<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN>
<h1>BIRDS<br/><br/> <span class="xx-smaller">AND</span><br/><br/> <span class="p2">ALL NATURE</span></h1>
<p class="ac p3">A MONTHLY SERIAL<br/>
<span class="smaller">ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY</span>.</p>
<p class="ac p3">VOLUME IV.</p>
<p class="ac p3">CHICAGO and NEW YORK.<br/>
<span class="sc">Nature Study Publishing Company.</span></p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p class="ac">COPYRIGHT, 1898<br/>
<span class="xx-smaller">BY</span><br/>
<span class="sc">Nature Study Publishing Co.</span><br/>
CHICAGO.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></SPAN>INTRODUCTION.</h2>
<p>As heretofore announced, beginning with the present,
each number of BIRDS AND ALL NATURE will
present at least two birds, three or four animals, and the
remaining plates will depict such natural subjects as
insects, butterflies, flowers, geological specimens, etc.
In fact, everything in nature which can be brought
before the camera will in its due course be portrayed.</p>
<p>BIRDS is without doubt one of the most popular
magazines ever presented to the American public. It is
read and admired by over one hundred thousand persons.</p>
<p>BIRDS AND ALL NATURE promises to be even
more popular, if possible, than BIRDS. We are constantly
receiving congratulations on the success of our
enterprise, and people are delighted to learn that we
shall include in succeeding numbers all interesting
branches of natural history. When the bound volume
appears it will prove to be worthy of its predecessors.</p>
<p class="ar">
Nature Study Publishing Company.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
<table class="toctable" id="TOC" summary="CONTENTS">
<tr>
<td class="c1"> </td>
<td class="c2"><span class="sc">Page</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#SQUIRREL_TOWN">SQUIRREL TOWN.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#WILSONS_SNIPE">WILSON'S SNIPE.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">7</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_BLACK_WOLF">THE BLACK WOLF.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#AN_ARMADILLO_AS_A_PET">AN ARMADILLO AS A PET.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">12</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#AFRICAN_FOLK_LORE">AFRICAN FOLK LORE.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">12</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_RED_SQUIRREL">THE RED SQUIRREL.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">15</td>
</tr> <tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#SECRETS_OF_AN_OLD_GARDEN">SECRETS OF AN OLD GARDEN.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">16</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#BIRDS_FORTELL_MARRIAGE">BIRDS FORTELL MARRIAGE.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">16</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_PRAIRIE_HEN">THE PRAIRIE HEN.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">19</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#ABOUT_THE_SONGSTERS">ABOUT THE SONGSTERS.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">21</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_BUTTERFLY_TRADE">THE BUTTERFLY TRADE.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">22</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_PASSENGER_PIGEON_IN_WISCONSIN_AND_NEBRASKA">
THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN WISCONSIN AND NEBRASKA.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">25</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_AMERICAN_RABBIT">THE AMERICAN RABBIT.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">26</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THIRTY_MILES_FOR_AN_ACORN">THIRTY MILES FOR AN ACORN.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">29</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_OCELOT">THE OCELOT.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">30</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#AZAMET_THE_HERMIT_AND_HIS_DUMB_FRIENDS">
AZAMET THE HERMIT AND HIS DUMB FRIENDS.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">33</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_USE_OF_FLOWERS">THE USE OF FLOWERS.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">34</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#ALL_NATURE">ALL NATURE.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">37</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_BLOODLESS_SPORTSMEN">THE BLOODLESS SPORTSMEN.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">39</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#A_BOOK_BY_THE_BROOK">A BOOK BY THE BROOK.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">39</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#SUMMARY">SUMMARY.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">40</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr class="chap" />
<h2><SPAN name="SQUIRREL_TOWN" id="SQUIRREL_TOWN"></SPAN>SQUIRREL TOWN.</h2>
<div class="poetry-container">
<div class="poetry">
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">Where the oak trees tall and stately</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Stretch great branches to the sky</div>
<div class="verse">Where the green leaves toss and flutter</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">As the summer days go by,</div>
<div class="verse">Dwell a crowd of little people,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Ever racing up and down,</div>
<div class="verse">Bright eyes glancing, gray tails whisking;</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">This is known as Squirrel Town.</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">Bless me, what a rush and bustle,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">As the happy hours speed by!</div>
<div class="verse">Chatter, chatter—chatter, chitter,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Underneath the azure sky.</div>
<div class="verse">Laughs the brook to hear the clamor;</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Chirps the Sparrow, gay and brown</div>
<div class="verse">"Welcome! Welcome, everybody!</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Jolly place, this Squirrel Town."</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">Honey-bees the fields are roaming;</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Daisies nod and lilies blow;</div>
<div class="verse">Soon Jack Frost—the saucy fellow—</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Hurrying, will come, I know.</div>
<div class="verse">Crimson leaves will light the woodland;</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">And the nuts come pattering down.</div>
<div class="verse">Winter store they all must gather—</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Busy place, then, Squirrel Town.</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">Blowing, blustering, sweeps the north wind—</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">See! the snow is flying fast.</div>
<div class="verse">Hushed the brook and hushed the Sparrow,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">For the summer time is past.</div>
<div class="verse">Yet these merry little fellows</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Do not fear old Winter's frown;</div>
<div class="verse">Snug in hollow trees they're hiding.</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Quiet place is Squirrel Town.</div>
<div class="verse ar">—<span class="sc">Alix Thorn.</span></div>
</div></div>
</div>
<hr class="chap" />
<h2 class="ac" style="margin-bottom:2em;"><span class="larger">BIRDS AND ALL NATURE.</span></h2>
<p class="ac" style="margin-bottom:2em;"><span class="smaller">ILLUSTRATED BY</span>
COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY.</p>
<div class="vlouter">
<div class="volumeline">
<div class="volumeleft"><span class="sc">Vol. IV.</span></div>
<div class="volumeright"><span class="sc">No. 1.</span></div>
<div class="ac">JULY, 1898.</div>
</div></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</SPAN></span></p>
<table class="sp1 sp2 mc w50" title="WILSONS SNIPE." summary="WILSON'S SNIPE.">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="3"><span class="ac w100 figcenter">
<SPAN name="i_006.jpg" id="i_006.jpg"> <ANTIMG style="width:100%"
src="images/i_006.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="" /></SPAN></span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left" class="xx-smaller ac w30">From col. Chi. Acad. Sciences.</td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40">WILSON'S SNIPE.<br/>
7/9 Life-size.</td>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Copyright by<br/>
Nature Study Pub. Co., 1898, Chicago.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="WILSONS_SNIPE" id="WILSONS_SNIPE"></SPAN>WILSON'S SNIPE.</h2>
<div>
<ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/initial_w.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="68" alt="" /></div>
<p class="drop-cap">WILSON'S SNIPE, otherwise
known as the
English Snipe, Jacksnipe,
and Guttersnipe, and
which is one of our best known game
birds, has a very extended range;
indeed, covering the whole of North
America, and migrating south in the
winter to the West Indies and northern
South America. Its long, compressed,
flattened, and slightly expanded bill
gives it an odd appearance, and renders
it easily recognizable. From March
till September the peculiar and cheerful
"<i>cheep</i>" of the Snipe may be heard
in the larger city parks where there
are small lakes and open moist grounds,
and where it can feed and probe with
its long, soft, sensitive, pointed bill in
the thin mud and soft earth for worms,
larvae, and the tender roots of plants.
