follows a main list of peonies tabulated
as to introductory type, list, color, size, season, fragrance, habit of growth,
special value. This table covers nineteen pages. The chapters that follow
deal with the following topics: Extending the period of Bloom, Purchasing^
Where to plant and how to prepare the soil. Planting and cultivation, Propaga-
tion, The tree peony — Descriptions and history, Tree peonies; Cultivation,
Propagation and best varieties. Various species of the peony. And last of all
in the Appendix is given Diseases of the Peony — by the highest authority in
America, Prof. H. H. Whetzel.

Mrs. Harding is a practical gardener and has one of the best peony gardens
in this country. This accounts for the delightfully sympathetic style in which
the book is written and at the same time for its practical value.

Judging Horses — As a Subject of Interest in Teaching School. H. P. Barrows,
U. S. Dept. Agr. Bulletin 487, Washington, D. C.
A bulletin of 30 pages is introduced by some very practical suggestions of
class room discussion of the subject. Then follows very terse and well illus-
trated clear directions for the judging of horses including students' score cards
for draft and light horses.

214 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:5— May, 1917

Animal Micrology. B}^ Michael F, Guyer. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press. Price $2.00, postage extra (weight i lb. 10 oz.)

The development of microscopical technique during recent years has been
so great that too often it seems to the uninitiated a science in itself rather than
an aid to study. The standard texts devoted to the subject are encyclopaedic
in character and however indispensable as laboratory reference books are
altogether formidable for the beginner. The result is that the undirected
student of biology, wishing to prepare his own materials, is bewildered and
discouraged by the multiplicity of methods and by complicated directions.

The need for a guide, in English, which could take even the beginner through
the maze and which could insure his mastering of the essentials of the subject,
was met some ten years ago by the publication of the first edition of Professor
Guyer's "Animal Micrology." In clear, simple language, it presented the
principles of technique, and then starting the student with his own material,
led him step by step to his goal — the carefully prepared, completed slide,
ready for study.

The favorable reception accorded the first edition has led the author to
bring out an enlarged and completely revised second edition. "The general
plan of the book has not been altered" but many sections have been entirely
rewritten, and two new chapters, one, on 'Cytological methods', the other on
'Drawing' have been added. The discussion of the principles of the micro-
scope is very brief, on account of the available excellent treatises of Gage and
of Carpenter.

The various methods of imbedding and sectioning, of isolation, staining,
and mounting are clearly and explicitly discussed. In addition there are
chapters devoted to the essentials of embryological methods, blood examina-
tion, and bacterial examination and to the preparation- of invertebrates and
objects of general interest. The memoranda at the end of each chapter,
and the consideration of difficulties likely to be encountered will prove helpful
to the laborator}^ worker and the advanced student as well as the beginner.

The author has met his aim of making the entire book practical, omitting
the unessential, and above all, giving definite statements. Students and
teachers of animal biology are fortunate in having so helpful and practical
a work available.

Tree Wounds and Diseases, A. D. Webster, J. B. Lippincott Company. 215
pp. 32 full page plates. $2.50.
Only a few years since the name Tree Doctor was a term of derision just as
was Bugologist applied to the Entomologist a few years earlier. But both
these titles have earned their place in the honorable professions through saving
the trees from the ravages of insects and diseases. This volume is opportune
as the author says it is written with the distinct object in view of bringing
home to owners of trees, or those in charge of such, that at a small outlay of
labor and expense, the lifetime of old, historic or accidentally damaged
specimens may be greatly extended. The book discusses in a clear and popular
manner: The management of decaying trees, Hollow trunks and their treat-
ment, vSupporting heavy and diseased branches. Injured bark on root and

THE BOOK SHELF

215

stem, Pruning diseased trees, Injurious influences from soil or atmosphere —
Fungus growth on trees — Insect attacks and their remedies. Injuries from
animals and birds, Fruit trees and their enemies. Preventing diseases. Accidents
and diseases to which trees are hable. Preservatives and materials. There are
many illustrations. This book should be in the library of ever}^ tree lover and
orchardist.

The Bird Fountain in the Editor's Home Garden.

AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY SOCIETY

CORNELL UNIV., ITHACA, N. Y.

PLEASE HELP TO SAVE OUR NATIVE PLANTS BY PROMISING

To protect our native plants,
Not to destroy rare wild-flowers and ferns,
Not to injure any shrub or tree and
Not to set fire to the fields or woods.

Name

Address
Date

American Fern Journal

Official Organ of the American Fern Society

Issued quarterly: Subscription, ninety cents per year.

Includes articles of both technical and popular interest with illustrations.

Editor, R. C. Benedict, Ph. D., 322 East 19th St. Brooklyn, N. Y.
Business Manager, E. J. Winslow, Lasell Seminary, Auburndale, Mass.

The Guide to Nature

Edited by EDWARD F. BIGELOW

A Monthly Magazine from the Naturalist's Point of View.

An interchange of obserA^ations b^/ students

and lovers of nature.

Nature is good in the school, because it is good
anywhere for all people.

Subscription $1 a year Four months' trial 25c.

Single copy loc.

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION

ArcAdiA
sound beach : ; connecticut

Kindly mention The Nature-Study Review when replying to advertisements

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 13 September, 1917 No 6

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES

HE BUTTERFLIES afford ideal material
*for nature-study, and especially for inter-
esting the pupils in the mastery of a group. In
almost any locality outside of the large city,
there may be found in the course of a season
thirty or forty species of butterflies, and at least
twenty of these are common. Because the
number is so small, the species are easily
learned and most of them may be identified while on the wing.
The teacher should bear this point in mind for it is a great ad-
vantage for a child to be able to identify a creature without having
to kill it to make sure.

In 1906 when the editor was conducting the Home Nature-Study
Course for Cornell University, a butterfly leaflet was issued as a
part of this course. This leaflet was very popular at the time and
there are still many requests for it from teachers and pupils of
many states although the leaflet has been long out of print.
Therefore, it has seemed wise to reprint it with such additions as
will make it applicable to a wider range than New York State for
which the original was written.

A pleasure similar to that afforded by the sight of a beautiful
flower is experienced when the eye rests upon a bright hued butter-
fly. It may be balancing itself above its partner in beauty, the
flower which gives it nectar, or it may be following the graceful
curves of its path in the air, or if frightened it may zigzag by so
swiftly that the eye only catches a bit of moving color; and
although almost every one is attracted by these beautiful creatures,
yet aside from two or three of the most common species very few
people know their names or their habits. Yet each one of the
butterflies has a most interesting life-history, and some of them are
of great economic importance.

218

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept., 1917

THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF BUTTERFLIES

For the most part butterflies are not injurious; although while
in the caterpillar stage they feed upon vegetation, most species

live upon weeds of
various kinds, and
those that feed
upon the leaves of
trees rarely occur
in such numbers as
to do damage. The
cabbage butterfly
is a notable ex-
ception ; it came
to us from Europe
and is now a wide-
spread pest that
would work de-
struction to the en-
tire crop of cabbage
and other crucifer-
ous garden plants
if left alone. The caterpillars of the black swallowtail occasionally
occur in sufficient numbers to damage celery, and the young of the
giant swallowtail do injury to the foliage of orange trees; occa-
sionall'v the caterpillars of the mourning cloak do some damage to
elms. However, all butterfly caterpillars are easily gotten rid of
by spraying the foliage on which they are feeding with poisoned
water. The benefits conferred by butterflies are only partially
known and little appreciated. Ver\^ many flowers depend upon
butterflies for carrying and bringing pollen. The black swallow-
tail is especially beneficent in this respect. A large number of the
species assist in cross pollinating the flowers of the plants on which
their }^oung feed and thus they pay back their debt. One little
radical, the wanderer, has departed from the traditions of the
butterfly family; its caterpillar feeds upon plant lice and thus is
very helpful.

The Black Swallowtail
Expanse three and one-half to four inches. Color
brownish-black, the front wings spotted with yel-
low, the hind wings bearing yellow and blue spots.
There is a red eye-spot at the inner angle of the
hind wing.

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES

219

THE LIFE HISTORY OF A BUTTERFLY
The life-history consists of four stages :

First. — The eggs which
are laid upon the food
plant by the mother but-
terfly; these eggs are often
exquisite in color and beau-
tifully ribbed and pitted so
that when seen through the
microscope they look like
gems.

Second. — The caterpillars
which hatch from these eggs
and which feed upon the
food plant until fully developed

Eggs of Black vSwallowtail, enlarged.

Before reaching its full growth,
the caterpil-
lar sheds its
skeleton- skin
four or five
times ; often
this change of
skin makes a
change in the
appearance
and in the
color of the
caterpillar.
Third.— The
pupa state or
chrysalis.
When the

caterpillar is full grown it sheds its old skin and appears in a very

different form, that of the

chrysalis or pupa. The

pupae of the butterflies are

never protected by a cocoon as

are the pupas of moths. This

is one of the chief difl'erences

between moths and butter-

Caterpillar of Black Swallowtail in two stages of growth.
The larger one has the scent organs protruding.

Chrysalis of Black Swallowtail

220

NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW [13 :6— Sept., 191'

flies. The caterpillar, before it changes to a pupa, makes a button
of silk and sometimes also a loop of silk by which the pupa is sus-
pended. As the insect when in the pupa or chrysalis state is
helpless and unable to move, it is, therefore, an easy prey to birds
and other enemies; thus the chrysalis is usually inconspicuous and
placed in som.e position where it is not easily detected by even the
keenest eyes.

Fourth. — After a tim_e the pupa skin is shed and from this comes
the winged insect in all its beauty of color and form.

HOW TO STUDY THE BUTTERFLIES

The caterpillars may be found on their food plant and reared
indoors. This requires a great deal of care in providing fresh food
and in looking after the wants of the little
pmilf illllim^ prisoners. This is the best way to study

' ' the insects, as we thus become acquainted

with the caterpillar and its habits and also
the chrysalis ; and when finally the winged
insect emerges we may become familiar
with its colors and markings before we set
it free to carry on its work of perpetuating
the species and of carrying pollen for the
flowers.

Or we may catch a butterfly with a net
without injuring it and let it loose in the
room where we can study it at close range
and get thoroughly acquainted with its
size, form and colors. This is an excellent
way.

The most common way of studying
these insects but perhaps not necessarily
the best, is to make a collection of but-
terflies. This involves the catching of the
insects in a net, and killing them in a cyanide
bottle, or by pinching the thorax, and then
spreading the wings carefully, letting them
dry extended, and then placing the speci-
a box for safe keeping. Every beginner experiences

such specimens free from the little pests

Spreading Board

mens m

great trouble in keeping

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES

221

which destroy them. The boxes of insects in any musevim have to
be looked over carefully every month and such as are infested
treated with the deadly fumes of some <^as. Undoubtedly the best
and cheapest way for amateurs to mount their insects in permanent
form is to use the Riker mounts which consist of shallow cardboard
boxes with glass covers and filled with cotton. The size of box
large enough for most of our butterflies costs fifteen cents each, and
they come in cases, a dozen in a case. The butterfly is spread and
placed on the cotton, the cover put on and sealed with gum paper
and the specimen is safe for all time. As there is a box for each,
any specimen may be passed around and studied by itself.

Such a collection of butterflies is a great help to a teacher as she
is thus able to bring a page from nature's book into the schoolroom
for the pupil's enjoyment and enlightenment. However, we by no
means advise that the pupils themselves
make a collection of insects, or that they
be encouraged to do so.

While we do not advise the children to
make collections of insects our reasons for
doing so are based quite as much upon other
grounds as upon that of developing cruelty
in the child. The taking of life of the lower
animals is a matter that had best not be
too much dwelt upon before children, for
we cannot be consistent in our teaching
and they soon discover it. For who shall
say that the cat which catches and eats the
robin is m_ore culpable than the person who
eats lamb chop for breakfast, thus sacrific-
ing the life of an innocent and playful
creature to satisfy his appetite? And in the wider view of
the Creator and his creatures, the life of a butterfly is no m.ore
sacred than that of the housefly or a mosquito. It is far safer
to let these questions alone in our teaching and cultivate in the
child an interest in the lives of the lower animals, thus bringing him
into kindly relations with his little neighbors of the field, so that he
will naturally respect their rights. It is the boy who knows the
birds and loves them, who will not shoot them; it is the child who
knows the butterfly by name and something of its interesting habits
who will refrain from crushing the life out of its fragile body.

A Breeding Cage

222 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept., 1917

We cannot eradicate cruelty by punishment or repression; but
we may crowd it out of the child's character, by putting in its place
little by little the humane and tender sentiments which inevitably
follow a knowledge of the life and habits of even the lowest creature.

I FIFTY COMMON BUTTERFLIES

In the following descriptions the measurement of the butterfly is
made across the spread w^ngs from tip to tip ; unfortunately, it was
not practicable to have the pictures of all the butterflies natural
size. It must be borne in mind that individual butterflies of the
same species may vary in size somewhat. When the size of the
caterpillar is given it means the fully grown larva just before it
changes to a pupa.

THE SWALLOWTAILS

These are large handsome butterflies and get their name because
of the prolongation of the hind wings in a manner suggesting the
tail-feathers of a swallow. The caterpillars have a pair of scent
organs just back of the head, which they can thrust out at will.
These are supposed to protect them from the attacks of birds by
rendering them disagreeable to smell and probably to taste.

The Tiger Swallowtail
Expanse, three and one-half to four inches. Colors pale
straw-yellow marked with black. On the hind wing
near the inner angle are blue and red spots.

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES

223

The Tiger Swallowtail. — This magnificent creature flies about

leisurely and is fond of strong odors whether they be fragrant or

otherwise. It is especially fond of to- p

bacco smoke and will often be seen

following in the wake of a smoker.

The caterpillar has large eye-spots on

the thorax, and it has a pretty habit of

making a silken, spring mattress to rest

upon when it is not eating ; it makes this

by weaving the web of silk across the

leaf pulling the edges of the leaf slightly

together. Food plants, ash, birch and

poplar.

The Black Swallowtail. — This graceful

insect is often found about our houses

visiting the flower gardens. It is one

of the most important pollen carriers

among the butterflies. The male is Caterpillar" of the Tiger

Swallow-tail resting on
its silken mattress.

sm_aller than the
female, and has
two complete
rows of yellow
spots on both
wings. The cat-
erpillar is mostly
black and spiny
when young but
later it is adorned
with green and
black crosswise
stripes, the black
stripes enclosing
six yellow spots.
Food plants,
caraway, pars-
ley, celery and

The Giant Swallowtail

This greatest North American butterfly has an expanse of
five and one-half inches. It is black and marked with
yellow bands diagonally across the wings and near the
outer border.

wild carrot.

224

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept., 1917

Caterpillar of Giant vSwallowtail.

The Giant Swallowtail. — This is the largest butterfly in North
America. It is a southern species and its caterpillars attack the

leaves of citrus fruits. It is a
disagreeable looking creature,
colored to imitate bird lime,
and when disturbed, erects
its head, throws out its scent
horns and fills the whole
neighborhood with an almost
unbearable stench. It also
feeds upon prickly ash and
lombardy poplar and is some-
times found in the North.
The butterfly is magnificent and creates the greatest excitement
when it appears in the Northern States as it sometimes does in
late summer.

The Zebra Swallowtail. — The wings of the zebra are barred with
blackish and greenish wjiite which make it a striking butterfly.
The length of its graceful
tails is dependent upon
the lateness of the sum-
mer. It is common in the
Southern States where it
goes through several gen-
erations each year. The
caterpillar feeds upon
pawpaw, spicebush and
huckleberry.

The Green-clouded Swal-
lowtail.— The wings are
black; the front wings
with a row of pale straw
colored spots near the The Zebra Swallowtail

outer marmn thp hinH '^^^^ ^^'^"^^ ^^^ barred with blackish and greenish
outer margm, tne Hmd ^^^^^_ ^^^^ ^he base of each tail-like pro-
wings are powdered with longation of the wings is a blood red spot, and
yellow - green or blue - ^^^>'°"^ ^^""^^ ^^ ^^^'° purplish blue crescents,
green scales and each bears an orange spot at the middle of its front
edge and one at the hind angle. Six pale crescents form an inside
border to the hind wing. The tails to the wings are paddle-
shaped and rather short. The caterpillar feeds upon spicebush

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES

225

and sassafras. It has eye spots on its thorax. This species is
common in the Southern States. For figure see p. 254.

The Blue Swallowtail. — This is another black velvety butterfly
with a blue shimmering sheen playing over its wings in the sun-
shine. The fringe on the outer margin of its wings is alternately
black and white and each wing may have a row of whitish spots
just inside the border. The expanse of wings is from three and one-
half to four and one-half inches. Its caterpillars feed upon Dutch-
man's Pipe, Virginia snake-root, and black bindweed. It is a
common species in the South and might be taken for the green-
clouded species except that it has no orange spots on the hind
wings.

THE PIERIDS
THE WHITES

The Cabbage Butterfly. — This is the white butterfly com.mon near
every garden in which grows cabbage or its near relatives. We
had native species of cabbage
butterflies which did compara-
tively little damage to gardens,
although they were found quite
commonly prior to 1 8 70 ; but this
emigrant Pieris rapce came to us
from Europe getting its foothold
in New York State in 1868.
Now it has driven out all of
our native species; they have
literally taken to the woods and
are found only occasionally flit-
ting about the wild cruciferous
plants. The velvety-green cat-
erpillar of the cabbage butterfly
is very destructive and is well
known. It feeds on other cruci-
ferous garden-plants but pre- ^ ^^^ Cabbage Butterfly
J. Expanse an men and three-quarters,

ters cabbage. Color white with black spots. Male

above, female below.

THE ORANGE-TIPS

The orange-tips are seldom seen; they are sm.alHsh white
butterflies marked with black and have the lower sides of the wings

226 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept., 1917

marbled and netted with green. Many of the species, especially
the males, have the front wings tipped with orange which gives
them the name. Most of the species are found in the far West,
only two are occasionally found in the East.

The Placate Orange-Tip. — This butterfly has the apex of the
front wings prolonged into a hook shaped point. Only the males
have the front wings tipped with orange. The caterpillar feeds on
cress, shepherd's purse and other crucifers.

THE YELLOWS

The Roadside Butterfly — This is the most common repre-
sentative that we have of the yellows, and it may be seen in the

simimer in great numbers flit-
^^.^^^^^ ting above the flowers of our
/ 9iWl^^g roadsides, or settled for a social
drink about some mud puddle
in the road. Its caterpillar is
\ small, green in color, and feeds

-^ on clover, vetch, lupine, etc.
It is so well concealed by color
. " that it is rarely found.

The Roadside Butterfly The Sleepy Yellow. — This

Expanse, one and three-fourths to two u,..(-+-^«^,. i ^ • ^ ^ ^

inches. Color bright, sulphur-yellow, butterfly has a wmg expanse
Wings bordered with blackish. Spot of not quite two inches. Its

h?„*:,ng orgiylnow.^"' ™ *'^ Wings are bordered with a

broad black band and the
dark spot in front of the middle of the front wing extends
up and down and is a mere line, looking like a closed eye. The
caterpillars feed upon cassia, clover and senna. The species is
comm.on in the Southern States.

The Dogs Head. — The wide black border on the front wing of
this butterfly outlines on the yellow a head that resembles that of a
duck quacking more than that of any dog. However, the picture
on the wing of the female is slightly like the profile of a poodle's
head. The black spot forms a large and startling eye. The cater-
pillar feeds upon false indigo and clover. This species is abundant
in the south western United States and Pacific Coast. Its wing
expanse is about two and one-half inches.

The Little Sulphur. — This is a pocket edition of the roadside
butterfly, marked like it except that it has a dot instead of a spot

I

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES 227

on the front wing. Its expanse is less than one and one-half
inches. It is common in the Southern States and northward. Its
caterpillar feeds upon cassia and other legumes, preferring the fine-
leaved varieties.

The Orange Sulphur. — This species resembles the roadside
butterfl}' in size and markings but is orange instead of lemon yellow.
It is found abundantly in the Mississippi Valley. Its caterpillars
feed upon clover, vetch, etc.

The Cloudless Sulphur. — This splendid butterfly, the most
beautiful of all the yellows, has an expanse of two and one-half
inches and looks like a California poppy floating off its stem. The
male is pure yellow with no markings, but the female has just a
suggestion of black border on the outer edge of her wings and a
black spot in front of the middle of each front wing. It is a com-
mon species in the Southern States, and late in the season pushes
northward. The caterpillars feed upon cassia and other legumes.

THE NYMPHS

THE FRITILLARIES OR CHECKER-BOARD BUTTERFLIES

These are reddish-brown butterflies with many black spots on
the upper sides of the wings giving them a checkered appearance;
and with many silver spots on the lower sides of the wings. When
we were children we used to call these round, silver spots " butterfly
money," and it was one of our pastimes to gently sieze one of these
butterflies when we found it sucking nectar from some thistle
blossom and count its money before w^e let it go.

The Gulf Fritillary. — This is a bright copper butterfly that bears
some resemblance to the monarch since its veins in the outer por-
tions of the wing are black. It has an expanse of two and one-half
to three inches. It can always be distinguished from other butter-
flies by the form of the silver spots on the lower side of the wing
which are bar-shaped rather than coin- or crescent-shaped. The
caterpillars are spiny and feed upon the leaves of the passion flower.
The species is found in the South from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

The Regal Fritillary. — This is the most magnificent of all the
fritillaries, having an expanse of from three and one-half to four
inches. Its front wings are copper color with dark borders, but its
hind wings are black with yellowish or light spots. Underneath,
the front wings are orange and the hind wings are a rich olive brown

228

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept., 19i:

ornamented with nearly thirty large silvery white spots. While in
general it resembles the great spangled fritillary and the silver-spot,
the black hind wings distinguish it from these species.

The Great Spangled Fritillary
Expanse about three inches. Color orange (which fades to a
dull brown late in the season) marked with black, the wings
shading to brown next to the body. Undersides of the
wings of the Great Spangled at the left ; of the Silver Spot
at the right.

The Great Spangled Fritillary and the Silver Spot Fritillary. —
These two are of the same size and marked very similarly. The
only way to distinguish the two species is to study the lower side
of the hind wings; in the great banded species there is a broad, buff
band inside the silver spots that border the wings ; it is one-fourth as
broad as the wing itself. This band is very much narrower in the
silver spot. The caterpillars of these species are velvety black and
spiny, and feed on the leaves of violets.

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES

229

The Variegated Fritillary.
— This is another southern
species and it has the real
fritillary markings on the
upper sides of the wings;
there are no silver spots on
the lower sides of the wings
which are marbled with
brown and white. It has
a wing expanse of two and
one-half inches. Its cater-
pillar is thorny and feeds

The Variegated Fritillary
The wings are copper red crossed near the
center with a paler band and the mark-
ings are blackish; no silver spots ['on
lower side of wings.

Upon passion flower, mandrake, violet and some other plants.
The Silver Bordered Fritillary and the Meadow Fritillary. — These

are two little fritillaries which resemble each other very much, but

may be easily separated by the
fact that the silver bordered has
the silver spots on the lower side
of the hind wings, while the
meadow has not a butterfly dollar
on its wings anywhere. The cater-
pillars of these species are small,
mottled green and spiny. They
feed upon violets.

THE CRESCENT SPOTS ZZ.
The Silver Crescent and the Pearl
Crescent. — These are • two little
butterflies which m.ay be distin-
guished from other orange-yellow,
small butterflies because there is
so much of brown or black upon
the wings that it is hard to tell
whether that or the orange is the
ground color. The lower sides
of the wings are much paler than
above and are marked with vari-
ous shades of yellow in most com-
plicated patterns. The cater-
pillars of these species are black

'^^^

Silver Bordered Fritillary
above; Meadow Fritillary, below.
Expanse, one and three-quarters
inches. Color orange-yellow spot-
ted with black. The underside
of wings shows the "meadow" at
the right.

230

NA T URE-STUD Y RE VIE W

[13:6— Sept., 1917

marked with yellow or orange,
spiny, and feed on sunflowers,
asters and other composite plants.
The Baltimore. — This is another
crescent spot, but is ver\^ strik-
ing in appearance. It is found
near swampy places. Its cater-
pillar is black and orange banded
and striped and spiny. The
caterpillars of one brood live
together like a happy family.

Pearl Crescent,

Silver* Crescent.

Expanse one' and one-half inches.

Color orange-yellow with black

markings.

weaving leaves around them-
selves for protection; a queer
thing about them is that
during late stmimer the whole
brood suddenly stops eating
voluntarily and^waits for win-
ter to pass, although sur-
rounded by plenty of food. The food is snake head.

The Baltimore

Expanse two inches. Color black with
outer marginal row of reddish-orange
spots and two parallel rows of very
pale yellow spots.

THE ANGLE WINGS

These butterflies are so called because the edges of their wings
look as if they were cut in
sharp notches and scallo]3ed
with a pair of scissors; they
are am.ong our most interest-
ing and beautiful butterflies.

The American Tortoise Shell.
— This striking butterfly some-
times passes the winter as an
adult and sometimes as a
chrysalis. Its caterpillar is
black with greenish sides and
sprinkled with white raised

The American Tortoise Shell
Expanse two inches. Wings blackish
crossed by a broad band of orange
brown which shades to yellow on
the inner side.

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES

231

The Compton Tortoise
Expanse two and one-half inches, mottled with dark red
and ochre yellow, like the colors of a tortoise shell.
A white spot_ is on the front of each wing near the tip.
The hind wings on the lower side each bear a small
L-sh.aped silvery or white mark.

Spots; it is spiny. The caterpillars of the same brood live
together feeding on the lower sides of the leaves which they fasten
together making a protective abode. The food plant is nettle.

The Compton
Tortoise. — This
butterfly resem-
bles ver}^ m.uch
the polygonias
even having the
'* embroidered"
initial on the
lower side of the
hind wings.
However, it dif-
fers in one par-
ticular. The
hind margin of
the front wings is
straight and not

incurved. Its caterpillar is greenish in color more or less speckled
with lighter color. It has black, bristly spines and the caterpillars of
the same brood feed in a flock. The food plants are birch and willow.

The Mourning
C/oa^.— This but-
terfly which is well
known in Europe is
very comm.on here.
It winters as a but-
terfly and is the
earliest of all our
butterflies to ap-
pear in the spring.
Its caterpillar is
velvety black cov-
ered with white
raised dots, and a
row of red spots
along the middle of
the back. It has
It feeds on elm., willow, poplar and other trees.

The Mourning Cloak

Expanse two and one-half to three and one-half
inches. Color purplish-brown appearing black
when flying. The wings have a broad, yellow
border sprinkled with brown and just inside the
border a row of blue or lavender spots.

rows of black spines.

232

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept, 191'

W-'MfM'

The Buckeye. — This is a
southern butterfly that pushes
northward late in the season.
It has two eye spots on each
front and hind wing, a large
lie and a small one. The
small one on the front wing is
often indistinct. Its general
color is brown with a few
copper red markings; there is diagonal yellow band across each
front wing. A very similar species is com.mon on the Pacific Coast.
The caterpillar is dark gray with lengthwise yellow stripes and
spotted with yellow, and orange. It is ornamented with branching
spines. It feeds upon gerardin, figw^orts, snapdragon and plantain.

'Boo!"
The Buckeye

THE THISTLE BUTTERFLIES

Three of the angle wings are called the thistle butterflies because
they are particularly fond of the nectar of thistle blossom.s, and
each one bears on the lower side of the wings a band of rich rose-
color, which well m.atches the color of the thistle flowers.
' The Red Admiral. —
This is one of our m.ost
striking and beautiful
butterflies. The wings
beneath are beautifully
mottled and the front
wings bear a diagonal
band of rich rose-red.
Its caterpillar is dull
yellow, m.ottled with
black with a yellow
stripe along the side;
it has m.any spines. It
feeds upon nettles and
hops.

The Painted Beauty and Cosmopolite.— Th^sQ two species
resemble each other very much ; each has the hind half of the front
wing colored rose-]:)ink on the lower side ; on the hind wing of the
painted beauty are two eyesi^ots while on the cosmopolite there are
five or six smaller ones in a row. The caterpillar of the painted

The Red Admiral

Expanse a little less than two and one-half
inches. Color purplish-black with white
spots near the tips of the front wings.
Orange-red band across front wings and
bordering middle part of hind wings.

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES

233

beauty is velvety black with cross lines of yellow and with a row
of white spots on each side back of the middle. It has bristly

The Painted Beauty, above, The Cosmopolite, below

showing under sides of wings at the right.

Expanse of wings about two and one-half inches.

Spines; it feeds upon everlasting and allied plants. The cosmo-
polite caterpillar is mottled, greenish-yellow with black and yellow
stripes along the side. It has bristling yellow spines ; its food plants
are thistle, willow and everlasting. The cosm.opoHte has the
widest distribution of any of our butterfly species. It is found in
every part of the world except South Am.erica and the Arctic

THE POLYGONS

These are distinguished from the other butterflies not only by
the sharp notches and angles of the edges of the wings, but also by
having the hind margin of the front wing cut out in a graceful
curve. Each species has on the lower side of the hind wing near
the center an initial or punctuation mark wrought in silver, this
mark varying with the species. The flight of the polygons is very

234

NA T URE-STUD Y RE VIEW [13 :6— Sept., 1917

erratic ; they dash about making quick angles so that the eye cannot
follow them. While the upper sides of the wings are bright orange
red and quite striking, the lower sides of the wings are m.ottled in
dull colors so that they resemble dead leaves or grass. All one of
these butterflies has to do to becom.e invisible when resting on the
ground, is to close its wings above its back, and it is then almost
impossible for the eye to detect it. The Violet Tip. —

This is the largest
of the polygons and
the most graceful
in form of all but-
terflies. It winters
as an adult. The
caterpillar is yel-
lowish-brown with
irregular spots and
marks of lighter
color. It has many
branching spines,
one pair being on
the top of the head.
It feeds on elm,
hop, nettle, linden
and hackberry.

The Hop Merchant. — This looks on the upper side like a dwarf
violet tip, for the margins of the wings are tinged with violet. It
hibernates as a butterfly
and is one of the earliest
that we see in the woods
in the spring. Its cater-
pillar is about an inch
long, dark brown or
greenish with blotches
and lines and adorned
with thorny spines one
pair of which is on the

head. It feeds on hops, ^^^ ^^^ ^Merchant

rioffl^ r.^A 1 rr^-u Expansc two inchcs. Color bright orange-red

nettle and elm. The with black spots. The borders of the

chrysalis is a beautiftll wings dark brown shading off to violet at the

r^K-;o^■^ r..^r.^ ^ J -^t- margin. The "initial" on the lower side

object ornamented with of the hind wings is like a badly made G.

The Violet Tip
Expanse two and one-half to three inches. Color
rich orange red spotted with black. The margins
of the wings and tails violet color. The hind
wing bearing a large silver semicolon on the
lower side, shown at the right.

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES 235

knobs that shine like the precious metals. There is a superstition
that if these knobs are golden the price of hops will be high; if
they are silver, the price will be low.

The Green Comma. — This always hibernates as a butterfly. It
may be distinguished from the gray comma, which it very much
resembles, by the green tinge quite noticeable in the darker mark-
ings of the upper side of wing, and by the amount of olive green
and the very different pattern on the lower side of the wings, and a
quite different initial which is much like that of the hop merchant.
Its caterpillar is a little more than an inch long, reddish or yellowish
in color with a large patch of white on its back. Its branching
spines are light colored. It eats the leaves of black birch, willow,
alder, currant and gooseberry.

The Gray Comma. — This butterfly always hibernates as an adult
and appears early in the spring. It especially frequents orchards.

The Gray Comma

Expanse about two inches. Color orange-red with black
spots brownish borders to the wings. The under sides of
the wings are "pepper and salt" arranged in wavy lines.
The "initial" a delicate wide-angled L.

Its caterpillar attains the length of an inch and has a body yellow-
ish-brown marked with greenish-black. It has many branched
spines one pair being on the head. It feeds on currant, gooseberry,
and elm.

THE SOVEREIGNS

These butterflies are noted for the very interesting habits of the
caterpillar which are omitted here. The caterpillars when fuUy
grown are so covered with humps that they look most grotesque.
On the front end of the body is borne a pair of tiny tubercles that
look like pompoms. The chrysalis has a projection which resem-
bles a Roman nose.

236

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept., 1917

The Banded
Purple or White
Admiral. — This
beautiful and
striking butter-
fly is quite local
in its habits and
spends its whole
Hfe near the
same spot. It
frequents shady
roads. Its cater-
pillar feeds upon
birch, poplar and
shadbush.

The Red-Spotted
Purple. — This is
not so common
in the North as
the banded pur-
ple. There is a
form which is
hybrid between
the two showing
the trace of the
white band
across the
front wings,
while the hind
wings are usu-
ally like those
of this species.
Its caterpillar
feeds upon plum, thornapple and others.

The Viceroy. — This butterfly has forsaken the dark uniform of
its family and has put on the dress of the monarch. This disguise
affords it protection from the birds because the monarch is very
distasteful to them, and they have learned to avoid all butterflies
which look like it. The black band across the hind wings of the
viceroy distinguishes it readily from the monarch. It is also a

The White Admiral or Banded Purple
Expanse about three inches. Color velvety chocolate-
black; the broad white band across the wings
distinguishes it from other species.

The Red Spotted Purple
Expanse about three inches. Upper surface of wings vel-
vety indigo-black tinged with blue or green iridescence.
The border rows of spots on the hind wings a light
iridescent blue. The wings on the undersides show
many red spots.

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES

237

Photo by Dr. R. W, Shufeldt.

The Viceroy
Wings orange bordered with black in which is a row of white spots.
Veins black. Black band across hind wing.

238

NA T URE-ST UD Y RE] 'IE W [13 :6— S ept . , 1917

smaller butterfly. (See figure on page 237.) Its caterpillar feeds
upon willow and poplar.

THE EMPERORS

The Goat-Weed Emperor. — This handsome orange red butterfly

can be distin-
guished from all
others by the
gracefully ex-
tended tips of
the front wings
and the equally
striking points
on the hind
wings. It is a
middle western
and southern
species. Its cat-
erpillar is gray
It feeds upon goatweed.

The Goat-Weed Emperor
The wings are bright-orange margined with brown with
I an irregular paler band just inside the brown margins.

and encrusted with little tubercles.

THE MEADOW BROWNS

These are brown butterflies which do not attract much attention
from the uninitiated, but are very much loved by any real student
of butterflies.

The Bhie-eyed Grayling and
the Dull eyed Grayling. — These
two species blend into each
other, the blue-eyed being the
southern form and the dull-
eyed the northern form. The
only difference between the
two species is that the dull-
eyed grayling lacks the broad
yellow band on the front wings,
but almost every grade be-
tween the two species may be
found. The caterpillar attains
the length of over one and one-
third inches. It is green in

The Blue-Eyed Grayling
Expanse two to two and one-half
inches. Color dull brown with broad
yellow bands crossing the front wings
outside the middle. In this band
are two black eye-spots, with little
blue centers ; small dark eye-spots on
each hind wing.

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES

239

color with yellowish strij^es along each side. The body is covered
with down, otherwise smooth. The rear end is forked. It feeds
on grass.

The Eyed-hrown. — -This delicate fawn-colored butterfly repays

well a little closer attention,
ornaments the upper surface
of the wings has a white center
like a bull's eye on the lower
surface. The caterpillar at-
tains the length of one and
one-fourth inches, is greenish
in color and striped lengthwise.
It is not only forked at the
rear end, but has a pair of red
horns at each end of the body ;
it hibernates when about

Each velvety brown spot which

Little Wood Satyr
Wings nearly uniform dark
brown. The small pupils of
the eye-spots often double.
Each eye-spot ringed with pale
yellow.

The Eyed-Browx
Expanse about two inches. Color pale
mouse-brown with a row of four vel-
vety brown spots along the border of
the front wing and five or six smaller
spots on the hind wing.

half grown. It feeds on the coarser
grasses and sedges.

The Little Wood Satyr. — This is a
jolly little butterfly frequenting the
shade of thickets and groves. It is
single brooded and appears early in
the season. The caterpillar is pale
greenish brown and downy with
blackish lengthwise stripes and it
feeds upon grass.

THE MILKWEED BUTTERFLIES

The Monarch. — This magnificent butterfly is a m.onarch indeed.
The birds will not touch it and so it is afraid of nothing. Its flight
is leisurely and extends over long distances. It does not winter
with us, but comes to us each year from the South. In the fall it
may be seen migrating back in flocks. Its caterpillar is banded
crosswise with narrow black and yellow stripes. At either end of
the body is a pair of whip-lash like organs ; it attains the length of
two inches. It feeds on milkweed; the chrysalis is plump and

240

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept., 1917

comparatively smooth, of an
exquisite green color orna-
mented with dots of shining
^old.

Monarch Chrysalis

The Queen. — This is a

Florida species. Its wings
A jMonarch Caterpillar i i . i_ i. j j

are chocolate brown bordered

with black. The front wings are sprinkled with white dots inside

the margins. The viceroy in Florida imitates the queen in color.

THE LONG-BEAKS

These butterflies are easily distinguished by their long beak-like
palpi which are from one-fourth to one-half as long as the body —

only two species are found in the
United States.

The Snout-butterfly. — This little
butterfly looks as if it had had its
front wing tips snipped off with
cur\^ed scissors. It sometimes oc-
curs in swarm.s but is usually rather
rare. It haunts river banks and
marshy places. Its caterpillar feeds
upon hackberry.

The Snout-Butterfly
Blackish brown marked with
orange patches and white spots.

THE GOSSAMER WINGS

These are our sm.allcst butterflies, few of them measuring more
than an inch across the expanded wings. They include the hair
streaks, coppers and blues.

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES 241

THE HAIR STREAKS

These little butterflies are distinguished from others by the long
tail-like prolongations of the hind wings. They are usually dark
brown with delicate striped markings on the lower surface of the
wings; some species are brilliantly marked with metallic blue or
green. About fifty species occur in North America. A table for
determining the common species is given in How to Know the
Butterflies p. 217.

The Gray Hair Streak.- — This frisky little brown butterfly has a
bright orange-spot on the hind wings and one or two white tipped
tails; it also has orange on the tip of its
antennae and its head. Its caterpillar is less
than a half an inch long and slug-shaped,
and is naked and reddish-brown. It feeds
upon the fruit and seeds of hop, hawthome,
hound's tongue and St. John's wort.

The Banded Hair Streak. — This is our streak

commonest hair streak. It frequents open- Expanse one and one-
. ^1 J ... 111 fifth inches. Color
mgs m the woods especially scrub oak clear- ^^^^ brown or black-
ings; though dull in color it has on the inside ish; lower side of the
at the tip of the hind wings a blue patch J^ws^of^ bllck spots
with an orange patch on each side of it. margined with white.
T-, - -11 • 1 t, J t, 1-c • -u Blue spot with orange
Its caterpillar is slug-shaped, half an inch ^ ^^ ^^ ^^^^ g^^^g ^f

long, grass-green in color and feeds on oak, it on the hind angle
hickory and butternut eating holes in the o e we
leaves; it winters as a newly-hatched caterpillar.

THE COPPERS

These are distinguished from the other gossamer wings by their
orange-red and brown colors.

The Wanderer. — This lovely little butterfly is usually found near
alders. Its caterpillar is rather wide in the middle and pointed at
each end, about one-half inch in length; its color is brown marked
with brownish stripes. It differs from the caterpillars of other
butterflies in that it is not vegetarian, but lives instead, upon the
woolly plant-lice which infest the alder and thus is a very good
friend to this tree.

The American Copper. — These jolly midgets flit about over
lawns almost always playing with each other and sometimes even
daring to play with us as we cross their path. The caterpillar is

242

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept., 1917

slug-shaped, a half an inch long, dull rosy-red in color; it feeds
on sorrel.

Dtf

The American Copper
Expanse about an inch. Color of
front wings red with black spots
and borders ; hind wings coppery-
brown with broad orange-red
band on the outer margins.

The Wanderer
Expanse a httle over an inch. Color
dark brown with large irregular
orange-yellow patch in the central
part of the fore wing and a similar
patch on the outer half of the hind
wing.

THE BLUES

The Spring Azure. — This bit of a blue butterfly com.es to us early
in the spring and seems like a promise of blue skies and sunshine.
Its caterpillar is two-fifths of an inch in length, slug-shaped, whitish

Male Female

The Spring Azure
Expanse about an inch. Color blue with purplish tinge; wings
bordered more or less with black.

with dark brown head. It Hves on the flowers of dogwood, stimac,
spiraea and others. A remarkable thing about the caterpillar is
that it bears an organ on the back which exudes honeydew; ants
feed upon this and protect the caterpillar.

THE SKIPPERS

There is a family of insects usually included with the butterflies
called Skippers. These are usually small dark brown or dull yellow
and may be distinguished from the butterflies by the fact that the
antenna? are either hooked at the tips or bent at an angle. The
character which distinguishes butterflies from moths most readily
is that the butterflies always have antennae which are enlarged at or
toward the tips. Knobbed antenna: they are called; while the
antenna? of moths may be straight and simple or feather-like. The

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES

243

antennae of the Skippers are enlarged like those of the butterflies

toward the tip, but the
knob is very bent or
hooked. The vSkippers
have heavy bodies and are
very agile in flight. The
caterpillars of the Skippers
are absurd looking crea-
tures, the neck being very

The Silver Spotted Skipper Above the Nest of its Caterpillar
Color chocolate brown — the front wings marked with yellow and the
lower wings marked with white on under side. Its caterpillar forms
a nest by fastening together the leaflets of locust leaves.

small and the head very large. They usually hve concealed in a
folded leaf or in a nest made of a few leaves fastened together.

There are about two hundred species of Skippers in America
north of Mexico and they are very dififlcult to determine except in
the case of some of the larger and well marked species. In one
sub-family which are largely of tawny or orange brown color,
there is an oblique dark patch across the front wing. To another
sub-family belong most of the blackish or dark brown or dusky
winged Skippers often dotted with white or lighter yellow and which
have a little fold along near the front border of the front wing.

The main thing for

the beginner in the

study of butterflies

to achieve is to

know a Skipper when

he sees it and to

be able to say at

once, "this is a skip-
per and not a butter-

fly."

A male skipper with a
diagonal "brand"
across the front wings.
Many of these are
coppery yellow and
brown in color.

A male skipper with a
fold near the front
margin of the wing.
Most of the species
are dark brown marked
with white or translu-
cent angular spots.

COLOR KEY TO THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES

Based upon a Laboratory Exercise in Nature- Study at Cornell University
By Helen M. Hess

A. Large butterflies — strikingly black and yellow. Hind wings
with tails.
B. Wings yellow, margined with black with four black bars
across the front wing. Expanse 3-3 >^ in.

Tiger Swallowtail — Turnus form
BB. Wings black above, yellow beneath with broad diagonal
band of yellow from tip of front wing across base of hind
wing. A row of striking yellow sub-marginal spots
across hind wings and merging into diagonal band on
fore wing. Wing expanse 4-5 in. Giant Swallowtail.
BBB. Wings black, with double row of yellow marginal spots on
front wing, the inner row making a yellow band across
the hind wing. Wing expanse 2}4~s in.

Black Swallowtail, male
AA. Butterflies mostly black. Wing expanse 2-3 >^ in.

B. Hind wings with tails.

C. Front wings black with pale spots near outer margin in

single row and often rather inconspicuous.
D. Hind wings with blue spots or green inside the outer
row of yellow spots.

1. Often six crescent shaped spots along the outside

of the hind wing. The lower and especially
upper one orange. The others yellowish.
Tiger Swallowtail — Glaucus form.