In some localities in the Southern
states, during the winter months,
thousands of Snipe are killed on the
marshes where they collect on some
especially good feeding ground. We
have rarely seen more than two
together, as they are not social, moving
about either alone or in pairs. Its
movements on the ground are graceful
and easy, and, while feeding, the tail
is carried partly erect, the head downward,
the bill barely clearing the
ground. We recently watched one
through an opera glass, but the frequency
of its changes from point to
point and the rapidity of its flight discouraged
long observation. The
flight is swift, and, at the start, in a
zigzag manner. Sportsmen say it is a
most difficult bird to shoot, requiring
a quick eye and a snap shot to bag
four out of five. Col. Goss said that
he always had the best success when
the birds were suddenly flushed, in
shooting the instant its startled "<i>scaipe</i>"
reached his ear, "as it is invariably
heard the moment the bird is fairly in
the air."</p>
<p>It is entertaining to watch the
courtship of these birds, "as the male
struts with drooping wings and wide
spread tail around his mate in the
most captivating manner, often at such
times rising spiral-like with quickly
beating wings high in the air, dropping
back in a wavy, graceful circle,
uttering at the same time his jarring,
cackling love note, which, with
the vibration of the wings upon the
air, makes a rather pleasing sound."</p>
<p>The snipe's nest is usually placed
on or under a tuft of grass, and is a
mere depression, scantily lined with
bits of old grass and leaves. The
eggs are three or four, greyish olive,
with more or less of a brownish shade,
spotted and blotched chiefly about the
larger end with varying shades of
umber brown.</p>
<p>If you want to identify Wilson's
Snipe, have with you a copy of this
number of <span class="sc">Birds and all Nature</span> as
you stroll along shore or beach. Our
picture is his very image.</p>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="THE_BLACK_WOLF" id="THE_BLACK_WOLF"></SPAN>THE BLACK WOLF.</h2>
<p>Some of my little readers have
probably heard about the small
boy who thought it rare fun to
frighten his friends by crying
"Wolf! Wolf!" as though he
were being pursued. They lived
in a wild part of the country
where Wolves were frequently
seen, but in time they grew used
to Johnnie's little joke, so that
one day when he cried "Wolf!
Wolf!" in frantic tones they paid
no attention to him. Alas! that
day a Wolf really did sneak out
of the woods—a hungry Wolf—and
poor little Johnnie furnished
him a very satisfactory meal.
There is a deep meaning attached
to this fable, which you
had best ask your teacher to
explain.</p>
<p>Well, the Black Wolf, whose
picture we present is a fierce
looking fellow indeed. We
have heard so many stories
about Wolves attacking travelers
and their horses that we have
thought them full of ferocity and
courage, when in fact they are
the most cowardly of all our
animals. Unless pressed by
extreme hunger they never attack
animals larger than themselves,
and then only in packs.
A cur dog, as a rule, can drive
the largest wolf on the plains.
Lean, gaunt, and hungry looking,
they are the essence of
meanness and treachery. Their
long, bushy tails are carried
straight out behind, but when
the animal is frightened, he puts
his tail between his legs just
like the common dog.</p>
<p>There are men who make it a
business to go Wolf hunting in
order to secure their "pelts,"
or hides. The bait they use is
the carcass of some animal, elk,
deer, or coon, which they impregnate
with poison, and leave in a
place which will do the most
good. In the morning sometimes
as many as fifty dead
Wolves will be found scattered
about the carcass whose flesh
they had so ravenously devoured.
A Wolf skin is worth about one
dollar and a half, so that it pays
a hunter very well to "catch" a
number of these mean animals.</p>
<p>They are sometimes hunted on
horseback with hounds, but they
can run with such speed when
frightened, that no ordinary dog
can keep up with them. Among
the pack are one or more greyhounds,
who bring the wolf to
bay and allow the other dogs to
come up.</p>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</SPAN></span></p>
<table class="sp2 mc w50" title="BLACK WOLF." summary="BLACK WOLF.">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="3"><span class="ac w100 figcenter">
<SPAN name="i_013.jpg" id="i_013.jpg"> <ANTIMG style="width:100%"
src="images/i_013.jpg" width="600" height="449" alt="" /></SPAN></span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">From col. Mr. F. Kaempfer.</td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40">BLACK WOLF.<br/>
1/9 Life-size.</td>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Copyright by<br/>
Nature Study Pub. Co., 1898, Chicago.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2><SPAN name="THE_BLACK_WOLF_2" id="THE_BLACK_WOLF_2"></SPAN>THE BLACK WOLF.</h2>
<div>
<ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/initial_a.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="84" alt="" /></div>
<p class="drop-cap">AT
one time the Black Wolf of
America was considered by
naturalists to be only a
variety of the common
Wolf, but it is now believed
to be a distinct species, not only
by reason of the color of its fur but
from differences of stature, the position
of the eye, the peculiar bushiness of
the hair and other evidence entitling
it to rank as a separate species. This
variety is referred to as an inhabitant
of Florida, and is described as partaking
of the general lupine character,
being fierce, dangerous, and at the
same time cowardly and pusillanimous,
when they find themselves fairly
enclosed. If imprisoned in even a
large space, they crouch timidly in
the corners, and do not venture to
attack man when he enters the cage.
Audubon mentions a curious instance
of this strange timidity in a ferocious
nature, of which he was an eye-witness:
"A farmer had suffered greatly from
Wolves, and determined to take
revenge by means of pitfalls, of which
he had dug several within easy reach
of his residence. They were eight
feet in depth and wider at the bottom
than at the top. Into one of these
traps three fine Wolves had fallen, two
of them black, and the other a brindled
animal. To the very great astonishment
of Mr. Audubon, the farmer got
into the pit, pulled out the hind legs
of the Wolves, as they lay trembling
at the bottom, and with his knife
severed the chief tendon of the hind
limbs, so as to prevent their escape.
The skins of the captured animals
were sufficiently valuable to reimburse
the farmer for his labor and his
previous losses."</p>
<p>The Esquimaux use traps made of
large blocks of ice, constructed in the
same manner as our ordinary mouse-trap
with a drop-door. The trap is
made so narrow that the Wolf cannot
turn himself, and when he is closed in
by the treacherous door, he is put to
death by spears.</p>
<p>Wood says that when Wolves and
Dogs are domesticated in the same
residence a mutual attachment will
often spring up between them, although
they naturally bear the bitterest hatred
to each other. A mixed offspring is
sometimes the result of this curious
friendship, and it is said that these
half-breed animals are more powerful
and courageous than the ordinary
Dog. Mr. Palliser possessed a fine
animal of this kind, the father of
which was a White Wolf and the
mother an ordinary Indian Dog. It is
a well-known fact that the Esquimaux
are constantly in the habit of crossing
their sledge Dogs with Wolves in order
to impart strength and stamina to the
breed. Indeed they are so closely
related to Wolves that there can be no
question that they are descended from
them.</p>
<p>The Wolf produces from three to
nine young in a litter. In January
the mother Wolf begins to prepare her
habitation, a task in which she is
protected or assisted by her mate, who
has won her in a fair fight from his
many rivals. He attaches himself
solely to one mate, and never leaves
her till the young Wolves are able to
shift for themselves. The den in
which the young cubs are born is
warmly lined with fur which she pulls
from her own body. The cubs are
born in March and remain under her
protection seven or eight months.