2. The pale marginal spots along outer margin of

hind wing all the same color. An orange spot
at the middle of front margin and two orange
spots near inner angle of hind wing.
Green-clouded Swallowtail, female.
DD. The hind wings greenish and with only one orange
spot at inner angle of hind wing.

Green-clouded Swallowtail, male.
DDD. Hind wings metallic dark blue. No orange spots on
upper side. On the lower side the marginal row of
spots orange below, pale above.

Blue Swallowtail.
244

HESS] COLOR KEY TO THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES 245

CC. Front wings with double row of yellow spots.

1. Hind wing with yellow band across the middle.

Black Swallowtail, male.

2. Hind wing with a row of blue spots between the

outer and inner row of yellow spots.

Black Swallowtail, female.
BB. Hind wings without tails.
C . Wings with white markings .

1. With wide white band across the middle of both

wings.

Banded Purple or White Admiral.

2. With band across only the front wings.

The Hybrid Purple.

3. Diagonal red band across front wings which are

spotted with white near tips. Orange red
border to hind wings.

Red Admiral.

4. Wings bordered with orange yellow spots and

outer third checkered with cream_ white.
Rather small.

The Baltimore.

5. Small blackish buttei*flies, peppered with white,

with tips of antennae bent. Belong to the
family of

Skippers.
CC. Wings with no white markings.

1. Hind wings with border of three rows of blue or

greenish spots, and underneath a border of
seven orange spots just within a double row of
blue or green spots.

The Red-spotted Purple.

2. Wings with brownish tinge with broad border of

pale yellow. Just inside the border a row of
blue or purplish spots.

The Mourning Cloak.
AAA. Butterflies with general color of copper red or brick color.
B. Large, with wing expanse of 2 >^ to 4 inches.
C. Veins completely outlined with black.

I. With no transverse black band across hind wing.

The Monarch.

246 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept., 1917

2. With transverse black band across hind wing.

The Viceroy.
CC. Veins outhned with black near outer border. Large
silvery spots on underside of hind wing.

The Gulf Fritillary.
CCC. Veins not outlined in black. Wings coppery, checkered
and spotted with black. Inner half of wings dark
brown. No white markings.
D. Under sides of hind wings with large silver spots.

1 . A broad buff band inside the border of silver spots

on lower side of hind wing.

The Great Spangled Fritillary.

2 . A narrow buff band inside the outer row of silver

spots on border of under surface of hind wing.
The band not so wide as the silver spots in
border.

The Silver-spot Fritillary.
DD. Under side of the wings marbled in yellowish and
browns.

The Variegated Fritillary.
CCCC. Front wings coppery, checkered with black. Hind
wings black with lighter spots. Yery large butterfly.
Expanse 4 inches. The front wings orange beneath,
the hind wings olive brown with about thirty large
silvery white spots.

The Regal Fritillary.
CCCCC. Orange red with tips of front wings prolonged with
curved points and with short tail on hind wing.

1. Narrow margin of brown borders the wings. A

small dark spot in middle of margin of front
wing. Goatweed Emperor, male.

2. Broad border of brown with paler orange inside it,

and brown spots inside this pale band.

Goatweed Emperor, female.
CCCCCC. Copper red and black butterflies with tips of front
wings blackish, spotted with white.
D. Hind half of lower side of front wings rose color.

I. Lower side of hind wing showing two eye-spots
within the border.

The Painted Beauty.

HESS] COLOR KEY TO THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES 247

2. Lower side of hind win^ showing four eye-spots
within the border.

The Cosmopolitan.

DD. Cop|:er red, diagonal band across front wings,
which is vivid rose red below; red border to
hind wing. Red Admiral.

BB. Smallish copper red or copper yellow and black butter-
flies. Wing expanse from. i}4 to i^,4 inches.
C. Copper red checkered with black above. Edges of
wings not notched.

1. Lower side of hind wing with silver spots.

Silver-bordered Fritillary.

2. Lower side of wings with no silver Spots.

Meadow Fritillary.
CC. Orange with black border and many black irregular
markings. Margin of wings not notched. Lower
side of wings marbled with yellows and browns.

1. A distinct narrow yellow line bordering lower

sides of wings.

The Silver Crescent.

2. No distinct yellow line bordering lower sides of

wings. The Pearl Crescent.

CCC. Copper red and black butterflies. The edges of the
wings notched and under sides of wings marbled
browns of different shades.
D. With a white "initial" at center of lower side of hind
wing.

I. The initial of two silvery marks, a crescent
white line and a dot. Wings above bordered
with lavender

The Violet Tip.
2. The outer third of the lower surface of the
wings variegated with olive green. The
initial a C or a G.

The Green Comma.
3. Outer third of the lower surface of the wings
variegated with wood brown. The initial
also a C or a G

The Hop Merchant.

248 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept., 1917

4, The marbled surface of the under side of the
wings crossed by many fine ashen lines. The
initial an L. The Gray Comma.

DD. With no initial on hind wings.

I . Wings blackish with a broad oranged red band
marking the outer half of both wings.
The American Tortoise Shell.
BBB. Very small copper red or coppery yellow butterflies, not
expanding over one inch.

1. Front wings copper red, spotted with black and
outer margin blackish . Hind wings dark with bright
copper outer border.

American Copper.

2 . Front wings dark brown with large irregular orange

yellow patch over the middle. The hind wings
brown with orange yellow patch extending for-
ward from hind m^argin. The Wanderer.
AAAA. White butterflies:

B. With front wings tipped with black.

1. With two spots on front wing.

Cabbage Butterfly, female.

2. With one spot on front wing.

Cabbage Butterfly, male.

3 . With black blotch at middle of margin of front wing.

Olympia Orange Tip.
BB. With front wings prolonged at tip to a hook.

1. Wings tipped with orange.

Falcate Orange Tip, male.

2. Front wings bordered with delicate black spots.

Falcate Orange Tip, female.
A AAAA. Butterflies conspicuously yellow.
B. With tails to the hind wings.

I . Large, with black border and four black bars extend-
ing back from front margin of front wing.
Tiger Swallowtail, Turnus form.
BB. Hind wings without tails. Expanse 2 inches or less.
C. With black border on outer margin of wings.
D. Lemon yellow.

I. With outer black border unbroken.

Roadside male.

HESS] COLOR KEY TO THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES 249

2. With black border on front wing broken with

yellow spots. Roadside female.

3. With deep black border outlining the profile of a

head, and with black base to front wing.

The Dog's Head.

4. With outer border unbroken. A small butterfly

only one inch in expanse.

Little Sulphur.
DD. Orange yellow butterflies.

1 . The black border unbroken and with oval spot at

center of front wing near margin.

Orange Sulphur.

2. Black border unbroken in male but fading out on

the hind portion of the hind wings in the female.
Spot at middle of front wing, near margin a
mere line.

The Sleepy Yellow.
CC. Lemon yellow with no solid black border. Large butter-
fly 2^ inches in expanse.

1. With black spots bordering the wings and with

round spot at the front middle of front wing.
Cloudless Sulphur, female.

2. With no black spots of any kind, just pure yellow.

Cloudless Sulphur, male.
AAAAAA. Butterflies conspicuously brown or gray.

B. Rather large with an expanse of 2 to 2^ inches, with no
tails on hind wings.
C. With one large eye-spot and one very small one on front
wings, and with one large and one small eye-spot on
hind wings.

I . Diagonal band of yellow across tips of front wing
and two copper red bars extending back from
the margin of front wing. Copper red near
margin of hind wing.

The Buckeye.
CC. With two equal sized eye-spots on front wings.
Expanse 2 inches.

I . With the eye spots on the front wing set in a band
of yellow.

The Blue Eyed Grayling.

250 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept., 1917

2 . With no band of yellow surrounding eye-spots on

front wing.

Dull Eyed Grayling.

3. The eye-spots on front wing each surrounded by

yellow ring or set in yellow patch.

Hybrid Grayling.
CCC. With two equal spots on front wing. Expanse i>^
inches. With two eye-spots on hind wings and some-
times a sm,aller one.

Little Wood Satyr.
CCCC. With four small e^^e-spots in a row on front wings.
With five small eye-spots along margin of hind wing.

The Eyed Brown.
BB. Small butterflies with thread-like tails or with short pro-
jections on hind wings.

The Hair Streaks.
BBB. Small butterflies without projections on hind wings.
With rather heavy bodies and antennae bent at the tip.

The Skippers.
AAAAAAA. Butterflies blue or marked conspicuously with blue.
B. Small butterflies mostly blue.
C. Without tails to hind wings.

I. Lower sides of wings pale ash gray. Expanse
about one inch. The Spring Azure.

CC. With tail-like prolongation to hind wings.

Hair Streaks.
BB . Large black butterflies without tails to hind wings, marked
with double row of blue spots near border of hind wings.

The Banded Purple.
BBB. Large butterflies with tails to hind wings.

1. Black butterflies, sheen on hind wings blue or

greenish blue. Blue Swallowtail.

Green-clouded Swallowtail.

2. Black btitterflies with blue spots on hind wings.

Glaucus form of Tiger Swallowtail.
Black Swallowtail, female.
BBBB. Black butterfly with slight tail Hke prolongation on
hind wings. With yellow border and row of blue
spots inside of it.

Mourning Cloak.

HESS] COLOR KEY TO THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES

251

Swallowtails

Pierids

Check list
of Fifty

Common
Butterflies

Nymphs

Meadow
Browns

The Milkweed
Long Beaks

The Gossamer
Wings

{ Tiger
I Black

Zebra

Giant

Green-clouded

Blue

Whites { Cabbage

Orange tips Falcate

Yellows

Fritillaries

Crescent
Spots

Angle-
wings

Roadside

Sleepy Yellow

Dog's Head

Little Sulphur

Orange Sulphur

Cloudless Sulphur

Great Spangled

Silver spot

Regal

Gulf

Variegated

Meadow

Silver-bordered
] Pearl
I Silver
[ Baltimore
, Mourning Cloak
I American Tortoise
I Compton Tortoise

Buckeye
J q>i • , 1 I Red Admiral

i If fl- Painted Beauty

I Butterflies ] Cosmopolite

Polygons

Violet Tip
Hop Merchant
Gray Comma
Green Comma

Soverei

gns

( Banded purple
j Hybrid purple
I Red-Spotted purple
{ Viceroy

Emperors | Goatweed Emperor

Blue-eyed Grayling

Dull-eyed Grayling

Eyed Brown

Little Wood Satyr

Monarch

Queen

The Snout Butterfly

f Gray Hair Streak

Hair Streaks t Banded Hair Streak

^ ( Wanderer

Coppers -j American Copper

Blues "I Spring Azure

The Mourning Cloak caterpillars are sociable even when
changing to chrysalids

Some Disguises of the Mourning-cloak

Harriet A. Wickwire

Cortland, N. Y.

May in the woods! Hepaticas bursting into bloom; blue and
white violets down among the coiled ferns and dried leaves of last
fall; and, last but not least, a great dusky winged butterfly, danc-
ing entrancingly through the shadows and sunlight.

Who has not seen it? Every one has been startled by the
appearance of this big purple-brown butterfly, bordered with straw
color, and having a row of violet-blue spots around the wings.
However, few of his many admirers really know the Mourning-
cloak in all his phases of existence.

He starts life as a tiny melon shaped egg, first pale amber, then
changes through tan to rose and finally becomes blue-gray before
the minute crawler emerges. The egg period lasts about ten days,
and as the eggs are laid in close mats the caterpillars emerge toge-
ther; they eat together and live together also.

For the first three days the baby crawlers are yellow, with black
heads and have a very greasy appearance. They form a nest of
silk, soon after emerging from the eggs, and eat young willow leaA^es
ravenously, growing to be a quarter of an inch long in four days.

On the fifth day, the brood prepared to molt, the new heads
could be seen growing just back of the old ones and were black.
Two da\'s later the molt took place, and the crawlers gained black
spines.

252

wickwire] some disguises OF MOURNING-CLOAK 253

Another four days and the second molt took place. The head
and body were both black this time, and there were longitudinal
tan stripes running the length of the caterpillars. The spines were
black, and those nearest the head were the longer. The first three
pairs of legs, (the true feet) were black, while the others (prop feet)
were tan colored.

Three days and then another skin was cast. The new head was
large, round and black, just back of it was a crest of small black
spines. The body was black with a row of red spots down the back
each side of which were the large black spines ; the smaller spines
on the sides of the caterpillars were grayish. The true feet and the
last pair of prop feet were black, the other prop feet being reddish
tan.

Four days more and the last molt took place. There was no
change in the colors this time, but the crawlers grew to be one and a
half inches in length. They still lived together and when someone
beat on a tin pan near them they would throw themselves from
side to side in a most comical manner, for all the world like a com-
pany of Shakers.

It was twelve days after this last molt that we found the first
chrysalis, and a queer little body it was ! Suspended by the tail it
hung from a twig, plump in shape and purple brown in color with
little gilt knobs for omam.ents, surely a fit covering for any fairy to
burst from.

After a sleep of thirteen days, a quivering at the end of a chrysalis
warned us of the coming emergence. When at last the crumpled
wet winged insect struggled through the tiny opening, it seemed
impossible that this creature could ever become the dusky nymph
of the May woods ; but after half an hour of fanning the queer little
dwarfed appendages which appeared where the wings should be,
shook out, perfect in form and exquisite in coloring. Then with a
whiff of the summer breeze our captive was off; sailing down the
golden sunbeams and dancing with the woodland shadows.

spice-bush Swallow-tail {Papilio troilus); male. (Nat. size on negative). The
vine is the Bindweed, and the flowers are of the Butterfly Milkweed.

254

Some Familiar Butterflies

By Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, C.M.Z.S.
Washington, D. C.

Sometimes it almost seems as though the interest taken in the
different departments of the study of Hving forms in nature, as well
as in the various divisions of botany, were passed along in waves
by those interested in them or engaged upon their study and
literature. In illustration of this, an unusual amount of attention
has been paid, within the past few years, to butterflies and moths,
both by scientific workers and by am.ateur naturaHsts in many parts
of the country. Some very good works have appeared on the sub-
ject, especially such epoch-making volumes as Doctor Holland's
two books — one on our butterflies and the other on the m_oths of
this country. Several enterprising collectors of these insects have
recognized the com.m.ercial side of this widespread interest, and
have built up establishments entirely given over to the purchase of
our moths and butterflies in unlimited numbers, for the purpose of
supplying museums, private collectors, and "the trade" generally.

The present article has nothing to do with this aspect of butter-
fly study, however comm.endable such work may be ; on the other
hand, it will simply invite attention to a few of our best known
species, with the hope that it may induce the young naturalist and
reader of Nature-Study Review to widen the fleld of his studies
along this line, and to add material to his or her collection for
comparative study.

Perhaps one of the best known groups of butterflies in this
country — certainly one of the most numerous — are the forms
assembled in the subfamily Pierince, that is, the "Sulphurs" and
the ' ' Whites. ' ' This subfamily is contained in the family Papilion-
idcE, or the Swallowtails and their near relatives — a group to which
reference will be made further on.

As a general thing, the Sulphurs and the Whites are medium-
sized forms, and often quite small species. These have the upper
as well as the under sides of the wings yellow — a Naples yellow —
bordered above with black; there is generally a small spot near
the middle of any one of the wings. The bodies are dark, nearly
black, and more or less densely covered with a pale yellowish down.
The most comm_on representative is the Common Sulphur,
different individuals of which present considerable variation, and

255

256 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept., 1917

the great number of species in this genus, as well as in others of the
subfamily, is really remarkable. With but few exceptions, this is
the case throughout the group. For example, in the tropical genus
Dismorpha there are over one hundred species, and perhaps fully
that many more yet unknown to science. In another genus
(Tachyn's), nearly eighty species belong in the Old World, while
only one is found in this country, and in it the sexes are quite
different in their color-pattern. Those of another genus have been
called the "Whites;" they are of medium size, generally white in
color, with certain limited m.arginal markings, and, in one species at
least, conspicuous spots.

The species generally known as the Cabbage Butterfly belongs to
this genus Pieris, it being Pieris rapes. Writing about it in his
"Butterfly Book," Holland says: "This comm_on species, which is
a recent im.portation from, Europe, scarcely needs any description.
It is familiar to every one. The story of its introduction and the
way it has spread over the continent has been well told by Dr.
Scudder in his second A^olunie of ' The Butterflies of New England'
(p. 1 175). The insect reached Quebec about i860. How it came
no man knows ; perhaps in a lot of cabbages imported from abroad ;
maybe a fertile female was brought over as a stowaway. At all
events it came. Estimates show that a single female of this species
might be the progenitor in a few generations of millions. In 1863
the butterfly was already common about Quebec, and was spread-
ing rapidly. By the year 1881 it had spread over the eastern half
of the continent, the advancing line of colonization reaching from
Hudson Bay to southern Texas. In 1886 it reached Denver, as in
1884 it had reached the head waters of the Missouri, and it now
possesses the cabbage fields from the Atlantic to the Pacific, to the
incalculable damage of all who provide the raw m.aterial for sauer-
kraut. The injury annually done by the caterpillar is estimated to
am.ount to hundreds of thousands of dollars." (p. 280).

Again, som.e of the species of the subfamily are very small, some
being white upon their fore wings, tipped with bright orange with
black-spotted emarginations (Euchloe). Passing these and many
others, we meet with the genera Catopsilia and Kricogonia, created
to contain the "Great Sulphurs," which are very much larger
species, of a brilliant orange or yellow color and few markings. The
Cloudless Sulphur {Catopsilia euhule) is of a rich 3'ellow color, and
measures some two and a half inches across. It is an insect of

SHUFELDT] SOME FAMILIAR BUTTERFLIES 257

very vigorous flight; I have never taken it but once in my Hfe, and
then with a very stiff straw hat on the shore of Chesapeake Bay in
the State of Maryland.

A good, big volume might easily be written on this groujj of
butterflies, and to fully illustrate it, hundreds upon hundreds of
colored cuts would be required. So I leave them, to pass on to their
near relatives of the subfamily PapilionincB — another enormous
assemblage of insects. These are usually large species, with either
one of the posterior pair of wings produced into an elongate, narrow
projection, which some describers have likened to a "tail;" hence,
the name of Swallow-tail Butterflies. Most of the first section, or
the Parnassians, are western species, and som.e of them, are of
m.arked beauty, as P. smintheus for exam.ple, found from Colorado
to California, and from New Mexico to Montana. The male has
an expanse of som_e two and a half inches, and the fem.ale is still
larger. It is an extrem.ely variable species with respect to color
and markings — indeed, to such an extent that Holland devoted no
fewer than six colored figures to it, in that these variations might
be exhibited. Variety P. hermodur is an especially beautiful
insect, it being of an ash gray, with black and deep orange spots
on the upper sides of the fore wings, and large orange spots,
margined with black, on the hinder pair. There are many species
of Parnassius in this group, and they are, for the most part, insects
of a pale, dusky white color, set off by various small spots, bands,
and emarginations of dusky gray, black, and yellowish orange.

An abundant butterfly in the District of Columbia, especially
in the valley of the Potomac River, is the Ajax — the Papilio ajax
of science — and its summer form of P. a. marcellus. An upper
view of Ajax is shown on the cover, it being a reproduction of a
photograph I made of one I captured at Great Falls, Maryland.
Note the extraordinary length of the "tails" to its hinder pair of
wings, and the elegant pattern of both pairs. There are several
winter forms of Ajax, as P. a. walshi, P. a. telamonides, and P. a.
floridensis, all of which have arisen from the note-worthy variations
in the markings of the insect, which are more or less constant.
Ajax feeds on the leaves of the papaw; many of these trees are
found in the environs of Washington, and where they occur in the
river bottom, one is sure to meet with this particular Swallow-tail
flitting gracefully up and down the roads and paths through the
woods and marshes. According to Holland, Ajax "ranges from

258

NATURF-STUDY REVIEW fl3:6— Sept., IQll

Two Monarch Butterflies {Anosia plexippus) on Goldenrod;
nat. size on negative. Collected in Maryland by the author.

shufeldt] some familiar BUTTERFLIES 259

southern New England, where it is very rare, west and south, over
the entire country to the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains. It
is very comm.on in the lower Appalachian region, and in southern
Ohio, Indian, Kentucky, and Tennessee is especially abundant."

The big "Tiger Swallow-tail " {Papilio turnus), the brilliant
yellow butterfly, so conspicuously m.arked with black, is too well
known to require either description or a figure ; it has been locally
called the "lordly Tumus." There is a black form, of the female
which occurs in the southern part of its range, and which was, for a
long time, regarded as a distinct species. There is also, in Sitka,
a sm_all, yellow, dwarf form., and specim.ens of this are to be found in
private and museum collections.

A much handsomer and very m.uch larger butterfly than the
Tiger Swallow-tail is the Daunus {P. daunus), which is found in
many parts of the Rocky Mountains, being especially abundant in
certain parts of Arizona. It closely resembles in general appear-
ance P. turnus, but may at once be recognized by its larger size and
the fact that it has two "tails" on either posterior wing — an outer
long one and a shorter inner one — instead of the single one on
either wing as in Ttirnus. In the sm_all P. pilumnus, there are
three "tails" on either side, which gives this butterfly a very elegant
appearance. It is a Mexican species (feeding on laurel leaves in
its early stages), but has been taken in Arizona.

The Hst of our Swallow-tails and their near alHes is a long one,
and it will be quite out of the question to even mention them all by
name here ; but I cannot finish with them without at least calling
attention to the famiUar black one, here shown on page 254, which
is a male of this species (P. troilus). Besides occurring throughout
the Atlantic States, this handsome butterfly is to be found in
certain localities down the Mississippi River. I recall having taken
it once or twice in the environs of New Orleans, while I have cap-
tured scores of specimens of it in the New England and Middle
States, where also occurs the beautiful "Pipe-vine Swallow-tail"
(P. pkilenor).

Fine specimens of the Monarch butterfly are here shown on page
258, they being a pair I captured upon some Goldenrod at Bradley
Hills, (Edgemoor) , Maryland, a number of years ago. This species
is the Anosia plexippus of science, and is so well known as not to
require any special description. Its general color is of a lively
reddish, set off with black markings and venations. Rows of

260 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept., 1917

chalky white spots, as shown in my illustration, on the body and
wings greatly enhance its general beauty. The males have a black
scent pouch on the first m.edian nervule of the posterior pair of
wings, and this species seems to produce ntm^.erous broods every
year.

The Monarch is a migratory species with a m.ost interesting
history, and is now spreading over a large part of the world.
Holland remarks that "this insect som.etim„es appears in great
swarm.s on the eastern and southern coasts of New Jersey in late
autumn. The swarms pressing southward are arrested by the
ocean. The writer has seen stunted trees on the New Jersey coast
in the middle of October, when the foliage has already fallen, so
completely covered with clinging masses of these butterflies as to
present the appearance of trees in full leaf" (pp. 82, 83). Of this
genus our butterfly fauna also contains "The Queen" (.4. berenice)
and A. strigosa.

There is another ^^ery interesting genus of butterflies known as
the "Checker-spots" (Melitcea), and a year or so ago I collected the
Baltimore {M. phaeton) near Washington. Above, it is of a deep
black, with rows of red spots and several rows of yellow spots on the
fore and hind wings. It is an exquisite little representative of our
butterfly world, and may be found in restricted localities in swampy
areas where the Chelone glabra, or Turtlehead, grows, upon which
it feeds. Its range is northeastern United States into Canada and
southward to the Virginias.

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The Chrysopas or Golden Eyes

Roger C. Smith, Ph.D.
Public Museum, Milwaukee

This family of common insects is one deserving our acquaintance.
Not only are they beautiful and possess striking habits, but they
are also of considerable economic im.portance. Both the lar\'8s
and adults feed on plant lice, young scale, mites and other sm.all,
soft-bodied form.s which are for the m_ost part destructive to m.an.

V/>

I

The adults of this family can be taken at lights in the evening
from seven to nine o'clock and around plants upon which are plant
lice or aphids from, early summ.er until late autmnn. The stalked
eggs, all stages of the larvae and occasionally the cocoons can be
found on aphid infested plants during the sam.e period. The adults
are largely pale green in color with the head variously m.arked
with orange, red or brownish black. The eyes in life have a strik-
ing golden luster, hence the nam.e golden eyes (chrysos-golden,
opsis-eye). The wings are large and when at rest are held roof
like at the sides of the body. They are opalescent and their rich
venation has called forth the nam.e "Lace Wings" for the family, a
nam.e quite com.m.only used. The wings vary slightly in size,
shape and coloration. The veins of som.e species are all light green
others vary to all veins black. There has been some difference of
opinion as to the food of the adults. But the writer believes that
practically all our species eat aphids, requiring lo to 20 per day.
They also lap up drops of water or plant sap greedily.

261

262 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept., 1917

The writer especially recommends these insects for school room
study and demonstrations. They are very easy to rear and have
som_e exceptionally interesting habits. The adults should be
placed in sm.all vials, 4 oz. being desirable. Leaves with plant
lice on them, should be put into the vials daily for food. Fem.ales
with greatly distended abdom.ens m.ay be expected to oviposit very
soon. By a little close observation, one m.ay see the process of
oviposition. The light green, elongate, oval egg rests on a com-
paratively long, clear stalk. Oviposition m_ay continue for six
weeks. When ten or more eggs have been desposited in one vial,
the adult should be removed to another vial. The eggs should be
closely watched as the little embryo m.ay be observed in the eggs
after the second day. They are outlined in red or reddish brown.
After the fifth day, the eggs may be expected to hatch.

There is a speciaHzed structure called an egg burster that enables
the hatching process to take place. In eggs ready to hatch, it will
be seen as a short dark line on the ventral side between the eyes.
If an egg be taken from a group where m.ost are already hatched,
the operation of this device m.a3^ be obser^^ed under a microscope.
After hatching, it will be found, adhering to the cast off embryonic
molt in the opening of the egg sheh. This m_ay be mounted in
balsam or glycerine jelly and studied.

The hatched lan^as rest for a time on the egg shell but as they
grow hungry, they become restless and finally come down the stalk.
Immediately they go in search of plant lice or any soft-bodied small
insects, not excepting young lar\^ae of their own kind, which they
pierce with their two sickle shaped jaws which are cur\^ed tubes and
suck out the body fluids. Under a microscope, one can see the
juices running up the jaws and sometimes the contraction and
expansion of the pharynx which constitutes the sucking pump.
The larvae m.ust be fed daily with 20 or more small plant lice.
Because of their ravages among aphid colonies, the larv^ae have been
given the very appropriate name of "Aphis Lions."

On about the third day after hatching or a little later, each lar\'a
will shed its skin. One can readily ascertain when a larva will molt
by the peculiar glassy appearance of the body wall and by the way
the black setae are folded across the back just underneath the old
skin. The larva, when ready to molt, glues the tail fast to the
glass and then by a series of movements, pulls the body loose from
the old skin. Then the bodv is shifted forward and this causes the

smith] the CHRYSOPAS OR GOLDEN EYES 263

old skin to burst over the thorax. A very clean appearing larva
with a clean-cut color pattern emerges and in about an hour the
body wall will be hard enough that the larva can walk around and
attack ])lant lice. Before the larva is grown, it will molt again four
or five days after the first molt.

A nmnber of very interesting observations and experiments can
be made with the larvae. For example, while a nearly grown larva
is eating an aphid, the bottle may be turned so that the larva is
uppeiTnost, its feet may be then lifted from the glass and the larva
forced to hang suspended by the tail. The tail is actually glued to
the glass in this case and when the larva walks about, the gela-
tinous secretion may be readily seen with the aid of a microscope.
If a nearly grown larva be starved a day or two, the food getting
instincts and reactions may be studied. It searches everywhere
for plant lice with its long jaws and an empty aphid skin is attached
just as an aphid would be but it is soon thrown aside. If an aphid
be held by a pair of tweezers in front of the larva, it will not see it.
If the antennas jaws or any of the body setae be touched, the larva
gives evidence at once of having detected its presence. It may
grab the aphid before one can get it away.

Tactile sensations are therefore the most important in food
getting. Many other experiments such as using different insects
for food, various prepared foods as beef tea, veal syrup, light and
dark experiments, forcing a larva to defend itself, placing two
hungry lar\^ae together to see the combat and allowing a hungry
larva to attempt to puncture your finger may be carried out with
interesting results. A Httle patience is required as not all larvae
perform just as one would like.

The spinning of the cocoon when the larva is grown is one of the
most interesting things in connection with the study. It requires
twent\^-four to forty-eight hours to complete the little oval, white
silken cocoon. If a larva has started to spin and is not very far
advanced, it may be remoA^ed to a glass slide, a rubber or glass ring
placed oA^er it and a cover glass on top so that it is confined for
observ^ation under a microscope. In this way the very start of
the spinning may be observed. The larva lies on its back and the
tail moves rapidly here and there fastening the silken thread around
it building first a sort of frame work. The larva shifts at regular
intervals so that the cocoon is of uniform thickness. The long
setae on the body are broken off with each shift and these go into

264 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:6— Sept., 1917

the construction of the cocoon like the ribs of a basket. Watch
the weaving pattern. It changes gradually as the spinning pro-
gresses. For a little amusement force the larva when nearly spun
up to defend itself. It may plunge its jaws through the cocoon and
attack a pair of tweezers fiercely. Or tear the cocoon and watch
the larva carefully mend it so that the tear can scarcely be found.-
The cocoon when completed is about the size of a pea and, as m_any
writers have remarked, appears to be about half the size of the
original larva though it is now contained within it.

Within this cocoon, the larva transforms to the pupa, the resting
stage before that of the adult. One can follow the changes by the
external appearance of the cocoon. The black disc at the lower
end of the cocoon indicates that the larva has m.olted and now there
is a pupa within. As the pupa m.atures, a distinct greenish tinge
can often be seen in the cocoon and sometim.es the dark eyes of the
adult are evident.

Finally after about two weeks, the pupa pushes off a circular lid
at the upper end of the cocoon and em_erges. This lid by the way,
is the result of certain weaAang of the larva while spinning and is
not cut by the heavy pupal m.andibles. The pupa in this case is
the adult with a transparent skin over it. The pupa immediately
seeks to climb and if it be placed on a potted plant, it will climb
rapidly up a stalk, take up a position at the top with the head
upwards and then begin a series of expansions which are calculated
to burst the pupal skin and free the adult. After ten or fifteen
minutes of expansion the body will be shifted for^vards and this
bursts the skin over the thorax. The adult slowly emerges, then
takes up a position again with head uppermost to allow the wings
to expand. These expand by blood pressure, the tip being the last
to flatten out. Immediately after the wings are expanded, the
adult voids a large lump of excrement which one can see as a black
area near the end of the abdomen. This is the excrement stored
up by the larv^a through its whole life as the intestine of the lan^a
does not extend entirely through the larva so it can not be voided.

The adult will now attach plant lice and eat three to a dozen at a
time. The light green coloration of the adult is a very good exam.-
ple of protective coloration. This color ver^^ closely matches that
of the leaves among which it rests during the larger part of the
day. The adults haA^e an important means of defense. When
they are disturbed or squeezed between the fingers, they emit a

smith] the CHRYSOPAS OR GOLDEN EYES 265

very disagreeable odor which has unusual lasting qualities. This
odor is only partially effective as birds and some insects will eat
them in spite of it.

This then is a very brief sketch of the life history of these
beneficial insects and a few suggestions as to their study. As a
source of study and observation they are extremely interesting
and illustrate many characteristics of insect life admirably.

A Clean Furrow

James G. Needham

Seed-time, and open fields,

And plodding team, and steady-cleaving share!
To lay the earth in furrows, line on line,

This is my care.

For lo, this waiting soil.

Receptive, and responsive to my will,
For all the ills of all the ages gone

Is fertile still.

So soft I no roar of arms ;

But gentle crumbling of the mellow earth;
Yet each sustaining harvest still has here

Its place of birth.

I'll guide my sturdy plow

And turn the ribboned furrows, line on line;
For tho the world has many things to do

This task is mine.

And when my day is done

And evening's glow has settled o'er the scene,
Returning from the field I'll leave behind

A furrow, clean.

jMamma and Papa Thelia and Baby Thelia

>

A Funny Family

William D. Funkhauser

Principal of Cascadilla School, Ithaca, N. Y.

Mr. and Mrs. Thelia and their interesting family live on the
thorny branches of a locust tree.

Mr. Thelia wears a gay yellow and brown striped waistcoat and a
funny pointed cap rests jauntily upon his head. His e_ves are like
little black beads that look roguishl v^ out from beneath his strange
head-gear.

Mrs. Thelia, who is more sober than her lively partner, dresses
in Quaker gray. She too wears a pointed cap although it is not
so graceful as that of her dashing husband.

The Thelia children are dressed like their mother in dull gray
garments. They are clumsy little fellows who stick fast to the gray
bark of the tree and look as if they grew there. They seem to be
covered with little spines or warts and this, together with their
pointed tails, makes them look like tin}^ alligators.

The Thelias like to live upon the locust tree because its sharp
thorns are just the size and color of their caps. This affords them
protection from their enemies who do not consider thorns at all
appetizing.

When Mr. and Mrs. Thelia are absent from home they leave
their babies in the best of hands. Their nurse-maids are the great
black ants that live at the foot of the locust tree. These ants are
very devoted to their charges and never permit them to stray out
of their sight.

Each baby has ever so many nurses all his own and it is very
amusing to see them stroking the little fellows with their long

266

FUNKHAUSERl A FUNNY FAMILY 267

anteniicE. They know that if the baby is stroked ever so gently he
will give off a very sweet liquid called honey-dew. The ants are
extremely fond of this kind of candy and do not cease to tickle the
little fellow until their sweet tooth is satisfied. It is a great com-
fort to Papa and Mamma TheHa to know that on their return home
they will find each child just where they left him, attentively
guarded by his neat black-dressed nurses.

This summer on many locust trees there will be famihes of
Thelias, grotesque, interesting and amusing, and there is much
enjoyment to be had from watching these curious Httle bugs in their
leafy home. The ants will betray to every sharp-eyed boy or girl
the place where the babies are hidden, but woe to the fingers that
try to steal them from their watchful guardians. Try it some time
if you do not believe this story to be true.

The TheHas have many families of cousins, most of whom wear
the same kind of droll little caps while others have queer humps
upon their backs. One of the prettiest is Ceresa. She is pale green
in color and shaped very much like a hazelnut. Some of their
distant relatives who live in warmer countries are still stranger
looking. Their caps are fantastic in shape and brilHant in color,
resembling nothing so much as the bright toboggan caps of little
boys and girls. Compared with them, the Thelias are plain little
country cousins.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Reprints of Mrs. Anna Botsford Comstock's Butterfly article
can be purchased. This article is valuable as an outline for
teaching and has been in use for years at Cornell University.
Price, Single copy 25c. 10 Copies up, 15c each.

Outline Butterfly Plates on paper suitable for coloring with
crayons or water-color will be issued soon. These plates will be
similar to the popular Bird Plates published by The Comstock
Publishing Company. Watch for its publication date.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Published monthly, except June, July and August. Subscription price, including mem-
bership in the American Nature Study Society, SI. 00 per year (nine issues) . Canadian postage,
10 cents extra: foreign postage, 25 cents extra.

T^Yi-not-f orif Please note date of expiration of your subscription on the label of the
•'•■'••^■■'■r'^-'- ^'""'•ll' wrapper. Subscriptions must be paid in advance to comply with postal
requirements. Subscriptions and advertisemedts should be sent to The Comstock Publishing
Co., Ithaca, N. N. Manuscripts for Publication and Books to be Revised should be sent
to the Editor.

Editorial

Peaceful Invasions

If the ambitious and overbearing nations of the world would
only take to nature-study instead of to guns and consider carefully
the ways of weeds and butterflies they could learn how to make
bloodless invasions that would succeed beyond any ever made b}^
the means of war. The histor^^ of the cabbage butterfly reveals
tactics that might well, if followed, make true the dreams of world
empire. However, there is one stumbling block at the outset — and
that is these peaceful and successful invaders are ideal pacifists in
that they are world citizens and owe fealty to no mere individual
nation. Any place on the twirling ball we call the earth where
they can find a climate with which they can cope and their chosen
nourishment in abtindance, has their fullest allegiance.

"The pedigree of honey does not concern the bee.
A cloAxr, any tim.e, to him is aristocracy."

Thus sang Emily Dickinson with perfect understanding of bee
standards, and this merging of one's "own country" into a world
wide range has its selfish as well as its socialistic advantages.

It was in i860 that a little white butterfly arrived at Quebec
from Europe as a stowaway on some transatlantic freighter which
probabl}^ refused to carry passengers at any price; and it was in
1868 that another fragile white butterfly stole her passage and
made her entry in the ]3ort of New York. She did not stop for
inspection at Ellis Island but on leisurely wing made her way to

268

EDITORIAL 269

some suburban village of the great city where to her delight she
found a garden with a cabbage growing in it. These two butter-
flies through accepting conditions as they found them and making
the best of things went to work with a will to lay eggs and thus
colonize the new world with their progeny. These were small
beginnings but scarcely a quarter of a century had clasped, before
the descendants of these stowaways had captured and called their
own e\^ery cabbage patch from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from
the Gulf of Mexico to Hudson Bay and not a shot had been fired.

America once had some cabbage butterflies of her own which had
fed on wild cruciferous 'plants for peaceful eons before Columbus
discovered their country. When civilization came and brought
fields of cabbage — these native aboriginal butterflies found this
new food plant to their taste and came out of the wilderness and
lived in gardens. But there was a certain consideration and deli-
cacy in their depredations for they fed only on the outside leaves of
cabbage leaving the solid head of this stimulating and odoriferous
A^egetable for the nourishment and delectation of the rightful
owners. No such regard for the rights of man characterized the
European invaders whose caterpillars dug and still dig their peace-
ful but odious trenches through and through the cabbage heads
that belong to the rightful occupants of the country.

There is a vast, unwritten, unrecorded history of what happened
to our polite native cabbage butterflies when these hordes of silent
unmilitary invaders appeared. Did they intermarry with them and
thus become absorbed in the dominant race? Or did they flee to
the woods and to the wild crucifers of their ancestors — now covering
less area because of cultivation and there silently starve and then
become blotted out ? No one knows ! All that we do know is that
while formerly the "checkered white" and "gray veined white"
butterflies were comm.on they are now seen but rarely. Mean-
while no country ever conquered and overrun by Roman Legions
was ever more in the grip of the talons of the Roman Eagles than
is North America to-day in the grip of the six tiny claws of this
butterfly invader, Pieris rapcB.

Teacher's Comer

The study of the butterfly should, to be ideal, begin with the egg. These
eggs are often exquisite in color and markings, and are always laid upon the
chosen food plant of her species. From this egg hatches a little caterpillar
that should be studied and fed and cared for until it changes to a chrysalis, and
the chrysalis to a butterfly. A breeding cage may be made by placing a bottle
of water in which the stems of the food plant may be placed in a cardboard box,
one side of which is covered with mosquito netting, or in a terrarium, or the
bottle may be placed in a flower pot of earth and over it may be put a lamp or
lantern chimney with a bit of mosquito netting over the top. Fresh food must
be supplied as often as needed. No story of Cinderella with her magical
change of costume is more interesting or wonderful than the changes of dress the
insect takes on from egg to winged state. Caterpillars have a most engaging
way of growing by shedding their skins every time they become too small, and
each change of skin is likely to make a change in the color. The diar\- of the
caterpillar should be written by the pupils. It may be written in the first
person to make it seem more like a story.

'Thora.x

Ah^onij^ji^

5- -Prop leg

TrueUjr*

Breathing- poree

The Make- up of a Caterpillar

Outline for Studying the Life Story of a Butterfly

Describe the caterpillar as follows: What is its shape? What is its ground
color? Is it striped? Crosswise or lengthwise? Colors of stripes? Is it
spotted? Has it spines or tubercles? If so, on what segments?

How do the front three pairs of legs look? How do they compare with the
prolegs? How many prop-legs are there? \^Tiat is the color of the prolegs?
How are they marked? Describe the prop-leg. What is its use?

Observe the caterpillar eating a leaf. How does it manage so as not to waste
any?

Have you found the egg from which the caterpillar came? What color was
it? Where was it laid?

How does the 3^oung caterpillar look? What are its colors? Has it spines?

Watch one of these caterpillars shed its skin. How does it prepare for this?
Does it spin its carpet ? Where does the silk come from ? Describe how it acts
when shedding its skin?

When the caterpillar is full grown how does it hang itself up to change to a
chrysalis? How does it make the silk button? Does it weave a loop or halter?
If the halter is woven what does the caterpillar do with it? Describe how the

270

TEACHER'S CORNER 271

last caterpillar skin is shed. How does the insect get free from the molted skin?

Describe the chrysalis. What is its general shape? What is its color?
Is it easily seen? Can you see where the wings are, within the chrysalis?
How is the chrysalis supported?

How does the chrysalis look when the butterfly is about to emerge? Where
does it break open? How does the butterfly look at first?

The Butterfly

What is the ground color of the wings? What are the colors of the markings?
Describe the hind wings. What colors are on them that are not on the front
wings? How do the markings on the under sides of the wings differ from those
above? How does the ground color differ from the upper side? What is the
color of the body of the butterfly?

When the butterfly alights, how does it hold its wings? Do you think it is
as conspicuous when its wings are folded as when they are open?

Watch the butterfly getting nectar from a blossom and describe the tongue.
Where is the tongue when not in use? Describe the antennae. How do they
differ from the antennae of moths?

A Note on the Hibernation of the Pupa of the Sphinx Moth

J. Andrew Drushel

Harris Teachers College

Early in October, 1916, several fully grown caterpillars (the
so-called tomato worms) of the five spotted sphinx (phlegethontius
celeus) were brought from the Harris Teacher's College garden to
the class room of our nature-study classes for observation. Shortly
afterward opportunity was provided for transformation into pupa
stage by placing two of them in a pasteboard box (inside dimen-
sions 7^ in. X 4>^ in. x 3 in.) full of moist garden soil. The lid of
the box had several air holes in it.

Several hours later one of the caterpillars buried itself, the other
escaped. The question then was asked: Will keeping the box
during the winter in the room under ordinary school room condi-
tions hasten the transformation from pupa to imago? In other
words to what extent is temperature a factor in determining the
period of hibernation ?

The box was kept covered. The soil was occasionally moistened.
At various times enough soil was removed to permit examination
of the pupa, with a view to determine whether it was dead or alive.
On May 22, 191 7, a well formed imago appeared.

In this case it would appear that ordinary room temperature did
not hasten the transformation from pupa to imago.

News Notes

CALIFORNIA

Newspapers and County Libraries of northern California are cooperating
enthusiastically in the plan of testing out the possibilities of nature-study in
every city and rural school of the state, this first story of the campaign appear-
ing recently in the Sacramento Bee.

Hummingbirds, Richly Garbed, here ix Numbers

"The wedding dance of the Anna's Hummingbird," said C. M. Goethe
to-day, "may be witnessed this week in many a garden in the coast counties.
Stripped of feathers, the body of this hummer is hardly larger than a bumble-
bee's. The diminutive wings have finished the long journey from its Mexican
Winter quarters. The males, however, are none too tired for their energetic
wooing.

"The modestly garbed but attentive female sits on a limb. One, perhaps
more, of these winged jewels commences the dythmic movement, flashing in
the peculiar, pendulum-like swing of the wooing dance. It is a sight once seen
never to be forgotten.

"California is rich in humming-birds. While the East has only the ruby-
throated, this State has six kinds. No California child should reach the high
school age without the pleasure of intimate friendship with each variety.
Good bird books can be obtained through any branch of any County Library in
California. Some, like Wheelock and Bailey, have keA's which guide the
beginner in identifying birds by their colors."

The idea is to call attention to events in Nature's Calendar through reliable
observations by several correspondents, who send them to a central ofhce where
they are given a relation to books in the libraries and are then published.
People interested may obtain the library books through any of the 2 141
branches of the County Library System.

MASSACHUSETTS
New England Federation of Natural History Societies
Portland Society Natural History. Newton (Maynard) Soc. Nat. Hist.

Josselyn Botanical Society. Worcester Natural History Society.

Knox Acad, of Arts and Sciences. Appalachian Mountain Club.

Maine Academy of Science. Barton Science Club.

Vermont Botanical and Bird Club. Boston Society Natural History.

Hartland Nature Club. Boston Malacological Club.

Rhode Island Field Naturalists' Club. Boston Scientific Society.
Providence Franklin Society. Boston Mycological Club.

Rhode Island Entomological Society. BrookHne Bird Club.
Lawrence Society Natural History. Cambridge Entomological Club.

Andover Natural History Society. Home and Field Club.

Fall River Society Natural History. New England Botanical Club.

Bristol County (Taunton) Acad. Sci. Science Club.

Marlboro Society Natural History. Fenway Natural History Club.

272

NEWS NOTES 273

The Annual Meeting of the Federation was held for two days in April at The
Children's Museum, near Jamaica Pond. The program included an exhibition
of contributions from various societies and individuals, as well as visits to other
museums, and an excursion to the Arnold Arboretum as guests of the Brookline
Bird Club.

NOVA SCOTIA

The Journal of Education of Nova Scotia last issued shows clearly that the
teachers of that province are busy laying a broad and firm foundation for the
development of future naturalists. They are stimulating their pupils to make
very accurate "nature" observations which they send in twice a year to the
Inspector who transmits them to the Superintendent of Education. The
records are called Phenological Observations and are published with comments in
the Journal. When the pupils are going to and from school they soon become
careful observers of the first leafing, flowering and fruiting of trees; of the first
appearance of the migrating birds in both spring and fall; the dates of the
beginning of farm operations, as plowing, sowing, and planting; dates of the
opening of the rivers, of the last spring frost; the number of thunder storms.
Truly, such observations are bound to produce a generation of observing boys
and girls.

It would be well if every school in America could adopt this method. Nature-
study would be given a background which would simplify the work for many
teachers.

The Rural Science Training School began its summer session at Truro on
July I ith, to run through August 9th. The studies are pursued at the Normal
and Agricultural Colleges, and at the completion of the course, the candidate is
granted a Rural Science Diploma. He may, if he chooses, pursue at the same
time a course in Physical Training, for which he obtains a certificate.

School exhibitions were held this last year in 130 schools of the province with
the result that both the schools and the public are more interested than ever in
Children's gardens, manual work and in nature collections. The exhibition, if
properly used, is of great value educationally and socially.

NEW YORK

Cornell University. The nature-study classes under the direction of Mrs.
Comstock, assisted by Professor George Embody and by Miss Cora Smith of
Erie, Pa., have had an attendance of seventy teachers representing all parts of
the United States.

Chautauqua Institution. Professor Schmucker assisted by Miss Emma Davis
of Johnstown, Pa., have been conducting classes of enthusiastic nature students
during the summer.

PENNSYLVANIA

Sewickley. The Sewickley Valley Audubon Society, of 234 members, has
had a year of increasing activity, with lectures by Ernest Harold Baynes on
feeding and attracting birds; by W. S. Thomas (City Ornithologist of Pitts-
burgh) on the placing of bird-houses; and by Henry M. Oldys, who was
employed for lectures, study classes and outings which consisted of morning
and twilight field walks conducted twice a week for six weeks in May and June.

274 NA T URE-ST UD Y RE VIE W [13 :6— Sept. , 1917

Before ]Mr, Oldy's arrival, study classes had been held in the public schools for
children in the afternoon and for adults in the evenings. The bird specimens
so freely loaned by Director Hoffman of the Carnegie Museum were of great
assistance. The manual training classes of the public schools turned out
quantities of bird houses, which resulted in there being scarcely a garden in the
vicinity not supplied with one or more bird houses.

North East has a wide-awake Nature Club which recently showed its vitality
by donating $5 to the National Audubon Society and by arranging to keep Bird
Lore magazine and The Monthly Star Map at the public library free of access
to all.

The manner of conducting the meetings of this club is truly a model.

Each member brings an exhibit of some specimen in which he is personally
interested and about which he has prepared a brief talk. At the May meeting
this included an exhibit of moths by Miss Ruth Porter, who showed five speci-
mens mounted under glass. Her talk told of gathering the cocoons from trees,
of cutting out the side of one so that she could see the changes of the pupa, and
how she finally saw the beautiful moth emerge. Miss Esther Leet showed a
lively pair of Pickering's tree frogs and told of their wonderful concerts in spring
and fall, and of how they change color, like the chameleon.

Other exhibits and talks included a spotted salamander, novel mushrooms,
false and true mitrewort, staminate and perfect maple blossoms. Attention
was called to the fact that the showy cowslip blossom has no petals.

Mr. L. B. Cushman talked on St. Petersburg, telling of the town, the climate,
the churches, the saloons, the birds and the snakes.

Several teams were appointed for special summer work. One team will work
on ferns, another on moths and butterflies, another on mosses. The fern team
has eleven members and is doing individual work.

RHODE ISLAND

Rhode Island Normal School. The recent Arbor Day festivities of the State
Normal School, under the direction of Professor Wm. G. Vinall, were so exten-
sive and so inspiring in character that readers of The Review are going to
enjoy learning of the splendid Field Day in the Woods and of the special school
exercises, as we publish them in the October number of the magazine.

Rhode Island State College is cooperating with the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture
in the endeavor to reduce the cost of living. Garden and canning clubs have
been organized among the children and in local societies of men and women.
Bulletins, demonstrations, and lecturers are sent upon request.

The Providence Chamber of Commerce through its Planting Da}' Committee
for 191 7, repeated in April the plan so successfully inaugurated a year ago for
the beautification of homes in the city. School children and factory employees
cooperated in the planting of 50,000 Bush Honeysuckles and Golden Bells.
Two days before the Planting Day, Mr, Carl Bannwart, of the Newark, N. J.,
Shade Tree Commission, lectured on "The City Beautiful," to which the public
was cordially invited.

Last year the Committee planted 23,000 Spiraea and Rose Bushes in hun-
dreds of yards.

^THE BOOK SHELFiy

To Doubleday, Page & Co., all nature lovers are deeply indebted. From its
beginning this Publishing Company has bent its energies to making the reading
public intelligent about its out-of-door environment. The Nature Library, a
dignified and remarkable series, has been a bulwark of interesting and valuable
information for the nature lover. The Editor has actually worn out some of the
books of this series and cheerfully replaced them with fresh copies expecting to
wear them out also.

Again we are all indebted to the Doubleday, Page & Co., for the charming
and enlightening books of the Worth Knowmg Series, each well illustrated and
interestingly written and costing only $i.6o a volume.

Birds Worth Knowing comprises a selection from the writings on birds of Mrs.
Doubleday (Neltje Blanchan) and no one of all the writers concerning bird life
has written more understandingly or charmingly than she. This volume
begins with a chapter on "What birds do for us," and makes a very clear and
useful classification of those that care for the foliage, those that have charge of
the bark and of those that are care-takers of the ground floor.

At the beginning of the account of each bird is given its color, description,
range and migrations, then follows a truly interesting story of the bird's ways
and habits. The book is illustrated with 48 colored plates, which are beautiful
and most useful in identifying the birds. At the end of the volume is a color
key. About 130 birds are described, including some of the more important
owls, hawks, bitterns, rails, ducks and geese.

Trees Worth Knowing by Julia Rogers is reserved for notice in the Tree
Number of The Nature-Study Review.

Wild Flowers Worth Knowing is a volume selected from Mrs. Doubleday's
writings about flowers. Mr. Don Dickinson made the selections and arranged
the discussions of the flowers according to the classification of the revised Gray's
Manual and has done a good piece of work. Mrs. Doubleday in the preface
gives the keynote to the volume when she says, "For flowers have distinct
objects in life and are everything they are for the most justifiable reasons, i. e.
the perpetuation and improvement of their species. To really understand
what the wild flowers are doing, what the scheme of each one is, besides look-
ing beautiful, is to give one a broader sympathy with both man and nature and
to add a real interest and joy to Hfe which cannot be too widely shared."
Thus she states exactly the aims of nature-study in relation to plants. Nearly
200 plants are described and discussed. A color key is given on the last pages
and the book is illustrated with 48 very beautiful pictures in color.

275

276 THE BOOK SHELF

Butterflies Worth Knowing. By Clarence M. Weed.

This attractive volume begins with a very interesting chapter on the structure
and habits of butterflies, including their selective color sense, heliotropism and
also the rearing and photographing of butterflies and preparing them for
collections. Professor Weed discusses each butterfly in his usual lucid and
charming manner, bringing out the chief points in its life history. A very
important point he makes is to call attention to those phases in the life his-
tories as yet unknown, so as to stimulate the observer to make original and
useful records and thus add to the sum of knowledge. There are colored
plates of 48 species. Many plates are made from Mr. Denton's transfers of
scales. However several are made from drawings of Miss Mary E. Walker
and Mr. W. D. Beecroft, which include the pictures of the caterpillars. There
are many other illustrations from photographs and drawings. Professor Weed
has produced a useful and attractive book and one that will be of real use in
interesting the public in these beautiful insects.

The History of Science by Walter Libby, Professor of The History of Science in
the Carnegie Institute of Technolog>\ Houghton, Mifflin Co. $1.75.
This is a wonderful little volume and makes the reader marvel how so much
can be clearly and satisfactorily expressed in the space of less than 300 small
octavo pages. The titles of .the chapters are a part of the excellent teaching
method of the volume, — for the title gives the basic principle of the phase of
science discussed under it. The first chapter, giving an account of the science of
Egypt and Babylonia, is entitled "Science and Practical Needs," and shows
clearly that science is founded on necessity. The Greek science as exemplified
by Aristotle is discussed under "The Influence of Abstract Thought." The
story of the discoveries of Benjamin Franklin is given under "Science and the
Struggle for Liberty," and thus through the twenty interesting chapters of the
book. The last two are on "The Scientific Imagination" and "Science and
Democratic Culture," both of which are remarkable, and the last should be
read and pondered by every thinking American. It is to be hoped that Dr.
Libb\^ will sometime expand this work to several volumes.

The October issue of the Nature-Study Review will be a Tree
Number. Do not miss it.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 13 October, 1917 No. 7

My Tree

Elmer J. Bailey

Assistant Professor in English, Cornell University

I do not know when I first made acquaintance with my tree, —
certainly not until a long time after I had at least become conscious
of its existence. A city boy, I made my earliest visit to the country
in the summer of my fourth or fifth year, spending a week or more
in a low, white gambr el-roofed farmhouse standing half way up
the slope of a long eastward looking hill. At the foot of that slope,
many, many years before my birth,^ — many, many years before
m}^ father's birth indeed, — an elm tree had taken up its abode.
In the days of my childhood therefore, what had once been but a
sapling stood forth a stately tree, half concealing its sturdy upward
reaching branches in the dehcate greenery of its almost lacelike
fohage. Beautiful it was in every way, for it stood alone in solitary
grandeur and grace at the bottom of a Httle hollow into which the
dusty public highway slowly descended only to climb rapidly up
the abrupter slope beyond. Still altho I often wandered back and
forth upon that road, passing and repassing the friendly elm tree, I
cannot now recall that on my first visit to the country — or even on
my second or third, — did I give it so much as a thought. Never-

277

278 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:7— Oct., 1917

theless, patiently awaiting my notice, it must have always been
standing within the straggling fence that meandered along the
straighter foot path cut into the half worn grass and paralleling the
open yellow wagon track where no child of my age dared so much
as venture.

Every spring and summer found me at the old farmhouse, and
once I spent a whole blessed twelve-month there. It was during
this long visit that I established my friendship with the elm tree.
I was ten years old and my going and comings between the city
and the country had not been few. Yet I had never been able to
adjust my city-bred ways to the less formal life of the farm, and as a
result many of my hours, and even many of my days, — ^were far
from happy there. One afternoon late in May, I distinctly
remember. My sturdier cousins had been more than usually
trying and in one of those fits of rage which result from the little
tragedies of childhood, I tore out of the house and rushed down the
road to the bottom of the hollow. Climbing the fence, I threw
myself down at the foot of the tree, too proud to cry, too angry to
be articulate, though I trembled with wrath, and could feel the hot
blood coursing through my veins. vSuddenly I was conscious of a
presence,^ — the presence of the tree.

In an angle of the rail fence, beneath the green grass, spread out
no doubt the far-reaching roots of the great elm. Of them, of
course, I had little thought ; nor did I pay much attention to the
large stones — almost rock-like in size — which some tiller of the soil
had removed from the field and scattered there out of the wa}- of his
plow. Between these stones there was no inconsiderable amount
of rather rank grass, but there was more — there were violets in
bloom. I do not know that there is any connection in general
between elm trees and violets, but nothing can ever make me
believe that my elm tree had not adopted those violets nesthng
about its roots unto its kindly protecting care. Then and there I
woke to a new truth — the Greeks were right when they believed
that every tree had a soul, that some dryad made her home within
the shelter of its roughened bark. Timidly yet eagerly, I lifted my
gaze up the straight trunk, on through the branches until it lost
itself in the mazes of the feathering of the farthermost twigs. The
light wind swayed the leaves, and their faint rustling was as a voice
— the voice of the nym])h — the voice of the tree which had so long
awaited mv coming and mv tard\' love.

hailey] my tree 279

My anger was gone. Strange as it may seem, I did not linger
long with my new friend. Ijistead I gathered myself together and
made my way back to the house. Never again was I to be quite
the same boy that I had been. What had happened to me I of
course did not then know; but I now know that a spiritual
regeneration had taken place in my soul. I would not have spoken
of my experience to my cousins, had I been able — as I was not— to
put it into words. Even childhood has its secrets which it hides
from all its companions. But I did spend my days — and I would
have spent my nights, had I been allowed to do so, — with mv new
friend. Early in the morning I was beside it; reluctantly I left it
when I was called from the farmhouse to my dinner and my supper.
Sometimes in the long light evenings of late June and July and
early August, I would slip away and spend a little time with the
tree. It seemed to bid me a goodnight when I was called from the
house, and I left it with the less reluctance, for the window of my
room looked out towards it and I could see it from my bed. Some
times the moon was very bright and all the stars were out. Then
my tree was wide awake too, and seemed now and then to nod and
beckon to me from its place there by the road.

I cannot say that I learned so very much about my tree. I
knew that my cousins spoke of it as the old elm tree, but so far as I
was concerned with names, it might just as well have been called by
any other. To them it was an elm tree and nothing but an elm
tree. To me, it was my friend, my only friend. Never could I
have brought myself to talk about it to them. Too well I knew the
shouts of laughter with which any attempt to tell my feelings would
have been greeted. Experience had taught me wisdom and I held
my tongue. No doubt this very reticence on my part was what
made the tree so dear a friend. We had a secret ; and as I trusted
the tree, so must I prove myself worthy of the trust which I never
doubted it reposed in me.

I have learned many things about elm trees as the years have
passed by. No doubt my friendship for the tree in the hollow has
stimulated interest in all its brothers and cousins. I know that
varieties of the elm are found in all parts of the globe — at least upon
all the continents; I know that it flowers before the leaves appear;
I know that its wood is put to widely different uses; I know that
the inner bark of some varieties is used in making rope, that parts
of other varieties are supposed to have medicinal value, and that

280

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

[13:7— Oct., 191'

twigs of still other varieties are supposed to possess the virtue of
acting as divining rods. Truly I know many things about the
genus Ulmus ; but my elm tree is not of that ilk. It may be of the
earth, but it is not earthly. As it was in my youth, so is it still, so
may it ever be, of another world than ours. Peace be with you,
O my elm tree! The years are many since I sat beneath your
sheltering branches, yet my love for you has never waned. I close
my eyes and I am with you, old friend, once more. The memory of
what hath been can never pass away.

Photo by Verne Morton.

A Bracket Fungus

Boy Scouts to Combat Shelf Fungi

We love the trees and we are very interested in and friendly to
the shelf-fungi that we find growing on old decayed stimips and
logs. But when we see a shelf -fungus growing on the side of a
living tree we feel the same sympathy and pity that we experience
in looking at a cancerous growth on a human face. The s])ores of
these injurious fungi find access to the living tree through an

BOY SCOUTS TO COMBAT SHELF FUNGI 281

injured place in the bark, a broken branch torn off by the wind, and
too often from the hack of an axe in the hand of ignorance and
carelessness. After the wound is made the spores settle within it
and from them grows the mycelium, the fungus threads which push
their way into the heart wood, getting nourishment as they grow,
and their path is marked by "rotten wood" for rotting simply
means the yielding of the substance of the healthy wood to these
voracious threads which first push in and then push up and down-
ward, weakening the tree and sometimes even girdling it by killing
the cambium layer. After these fungus threads have flourished
for a time and greatly damaged the tree, they seek another wound
in the protecting bark or even push out through the door which they
entered and begin to form their fruiting organ which we call the
Shelf or Bracket Fungus. One of these is composed of a hard
upper surface to which is attached a layer of very small honeycomb-
like, tubular cells; in each tube cell spores are developed. When
ripe the lower end of the tube opens, letting the pernicious spore
dust out to be carried by the wind, until some of it finds another
opening into a living tree.

Now for the Boy Scouts' work. It should be a part of their train-
ing to look for these accidental wounds in valuable shade trees, and
when found, if the wind has broken a branch and splintered it, to
saw or cut the splinters off leaving a smooth stump, and paint it
over ; ordinary paint will do if renewed each year or two, but a coat
of tar is better. If a boy scout sees a shelf-fungus growing on a
living tree he should cut it out and paint a coat of tar over the
wound. This may not save this particular tree from the damage of
this special attack, but it will save other trees because each year a
shelf-fungus grows larger and has more surface for the tubes that
bear the spores, and thus becomes a growing menace to all the trees
in the neighborhood.

Professor H. H. Whetzel intended to write an article for this
Review, outlining specifically the work of boy scouts in combating
one of the most vicious of these fungi species, but his extra duties
entailed by the war prevented him from giving us this valuable
information, but it will be given in some later number.

A Wise Old Oak

Russell R. Lord

Battery C, Maryland Field Artillery

A wise old owl sat on an oak.
The more he heard the less he spoke.
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can't we all be like that bird?

— Old Song.

True, very true; but have you heard
About the oak on which the bird
Would sit and look so wise? The tree
Was many times as wise as he.

Everywhere you go, almost, \^ou will find wise old oaks, and if
yon can get them to talk to you there's no end to the things they
can tell you. Maybe you don't believe that; maybe you think
you know a lot more than any old oak that ever grew. And maybe
you do, but again maybe you don't. But be sure of one thing —
an old oak tree has a lot more sense than any owl that ever sat in
its branches and hooted.

Owls haven't such an awful lot of sense; they look a lot wiser
than they really are. We are always a little afraid of owls — they
are so silent and spooky and unfriendly, and they seem to be think-
ing so deeply all the time, that they have made us think them really
remarkable animals. But did you ever hear of an owl doing any-
thing about all of the things it thinks so hard about? Now, trees
don't make such a show of their thinking, but they are doing some-
thing every minute and the ' 'thinks" they do are generally calculated
to make people happy and friendly, instead of scaring them to
death.

But before you can learn anything from an old oak tree you must
know it pretty well. This may mean that you know the kind of
bark it has and the family it belongs to, and the way it lives and the
work it does, and so on, or it may mean that you just know how
that oak feels, whether it feels like playing and throwing its
branches about to the winds, or whether it feels strong and brave as
it looks out over the quiet country, Some i:eople come to know
trees one way and some the other, but everybody that wants to can
be good friends with them and talk with them when he feels like it.

An oak has talked to you before this — No' Well, you know
this, don't you? An oak is big and strong and very kind and
friendly. Who told you? Why, the oak itself ! And it told you

282

LORD

A WISE OLD OAK 283

all this when you were paymg hardly any attention at all, when you
were just going past. Think how much more it could have told
you if you had just stopped and listened.

People are funny that way. They think that anything that
isn't somebody's brother or sister can't talk. And all the time dogs
are wagging their tails and cats are purring and the winds are
making soft sounds in the top of our wise old oak. None of us can
remember what we used to think to ourselves in our cradles before
we could talk, what we used to have to say to ourselves before we
knew a single word of the English language. But if we have baby
brothers. and sisters we know that we did have a lot to say to our-
selves and all without words — they do it, we know, and we were as.
smart as they are, cA^ery bit.

Well, that's about the way to talk to a tree — without words, just
with ideas. And when you've had your talk you can put it in
words, if you want to, the same way I'm going to do mine. Some
grown-up people may not believe what you tell them about your
talk with the tree, but what does that matter ! It only means that
they don't understand the tree language of thoughts instead of
words.

The Wise Old Oak that told me all the things I am going to tell
you stands all alone, almost in the middle of the largest field on our
farm. It is a Black Oak — you can tell its brothers from the cousin
Whites and Scarlets by the big broad leaves, with rounded cuts, not
so very deep. The points of these leaves are not so sharp as those
of most of the other oaks and the acorns are large and bitter, with
caps too small for their heads.

We had hay in that field, I remember, the summer I had my talk
with the Oak. The reason I remember that is because I was lying
on a haycock at the edge of its shade when I ought to have been out
in the sun piling up more haycocks. But it was late in the after-
noon and mighty hot, and I was lazy, so I just loafed in the shade
and presently began to wonder about the old oak over my head.
That's one of the best ways to get an oak to talk — to wonder about
it. Almost before I knew what was happening, the Oak was
answering the questions that were in my mind.

"No," it said, " I'm not a bit lonely up here on my hill, altho I
am very glad you have come to talk with me. There was a time
when I had plenty of company- — a little too much, I thought, when

284

NA T URE-ST UD Y RE VIE W

[13:7— Oct., 1917

other trees crowded so close around me and I got a bit tired of
fighting for food and for the Hght of the sun on my leaves. But,
everything considered, it was good fun and a fair fight — I enjoyed
it. I am the only one left now ; how many of us there used to be !
Do you see those trees way yonder?"

I looked far out over the valley and up to the horizon hills, all
woods on top. The sun was just going down behind them and it
was very wonderful to see. The oak went on :

"There was a time that when the winds blew among my branches
and then away, they were carried by other waving branches all the
way to the branches of those, my brother oaks — yes, and further
than that, too. We were all one big forest, one big family, in those
days."

"How long ago was that?" I asked.

"We do not count time as you do, but it was long before you were
bom, and before the time of your father, too. The first man I ever
saw always carried with him a long gun, and powder in a powder-
horn. He wore a coon-skin cap and could live in the woods just as
well as he could at home. He used to talk to me, too, and twice he
slept under me, altho I was smaller then and there were many finer
trees about. That was long ago, but I had lived long before that.

Leaves and acorn of l:)lack oak

lord] a wise old oak 285

"I can remember when I was bom, and how frightened I was
when I pushed my first folded leaf up thru the warm soil and into
the sunlight. My mother was there, but she was far above my
head and could not help me, for we trees are not like you children —
from the very first we have to fight our own way in the world.
And if we fail we must wither and go back into the earth and rest
for a long time, and gather strength to try again. Oh! it was a
wonderful game that we played, my brothers and I, and the rest
of the little trees around us. You children wrestle for a little while
to see who is strongest and run a little ways to see who is most fleet,
but we little oaks wrestled quietly among ourselves all day long,
and were always racing upwards toward light and room, the prizes
overhead. All day we would wrestle and race among ourselves, so
quietly that you mi2:ht not have known it, and at night, when the
sun went down, we were quiet and slept standing, side by side, so
that we might start our game again as soon as the sun arose. So
wfe lived those first summers and when fall came I stood highest of
all my age — taller, too, than some of my big brothers, — and I had
the most leaves to throw upon the ground, — leaves that shrivel
and grow brown and disappear in the warm earth when the winds
are cold, but which come back sometime and are green again, per-
haps on some other tree. And some of the little trees with which I
had raced and wrestled were not strong enough. These withered
and followed their leaves back into the ground. I missed them,
but I was not sad, for I knew that they would come back again as
soon as they were rested. We trees know that we can never die
and stay dead; that is one way in which we are wiser than a lot
of people.

"And so it went thru all the springs and summers, thru all the
falls and winters, which followed. We raced and wrestled so that
our leaves might be above all the rest and catch a lot of sunHght,
and make a lot of starch. And underground our roots grew bigger
and stronger and pushed out faster and further, so as to reach the
water and other things that run up our trunks and turn the starch
of our leaves into sugar, which we eat. I was strong and a fast
grower — of all the young oaks I was tallest; I got the most sun-
light on my leaves, and so made the most starch and sugar, and
had the most to eat. I was tall and straight in those days ; acorns
grew among my leaves and fell, and went into the soil, — and
presently racing, wrestling children of my own were all about my

286 NA T URE-ST UD Y RE VIE W [13 :7— Oct. , 1917

feet. But then men with loud voices and sharp, bright axes came
into our woods. They trod my children under their feet and
slashed down all of the trees that stood around me. Do you see
this empt}^ space which I try to hide with m^^ branches ? That is
where my mother fell on me when they cut her down. Of all the
trees on this hill, I was the only one that they let stand, because
the}^ said I was "Grandfather's Tree."

"Times change and everything changes with them. The day of
great forests is gone, but you must not think that the trees of the
forest are dead — / do not think so. Man has not allowed trees to
grow on this field again, but year after year, my mother and
brothers and friends have come back "n the com and wheat and
grass that men have planted here; in the weeds that grow up, year
after year, in the fence corners, and wither down in winter, and
return with spring. Men are not always wise enough to see this,
but I know my friends — there is the same green in their leaves;
they make starch and eat sugar in the same way; there is the same
sound among them when the wind blows. My old friends are
always about me. They do not look the same, perhaps, but they
know me and I them, and if you listen sometimes you may hear us
talking together.

"I am very old now and getting tired. Soon, I think, I too will
fall and wither and go back into the warm ground for a good long
rest. The people will say, "Look! the old oak is dead at last."
But you will not believe that, will you? If you do, you will not
be as wise as an oak, tho vou mav be as wise as an owl."

"When I go to the woods, it is like going among old and treasured friends,
and with riper acquaintance the trees come to take on, curiously, a kind of
personality, so that I am much fonder of some trees than of others, and
instinctively seek out the companionship of certain trees in certain moods, as
one will his friends.

"I love the unfolding beeches in spring, and the pines in winter, the elms I
care for afar off, like giant, aloof men, whom I can admire, but for the friendly
confidence give me an apple tree in the old green meadow."

— David Grayson in American Magazine.

The Oak

Donald Thistle

Reviewer of tli^e past, and monarch of the present,

How thy strong rugged self speaks 'gainst the foibles of o'erpowering

man.
Though once thy time was measured all in moons,
As red skinned sons of Nature reckoned life.
Long since that all has changed; and in his stead,
The artificial white man drives the world;
And in the driving loses what is beautiful.
He cursed the nobler owners of the land,
And pushed them forth as sheep 'mongst hungry wolves,
As herds of cattle, bison, wretches, dogs,
He branded these first men who found life sweet.

And worse, he called them liars, sneaks, and thieves,

Yet had no worthier sons to fill their place.

All this, O Worthy Sire, thou hast seen, and more;

The love scene of the Indian maid has passed.

Beneath thy sturdy boughs, how oft a song

Of simple truth and melody was outward sent,

Through shade, across the silver sheen and on, until

It lost its echo in some distant woods.

How many a feathered songster of God's choir

Has loved and in your boughs to you, poured forth his song.

The greatest secrets hast thou overheard.

And yet, no harm when only thou dost hear,

For only after centuries of time.

When all the idle whisperers have gone,

Dos': thou consent to tell to anyone

Th^ history of love in times before.

Full many a Spring has come and Summer gone,

And flocks of birds have often sung the songs,

And other woodlani folk have trusted thee

For home, and shelter; where to rear their brood.

The Indian while he prayed unto the sun, his God,

Has lived, told secrets, and in thy shadow died,

Are my poor ears too harsh to catch thy words.

Thy note of truly 'most prophetic strain.

Must I then bear the evils of my race.

And never hear a word thou hast to say?

Or wilt thou drop just here and there a word

Of how the Springs have come and gone before.

How this one differs, or perhaps is like

Those former ones; and then just tell me this — •

Why in this busy world we have no time?

For thou hast lived for many moons serene and strong and loved,

And still remain, a noble gift to all posterity.

287

Necessity for Greater Accuracy in Describing American

Trees

Dr. R. W. Shufeldt
Washington, D. C.

(Illustrated by reproductions of three of the author's photographs)

During the autumn of 1916, I paid some little attention to the
various species of indigenous oak trees (Quercus) found growing in
the woods and open country about the city of Washington. I
collected, with great care, the fruit and leaves of ten or more of
what appeared to me to be distinct species. I likewise photo-
graphed a ntimber of oak trees of this region, as I foimd them grow-
ing in nature, for the purpose of comparing their different styles
or manner of growth, collecting from these trees, as well as from
others, numbers of acorns, leaves, branches, and so on. As my
investigations progressed, I was reminded of what the late Pro-
fessor Lester F. Ward — a most profound botanist — once said to
me, at the time he had just described a new species of oak for the
District of Columbia: "If you ever take up botany, be very
cautious when you come to study the genus Quercus; they are a
most puzzling lot, and liable to discourage you." When my
collection and photographs came to be to some degree representa-
tive of this quercusine group of the Beach family (Fagacecs), I
submitted the material to Mr. P. L. Ricker, Assistant Botanist of
the Division of Plant Industry, of the U.S. Department of Agricul-
ture, and to his assistant, Mr. Peterstrom. Through their cour-
tesy, all of my specimens were quickly identified, and these identi-
fications I duly compared with the descriptions (illustrated) given
in the last edition of Gray's "New Manual of Botany" (Robinson
and Femald edition). On page 338 of this work we are informed
with respect to the oaks that "all the species [are] inclined to
hybridize freely." In the case of the descriptions of some of the
species, we are further told that the foliage is "extremely variable"
(Q. falcata) . Of Q. margaretta it is said that it " is possibly a hybrid
of Q. stellata and Q. alba'' ; and in the case of Q. virginiana, that it
may be a very large tree in rich soil, and a dwarf in sterile soil, the
two varieties differing widely. Finally, in the case of others, as in
the common Red oak (Q. rubra) for example, it is found "passing
to var. ambigua along our northern border."

288

shufeldt] accuracy IN DESCRIBING TREES 289

As a matter of fact, I met with the greatest difficulty in identify-
ing the eight or ten species and subspecies of oaks I had collected
with so much care in the District of Columbia; moreover, it is
more than probable that all the kinds of oak occurring in this
region have not been met with by me up to date, and it is still more
probable that when I meet with them they will bring added
confusion to my investigations along these lines.

In the light of this experience, it occurred to me to select some
typical American forest tree, well known and of economic value, of
wide range with respect to geographical distribution, and compare
what was said about it in standard botanies ; this with the view of
testing the accuracy of such descriptions, and of entering a plea for
greater care in such and allied matters.

In these days, an ever-increasing attention is being paid to the
question of heredity in all the representatives of the Vegetable and
Animal Kingdoms, in all parts of the world. There is no question
as to the importance of all this; but it would quickly be found
valueless^ — indeed harmful — if, in any or all instances, we find
ourselves incorrectly informed with respect to everything that
refers to the morphology and physiology of the types and the
pristine stock, that is, of the pure strain, in so far as it can be
differentiated.

Having this in mind, and before consulting any text-books or
other literature on the subject, I asked myself what I knew about
such a tree as the Tulip Tree, its scientific name being, in so far as I
remembered it, Liriodendron tulipifera, from Greek words used by
Linnaeus to emphasize the fact that the flower of the tree reminded
one of a lily or a tulip — an idea that also passed, in part, to the
specific name. Then I turned to the botanies, and thus far, well
and good. However, I found but this one species of Liriodendron
described, and I began to wonder what was the name of another
with which I had long been familiar, and in which the flowers are at
least one-third smaller, of a somewhat darker green, and having
very little yellow and orange in their petals. Then, too, the marked
difference in the size of the dried fruit, in the fall and winter, is very
patent, it being also lighter in color as well as appreciably smaller.
This kind of Liriodendron is very well known to me ; but it is not
nearly so abundant as the true tulipifera, or the species with the
large flowers. (Figs. 2 and 3.)

Right here, however, I will say that this is a matter I will not

Fig. I. A i)erfect flower of the Tulip Tree {Liriodendron tiilipifera; natural
size, showing almost its entire form and structure. Superior view.

"The tulip tree, high up,
Opened in airs of June, her multitude
Of golden chalices to humming-birds
And silken winged insects of the sky." — Bryant.

290

SHUFELDT] ACCURACY IN DESCRIBING TREES 291

enlarge upon further in this place ; it is my intention, next summer,
to photograph specimens of these smaller flowers and fruit, and
publish the photographs in order to sustain what is set forth above.
One thing is certain ; this variety is not due to hybridization ; for,
according to all the standard botanies, we have but the one species
of tulip tree in the United States. Moreover, I am satisfied that it
is not due to differences in soil and climate, for both occur, in full
health, in the same localities.

We may next consider the descriptions given of the general form
and aspect of the full-grown tree as we meet with it in its normal
environment. This is an important point in a full description of
any tree — important to the botanist, to the explorer, and to the
general observer. Turning to the last edition of Gray's Botany,
we find this point ignored entirely; the description given merely
states *' A most beautiful tree, sometimes 40 m. high and 2-3 m. in
diameter in the Western and Southern States, the timber commonly
called POPLAR or WHITE WOOD" (p. 409). It goes without
the saying that Liriodendron is no "poplar," and the form of the
Tulip Tree is entirely overlooked in the description.

As to other botanical authorities, I select "The Trees of North-
eastern America," by Charles S. Newhall, as an example. This is
an authoritative work, as it has an introductory note by Nath. L.
Britton, of Columbia College. With respect to the form and
growth of Liriodendron tulipifera, Professor Newhall says: "Among
the largest and most valuable of the North American trees. It is
usually seventy to one hundred feet high, often much higher, with a
straight, clear trunk, that divides rather abruptly at the summit
into coarse and straggling branches. ' ' Michaux says : "Of all the
trees of North America with deciduous leaves, the tulip tree, next
to the buttonwood, attains the amplest dimensions, while the per-
fect straightness and uniform diameter of its trunk for upwards of
forty feet, the more regular disposition of its branches, and the
greater richness of its foliage, give it a decided superiority over the
buttonwood and entitle it to be considered as one of the most
magnificent vegetables of the temperate zone."

This quotation from Michaux appears in Newhall's account of
the Tulip Tree in the work just cited, and is an improvement on
the description of the author who quotes it. Passing, however, to
Newhall's own account, be it noted that he says the Tulip Tree
has a "Straight, clear trunk that divides rather abruptly at the

Fig. 3. Fruit of the Tulip Tree {Liriodendron tiilipifera) ; natural size, as it
appears in the winter months. Various stages are presented, which will be
appreciated through reading the descriptions in the text of the article.

292

SHUFELDT] ACCURACY IN DESCRIBING TREES 293

summit into coarse and straggling branches." This may be tlie
case in some tulip trees, but it by no means applies to all of them.
For instance, it in no way applies to the tree I here present in
Figure i, which is a reproduction of one of my photographs of a
superb Liriodendron tulipifera, growing on a hill south of Pierce's
Mill, Washington, D. C. It is on the right hand side of the road
before coming to the bridge close to the mill, and not far from the
boundary of the National Zoological Park property. It will at
once be observed that, although the trunk of this tree is fairly
"straight," it is by no means ''clear" of branches; neither does it
exactly ''divide rather abruptly at the summit." Personally, not
only have I seen many a tulip tree like this one, but I have also
seen specimens wherein the limbs, coming off from the trunk, were
much larger, and sprang from the trunk much lower down. More-
over, the trunk of this tree is not always "straight," though it is
so in the majority of trees of this species. (See picture on cover.)

There is a very excellent description of this tree in the Centtiry
Dictionary (Knowlton?), but it likewise ignores the jorm of it.
This definition, however, gives a very interesting fact when it
states that "It is the sole remaining representative of a nearly
extinct type which was formerly abundant, not less than 17 fossil
species being known, the greater part occurring in the Cretaceous
formation in New Jersey, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Greenland,
and Bohemia, with a few in the Tertiary, chiefly in Europe."

Large tulip trees are very conspicuous in our forests where they
occur, especially when they are in blossom, and their trunks are
large, clear of branches a long distance up from the ground,
markedly straight, and gradually tapering to their lowermost
branches. These facts should not be ignored in scientific descrip-
tions of Liriodendron tulipifera, much less should the exceptions to
these general characters be omitted.

I find these loose descriptions and these omissions, in the case of
many of our American trees, all the way through our standard
botanies ; and when the trees are entirely unknown to the student
of such species, and the works give incorrect and only partial
descriptions, the latter fail utterly to help him as they should, and
science falls short of its purpose to just that extent. With respect
to the general characters of Liriodendron tulipifera I may say, that
the flowers show three reflexed sepals and that there are six petals
(Fig. 2), these latter being arranged in two (2) rows, thus forming

294 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:7— Oct., 1917

a fiatish, bell-shaped corolla, the flower being a fragrant one.
Extrorse anthers and a sessile gynophore as in the Magnolia family
generally (MagnoUacece), to which the Tulip Tree belongs. Car-
pels with two ovules and a fruit like samaras (Fig. 3). The narrow
pistils flat and scale-form, forming an elongate and dry cone
wherein they are imbricated and cohere. This falls away entire.
It is indehiscent, and each carpel contains from one to two seeds at
its base; anatropous.

Gray states for the Magnolia family in general ' ' Trees or shrubs,
with the leaf-buds covered by membraneous stipules, polypetalous,
hypogynous, polyandrous, polygnous; alike, in three or more rows
of three, and imbricated (rarely convolute) in the bud."

The feather-veined leaves are very smooth, untoothed, and
alternate; marked with dots. Each typical leaf possesses two
lateral lobes near the base and two others at the apex. They
measure from two to five inches in length. Base cordate, and apex
has the appearance of having been cut squarely across, leaving a
long, shallow notch with sides of nearly equal length.

This description, taken in connection with what is set forth above
and the four illustrations, will serve to present Liriodendron
tilipijera in such a way that it may be recognized by both amateur
and professional botanists in any part of the world.

TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS

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A blue check on the wrapper indicates that
your subscription expires with this number.

Leaf Prints

A great stimulus to tree study in fifth, sixth and seventh grades is
the making of a portfoHo of leaf prints of all the trees in the region.
This portfolio may be the property of the school and each pupil
contribute a print of special excellence, or what is far better, each
pupil may make a portfolio of his own.

The outfit for making leaf prints is simple and inexpensive.
It consists of a tube of printer's ink or a cup holding a portion of
the ink which almost any newspaper ofhce will contribute to the
cause of education. We use an old paste jar for our ink and we
bought enough ink to fill it for fifteen cents. Next we must have a
flat, smooth surface on which to spread the ink ; a slate, a piece of
plate glass, or what we have found more practicable, a large square
pie tin serves this purpose. Then we need a six-inch rubber roller
such as photographers use for mounting prints and this at a photo-
graph shop costs twenty-five cents ; a bottle of kerosene to dilute

295

296 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:7— Oct., 1917

the ink and a bottle of alcohol or benzine or more kerosene to clean
the outfit after using, and we have our outfit ready. Sheets of
paper, 8>^ by ii, of almost any quahty will do although a smooth-
surfaced paper is preferable.

The method of operating is thus. With a stick dip out a little
of the printer's ink about as large as two peas, upon the pan, add a
few drops of kerosene to thin it. Then with the roller work it over
vintil there is a thin film of the ink over the smooth surface. This
is an important part of the work. The film should not be so liquid
as to run but should be a smooth, firm, thin coat. Take a leaf by
the petiole, lay it flat on the inked surface, hold it firm with one
finger, and pass the inked roller over it several times until the veins
are well inked. Lift the leaf by the petiole, lay it on a clean sheet
of paper on a smooth table, place another sheet of paper over it,
again place the finger firmly on the petiole so the leaf cannot stir
and blur the print, and with the fingers of the other hand, press the
paper firmly but gently over the leaf, working out the veins and
margins carefully. Often a second or even third impression can be
made without reinking the leaf and these will be better than the
first.

Formerly we used a second clean roller for getting the print by
placing the leaf between the sheets of paper, holding it fast by the
petiole and rolling it once from base outward with the clean roller,
putting plenty of strength into the action. Professor W. W.
Gillette of Richmond, Va., who gave us our first lessons in making
leaf prints and who taught boys of fourth and fifth grades to make
leaf prints which are the best we have ever seen, used a letter press
to make the prints, putting in several leaves at a time.

Dried leaves may be soaked in water for a time and spread out
and dried between blotters under pressure and be used to make leaf
prints while they are still flexible. However, green leaves or autumn
leaves as they fall are the best. The hickories and horsechestnuts
and buckeyes, ash and locusts should be gathered first for these
compound leaves soon fall apart.

TO MAKE A PORTFOLIO CASE

This is a very neat bit of manual training and if done well will
add greatly to the enjoyment of the tree study. Pasteboard, or
old book covers, about 9 by 1 2 may be used. These should have
tape pasted on the inside with ends projecting for six inches, then

LEAF PRINTS 297

over these pieces of tape should be pasted very thoroughly a lining
of strong paper or thin cardboard. The outside of the portfolio
may be ornamented with a leaf print or other device pasted on, and
the edges of the cover and lining be bound with passe-partout paper.
Or the two covers may have the back fastenened together like the
back of a book, allowing an inch and a half for thickness.

The teaching value of the leaf print portfolio lies in the accurate
labeling of each print. Through doing this the pupil soon comes
to know all the trees by their leaves.

A leaf-print portfolio of common shrubs would naturally follow
the one on trees ; and when the study of botany is begun in first
year High, a portfolio of leaf prints of all sorts of plants will be of
great help.

SIR FROST AND THE TREES
William Prindle Alexander

Old Sir Frost with a wizard's might,
Rode boldly into the wood by night,
And blew with a breath, both long and keen,
A crystal film o'er the aisles of green.
Till the trees were robed in velveteen.
And stood bedecked in white.

Then maple, oak and sorrel tree.
Were touched by a subtle alchemy.
That changed their modest green attire
To flaming garb of living fire.
While sumac vied with lowly briar
In painted revelry.

Catalpa too, and ginkgo old
Donned merry masks of shining gold,
While elm and hornbeam in the wood
Joined the gay sylvan brotherhood,
For they were old, and understood
Sir Frost, and his manner cold.

But one there was, the haughty ash.
Who 'mid the maple's motley flash,
In sombrous majesty was found.
And all in royal purple gowned.
Awaiting with an air profound
The Autumn's ruthless lash !

He came again, did Old Sir Frost
Till the trees had all their verdure lost.
But shining starlike 'ere its doom,
The brave witch-hazel sprang in bloom
To help dispel the Autumn's gloom
In the wild-wood holocaust !

The White or American Elm

Lewis B. Hendershot
Teacher of Biolog}^ East High School, Rochester, N. Y.

Of all the trees that grace our landscapes, whether it be a broad
city avenue, a city park, or a bit of country road, the American
Elm is to me the most beautiful. With its tall, vase-shaped grace-
ful form it attracts the eye and inspires a feeling of admiration.

When in strange parts of the country I have a feeling of familiar-
ity come over me when I see the American Elm outlined against
the sky. It is like meeting an old friend in an unfamiliar place, and
the warmth of such a meeting does me good. The feeling of strange
ness leaves me and I feel more at ease. At such times I have felt
that my good friend recognizes me because when I have paused to
admire him he has nodded and bowed his head in acknowledgment.