They begin to eat animal food in four
weeks after birth.</p>
<div class="poetry-container">
<div class="poetry">
<div class="verse">The Wolf's whelp will at last a Wolf become</div>
<div class="verse">Though from his birth he find with man a home.</div>
<div class="verse ar"><i>Arabian Proverb.</i></div>
</div></div>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="AN_ARMADILLO_AS_A_PET" id="AN_ARMADILLO_AS_A_PET"></SPAN> AN ARMADILLO AS A PET.</h2>
<p><span class="sc">Nurse McCully</span> of the Royal
infirmary, Liverpool, has an Armadillo
as a pet. This little animal, which is
a native of South America, was given
to the nurse by a sailor when it was
quite a baby, weighing only three
pounds. It was most advantageously
reared on peptonized milk,—ordinary
cow's milk being too strong,—and the
little creature now weighs 11 pounds.
Its present diet is peculiar, consisting
of bread and milk, bacon, apples, and
sardines. Also, it supports its adopted
country by eating English tomatoes,
but rejecting American ones. It
sleeps all day, rising at 6 p. m. and
running all over the ward. Its chief
amusement seems to be tearing to
pieces the patients' slippers. It knows
its mistress, and will readily come to
her. The little Armadillo sleeps in a
warm barrel, furnished with bran and
flannel. It has now been at the Royal
infirmary for about four years.—<i>Strand
Magazine.</i></p>
<hr class="small" />
<h2><SPAN name="AFRICAN_FOLK_LORE" id="AFRICAN_FOLK_LORE"></SPAN>AFRICAN FOLK LORE.</h2>
<p><span class="sc">African Literature</span> is very rich
in fables of animals, which may be
divided into the two categories of
moral apologues and simple narrations.
In the former such an identity is
noticeable with stories of the peoples
of Asia and Europe as almost to cause
us to think that both proceed from a
common source whence they were drawn
in prehistoric times. To this may,
however, be opposed the hypothesis of
an original and simultaneous origin in
different places; a question for the
discussion of which we have not yet
all the elements. One of the most
brilliant of the African apologues
comes from Somaliland, and is perhaps
better than the corresponding European
fable: "The Lion, the Hyena,
and the Fox went hunting, and
caught a Sheep. The Lion said, 'Let
us divide the prey.' The Hyena said,
'I will take the hinder parts, the Lion
the fore parts, and the Fox can have
the feet and entrails.' Then the Lion
struck the Hyena on the head so
hard that one of its eyes fell out, then
turned to the Fox and said, 'Now you
divide it.' 'The head, the intestines,
and the feet are for the Hyena and me;
all the rest belongs to the Lion.' 'Who
taught you to judge in that way?'
asked the Lion. The Fox answered,
'The Hyena's eye.'"—<i>Popular Science
Monthly.</i></p>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</SPAN></span></p>
<table class="sp2 mc w50" title="RED SQUIRREL." summary="RED SQUIRREL.">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="3"><span class="ac w100 figcenter">
<SPAN name="i_021.jpg" id="i_021.jpg"> <ANTIMG style="width:100%"
src="images/i_021.jpg" width="453" height="600" alt="" /></SPAN></span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">From col. F. M. Woodruff.</td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40">RED SQUIRREL.<br/>
⅔ Life-size.</td>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Copyright by<br/>
Nature Study Pub. Co., 1898, Chicago.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2><SPAN name="THE_RED_SQUIRREL" id="THE_RED_SQUIRREL"></SPAN>THE RED SQUIRREL.</h2>
<div>
<ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/initial_c.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="88" alt="" /></div>
<p class="drop-cap">CHICKAREE is the common
name of the Red Squirrel,
so called from the cry which
it utters. It is one of the
most interesting of the
family, and a pleasing feature of rural
life. During the last weeks of
autumn the Squirrel seems to be quite
in its element, paying frequent visits
to the nut trees and examining their
fruit with a critical eye, in anticipation
of laying up a goodly store of food for
the long and dreary months of winter;
as they do not, as was formerly
asserted, hibernate, but live upon the
stores they secure. A scarcity may
mean much suffering to them, while
an abundance will mean plenty
and comfort. In filling their little
granaries, they detect every worm-eaten
or defective nut, and select only
the soundest fruit, conveying it, one
by one, to its secret home. Feeding
abundantly on the rich products of a
fruitful season, the Squirrel becomes
very fat before the commencement of
winter, and is then in its greatest
beauty, the new fur having settled upon
the body, and the new hair having
covered the tail with its plumy fringe.</p>
<p>Did you ever watch a squirrel open
and eat the contents of a nut? It is
very curious and interesting. The
little fellow takes it daintily in his
fore-paws, seats himself deliberately,
and then carrying the nut to his
mouth, clips off the tips with his
sharp chisel-edged incisor teeth. He
then rapidly breaks away the shell,
and after peeling the husk from the
kernel, eats it complacently, all the
while furtively glancing about him, ever
in readiness to vanish from his post at
any suspicious disturbance. The food
of the Squirrel is not vegetable
substances. Young birds, eggs, and
various insects constitute a part of his
food. He has the destructive habit of
nibbling green and tender shoots that
sprout upon the topmost boughs, thus
stunting the growth of many a
promising tree. He visits the farmers'
corn-cribs, too, and thus renders
himself somewhat obnoxious. All in
all, however, he has his uses, and
should not be wholly exterminated.
Tender and juicy, he has always paid
for his apparent despoliation, and his
destruction of much injurious insect
life rather favors his protection.</p>
<p>The Squirrel is a variable animal in
point of color, the tint of its fur
changing with the country it inhabits.
It is easily tamed, and is a favorite
domestic pet. It is said, however, that
one should beware of purchasing so-called
tame Squirrels, as they are often
drugged with strychnine, under whose
influence they will permit themselves
to be handled. In some cases the
incisor teeth are drawn, to prevent
them from biting. It is sad that such
cruel tricks of the vendors exist and
cannot be prevented.</p>
<p>It is related that about 1840, during
a season of great scarcity of mast, vast
multitudes of Squirrels migrated from
the eastern states to Canada, where
food conditions were more favorable.
They crossed the country in armies,
swam rivers with their tails curled
over their backs, sailing before the
wind. It was a curious instance of rare
instinct and self-preservation.</p>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="SECRETS_OF_AN_OLD_GARDEN" id="SECRETS_OF_AN_OLD_GARDEN"> </SPAN>SECRETS OF AN OLD GARDEN.</h2>
<div>
<ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/initial_t.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="93" alt="" /></div>
<p class="drop-cap">THIS garden had some small
fruit trees thickly covered
with leaves, and a tangle of
currant bushes and raspberry
vines, as well as neatly worked rows
of vegetables. There was also a thick
clump of tall, feathery grass beside the
paling.</p>
<p>It was well it had these small places
of refuge, for it had many perils. Two
cats, a white and a gray, patrolled the
garden with silent and velvety
tread; boys, who were not silent,
used all kinds of small but deadly
weapons on the street that ran beside
it, and great heavy wagons rumbled
up and down all day, making a great
noise and dust.</p>
<p>But how many birds I have seen
and heard there! Red-headed Woodpeckers
tapped and called early in the
morning on the tall telegraph pole
at the corner, and flocks of Grackles,
the Bronze, the Purple, and the Rusty
Grackles, were fed from the fresh-turned
earth. A Catbird hopped lightly in
the shadow of the tool-house, and I
suspect some Robins of foraging turn
with their young families. Sparrows of
all kinds dwelt there—flocks of yellow
Ground Sparrows, Brown and Gray
Sparrows, Clipping Sparrows. I saw
one day the funniest Clipping baby
with his chestnut cap pushed up into
a regular crown almost too big for his
tiny head, and the brightest black
eyes peering at me, as he stood on a
clod of earth. Flocks, also, of Goldfinches,
glittering like small balls of
gold, and Indigo Buntings, blue as the
sky, held merry-makings there, and oh,
the songs from morning until night!