Perhaps it was because it was the first tree that was brought
more closely in touch with my school days that I feel on better
terms with the American Elm than the other trees, though I have a
keen appreciation of the others. I remember distinctly the big
fellow who stood in our school yard, sheltering us in our goings and
comings to and from school and while we played during recess, and
watching over us as a big brother. Many, many times he served
us as "home" in our games of tag and hide-and-seek. What
stories he could tell of the people which have passed under his
branches, the joys and the sorrows of the passers-by. I wonder if
he has their secrets stored up in his heart ? How many see him in
their mind's eye when they recall their school days, standing there
as firm as of old tho perhaps a little wearied from the trials and
tribulations of the storms of days past ? How many look back and
wonder what this or that school chum is doing? Do they look up
and pause a little from their work when they meet our friend and
turn back in thought to the happiest days of childhood, then going
on with their duties w4th clearer eye, lifted head and squared should-
ers after having met the patient and silent friend of childhood?
Perhaps some of us have become so engrossed in our work that we
have not taken time to turn back the pages of our lives, our eyes
have become dimmed, our shoulders stooped, and our brains filled
with thoughts of the material things of the world. We say that we
have not time, we are too busy. How foolish such an excuse!

HENDERSHOT] THE WHITE OR AMERICAN ELM 299

To me the American Elm typifies the true pattern of right ideals
and living. Clean of body and sound of heart, standing firm
through the storms of life, sheltering the weak, strengthening the
weary with pleasant thoughts, and reaching up to Heaven for its
life's needs. It stands out from among its fellows, head and
shoulders, not in defiance or with the feeling of dominance. It has
become the beautiful being because of its patient toiling, gathering
its food and water from Mother Earth and the air. By taking in
the sunshine to its life it knits these together and builds up a
wonderful body. Surely, the planters of the great elms of the
Harvard campus and the Cornell campus had these things in mind
so that tj^e students might learn to build up their own lives with
the worth-while things. Do you not feel that the soldiers, who
gathered under the spreading branches of the elm on that famous
day at Cambridge. Massachusetts, to hear the words of their
leader, George Washington, were inspired by that tree to carry on
their fight for freedom ?

If you have not made the acquaintance of my friend, the elm, I
would urge you to seek him out. Study him so that you will have
the right to his friendship. You know we have not the right to ask
the friendship of Nature's children unless we can offer them ours.
We cannot expect to hear their secrets and feel the warmth of their
love unless we can give ourselves to them freely and unselfishly.
We must prove our worthiness first before we can ask for their
wonderful gifts. But how can we prove our willingness to give
ourselves in friendship? The first thing we must do is to try to
understand them. We must be patient and seek out their secrets
by observation and thinking.

But how shall we know, you ask, your friend when we see him?
and I answer that if in your walks along the city streets or the
country roads, 3^ou see a tall, graceful, wide-spreading tree, seventy-
five to one hundred and twenty-five feet tall, usually of
symmetrical vase shape, with slender limbs and pendulous
twigs, you may rest assured that you have found the American
or White Elm.

Upon closer examination you will find the bark of the trunk dark
grey, rough and coarsely ridged. The upper branches are of a
greyish color while the twigs are of a reddish brown. If you were to
cut the tree across its trunk, you would find the wood of a reddish
brown color, with pale sapwood. The wood is coarse, hard, heavy,

300 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:7— Oct., 1917

strong, cross-grained and difficult to split. It is very durable in
water and soil.

It would depend a great deal upon the season whether you would
find buds, leaves, flowers or fruit. You are not to observe our
friend in only one season but under all conditions and times of the
year. Perhaps he would have secrets to tell, and I assure you he
has, during each of the seasons.

During the resting period, winter, you would find buds on the

twigs. They are rather sharp-pointed or acute, flattened, and

smooth. These are the leaf buds. If you observed closely you

would find larger buds placed along the sides of the twigs. These

are the flower buds.

o

Along in March vou would find in the place of these flower buds,
before the leaves come out, if you observed closely, small incon-
spicuous, greenish red, true and perfect flowers in umbel-like
clusters, that is, the stems of the separate flowers are about equal
in length and starting from the same point, slender and drooping.
In May, you would find in place of these flowers, smooth, flattened,
oval bodies. These are the fruits. Upon closer observation you
would flnd that they each have a seed enclosed in a thin membran-
ous envelope-like structure which extends out and all around the
seed, forming a wing. At the opposite end from the place where it
is attached to the stem there is a deep notch.

In the summer the tree is in full foliage or leaf. Each leaf is
from two to six inches in length, shaped like a section of an egg with
the broader end nearer the tip of the leaf. We call such a leaf,
obovate. The edges of the leaf are notched, and look like the
cutting edge of a saw, each tooth pointing toward the tip. Each
tooth is notched, and we call this double notching, double serration.
Thus the leaves are double toothed or serrated along the edges.
The tip of the leaf is decidedly sharp pointed or acuminate. The
base has a lop-sided or unequal appearance. The surfaces of the
mature or full-grown leaf are smooth. We also find that the ribs
of the leaf are parallel, extending from the central or mid-rib to
the edges of the leaf.

To better understand the parts of the tree we must name its
parts. The main stem which is thicker than the rest and which
comes from the ground is spoken of as the trunk or bole. Branch-
ing out from the upper end of the trunk we have the branches, and
at the end of the branches the finer twigs or branches which we

hendershot] the white OR AMERICAN ELM 301

Speak of as the spray. The branches and the spray make up that
part of the tree which we call the head or crown.

Is that all there is to the tree? No, we must think of the roots.
There is as much of the tree below ground as there is above reaching
out for water and food materials. We find that these roots, in the
case of the American Elm, are shallow but extend out at great
distances from the tree in search of water.

This water is taken up by the roots and is distributed up into the
branches and out into the leaves. The leaves take in a gas from
the air called carbon dioxide through little pores in the surfaces
of the leaves. There is a green substance in the leaves called
chlorophyll which when acted upon by the sunlight cause the water
taken up by the roots and the carbon dioxide taken in by the leaves,
to unite and form starch. This starch thus formed, forms the
basis of the food material of the tree. But the tree cannot UvSe it
in the form of starch, so it has to be changed into some form which
can be used. So it is changed to sugar. It is then digested and
absorbed by the tissues of the tree, and carried by the water into
all parts for building up new tissue and repairing worn out ones.
The water is not only able to travel from branches to leaves but also
from the leaves to the roots. It is continually travelling up and
down the tree through little tubes.

Not only do the leaves take in carbon dioxide but they also take
or breathe in oxygen. This is needed to aid in breaking apart the
food materials so that the plant can use them.

How like our own bodies these same necessary functions are.
And if we keep this in mind we will always think of the tree as a
living individual.

Not only is the American Elm found in New York and New
England but it is distributed from Newfoundland to Florida, and as
far west as the Rocky Mountains. So if you travel within these
limits you will find your friend, providing of course that the condi-
tions are favorable to its growth.

Beside being a favorite shade and ornamental tree it has other
uses.

The wood of the tree is used for hubs, saddle-trees, barrels and
kegs, flooring, in boat and ship building, and in the building of
flumes. It is also a favorite tree of the Baltimore oriole as site for
building its nest . We find the pouch-Hke, wonderfully woven nest
hanging from the tips of the branches, far our of harm's reach.

The Old Willow Tree

H. S. Crowell

Teacher of Agriculture, High School, Albion, N. Y.

HIS old willow friend of mine is seven times as old as
I am and more than twice as old as any of us will
ever be.

This old tree is right across the road from my
house and where I can see it every morning as soon
as I wake up. When I wake up I alwa^^s look to see
how my old friend looks, for it looks very different
on different days.

In the winter I have awakened and found him all
white with snow. Again in the spring I wake up on a
warm morning and look out to see the golden branches all covered
with leaves and then I know that it will soon be time to make
whistles from the willow limbs. Did any of you e^^er make willow
whistles ?

Shall I first tell you how this tree happened to be where it is?
I will tell you the story as my uncle told it to me for the tree is on
his farm.

Years and years ago when the Indians were still living in this
part of the country a man settled on this farm. He had two little
boys who used to go after the cows and help their papa in man}^
ways.

One night while after the cows one of them cut a whip and he
still had it when he got home. His father told him that if he would
stick the end of it in a wet place it would grow and some day
become a big tree.

So this little boy took the whip down by the bam and stuck it in
the mud and watched it to see what would happen.

What do you suppose this little whip did ? Why the first thing it
did was to start growing some roots down in the mud to hold it up
and to eat thru. Did any of you ever watch a duck stick its head
down into the mud after something to eat? Well, that is the way
this little whip sent its roots down. They grew and grew all the
time getting something to eat out of the ground. The roots then
fed part of what they got to the whip and it began to grow. Then
in the spring, leaves began to grow on this little whip and it looked
like a little boy in a new suit of clothes. Now the leaves also

302

crowell] the old willow tree 303

began to feed the tree with water and air and it began to grow very
fast and soon became a small tree with many branches.

By this time the little boys were big boys but liked to make
whistles and still use whips. They cut all the whips they could
reach off the tree but do you suppose this little tree gave up and
died ? Oh ! no, it only worked harder and grew taller and had more
limbs. The limbs grew up in the air always reaching after more
light and rain. The roots went deeper down into the ground and
farther from the tree always trying to find more to eat and always
trying to hold the tree when the wind was blowing hard.

By the time these boys got to be big men this tree was also a big
tree and was so big that one of them could hardly reach around it.

Also now many other people lived near these men so that a town
had grown up at that place and the Indians were all gone. Also a
great war had been fought and our country was to have no more
trouble from other nations.

Soon these two men had little boys of their own to whom they
told the story of the tree which they had started as a whip. The
tree was now so big that the other little boys then used it to play in
and got whips from it to drive their fathers' cows with. It was one
of these little bo^^s, who when an old man, and my uncle, told me
about this tree.

When the first little boys became old men and died do you sup-
pose the tree died? No, instead it got bigger and bigger, always
getting more roots and more leaves. Soon it was way up above the
bam and in fact its limbs covered the roof of the barn.

These second little boys, now big boys, used to climb up into the
tree where they often played, but they also walked out on the
limbs and onto the barn which I think is dangerous, don't you?

Then when the second boys were young men there came that
great war when nearly all the men in town went to fight. Think of
it, this makes two great wars that this tree has seen.

After the war these second boys returned home to the farm again
and had little boys of their own, but the tree was almost too big for
them to play in.

Now came the time when the old tree nearly died. The summer
was very dry so that the tree could not get enough food, for you
know the ground where the willow is must be wet so that it can get
its food and grow well. But this was not all, for the insects and
worms came and ate the leaves so that the tree could hardly breathe

304

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

[13:7— Oct., 1917

and every one thought it sureh^ would die. Still, it was hurt again
for a heavy wind broke off two of the big limbs.

However, after a long time this tree commenced to grow again
and it was at this time that I first knew it.

Ever since then I have watched it to see how it got along.

Just a few years ago the town celebrated its looth birthday when
the tree must have been 150 years old. Now the tree has become
the biggest in town and so big that four of you could not reach
around it by joining hands.

It still is the one place in town where all the boys go to make their
whistles, but now it is so large that they must have long ladders to
get any of the small limbs. This tree spreads over more ground
than does one of your houses.

Probably when all of you grow up to be big men and women this
tree will still be there living on and furnishing whips and whistles
for all the boys and girls in town.

Ever since I can remember it has seemed just like a grown-up
man to me, always breathing, eating, and drinking thru its roots
and leaves without growing much larger.

The Story of a Sycamore

C. W. Leister

Assistant in Ornithology, Cornell University

AM pretty sure that every one has a particular

liking for some tree that he may have been in

contact with during childhood. My favorite

tree is the sycamore or, as it is called in some

parts of the country, the buttonball tree. The

tree I am thinking of stood in the dooryard of

my old home in Pennsylvania. It was by far

the oldest and largest of all the trees in the

neighborhood and many people used to stop and

admire it. Its branches towered more than a

hundred feet in the air and its diameter was nearly nine feet.

Three years ago this wonderful tree was blown down in a windstorm

and we were very sorry indeed that we had to take it away.

You may wonder why I thought so much of this tree, but do you

304

^%^

leister] the story OF A SYCAMORE 305

know that the life of a tree is like an open book to those who can
read it? All of the accidents that the tree has had, the years of
drought and the years of plenty, all are marked indelibly in the tree.
We can read this history when we understand its growth habits,
and the e very-day life of a tree.

It has often seemed to me that a tree is almost human. It
breathes and gets its food almost as we do. It breathes through
the leaves and the pores in the bark and the roots. These, then,
would correspond to our lungs, and just as our lungs, they take in
oxygen and give off carbon-dioxide. But, after all, the chief
reason that makes a tree seem almost human is its individuality, I
almost said personality.

The leaves are wonderful structures for they also act as "starch
factories"; for with the sap from the roots and other materials
taken from the air, the leaf, by the virtue of the green material in it
and the light from the sun, manufactures starch which is used by
the tree. In a tree, then, we have a factory that is run by sun
power instead of electricity or steam.

This starch is not used directly by the tree, however, since it can
not be assimilated in this form and it must be then changed into
sugar. Thus, different elements such as sulphur and phosphorus
that have been taken from the soil by the roots are added to the
starch and proteids are made. These are used by the tree.

The tree grows by adding a new layer of wood every year. This
results in having the wood composed of a series of concentric circles.
These are called annular rings. It is by these annular rings that
we can tell the life history of the tree.

Going back to our sycamore, then, we will talk about its past:
Since the old tree had been blown down we had to cut it up in
sections and haul it away and when the logs were sawed, one could
easily see the annular rings. I counted these and found that the
tree was almost one hundred and fifteen years old, for there were
that many rings. Not all of these rings were of the same
thickness, indicating that some of the seasons had been very
dry and that the growth was not so great as in the years when
water was plenty.

Buried entirely in the wood, covered up by the successive layers
of the wood, there was a large spike. This had been driven into
the tree when it was about twenty-five years old, for it lay almost
centered across the twenty-fifth ray. At another place a mark of

306 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:7— Oct., 1917

some kind had been hung up and had been used as a target for three
bullets were imbedded in the wood.

About thirty feet up in the tree a large limb had been broken off
nearly thirty years ago. In the cavity thus formed, a family of
bam owls had their nest, and every year they raised a family of
three or four young. Many was the mouse that went towards the
raising of a young bam owl ! The old birds would hunt for mice
all night and in the day time they would sleep in the hole with the
young.

The old sycamore had often been injured around the base and
here decay had set in and the tree was gradually weakened and so
when the big storm came, the noble old tree was blown down and
its days were over.

A Boy's Friendly Tree

George H. Russell
Winthrop, N. Y.

The tree which I am going to write about is one that has been my
close friend and companion all thru my childhood and youth.
This tree is useful in more ways than one, for besides affording
shade in summer and beauty at all times, it grows for its friends the
most luscious fruit imaginable.

The name which has been given it is "St. Lawrence," probably
because it grows well in northern New York and especially in St.

RUSSELL] A BOY'S FRIENDLY TREE 307

Lawrence County. The apple which grows on this tree is a beauti-
ful round fruit, usually with a yellowish background and pale red
stripes running up and down at frequent intervals on one side. It
surely excels in beauty and as for flavor — I would not care to
attempt to express in words this superior quality, for one can
appreciate it fully, only by eating the ripe mellow apple itself.

This particular tree is perhaps a more beautiful specimen of its
species, or of apple trees as a whole, than we are accustomed to see.
It divides into three main branches about three feet from the ground
and these in turn divide so as to form a tree very symmetrical in
outline and covering a wide space so that it affords much shade in
summer.

My old friend is situated in the front door yard of my home,
hardly eight feet away from the veranda. It is so near that one
large branch reaches up and over onto the roof. How long it has
been growing there I cannot tell, but I do know it has been there as
far back as I can recall.

There are many experiences that I have had with old St.
Lawrence, of which I always delight to tell, and perhaps a few
may prove interesting. One of the first remembrances I have of it,
is that of eating green hard apples, with of course a painful result
which is difficult to relate. After such an occasion I would not
think quite so much of my friend for a few days, but as I look back
I can blame only myself, and justify the tree for of course it did
not wish to lose its fruit when green but wanted to raise it to matur-
ity. Besides little boys should know better than to eat green
apples after being warned by watchful parents.

I remember other times, when on occasion, I was sent by my
mother to cut a switch from this same tree. I never thought at the
time how it must hurt the tree to have me break off switches, but
nevertheless I was thoughtfully careful to pick a dead branch, and
like a true friend my tree offered plenty of such branches. How-
ever, I was usually sent after a different kind of a switch the second
time. The fact that the switches came from this tree, I never held
against it, for of course it wasn't its fault and doubtless it would
have been better pleased had I left it alone.

I always preferred to climb this tree above all others and it
became one of my favorite haunts. As it was so near the house I
could easily climb from it to the roof of the veranda and you may
imagine this was great fun.

308 NA T URE-ST UD Y RE VIE W [13 :7— Oct. , 1917

Later, when I became older and did not care to climb, the tree
was just as much as ever a source of pleasure for me. The fragrant
blossoms in early summer covered the tree with a robe of white;
later the beautiful ripe apples were formed and the older I became
the more I enjoyed these particular apples. Many times on a
hot summer's day, I have stretched out on the abundant carpet of
green grass beneath my tree, which protected me from the hot
sun, and in turn I read and slept with a sense of perfect comradeship.

In return for the man^^ kindnesses this tree has shown me, I have
tried to care for it as best I knew how. I see that the old dead
limbs are removed and the bark cleaned. It has never required
much care with the exception of three years ago when I had a hard
fight to keep the tent caterpillars from eating up the leaves of my
friend and so remove its means of obtaining food. However, they
did not do much damage in the end and have not bothered much
since.

From the above story you can see why I call this old St. Lawrence
apple tree my friend, and I w^onder if there is any boy or girl who
would not be glad of such a friend as this tree has been to me.

A City GirPs Story of Her Friend, Miss Maple Tree

For Primary Grades

Agnes C. Hogan

Let me tell you about my dear old friend, Miss Maple Tree.
For many long years she lived on the side of a hill, not far from
where I could watch her. When I first knew her she was young and
graceful, but as years went by she became worn out \^dth work.

In summer ^he wore the most beautiful dress of soft emerald
green. As simimer flew away, she became tired of Mother Nature's
dress and gradually put on another one. Can you guess what
color ? Yes, a brilliant rose red dress with faint gold spots here and
there. You know she must dress as gay as Miss Scarlet Oak, who
lives near her and acts so haughty. Oh, did I tell you why ]\Iiss
Maple Tree pvit on such a beautiful dress ? Well, she was invited
to the Autumn ball. After the ball, which was from two to three
months long, she became tired. She must rest after her long busy
existence, between spring and fall.

HOG an] a city GIRL'S STORY, MISS MAPLE TREE 309

But before she retired for her beauty sleep, she thought it best
to send out cards, stating when she would be at home. She did this
by gracefully disposing of a number of leaf cards for Mr. Wind to
distribute to her numerous friends. Next she carefully blanketed
her treasures, which were her buds, in waxy sheets, for Sir Frost
was not careful about how he treated her treasure in winter.

Now, Miss Maple Tree did not always go to parties, for she is a
busy, lively body, and she runs a starch factory. The cells that
make up each one of her leaves form the factory. There are lots
of interesting things in this factory. Miss Maple Tree has raw
materials which are carbon-dioxide and water. She has machinery
too, which is made up of little green bodies called chlorophyll
grains. And do you know what power runs this factory? Well,
it is sunHght power. Now every factory must have waste material
that it does not need, and in this factory it is oxygen. But the
most important thing of this factory is the finished product which
is starch, and is what Miss Maple Tree eats in order to live and grow.

Miss Maple Tree does not use all this starch at once. No, she
is very saving. She sends it down in an elevator through the eleva-
tor shaft called the tree trunk. Then she stores it in many con-
venient places including her cellar which is at the base of the
elevator shaft. When she needs it, she immediately sends her
messenger boy, little Mr. Sap. He rushes down and around and
brings the quantity back.

Miss Tree has also connected with her factory, a subway, which
is an extensive root system. Her cars, the rootlets, travel along
from the end of the subway all through the underground surface
and pick up the raw materials for the factory. The windows let
the materials in through osmotic panes of glass. At a short dis-
tance from where the little rootlet cars stop, little Mr. Sap is busy
at his job and drags the materials the rest of the way.

To make it more clear, let us watch Mr. Sap. He rushes to the
cars for he can see them full of raw materials. He opens his arms
and takes them from the cars. Now he has quite a heavy bundle,
so it will take him some time to travel. He drags the materials
through the long tunnels, the roots, until he reaches the end, which
is at the base of the tree. Then Miss Tree sees him and sends the
elevator down through the sap wood of the trunk shaft. Mr. Sap
hops on, delighted to be lifted with his burden. Up goes the elevator,
to the factory doors, the ends of the branches. Then Mr. Sap

310

NA T URE-STUD Y RE VIE W

[13:7— Oct., 1917

again drags them through the vein halls, leaving certain amounts at
each door. There are two kinds of doors, entrance doors and
exit doors. Through the entrance doors go the raw materials and
they are situated on the upper and middle part of the factory while
the stoma, or exit door, are on the under side of the factory and
hidden with shrubbery composed of fine hairs. Through these
doors the waste oxygen passes out.

Now, there are other products or materials made after the
starch. These are sugars, cork and certain kinds of oils. Miss
Tree knows that she can not store the sugars away, because certain
bad roving boys, called yeast cells, sneak in and eat up all the sugar
and disturb the factory. She can store the cork, which she does by
lining the trunk elevator shaft. The oils she saves to give to her
little seed babies and some starch too.

Would you like to hear more about these seed babies "•' In late
spring Miss Maple Tree sends out wedding invitations to the wind
and the insects to attend the marriage of each one of her pistillate
flowers to her pollen bearing blossoms. In late summer and early
autumn, before the autimm ball begins, little seed babies begin to
appear with dainty little frail green wings. They hug their mother

tree tended}^ for a long
time. As they get older.
Grandmother Nature whis-
pers to them, that it is time
for them to say good-bye to
their Mother. They obey,
and tearing away from
Mother Maple, they fly oft'
on the back of Mr. Wind.

After traveling long dis-
tances, they become tired
and drop to the earth.
They have been told by
Mother Maple never to be
lazy. They remember this
and immediately start to
build their subways and
elevator, and some of them
will grow big enough so
that they too, can attend
the autum ball, to which their Mother goes every year.

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THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Published monthly, except June, July and August. Subscription price, including mem-
bership in the American Nature Study Society, Si. 00 per year (nine issues). Canadian postage,
10 cents extra: foreign postage, 25 cents extra.

T.|^«^y-|..^p^.|- Please note date of expiration of your subscription on the label of the
•'■■^■'■•'•P^-*- l'«"llL wrapper. Subscriptions must be paid in advance to comply with postal
requirements. Subscriptions and advertisemedts should be sent to The Comstock Publishing
Co., Ithaca, N. N. Manuscripts for Publication and Books to be Revised should be sent
to the Editor.

Editorial

COMPANIONABLE TREES

More people than speak about it have found companionship in
trees, and have formed special relationships with individual trees.
Well, why not ? A tree is a living being in a measure like ourselves,
as Bryant has so fully expressed.

One of the chief attractions of a tree as a friend is that we always
know where to find it. Through winter and stimmer, year in and
year out, it stands steadfast and ready to greet us, always attuned
to our own mood. Of course we do not know in what regard the
tree holds us, there being as yet no developed science of tree
psychology, but this is a matter of no special importance. It is far
more important to us that we give love and companionship
ungrudgingly than that we demand these in return, measure for
^measure. It is petty business, being calculating in ones relations,
either with folks or with trees.

In childhood, certain trees played an important part in our daily
life. We remember distinctly one warm day in very early spring,
when the mosses were green and the scarlet berries of the Mitchella
glowed against their verdant vine background, that in the ecstacy
of spring happiness and the renewing of old acquaintance, we forgot
our Quaker training of composed demeanor and flung glad arms as
far as they would reach around the trunk of a great forest grown
maple and kissed its unreponsive bark, and then stood back
abashed at what seemed a silly act. That maple had giant roots
curled chair-wise at the base of its majestic gray bole and it had
always seemed a loving motherly tree to the child, who grew up so

311

312 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:7— Oct., 1917

impressed with the individuality of trees, that it seemed too com-
monplace a fact to mention.

Many poets have felt this companionship with trees and perhaps
none have expressed it more exquisitely than Lowell in Under the
Willows. But the Editor had an inner conviction that this feeling
is by no means limited to poets and so was led to ask several people,
among them some ver^' "IcA^el -headed" unsentimental and practi-
cal young men, to tell the truth about their experiences with
individual trees. Some of the results of this request give special
quality to this mmiber of the Review and there are others just as
good, retained in the Editorial portfolio. These experiences have
been pubHshed in The Review with a purpose, hoping that they
will lead teachers to sympathetically help their pupils to what
should be an inalienable heritage of the American child, — a sense
of companionship with trees.

welcome home

"In time of war, one who loves his country should be at home."
These are the words that came in a letter in May from Professor
L. H. Bailey, the President of the American Nature-Study Society,
who was in China when the United States declared war. And,
true to his sentiments as thus expressed, he has cut short his stay in
the Orient, and has returned to us and to any form of service which
he can render his country in her time of stress.

It is difficult to express in mere words the rejoicing and the
welcome from every side which have greeted him and his family on
their return home. It is a source of cheer and comfort to us all to
have them back to give us courage, to share with us, and help us to
bear all that is coming to us, because of this war. Meanwhile and
quite inevitably, the President of our Society has returned full of
strange and interesting experiences which he gained while collecting
plants in remote regions. Fortunately for the world, his interests
are deeply human and, although collecting plants, he is always
studying people and meeting them with gentle, keen and sympa-
thetic understanding.

The Teacher's Corner

A Graded Course in Tree Stud}'

t Kindergarten First and Second Grades.~Thc objects to be achieved in the
kindegarten and the first grade are to make the pupils acquainted with the
leaves of our more common trees and to make them interested in one or two
individual trees and what happens to these trees each season of the year.

To accomplish these objects we use
various devices and methods and the
following suggestions will be found
useful.

Let the children bring to school leaves
of all sorts, which have autumn tints.
They will be especially interested in
picking up the bright colored leaves
that fall from the roadside trees.

Let them classify the leaves accord-
ing to color so as to train the eye to
discriminate the tints and color values.
Let them classify leaves according
to form, selecting those which resem-
ble each other.

Have them tell in what respects

they resemble each other, in this way

incidentally calling attention to the

margins, the veins and the petiole.

Teach the names of the leaves of the most common trees by mentioning

quite incidentally that certain noticeable leaves are maple or oak or elm, etc.

The children will quickly pick up these names by themselves if thus taught, and

the knowledge will help them later on.

Let each child select a leaf of his own choosing and draw it. This may be
done by placing the leaf flat on paper and tracing its outline with a pencil, later
drawing in the veins; or the drawing may be made with colored crayon free-
hand. The pupils should be allowed to please themselves in this matter, as it
is not a drawing lesson but a lesson to help remember form and color.

Let the pupils select paper of a color similar to the leaf and cut out the leaf
from it diiring busy work.

Let each pupil select four leaves of maple or oak as nearly similar as possible
and press them in his book, and later arrange and paste them on a card in some
symmetrical design. This may be done while the leaves are fresh, and the card
thus decorated may be pressed and thus preserved.

Third Grade. — The work for the third grade should be an October calendar
with a leaf mounted and labeled for each school day of the month. The leaf
may be pressed and mounted upon a card, or it may be traced in outline and
colored in crayon or water color, or merely traced with the veins drawn in.
If there are not thirty species of trees available about the schoolhouse, two
leaves of the same species may be used. These two leaves may show a variety
in coloring or they may offer a contrast in size and in form since no two leaves

813

Leaves of mossy cup oak
mounted on card

314

NA T URE-STUD Y RE VIE W

[13:7— Oct., 1917

Strij>edJ\/la.ple.

OCTOBER 1

Sca.r?e.t Oik

OCTOBER 2

OCTOBER, 3

A Leaf Calendar for October

are exactly alike, and this in itself is a good lesson. The cards for the calendars
should be of uniform size and if it is possible, the calendar should be made into a
frieze and pinned to the walls. This will give the children an opportunity to
study those leaves already used and will stimulate them to search for different
kinds of leaves.

The learning of the names of trees should never be in the form of a task or a
lesson but should alwa3^s be given in the form of a game. For instance, after
the children have traced many leaves put the drawings in a pile and then for
busy work ask a child to go to the pile and pick out all the leaves of maple or
poplar or sycamore in the pile.

Select some tree near the schoolyard which may be observed from a window,
give it a name and try to impress upon the children that it is a living being in
some measure like themselves. The following observations should be made at
appropriate times during the year. The color of the tree during October, the
shape of the tree with the leaves on, which should be shown in a sketch, any
birds or animals or insects which may be found visiting the tree, the shadow
cast by the tree and the kind of plants that grow beneath it, its fruits if they
are ripe at this period.

In the winter the tree should be sketched again with especial attention to the
shape of its trunk and branches. Note if the snow remains on the tree after it
falls. In March bring in some twigs from the tree and put them in water and
let the pupils see the young leaves burst the bud scales and expand. Later call
their attention to the color of the young leaves and a sketch should be made of
the tree in May when it is again in full leaf.

Fourth Grade. — In this grade the pupils should learn to distinguish the
different kinds of maples, oaks, poplars, and pines which are common in the
locality. This may be accomplished by a collection of leaves, each mounted
on a card and labeled; in addition a specimen of the fruit should either be
fastened to the card or sketched upon it.

In this grade the pupils should understand what is meant by a compound
leaf which they will find on the hickories, horsechestnut, locusts, and ash.
For the study of a compound leaf note the following: Of how many leaflets is

rilE TEACHER'S CORNER

315

it composed; the shape of the leaflets; do the leaflets have petioles; are the
edges of the leaflets toothed; which of the leaflets is the largest and which is
the smallest; are the leaflets paired and opposite each other; are the leaves
opposite each other on the twig or are they alternate?

For supplementary reading use the stories of famous trees.
Fifth Grade. — The pupils of this grade should be interested in the tree as a
whole and perhaps there is no better way to accomplish this than making a

card mount of a tree species
which shall include a leaf, a
blossom if possible, the fruit, a
bit of the bark, a cross-section
and a lengthwise section of the
wood, and an account written
of the tree, where found, for
what used, etc. It takes some
time to make such amount
and each pupil should contri-
bute one to the school exhibit ;
and while two may choose the
same tree it is best to have as
wide a representation of tree
species as possible. An exhibit
of this kind fastened to the
walls of the room is of great
interest to everybody and of
very real educational value to
the pupils.

Another way of securing a

wide knowledge of trees is the

making of a portfolio of leaf

prints which is especially fitted

for fifth grade work .See p. 295.

The pupils should learn about the life processes of a tree. The uses of its

roots, trunk, branches, bark and leaves; how a tree grows; its food when found

and how prepared; the movement of sap and transpiration; how it breathes

and how it builds its rings of growth.

Sixth Grade.— This should include note book work on all the trees in the
region. The note books may be those with formal outHnes or may be purely
individual books with sketches and original observations by the pupils, but in
general the note book should include the following observations : (i ) Where is
the tree growing, was it planted by man or did it plant itself? If an isolated
tree it should be sketched. (2) Does the bole or trunk extend straight up
through the head or does it divide into many branches? (3) The character of
the bark of the tree, especially noting whether the bark is smooth, scaly, rolled
up, or divided by fissures, and note whether the ridges between the fissures are
sharp, rounded, or flattened. Note especially the color of the bark. (4) Are
the leaves placed opposite or alternate on the twigs; is the leaf simple or
compound? Describe its appearance above and below. A sketch should be

Leaf and acorn of red oak mounted
on a card

A prize mount illustrating the rcil t)ak, made in a rural school.

316

THE TEACHER'S CORNER 317

made of the leaf. (5) Describe the time of blossoming and the blossom if
possible. (6) Describe and sketch the fruit and tell how it is distributed and
planted. (7) In what ways is this tree used by man?

In sixth grade there should be a study of an apple tree and there should be
practical demonstrations of grafting and budding, a study of the insects that
attack it, and the methods of saving the fruit and the tree by spraying.

Seventh and Eighth Grade. — A study of the larger shrubs, especially those used
in planting will interest the pupils of this age. A collection of leaf prints of the
shrubs may be made. There should be a special study of park trees and
extensive reading and writing in connection with these trees by describing the
countries and the geographical distribution in these countries of the trees which
we have imported; for instance, the Norway spruce which grows not only in
Norway but in the Alps, etc.

A study of the evergreens of the section and the uses to which they are put
will prove an interesting line of work.

A correlation of trees with history: Select some well grown tree in the
neighborhood whose age may be fairly accurately ascertained and relate to it
the events in the history of the town and the state. One of the most interesting
exhibits ever sent to Cornell from a rural school was a cross section of a small
tree which was about fifty years old. A pin was stuck in each ring of year's
growth which also held a little label telling of some notable event in the town,
the state, or the United States which occurred that special year.

A beginning of forestry may well be made in the eighth grade. There are
several elementary books in forestry, notably The First Book of Forestry,
by Roth, and the The Book of Forestry by Professor Moon, written especially
for Boy Scouts; also access to the American Forestry Magazine will open up
new and interesting and practical lines of work with trees.

AN EXAMINATION THAT IS A GAME

After the pupils have had enough practice in learning to identify leaves, —
bring in a variety of leaves and label them by thrusting the petiole of each
through a slit in a bit of paper, bearing a number; or by pinning the label
bearing the number around the petiole; we must make sure to select several
leaves of each species which will show variation in size and form. Supposing
we take twenty-five leaves thus labeled, — ask each pupil to take a sheet of
blank paper and place numbers up to twenty-five from top to bottom along the
left margin. Then pass the leaves around and let the pupils write the name of
each leaf opposite the number corresponding to that on its label. This is a
most exciting garne, and is a very efficacious method of teaching this subject.

Another similar game, is to equip each pupil with pencil and paper and take
a short field trip; the teacher selects a tree and calls out, "This is number one,"
and then selects another and calls out, "This is number two," etc., and the
pupils write down the name of the tree opposite the number on their own paper.

News Notes

CALIFORNIA
The California Nature-Study League's Story Service to the Libraries of the
state is helping the children to learn to "read a roadside as they would a book,"
by first calling their attention to the roadside and then directing them to the
book. Below is a sample of a postcard, recently sent to all the Country
Libraries, bearing the material of a newspaper clipping from the Sacramento
Bee:

FIXE EXAMPLE OF BUTTOX WILLOW XOW IX SEED OX B STREET LEVEE CROSSIXG

Where the cross levee leaves the B street levee at Twenty-ninth street, there
is in seed this week a fine example of Button Willow. Children who learn to
read a roadside as they would a book, give this bush this name because of its
willow-like leaves and the button-like fruit.

It is common along the stream banks in the vSacramento and San Joaquin
Valleys. It is not a willow, but a member of the Madder family. It has about
4,500 "cousins" mostly in the steaming tropics. One of these cousins is the
Chinconcha, from whose bark quinine is obtained. Another is the tree from
which we obtain the coffee for our tables.

A third member of its family is the Madder, a plant of West Asia, which
furnishes the dye called "Turkey Red."

BEDSTRAW ALSO COMMOX

For centuries in India, before the EngHsh mills learned to copy the designs,
bandana handkerchiefs were colored with this dye. Still another member of
the family is the Bedstraw, a common plant in California, so named because the
French peasants beheved this was the plant that was used to fill the manger
wherein the Christ-child lay.

Children wishing to know more about the Button Willow or the Bedstraw
can obtain Miss Parson's books. Wild Flowers of California, also other nature
study books from almost any branch of the various County Libraries through-
out California.

RHODE ISLAND

Arbor Day as celebrated last spring by the Rhode Island Normal School in
Providence must have been a delight. Their program of Field Day in Lincoln
Woods reads like one glorious frolic with a nature-study basis.

Preliminary talks had been given on The Class Tree, and The Class Flower,
on the History and the Geology of Lincoln Woods, and each pupil had been
presented with a map of the Woods with full directions regarding street cars
and lunch.

The exercises were in the form of an Interclass Meet with events which were
so full of nature-study that we print the whole outline:

IXTERCLASS MEET, DESIGXED FOR ARBOR DAY

I. The Hidden Trail. Starter, Mr. Brown. Open to five delegates from
each class. Party will leave base of operations by a zigzag route. Groups

318

NEWS NOTES 319

will leave at five minute intervals, to return to starting place. Class returning
by shortest route will receive lo points. Other classes will receive 8, 6, 4, or 2
points according to way of returning. Captain of each party should have
map and compass. Official Time Keeper, Miss Manchester.

2. The Treasure Chest. Mr. Wells. This will be hidden at a spot desig-
nated on the map. Open to five delegates from each class. No one is eligible
who has ever lived in Pawtucket, Lincoln, or North Providence. Points
granted on basis of 10.

3. Flower Game. Miss Weston. Each class to send five delegates. A
definite time will be assigned for gathering flowers. Each group to take but
one flower and that must be cut off with a knife. The number of points will be
the number of flowers identified by the group.

4. Tree Tiiigs. Mr. Cotton. Five delegates from each class. Same rules
as for the flower game.

5. Insects, cocoons, mummy cases, or eggs. Examiner, Mr. Tucker. Five
delegates. Time limited. Half points given for the number collected ; whole
points for each kind identified.

6. Edible Plants and Animals. Miss King and Assistants. Five delegates.
Time limited.

7. Bird Recognition. (Song, nest, or by sight.) Five delegates from each
class. Time limited, i point for each bird agreed upon by group. Assemble
as follows: Senior A, Mr. Vinal; Senior B, Miss Brown; Junior A, Mr.
Tucker; Junior B, Miss Stillman; Junior C, Miss Weston.

8. Smelling Game. Miss Bird. Twigs and plants having a characteristic
smell. One candidate from each class. Must be blind-folded during opera-
tion. I point for each object identified.

9. Fire-makers. Three delegates from each class. Scores will be based on
time required to gather wood and boil water. The class finishing first obtains
10 points, second place 8, etc. For every extra match i point will be taken
from the final score. Groups assemble at suitable places with the following
leaders: Senior A, Mrs. Irons; Senior B, Miss Griswold, Junior A, Miss
Patterson; Junior B, Miss Shaw; Junior C, Miss Makepeace.

10. Question Game. Br. Carroll. Points given for each question answered
Open to all those not elected to special groups.

IOWA

The Califor Naturalist Club of Charles City has a most interesting pro-
gram for the coming year. The October meeting is to be with Mrs. E. M.
Sherman and "The Methods of Tree Budding and Grafting" and "The
Economic Value of Iowa Grasses" are to be discussed by Mr. Patten and
Mrs. Burns.

The Califor Club offers for sale, its first and second annual reports and Bulle-
tin No. I — all for seventy cents. This club is very much alive and we recom-
mend other clubs to get in touch with it and its methods.

yXHE BOOK SHELF

Trees Worth Knoiving. Julia E. Rogers. 290 pp., 16 full page illustrations in
color, 32 illustrations from photographs. Doubleday, Page & Co. Price
$1.60.
Tree lovers ever^'where must always be glad when a tree book appears with
Julia Rogers as author. This book tells about trees in a very practical and
interesting manner, but is not a book for the identification of trees; it begins
with a very clear and interesting chapter on The Life of Trees. No one has
ever been able to put so clearly before the uninformed reader the life processes
of a tree as has Miss Rogers, and this chapter is a good example of her ability as
a teacher. The titles of the chapters show a very pleasing and interesting
arrangement of the material. The accounts are succinct and filled with
interesting information and are not confined to the trees of the East but include
mesquite and other desert growth and the trees of the Pacific Coast. The
several chapters discuss, — "The Nut Trees," "Water-loving Trees," "Trees
with Showy Flowers and Fruits," "Wild Relatives of our Orchard Trees,"
"The Pod-bearing Trees," "Deciduous Trees with Winged Seeds," "The Cone-
bearing Evergreens," and "The Palms."

Old Crow Stories, by Katharine B. Judson. 163 pp., with six illustrations.
By Charles Livingston Bull. Little, Brown & Co. $1.50.
This is a volume of nature myths that are of very first importance to the
nature-study teacher, because they are the genuine folk tales about animals of
the American Indians of the West. They are written in terse English very
like the Indian language in its quality, and they are as interesting as they are
naive and delightful. Miss Judson is an authority on these tales, for it is she
who has preserved for us in most pleasing form The Myths and Legends of the
Mississippi Valley, of the Great Plains, of Alaska, of the Pacific Northwest, and
of the old Southwest, in as many volumes. The Old Crow Stories begin with
the days when the Old Crow and Raven were white and before the light came.
The first story is How Raven Brought the Light, then comes The Thrilling
Tale of How Grizzly Bear Stole the Light, and how the Chipmunk got it
back again, but the Grizzly Bear chased the Chipmunk who "scampered about
until he saw a hole and make a straight line for it. But Grizzly Bear was so
near that as Chipmunk dashed into the hole, Grizzly's claw came down on his
back and made four long scratches. That is how Chipmunk got the stripes on
his back." The other stories tell how Coyote and Grizzly divide their power
and establish night and day. How Sun was Made and many other thrilling
adventures of the Sun, and many fascinating tales of Coyote, the most cunning
of all the animals. Through all the stories the conversations between Old

320

THE BOOK SHELF 321

Crow and Raven act as introduction and commentary and add greatly to the
interest. The ilUistrations by Mr. Bull are graphic and dramatic.

Plant Materials of Decorative Gardening. William Trelcase, Professor of
Botany, University of Illinois. Published by the author at Urbana, 111.

$1.00.

This booklet of more than two hundred pages, in its most attractive and
durable leather cover, is a miracle of compact information. Its first forty
pages are given to keys for determining trees grown for groves, avenues, etc. ;
bushes used for shrubberies etc.; small undershrubs used for carpeting and
woody climbers. The rest of the booklet is given to graphic, descriptive
characterization of the different families, genera and species.

This book was built up from Dr. Trelease's own experience in teaching his
pupils plant materials and surely no book that we have seen contains so much
of such practical help as does this. Moreover, it is a book to slip into a pocket
conveniently, and its weight is very small considering the vast amount of
information which it contains.

American Forestry. An illustrated magazine about Forestry and kindred sub-
jects, published each month by the American Forestry Association, price
$3.00 per year, address — Washington, D. C.
This periodical ought to be in every school in the United States. It is full
of important and interesting information written by experts and the beautiful
and edifying illustrations give it peculiar educational value. Everyone now-
adays is interested in forestry, or should be, because of its vast importance to
the welfare of our country, and I know of no other means of so surely interesting
the pupils of sixth grade upward in this fundamental, necessary science, as the
chance to look over and read articles in this magazine each month. It is also
a great help in nature-study. Dr. Arthur A. Allen contributes regularly
original and valuable articles on birds, illustrated with his own superb photo-
graphs. There are regularly two pages. Forestry for Boys and Girls, conducted
by Professor Bristow Adams, who borders his pages with his own exquisite
drawings and fills the pages with charming talk on very live topics.