A Warbling Vireo sang so loud and so
splendidly that we thought he must be
some big bird of scarlet plumage
instead of the wee wood-sprite he was;
and little Wrens and little Indigo Birds
fairly bubbled over with songs of joy.</p>
<p>The nests, the hidden nests, were
the old garden's secrets, and the
garden kept them well. There was a
flutter of wings, the bird floated down,
and was straightway invisible. Not
the tip of a tail or beak was to be seen.
Or up flew the bird and was as quickly
lost in the thick screen of interwoven
leaves overhead. There were certain
gray birds so much the color of the
dead wood on which they perched
that they might have nested in full,
open view, and yet have remained unseen
until they moved. How the
little birds did love this garden—the
noisy street on one side, the close,
dingy houses on the other, and how
near its heart did the old garden keep
the birds.</p>
<p>So many and such different birds—yet
"not one of them is forgotten
before God."—<span class="sc">Ella F. Mosby.</span></p>
<hr class="small" />
<h2><SPAN name="BIRDS_FORTELL_MARRIAGE" id="BIRDS_FORTELL_MARRIAGE"> </SPAN>BIRDS FORTELL MARRIAGE.</h2>
<p>Some of the Prussian girls have an
odd way of finding out which of a
number will be married first. The
girls take some corn and make a small
heap of it on the floor, and in it
conceal one of their finger rings. A
chicken is then introduced and let
loose beside the little heaps of corn.
Presently the bird begins to eat the
grain, and whichever ring is first
exposed the owner of it will be the
first to marry.</p>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</SPAN></span></p>
<table class="sp2 mc w50" title="PRAIRIE HEN." summary="PRAIRIE HEN.">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="3"><span class="ac w100 figcenter">
<SPAN name="i_029.jpg" id="i_029.jpg"> <ANTIMG style="width:100%"
src="images/i_029.jpg" width="600" height="455" alt="" /></SPAN></span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">From col. Chi. Acad. Sciences.</td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40">PRAIRIE HEN.<br/>
⅔ Life-size.</td>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Copyright by<br/>
Nature Study Pub. Co., 1898, Chicago.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2><SPAN name="THE_PRAIRIE_HEN" id="THE_PRAIRIE_HEN"></SPAN>THE PRAIRIE HEN.</h2>
<div>
<ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/initial_n.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="74" alt="" /></div>
<p class="drop-cap">NUTTALL says that, choosing
particular districts for residence,
this species of Grouse
is far less common than
its Ruffed relative. It
is often called Prairie Chicken and
Pinnated Grouse. Confined to dry,
barren, and bushy tracts of small
extent, these birds are in many places
now wholly or nearly exterminated.
They are still met with on the Grouse
plains of New Jersey, on Long Island, in
parts of Connecticut, and in the Island
of Martha's Vineyard. Mr. Nuttall
was informed that they were so common
on the ancient bushy site of the
city of Boston that laboring people
or servants stipulated with their employers
not to have the Heath Hen
brought to table oftener than a few
times in the week. They are still
common in the western states, but
thirty years ago we saw vast numbers
of them on the plains of Kansas. As
there were no railroads then, they
could not be sent to market, and were
only occasionally eaten by the inhabitants.
The immense wheat fields
which have been sown for a number
of years past have largely increased
this species, where they assemble in
flocks, and are the gleaners of the
harvest.</p>
<p>Early in the morning Grouse may
be seen flying everywhere, from one
alone to perhaps a thousand together.
They alight in the cornfields. "Look!
Yonder comes a dozen; they will fly
right over you; no, they swerve fifty
yards to one side and pass you like
bullets; single out your bird, hold four
feet in front of him, and when he is
barely opposite cut loose. Following
the crack of the gun you hear a sharp
whack as the shot strike, and you
have tumbled an old cock into the
grass. You have of course marked
down as many of the birds as possible;
let them feed an hour and then drive
them up. They will rise very wild,
and the only object in flushing them
is to see them down where they will
take their noon-day siesta."</p>
<p>On the prairies they are often shot
from a wagon, the hunter remaining
seated, so plentiful are they in remote
districts. Near the towns very few
are seen. The birds always seem to
prefer the low ground in a field. They
are rarely seen during the middle of
the day, as they do not move about
much. It is a fine sight to see a large
flock of chickens rise on the wing and
fly swiftly and steadily for several
hundred yards. When they drop in
the grass they separate and run in
every direction. Like the Quail, in
the inclemency of winter they approach
the barn, "basking and perching
on the fences, occasionally venturing
to mix with the poultry in their
repast, and are then often taken in
traps." They feed on buds and mast,
sometimes leaves and the buds of the
pine. In wintry storms they seek
shelter in the evergreens, but in spring
and summer they often roost on the
ground in company. These birds begin
pairing in March or April. Mr.
Nuttall's account of this interesting
period (see his Hand-book of Ornithology—Little,
Brown & Co.)—is as follows:
"At this time the behavior
of the male becomes remarkable.
Early in the morning he comes forth
from his bushy roost and struts about
with a curving neck, raising his ruff,
expanding his tail like a fan, and
seeming to mimic the ostentation of
the Turkey. He now seeks out or
meets his rival, and several pairs at a
time, as soon as they become visible
through the dusky dawn, are seen
preparing for combat. Previously to
this encounter, the male, swelling out
his throat, utters what is called a tooting—a
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</SPAN></span>
ventriloquial humming call to
the female three times repeated, and
though uttered in so low a key, it may
yet be heard three or four miles on a
still morning. About the close of
March on the plains of Missouri we
heard this species of Grouse tooting or
humming in all directions, so that at
a distance the sound might be taken
almost for the grunting of the Bison
or the loud croak of the Bull-frog.
While uttering his vehement call the
male expands his neck pouches to such
a magnitude as almost to conceal his
head, and blowing, utters a low drumming
bellow like the sound of <i>k-tom-boo!
k-tom-boo!</i> once or twice repeated,
after which is heard a sort of guttural
squeaking crow or <i>koak, koak, koak</i>. In
the intervals of feeding we sometimes
hear the male also cackling, or, as it
were, crowing like <i>ko, ko, koop, koop!</i>
While engaged in fighting with each
other, the males are heard to utter a
rapid, petulant cackle, something in
sound like excessive laughter. The
tooting is heard from day-break till
eight or nine o'clock in the morning.
As they frequently assemble at these
<i>scratching places</i>, as they are called,
ambuscades of bushes are formed
around them, and many are shot from
these covers."</p>
<p>The nest is placed on the ground
in the thick prairie grass, and at the
foot of bushes on the barren ground; a
hollow is scratched in the soil, and
sparingly lined with grass and feathers.
The nest is so well concealed that it
is not often discovered. The eggs are
from ten to twelve, and of a plain
brownish color. The female alone
protects and attends the young, brooding
them under her wings in
the manner of the domestic fowl.
The affectionate parent and her
brood keep together throughout the
season.</p>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="ABOUT_THE_SONGSTERS" id="ABOUT_THE_SONGSTERS"></SPAN>ABOUT THE SONGSTERS.</h2>
<p><span class="sc">New Neighbors.</span>—"I see they are
building a two-story house in our
back yard," said papa.</p>
<p>"O papa, that won't be nice!" said
Marjorie. "People will look right
into our windows!"</p>
<p>"Yes," said papa; "one of the
builders was sitting on my window-sill
this morning; but when he saw
me he flew away."</p>
<p>"Oh, you mean a bird!" cried Nan.</p>
<hr class="w5" />
<p><span class="sc">Blue-Jay on a Spree.</span>—"Naw, sir,
I ran him down. He's drunk on
mad berry. I didn't shoot him," so
said our little stable-boy, John Henry.
We examined the beautiful Blue-Jay.</p>
<p>It was lying in the boy's hand,
with a sort of contented <i>dolce far niente</i>
expression on its face. Its saucy eyes
were elated and fearless. Its head
wagged ridiculously in the effort to
hold it up. It was a common North
American drunk, nothing less. The
bird was intoxicated on the berries of
the Pride of China, known throughout
the south as the poison or mad-berry.</p>
<p>In Florida thousands of respectable
Northern Robins, that would blush to
do it at home, are found lying about
in the state of grossest drunkenness
from the same cause. We wondered
if some blue-ribbon society might not
be profitably started among these poor
birds. But they do not know any
better.</p>
<p>We have this advantage over them,
we know the mad-berry when we see
it. It is to our disgrace if we do not
let it alone.</p>
<hr class="w5" />
<p><span class="sc">Serves as Watchman and Wakes
the Family.</span>—A Mocking Bird serves
as a night watchman at the residence
of R. F. Bettes, at Tampa, Fla., and
notifies the family of the coming of
dawn every morning by pecking on
the window pane. Often when the
doors are left ajar the Mocking Bird
comes inside and perches on the chairs
and about the room. It will allow the
family to come very close and shows
marked attention to Mrs. Bettes and
her little daughter. When they start
out for a visit it follows them some
distance, and then returns to the yard.
When the family returns it appears
very glad and will fly all about them,
and gives evidence of its joy in other
ways. The children feed it about the
house, and when the family meal is to
be served, if the window is not raised,
it makes its presence known by pecking
on the window. During the day
it gets on a neighboring brush or tree
and sings its roundelay of song for
hours at a time.</p>
<hr class="w5" />
<p><span class="sc">A Wonderful Canary.</span>—Mrs.
Willet C. Durland, of Union Hall
street, Jamaica, is the owner of a
Canary possessing extraordinary vocal
powers. It never tires of singing, and
was the admiration of all who heard it,
until eight months ago, when it
suddenly, and for no apparent reason,
became absolutely silent, uttering
scarcely a chirrup for days at a time.
Mrs. Durland at last tired of keeping
a Canary that did not sing, and, finding
a young Chippie bird on the lawn, one
day, she put it in the cage and let the
Canary go. About sundown that
evening, the Canary returned and
hopped about on the window sill,
evidently making a plea to be received
back into the family. This was too
much for Mrs. Durland. She put the
little creature back in its cage, and
the next morning the household was
awakened by a flood of joyous song.
The Canary has been singing ever
since, and the Durlands are sure it
considers being set free a punishment
for its long silence, and is now trying
to make amends.</p>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="THE_BUTTERFLY_TRADE" id="THE_BUTTERFLY_TRADE"></SPAN>THE BUTTERFLY TRADE.</h2>
<div>
<ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/initial_t.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="93" alt="" /></div>
<p class="drop-cap">THERE are probably hundreds,
if not thousands, of butterfly
collectors in this country, says
the Boston Transcript. But it
is doubtful if there are many who gain
their livelihood in this way, as is done
by the four Denton brothers of
Wellesley, who have among them one
of the finest, and certainly one of the
most beautiful collections in the world,
comprising specimens from India,
China, South America, and many other
distant countries.</p>
<p>Large and fine as their collection is,
however, it contains only a small part
of the butterflies that they have
collected, as almost all of them are sold
to museums, and collectors, or simply
as house ornaments, for as they
mount them, they are objects of great
beauty and are preserved in such a
way as to give every opportunity for
the display of their fine points, while
they will last for an indefinite number
of years.</p>
<p>They began this work in the usual
amateur manner, and simply for their
own amusement, but instead of becoming
tired of it and dropping it, as is
the case with most amateur collectors,
they became more and more interested,
and their methods attracted so much
attention and interest in outsiders that
they finally found it advisable to adopt
this as their life work. How extensive
a business it is may be judged
from the fact that they have found it
profitable to make a journey of six
months to South America for the purpose
of increasing the size of their
collection, and that they have in India,
China, and several other parts of the
world agents who collect for them and
ship the butterflies to them here.</p>
<p>The work of preparing the butterflies
for sale and exhibition is all done
in a small building back of their house
on Washington street at Wellesley,
and keeps them busy nearly all the
time that they are not collecting.
When the butterflies are sent or
brought in, each is in a small paper
folder, which protects it from friction
or breakage. The insects are laid with
their wings together and pressed, being
then put into the folder, and shipped
in small boxes, enough being put into
each box to prevent them from slipping
about. In this way the insects
arrive in very good condition, although
they are, of course, very dry and
brittle if they have come a long
distance. In order to get rid of this
dryness, which would make it impossible
to work on them, they are put
into a box with a lot of wet paper, and
the dampness from this soon saturates
them and makes them soft again and
easily shaped. The next part of the
work is in repairing what damage they
have sustained, for, of course, in spite
of the care of shipping, they are not
as perfect as before they were caught,
and there is a great deal of delicate
work on them before they are ready
for exhibition or sale.</p>
<p>Mounted, a drawer full of butterflies
is more beautiful than a collection
of precious gems, for, although many
of our native butterflies are exceedingly
beautiful, they are not to be
compared with the average of those
from India, China, and South America.