Tree Talk. The Tree Talk Publishing Co., Stamford, Conn. vSubscription
price, $1.00.
There are four issues each year of this excellent and enterprising periodical.
It is given over primarily to the preservation of trees and especially to tree
surgery. It is well illustrated, clearly written, and full of useful information
about the care of trees. In every number there are articles of nature-study
interest. For instance, the summer number of 1907 has a very interesting
article on the willow weaving industry, also on the date palm, and notes on two
famous trees by Katherine S. Nicholas, and illustrated, — one the Judgment
Tree of Daniel Boone and the Wethersfield, Conn. Elm, which reaches the
height of 1 10 feet and has a spread of 175. Charles Wesley preached under this
elm in 1 750. This magazine should be in the reading room of every school, also
it will focus the pupils' attention upon what is necessary to preserve shade trees
and orchard trees from their enemies, insects, fungi, and wind.

THE TREE NOTEBOOK

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

(from the Nature Notebook Series)

Outlines for tree study in the field, and leaf
outlines of the following species are given to
aid in identification: the Poplars, AVillows,
Birches, Maples, Oaks, Locusts, Ashes, Hick-
ories, Evergreens and a number of the orna-
mental trees. A convenient map of the
United States and Canada showing the Tree
regions is printed on the front cover.

The Tree Notebook is very thorough in its
methods and is an incentive to good tree study.

Pocket Size i6o pages Price joc each

Special prices for quantities

The Comstock Publishing Co.

ITHACA, N. Y.

The Guide to Nature

Edited by EDWARD F. BIGELOW

A Monthly Magazine from the NaturaHst's Point of View.
An interchange of observations by students and lovers of nature.
Nature is good in the school, because it is good anywhere for all people.

Subscription $i a year.
Four months' trial 25c.
Single copy loc.

The Agassiz Association

ArcAdiA

Sound Beach Connecticut

Kindly mention The N'ature-Sti.'dy Review when replying to advertisements

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. i:> X()Vi:mi!!:k, 11117 No. cS

The Brook

L. H. Bailey

In the bottom of the valley is a brook that saunters between
oozing banks. It falls OA^er stones and dips under fences. It
marks an open place on the face of the earth, and the trees and soft
herbs bend their branches into the sunlight. The hang-bird
swings her nest over it. Mossy logs are crumbhng into it. There
are still pools where the minnows play. The brook runs away and
away into the forest. As a boy I explored it but never found its
source. It came somewhere from the Beyond and its name is
M\'stery.

The mystery of this brook was its changing moods. It had its
own way of recording the passing of the weeks and months. I
remember never to have seen it twice in the same mood, nor to have
got the same lesson from it on two successive da\-s; yet, with all
its variety, it always left that same feeling of mystery and that
same vague longing to follow to its source and to know the great
world that I was sure must lie beyond. I felt that the brook was
greater and wiser than I . It became my teacher. I wondered how
it knew when March came, and why its round of life recurred so
regularly with the returning seasons. I remember that I was
anxious for the spring to come, that I might see it again. I longed
for the earthy smell when the snow settled away and left bare
brown margins along its banks. I watched for the suckers that
came up from the river to spawn. I made a note when the first
frog peeped. I waited for the unfolding spray to soften the bare
trunks. I watched the greening of the banks and looked eagerly
for the bluebird when I heard his curling note somewhere high in
the air.

Yet, with all m\' familiarity with this brook, I did not know it in
the winter. Its pathway up into the winter woods was as unex-

""From The Nature- Study Idea.

323

324 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:8— Nov., 1917

plored as the arctic regions. Somehow, it was not a brook in the
winter time. It was merely a dreary waste, as cold and as for-
bidding as death. The winter was only a season of waiting, and
spring was always late.

Many years have come and gone since then. My affection for
the brook gave way to a study of plants and animals and stones.
For years I was absorbed in phenomena. But now mere phe-
nomena and things have slipped into a secondary place, and the
old boyhood slowly reasserts itself. I am sure that I know the
brook the better because I know more about the things that live in
its little w^orld ; yet that same mystery pervades it and there is that
same longing for the things that lie beyond. I remember that in
the old days I did not mind the rain and the sleet when visiting
the brook. I was not conscious that they were not a part of the
brook itself. It was only when I began to dress up that the rain
annoyed me. I must make a proper appearance before the world.
From that time, the brook and I grew further apart. We are
coming together again now. It is no misdemeanor to get wet if
you feel that you are not spoiling your clothing. One's happiness
is largely a question of clothes.

But the brook is one degree the better now just becatise it
remains a brook all winter. The winter is the best season of the
four because there is more mystery in it. Things are hidden ; yet
there is a new and strange spirit in the air. There are strange
bird-calls in the depths of the still, white woods. There are strange
marks in the new-fallen snow. There are soft noises w^hen the
snow drops from the trees. There are grotesque figures on the old
fence. There is the warm brown pathway of the brook still
winding up between oozing banks. In the spring there are troops
of flower-gatherers along the brook. In the summer there are
fishers at the deep pools. In the fall there are nut-gatherers and
aimless wanderers. In the winter the brook and I are alone.
We know.

In Nature's open book,

An epic is the sea,

A lyric is the brook: —

Lyric's for mc.

Frank Dempster Shermax.

111=5 *

iiii= < :

3
>

III! 5 ;

')

5»v

m

*2:?^

r

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Soutk.

The Brook flows leisurely through the woods, loitering in the sunny
spots as if loath to leave.

Hermit Thrush Brook

Martha Quick

Among the slightly rolling meadows which lie northeast of
Ithaca, a brook is born. It starts out upon its journey to the lake,
fed by many cool springs which bubble up through the soft spots
of the great crown swamp.

This swamp extends for about a mile, slightly bending toward the
north. It becomes wider or narrower in certain places, bordered
on either side by fertile fields which gently over-shadow and feed it.

The swamp was once filled with many large trees. These have
fallen at various places, while others, decayed or dead, stand like
sentinels on guard. A second growth of small pines, hickories, elm
and cherry help to give a pleasant shade, while along the edges, like
a neat border is a thickly grown hedgerow of elm, ash and ironwood
with plenty of wild cherry to fill up the spaces. All kinds of swamp
loving plants grow here. Sedges, cattails and hellebore form the
bright, green covering while marsh marigolds and other smaller
flowers lend it glowing color. Hundreds of shy and beautiful

325

326 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:8— Nov., 1917

birds here form an orchestra. The hm])id notes of the white
crowned and white throated sparrows are blended with the louder,
searchini; son^^^s of the orioles and <^rosbeaks. Thus with the
sweetest music, the waters of the brook awake and ooze slowly out
of their swamp cradle. Then they are caught together by a
narrower passageway and begin their journey; they cut their way
through the soft mudd\- earth of the meadow, crossed by the road
and then begin to show the character of a stream. At first the
banks are mudd}' and tender, the brook flows slowly winding and
curving this way or that. It soon forms a wide curve, ]3ast the
edge of open wood, where large white pines, maples, scarlet and
white oaks form a partial curtain overhead. While along the
edges and in open places the witchhazel, cedar and hawthorn grow.
All the wild flowers of the wood, hepatica, violet, adder's tongue,
trillium and squirrel's corn form a gorgeous carpet for this wood-
land. Close by the side of the brook the pussy willow bends, and
the quaking aspen stands above. The brook trickles along the
side of the wood, curling slowly to the south then meanders
with many a curve and recurve through the moist and deeper
w^ood.

Here in the denser shade of the bush, the hemiit thrush is seen.
Man}' other of nature's best songsters are singing here and as if
inspired by music the brook begins to utter soft gurgling notes.
At the edge of the woods an old pine stump-fence crosses its path
and makes it flow deeper but more slowh\

A Marsh hawk rises from an inlet of swamp at the corner of the
woods, where the brook receives a companion flowing from the
north, and thus strengthened, straight toward the northwest it
steers its course, across the lower center of the meadow. The sides
of the meadow rise more steeply here and show that the brook
once flowed through a thicket of wild cherry, teasel and small trees;
now all is cleared away to make more soil for the fanner, and only a
tall shagbark guards the south bank with smaller elms and maples
(^n the north.

Here the water washes over pebbles of the glacial period gather-
ing much sand from its grassy banks. Where the meadow becomes
nearly level, the stream does not keep its close channel but widens
out into many small rivulets again uniting after a distance of a few
rods where it is made stronger by a branch flowing from the woods
at the north.

oncKl HERMIT TIJRUSII BROOK 327

The brook ihcMi flows across the meadow lhrovi*^h an old stone
sluice tinder the KHne Road, then turns its course to the southwest
traversing a pasture. It now passes the ed^e of another woodlot
with many N'ouni^- willows fringing its route. During the course it
.gathers much speed and comes bounding out again into a narrow
\'alley, which leads directly toward the west.

This valley is bordered on either side by woods filled with huge
old trees. Plenty of red oak, basswood and maple form the cover,
while blue beech, hawthorn and small elms make up the second
growth. The brook flows slowly and leisurely through the woods,
loitering in the sunny spots as if loth to leave. When it flows out
into the meadows again, it finds new surroundings. It has now^
become an educated brook flowing beside the garden plots and
lawns of pleasing residences. Here it is enshrined and places of
beauty, along its banks are designed as resting places. A dam has
been made where the children may play, but the waters hasten
ever onward.

Here the stream cuts its way through grassy fields, whose clay-
like soil it sweeps along, but it does not linger in these surroundings,
but hastens faster and faster toward the brow of the hill. The
bed rock now form.s layers over which the water leaps and it seems
hurrying on its wa}^ to the lake as it slides over the smooth rocky
bottom. The banks become higher here as the stream begins the
descent of the hill.

Now our brook turns hermit and is almost hidden by the second
growth of wild cherry, hickory and maple. Every three or four
rods it disappears for an instant in the cement culverts, which
conduct it safely under the roads. It gains more speed with every
little fall and sliding cascade; the bank becomes still deeper and
now the brook sings its first real song of rushing wa'er as it rushes
over rocks and finer pebbles on its way through the woods.

In the deeper shade of this woods some of the rarest wildflow^ers
grow. Columbine and moss pink adorn the rocks and the wdld
azalia sheds here its fragrance. The birds too accompany the
stream with their glad songs. Just at the edge of the deeper wood,
the brook takes its final and greatest fall into a deep gorge. This
descent is over a rocky ledge perhaps thirty feet high. Many trees
and bushes overshadow the fall from above. Only the roar and
splash of the water as it drops into a deeper pool at the bottom of
the gorge. This gorge extends for about an eighth of a mile.

328

NA T U RE-STUD Y RE VIE W

[13:8— Nov., 1917

gradually growing deeper, leading straight toward the west. Its
steep rocky sides are covered with large trees while ferns, moss and
wintergreen grow along the edges. Dead trees have fallen across it
and a great old sycamore rises from the seemingly insecure base of
a small island. Underbrush and debris make this part of the brook
look rather wild, and it now excitedly sings its loudest song as if to
tell the lake of its coming. Soon the gorge widens, growing more
shallow, and the brook slips out into the sunlight again. The
banks become widened the brook more shallow and the bottom
more sandy. Soon it takes its last winding curve, looking back
toward the gorge which it has left, and sinks gently down among the
willows and coarse grasses of Ren wick marsh.

The waters of the marsh enfold the little traveler and the brook
is lost to view. Now it oozes through a swamp far different from
the one in which it had its source. After its waters have been
scattered and spread in all directions they are carried into the lake
along with countless other waters. There the lake holds them as
they still sparkle and dance, remembering their journey of miles
down five hundred feet from the Crown Swamp, far in the east.

The Class Studying Hermit Thrush Brook where it traverses a pasture.

Hermit Thrush Brook— A Nature-Study Rubaiyat

William Prindle Alexander

I
On Eastern uplands, sweet with vernal green,
Our brook is born, amid a peaceful scene
And its bright waters noiseless greet the day
To dream awhile in loveliness serene.

II

New flecked with verdure, ranks of Alder stand
Along the marsh, in sweeping beauty planned,
Wherein our brooklet laves the marigold
That stands reflected in a fairyland.

Ill
Above the marsh a thousand tongues are stirred
In chorus, and soft melody is heard
Among the alders, varied, rich and strong.
As ever issued from the throat of bird.

IV
The while our brook in dancing allegro
A lusty stripling, narrow in its flow
Leaves marsh and bird, and marigold behind
And cares not how, or whither it may go.

V
Swirling a song of wanderlust and joy
Its merry rills through mead and wood deploy
Kissing the lush reed, and the fragrant mint
In passing, glad as butterfly or boy.

VI

And now it enters with auspicious sweep
Witch-hazel wood, arousing from the sleep
Of winter, and its banks with emerald moss
Are decked like prayer-rugs, soft and ankle-deep.

VII
There in the wood hepaticas abound
Sweet woodland sylphs, in lovely garments gowned,
With man}^ another elf of early Spring,
That sway in gladness to the waters sound.

VIII
Out ! On ! Beyond ! Through meadows rolling wide,
In gentle swiftness, into realms untried,
Feeling the lure of the great lake afar
Into whose bosom soon our brook will glide.
329

330 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:8— Nov., 1917

IX

Under the stone arch, close beside the farm

It silent steals, in cautious, still alarm

And then away, in placid solitude

Renews its cr^^stal, marsh-born, wayward charm.

X

Off to the woodland, with a steadfast aim

It flows — the wood that gave our brook its name

Will lend it beauty and a sylvan smile,

More fair than that sweet marsh from whence it came.

XI

Then meet the rill, your little brother stream
And on together through the valley gleam.
Two crystal gems, merged in a widening course
Bright as a pla^^ful, iridescent dream.

XII
Through Red Oak Wood, and o'er the level mead
Now suavely tame, and now with madcap speed.
By lawn and mansion, and great thoroughfare
It bravely bounds, where e'er its course may lead.

XIII
Into the wood that mounts the rugged hill,
Through deepening gorge, the bounding waters spill,
In many a splashy, musical cascade
Or modulation, petulantly shrill.

XIV
Then with a bound of beauteous overflow,
Into a gulf the crystal fragments go.
And lo! Taughannock, all in miniature
Is recreated like a cameo!

XV
Down, down and down, to where the little cave
Is fashioned by your ever wearing wave,
And where the cat-bird loves to sit and sing
Let your sweet water for a moment lave.

XVI

Out then, and slow, across the lowlands take
Your flowery way, through reed, and rush and brake,
Lingering songless, till with impulse strong
Your last full swirl is outward to the lake.

XVII
Until Cayuga, like a mother greet
Her wayward boy, that comes with hastening feet.
When evening falls, and knows that there alone
Is rest for him, and haj)piness complete!

The Brook I Found When on the Trail of the Wild

Flowers

Lucy L. Stratton
Erie, Pa.

Y reminiscences of that first spring of
wild flower hunting are tinged with a
very tender affection for that Brook,
indeed we became fast friends for life,
for to fancy the brook not requiting
my love were impossible. Once to be
sure — but that was not the fault of
the brook- — if on one occasion I lost
my poise and fell in heels over head
till my nose touched the sandy bottom, it just smiled a sunny
smile, knowing I was not harmed, and turning and looking back
from a big rock it met just below, it said laughing out loud but
kindly — "Good for you!" The brook was not so very young even
at the top of the wild glen where it jumped over rocks and frisked
like a wild school boy — it was born some three or four miles away,
was of noble birth, its mother a very well-bred lake, a fair sheet
I know not how large, surrounded by green meadows and fringed
with willows. She would have been surprised me thinks, that
staid and placid mother, to have seen the mad antics of her offspring
when it encountered that steep and rocky ravine. But nothing
could be lovlier than its conduct in the many little grottos it found
on its way through the meadows. How still it kept to let the
pretty white stemmed birches whose branches arched above it and
the ferns that drooped till they touched the water see themselves
in its golden mirror ! How tenderly it returned the greeting of the
blue forget-me-nots on its banks bending down for a kiss ! But for
capriciousness there never was anything like it. In two minutes
after dreaming so pensively and making love so sweetly in those
sunfiecked grottos we would see it tearing away again in the wildest
kind of a frolic, running around rocks or leaping over them, elbow-
ing saucily the big plants aside or dashing water all over them and
so plunge along till it was tired and then another grotto — but
never two in the least alike — always a new picture, one more lovely
than another.

331

The Beaver Dam.

For height compare with canoe which is on the edge
of the dam

Some Brook-Loving Architects

Harry G. Bull, M.D.

This is a story of how some furry pioneers found a quiet place in
the Canadian woods and decided to settle down and keep house
there. A little brook ran out of one of the clearest and cleanest
lakes you ever saw. Along its banks grew poplar trees and birches,
both soft wood; and as their teeth serve these pioneers for saw
and axe, soft wood is the best kind for them to use. In the hot
summer months when the lakes get low their outlets get lower and
sometimes dry up; that is one reason why the dams are called for;
another reason comes with the cold winters, when little streams
are frozen to the bottom and animals who live a large part of their
lives in the water find this rather inconvenient. By building a
dam, you see, they raise the level of the water so high that it cannot
freeze to the bottom even when the mercury is forty below zero.
Here, then, was a secluded place, off the beaten track of tourist
and hunter. Tall cliffs rose a little distance from the stream, and
everywhere were woods of birch and evergreen.

The beaver is a funny fellow. Imagine a woodchuck about the
size of a half-grown collie dog, with a wide, flat tail covered with

332

bull] some brook loving ARCHITECTS 333

leather, and you have a fair pictvire of him. His short feet are
Avebbed for swimming and his teeth look like those of mice, but are
large and strong. He stands against a tree on his hind legs when
cutting it down, pushes a log ahead of him when swimming, and
when carr^dng one on shore he holds it under his chin. Mud he
carries on his nose, and some people say also on the fiat tail. And
this is the four-legged architect who builds lodges for a family of
six or seven, and dams as long as a house and higher than a man's
head.

Many generations of beavers have passed since the little stream
was first backed up. Since then the water must have covered the
first homestead, and the next, and the next, as the dam grew higher
and the lake deeper. If we could walk along the bottom I think
we should find the stumps of the first trees that were cut down and
the remains of the old lodges. Our story will tell of the lake as it
now is, of the dams that formed it, and of the houses where the
builders now live.

Between the Beaver pond and the lake from which it takes its
water is a series of little waterfalls, and an old lumberchute. The
water looks black because of the dead trees that are in it. All
along its edge stand the bodies of hemlocks and pines, drowned by
the rising water and bleached white by the sunshine of many years.
The pond is a regular flower garden, and white water lilies float
silently on its black surface. Small islands of rotted moss float
here and there ; it is on a bigger island of this same moss — sphag-
num, it is called — that the beaver lodges are built. At the outlet
is a big granite rock, covered partially with trees and bushes. On
each side of this is a dam about thirty feet long, and as the water
from the two sides unites into one stream a little farther down, it
forms an island.

Look at the picture and you can see for yourself how the dam
slants backward from its base, how the sticks are laid together with
moss chinked in between, and how the upper ones project above the
level of the water. Compare the dam with the canoe at its top,
and you can see how high it is. And all this was made by small
animals, their only tools a pair of sharp gnawing teeth ! They kept
the bark for food, storing some of it away for winter, and used the
bare sticks to build their dam.

Over to one side of the pond are the houses, looking like a wood-
pile among the low, thick plants that crowd upon the moss island.

334 NA T U RE-STUD Y RE VIE W [13 :8— Nov., 1917

Look at another picture and see the two httle waterways that the
beavers have cut out as canals to the houses. They are only about
two feet w4de, so we can just nose the canoe up into them. Per-
haps, by going very quietly, you think, we can get a glimpse of the
tenants. Oh foolish fancy! If the last beaver had been one of
those whose houses lie on the lake's muddy bottom the place could
not appear more devoid of animal life. Go as many times as you
will, and as quietly as Silence herself, you will see no sign of Mr.
Beaver until you call in the evening. Where is he, then? I can't
tell you; most likely asleep at home. But he is up and away long-
before you have looked through his roof, and as his front door is
under water you do not see him leave.

Come some evening along towards dusk and quietly pitch camp
nearby, invisible and unheard, and you will see this city of silence
converted into a city of w^eird sound. At about eight o'clock the
first loud slap of a broad flat tail on the w^ater will announce the
arrival of the working-hour, and from then until the first streaks of
daylight come you will hear the sound of gnawing teeth on bark,
the slap ! slap I of tails, and the heavy splash of a laborer entering
the water. At times the place seems full of them, and then will
come a long period of silence, broken only by trickling water, that
low, monotonous gnawing, and perhaps an owl barking, or a song-
bird talking dreamily in his sleep. If the moon is shining, — or
even by starlight with keen eyes — you may perceive a dark form
pushing an arrowy path across the inky surface of the water, and
you may hear the gentle lapping as the little swell rolls along the
rock at your feet. Tear away a part of their dam before night falls,
and perhaps the rushing water, warning them of a leak in their
wooden wall, will bring them in a hurry to repair it. One night I
came and watched at the broken dam, but was disappointed; they
had very sensibly decided to first repair their roof, which my dis-
respectful curiosity had torn open.

So it is an apparently deserted village that we see as we disem-
bark and pull the canoe up onto the springy island. The moss is
ankle deep. As you walk upon it it sinks down before you and
rises up behind and the circular waves travel along the whole mass
and continue out upon the water beyond.

Two of the lodges are very good ones and in excellent condition.
Over at the farther edge of the island is another one, smaller,
deserted, and with roof caved in. Near the edge of the island and

bull]

SOME BROOK LOVING ARCHITECTS

335

opposite from this house is a pile of sticks beneath the water, built
up from the bottom of the pond. This may be an abandoned
foundation, but I doubt it ; it is more likely a store for winter, for
the beaver is a provident fellow and gets his stock in early.

I am going to describe only one of the houses as they were all
very much alike in every respect. It looks at first glance like a
pile of wood all thrown together in a disorderly heap. It is
circular at the base, about seven feet in diameter, and about three
feet above the base at its highest point, which is the middle of the
roof. The sticks are not laid together in any apparent order, but
are so crossed and chinked with moss and mud as to make a very
strong structure . If in the
building of it, a stick pro-
jects too far in to the
interior it is simply gnawed
off from inside. One day I
took a party of seven boys
from camp to visit the
beaver colony, and all eight
of us stood together on the
roof; our combined ener-
gies in springing up and
down resulted only in mak-
ing it "give" ever so little.

Surely, you would think,
the roof must be very
thick! Well, let us see.

Without much difficulty I tore out a few sticks and some moss
and mud, and to my great surprise found that the wall was
only about six or eight inches thick! Inside was a single room.
About half the floor was occupied with a sort of platform at the
water level, where were the crumbs of the last lunch, a few silky
shreds of white birch bark. Perhaps we interrupted the maid in
her work; few of them would stop for a few crumbs with the roof
being torn away above them! The edge of this platform went
down a sudden step for about a foot, and then another deeper step
down to where the entrance must have been. This is indeed a
dark house, especially in winter, when thick ice covers the ponds.
And crowded quarters it must be too, for a family of five or six.
If they spend the day in such darkness and come abroad mostly at

The beaver houses and the water garden

336 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:8— Nov., 1917

night it is small wonder that daylight visitors find them so im-
sociable.

It is strange, this instinct of building. The caterpillar that
weaves a silken shroud about him and lies down to undergo mys-
terious changes that bring him forth again an altogether different
being cannot be thought to reason out his destiny. But is it only
blind instinct that impels the building of a dam which shall lock
up a small stream, and by making a deeper body of water ensure
protection from the icy prisons of winter; that selects a floating
island in preference to a shore, because it will not freeze so far
underneath? Is it only a blind impulse that teaches an animal
to gnaw down a tree at the base in order to get for food the branches
that are far out of his reach ? If we were to find evidences of these
same activities in some prehistoric race of men, we would not think
to call it instinct, but rather a high degree of reasoning.

The Brook and I

"Throughout the year a brook is captivating. It is as companionable as a
child, and as changeful. It hints at mysteries. But does it tell secrets other
than its own? Does it tell where the wild things come down to drink? Does
it tell where the birds take their baths, or where the choicest wild flowers
lurk? I fain would know the story of its playfellows and dependents.

The brook has made its own way down the hill, through the woods and
across the meadow. May we not follow it? Is it not a type of the best kind
of human life? — the steep hillside of youth, the wild dash, the splashing
through and under and between difficulties, the firm, steady flow down the
gradual slope of middle age, — finally the safe and tranquil passing into the
unknown?

And yet, in spite of its mysteries, one may really know a brook. A river
is too distant, — too much an institution and too little an individual. A brook
comes to play in one's yard. It is neighborly. It invites confidences. It
reflects our smiles and our tears with the same calm surface.

Nor is the brook always idle. The brook practical may typify a more useful
life than the brook romantic. It may be both. So, too, may we. If the
stream goes on merrily below the mill, may not we, too, do an honest day's
work and keep moderately cheerful? I would that I might be like a mountain
brook, never stagnant, never vanquished by obstacles. That I might do
my task and be ready to play when it is finished. That I might hurry through
all uncleanness, absorbing none. And that I might give myself to the future

with perfect confidence and peace." Mary Rogers Miller (Preface to

The Brook, Doubleday Page 8c Co.)

How to Study a Brook

Anna Botsford Comstock

When a geologist studies a brook he pays particular attention
to the topography of the region which the brook drains, the area
which the brook has eroded, the action of the water on the soil and
the bed rock (what it uncovers and what it covers up), and
finishes by observing the delta built up by this stream as it enters
a pond or lake. When a zoologist studies the brook, he gives atten-
tion to all the animal life within the brook and near its margins.
When the botanist studies the brook, he gives attention to the
algae and aquatic plants within the water, the plants on the banks
of the stream and in the swamps formed by its waters, the trees
that find nearness to the stream a congenial abiding place and the
shrubs which live upon the banks. When the poet studies the
brook, he gives attention to its sparkling waters, the play of sun-
shine on its swift currents, its sweet babbling or its angry roar, its
mirrorlike pools which reflect the trees and the flowers growing on

337

338 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:8— Nov., 1917

its banks. In observing the brook from the nature-study stand-
point we inevitably include all of these different kinds of observa-
tions and bring them together into a consistent whole.

In all the realms of nature, there is no other subject of study
so varied and fascinating as is the brook. The study of it means
hours out of doors amidst beautiful surroundings and with a theme
for observation that grows evermore charming and engrossing.
For man}^ years the brook has been a source of keen enjoyment to
the Cornell nature-study classes. The plan of work has been foiu:
fold: (i) a note-book filled with observations on the geologic
characters of the brook, and both animal and plant life found in the
brook and its environment. (2) The mapping of the streami
indicating also the life about it. (3) The bringing together and
recasting the notes from the note-book and map into a consistent
story of this brook. Some of these stories are given in this num-
ber of The Review. So enthusiastic do the students become over
this study that some have written their stories into poems, and some
have illustrated their stories with photographs taken to show every
new and striking phase of the brook's course and surroundings.

OUTLINE FOR NOTES ON THE GEOLOGIC ACTION OF THE BROOK

Does the brook have its source in a spring or swamp? Is this
on the top of a hill, in a valley, in an open field or in the woods?

Has it banks at its beginning or is it level with the surrounding
fields ? Does it flow slowly or swiftly here ?

Are the banks higher where the brook flows down hill? Is its
course more nearly straight on a hill-side than on a level field ?

Note where the water has cut the banks most deeply, why is
this ? Which holds the banks best, the roots of trees or the grass of
meadows or planted crops?

Note how the bends in the brook are made ; are they caused by
obstacles or by the swift current digging into the bank?

Is the current swiftest at the middle or at the side of the stream ?
Which is the most rocky and pebbly, the bottom below the swift
current or at the sides?

Is the bed of the brook more stony on the hillside or in a level
area? Why?

Place a dam across a brook where the bottom is stony and note
how soon the mud will cover the stones. Why is this? Can you
find a pool in the brook that has not a muddy bottom ?

Comstock] how to study A BROOK 339

Note all the signs in the brook and about it that shows the
action of the water at flood.

If there is a swamp formed by the brook explain why it should
occur at just this place.

If the brook empties into a pond or lake how does it make the
waters of the latter look after a storm? Why?

What becomes of the soil carried down by the brook in flood
time to the pond or lake? Do you know of any points of land
extending into a lake or pond where a stream enters it? This is a
stream delta, note how it was made.

Estimate the number of feet between the height of the brook's
source and the level of pond or stream into which it empties.

OUTLINE FOR STUDYING THE PLANT LIFE OF A BROOK

What plants grow on the banks nearest the brook and -what
shrubs grow along its banks?

Note how the roots of these plants and shrubs prevent the banks
from being washed out during floods.

Note the ferns and mosses that grow along the brookside.

What kind of vegetation is growing in the fields thru which the
brook passes?

What kind of trees grow along the banks ? Note especially and
mark on the map all the trees that stand out alone near the brook.
Also note if such trees have helped to hold the banks or change the
course of the brook.

Are there water- weeds growing in the pools? Is there any moss
or algae growing on the rocks and stones underneath the water?

What plants do you find in the swampy places ?

OUTLINE FOR STUDYING THE ANIMAL LIFE OF A BROOK

Are there cray-fish in the stream ? Are they in still pools or in
swift water ? Note where they hide, how they walk and how the}^
swim when frightened.

Are there any fish in the brook ? Describe where each kind is found,
in pools or in swift currents? Do they appear singly or in schools?

Are there caddis worms crawling on the bottom of pools? Of
what materials are their cases made ?

Note the dragon-fly and May-fly nymphs at the bottom of pools.

Are there any water-snails to be found? If so, on what are they
feeding? Are there any tadpoles?

340 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:8— Nov., 1917

Note the whirligig beetles and the water-striders playing on the
surface of pools. If the stin shines, note the shadows of the feet of
the water-striders on the brook bottom.

Note and describe, where found and what any of the following
animals were doing in the neighborhood of the brook: Frogs,
toads, salamanders, snakes, turtles.

Are there any muskrats, mink, woodchucks, rabbits, raccoons,
chipmunks or squirrels observed near the brook? Are the habita-
tions of any of these to be foimd?

OUTLINE FOR STUDYING BROOK-LOVING BIRDS

Are there any water-birds on or near the brook ? Are these wild
or domesticated?

Note the swallows darting about over the pools. What kinds are
they ? Are there any nests of bank-swallows to be seen ?

What birds do you find in the open fields thru which the brook
flows? What kinds do you see in the woods above or near the
brook ?

What birds do you find in the swampy places? What ones do
you see in the trees which stand isolated?

What birds' nests do vou find near the brook?

Making a Map of the Brook

This must, of course, be a crude attempt at map-making judged by engineer-
ing standards; but it is an effective method of opening the pupils' eyes to the
course'^of the brook and the character of its banks and environment. The
map should^be made in sections on the pages of the note book, which later
may be removed and pasted together.

The map shown in this number of The Review was made by a Rural
School teacher who had never attempted to make a map from nature before.
It shows only a section of the entire map.

The American Larch or Tamarack, a Tree of the

Swamps

Jay Traver

" 'Give me of your roots, O Tamarack!
Of your fibrous roots, O Larch- tree!
My canoe to bind together
So to bind the ends together
That the water may not enter,
That the water may not wet me.
And the larch with all its fibers
Shivered in the air of mprning,
Touched his forehead with its tassels,
Said with one long sigh of sorrow,
Take them all, O Hiawatha.' "

So sang the poet Longfellow in his beautiful poem of the Ameri-
can Indian as he used to be. We see at once from the dialogue
above the usefulness of the larch-tree to the craftsman-ship of the
Indians, especially in the manufacture of those wonderful canoes

which could

"Float upon the water
Like a yellow water-lily."

Not only was the larch of importance to the Indians, but it is of
great commercial importance at the present day. Its strong,
fibrous wood is extremely valuable for the building of ships, rail-
road-ties and telegraph poles, and is quite extensively used for
furniture, especially for beautiful cabinet work, for it may be
polished very highly. The species which grows on the Apennines
is quite remarkable for its ability to take a high polish. It is said
that Raphael painted many of his earliest pictures on boards from
the larch-tree. This tree is well adapted for strong, tall masts for
ships; it is very durable, so much so that in certain old French
castles the beams of this wood have been found to be intact after
the stones around them had crumbled. Many old stories are in
existence concerning the durability and the incombustibility of the
wood of this tree. It is said that Julius Caesar when besieging a
castle in the Alps, wished to set fire to a wooden tower in front of
the gates. He heaped up logs of larch around it, but was abso-
lutely unable to make them bum. He must have then been
reminded that

"robusta larix igni impenetrabile lignum."

Another quite different tale comes to us from Evelyn, one of the
first EngHshmen to write about trees, of a ship which was fotmd

341

342 .V.4 T U RE-STUD Y RE VIE W [13 :8— Nov. , 1917

twelve fathoms under water in the Numidian Sea, having lain there
fourteen thousand years. The timbers of the ship were of larch
and yet these were still hard and sound even after that length of
exposure. This tale may seem rather exaggerated, but we must
at least agree to the extreme diurabilit}^ of the wood.

Besides its value as timber-wood, certain minor products of the
larch deserve considerable mention. Turpentine and an extract
of tannin are the most common of these, while the resinous exuda-
tion of the bark has been considered of medicinal value. One such
medicinal product is oleoresin, usually spoken of as "Venice
turpentine." A certain sweetish substance resembling dextrine
is exuded from the bark of the western larch, and this the Indians
used as food, having learned how to obtain it by wounding
the tree.

The best place to find this interesting tree in its favorite haunts
is in some mucky swamp, for, although the larch can and will grow
on hillsides and in yards, it loves best to send its long slender roots
far down into the yielding muck of the swamp. For this reason
it is an important agent in the reclaiming of land from the water,
since earth and vegetable matter become entangled in the roots and
are held there, thus permitting the gradual filling up of the swamps
and marshy places. It is often possible to push a pole down ten
feet or more into the mud in which the larch has so firmly planted
its feet.

Certain species, however, as the woolly larch are often found
growing near the timber-line of mountains in Montana, Oregon,
Alberta and British Columbia. Here the ' ' tamarack is often found
standing, a tiny tree, when its companion, the black spruce, is
clinging to the ground, like a creeping plant, to escape being torn
away by the force of the wind." This species is also called Lyall's
larch, and mountain larch; the wood, which is reddish brown, has
not yet become an article of commerce.

Our commonest form is the American larch or tamarack, also
called hackatack, black larch and red larch. It occurs from
Newfoundland to Alaska, and south to New York, Wisconsin and
Minnesota. This species prefers swamps almost exclusively, and
yet makes a very desirable tree for ornament if any larch is to be
used, for its growth is rapid and it retains its symmetry of form
longer than any other. This tree may attain a height of eighty
feet.

traver]

THE TAMARACK

343

The American Larch or Tamarack

344 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:8— Nov., 1917

A still taller species is the western larch, reaching up one hundred
feet or more. It seems to be the largest of any of the larches, and
is called the red American larch, the great western larch and the
western tamarack. It occurs chiefly in the basin of the Columbia
River. The wood of this species is a bright dark orange, takes a
fine polish and is much used for furniture. The wood is the third
heaviest of all coniferous trees, having a specific gravity of .74.
Although it is the grandest of all the larches, it has not been culti-
vated in Europe, nor will it thrive in the eastern United States
unless grafted on the root of some other species.

Julia Rogers tells us that there are six old-world species of the
larch, and that the most beautiful for use in lawns is the Japanese
larch which has pale blue-green white-hued leaves. It is culti-
vated to some extent in Europe as a timber-tree, and proves an
admirable wind-break. It may be readily grown from the seed
and easih^ transported. The Apennine species mav grow to be
over 120 feet in height.

The generic name Larix comes from the Celtic word lar meaning
fat, — evidently given because of the resinous substance produced
from the bark.

''All of the larches grow with straight, rather slender trunks
which are covered with thick, rough, scaly or furrowed bark. The
branches are slender, usually horizontal, but sometimes ascending.
The branchlets are pendulous, slender, elongated. They are
roughened by short, scaly budlike branches. The buds are small
and covered by broad, shining, brown scales. These scales remain
for a time, leaving ringlike scars at the base of the newly-formed
twig. The flowers appear in May with the leaves. The staminate
ones are borne on short, leafless lateral branchlets, somewhat oblong
and short-stemmed-many spirally arranged short-stalked, two
celled anthers, opening cross-wise or diagonally. The pistillate
flowers are lateral, on leafy branchlets of the previous season.
The base is surrounded by inner scales of buds, and a few spiral
thin scales with two inverted ovules at the inner base. The bracts
are paper-like, long-tipped, longer than the scales, and scarlet in
color. The cones, which remain on all winter, are erect and rather
small and short-stalked. At the base of each fertile scale are two
nearly triangular seeds, rounded at the sides, light brown and rather
shiny. Leaves are deciduous, and two resin ducts are located close
to the epidermis."

tkaverI the tamarack ii45

At one time, it was under consideration to introduce larches into
the forests bordering the English lakes. Wordsworth was greatly
disturbed at this idea, and expressed his feeling in "A Description
oj the Scenery of the Lakes.'' declaring that it is impossible for trees
which terminate in a spike, like the tamarack, to blend together,'
and that if hundreds of thousands were added, the effect would be
the same. He further says, "As a tree it is less than any other
pleasing ; its branches (for boughs it has none) have no variety in
the youth of this tree, and little dignity even when it attains its full
growth; leaves it cannot be said to have, consequently it affords
neither shade nor shelter. In spring, the larch becomes green long
before the native trees, and its green is so peculiar and vivid that,
finding nothing to harmonize with it, wherever it comes forth a
disagreeable spark is produced. In summer, when all other trees
are in their pride, it is of a dingy hfeless hue; in autumn, of a
spiritless unvaried yellow, and in winter it is still more lamentably
distinguished from every other deciduous tree of the forest, for
they seem only to sleep, but the larch appears absolutely dead."

However, we do not all hold the same opinion of the larch, as we
may easily see by the following extract from Pankhurst:^ — ^"With
its luxuriant and needle-like fohage and pendant branchlets, it is
exceedingly effective in a dense cluster. While it suggests the
spruce, it has none of its austerity.

The leaves, an inch long and slender as a needle, grow in dense
clusters as in the cedars of Lebanon. Its deciduous growth and
cone-bearing propensities, showing that it stands on the dividing
line between two opposing orders of vegetation, give our anti-
evolutionist friend another hard nut to crack. The vaporous,
vivid green of a million-budded larch in spring is as beautiful in its
way as the bluebirds earhest call, and with it, becomes one of the
naturalist's memories and anticipations of that joyous season."

Bryant also loved the larch in spring, for he wrote : —
"I know where the young May violet grows.
In its lone and lowly nook.
On the mossy bank,"^ where the larch-tree throws
Its broad, dark bough in solemn repose,
Far over the silent brook."

True it is that in the first gushing, vernal days, when the skies
kiss the earth, the larches are sprinkled full of buds of rarest green"
— a wondrous sight to see on an early spring morning. Surely we
all love the beautiful larch in spring.

Agricultural Nature-Study

A. W. Nolan

Universit}' of Illinois

Lesson Plans for the Grades
If the teaching of nature study in the pubHc schools be based
upon the following principles, there can be no criticism of such
work, either by the practical farmer or by the consen^ative educator.

1. Nature-study is a direct, observ^ational study of the common
things and processes of nature which touch human interests.

2 . The aim of nature-study should be to give acquaintance with
and interest in the common things of nature.

3 . Nature-study should be differentiated from, technical science.

4. Nature-study should be for the child and not for the adult.
With these principles in mind the writer will present a series of

suggestive lesson plans in nature-study from the first to the fifth
grades of the public school.

Grades I aitd II
The natural response of children of these grades to phenomena
of nature is, " What is it ?" The aim of nature-study in these grades
should therefore be to teach acquaintance with and interest in the
common things and processes of nature in the environment of the
child. Their contact with nature is wide and varied, and the school
through nature-study should make them acquainted with the
names of natural objects and arouse a permanent interest in nature.

Lesson I

Title: Our Pets— The Dog.

Aim : To teach sympathetic interest in the dog.

Material: A live dog.

Subject-matter and method: Introductory talks about each
child's dog. What kind of dog is this ? How can you tell ? Name
other kinds.

What have you seen the dog do ? What does the dog eat ?

How does he get his food? Where does he sleep?

Why do we like dogs? How does he help us? How can we
help him?

What harm do some dogs do ? How can you tell a sick dog from
a well dog ? How many have ever seen a mad-dog ?

346

NOLAN] AGRICULTURAL NATURE-STUDY 347

Read some good dog ston\ (vSee Dog of Flanders.)
Tell of Gentry's Dog vShow.

Lesson II
Title : Our Pets.— The Horse.

Aim : To increase s;>Tnpathetic interest in the horse.
Material : A horse before the children.

Subject-matter and method: Introductory talks about horses
the children ma}' have at home.
What are the names of your horses ?
What do you think of this horse?
What is this horse's name?

What does the horse like to do ? What does he have to do ?
What does the horse eat ? How does he get his food ?
What does the horse do for us? What can we do for the horse?
Many other interesting questions will come from the children.
Tell the children some good story of a horse.

Lesson III
Title : The "Pussy Willows."

Aim : To arouse interest in, and to learn the ways of the "Pussy
Willow."

Materials : Twigs of ' ' Pussy Willows. ' '
Subject-Matter and Methods:

1 . As early in March as practical have the children gather twigs
of as many kinds of willows as can be found. Put these in jars of
water and place in warm sunny windows. The catkins will soon
begin to push out of the bud scales and the process of flowering
may be watched by the children.

2 . For the particular lesson on the ' ' Pussy Willow' ' have several
specimens of fully opened catkins. Ask the children to tell what
these are, leaves, fruit, a flower.

On what do they grow? Where does the tree grow?

Why are they called "Pussy Willows?"

Where were these flowers all winter?

What made them open now ?

Do the leaves or the flowers of the willow open flrst ?

Are aU the "pussies" on your twig alike?

Talk about how they differ. How many on your twig?

What becomes of these flowers? (Help to make seeds.)

Why do you think they are pretty?

348 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:8— Nov., 1917

3. For busy work the teacher may have the children paste the
catkins on cards or paper, drawing ears and tail to finish the
"pussy." These may be drawn to represent kitties on a fence.

Lesson IV
Title : Early Wild Flowers.

Aim : To get acquainted with some early wild flowers.
Material: Bunches of Hepatica, Bloodroot, or any early wild
flowers available.

Subject matter and method:

1 . One excellent method in the study of wild flowers is to take a
walk with the children if possible to some wild wood where the
flowers grow, and here merely introduce the children to the flowers,
calling them by nam.e, and let the children gather them as they will
in happy glee.

2. As a school room lesson we may take the hepatica as a type.
With modifications and adaptations to suit the flower the teacher
may use the following suggestions :

a. See that each child is provided with a blossom, leaA^es and
roots if possible.

b. What are these flowers? Where did they grow\' Why did
they come so early in the spring? (Explain that the roots and
buds find food enough stored to make a flower quickly.)

c. What is the color? Are they fragrant?

d. The colored petals of the flower are sometimes called petals
and sometimes sepals. How many petals to your flower?

e. How could we have these flowers to see without going to the
woods every time?

It would be well to encourage the children to have a comer
of the home garden for wild flowers. A bed of wild flowers would
be a good thing on the school grounds.

3. The children may draw the flowers and leaves of the plant
and use water colors to good effect.

Lesson V
Title: Window Gardens.

Aim: To interest the children in window gardens and to raise
some flowers and vegetables in the school room.
Materials: Window boxes or pots and seeds.
Subject-matter and methods:

NOLAN] AGRICULTURAL NATURE-STUDY 349

The children will be interested in sowing seeds and in seeing them
germinate, and the window garden affords opportunity to cultivate
this interest in school.

1. Get some neat boxes, or earthen flower pots, fill them with
good, rich, sandy loam soil and place in sunny windows.

2. At this season of the year sow tomato seed, cabbage seed
and lettuce seed for vegetables, and morning glory, nasturtiums
sweet peas, pansies or some other old fashioned flowers. Such
plants as the tomatoes, and cabbage may later be transplanted in
the home gardens. The class period of one day may be used in an
exercise having the children help in preparing the soil, planting the
seed, watering and placing the pots or boxes in the window.