In these dead, heavy black alternates
with brilliant crimson, yellow, and
gold, livid greens and blues, and deep,
rich garnet and purple, sometimes in
broad bands and blotches of glowing
color, and in others in wonderfully
delicate and intricate traceries and
patterns. The texture of the wings is
also infinitely more beautiful than anything
we have here, some of them
having a heavy rich gloss that exceeds
that on the finest fabric that human
skill can produce, while others have
the deep changing lustre of gems or
liquids.</p>
<table class="sp1 sp2 mc w50 " title="BUTTERFLIES." summary="BUTTERFLIES.">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="3"><span class="ac w100 figcenter">
<SPAN name="i_038.jpg" id="i_038.jpg"> <ANTIMG style="width:100%"
src="images/i_038.jpg" width="459" height="600" alt="" /></SPAN></span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Arginnis Alcestis.</td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40">BUTTERFLIES.</td>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Colias Eurytheme.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Phyciodes Nycteis.</td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40">Life-size.</td>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Danais Archippus.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Vanessa Antiopa.</td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40">Pieris Protodice.</td>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Debis Portlandia.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Meganostoma Caesonia.</td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40"> </td>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Pyrameis Huntera.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="THE_PASSENGER_PIGEON_IN_WISCONSIN_AND_NEBRASKA" id="THE_PASSENGER_PIGEON_IN_WISCONSIN_AND_NEBRASKA"> </SPAN>THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN WISCONSIN AND NEBRASKA.</h2>
<p class="ac">[See Vol. III, p. 23.]</p>
<div>
<ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/initial_o.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="128" alt="" /></div>
<p class="drop-cap">OUR records of this species
during the past few years
have referred, in most
instances, to very small
flocks and generally to pairs
or individuals. In <i>The Auk</i> for July,
1897, I recorded a flock of some fifty
Pigeons from southern Missouri,
but such a number has been very
unusual. It is now very gratifying to
be able to record still larger numbers,
and I am indebted to Mr. A. Fugleberg
of Oshkosh, Wis., for the following
letter of information under date of
Sept. 1, 1897: "I live on the west
shore of Lake Winnebago, Wis. About
six o'clock on the morning of August
14th, 1897, I saw a flock of Wild
Pigeons flying over the bay from
Fisherman's Point to Stony Beach,
and I assure you it reminded me of
old times, from 1855 to 1880, when
Pigeons were plentiful every day. So
I dropped my work and stood watching
them. This flock was followed by
six more flocks, each containing about
thirty-five to eighty Pigeons, except
the last which only contained seven.
All these flocks passed over within
half an hour. One flock of some fifty
birds flew within gun shot of me, the
others all the way from one hundred
to three hundred yards from where I
stood." Mr. Fugleberg is an old
hunter and has had much experience
with the Wild Pigeon. In a later
letter dated Sept. 4, 1897, he writes:
"On Sept. 2, 1897, I was hunting
Prairie Chickens near Lake Butte des
Morts, Wis., where I met a friend
who told me that a few days previous
he had seen a flock of some twenty-five
Wild Pigeons and that they were the
first he had seen for years."—This
would appear as though these birds
were instinctively working back to
their old haunts, as the Winnebago
region was once a favorite locality.
We hope that Wisconsin will follow
Michigan in making a close season on
Wild Pigeons for ten years, and thus
give them a chance to multiply and
perhaps regain, in a measure, their
former abundance.</p>
<p>In <i>Forest and Stream</i>, of Sept. 25,
1897, is a short notice of 'Wild Pigeons
in Nebraska,' by 'W. F. R.' Through
the kindness of the editor he placed
me in correspondence with the
observer, W. F. Rightmire, to whom I
am indebted for the following details
given in his letter of Nov. 5, 1897:
"I was driving along the highway
north of Cook, Johnson County, Neb.,
on August 17, 1897. I came to the
timber skirting the head stream of
the Nemaha River, a tract of some
forty acres of woodland lying along
the course of the stream, upon both
banks of the same, and there, feeding
on the ground or perched upon the
trees were the Passenger Pigeons I
wrote the note about. The flock contained
seventy-five to one hundred
birds. I did not frighten them, but
as I drove along the road, the feeding
birds flew up and joined the others,
and as soon as I had passed by they
returned to the ground and continued
feeding. While I revisited the same
locality, I failed to find the Pigeons. I
am a native of Tompkins County,
N. Y., and have often killed Wild
Pigeons in their flights while a boy on
the farm, helped to net them, and
have hunted them in Pennsylvania, so
that I readily knew the birds in question
the moment I saw them."
—<span class="sc">Ruthven Deane</span> in April <i>Auk</i>>.</p>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="THE_AMERICAN_RABBIT" id="THE_AMERICAN_RABBIT"></SPAN>THE AMERICAN RABBIT.</h2>
<div>
<ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/initial_c.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="88" alt="" /></div>
<p class="drop-cap">COTTONTAIL and Molly Cottontail
are the names commonly
applied to this easily
recognized species of the
Rabbit family, everywhere
prevalent in the middle states,
continuing to be numerous in spite of
the fact that it is constantly hunted in
season for food. Its flesh is more delicate
than that of the larger species,
and is much valued. In winter the
city markets are well supplied with
Cottontails, their increase being so large
that they are always abundant, while
in rural districts the small boys capture
them in great numbers with dogs.
We have known two hundred of these
innocent creatures to be taken in one
day on a single farm. If protected for
but one season they would become as
Rabbits are in Australia, a pest.</p>
<p>Rabbits live in burrows, which are
irregular in construction and often
communicate with each other. From
many of its foes the Rabbit escapes
by diving into its burrow, but there
are some animals, as the Weasel and
Ferret, which follow it into its subterranean
home and slay it. Dogs,
especially those of the small terrier
breeds, will often force their way into
the burrows, where they have sometimes
paid the penalty of their lives
for their boldness. The Rabbit has
been seen to watch a terrier dog go
into its burrow, and then fill up the
entrance so effectually that the invader
has not been able to retrace his steps,
and has perished miserably in the
subterranean tomb.</p>
<p>When the female Rabbit is about to
begin to rear a family, she quits the
ordinary burrows and digs a special
tunnel in which to shelter the young
family during the first few weeks of
life. At the extremity of the burrow she
places a large quantity of dried herbage
mingled with down from her own
body, with which to make a soft and
warm bed for the little ones. These
are about seven or eight in number,
and are born without hair and with
closed eyes, which they are only able
to open after ten or twelve days.</p>
<p>When domesticated the female Rabbit
will often devour her young, a
practice which has been considered
incurable. This propensity has, however,
been accounted for by natural
causes. It has been the custom to
deprive pet Rabbits of water on the
ridiculous plea that in a wild state
they do not drink, obtaining sufficient
moisture from the green herbs and
grasses which constitute their food,
but in the open country they always
feed while the dew lies upon every
blade, which of course is never the
case with green food with which
domestic Rabbits are supplied. Thus
have these poor innocents been the
victims of ignorance.</p>
<p>Rabbits are great depredators in
fields, gardens, and plantations, destroying
in very wantonness hundreds of
plants which they do not care to eat.
They do great damage to young trees,
stripping them of their tender bark, as
far up as they can reach while standing
on their hind feet. Sometimes
they eat the bark, but in many cases
they leave it in heaps upon the ground,
having chiseled it from the tree merely
for the sake of exercising their teeth
and keeping them in good order.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</SPAN></span></p>
<table class="sp1 sp2 mc w50" title="GRAY RABBIT." summary="GRAY RABBIT.">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="3"><span class="ac w100 figcenter">
<SPAN name="i_045.jpg" id="i_045.jpg"> <ANTIMG style="width:100%"
src="images/i_045.jpg" width="600" height="454" alt="" /></SPAN></span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">From col. Chi. Acad. Sciences.</td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40">GRAY RABBIT.<br/>
½ Life-size.</td>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Copyright by<br/>
Nature Study Pub. Co., 1898, Chicago.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>It is true that most Rabbits burrow
in the ground, their burrows having
many devious ramifications, but the
Cottontail usually makes his home in
a little dug-out, concealed under a bush
or a tuft of grass. We remember one
of these little excavations which we
found in a cemetery concealed by the
overhanging branches of a rosebush at
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</SPAN></span>
the foot of a grave. While reading
the inscription on the tombstone we
were startled by a quick rush from the
bush, and discovering the nest, in
which there were five tiny young with
wide open eyes, we took them up tenderly
and carried them home. We
too, were young then. Admonished
that we had cruelly deprived a mother
of her offspring, and that our duty was
to return them to her, we unwillingly
obeyed, and put them back in the little
cavern. They huddled together once
more and no doubt were soon welcomed
by their parents.</p>
<p>A frosty Saturday morning, a light
snow covering the ground, a common
cur dog, Cottontail tracks, and a small,
happy boy. Do you not see yourself
as in a vision?</p>
<hr class="small" />
<h2><SPAN name="THIRTY_MILES_FOR_AN_ACORN" id="THIRTY_MILES_FOR_AN_ACORN"> </SPAN>THIRTY MILES FOR AN ACORN.</h2>
<div class="poetry-container">
<div class="poetry">
<div class="verse">Far away I hear a drumming—</div>
<div class="verse indent-0_5">Tap, tap, tap!</div>
<div class="verse">Can the Woodpecker be coming</div>
<div class="verse indent-0_5">After sap?</div>
</div></div>
<div>
<ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/initial_d.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="94" alt="" /></div>
<p class="drop-cap">DOWN in Mexico there lives
a Woodpecker who stores
his nuts and acorns in
the hollow stalks of the
yuccas and magueys.
These hollow stalks are separated by
joints into several cavities, and the
sagacious bird has somehow found this
out, and bores a hole at the upper end
of each joint and another at the lower,
through which to extract the acorns
when wanted. Then it fills up the
stalks solidly and leaves its stores there
until needed, safe from the depredations
of any thievish bird or four-footed
animal.</p>
<p>The first place in which this curious
habit was observed was on a hill in
the midst of a desert. The hill was
covered with yuccas and magueys, but
the nearest oak trees were thirty miles
away, and so it was calculated, these
industrious birds had to make a flight
of sixty miles for each acorn stowed
thus in the stalks!</p>
<p>An observer of birds remarks:
"There are several strange features to
be noticed in these facts: the provident
instinct which prompts this bird to lay
by stores of provisions for the winter,
the great distance traversed to collect
a kind of food so unusual for its race,
and its seeking in a place so remote
from its natural abode a storehouse so
remarkable."</p>
<p>Can instinct alone teach, or have
experience and reason taught these
birds that, far better than the bark of
trees or crevices in rocks or any other
hiding place are these hidden cavities
they make for themselves with the
hollow stems of distant plants?</p>
<p>This we cannot answer. But we do
know that one of the most remarkable
birds in our country is this California
Woodpecker, and that he is well entitled
to his Mexican name of el carpintero—the
carpenter bird.—<i>Exchange.</i></p>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="THE_OCELOT" id="THE_OCELOT"></SPAN>THE OCELOT.</h2>
<div>
<ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/initial_t.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="93" alt="" /></div>
<p class="drop-cap">THE smaller spotted and striped
species of the genus <i>Felis</i>,
of both the old and the new
world, are commonly called
Tiger-Cats. Of these one of the best
known and most beautifully marked,
peculiar to the American continent,
according to authority, has received
the name of Ocelot, <i>Felis pardalis</i>,
though zoologists are still undecided
whether under this name several
distinct species have not been included,
or whether all the Ocelots are to be
referred to as a single species showing
individual or racial variation. Their
fur has always a tawny yellow or
reddish-grey ground color, and is
marked with black spots, aggregated
in streaks and blotches, or in elongated
rings enclosing an area which is rather
darker than the general ground color.
They range through the wooded parts
of Tropical America, from Arkansas to
Paraguay, and in their habits resemble
the other smaller members of the cat
tribe, being ready climbers and exceedingly
blood-thirsty.</p>
<p>The fierceness of the disposition of
this animal, usually called by the
common name of Wild Cat, and its
strength and agility, are well known,
for although it is said that it does not
seek to attack man, yet "when disturbed
in its lair or hemmed in, it will
spring with tiger-like ferocity on its
opponent, every hair on its body
bristling with rage," and is altogether
an ugly customer to meet with.</p>
<p>It was long believed that the Ocelot
was the offspring of the domestic cat,
but it is now known to be distinct from
the wild form of our woods. One
would scarcely wish to stroke the
Wild Cat's hair in any direction. As
soon as the young are able to see and
crawl, their savage nature is apparent,
and they cannot be tamed. They are
not often hunted, but when accidentally
met with by the hunter are despatched
as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>In length the Ocelot rather exceeds
four feet, of which the tail occupies a
considerable portion. The height
averages about eighteen inches. On
account of the beauty of the fur the
skin is valued for home use and exportation,
and is extensively employed in
the manufacture of various fancy
articles of dress or luxury. It may be
said to be a true leopard in miniature.</p>
<p>In its native wilds the Ocelot seeks
its food chiefly among the smaller
mammalia and birds, although it is
strong enough to attack and destroy
a moderate sized monkey. It chases
the monkeys into the tree branches,
and is nearly as expert a climber as
they are, but, as it cannot follow
the birds into the airy region, it is
forced to match its cunning against
their wings, and it rarely secures them.
As is often done by the domestic cat
it can spring amongst a flock of birds
as they rise from the ground, and,
leaping into the air, strike down
one or more of them with its
swift paw. But its usual method of
securing birds is by concealing itself
among the branches of a tree and
suddenly knocking them over as they
unsuspiciously settle within reach of
the hidden foe.</p>
<p>The movements of the Tiger-cat are
graceful and elegant, and few specimens
of animal life found in out
zoological gardens are more interesting.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</SPAN>.</span></p>
<table class="sp1 sp2 mc w50" title="AMERICAN OCELOT." summary="AMERICAN OCELOT.">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="3"><span class="ac w100 figcenter">
<SPAN name="i_054.jpg" id="i_054.jpg"> <ANTIMG style="width:100%"
src="images/i_054.jpg" width="600" height="454" alt="" /></SPAN></span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">From col. Chi. Acad. Sciences.</td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40">AMERICAN OCELOT.<br/>
⅓ Life-size.</td>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Copyright by<br/>
Nature Study Pub. Co., 1898, Chicago.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30"> </td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40">CHICAGO COLORTYPE CO., CHICAGO & NEW YORK.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="AZAMET_THE_HERMIT_AND_HIS_DUMB_FRIENDS" id="AZAMET_THE_HERMIT_AND_HIS_DUMB_FRIENDS"> </SPAN>AZAMET THE HERMIT AND HIS DUMB FRIENDS.</h2>
<div>
<ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/initial_a.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="84" alt="" /></div>
<p class="drop-cap">AZAMET the vizier had been
raised by Sultan Mahmoud
to the highest office in the
empire. As soon as he
was established in his
position, he tried to reform many
abuses; but the nobles and imaums
plotted against him.</p>
<p>Deprived of his property, and
deserted by his friends, Azamet withdrew
to the wilderness of Khorasan,
where he lived alone in a hut of his
own building, and planted a little
garden by the side of a brook.</p>
<p>He had lived a hermit's life for two
years, when Usbeck, one of his old
friends, found his dwelling place.</p>
<p>The sage met the vizier about a
mile from his hut; the two friends
recognized each other and embraced,
while Usbeck shed tears; Azamet, on
the contrary, smiled, and his eyes
beamed with joy. "Thanks be to
God, who gives strength to the unfortunate,"
said Usbeck. "The man
who had a gorgeous palace in the rich
plains of Ghilem is contented with a
hut in the wildest part of Khorasan!"</p>
<p>Presently, when they drew near
Azamet's hut they heard a young
horse neigh, and saw him come galloping
to meet them. When he came
near Azamet, he caressed him, and ran
home before him.</p>
<p>Usbeck saw two fine heifers come
from a pasture near by, and run back
and forth near Azamet, as if offering
him their milk; they began to follow
him. Soon after, two goats, with their
kids, ran down from a steep rock,
showing, by their gambols, their
delight at seeing their master, and
began to frolic around him.</p>
<p>Then four or five sheep came out of
a little orchard, bleating and bounding,
to lick Azamet's hand as he patted
them, smiling. At the same moment,
a few pigeons and a multitude of other
birds which were chirping on the
trees in the orchard flew upon his
head and shoulders. He went into the
little yard near his cabin, and a cock
saw him and crowed for joy; at this
noise several hens ran, cackling, to
greet their master.</p>
<p>But the signs of joy and love which all
these animals showed were as nothing
compared to those of two white dogs
that were waiting for Azamet at the
door. They did not run to meet him,
but seemed to show him that they had
been faithful sentinels over the house
which their master had placed in their
care. As soon, however, as he entered,
they caressed him lovingly, fawning
upon him, throwing themselves at his
feet, and only leaping up to lick his
hands. When he gave them caresses
they seemed, beside themselves with
delight, and stretched themselves at
their master's feet.</p>
<p>Usbeck smiled at this sight.