Lesson VI
Title: The Chick.

Aim: To learn interesting facts about chickens, and to deepen
interest in them.

Material : Several or a single chick.
Subject-matter and method:

1 . Bring a few little chicks in a cage before the class and let the
children watch the action of the chickens as the lesson proceeds.

2. Ask introductory questions similar to these: Why do you
like little chicks ? Where did they come from ? How did they get
out of the egg't (See the little tooth on the tip of the upper part
of the beak.) What good are the chickens to us?

3. Give some bread crumbs to the chicks and watch them eat.
Do they chew their food? What do they eat? How does the
chick drink? Why does it drink this way?

4. Where do the chicks sleep?

5. How does the hen call her chicks? How warn them of
hawks ? What notes do little chicks make ?

6. Tell the children that the covering on the body is called
"down." What becomes of the ''down" as the chick grows older?

7. Name some of the things little chicks like to do.

8. What misfortune often happens to little chicks? How can
we help the mother to raise them ? Tell or bring out the fact that
shrubs furnish good hiding places for hen and chicks; that little
chicks should have fresh water to drink; that they should have
clean dry coops ; and that they need plenty of good food.

9 . Ask the children to tell of any pet chickens the}^ may have had.

350 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:8— Nov., 1917

Lesson VII

Title: The Robin.

Aim: To arouse interest in the robin and teach interesting
things about it.

Material: The robin in sight.
Subject-matter and method:

1 . Take the class to the window or out in the yard and watch a
robin for a few minutes. Ask all to sit down, then talk with the
children about what the}^ saw the robin doing.

2. Ask the following questions, to be answered from the
children's observations:

(a) What colors have the robins?

(b) Did the robins spend the winter with us ?

(c) At what time of day does the robin sing most?

(d) Does a robin run or hop or walk?

(3) Did you ever see a robin pull a worm from the ground?
Tell how the bird acts. What food does the robin eat?
(f) Why do you like the" robin?

3 . Have a robin's nest to show the class, if possible. Bring out
facts about where the robins build their nests, the material from
which it is made, and how we may help them in their work of next
building, by supplying nesting places, mud, and lining materials
for the birds to use.

4. Question about the ntimber and color of robin's eggs. How
do young robins differ from little chickens? What do robins feed
their young? What are some enemies of the robin's nest and
nestlings ?

5. How does the robin help us? How can we help and pro-
tect it ?

6. The children may make a little robin booklet, with drawings
and the answers to some of the questions written out.

7. Tell the legends of how the robins got their redbreasts.

Lesson VIII
Title: Pigeons.

Aim: To leani interesting facts about ]3igeons.
Material : Pigeons to obsen^e.
Subject-matter and method:

I. If there are pigeons in the neighborhood, ask the children
to observe them and report in class. Begin with some interesting

NOLAN] AGRICULTURAL NATURE-STUDY 351

story about pigeons and a few questions which will arouse the
children's interest in the birds. A pigeon in a cage before the class
ma}^ be desirable.

2 . Question the children's observations :

(a) Color of the pigeon you saw?

(b) What do pigeons feed upon?

(c) How does the pigeon drink?

(d) Do they sail through the air in flying, or constantly flap
their wings?

(e) What sounds do pigeons make?

(f) Describe the nest, eggs, and young birds.

(g) How do parents feed their young, and on what material?
(h) Are pigeons of value to us? How?

(i) How can we help them in any way ?

(j) Would pigeons make good pets?

(k) Where do they like to stay and nest?

3. Read to the pupils "Arnaux," in Animal Heroes.

Lesson IX
Title : The English Sparrow.

Aim: To teach interesting facts about the EngHsh sparrow.
Material: The birds for observation.
Subject-matter and method:

1. Let the pupils make their observations on the English
sparrow about the homes or on the streets wherever they can find
the birds.

2 . Question observations :

(a) Are all the sparrows in the flock colored alike? Describe
the colors. The ones with the black cravats are the cock sparrows,
the ones less ornamented are the hen sparrows.

(b) What is the food of the English sparrow? Where do they
find it?

(c) Are these sparrows kindly or quarrelsome ?

(d) Do they go south or remain with us in winter ?

(e) Where does this sparrow build its nest ? Describe the nest.

(f) Are the English sparrows our friends or foes? Why?

(g) Tell why and how the English sparrows came to be here,
(h) Are there any successful ways to get rid of them .-'

3 . Make it clear that there are many other kinds of sparrows,
and that all the rest are fjood birds and should never be killed.

Photo by S. J. Wigley

The Brook is getting wider and occasionally there is a boulder in its bed.

352

The Story of Vanishing Brook

Madeline Avery Livermore

One would never guess, from visiting the source of our brook,
that it had ever done a great work. No matter how tired you
were, you would surely be rested after spending an hour or so by
the side of this little brook. The whole atmosphere is so calm and
peaceful, the sky is so blue and the grass so green.

There are two small branches which unite not far from their
origin to form this stream. The left branch begins near a fence,
with two wild cherry trees to mark its source. It is a sluggish
little stream — with first a little pool, and then a tiny silver thread
till it reaches another pool. It is doing practically no work now,
but that it because its days of work are over. For the old banks
are deeply cut, showing that one day this little stream was carrying
a big load. The left bank is higher than the other. There are
many big fiat stones in the brook, and occasionally a little dam or a
plank which show that the children play in it, and that grown
folks cross it too.

There are grasshoppers and cabbage butterflies along the banks,
water-striders in the water, and the air is full of the fragrance of
apple blossoms from some nearby trees. Up in the very top of
one of these trees is a bobolink calling to his mate.

The right branch has some apple trees to mark its source. This
little stream does not flow thru comparatively level ground as the
other one, but flows down a rather steep grade, and is still doing
work in the spring, for there is a great deal of fresh erosion. This
stream is not sluggish and marshy as the other. There are big flat
stones here also. Some cows are grazing nearby, and just thinking
of coming down for a drink.

After these little branches unite, the valley becomes more and
more marshy, until the stream itself finally disappears almost
entirely. And here we find cat-tails, with a red-winged blackbird
swinging on the very top of one. At the right is a big lone pine,
looking very picturesque against the sky. When the brook appears
again it is for only a little ways, for it soon reaches another swamp
and this time it is a big one just full of cat-tails, beset with skunk
cabbage which is just unrolling its big leaves near the edges. At
the left is a beautiful hawthorn all in bloom. The grass on the

353

354 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:8— Nov., 1917

banks is dotted with yellow dandelions which shine like little suns
in the fresh green grass.

The valley gets wider and wider, until it occupies nearly the
whole pasture. In the swamp here, are some cowslips, and near
the edge a group of Mayapples, their little umbrellas protecting the
buds, which are almost ready to open.

Gradualh^ the swamp grows narrower. The little stream is
meandering from one side to the other, so as to visit all the clumps
of swamp grass and skunk-cabbage and sweet-flag and bid them
"good luck." At the right two lovely willows are growing down
near the water's edge, and a little below at the left, some more
hawthorns all . in blossom. The meadow on both sides is still
dotted with dandelions and the air is filled with bees and butter-
flies, and the fragrance of spring.

Now the bank at the left has disappeared into a le^"el meadow,
and there is a w^oody bank at the right, where another lone pine
stands out against the sky. Here the stream flows under a fence
and a stile, and all of a sudden disappears ignominously into a tile
drain. Above the stream is a perfectly dry grassy meadow for a
little way, and then, from another tile opening a deep, clear brook
with a gravelly bottom springs into existence, not very much like
the little brook we've been studying. After a few^ minutes it again
disappears under the road and comes out thru a big tile on the
other side, a bigger brook than ever. There are steep banks on
either side. The left one was probably washed out during the
flood, because of the way the grass and stones look. The stream
is gentle now, and tinkles along as merrily as can be, but it is plainty
seen that the banks were flooded in the early spring. The bottom
is muddy now, for the stream is not swift enough to take the silt
with it, so it is dropped.

There are long-legged striders floating about on the surface and
their feet cast snow shoe-shaped shadows on the brook bottom;
and there is a green leopard frog the first one we've seen. But
what is even more interesting are the little crayfishes crawling
around on the bottom. Aren't they funny looking things? You
wonder how they can keep all those legs and feelers and things
going, at the same time.

There are black raspberries and also some wild grapes along the
banks now, and the bottom is more grassy. On one side is some
ribbon grass, and on the other a big sumach bush. Also there is

livekmork; the story OF VANISHING BROOK 355

some "horse tail" which we haven't seen before. The stream seems
to be a succession of Uttle pools and rapids, once in awhile it comes
to some big flat stones which it ripples gaily over, and then forms
another pool.

Now there is a solid rock bottom, and lovely grassy banks on
either side. A little farther on we see some algae growing over the
stones. The brook is getting wider and occasionally there is a
boulder in its bed. Here are the first waterfalls we have seen;
and now the stream bed must be twenty feet wide. There is a very
steep bank on one side, and many big trees on the other. These
trees are hickories and butternuts, also some choke cherry. In the
tops of these trees are some goldfinches flying from branch to branch.
The steep bank is very rocky now, and covered with beautiful
ferns, many of them the graceftil bulb-bearing species. There are
big trees on either side almost meeting overhead, and it is so cool
and shady one wants to stay right here all the rest of the day. But
we must go on and see what happens to the brook next, and get
acquainted with some more of its neighbors.

The trees seem to grow taller and taller, and now they really
do meet overhead. They are full of birds, whose notes sound very
much like those of the oriole and the white throated sparrow.
And there they are, both of them ! Also in the top of one of those
tall trees is a big squirrel's nest, and Mr. Squirrel is just coming
out to see what is going on.

Here is a big culvert, below which the valley is wide, but there
is little water and a good many big stones. There are piles of
flood wood here which shows it must be a big stream in the spring.
After flowing down grade for awhile there is another succession
of still pools, completely shaded by the trees on either side. Here
is a dam which some children have made, and I don't blame them
for choosing this place in which to play. Here are overhanging
banks with hawthorns and big elms with wild grapes climbing up
their trunks.

Here is another culvert, and then a gorge, that must be as much
as forty-five feet deep. The banks are very high, and covered
with dead leaves and some ferns, and many big trees, making a
dense shade which the ferns love ; many of these trees are hemlocks.
And who saw this Jack-in-the-pulpit?

Here are some fossils in this rock, which tell us that the place was
once the bottom of the sea. Now the brook seems lost among lots

356 NA T U RE-STUD Y RE VIE W [13 :8— Nov. , 1917

of great stones, no water in sight except for an occasional pool,
which harbors some May-fly larvae ; and here are more lovety ferns
protected by those big hemlocks. There is one tree which towers
above all the others, and that is of coiirse a white pine.

After another big culvert we come to a narrow dell. It is very
deep, but not nearly as wide as the gorge has been. Along a little
way, however, it widens again and is not so deep. There is first a
tiny thread of silver at the bottom, our little brook again.

Now it flows under another road, below which we come to a big
amphitheater at least fifty feet deep. Think of the work our little
brook must have done some day, to carve out this big hollow ! If
there were any other possible way in which it might have been
done, I'm afraid you might not believe me when I tell you that the
brook did it all.

The water goes dashing down over the rocks over in the center
of the gorge, and forms some waterfalls nearby, thirty feet high,
and then settles calmly into a great dam; but when it escapes
from the dam it dashes down into another deep and narrow gorge.
It must be one hundred and fifty feet deep here, the very deepest
we have found yet.

But soon we come to a wide open valley, with a steep bank on
one side, and the other side is very level. All of a sudden what
happens to the brook? Yes it has disappeared! Where has it
gone ? Under the ground of course ; out of sight down in the gravel
finding many secret passages it finally reaches the lagoon and the
lake.

Do you think there was ever a brook which had more things
happen to it, or which had nicer neighbors than this one has ?

Thou hastenest down between the hills to meet me at the road.
The secret scarcely lisping of thy beautiful abode
Among the pines and mosses of yonder shadowy height,
Where thou dost sparkle into song, and fill the woods with light.

But not the white wake-robin, nor the star-flower on thy brink,
Nor any forest-shrub whose roots from thee refreshment drink,
Can need thee with my need, Friend Brook; and never any bird
Can thrill such gratitude to thee as my heart chants, unheard.

Lucy Larcom — from ''Friend Brook.

Glenwood Brook

Stewart H. Burnham
Hudson Falls, N. Y.

The night of Christmas day, — a heavy rain lowers the heavy
snowball of preceding days. Going farther than the wood's
margin, I see where the Cottontail came out of one den, made a half
dozen steps and then into another; evidently liking not the rain
and leaving dirty tracks on the snow. The water from the pasture
pondholes flows down into the sinkhole — a musical stream.

In the hemlock dell, Glenwood brook flows fullbanked and I may
not cross it even if I wished. Up in the woods so serene, — the
pretty, small hemlocks still laden with snow ! the Glenwood cascade
so musical ! the leaning yellow birch with its curling bark and old
seed catkins!

In the brook frozen in the ice, when the water runs over the ice,
little sticks sway back and forth merrily and a leaf attached to a
bending twig touches the flowing water and rocks and rocks.

It is a fairy vision — so beautifully dressed for winter. Of all
the seasons of the year, Glenwood brook is prettiest times like this
— altho 'tis fair to view on the days of other months.

How the brook rejoices to be doing its work again! How good
it is for the stones to be refreshed and worn smooth !

Does not the Chickadee or Nuthatch abide in the hollow trunk
by the cascade, which last year was used by the Woodpeckers?
Surely the birds love such woodland spots better than we.

I was born and reared on the banks of Glenwood brook.

Even now I am discovering its great beauty as hundreds of
young hemlocks are becoming trees along its banks.

Its music is getting into my veins. Altho I should some day
be far away, yet the story the brook tells will never be forgotten.

Things of Nature, even though they have no tongues to speak,
as we, do inspire and influence our lives and our endeavors.
Happy brook, sing on! Dance on 3^our way to Champlain Lake
and the great St. Lawrence and on to the mighty sea.

So't

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

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Editorial

EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE AS NATURE-STUDY

Granted that Animate Nature appeals more strongly and more
frequently to the child than the Inanimate does, it does not follow
that the latter should be excluded from the course in Nature-
Study. If choice of matter is to depend on the child's interest it
does follow that the preponderance of the biological matter will
gradually become less markt as the child's experience widens and
becomes more reactive towards environment. The merely obser-
vational attitude becomes more and more experimental as the
child's education progresses.

There is evidence that many teachers are yet confusing nature
study with formal science. They seem to think in effect that the
former consists almost wholly of ornithologv, entomology and
botany modified for the nursery and that the chief modification
consists in the exclusion of the language of precision — "technical
terms." "In a course of lessons on insect life one might begin
with etc" is what the teacher of formal science might sa>'. There
is no "course of lessons on insects" for the nature-study teacher.
An important difference between the two kinds of lessons is that
one is chosen from or originates in a syllabus or text-book; the
other from real experience. Nature-Study is education thru the
investigation of experience. Using the term "experience" to
include observation the longer I try to work out the nature-study
idea, the more satisfactorily does this brief statement define it.
Making lessons at school of things the children see and do at home
and outdoors is genuine nature-study. When ■i3arents and teach-
ers co6])erate to direct and enrich the children's experiences with

358

EDITORIAL 359

intentionally educative aims the easier it will become to employ
twenty or thirty minutes daily in the school-room upon the educa-
tive consideration of such experience.

This principle shows the way in which the experimental sciences
may serve nature-study and reciprocally the nature-study method
ma}- .- react faA'orably upon the formal science teaching. Ex-
president Ehot has said that in spite of his former very contrary
opinion he had come to regard much of the experimental work in
physics and chemistry as httle better for scientific education than
studying columns of a dictionary would be forEnglish composition.

Phenomena and activities treated of in text-books of physics
and chemistry come within the experience of children. They are
often very interesting and so far as the causes and effects involved
can be understood by them, they ought to be given a place in the
nature-study work. So the need or the opportunity for such
lessons rises in the pupils' experience either according to or regard-
less of the teacher's plan. The pupils with a clear idea of the
phenomenon or problem in mind should have a share in the
devisement of appliances for its elucidation and be guided in
discovering, if possible, the truths demonstrated in the success or
failure as the case may be of each step in the experience.

For example — it is desired to remove the sediment from a fish-
globe or aquarium without disturbing the algae on or near the sur-
face. The teacher will interest the pupils in the problem and set
them thinking to invent means of working it out. Drawing the
sedimentary layer off with a rubber tubing may be proposed and
thus the siphon is introduced. In the making and using of this
apparatus, proposals are accepted, discussed and tried. Measures
that the teacher may know will be unsuccessful are, unless dis-
proved by the children's own di-ductions, tried out as faithfully as
those that the teacher expects will succeed; for educational pur-
poses such failures may be the greatest successes.

When interest in the action of the siphon as a machine is aroused
desire will be excited to know, why the water runs uphill, why it
runs faster as the delivery end is lowered, why it ceases to run at
the point when it is level with the water in the vessel, why the
heavier sediment moves to the entrance of the siphon and rises in
it, etc. Each of these obser^^ations and experiences becomes in
turn a "need" for a new lesson or an extension of some phase of the
old one. John Dearness.

The Teacher's Corner

I do not believe that any teacher knows what a good time with her class
really is until she has studied a brook with them. This work should come
when the pupils are beginning their physical geography, — although there
are parts of it that may be used in earlier grades. "But" the teacher objects, —
"How am I to take a class out and not have a picnic instead of a study of
the brook?" There is one satisfactory answer to that. Plan the work
definitely. Put the questions given in the outline for studying the brook
on the black-board and have each pupil copy them in his note book and
demand results. You will not need to demand them for the children will
become so interested that they will stimulate each other. If you can not
study a brook for its full length go out for a Saturday with what pupils you
can and study a section of a brook. A fifth grade boy once sent me a set of
blue prints illustrating every phase of his brook.

Before going out it would be well to use the following story as a reading
lesson.

How A Stream Works and the Tools it Uses to Work With

It is perfectly natural for water to be busy. There are so many things
about it which it is obliged to busy itself, — such as making clouds and fogs
and helping plants to grow. However, it is as a digger that we study it when
it is doing the work of a brook.

When water is at the top of a mountain, or on any land higher than the
sea, it is not only in a hurry to get down to the sea level, but it always insists
on taking along as much land as it can carry. Water is always working to
level the surface of the earth; it not only tears down mountains, but it builds
up valleys. If we should follow almost any great river to its source we should
find that away up in the hills, somewhere, it began life as a little brook. And
it is as a brook then, that it commences to work. So, if we go out and observe
any brook and see how it works, we shall know how a creek or a great river
workp.

First of all, the water of a stream is a most successful ditch digger; but
instead of throwing out the earth as it digs, as does man when he digs a ditch,
the water carries it all off down stream. From our standpoint there are
many strange things about the way water carries off dirt and gravel.

When we have a load to carry we go very slowly; we have to. When we
wish to run swiftly we throw away all that we are carrying, so as not to be
weighted down. When college boys or high school boys run races they do
not even wear their ordinary clothing, but dress as lightly as possible, in
trunks and tights. They also train themselves severely so that they do not
have to carry any more flesh on their bones than is necessary. Now, with
a brook exactly the opposite is true. The faster it runs, the more it can carry,
and the heavier it gets, the faster it runs.

We have noticed a brook just after a hard rain. We saw it hustling along
as fast as it could go ; and we saw it was roily and muddy ; we also saw that
it was much deeper and wider than usual. All this meant that the brook
was working very hard that morning.

mo

THE TEACHER'S CORNER 361

Now, everyone knows that every brook or creek or river is made up of
many drops of water that are, for the time being, united together and doing
the same thing, which is usually simply flowing down hill. What had hap-
pened to this special brook that morning was that during the rain many more
drops had been added to it, and it became excited and began to flow more
swiftly, and every drop that could reach the bank or bottom snatched up
a tiny load of earth and began to carry it along. But every drop thus laden
down very soon struck so hard that it loosened another piece of earth, which
another drop snatched up and carried on down stream. After a time there
were so many drops carrying loads and bumping along, knocking loose more
earth, that the whole brook looked muddy. Every drop in that brook that
touched the bottom or bank used its own little piece of earth or gravel as a
crow-bar or pick-axe with which to pry up other bits of dirt and gravel for
the on-coming drops to carry. The drops all hastened on, working hard
together to dig the channel of the brook wider and deeper. Sometimes in
steep places the drops would get so wild with haste that several together
would pick up a pebble or a stone and with this they would batter down large
pieces of the bank or scrape out great holes in the bottom of the stream.

On and on the brook flows — a gang of workmen, each using his load as
a tool, moving in close procession and working double quick. But as soon
as the brook reaches a plain or level, the drops begin to feel tired and suddenly
conclude that they have worked hard enough for that time; more than that
each one feels inclined to drop his own load at once. The drops carrying
the larger pieces of gravel and rocks get tired first and throw their burdens
down, while the drops carrying the fine dirt and mud are not so tired and carry
their loads farther ; but finally they, too, throw them down. If we look where
there has been a flooded brook, we shall find that the gravel is dropped first
always, and the fine mud carried farther on before it is deposited.

So, now, when we see a brook or stream all roiled and muddy and noisy,
we shall know that it is working very hard, and with its thousands of tiny
pick-axes is making its channel wider and deeper. But when we find a brook
just babbling along — the less it has to do, the more it babbles, the water so
clear that every pebble on the bottom is visible, we shall know it is in a very
lazy mood, and is not doing any work to speak of that day, but is just loitering
along, catching sunbeams and playing with the fish.

Themes for English Exercises

Where the Waters of the Brook Go

The story of a little boat that was set afloat on the brook and continued

floating until it reached the sea. On what streams would it sail? Through

what townships, counties, states and countries would it pass? What cities

would it sail b\^?

How a Stream Works and Plays
When does a stream work and when does it play? Tell how the waters
look when at work, and how the work is done. How and when and wh}^ does
a brook give up its load?

3()2 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:8— Xov., 1017

The Submarines in Our Brook
This should be an account of the fish, crayfish, and insect larvae, whicli
live below the surface of the water.

Experiment ix Sedimextat^ox
Take a glass fruit jar nearly full of water from the brook, add gravel and
small stones from the bed of the brook, sand from its borders and mud from
its quiet pools. Have it brought into the schoolroom, and shake it thoroughly.
Then place in a window and ask the pupils to observe the following things:

(a) Does the mud begin to settle while the water is in motion; that is,
while it is being shaken?

(b) As soon as it is quiet, does the settling process begin?

(c) Which settles first — th€ pebbles, the sand or the mud? Which scttle^
on top — that is, which settles last?

(d) Notice that as long as the water is in the least roily, it means that the
soil in it has not all settled ; if the water is disturbed even a little it become?-
roilv again, which means that as soon as the water is in motion it takes U])
its load.

A Game to Plav While Studying the Brook
The following game used as a part of the R-hode Island Arbor Day progran;
is so full of excellent suggestions for pupils studying a brook that we publisli
them as a part of this \\ork. The first six questions can be changed to fit
I he locality imder observation.

QUESTIOXS FOR FIELD OBSERVATIOXS

Inter-class Meet, Lincoln Woods, Arbor Day, May ii, 1917
Designed for those not assigned to special games, who should organize ba-
dasses. The number of points made will depend to some extent upon tbe
organization. Each question answered correctly means the credit of one point
toward a final score. One delegate from each class should be prepared tc-
report the data agreed upon to the following committee: Dr. Carroll, Mr.
Brown, Mr. Vinal.

1. Which is higher above sea-level, Olney Pond or the next pond in ar;
easterly direction?

2. Where is North? (vShow by sun.)

3. How far is it b}^ the shortest route from Twin Rock to the Butterfl\
I'^actor}-?

4. Point to Providence, Pawtucket and VVoonsocket.

5. Is Olney l^ond at its highest level? What is basis for answer?

6. Account for the difference in soil on the bottom of Olney Pond and o;
the bottom of the outlet?

7. Name one floating plant that you may observe in Olney Pond.

8. Obtain one wading plant.

9. Obtain one submerged j)lant.
10. Catch a dragonfly nymph.

1 I. Find tlie larva of tlie caddis-flv in its case.

THE TEACHERS CORNER ;3()3

12. Calch a \\hirlisj,i,t^^ hcc-lU-.

13. Find a pond snail.

14. Locale ihr lionu- of a mnsl<ral.

15. Cicl a fresh water nnissel sliell.

i(>. ( )l)lain a water ])lant that has enlart^t'd air spaces. Mechanical tissues
arc not needed to sui)i)orl the water i)lant.

17. vSonu' water plants ha\-e a mncila,ue- to hel]) them float anrl as a defense
aj^^ainst animals. I^'^ind one.

icS. ( )ne j^M'ou]) of a(|uatic ])lants dcvelo]) bladders. I'^ind one.

19. Is Olncy Pond natural or artificial? Basis for answer.

20. What part of Olney Pond is dee]3est? Reason for answer.
3 1 . Find a rock that the glacier left.

22. Find a rock not left by the glacier.

23. What town are you in?

24. I^'ind a wind blown tree.

25. In what direction do the ui)]K'rmost tij^s of the evergreens 1 )end ? \Vliv?

26. In what direction is the wind blowing?

27. What is the weather going to be to-morrow\-'

28. Find little maple trees or oak trees just sprouted,

29. Find a bush in the damp woods that has a yellow blossom. The leaves
ha\-e not come out and the broken twigs have an aromatic odor.

30. Locate a squirrel's nest. What is the material?

31. Find a s]:)ecimen of equisetum (Horsetail).

32. Locate a woodchuck's hole. Is he at home? How know?

33. C.ather some frog's eggs.

34. Locate a crow's nest? Of what is it made?

35. Obtain the fruit of the elm tree.

36. P'^ind the end twigs of oak trees which gray sciuirrels have scattered over
the ground.

37. Find a pine cone from which the scjuirrels have remo\-ed the seeds.

38. Find some land snails.

39. Find a tree that the woodpecker has "pecked" for grul)S.

40. Find limax, the garden slug.

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

The winter birds will ha\'e complete possession of the Decem-
ber Number. A full account will be given of the benefit these
birds work in our orchards, forests and fields. An outline will be
given for school room as well as out-of-door work, and what to
feed birds and how and where to attract them.

The January Number will be devoted to the winter habits of
our common wild animals and will contain a delightful, illustrated
article on the study of tracks in the snow by Professor Hegner of
Ann Arbor and a detailed description of a study of animal tracks
made by the pupils of a rural school.

THE BOOK SHELF

Louis Agassis as a Teacher. Lane Cooper, Professor of English Language
and Literature in Cornell University. 74 pages with portrait frontis-
piece. Comstock Publishing Company. $1.00.
Professor Cooper has given to the thoughtful teacher a volume of the utmost
importance. Agassiz was our first great nature teacher and established for
us true nature study methods by taking his classes out of doors to study living
creatures in their environment. Professor Cooper has gathered from the
writings of Agassiz's four famous pupils, Shaler, Verrill, Wilder, and Scudder,
their testimony as to his methods and personality as a teacher and the result
is truly enlightening to the teacher of any subject whatever. "The study
of nature is an intercourse with the highest mind" — declared Agassiz and his
teaching showed that he never forgot to give reverence to this mind.

Pets, Their History and Care. Lee S. Crandall, Assistant Curator of Birds,

New York Zoological Park. 372 pp. with many illustrations from

photographs. Henry Holt & Co. $2.00.

This book is almost a zoology, so extensive is the number of species discussed.

Mr. Crandall from his point of vantage in t?ie Bronx Zoo has been able to form

a wide acquaintance in the animal and bird world. His accounts of each are

clear, interesting and succinct. The rules for their care are based on general

principles and are not obscured by many details which so characterize so

many of the English books on pets. The illustrations are truly illustrative

and very attractive and interesting, all being photographs of the creatures.

It is a very valuable book of reference for nature study teachers.

Muck Crops. By A. F. Wilkinson. Pp. xiii + 257, illustrated. Orange
Judd Co., 1916.
This little hand-book for the grower of vegetable crops on reclaimed muck
land, contains an introductory account of muck formation in swamps and bogs,
chapters on the value of muck as a soil maker and fertilizer, chapters on drain-
age and tillage, and separate chapters on each of fourteen of the most important
crops that are grown on muck — celery, lettuce, onions, mint, etc. It is a
very readable little book, and very convincing of progress in the application
of science to the utilization of the waste wet lands. J. G. N.

A Year of Costa Rican Natural History. By A. N. and P. P. Calvert.
Pp. xix + 577 with colored frontispiece, map, and many illustrations.
This is such a manual as any naturalist or traveller might wish to have at
hand when sojourning in the tropics. It treats of Costa Rica, a beautiful

364

THE BOOK SHELF 365

and healthful and hospitable country that is destined to be better known
to Americans in the future. The book contains much information concerning
topography and transportation, gives man}' interesting glimpses of the life
and ways of the people, but it is mainly an account of the plant and animal
life of the country. We know no book of travel that is so carefully written,
or so full of detailed information as to the haunts, habits and recognition
marks of the commoner species. One might go collecting in Costa Rica and
identify most of his captures by means of the pleasant reading these pages
afford.

The chapters end with a vivid account of the great earthquake of May 4th,
1910, which destroyed the city of Cartago, and in that destruction wrecked
the little laboratory in which within a year's time Dr. and Mrs. Calvert had
done so much noteworthy and original work upon tropical American dragon-
flies. An appendix contains a bibliography, lists of the species discussed,
and other important data.

J. G. N.

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NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 13 December, 1917 Xo. 9

Three Chickadee Friends

Annie Linn

Detroit, Michigan

They came to us late in November, when no Hving thing was
left in the wind-swept garden, save glistening green honeysuckle
leaves, and a few chilled, chrysanthemum buds, struggling valiantly
to open their frost-nipped petals. There were three of them;
three gray-clad sprites with glossy black caps on their sleek little
heads. Their coloring was as somber as the November twihght,
but they seemed to fill the sleeping garden with their exuberant
life. They flitted through leafless shrubs, and hung head down-
ward from the grape-vine on the fence; they swung from honey-
suckle sprays and played amid the smoky gray mist of the winged
clematis seeds ready for flight, making sweet, low sounds as they
talked to one another. They feasted on sun-flower seeds and
cracked nuts, perched high on our improvised feeding table.

The table was a crude affair, made of rough pine boards placed
across the top of a garden hammock-frame; but it was safely
out of reach of alley cats, and large enough to give ample space
for a shallow drinking pan, and for several lumps of suet tied
securely to small branches of apple wood; and bird-guests are
not critical.

The Chickadees shared their table with a few White-breasted
Nuthatches and downy Woodpeckers. Our English Sparrow
friends, being conservative by nature, viewed with distrust
an unfamiliar object in a garden which they regarded as their
own, and refused to come to the new feeding table. We promptly
took advantage of their prejudice, and gave them their oats in a
place of our own choosing; an arrangement to the ad^^antage of
all.

We soon learned Chickadees' preferences in food and their
regular meal hours. They breakfasted early in the cold gray

367

368 NATURE-SrUDY -REVIEW [13:9— Dec. 19:7

dawn of the winter mornings; the\- dined at eleven, and came
to supper between four and five during the short days of winter.
They had good appetites, and needed frequent lunches between
meals. They enjoyed nuts of all kinds, from pecans to peanuts;
but they preferred butternuts and walnuts and took them first,
if they were offered a choice. Stmflower seeds were always
acceptable, and hemp seeds were in high favor, especially, after
we discovered that the Chickadees had difficulty in opening them
and we crushed the hard shells for them.

Before we were fulh^ convinced that our birds could not open
hemp seeds for themselves, w^e often saw them hold an unopened
seed in their bills, as if unable to eat it but loath to let it go. In
order to be quite sure, we filled a small wooden bowl which we
kept for broken nuts, with hemp seeds, both crushed and whole,
and put it on the porch table where the chickadees usually came
for breakfast. In a short time a sharp, rapid, pattering sound
was heard on the tin coA^ered floor. When we went out to investi-
gate, a chickadee stood in the middle of the bowl, scattering the
unopened seeds in every direction, and eating the crushed ones
with evident satisfaction.

At first we were content to watch the birds from a chstance;
we could scarcely expect them to come to a sunny shelf on the
dining room window sill which we had prepared for possible bird
guests; still, we had read thrilling tales of the confidence of
Chickadees in their himian friends, and it was not impossible
that we too might be honored b}' their friendship. So we made
the window shelf as attractive as possible, and waited hopefully.

The Nuthatches, discovered it first. Then, one December
day, with a flutter of gray wings, and a patter of httle feet, the
Chickadees came, and settled down on the window-ledge where
they ate their nuts and seeds serenely, quite undisturbed by eager.
watchful eyes at the window. E^^en when no one was looking
for them, their presence was announced to listening ears b\-
contented twitterings, and an occasional cheery "chickadee-dee-
dee", and by the peck of strong bills as they opened their svni-
flower seeds with swift strokes, while they held them finuly
with their claws.

One day, an excited obser\-er announced to her incredulous
family, that one of the Chickadees sat down on the table, and
held his piece of walnut shell in both feet, while he ate his nut.

i

i.iNXJ THREE CHICKADEE FRIENDS 369

None of otir books nor of our more exj^erienced bird-loving friends
]iad spoken of such an amazing feat. Could it have been a mis-
take? The\' who had not seen it, were inclined to believe that
it was. As we waited at the window, back came a Chickadee,
turned his tail at a sharp angle, pressed his breast against the board
and grasped his walnut with both feet; he has even been known
to turn and to lie on his side while ]3icking out crumbs of nut
from the shell. Once he stood on one foot and steadied himself
l3y clinging with a cold little claw to the finger of a friend, who was
lr\'ing to help him hold his nut.

All day the}' came and went, and soon became so tame, that
we could open the windows without disturbing them. They
ate from our hands withotit haste, or fear, and once, when a
hand was placed too high to be reached conveniently while the
bird stood on the table he spread his wings, flew up a few inches,
and dropping down as gently as the snow flakes which surrounded
him he stood with cold little feet on the waiting hand.

In the early days of our acquaintance we spoke of them as
the Chickadees, but as we became more intimate with the psr-
sonality of each, they seemed to us as unlike in character and
appearance as three children, and names became a necessity:
so we called them Jimmy, Samm\^ and Fluffy.

Jimmy was an energetic, athletic, chickadee person, with
sur]:)rising strength of bill and claw. When especially vigorous
strokes were heard through closed windows, we knew that it was
he who was opening his sunflower seeds. He was handsome,
slender, and extremely neat. He never appeared in public
with a single feather displaced. His bearing was confident
and fearless at all times. His disposition, however, was less
pleasing than his appearance, and we regretfully admitted that
he was not generous in his treatment of his two companions:
still with all his obvious faults, he was most lovable and winsoms.
Samm}' was interesting rather than handsome. He was
slightly larger than Jimmy, less self-assertive, and far more
indifferent about his appearance. Perhaps his coat was more
difficult to keep in good condition. He never looked well groomed,
and one of his long tail feathers was broken at the end : we hoped
that Jimmy was not in any way responsible for this mishap.
vSammy was reserved, and silent, seeming to expect little com-
panionship from the other chickadees. In repose, he looked

370 NA T URE- S T UD Y 'RE T T£ W [ 1 3 :9— Dec. , 1 9 1 7

dejected, and he opened his sunflower seeds with less vigor.
With all his pluck and independence, there was something about
Samm}' which made a strong appeal to our sympathies, and we
lost no opportunity to comfort him with butternuts, in his mo-
ments of dejection, when Jimmy was too much occupied with
his own affairs to interfere. We never knew Sammy well. Jimmy's
relentless hardness of heart and persistent discourtesy toward
him, combined with his own natural reserve, made intimacy
impossible.

Fluffy, the beloved of our flock, was as sweet a little gray lady
as ever won the hearts of a large circle of devoted friends. She
was plump and round and daintily pretty. Her feathers seemed
finer and thinner, and her wings smaller than those of the other
chickadees. At times, a downy film of breast feathers almost
concealed her wings, making her look more like a fledgling than
an adult bird.

She accepted our hospitality with gentle appreciation. She
soon became established as a member of our family circle, and
seldom left the balcony and her favorite window-shelf for more
than a short flight out into the wintry world.

She often sat for a long time on a spra}^ of woodbine in the
sunshine, preening her feathers, and twittering softly to herself.
We never knew the variety and sweetness of chickadee language,
until we had lived close to Fluffy day after day. She ate her nuts
contentedly on the window-ledge, selected her seeds with delibera-
tion, and drank from her pan while we sat at the window with
books or work. She watched us with bright, friendh' eyes when
we opened the window to offer some tempting morsel of food,
or to fill her drinking-pan with fresh water; e\^en when it was
necessary to break or to remove the ice, as it often was, before
refilling her pan. Fluff}' did not fly away. Sometimes she would
peck the ice a few times, and look up at us with wise, trustful
eyes while she waited for assistance.

She slept under the projecting cornice of the balconx', on a
narrow ledge, close to the screen. When vshe was settled for the
night, all that could be seen of her, was the tip of her tail, which
hung down against the netting. We alwa3'S looked for that
reassuring proof of her presence in the wintry dusk.

One night, the precious gray atom was not in its accustomed
place. A diligent but cautious search with shaded candle and

LiNNl THREE CHICKADEE FRIENDS 371

flasliliL^lU failed to rc\-cal it. l^''liitT>- had not seemed quite well
for se\-eral da\'s, and our hearts were sore for her, out in the cold
alone and weak. vShould we find a lifeless little body in the snow,
when we looked for her in the early mornin^^? We went to bed
with heavy hearts that night.

Fluffy came as usual for breakfast, Ixit she was unmistakably
ill. She sat on the window shelf in the sunshine, with soft feathers
puffed out and her bill open. She did not even notice that her
tail feathers lay in the icy water of her drinking pan.

An anxious friend opened the window, and with caressing
fingers changed her position while FluftV offered no remonstrance.
We afterwards learned from more experienced friends, that birds
do suffer much from the cold in severe weather. Perhaps that
was the cause of Fluffy's indisposition, but we were never sure.
SorrowftiUy, we watched the little invalid, and many a consulta-
tion \vas held as to the best way of caring for her. We gave her
diet careful consideration, and tried to tempt her failing appetite
with crushed hemp seeds in addition to her favorite nuts and sun-
flower seeds. We kept a supply of canary gra^^el on her table,
and changed her drinking w^ater frequently.

It occurred to us during Fluffy's illness, that if we could make
the balcony sufficiently attractive, she might be persuaded to
take up her abode inside, where she w^ould have more protection
from wind and snow. A young nephew fastened a branch in the
roof, and two pieces of wire netting were remo^^ed from opposite
sides of the screen. Fluffy soon found the place w^hich had been
prepared for her, and every night she slept in her chosen niche.
Like the trusting little lady that she was, she selected her sleeping
place close to a door which was seldom closed at night. The first
soinid that w^e heard in the morning was her contented, sleepy
little twitter before she came dow^i to eat her breakfast with Jimmy
and SammA% on the porch table.

For many weeks there were few late afternoons that one or
more of her dcA^oted family did not watch her make her bed
time preparations. "Come between four and five," we often
said to interested friends w^ho wished to see Fluffy eat her supper,
take several sips of water, and go upstairs to bed fluttering softly
and turning her little head from side to side, to look down at us
confidingly as she settled herself comfortably for the night,
like a sleepy baby in its crib.

^72 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:9— Dec, 1917

An early riser in the family said that Fluffy's manner of comino^
down from her branch in the morning, alwa3^s suggested to her
the familiar picture of beautiful Queen Louise descending her
palace stairs.

Fluffy's determination to continue her baths when the weather
was too cold for open air bathing, and her strength seemed insuffi-
cient for the ordeal, caused us much anxiety.

Early one bitterly cold morning, when the bird's drinking
pan had been refilled with slightly warmed water to prevent its
immediate freezing, she took such a thorough bath, that she
looked half drowned to the horrified friends who found her clinging
to a A'ine, dripping wet, seemingly exhausted, and in momentary
danger of freezing to death. In despair we stood at the window,
wondering how we could rescue her. At that critical moment
came Jimmy, equally wet from his bath, and with characteristic
energy and determination he compelled Fluffy to join him in a
game of "tag" until both birds were thoroughly dry.

Our Chickadees were not forgotten at Christmas time. Two
bird-loving friends prepared one of their little balsam trees which
the}' had brought heme with them from a summer vacation in
the Adirondacks, for our pets. It was loaded with e\'ery imagin-
able dainty, dear to the heart of a chickadee. When the little
tree was carefully inipacked, and placed on the feeding table,
close to the dining room window, we all watched breathlessly
to see how it would be received.

In a few moments Jimmy arrived. He began at the little
platform at the base of the tree, and concluded his approving
inspection on the topmost branch. With scarcely more than the
window between their table and ours, we ate our Christmas
dinner together. The Christmas tree became a favorite resort
of the Chickadees, and they used it regularly until the last needles
fell in the spring sunshine.

There were days, during the winter, when Sammy and Jimmy
were only occasional visitors at the feeding table, but Fluft'v
stayed contentedly at home. When Jimmy was with us, he
seemed to think that all bird comforts and con\'eniences belonged
to him. Fluffy meekh' acquiesced, and Sammy accepted the
trying situation with stoical resignation.

Only once, when Jimmy had been away for some time, and had
returned imexpectedly, did Fluffy refuse to withdraw at his

linn] riJREh: ClIICKADKK FRIEXPS 373

biddinj^', and raisiiiL^' licr voice in ])r()tc.st, she drove him from
the window. We ho])ed that a new order was estabhshed, and
that Jimm\- at last, would receive some much needed disci]jline;
but FlutT\- was too <^entle to be aj^j^ressive in her own behalf.
Perhaps her tender heart relented toward the lovable tyrant.
However that may be, when the ^^reat snow storm came, and
Jimmv for the first time sought shelter inside of Fkiffy's balcony,
she promptly yielded her favorite place close to the door, to him,
and when lie wished to eat his seeds on her table, she took her
food from the floor.

Jimmy even drove her out into the storm by his restlessness
and aggressiveness.

That was too much to be endured by us and he was indignantly
"shooed" away. He soon returned and could not, or would not
understand that we regarded him as an offender.

A little nephew, who was distressed by Jimmy's conduct,
suggested that we say "tseep tseep" sharply to Jimmy, as he did
to Sammy and Fluffy, thinking that he might understand our
remonstrance better in his own language than in ours. Fortu-
nately for Fluffy and for us, Jimmy felt no desire to remain in
the balcony, and before night, when the worst of the storm was
over, he flew away, leaving Fluffy free to live her contented,
uneventful life with us.

She stayed in her sleeping place late in the morning after
the storm. There was reall}^ nothing else for her to do. She
could find no place for her feet in the snow-laden vines, and all
her familiar resting spots were heaped high with snow. Her
breakfast was, as usual in stormy weather, on her inside table, but
she showed no inclination to descend into the strange, white
world. We took out her bowl, filled with crushed hemp seeds,
and spoke comforting words to the little gray fltift' ball in the
branches over our heads. She answered immediately in her own
sweet waA' and hopped eagerh^ toward us. In a few moments
she was on the table enjoying her late breakfast: but she made no
effort to go outside of the porch that day.

As the days lengthened, Fluffy and her companions ate their
su])per late in the afternoon, and seemed to enjoy a regular bed-
time frolic. A few times Fluffy went to bed early as usual
and changing her mind, came down and went out to play.

Toward spring, Jimmy established himself on the front porch,

374 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:9— Dec, 1917

and took his seeds and nuts from a fig-basket, fastened to a post
close to the window.

In wet and stormy weather, he often took shelter between the
window frame and an applewood log, placed for his convenience
on the window ledge.

Early one morning he came into a bedroom, through the open
window as he frequently did for his early breakfast of broken
nuts on the inside sill. In some way, he became confused in
going out and losing his way and becoming frightened, he fluttered
helplessly against the glass. Fortunately, a friend heard him,
and went immediately to his rescue. With reassuring words
she helped him to find his way out, and in a short time, Jimmy
was visiting with Fluffy at the back porch, none the worse for
his fright. We fancied that he seemed somewhat subdued in
spirit, and even a Httle more considerate of Fluffy, but the apparent
reform did not last long.

After Jimmy's adventure, which might have resulted seriously
for him, we began to doubt the wisdom of encouraging the chicka-
dees' friendly way of hopping in at open windows wherever and
whene^^er they might find them.

The chickadee habit of storing food for future use was most
interesting. They carried sunflower seeds from place to place,
searching for crannies in the wall, or for an}^ snug niche in which
to hide them.

One day, Fluffy, who had finished her meal, came quickly across
the window shelf, holding a seed in her bill, and looking eagerly
about her. vShe stood near a small branch of applewood to which
her lump of suet was tied. After the consideration due to such
an important matter, she tucked her seed carefully into a split
end of the stick, and contemplated is with satisfaction. It did
seem a safe place, known only to herself and to the friend she had
taken into her confidence; but scarcely had she gone, when
Jimmy dropped down from one of his many strongholds in the
vines, and pouncing upon Fluffy 's seed, he bore it oft' in triumph.

Of course, there were plenty of sunflower seeds quite as plump
and oily as that one which Fluff>' chose, but Jimmy's conduct
was difficult to overlook.

Of all the delightful chickadee customs with which we became
familiar, none was more interesting than their wa>' of dropping
down suddenh' frcm fence or branch into tlie newh' fallen snow.

LINN

THREE CHICKADEE FRIENDS 375

To walk up and down a narrow path in a city backyard, with
snow heaped hi^h on either side does not seem exhilarating^ but,
to be accompanied in one's walk by a little gray friend with
wings, who "prints his small impress in the snow" from the pure
joy of living on a February day, — that is a different matter.

One day, not a chickadee could be seen nor heard in the garden.
They did not even come to the window shelf at their regular
dinner hour. It was an anxious time for the entire family.
With hea^'y hearts we thought of alley cats and unknown dangers.
When the suspense had become painful, the telephone bell rang
and a joyful voice announced: "we have three chickadees on
our feeding table in the garden; they have been here all morning."

Comforting as this message was, it was not wholly reassuring.
Would the chickadees desert us for new friends ? Fluffy came
home before bedtime, her sweet trusting self, and Jimmy and
Sammy arrived in due season.

Our chickadees received many calls from bird lovers, who had
heard of them through family friends.

A baby girl, who dehghted in coming "to see Fluffy," stood
silently at the window one cold day, and after watching her with
grave, tender eyes, she asked her aunt anxiously if she might
not send Fluffy a blanket from her crib.

Once, while FlufTy was still deHcate, as she was sitting on the
edge of her table, resting, and warming herself in the sunshine,
a friend called to see her.

He seated himself quite closely to the window, and waited
for her to become accustomed to his presence. She had finished
her breakfast, and was not yet ready for a lunch. In our eagerness,
to have her show him some of her confiding ways, we tried to
persuade her to take nuts from our fingers. She hopped away a
few inches, to one of her favorite resting places in a vine, close
to the wall, and looked at us with friendly, fearless eyes, but
refused to come on our hands or to take food.

One of her most intimate friends leaned from the window,
and reaching out her hand until her finger-tips rested in the soft
gray down of Flufty's breast, said to her entreatingly : Fluffy,
do take a nut; just one little piece. Slowly, she ttirned her
head and leaning forward she took a crumb of walnut daintily,
as if to give us pleasure, rather than because she wished for it.

As spring approached, Sammy left us. We had noticed regret-

376 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [i3:9_Dec., 191 7

fully that his visits to the various feeding places were less regular
and frequent than usual, and before many days they ceased
entirely. Sammy had seemed well, and in good spirits, but from
the beginning of our acquaintance there had been strained relations
between him and Jimmy. As Jimmy became less inconsiderate
of Fluffy, his coldness toward poor Sammy increased perceptibh'.
Without having positive proof that it was the case, we could not
help feeling that Jimmy's unkindness had much to do with
Sammy's departure.

After Sammy went away, Jimmy spent more time with Flufty
in the grape vines on the back porch. Their growing intimacy
caused us much anxiety. Handsome and lovable as Jimmy was,
we never felt much confidence in his goodness of heart. That he
seemed to be improving, we gladly admitted, but, would our
precious Fluffy 's happiness be safe in his keeping?

We had heard of chickadees consenting to live in proj^erly
constructed nesting boxes. Would it be possible, we wondered,
to keep Fluffy so close to us that we could feed and protect her
when she was caring for her nestlings ?

A young nephew, one of Fluffy's most devoted friends, made a
comfortable little house after an approved model. We did not
offer her a ready made bird house because as Carl remarked:
"her home ought to be made especially for her by one of her own
friends." After careful consideration we decided upon the parti-
cular spot on the porch column where the interlaced stems of
woodbine, grapevine, and clematis afforded protection without
interfering with the spring sunshine, and would also provide leafy
coolness and shelter from wind and rain as the season advanced.
While Carl was putting up her house. Fluffy, undisturbed by the
sound of his hammer, swayed on a vine spray, close to his shoulder.
As the last nail was put in place, her sweet low twitter rippled into
a clear ringing "chickadee-dee-dee," as if she approved of his work
and wished to express her appreciation of his efforts in her behalf.

Surely, we thought, after such an auspicious beginning she
would stay with us.

She often stood on the top of her hotisc, but we ne\'er saw her
go into it.

Day after day we watched hopefully, and as Jimmy's attentions
became more insistent, we were forced to admit that Fluffy was
not whollv indifferent to him.

i.iNxl THREE CHICKADEE FRIENDS 377

AA\^ could not l^lamc FlufY>'. Had we not weakened many a
time in our efforts to maintain an attitude of severity and dis-
ap])ro\'al toward him? Jimmy certainly had an irresistible
wa\- of his own of disaiTQin<^ adverse criticism, however, just it
might be. If Fluffy had only chosen the more dependable vSammy
for her mate it might perhaps, have been easier for us to let her go;
but Fluft'y decided for herself, and we acquiesced not without
misgivings.

The balcon}^ was a desolate place the first night that her branch
was empty.

She came home to breakfast two mornings and we began to hope
that she would not go far away. On the third day, when one of
the family enquired anxiously of the earlier riser: "Did she come
this morning?" "I hoped you would not ask me," was the sorrow-
ful reply.

Somewhere, perhaps, in a wayside thicket, or shadowy wood,
a little gray mother is feeding her hungry brood. Does she
dream, sometimes, of her winter home and friends, as she sits
on her nest in a hollow tree, guarding her treasure?

Perhaps she tells bedtime stories to her sleepy fiuffballs of
the unfailing supph^ of crushed hemp seeds, and of cracked nuts
carefully picked out and broken for her. It is not tmlikely,
that in the joys and cares of family life she has quite forgotten us.

Fluffy's branch is still in the porch roof. Her little house,
half hidden by woodbine leaves, has lost its appearance of newness,
and is mellowing in the sunshine and rain to a weather-stained
gray of which she would surely approve.

Will she come back to us, who are watching eagerly for her?
Shall we hear her merry, brave "chickadee-dee-dee" in the garden
some cold December day, or better still, the patter of her little
feet on the window sill, and the indescribable sweetness of her
more intimate and confiding low notes, when we open the window
to greet her?

Perhaps, remembering the shelter and abundance of her porch,
she will bring her children home some gray November afternoon,
and put them to bed in the twilight on her own favorite branch,
high up in the rafters.

Even if she does not return to us, she has made us rich with
happy memories, and it will ever be the privilege of those who knew
and loved her to look upon every little winged creature with
sympathizing hearts and eyes which see more deeply for her sake .

The Memories in Weeds

L. H. Bailey

T was in a Taoist Temple far
away in Honan. Strange were
the rites of the priests before
the idols. Every utensil, every
i~u.de piece of furniture, the food
wherewith to find sustenance
for the tramps in the torturing
heat and w^et, the outlines of
the clustered buildings, the
speech and the conduct of the few people on this border-land, were
all outlandish to an intruder from the Occident. The nights came
down like a pall of loneliness o^"er the shaven hills, the doors were
bolted, and the morning was far away.

Even the plants, the birds, and the insects were strange. But
there mi the old stone temple-wall grew the catnip, the same
catnip that is under m}' window in America, the same that has
greeted me in many wanderings in other lands. What memories
it held, and what sweeps of the earth's surface were in its crenate
leaves and its odor! Farm-yards and castles, fields at evening,
walks where every soul was a stranger, picturesqrie walls and
ruins, lost days of j^outh with fragrant catnip-tea, folk-lore, an
herbariimi at home, the }^ears that have crowded each other so
fast and so fast, — these were all in the catnip plants that grew
in the chinks of the old wall of the temple in China.

Often am I impressed that travelers never see the weeds,
and we know that other folks spurn them; and yet the\' are the
messengers sent around the world, the fore-guard of fellowship,
the perfect adaptation to all the conditions and needs of life,
the tell-tale of old routes of trade. I have learned to love the
weeds, so often have they been my companions on solitary jour-
neys. Always do I look for them, as I look for old friends. Rank
and raw, uncouth, broken and torn and ragged, often the bearers
of heavy odors, asking no quarter, yielding no treasure, the weeds
are the commoners on the pathways of life.

Nor was the catnip the only old acquaintance in this place
far from the thoroughfares of travel. In the yard was plantain,

37«

HAii.Kvl THE MEMORIES JN WEEDS 379

wild carrot, tlic s])rciwlinjj^ mallow bearinjj^ the "cheeses" of child-
hood, and tlic l:)lack nij^htshade. Near by were smartweeds and
dock, foxtail i^rass, and pepper-grass; and in one corner was a
lusty i)lant of fennel, the same fennel that I found growing
nearly shoulder high in my garden when I came home. I was
not so \^ery far away, with so many good friends to meet me.

Specimens of them I brought home, with others much more
rare but not more interesting nor more worth the while. And the
first plant of many hundred Chinese things to be mounted in my
herbarium is the specimen of catnip from the hills of Honan.

To the Snow Bunting

WiLLIAIM PrINDLE ALEXANDER

Welcome, Oh! child of storm and drift!

Late guest of Labrador :
Most welcome here when through the rift
Of frozen boughs, the mad flakes sift;
When you, like silver leaves adrift

Will come, a happ}^ corps!

Most happy, though the uplands yield

But rustling, withered weed.
When all the wealth of golden field
Within a frosty crust is sealed.
And to your peering eye revealed

Is naught but bristling seed.

And yet when March winds hoarsely blow
The first harsh strains of Spring;

To where the North-land torrents flow

Through ragged realms of rock and snow,

On errant wing again you'll go.
Go home, to mate and sing!

Your knowing brethren seek the shade

Of orange grove and palm,
Where now a sumptuous feast is laid
O'er flowering key and everglade.
Full fair as that for Pavo made

In lands of the Morning Calm.

But you, with little satisfied.

And storm enduring breast;
The rattling ragweed will provide
Your simple need, so here abide
And whistle o'er the countryside,

My little winter guest !

His turn, next

Crow Babies

Dora B. Haines

Newark, X. J.

Speaking of the crow, Chapman says, "In spite of his great
circle of acquaintances, he has few friends. . . there is a price
upon his head; every man's hand is against him." But even a
crow may not be as black as he is painted. He is not appreciated
by the vast majority of unfeathered bipeds, yet I have met a
Vermont farmer who, when his corn is well sprouted, sows the
field a second time to attract the crows. "They save the value
of what they eat in the grasshoppers they kill," he told me.
And whoever has had a tame crow will look with friendly eyes
on all others for his sake.

I spent my vacation at a Cape Cod farm-house. During a
terriffic storm a number of trees were destroyed and in one was a

380

HAiXKsl CROW BABIES 381

nest of vounL!,' crows. The four little fellows were taken to the
woodshed and fed on corn meal until the\' be<^^an to fl>'. Then
each had one win^^ cHpped and they were j^nven their li])ert\'.
Durino- the da\' the>' wandered al)()Ut the jj^rounds, were fed with
the chickens and petted by the family. At ni^^ht the_\' were
"shooed" to a distised hen-house and shut in.

M>' friend, Miss C. and I soon made friends with the crow
babies. As soon as they were released from the hen-house, they
would proceed at a flying-walk to the house where we fed them
corn and played with them.

The}^ loved the sweet biscuits we had with our tea and four
o'clock would find them approaching the piazza with many
anticipatory ''croaks." If we delayed, they became quite indig-
nant and croaked furiously. Once a crow walked right in at the
open door, down the hall, and voiced his displeasure on the thresh-
old of my room.

Another delight of their's was to have their throats scratched
or tickled. When we sat under the trees reading or sewing the}^
would gather round us, stretching their necks invitingly and utter-
ing the funniest coaxing "craw^-aw-awks." And when we res-
ponded how they would push and shoulder one another to get a
turn I

One morning the crows all disappeared. We called and called
in vain. Not one black feather did we see and not a croak did
we hear. We had given them their breakfast as usual and had
remarked that their wings needed reclipping. Could they have
flown away? We gave up at last and went to the orchard.

Hardly had we seated ourseh^es when "croak!" came from over
our heads. We sprang to our feet. "Croak!" from another tree.
"Croak, croak!" Then came a gloriovis game of hide and seek
and Miss C. and I w^ere "it" all the time. The crows kept out
of sight in the foliage, but flew from tree to tree as we approached
their hiding places, calling "croak" from each new roost. If
they were not playing hide and seek, they surely gave a good
imitation of it. We were just giving them up when down they all
dropped and marched demureh^ up to be scratched.

One crow was smaller and weaker than the others — like some
humans he "enjoyed poor health." He usually stood a little in
the background and kept up a series of "craw-awks" in a peevish
undertone. He alwavs wanted the bit of biscuit that some one

382

NATURE-STUDY REVIE

[I.V9— Dec, 1917

else had, and would peck scornfully at his own portion, keeping
an eye on his brother's and complaining as usual. Coming up
from the hen-house he would select the higiiest part of the stone
wall to go over and then stand and scold because he did not suc-
ceed. Like many querulous people he could be very obstinate.

A shallow pan with a broad edge was kept filled with water for
the crows and they would perch on the edge and drink and bathe
at their ease. One morning the peevish crow discovered an old
tomato can nearh^ full of water and proceeded to take his bath
in that. The edge was sharp, and from his complaining must
have been uncomfortable, but get down? Not he! The opening
of the can was so small that when he dipped in a wing it caught
on the sides and he had to flutter wildly to release it. We feared
he would get hurt and two or three times carried him to the broad
pan where the others were enjoying the clear water, but back
he went to his dirty old can.

So we gave up trying to help him and took his picture instead.
We enjo3^ed the ''croakies" all summer amd hoped to see them
again the next spring, but after our departure their wing feathers
were allowed to grow and they flew away to join their relatives
of the field and woods.

T

He ])refen-ed a private bath tul)

What Birds Feed On in Winter

Harriet Reynolds

Ui)iHT Falls, BaltoCo., Md.

HERE came flutterin^^ about the window,
— the temperature was nearly zero, and
the north wind blew the hail, and snow
about — some tiny white and black birds.
The wind rattled the sleet against the
glass, and rocked the icy branches,
causing the little storm-tossed creatures,
when they rested on them, to hold on
with all their strength, while their
feathers were blown every way. Within
were the inexpressible comforts of home,
the warm shelter, light, the aiTn chair,
food, and a delightful resting place for the winter night. Without
the homeless, supperless little atoms of life, eagerly watching for
the crumbs on the shelf, enduring the cold, braving a storm in which
man could not exist, yet surviving bright and happy on the mor-
vo\Y. They were the juncoes, visitors from the North, the snow-
birds for they come and go with the snow^ If they were whiter,
they could have that other pretty bird name, snowflakes, but they
belong to another branch of that great sparrow family. Who even
heard of a snowbird freezing or minding the cold, they seem to
rejoice in it . When they fly away, they show four white feathers in
their black tails, this is the only way that they show the white
feather of cowardice, for more brave or hardy little birds do not
live. Their pretty feet and bills are as pink as the inside of a lovely
sea shell, their breasts as white as snow.

Mother Nature made them, perchance of snow feathers, with
a tint of black, so that one could see them, and of pink to make
them brighter; then sent them away with the flying snow to
cheer up dark winter time with life, beauty and attractiveness.

They are the dainty, darling children of the snow, always
coming in flocks, gentle and generous to each, sprightly, and merry
in their ways. When warm spring airs take the place of cold
weather, one thinks how the birds will enjoy the change, but our
little, cold weather friends are gone. The southland lairds have

383

384 NATURE-STUDY REV EW [13:9— Dec, 1917

come, but those of the northland, having fulfilled their mission
have departed for their far-aAvay birth place.

One wonders what they feed upon in winter, for the woods
appear a barren waste, yet to the naturalists, as well as the birds,
the whole world is one ^^ast storehouse of seeds. When the snow
covers the groimd, and the weeds what can the birds find?
Mother Nature is a better provider than to depend upon the ground
and weeds, for there are her other resources the vines, shrubs,
and trees.

There is the climbing bitter sweet, whose beautiful berries hang
in graceful clusters of golden grapes among pale, green leaves.
When the frost comes, the grapes open, turn back into three little
cups, and resting upon them are the exquisitely colored, crimson
berries waiting for the birds. Even in the Spring, this most
beautiful vine of them all, holds her treasures, when the birds do
not take them.

The woody nightshade has purple flowers, that are followed by
o\^al, scarlet berries, which hang in lovely, transparent clusters
all the winter, and they are dearly loved by the birds. This vine
is not a native, as the bitter sweet, and the clematis, but it is
the fastest grower, and every bird lover should have one, as well
as a shrub, to be mentioned presently. The wild grapes, — fox.
chicken, and people's, give them many meals, a wild grape,
touched by the frost must taste like wine to a noisy, rowdy jay.
Crows and robins eat them with evident enjoyment.

The English ivy, has deep green, varnished leaves and seems
to be just suitably finished at the end of the clusters beautiful
leaves, by circles of large, blue-black berries. This grand vine,
to see one that has climbed 40 feet with its leaves gHstening in
the sunshine, its berries surrounded by a host of fluttering blue
birds, is a sight not to be forgotten. It blooms in summer to
have its berries ready for the winter birds. The clematis is
not a favorite with birds. I have seen our sparrows eat the brown
seeds, but they are covered with silk-like threads, and float awa\'
with the wind like fairy umbrellas. The green briar seeds stay
on imtil late in the spring; pheasants like them. Its mission
is more decorative, for no \4ne has such a graceful arrangement
of its berries, hundreds of pretty round blue seeds form a centre
springing in a rosette, on almost invisible stems. Around a brass
lamp or a white picture frame it is a beauty.

KKVNoi.nsl II7/.iy /UK PS 1<I<:EI) on in winter 3S5

'Die shrill )s nrust 1)CL;in witli another roadsick' dweller, and it
is the queen of them, for the birds love its berries best. The
]3oke, -[jocoon of the Indians. Pigeon berry was, also, one of its
names. Alas! The beautiful wild i^igeon, and innocent doves
that once migrated in immense flocks have departed, never to
return. This handsome plant comes up every \'ear, and can
not be called a shrub. It attracts every one's admiration, when
the berries are ripe. The wine colored, stately stalk, the red
\^eined leaves, the dark, red berries, all seem to be stained with
] ort wine, the heavily-hanging clusters of berries of rich dark red
look like tlie racemes of currants. How the birds rejoice in these
delicious wine berries — even the woodpeckers — insect eaters
enjoy them. Mocking birds, robins, every bird comes, so that
long before winter comes, they are gone. There is no tomorrow
in a bird's little life.

There are four other bushes with red berries. Were they made
to attract the birds? The black alder, spicewood, and the two
burning bushes. The black alder, or winter berry is strikingly
beautiful, the most brilliant of all the red berries. There are
hundreds of shining, scarlet berries, growing just as close, as
possible to the branches, and the color does not change with the
frost, as the other berries do, but remain bright until the spring.
They are brought to the cities, and it seems a pity that such a
lovely bush should be destroyed, as it is a slow grower, and belongs
to the birds. The spicewood, whose fragrant wood grows only
in Canada, and the United States, seems some form of a tropical
plant in our climate. I have seen the allspice in Jamaica, and
the berries grow in the same way, that is, the seed inside a red
covering, that is soft, and then becomes hard. Its long, crimson
berries are prettier, more odd looking, but grow more sparcely
along the branches, as the coffee berry grows. The burning bush,
— euonymus, or best — is more attractive to birds than any bush,
except the poke. Every bird lover should plant some of these
pretty little trees, because they are magnets to draw all the little,
hungry, creatures. The red birds come from far and near,
the blue birds flutter over it in flocks, sparrows and robins come and
feast. There is no brighter scene, than this brilliant bush covered
with its lovely pink and red berries, with a flock of birds, flying
over it, hanging on, chirping their delight at their wayside inn.
The berries are three crimson seeds in an outer shell of pink;

386 X-1 T UKE-S T UD Y RE VIE II ' [13 ig— Dec. , 1 9 1 7

thev are numberless, and hang on the branches by a pink stem or
thread. When the wind blows, they dance about like fairy
things, and the changing ])ink and red may have suggested its
fanciful name. The other one, the native of this country is the
prettiest, for the outer shell is just like a strawberry, but it is rare.

The hawthorns, or black haws bear blue berries in a close,
round cluster, with red stems. The seeds are flat, of sweet taste;
most berries are sour, and they have but little substance, yet the
birds love them, when they pause for refreshments on their journey
south, for they are seldom found in the spring. The exquisite
white flowers that corne in the spring are unequalled in beaut}^ and
fragrance.

The trees have their hotels for the hungry ones, and the wind
is the manager for it blows the seed pods about, and spreads a
feast on a table cloth of snow. There are more trees than can be
mentioned, the locust, cigar tree, paulonia and sugar berry,
and many others. The partridge haunts the spruce trees, and
hemlocks, in winter, it may be for protection, and to seek the
small seeds from the cones. They are fed on this place, when there
are snows, and as sure as they are forgotten for an evening, they
come up to the house, and feed under the locusts. They will
also eat broken acorns. After a deep snow there was a flock
of birds very busy under a paulonia. Countless lace work designs
of little foot marks, back and forth, showed that they were after
the tiny seed, that covered the snow like powder. The sugar-
berry or lotus tree is a useful one to the birds. It is a handsome,
flat-topped tree, growing in the low lands, the berries are plentiful,
as sweet as sugar, and are only a skin over a hard kernel, but
the birds enjoy them. The cedar berries are eaten by all, every
country child knows the taste of their sweet, blue seeds. Who
has not seen, flying around cedar trees, like a flock of fairies,
the dainty, exquisite cedar birds, whose grey feathers look like
spun silk, whose tail is tipped with yellow, and wings with red
like wax. It is said that they are so sweet in their manners,
that they will pass a berry from one to another.

The persimmon, the North American date tree — why do people
smile at that title? Do they contrast a sweet smelling date
with a green persimmon? Just taste one after the frost has
touched it and learn how good they are. That is, if the birds
have left any.

KKYN'OLDS

WHAT BIRDS FEED ON IN WINTER

3«7

Many times have I watched a jolly party of crows, those Robin-
hood like birds, and observed their clamorous joy at a banquet
up a persimmon tree.

The jays love them, also, but a jay likes to come alone, and take
fruit as if he was stealing it; that is his idea of enjoying it. It
may be, that his bright colors, like those of the red bird, make
him restless, as they are better marks for a gun than the other
darker birds. The gum is the last one to be noticed, and the best
of all, its rich red leaves, and hundreds of blue berries make it
most attractive. How all the birds love it, more than any other
berry. The robins will come miles and miles to revel in it. The
flickers — log cock is another name for our most beautifully marked
woodpecker; nuthatches, all the birds will come, feast, sing, and
play in its branches, while a berry remains to be eaten of the delight-
ful repast. So they gather their food, for has not the Lord said,
''Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them."

Rivals for Chickadee favors

Photo by Arthur A. A\

Sir Dowrxy and Miss Chickadee

Aden A K. Burt

A PLAY FOR FOIK CHILDREN' IX PRIMARY GRADES

ACT I

Tlme : December, three o'clock in the afternoon.
Place : Playground at back of school building.
Characters: Downy Woodpecker. Aliss Chickadee.
Scenery: Few trees and feeding station for birds.

Down\' Woodpecker flutters in and peeps into the food box
with an excited air.

Sir Downy. Oh dear! Ifs so long since the little children
have put any seeds or meat in this box out here and Fm very hungry!

Miss Chickadee (flutters up to box). My, Oh, my! I ate
the last seed two days ago, and those had little children still forget us.

Today I have been flying everywhere and couldnt find a speck
of food on any of these big trees or baby trees, but I thought the children
might think of us this cold afternoon.

Sir Downy. Mr. Snowman has been here so much that all the
little insect eggs, which I eat are away tinder his warm coat and it
will be a long time before I can get them.

Miss C. (running around in the trees). What shall we do,
Friend Downy? Mr. Snowman also covered my little seeds in the
fields up so long ago I have forgotten where they were.

Downy W. Fll tell you what we'll do. Miss Chickadee, to make
these bad children think of us again.

Miss C (coming beside Downy). Please tell me quick! !

Downy W. When the children come out tomorrow morning
and call us, we'll just hide and they wont be able to see us at all.
Then maybe they will put some food out here again.

Miss C. (flutters around with excitement). That's fine. Xoiv
let's go to sleep and wait for the children.

(They rtm out togrether.)

ACT II
Time. December g o'clock a. m.
Place. Same.

Characters. Downy Woodpecker, Miss Chickadee, Janie
Bnd Susan.

388

RiKTl .S7/^ DOWNY AND MISS CHICK ADKE 389

Scenp:. Same.

Janie (cominj;- out in playground, looks around, surprised).

Janie. Where are all my little birds this morningf Oh, little
birds aren't you coming to see mef Please come Sir Downy Wood-
pecker, and bring your friend Miss Chickadee. I want to see you
so badly, before Miss Teacher comes because I want to tell her that
I saw yon first this morning.

(Downy and Miss Chickadee peek around from behind the
branches.)

Downy: Sh-Ji-hsh- don't let her see you.

Janie (walking backwards). You are just horrid little birds
not to come and see me — (bursts out crying).

Susan (runs in). Why Janie, what's the matter?

Janie. The — little — birds — won't come to see me.

Susan. Oh, don't cry any more, but let's see what's the matter.
(They go up to box; back away amazed.)

Both together. Oh, oh, oh — no food! (Janie runs away).

Miss C. (looking around at Downy). Now I guess ive will get
some more good seeds and meat to eat.

(Janie comes back with hands full of seeds, puts them in box.)

Janie. There! Little birds when you smell these, you will come
to see us again, but I woiddn't blame you a bit if you didn't. How
can I ever tell you how very sorry I am'^""

Susan. 7/ you will only come back, we promise never to let you
be hungry again.

(Downy flies down from tree over to box. Miss Chickadee
soon follows.)

Sir Downy. I'll come back to you this time, but if you let me
go hungry again, I will go and visit some other little girls. (Downy
and Miss C. eat ravenously.)

Miss Chickadee (flies to next tree). See — Fm going to hide
some of these seeds in this branch and when I am very hungry I
ivill eat them. These children might forget me again.

Janie. Dear little birds, please don't leave tis again, ive all love
you and really didnt mean to neglect you.

(Bell rings — children run back to school.)

• Finis

Photo by Anna A. Wright

Wild Birds as Pets

Anna Allen Wright
Ithaca, X. Y.

We have been feeding our wild birds this winter, and the}'
have proved the most dehghtful Httle friends. I know that
you would enjoy having them ^'isit 3'ou, and they would be glad
to do so, if you would offer them a good dinner. Some day they
may eat out of your hand, as they have eaten out of ours, and out
of the hands of many who have come to see them here. We
have an open sunny balcony, just outside the kitchen windows,
and often little chickadees fly through the window and eat raw
peanuts from the table. The bay-window of the dining room
looks right over the balcony rail, where we put the feeding tray,
so that the birds are often in sight while we are 'eating.

As I sit now beside the window, a little chickadee is swinging
in his cocoanut shell basket, not two feet awa}^ another is on the

:^9o

WRU.Hi! UILP lUKDS AS PETS 391

little pine tree on the baleony post, and a nuthateh is ealling as
he pecks the suet \n\i into a hole in an old branch. He spreads
his wings and tail, points his bill and makes a very cross noise
if any sparrow or chickadee tries to interfere with him. In fact,
he drives them away if he finds them near the food he wants.

We have five little chickadees that visit us. Just now one
took a drink from a dripping icicle, hovering just below it as he
drank. When they can't get water, they chew snow, and it
takes quite a little to give them a drink. We have a drinking
cup out for them, but it freezes so quickly these cold days, that
I'm afraid it doesn't do them much good. We keep suet out for
them, and chopped raw peanuts, of which all birds are very fond.

When we first began to feed them, they were very greedy,
always taking the biggest pieces they could find, flying away to
hide them, and then hurrying back for more. Sometimes they
hide things now, but more often they stay right here and eat
them. The little chickadee takes a piece of nut, tucks it under
his foot to hold it and then pecks away at it. The nuthatch
wiir stay to eat small pieces, but if he finds a large one, he carries
it away, and thrusts it under a piece of bark and there eats it.

We have a shelf fastened to the rail, on which to feed them,
but we also put nuts into the cocoanut swing, and also into the
swinging cocoanut house. You would enjoy seeing a little chicka-
dee alight on this cocoanut shell house when it is swinging, jump
into one window, take a nut and fly out the opposite window.
Besides these things we have two Christmas trees and a shelter
made of a crate set on a box and covered with evergreens. On
stormy days, they like this shelter. There is a swinging shelf
inside for food, and the evergreen branches thrust through the
cracks of the crate make many perches where they eat their nuts.

As Christmas day was warm, we opened a window, and by
drawing a chair with some nuts on it further and further from the
window, and clcser and closer to the table, we soon had several
little chickadees enjoying their Christmas dinners, one at a time,
right beside cur own table. As we drew the chair away from the
window, the chickadee couldn't see it, and flew to the back of a
chair, and looked around. When he discovered the food, he
flew to it immediately. He seemed to know it was meant for
him. Chickadees have such confiding ways, and will soon
investigate any new thing you put out for them !

39-

]VA T URE-S TUDY RE VIE'

[13:9 — Dec, 1917

Another little chickadee that we came to know very well was
our little lame chickadee, who had but one foot. We called him
"Little Lame Chick." He was one of our first visitors, and earlv
in the fall, when we were offering them many kinds of food, I
put a piece of raw pie crust around a branch of the little pine tree.
This he enjoyed immensely though I scarcely believe he had been
brought up to have pie for breakfast. He soon learned to enjoy
the peanuts and you would have enjoyed seeing him hop up
and tuck the nut under his one foot so he could eat it. One
very cold day soon after Christmas, the little chickadees were
holding first one foot then the other up under their feathers
to keep them warm. And what was poor "Little Lame Chick"
to do? He tried to huddle down and cover his one foot, but it
was getting very cold. As he tried to hold to a slanting branch
on top of the shelter he kept sliding down. He couldn't hang on.
Then he tried another perch, but fell oft' from this, and fluttered
his wings. I went out carefulh^ and with a black cloth in my
hand wrapped him up. He seemed surprised, but did not try
to get away. I brought him into the house and kept him wTapped
up for a little while, then loosened the covering and let him fly
around. He was bewildered at his strange surroundings but
not frightened. He alighted on the picture frames and curtain
rods. After about half an hour, we pulled down the shades and
opened one of the dining room windows at the top. He flew to
the window top, looked out, flew back to a picture frame to
think about it, then decided to go out and awa}^ he flew. In
ten minutes he was back on the balcony peacefully eating.

LittU

Photo by Anna A. Wright
Lame Chick

Nature Study in the Library

bird and flower guessing contests
Della MacGregor

Durini^ the month of April twent^^-four pictures of common
birds were mounted and displayed in sets of eight j^er week in
the Children's Room of the vSt. Paul Public Library.

In order that children might have an opportunity to familiarize
themseh^es with the correct bird-names of the specimens exhibited
fourteen of the best bird books were made into table reference
books and all children entering the contest were urged to look up
and A^erify their identifications in the bird-books before handing
in their papers. To stimulate interest in the contest the vSt. Paul
Humane Society ga,ve five dollars for the purchase of books to
be awarded as prizes.

One hundred and thirty children entered the contest, only
twenty-two of whom dropped out before the contest closed.

Only one, a girl of fourteen, identified all of the birds correcth*.
Five identified all but one, four all but two, thirteen all but three.

Books were awarded to all of those who named all but two
correctly by the Humane Society; through the courtesy of the
Department of Entomolog}^ of the University of Minnesota
pamphlets entitled" S/ome Useful Birds to be Found in Minnesota,"
were awarded those who identified all but three correctly.

The children all worked hard and earnestly, some of them spend-
ing as much as ten or twelve hours in the identification of the
pictures.

The day the prizes were awarded more than one hundred and
seventy children came to witness the results of the contest.

Mr. Lange, who is one of our best atithorities on bird study
gave a short talk on The Calls and Homes of our Common Birds,
illustrating his talk with colored slides of many of the birds that
had appeared in the contest.

This contest was succeeded during May by a Flower Contest.
When the contest closes there will have been twenty-seven pictures
of the common wild flowers for identification.

In order that children living in the down town districts who
have little or no opportunity for gathering flowers might see the
flowers themselves, all children living in the suburbs have been

393

394 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 113:9— Dec, 1917

urged to bring flowers to the library aiiyd whenever they do so,
and correctly identify the flowers they bring, their names have
been entered on "The Roh of Honor." Even boys and girls of
twelve and fourteen have entered the contest.

When the contest closes, five dollars worth of books will be
awarded as prizes, the money for the books having been donated
by the Women's Home Garden Club. In addition to these prizes
every child who had entered the contest will receive a package of
flower seeds.

Do You Know?

Mary Ellis

Buffalo, X. Y.

Do you know that the late fall is the time to start a wild flower
box? Get hapatica plants, the bloodroots, the trilliums, Jack-in-
the-pulpits, and plant them in your box. Leave it out of doors
in some sheltered corner, cover well with leaves and leave it
until the month of February when we long for the signs of vSpring.
Bring it in and watch things grow. Plenty of water is necessary.
Strange as it may seem, wild flowers will not grow and blossom
well until they have been in frozen ground.

Do \'ou know that it is very interesting to have a puzzle box?
While planning for the wild flower box, start another b\' putting
in earth from rich woods, digging down far enough to get roots
and bulbs and then see what comes up. It is quite exciting.
This box must be hidden away like the other of course.

Do you know that branches of the sumac, with their bunches of
berries, hung up about a pole or nailed to a bird house or trunk
of a tree will bring the chickadees, the nuthatches and the kinglets?

Do >^ou know that now is the time to be making the bird houses
and to be getting them tip so that they will have a chance to become
weathered and become a ]3art of the landscape so that the birds
will not be afraid of them?"

Do you know that now is the time to form a Junior Audubon
Societ\'?' By getting tjhe children acquainted with our winter
birds we ma\' be able to save man\' of our feathered friends from
starving to death in the awful blizzards which are bound to come.

The Autobiography of a California Quail

A Conservation Story from San Jose. California

Edith M. vSinotan

Two little children were walking in the stubble field one day
down near the creek when they heard someone say quite plainly,
"Peek-a-boo, little children, I see you but you can't see me."
A pause and then, "I see that you have no dog nor gun nor sharp
white teeth shining at me and no big round eyes peering out of
bushy feathers nor yet do yoti come creeping and wriggling on the
ground, so if j-^ou will sit very quietly on that log there, I will move
a little so that you may see me for I should like to be friends with
you."

The two little children sat quietly a few moments on the log
looking sharply at the ground, when suddenly something moved
right at their feet, stood up, and what did they see but a beautiful
quail, just exactly the color of the leaves and ground where he
stood, very dignified, very graceful with a slender plume nodding
on top of his head as he said, "There now, look at me. Wasn't

395

396 NATURE-STUDY- REVIEW [13:9— Dec, 1917

I clever to talk right at you and yet you couldn't see me? Had
you stepped on me even I should not have moved for fear that
}^ou might have found my babies who are very near and unable
to fly ver}^ much yet. Our nest is in a little rounded hollow in
the ground close to the fence. It is lined with dried grass and
stubble and covered with brush so that while we cannot see
out ^-ery well neither can anyone else see in very easily. It is a
very cozy little home."

"jNI}- name is Bob AVhite though people calle me quail because
I call out 'Tobacco- to-bac-co' instead of 'Bob-white' as my
eastern brothers do. I will tell you later why I always say
'tobacco'. I have lived right here on this A^ery place for a long
time, nearly as long as you. little four year old Mary, in fact,
I was bom here."

"The ver}^ first thing that I remember I was tucked awa>^
tightly in a tiny, pure white pointed egg and I wanted to stretch.
So I tried to but found that I couldn't. Then I pecked at the
shell a little and almost immediately someone ])ecked hard at it
on the outside and the first thing I knew there I was, a little baby
quail oiit of the shell with fourteen eggs about me and Mother
\^ery busy pecking now one and now another so that in a few hours
there were fifteen downy little balls of chestnut and buff colored
fluff in the nest with Mother."

"The very next da}' I was oft", with m>' brothers and sisters
after Mother stretching my cramped legs, chirping, looking for
worms and seeds and tiny bugs. I noticed that all my brothers
were laughing at me. As soon as Mother noticed it, she came
over to me picked at my back a little and off' fell half of an egg
shell. I guess that I must have looked ver^^ funny and I had
to laugh myself. But I felt better and ran faster than e\'er,
and when Mother caught a nice fat long angle-worm and pecked
it into four pieces, I ran up quickly and gobbled one piece up.
Then I knew what that empty feeling inside of me meant."

"Mother showed us some good seeds to eat and some bad ones
to let alone, then she showed us how to run very quickly and quietly,
to fly a little and to do just what I was doing when you came upon me
just now — to lie perfectly still in the leaves and hold my gamy
scent tightly under my feathers, so that yoin- trained dog, Prince,
with his nose only a few feet from me could not find me"

"Everv da\' Mother or Father and sometimes l_)(^th would take

siNiMANl AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A OlAIL 397

us for a walk qtiite carh- in the mornin*^ and wc would stay out
for hours looking, Icarnin^^ what to eat, eating, drinking, bathing
and generalh' learning how to be useful, honorable, dignified
quail citizens, able to find our food, to do something to help the
kind farmer who gave us a home, and to protect and care for
ourselves both night and day. About noon, we returned home
for a na]3, to go out again about four o'clock for another meal and
another lesson. Then, at night, we all returned near our nest
and squatted about in a circle our tails pointed inside the circle
and our faces pointed out the better to keep watch for our enemies.
Father always slept outside the circle and used to call and warn
us to keep quiet if an owl or a snake or a weasel, or coyote or fox
or worst of all a man with dog and gun came near.

"Sometimes Father would say very softly, — 'weeka-weeka'
which meant 'be perfectly still and hold yotir scent' but when he
said 'queet, queet, queet' we knew that meant 'fly' so we spread
our little short wings and whirr we flew up A^er\'' quickly confusing
our enemy with our swift noisy motion and besides we all flew
away in different directions. We could gather together later
when we heard Father call softh^ 'cha-quah-kah, queet, queet,'
for we knew that then Father considered everything safe and we
could form our little circle again and try to sleep."

"Oh, little children, promise me now that when you grow up
you will not go into the fields with a dog and gun looking for quail
for it is very hard for us to get any real rest night or day what with
having to sleep always in fear of man or beast. If you will
let us make a home on your farm and protect us a little we will
l^romise to eat the insects that kill your fruit and the weed seeds
that crowd out your grain and we will never ask for more than the
waste grain scattered about your fields."

"Well, httle children to go back to my story, before the year
passed in which I was born, there had been forty children born
in our family, but in November only twenty were left. An old
owl caught fiA^e, a coyote got two, a fox two and a snake one.
Then after the fifteenth of September when man is free to take
his dog and gun and hunt us came our most unhappy days. We
were frightened all of the time by the banging of the guns and by
the nasty smell of the powder. Then a dog was likely to slip up
on us at any moment and catch us unawares so that we lived in a
state of constant fear and trembling. We were afraid to eat,

398 NATURE-STUDY 'REVIEW [i3:g_Dec., igi;

afraid to sleep, afraid to drink or bathe and when No\xmber
came only twenty of us were left."

"Well, the next sprini^ I married when I was just a year old
and I ha^'e the dearest and best little wife in the world. We
raised only two families last year because of the drought but this
year we shall have three for Mrs. White is now sitting on her third
nest full of eggs. The first nest-full this year she sat on for twent\'-
four days and brotight out twelve lovely babies. A few weeks
later she had laid fifteen more eggs in the nest and had to sit
on them so I played Moth-er to the babies and took just as good
care of thein as she. She hatched the whole fifteen and is now
sitting on ten more eggs. I have taken such good care of our
babies and people are so good about here and try to keep all of
our enemies away so that I have the whole twenty-seven happy
about me."

"Do you know old Airs. Meade who lives on the next ranch?
Of course you do. Well she is just as kind to us as she is to you
little children and everv morning we go over there and eat with
the chickens." "This spring, she scattered some grain down in
the brush near the creek for us and each day she scattered some
a little nearer the house until we got right into the yard with the
chickens and were not at all afraid."

"We spend a good deal of time on Mrs. Meade's ranch to i)ay
her for her kindness and that is why she has the best grain and
fruit about here. You see we are just like you, children,
Mrs. Meade loves children and is good to you so you ne\'er think
of scaring her chickens or pulling up her flowers or robbing her
bird's nests but you do any kindness possible for her just as we
do. Each year we help to make her crops better."

Coming Issues of the Nature-Study Review

Winter Habits of Common Wild Animals . - - - January

School Gardens -------- March

Fish and Fish Farming - - - - - - April

The January issue is No. 1 of Vol. XIV, Start new subscriptions at once
$1.00 per year of 9 issues.

A Piece of Suet

' RiTH Marshall

Lruic Tcclmical School. Cliicaj^'O

The initial cost was ten cents. We, three bird lovers, back
in the early days of last January, decided that we must feed the
birds that winter. Our landlady, like Barkis, being willin', we
tied pieces of the suet on the branches of small elm trees in the
back yard where the}^ were in A^iew from some of the up])er win-
dows. Here they dangled, or the pieces which replaced them
(another dime's worth) till the buds had swollen in the spring
and the young leaves of May had hidden the last scraps. Once
a bone was added, and once a bunch of wild smilax berries found
on a winter walk in January.

The food was soon discovered by the birds. The dow^ny wood-
pecker was the first visitor that we noticed, and the most frequent.
Sometimes three or four were there at a time. There were chicka-
dees and nuthatches almost as often. Downy drove the nuthatch
away sometimes; and one day I noticed that he for she) likewise
drove away the English sparrows that were always hanging about,
but never quite daring to take that perilous swing on the dangling
suet. There was hardly a morning throughtout the remainder
of the winter when we did not hear the !'yank, yank" of the nut-
hatch at sunrise, or see some fluffy but cheerful bird getting his
breakfast at our expense. As dusk fell at the end of the day
they were often seen. How many came, and how often, we do
not know; for it was onl}^ occasionally during those busy days
that we could stop to watch them. But it was very alluring,
this watching for the birds. Often I seated myself at the type-
writer to compose a business letter; or, pad in hand, I tried to
finish those belated Christmas notes. Then would come a joyful
"chick-a-dee-dee-dee" outside and I must drop everything to
watch by the window. Sometimes I seated myself by the other
window with the Outlook or some other improving literature
which needed to be read; but the suet was not in sight and my
thoughts would wander. All work in that room had to be done
at night when there were no interruptions. Many a day I watched
the birds and let the newspaper with its dreary news of the Great
War drop from my hand; the world was a good place to live in
after all. On Sundays I gave my undivided attention to our
boarders. Then I seated myself on the window box in the sunny

399

400 NATURE-STUDY 'REVIEW [i3:9_iXc., 1917

east window, and with the bird glasses in hand, forgot for a time
the trials and perplexities of the week and lived again !

Our great day was January 16. It was bitterly cold, one of
those clear bright sunny days with a biting wind. The mercury
was reported twelve below all day. Our back yard was protected
and sunn}', and here the birds came in numbers. The food must
have been a real boon to them, for they came all day long. Scarcely
ever , whenever we looked, did we fail to see at least one bird at the
suet. It was the biggest success in a feeding experiment that
I had ever achieved, and quite as the bird books say it should be.
The first caller that we noticed was the white bellied nuthatch,
at eight o'clock. He and his kind were there all day long. Then
came downy and his relations; and once or twice we were sure
we saw the hairy woodpecker. Then to our delight a red-bellied
woodpecker was discovered feeding. Now this is not a common
bird in the region and it seldom strays into town from the woods.
But here it was, all day long, coming and going. I had to go out
and replenish the suet. A blue jay was observed in one of the
trees, but he took no interest in the suet. I had tied an ear of
corn to one of the trees a few days earlier and he took a few kernels
of that. The English sparrow came also, like Satan, bvit he
could not quite balance himself on the swaying branches. Six
kinds of birds, all on a bleak January day, right at home I

Though this was our biggest day, it was not any more interesting
than some others. Often we waded through slush to the woods
to try to see some birds, to return, disappointed, to find them in
our own back vard feeding on our suet. February 12 was a
cloudv day; big flakes of snow were coming softly down upon
the ground already well covered with beaten snow. We had
taken our lunch to the woods, built a fire and waited for the birds
to come; but the woods were strangely silent, and not even the
common ones did we see till we reached home, and there they were.

On March 2 the neighbors telephoned to say that a real spring
robin was in our back yard. I ran in haste to the window. There
he was, looking over the place deliberately as though he had a
notion to buy it. Five days later he or some other cock robin
found the wild smilax berries which had hung so long unnoticed
by the other birds. Downy and the nuthatch were feeding on
the suet, but he gobbled down the berries with alacrit^^ Later
on I saw other big plump fellows tasting them. I hung up another

MAKSHAl.l.

1 PIECE OF SUET 401

branch, and in a few days the fmit was all ^^^one. About that
time the 1:)r()wn creepers be<j:an to come to our trees, but they
were ne\x^r observed feedin^:^ on the suet.

As spring approached and the snow melted, we thought that the
l)irds would leave us for their natural food. But no ; as long as a
shred of suet remained the downies and the nuthatches came every
day. One day in April a gale was blowing. Downy alighted on
the suet still hanging by a long string, and swung round and round
and to and fro upon the tattered piece as for the pure joy of the
motion. He held on, feasted and then came back for more.

The spring migration came on and absorbed all our leisure time.
Many birds came to our yard and alighted on our trees or upon
the ground. We saw them or heard their calls, but we never saw
them feeding on the suet. A junco came to the suet once in
April, just took a look and flew away.

Our last adventure with the suet was along in the latter part
of April. One bleak day I was attracted by a curious bunch of
something hanging from the underside of the bent limb of a tree.

Closer scrutiny with the bird glasses revealed a ball of ruffled
feathers and finally a long slim bill moving about searching the
bark. It was a nuthatch. After many moments in that uncom-
fortable position, it flew to another tree where it remained for
some time. It had a curious look; it was strangely quiet and its
call was weak. All work was dropped and two bird glasses
viewed it from every angle. Its head patches of black were
not clearly outlined as in the orthodox white breasted. At first
we thought it was sick; but sometimes it would come to the suet,
feed vigorously and fly away quite as a nuthatch should. We
searched the bird books for another kind of a nuthatch but no
description fitted, so we simply called him "Nutty" and decided
he was a freak. Later we were sure we were right ; for something
curious in its attitude led us finally to see that he had but one
leg! A friend had already reported a one-legged nuthatch from
another back yard, and we concluded that it was the same one.
The skill with which the poor creature w^ould hang on to the
ragged swinging piece of suet was a source of wonder to us, and he
seemed even more fond of hanging head downward than the nor-
mal birds. He stayed about for several days.

We watched our suet daily until the last scraps were hidden
by the expanding leaves, when even the downies left it.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Published monthly, except June, July and August. Subscription price, including mem-
bership in the American Nature Study Society, $1.00 per year (nine issues) . Canadian postage,
10 cents extra: foreign postage, 25 cents extra.

T*-M«%Q«<4-/]*«4- Please note date of expiration of your subscription on the label of the
■*-'"*^'*x'^-*- ^^AIL wrapper. Subscriptions must be paid in advance to comply with postal
requirements. Subscriptions and advertisemedts should be sent to The Comstock Ptiblishing
Co., Ithaca, N. X. Manuscripts for Publication and Books to be Revised should be sent
to the Editor.

Editorial

Prescriptive vs. Suggestive Xature-Study Courses

A common point of view has been that the course in nature-study
should never be other than suggestive, that is, it should not be
prescriptive. In the early stages of the nature-study movement,
such a course was justified for several reasons : the field was new ;
the material was plentiful, but untried; the teachers and super-
visors were inexperienced.

This type of course of study has gi^'en results somewhat as
follows: Some schools and communities are doing fine work in
nature-study, chiefly those in which the principal is a leader,
planning the work for his school. In other schools certain rooms
are doing good work. In such case the individual teacher is an
enthusiast in nature-study, possibly because she has been well
trained in this field, possibly because she has found this subject
helpful in the other studies. In other schools the work is neglected .
or if done, it is performed in a highly perfunctorv^ manner.

Among the dangers of the suggestive course of study are the
following: Such a study cannot compete in the daily i^rogram
with the studies having required matter. The tendency of the
teacher is to fail to make careful preparation in matter that is
o]3tional. In such a course of study the steps from poor i^repara-
tion to neglect and then to omission are few and easih' found b\-
many teachers.

The advantages of a ]jrescribed course are these : The teacher
can plan her work from temi to term. She knows what ma\-
reasonably be exi)ectcd from her. She is encouraged to ])re])are

402

EDITORIAL 403

herself adequately in a more definite field of the nature stud>'
course. As a result of the foregoing, she will find the work more
interesting and therefore teach it better.

It would seem then, that the time is at hand when nature-
study should be a required subject with a more definitely ]) re-
scribed content than has heretofore been the practice.

A course may be prescriptive and still be flexible. In such a
course for the middle and upper grades, the general theme for a
given grade can be stated. The main heads of this theme and
the time given to each might be specified. A minimum amount
of specific detail should be prescribed under each head. Much
other material within the general theme from which the teacher
can choose supplementary work should be suggested.

J. A. Drushel.

NOTICE OF THE ANNUAL MEETING AND THE ELECTION OF
OFFICERS OF THE AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY SOCIETY

The American Nature-Study Society will hold its annual meeting in Pitts-
burgh, December 27th. The meetings will be held at Pittsburgh University,
inquire at the A. A. A. S. Headquarters for the place of meeting.

The following officers are to be elected: President, five vice-presidents
and five directors.

The retiring vice-presidents are: B. M. Davis, E. R. Downing, C. F. Hodge,
A. L. Matthews, Alice J. Patterson. The retiring directors are: j. A.
Drushel, St. Louis; C. H. Robison, N. J.; S. C. Schmucker, Pa.; G. H.
Trafton, Minn.; R. E. Wager, 111.

Nominations for the above officers should be mailed to the Secretary-
Editor before December 20th.

PROGRAM OF THE ANNUAL MEETING
Morning Session, 10:00 A. M.

Opportunities for Research in Problems of Teaching Science Elliot R. Dcwning

President's Address — The Humanistic Element in Education,

Liberty Hyde Bailey

The Spirit of Nature-Study . . . . Cora A. Smith

Secretary's Report and Election of Officers.

Afternoon Session, 2:00 P. M.

The Scientific Background of Nature-Study Samuel C. Schmucker

Two Recent Movements of Importance to the Future Development of

Nature- Study . . _ . Anna Botsford Comstock

The Problem of Using Books for vSupplementing Oljservation Work in

Nature-Study . . . . Maurice A. Bigclow

Several other people of importance in the Educational Field have tenta-
tively promised to be present and speak on vital phases of Nature-Study.

Teacher's Corner

The Editor believes that the following letter from a teacher — as to work
accomplished — will be of very practical help. It is from Miss Rose Salchli
of the McKinley School of Erie, Pa.:

In this day and age, the school curriculum does not confine one to the
four walls of the school room nor to books dealing wdth the three R's. It
allows one to enjoy the open, and delve into the Book of Nature which is
surely one of the most interesting and instructive of books.

The boys and girls of a third and fourth grade class in McKinley School
have started out upon their bird trips as early as six o'clock in the morning.
These trips have been taken to a woods within pleasant walking distance
of the school. Some of the children came with their breakfasts in their
pockets, while others evidently had been eating a hasty bite on the way.
Some looked as though they needed a little more sleep, but all signs of sleepi-
ness disappeared when they began to look for birds. It w^as altogether
amusing to watch them. Returning to the school by eight o'clock, the class
had an abundance of material for nature study, language, and geography
lessons for several da^^s.

On several occasions this class has spent an afternoon — usualh' Friday —
at Waldemeer, a beautiful lake shore resort several miles from the school.
This park is a veritable birds' paradise in the early spring. The children
mak-e good use of bird glasses, and are usually careful about keeping quiet,
though one must expect a few explosions of delight on such a trip. The w-ood-
peckers with their hammerings are particularly fascinating to the boys and
girls. vSome of the birds they have seen and become familiar w^ith are the
brown thrush, red-headed woodpecker, goldfinch, blue-bird, song sparrow,
red-winged blackbird, ruby-crowned kinglet, and dow^ny woodpecker. One
of the children always carries a note book in which to record the names of all
birds seen on the trip.

In the class room in the spring, this class has made a further study of the
most common birds of the neighborhood, and discussed bird houses. Just
now they have a bird calendar and a flower calendar each in embryo, and they
are becoming vvvy enthusiastic over them. The l)ird calendar is to be in
the shape of a bird house with birds flying about it. The flower calendar will
be in the shape of a favorite flower. The calendar records will show the names
of Ijirds or flowers, when seen, where seen, name of pupil who first saw.

Last fall the children made a study of the leaves of trees and shrubs growing
in the vicinity of the school. They also learned to recognize and name
such wild flowers as Pearly Everlasting, New York Aster, Heart-leaved Aster,
Butter and Eggs, Trillium, Wood Anemone, Queen Anne's Lace, Common
Plantain, Showy Goldenrod, Earl\- Goldenrod, New England Aster, Many-
flowered Aster, Small White Aster, and Yarrow.

During this past winter these boys and girls made a study of the habits
and environments of a numb(_>r of different animals, and a detailed study of
the raccoon.

They also learned aljout the four constellations: The Seven Sisters, The
I^ull, ( )rion, and The Lion. Myths connected with these star groui)s furnished

404

rilF. TEACH UK'S CORNER 405

the material for readiiij^^ lessons and for reprodiietion work in the language
lessons. The Ijoys of the elass were especially interested in this bit of astron-
omw

Last spring, one day while the children were at work in the school room,
a beautiful Cecropia moth emerged from the cocoon which we had been
watching for weeks. Then the children were told the life stor\- of the moth.

Each boy and girl in this class (which is now beginning the fifth grade)
has a garden plot near the school. The interest was so great last year that
most of the children visited their gardens and cared for them throughout the
summer vacation. A garden sn])ervisor came twice a week to direct the gar-
den work.

Several of the children sold some of their garden produce, and were very
proud of the money thus earned.

Each pupil in the class has a "Garden Diary and Composition Book"
made in the class room. The covers of different colors are decorated with
pictures of vegetables and flowers. In these books, carefully entered with pen
and ink, may be found the daily records of the garden work of the past year,
also the weather report for each day during the gardening season. When
school opened last fall, each pupil wrote in his book an account of the summer's
work in the garden. In these books have been written the life story of the
cecropia, and the account of an experiment performed in the room to show
that plants give off moisture.

During the winter, the class had a number of simple lessons and drawings
in elementary botan^^ They are now getting ready to plant their gardens
again. Some of the boys are making boxes, in the Manual Training Depart-
ment, in which to plant tomato and cabbage seeds. When these plants
are removed to the garden plots, the boxes will be filled with flowers and put
outside the windows of the school room.

Alost of the studies of the class room have been based upon the garden
and other nature study work of this class. This experiment has been very
successful, especially in arithmetic. The boys and girls have found it easy
and interesting to find the perimeter and the area of the garden plots, to find
the cost of corn at so much a dozen ears, to measure and weigh vegetables,
and make out bills for vegetables, seeds and flowers.

The\ have not used a text book for spelling at all, Init have learned to spell
the words they have used in their written work.

Nearly all of the pupils of this class belong to the National Audubon Society,
and most of them have attractive bird houses in their back yards. They have
learned several poems about birds.

The Chickadee

The chickadee wears The chickadee's song

A cunning black cap Is "Chick-a-dee-dee."

In all his affairs, It is not very long.

The Chickadee wears The Chickadee's song,

With genial airs Not much in a throng,

The dear little chap — But it satisfies me.

The Chickadee wears The Chickadee's song

A cunning black cap. Is "Chick-a-dee-dee."

News Notes

CALIFORNIA

The California Audubon Society — whose president is Dr. David Starr
Jordan — and whose secretary is Mrs. Harriet Williams Meyers — has just
issued a very important leaflet upon "Blackbirds, Robins, Meadowlarks and
Flickers. vShall we kill them ? ' '

An intelligent understanding of the injuries done by these birds and the
benefits conferred by them shows a decided balance to their credit.

CONNECTICUT

Hartford — The Year Book of the Hartford Bird Study Club makes you
know you would like to live in Hartford. So attractive an outline of a year's
work in a Bird Club has never come within the notice of the news editor.

The spirit of the Club is expressed on the first page with Ruskin's thought:
"The greatest thing a soul ever does in this world, is to see something and tell
what it saw in a plain way." The subjects of the bi-monthly programs are
inspiring and must keep the members in a state of joyful anticipation, even
in these troubled times. The meetings must be like an oasis. Even in the
mere list of committees you can almost hear the birds singing. In addition
to ordinary, prosaic committees like membership and Executive and Pro-
grams, there are Field, Protection, and Sanctuary Committees. The subjects
of the meetings include "Our Club," "The Lure of the Swamp," "Boy Scouts
Following the Trail," "Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood." "Insects," "Christ-
mas Bird Census," "New Year's Lists," "Homes Without Hands," "When
Day Breaks," "Notes of the Night," "Birds in Poetry and Art," "Fossil
Birds," "Roll Call — Two Minute Field Experiences." And at the end of
this delectable feast for nature lovers they sa}': "The love of Nature is
a great gift, and if it is frozen or crushed out, the character can hardly fail
to suffer from the loss."

ILLINOIS

Chicago — The National Crop Improvement Committee under the direction
of Mr. Bert Ball is taking practical steps to have all the corn planted in
Illinois tested by school children. The following is an excerpt from a letter
to the piiblic :

"By having tlie children make these tests in school, if the seed corn, as
it will, should be found deficient, more vigorous measures will be taken b\-
the farmers' clubs and local committees.

"By seed testing alone we should be able to add lo bushels to the \-ield
of the average acre of corn, and where there are 100,000 acres of corn 10
bushels per acre would mean a million bushels which would sell, at present
prices, for more than two million dollars. This our children could do for
their country with very little effort."

Sent out with this is a graphic circular describing methods of testing corn.

Macomb. — A very important number of the Normal School Quarterly is
given to the results achieved by Professor Charles W. Finley and his pupils

4'^6

NEWS NOTES 407

in studying the birds on the eampus of the Western lUinois Normal vSchool.
It includes dates for Spring migration of 86 species, and a list of residents
and transients. There were 208 nests built on the campus; observations
were made on many and the notes given. Most important feeding records
on six species are added. Eleven full paged and pertinent illustrations
complete one of the most valuable and inspiring contributions to bird study
made in any institution of learning in America..

MISSOURI

The 63d meeting of the St. Louis Section of the American Nature Study
Society was held in Harris Teachers College, September 12. This Section
is a hot wire in nature study and the following: report of the meeting was sent
by the Secretary :

The following were elected officers for the coming year: President, Mr.
C. H. Sackett, Junior High School; Secretary- Treasurer, J. A. Drushel,
Harris Teachers College; Members of Executive Committee, Miss Mary
Andrew, Wyman School, Mr. W. J. Stevens, Field School.

Mr. Shackelford holds over another year as Director.

We had a splendid meeting, best for several years. Short reports on nature-
stud}?- experiences were made by Mr. Grier, Mr. vShackelford, Mr. Dougan,
Miss Windhoist, Miss Becker, Miss Glatfelter.

Three field trips were planned for this autumn's work.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

The Audubon Society of New Hampshire has through its Secretary, Manley
B. Townsend, sent out a stirring appeal for help and co-operation in saving
the birds from wanton destruction.

NEW JERSEY

The Somerset Hills Bird Club through its president, J. Dryden Kuser,
has issued an interesting circular which discusses the history of the club,
its present activities and future plans ; the latter are broad in scope and most
practical and workable; they include Educational Work in Schools; Aid
to the League of American Sportsmen in its Attepmt to reduce the number
of English Sparrows; Winter Feeding; Nesting Boxes and the Liberation
of Native Game Birds.

NORTH CAROLINA

Winston-Salem, N. C, July 28, 1917.

REIORT ON THE WINSTON-SALEM AUDUBON SOCIETY BY H. W. FOLT

Our May meeting was held on the lawn of Mr. and Mrs. H. W. Foltz on
West Second Street. There was a very large attendance including several
visitors, and three new members were added to our roll. This was our first
out-door meeting and it was so thoroughly enjoyed by all present that we
decided to hold more of them. We met at 4.30 p. m.. Dr. Schallert, the
President presiding. After the lousiness had been attended to. Dr. Schallert
read a very gratifying report of our Society from the last Annual Report of
the National Audubon Societies. He also told us of his experiences in provid-
ing nesting boxes for the birds at his home.

4o8 NATURE-STUDY 'REVIEW [13:9— Dec, 1917

Our host and hostess then conducted the company over their spacious
grounds of several acres, where we were shown the nests of various birds,
including, Robin, Cardinal, Thrush, Catbirds, Bluebirds and Carolina Wrens,
some on trees and bushes, some in nest boxes, and some in their back piazza.
Also a goodly number of birds were seen and heard during the evening, and
they seemed to fear no danger from the gathered company. We returned by
way of some well laden service berry and cherry trees, the delicious ripe fruit
of which constrained us to linger long by the way, and when we finally reached
the lawn again we were refreshed with most excellent lemonade before we
adjourned to our homes.

Our June meeting was held with our enthusiastic members Mr. and Airs.
Craigen at their beautiful new home north-west of the city near Reynolda.
The afternoon was warm but clear, and a goodly number were in attendance.
We first adjourned to the fine springs at the foot of a steep hill north of the
dwelling, and after drinking of the excellent water, we started on our tramp
of a half mile through the woods and fields, along streams of running water
bordered with beautiful ferns and wild flowers of many varieties, the latter
being explained to us by our botanical friend Dr. Schallert.

Among the birds nests found and examined, we remember especially one
of a Chipping Sparrow in an old apple tree, a Chewink whose nest with five
brown spotted eggs was right on the ground, a nest of Flycatchers on a dog-
wood limb was so full of fluffy youngsters that it seemed to be over-flowing,
a Mourning Dove was sitting on her two cream white eggs in a rough looking
nest in a wild plum tree, but she flew away at our approach. When we
returned to the house, almost every lady had quite a collection of wild flowers
and medicinal herbs.

Sitting on the large front piazza in the cool evening breeze, the business
session was attended to and then we bid our kind hosts adieu, and the motor
cars sped away to our city homes.

We have a number of Junior Audubon Societies organized in our City
schools, and some of them are doing splendid work. We are going to try to
extend our work to the country schools this fall and hoi)e to have good results.

PEXXSYLVAXIA

Erie — The sixteen girls at the Erie Elmwood Home for Juvenile Court
Girls this summer made a part of their 100 acre farm into a very successful
market garden, under the direction of Miss Honora M. Whalen, a recent
graduate of the Pennsylvania State College in Agriculture. They worked
very faithfully raising berries and all kinds of vegetables which they systemati-
cally canned and dried for the winter supply of the Home. All surplus
was marketed to regular weekly customers in the city. But best of all,
they received their first lessons in nature study, learning of the birds and
insects and flowers as they worked. The i)ublic spirited citizens responsible
for this Home are pleased with the effect of nature study already visible
in the lives of these girls.

Pittsburgh — Miss Emma Davis, who taught with Professor Schmucker
last summer in the Chautauqua School of Nature Study, is teaching this
yenr in one of the Pittsburgh schools which is operated on the Gary plan.

Pfy'\ \s i - \ '"will

^THE BOOK SHELF t/

Bird Friends. Gilbert H. Trafton, Professor of Biology, Alankato Normal
School, Minn. 320 pp., plentifully and attractively illustrated. Hough-
ton Mifflin Co. $2.00.
"A Complete Bird Book for Americans" is the ideal which Professor Trafton
had in mind when writing this book; and he has attained his ideal to a far
greater extent than do most of us. This book makes for intelligence on every
phase of the bird problem. However, its importance and value to teachers
appeals especially to us. It discusses bird travelers, the music, the homes, the
nesting habits, the colors and plumage of birds, how to know them, their
economic value, their enemies, their protection, how to attract them and feed
them and last of all and very important, a chapter on teaching bird protection
in the schools ; this discusses the purposes and materials for bird study, bird-
games and calenders, field trips, bird clubs, the relation of bird study to other
school subjects and an outline of bird study by grades and seasons which ends
in a series of very practical lessons.

Professor Trafton writes lucidly and terseley and has therefore been able to
condense a very great deal of information into this book and it should be on the
reference shelves of every teacher in America.

The Natural History of Chautauqua. Professor Vaughan MacCaughey,
Teacher of Natural History in the Chautauqua Summer Schools. 1 35 pp.
B. W. Huebsch. $1.00.
For all Chautauqua lovers, here is a most valuable and interesting book and
seldom has any book given the Editor such keen pleasure; for she too once
taught nature-study at Chautauqua and thus is able to appreciate the great
value of this natural history survey of the Chautauqua grounds. It covers the
summer birds of Chautauqua and a key for their determination, a list of and a
key to the trees, a list of the shrubs, the flowering plants, the insects, the
mammals, the fishes in the brooks and in the lake, the frogs, toads and sala-
manders, snakes and turtles, a synopsis of the ferns and a list of the mush-
rooms, a synopsis of the common rocks and even an account of the stars of the
Chautauqua summer sky. In addition there are very interesting chapters on
the geologic history of the region and an account of its early settlement and
agricultural development. The book closes with an enlightening chapter on the
Place of Natural History in the Educational Program. If we ever visit
Chautauqua again, this book will surely be our close companion during every
waking moment.

409

410

NA T URE-ST UD Y REV IE W

13:9 — Dec, 191 7

Bird Houses Boys Can Build. Albert F. Siepert. Assistant Professor of
Manual Arts, Bradley Institute, Peoria, 111.
Professor Siepert is accustomed to tell pupils how to make things as this
pamphlet will show. He gives working drawing of — placing boxes for wood-
pecker, bluebird, wren, chickadee, robin, flycatcher, martin, finch, also for
suet feeder, food shelter, feeding shelf, bird baths. The directions are clearly
written and the illustrations are many and attractive.

Our Backdoor Neighbors. Frank C. Pellett. 209 pp. with 84 illustrations.
The Abingdon Press . Price $1.50.
Lovers of nature ever^^where should enjoy this new book by Air. Pellett.
He speaks to us in a most entertaining manner from an acquaintance of many
years with our feathered, furred, and insect friends. No back-yard gossip ever
fell on more eager ears than that that came to the author from "Foxy," or
"Bunny Cottontail," or "The Jolly Old Crow\" True to the tradition of a
gossip the author has passed on to us the messages from these lower creatures
in a most interesting manner in his stories of their home life, adventure and
behavior. Like a sympathetic and true neighbor the author neglects not so
speak a good word for those creatures who justly or unjustly have attained a
reputation of bad repute such as "The Red-tails," "The Chicken Thief," and
"The Polecat." Nature-study will receive an important stimulus from this
book of "Sir. Pellett's, and young and old will enjoy it alike.

H. E. EwiNG.

TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS
Please note your expiration date and send in
your renewals promptly.

Owing to the increased cost of paper and print-
ing, also to the fact that The Nature-Study Re-
view has not raised its subscription price, we will
print only enough magazines each month to cover
the subscription list and its normal increase.

A blue check on the wrapper indicates that
your subscription expires with this number.

INDEX

THE

NATURE-STUDY
REVIEW

Volume XIII, 1917

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

SECRETARY-EDITOR
Cornell University

Published by

THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING CO.

Ithaca, N. Y.

INDEX TO VOLUME XIII, 1917

Jan. pp. I 39; Feb., pp. 41-81; Mar., pp. 83-126; April, pp. 127-169; May, pp. 171-
215; Sept., pp. 217-276; Oct., pp. 277-321; Nov., pp. 323-365; Dec, pp. 367-410.

[Names of contributors are printed in small capitals. Abbreviated titles of books
reviewed are in quotation marks.]

"Agassiz as a Teacher," Lane Cooper

364

Agreement as to the Nature- Study
Program, J. G. Needham, 2

Agricultural Nature- Study, A. W.
Nolan, 346

Alexander, W. P., The Goat— An
Appreciation, 107; To Louis Agas-
siz Fuertes, 142; The Twin-
Flower, 147; The Bluebird, 184;
Sir Frost and the Trees, 297;
Hermit Thrush Brook — A Nature-
Study Rubaiyat, 329; To the
Snow Bunting, 379

Allen, Elsa G., Concerning Wild
Ducks, 171; Color Key to the
Ducks of the Eastern United
States, 177

American Attitude Toward Flowers,
The, L. H. Bailey, 135

"American Forestry," 321

Animal Folk in the Meadow, Jane AL
Bcilby, 117

"Animal Micrology," Michael F.
Guyer, 214

Annual Meeting and Election of
Officers, 42

April, Phoebe Bird, 163

Autobiography of a California Quail,
The, Edith ^L Siniman, 395

AvEKiLL, Anna B., Winter Twi-
light, 78

"Backdoor Neighbors, Our," Frank
C. Pellett, 410

Bailey, Elmer J., My Tree, 277

Bailey, Guy A., Nature-Study and
Humaneness, 90; The Wild Flow-
ers and the Teachers, 148; Bird
Protection, 204

Bailey, H. D., The White Rat as a
Pet, 83

Bailey, Liberty H., Greeting to the
Nature-Study Teachers, i; The
Great Lover, 43; The American
Attitude Toward Flowers, 135;
The Brook, 323; The Memories in
Weeds, 378

Bard, Catherine, A Brook
Acquaintance, 62

Barker, Edna L., Tlie Royal
Moccasin Flower, 131

Barker, E. Eugene, Royalty in the

Plant Kingdom, 127
Barrows, H. P., "Judging Horses,"

213
Beilby, Jane M., Animal Folk in the

Meadow, 117
Bird Founts in the Garden, Mathilde

Schlegel, 197
"Bird Friends," Gilbert H. Trafton,

409
Bird House Contest for 191 7, Rules

for, Y. M. C. A. of Erie, Pa., 196
"Bird Houses Boys Can Build,"

Albert F. Siepert, 410
Bird Houses Injure Trees, Stationary,

Parmalee Evans, 200
Bird Island, A Visit to, L. B. Cush-

man, 196
Bird Neighbors, Our Most Intimate,

Laura A. L. Turner, 188
Bird Notes, 191
Bird, Phoebe, April, 163; Spring in

the Swamp, 203
Bird Protection, Guy A. Bailey, 204
"Bird Study Book, The," T. Gilbert

Pearson, 212
Bird Work in the Ethical Culture

School of New York City, Myrtle

B. Boice, 202
Birds as Pets, Wild, Anna A. Wright,

390
Birds Feed on in Winter, What, Har-
riet Reynolds, 383
"Birds, Our Common," D. W.

Hamilton, 212
Birds, What to do When Studying,

Ora Sweet, 195
"Birds Worth Knowing," Double-
day Page & Co., 275
Black-throated Blue Warbler, The

Nest of the, Dorothy K. Cleave-

land, 199
Bluebird, The, W. P. Alexander, 184
BoiCE, Myrtle B., Bird Work in the

I^^tliical Culture School of New

York City, 202
"Book of Forestry, The," Frederick

F. Moon, 169
Botanizing in the Fall and Winter

Months, R. W. Shufeldt, 13

412

INDEX

413

Boy's Account of His Tame Crow,

Jack, A, Robert Parsons, 193
Boy's Friendly Tree, A, George H.

Russell, 306
Boy Scouts to Combat Shelf Fungi,

280
Bkitton, Mrs. N. L., A Schedule for

Arbor Day Compositions on Con-
versation, 140
Brook Acquaintance, A, Catherine

Bard, 62
Brook and I, The, Mary Rogers

Miller, 336
Brook, How to Study a, Anna B.

Comstock, 337
Brook I Found When on the Trail of

the Wild Flowers, The, Lucy L.

Stratton, 331
Brook-Loving Architects, Some,

Harry G. Bull, 332
Brook, Making a Map of the, 340
Brook, The, L. H. Bailey, 323
Brown, Bliss S., "Modern Fruit

Marketing," 169
Bull, Harry G., Ho! for Hepaticas,

157; Some Brook-Loving Archi-
tects, 332
BuRNHAM, Stewart H., Glenwood

Brook, 357
Burroughs, John, Editorial, 206
Burt, Adena K., Sir Downey and

Miss Chickadee, 388
Butterflies, Some Familiar, R. W.

Shufeldt, 255
Butterflies, The Common, Anna B.

Comstock, 217
\ "Butterflies Worth Knowing,"

Clarence M. Weed, 276
Cady, B. C. and V. M., "The Way

Life Begins," 125
Calvert, A. N. and P. P., "A Year of

Costa Rican Natural History," 364
Chickadee Friends, Three, Annie

Linn, 367
Chrysopas, or Golden Eyes, The,

Roger C. Smith, 261
City Girl's Story of Her Friend,

Miss Maple Tree, A., Agnes C.

Hogan, 308
Clean Furrow, A, J. G. Needham, 265
Cleaveland, Dorothy K., The

Nest of the Black-throated Blue

Warbler, 199
Color Key to the Common Butter-
flies, Helen M. Hess, 244
Color Key to the Ducks of the

Eastern United States, Elsa G.

Allen, 177
Columbine, The, Jay R. Traver, 136

Comstock, Anna B., The Old Pine
Tree's Story, 24; January Nature-
Study, 29; February Nature-
Study, 69; Feeding Table Notes,
201; The Common Butterflies,
217; How to Study a Brook, 337

Connolly, Louise, A Reading of
the Nature-Study Barometer, 97

Conservation of Wild Life, 58

Cooper, Lane, "Agassiz as a Teach-
er," 364

CoviLLE, Frederick V., How the
Plants Wake up from Winter
Sleep, 143

Cox, Lucy E., "Experimental Plant
Physiology," 169

Crandall, Lee S., "Pets, Their
History and Care," 364

Crow Babies, Dora B, Haines, 380

Crowell, H. S., The Old Willow
Tree, 302

Dearness, John, Editorial, 358

DeEIay, Charles, Song, i

DeSachet, A Pet Skunk, Harry H.
Knight, 93

Diplomacy of the Good Teacher, The,
John W. Spencer, 22

Downing, Dr. Elliot R., 41

Do You Know?, Mary Ellis, 394

Drushel, J. A., A Note on the
Hibernation of the Pupa of the
Sphinx Moth, 271; Editorial, 402

Dryden, James, "Poultry Breeding
and Management," 168

Ducks, Concerning Wild, Elsa G.
Allen, 171

Duff, James Leo, To a Wood-Rat,
103

Editorial, John Burroughs, 206

Editorial, John Dearness, 358

Editorial, J. A. Drushel, 402

Ellis, Mary, Do You Know?, 394

Elm, The White or American,
Lewis B. Hendershot, 298

Emerson, Alfred, A Willy-Nilly
Stepmother and Other Disasters,
198

Evans, Parmalee, Stationary Bird
Houses Injure Trees, 200

"Experimental Plant Physiology,"
Lucy E. Cox, 169

Extracts from Bulletin of the Massa-
chusetts Fish and Game Protec-
tive Association, 11

February Hush, The, T. W. Higgin-
son, 21

February Nature-Study, Anna B.
Comstock, 69

414

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Feeding Table Notes, Anna B.

Comstock, 201
Fishing in Winter, Matilde Schlegel,

112

FuERTES, Louis Agassi?, Humming-
birds, i8i

Fuertes, To Louis Agassiz, W. P.
Alexander, 1 42

FuNKHOUSER, W. D., A Funny
Family, 266

Funny Family, A, W. D. Funk-
houser, 266

Glenwood Brook, Stewart H. Burn-
ham, 357

Goat — An Appreciation, The, W. P.
Alexander, 107

"Grandest Bird of the American
Continent, The," A. Mcllhenny, 37

Great Lover, The, L. H. Bailey, 43

Greeting to the Nature-Study Teach-
ers, L. H. Bailey, i

GuYER, IMiCHAEL F., "Animal
Micrology," 214

Haines, Dora B., Crow Babies, 380

Hamilton, D. W., "Our Common
Birds," 212

Harding, Mrs. Edward, "The Book
of the Peony," 213

Hendershot, Lewis B., The White
or American Elm, 298

Hermit Thrush Brook, Martha
Quick, 325

Hermit Thrush Brook — A Nature-
Study Rubaiyat, W. P. Alexander,

329
Hess, Helen '\l., Color Key to the

Common Butterflies, 244
HiGGiNsoN, T. W., The February

Hush, 21
"History of Science, The," Walter

Libby, 276
Ho! for Hepaticas, Harry G. Bull, 157
HoGAN, Agnes C, A City Girl's

Story of Her Friend, Miss Max)le

Tree, 308
HoLTZ, F. L., Standardizing Nature-
Study, 52
How the Plants Wake up from Winter

vSleep, Frederick V. Covillc, 143
Hummingbirds, Louis Agassiz

Fuertes, 181
Ingersoll, Ernest, "Primer of

Bird vStudy," 212
January Nature- Study, Anna B.

Comstock, 29
January Wild Flowers, 139
"Judging Farm Animals," Charles

S. Plumb, 126
"Judging Horses," H. P. Barrows,

213

Kane, Florence J., Nature-Study

in ^Milwaukee and its Vicinity, 4
Knight, Harry H., DeSachet, A Pet

Skunk, 93
Larch or Tamarack, a Tree of the

Swamps, The, Jay Traver, 341
Leaf Prints, 295
Leaves from a January Note Book,

19
Leister, C. W., The Chestnut-sides

Warbler, 191; The Story of a

Sycamore, 304
Libby, Walter, "The History of

Science," 276
Linn, Annie, Three Chickadee

Friends, 367
LivERMORE, Madeline A,, The

Story of Vanishing Brook, 353
LoESCH, Mary, The Red-headed

Woodpecker, 66
Lombardy Poplar, The, Margery B.

Loughran, 27
Lord, Russel R., A Wise Old Oak,

282
Loughran, Margery B., The Lom-
bardy Poplar, 27
^L\cCAUGHEY, Vaughan, "The Na-
tural History of Chautauqua," 409
MacGregor, Della, Nature-Study

in the Library, 393
McIlhenny, a., "The Grandest Bird

of the American Continent," 37
Memories in Weeds, The, L. H.

Bailey, 378
"Messages of Good Cheer," The

Trotty Veck Messengers, 168
Miller, Mary Rogers, The Brook

and I, 336
"Modern Fruit Marketing," Bliss S.

Brown, 169
Moon, Frederick F., "The Book of

Forestry," 169
Mountain Laurel, Leah Wheeler, 59
Mourning- Cloak, Some Disguises of

the, Harriet A. Wickwire, 252

"Much Crops," A. F. Wilkinson, 364

"Natural History of Chautauqua,

The," Vaughan MacCaughey, 409

Nature Lover, The, George B. Staff,

190
Nature-Study and Humaneness, Guy

A. Bailey, 90
Nature-Study in the Library, Delia

MacGregor, 393
Nature-Study in Milwaukee and its

Vicinity, Florence J. Kane, 4
Necessity for Greater Accuracy in

Describing American Trees, R. W.

Shufeldt, 288

INDEX

415

Needham, J. G., Agreement as to the
Nature-Study Program, 2; A
Clean Furrow, 265
Newark Museum, The, 61
News Notes, 119, 210, 272, 318, 406
Nolan, A. W., Agricultural Nature-
Study, 346
Norton, Elizabeth M., Purple Mar-
tins and the Boll Weevil, 195
Notes from Correspondents, 81
Notes on New York Meeting, 51
Notice and Program of the Annual

Meeting, 40^
Oak, The, Donald Thistle, 287
"Old Crow Stories," Katherine B.

Judson, 320
Old Pine Tree's Story, The, Anna

B. Comstock, 24
On the Wind in February, Christina

G. Rossetti, 42
Palmer, E. L., The Skunk Cabbage,

a Swamp Hostelry, 132
Parent-Teacher's Association Inter-
ested in Birds, A, Margaret F.
Small, 200
Parsons, Robert, A Boy's Account

of His Tame Crow, Jack, 193
Pearson, T. Gilbert, "The Bird

Study Book, 212"
Pellett, Frank C, "Our Backdoor

Neighbors," 410
"Peony, The Book of the," Mrs.

Edward Harding, 213
Pet Pine Snake on a Wisconsin

Farm, A, Karl P. Schmidt, 104
"Pets, Their History and Care," Lee

S. Crandall, 364

Piece of Suet, A, Ruth Marshall, 399

Plan for the Study of the Elm Tree in

Primary Grades, A, Susan B.

Sipe, 55

"Plant Materials of Decorative

Gardening," William Trelease, 321

Plumb, Charles S., "Judging Farm

Animals," 126
"Poultry Breeding and Manage-
ment," James Dry den, 168
"Primer of Bird Study," Ernest

Ingersoll, 212
Purple IVIartins and the Boll Weevil,

Elizabeth M. Norton, 195
Quick, Martha, Hermit Thrush

Brook, 325
Reading of the Nature Study Bar-
ometer, A, Louise Connolly, 97
Red-headed Woodpecker, The, Mary

Loesch, 66
Reynolds, Harriet, What Birds
Feed on in Winter, 383

Robin Annals, Some, Georgia Sweet-
land, 192

Rogers, Julia, "Trees Worth Know-
ing," 275

Rossetti, Christina G., On the
Wind in February, 42

Royal Moccasin Flower, The, Edna
L. Barker, 131

Royalty in the Plant Kingdom, E.
Eugene Barker, 127

Russell, George H., A Boy's
Friendly Tree, 306

Schedule for Arbor Day Composi-
tions on Conversation, Mrs. N. L.
Britton, 140

ScHLEGEL, Mathilde, Fishing in
Winter, 112; Bird Founts in the
Garden, 197

Schmidt, Karl P., A Pet Snake on a
Wisconsin Farm, 104

ScHUFELDT, R. W., Botanizing in the
Fall and Winter Months, 13;
Some Familiar Butterflies, 255;
Necessity for Greater Accuracy in
Describing American Trees, 288

Schumucker, S. C, Spontaneity in
Nature- Study, 48

Siepert, Albert F., "Bird Houses

Boys Can Build," 410
SiNiMAN, Edith M., The Auto-
biography of a California Quail,

395
SiPE^ Susan B., A Plan for the Study
of the Elm Tree in Primary Grades,

55
Sir Downey and Miss Chickadee,

Adena K. Burt, 388
Sir Frost and the Trees, W. P.

Alexander, 297
Skunk Cabbage, A Swamp Hostelry,

The, E. L. Palmer, 132
Small, Margaret F., A Parent-
Teacher's Association Interested

in Birds, 200
Smith, Roger C, The Chrysopas,

or Golden Eyes, 261
Snow Bunting, To the, W. P.

Alexander, 379
Song, Charles DeKay, i
Spencer, John W., The Diplomacy

of the Good Teacher, 22
vSphinx Moth, A Note on the Hiber-
nation of the Pupa of the, J. A.

Drushel, 271
Spontaneity in Nature-Study, S. C.

Schumucker, 48
Spring in the Swamp, Phoebe Bird

203
Spring Wild Flowers, The, Lucy L.

Stratton, 150

4i6

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Staff, George B., The Xature

Lover, 190
Standardizing Nature- Study, F. L.

Holtz, 52
Stratton, Lucy L., The Spring

Wild Flowers, 150; The Brook I

Found When on the Trail of the

Wild Flowers, 331
Sweet, Ora, What to do When

Studying Birds, 195
vSwEETLAND, GEORGIA, Some Robin

Annals, 192
Sycamore, The Story of a, C. W.

Leister, 304
Teacher's Corner, The, 122, 161,

270, 313, 360, 404
Texas Farmers Seek to Save the

Mourning Dove, The, 81
Thistle, Donald, The Oak, 287
Thrush Family, The, Gilbert H.

Trafton, 185
Trafton, Gilbert H., The Trush

Family, 185; "Bird Friends," 409
Traver, Jay R., The Columbine,

136; The American Larch or

Tamarack, a Tree of the Swamps,

341

Tree, My, Elmer J. Bailey, 277

"Tree Talk," 321

"Tree Wounds and Diseases," A. D.
Webster, 214

"Trees Worth Knowing," Julia Rog-
ers, 275

Trelease, William, "Plant Ma-
terials of Decorative Gardening,"
321

Trotty Veck Messengers, The "Mes-
sages of Good Cheer," 168

Turner, Laura A. L., Our Most
Intimate Bird Neighbors, 188

T\\'in-Flower, The, W. P. Alexander,

Vanishing Brook, The Story of,

Madeline A. Livermore, 353
Warbler, The Chestnut-sided, C. W.

Leister, 191
"Way Life Begins, The," B. C. Cayd

and V. N. Cady, 125
Webster, A. D., "Tree Wounds and

Diseases," 214
Weed, Clarence M., "Butterflies

Worth Knowing," 276
Wheeler, Leah, Mountain Laurel,

59

White Rat as a Pet, The, H. D.
Bailey, 83

WiCKWiRE, Harriet X., Some Dis-
guises of the Alourning-Cloak, 252

"Wild Animal Stamp Primer," 79

Wild Flowers and the Teachers, The,
Guy A. Bailey, 148

"Wild Flowers Worth Knowing,"
Doubleday Page & Co., 275

Wilkinson, A. F., "Muck Crops,"

364
Willow Tree, The Old, H. S. Crowell,

302
Willy- Nilly Stepmother and Other

Disasters, A, Alfred Emerson, 198
Winter Twilight, Anna B. Averill,

78
Wise Old Oak, A, Russell R. Lord,

282
Wood-Rat, To a, James Leo Duff, 103
Wright, Anna A., Wild Birds as

Pets, 390
"Year of Costa Rican Natural

History, A," A. N. and P. P.

Calvert, 364

MBI, WHOl I.IBRAHY

liJH lARH I

/in^