"Well!" said the vizier, "you see
that I am now as I have been from
childhood, the friend of all created
things. <i>I tried to make men happy, but
they could not let me. I made these
animals happy, and I take pleasure in
their affection and gratitude.</i> You see
that even though I am in the wilderness
of Khorasan, I have companions,
and love and am beloved."</p>
<div class="poetry-container">
<div class="poetry">
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">Listen! what a sudden rustle</div>
<div class="verse indent0_5">Fills the air.</div>
<div class="verse">All the birds are in a bustle</div>
<div class="verse indent0_5">Everywhere.</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">Such a ceaseless croon and twitter</div>
<div class="verse indent0_5">Over-head!</div>
<div class="verse">Such a flash of wings that glitter</div>
<div class="verse indent0_5">Wide outspread!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="THE_USE_OF_FLOWERS" id="THE_USE_OF_FLOWERS"></SPAN>THE USE OF FLOWERS.</h2>
<div class="poetry-container">
<div class="poetry">
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">God might have bade the earth bring forth</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Enough for great and small;</div>
<div class="verse">The oak tree and the cedar tree,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Without a flower at all.</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">We might have had enough, enough</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">For every want of ours,</div>
<div class="verse">For luxury, medicine, and toil,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">And yet have had no flowers.</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">The ore within the mountain mine</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Requireth none to grow;</div>
<div class="verse">Nor doth it need the lotus flower</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">To make the river flow.</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">The clouds might give abundant rain;</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">The nightly dews might fall;</div>
<div class="verse">And the herb that keepeth life in man</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Might yet have drunk them all.</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">Then wherefore, wherefore were they made,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">All dyed with rainbow-light,</div>
<div class="verse">All fashioned with supremest grace</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Upspringing day and night;</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">Springing in valleys green and low,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">And on the mountains high,</div>
<div class="verse">And in the silent wilderness,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Where no man passes by?</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">Our outward life requires them not—</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Then wherefore had they birth?</div>
<div class="verse">To minister delight to man,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">To beautify the earth.</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">To comfort man—to whisper hope,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Whene'er his faith is dim,</div>
<div class="verse">For who so careth for the flowers</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Will much more care for him!</div>
<div class="verse ar">—<span class="sc">Mary Howitt.</span></div>
</div></div>
</div>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</SPAN></span></p>
<table class="sp2 mc w50" title="APPLE BLOSSOMS." summary="APPLE BLOSSOMS.">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="3"><span class="ac w100 figcenter">
<SPAN name="i_062.jpg" id="i_062.jpg"> <ANTIMG style="width:100%"
src="images/i_062.jpg" width="453" height="600" alt="" /></SPAN></span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30"> </td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40">APPLE BLOSSOMS.<br/>
From Nature by Chicago Colortype Co.</td>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30"> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="ALL_NATURE" id="ALL_NATURE"></SPAN>ALL NATURE.</h2>
<p class="ac">W. E. WATT.</p>
<div>
<ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/initial_b.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="100" alt="" /></div>
<p class="drop-cap">BIAS, one of the seven sages
of Greece, was a noted
political and legal orator.
His most famous utterance
was, "I carry all my
wealth with me." His store of
learning and power of speech were
always at hand, and his life had been
such that all his investments were in
the man, rather than in property which
might or might not afterwards belong
to the man.</p>
<p>He who knows nature and has a
habit of seeing things carries with
him a fruitful source of happiness.
It requires technical knowledge to
use any of the mechanical appliances
with which civilized life is crowded. It
requires artistic training to appreciate
any of the great productions of the
leaders in the fields of ideal pleasure.
But there is no preparation demanded
by nature herself of those who would
enjoy her feasts. Whosoever will may
be her guest.</p>
<p>But because she is so free with the
race in giving pleasure to all her
guests, it must not be inferred that
cultivation and systematic pursuit will
not be rewarded. All eyes are blind
until they have been opened, and all
ears deaf till they have learned desire.
Just why I am delighted with the
landscape before me is beyond my
power to tell, and the reasons for the
varying feelings that course through
me are too numerous for recognition.
But with all these thronging sensations
and reflections that occupy me, there
is a multitude of others that escape
me because I have not had my soul
opened in their directions.</p>
<p>Every new item of nature's news
that breaks upon the consciousness
increases capacity for pleasure for all
time. He who meets nature with
enlightened senses is rewarded every
day of his life for the pains taken in
delightful study by way of preparation.
A landscape is infinitely enhanced to
him who has pursued the science of
color with some diligence. The sounds
of the forest speak tenderly to all; but
he who knows the secrets of melody
and harmony, and the limits of human
skill in music, has worlds of delight
in the forest that others may not enter.
And so has the swain whose childhood
was spent among the voices of the
trees. The sense of smell has a
thousand raptures for the man whose
nose has lived up to its possibilities.</p>
<p>To look upon all nature broadly
with the familiarity which comes only
from long acquaintance and scientific
investigation of her various aspects is
the highest type of living. While
this is not possible to all, yet, much of
it may be experienced by every one
who has the desire and follows it. The
leading facts of all the sciences are
open to all who care to know them.
The beauties and mysteries of the
world are constantly inviting us. And
the rapid developments of knowledge
in all directions give us all the exciting
motives one can desire.</p>
<p>Looking out over the face of the
world, we note that there are two sorts
of material to be considered. One is
alive or was produced by the action of
life, and the other is material which
has never known a want. We are
drawn most to that which has pulsed
with sap or blood—that which has
made a struggle of some sort.</p>
<p>All things that live are made up
chemically principally of four of the
elements of the universe which are
best adapted by their characteristics
for the purposes of life. Three are
gases, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen;
one is a solid, carbon. All these have
what is technically known as affinities
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</SPAN></span>
of narrow range and low intensity
except oxygen. Oxygen is greedy to
attack almost everything, the others
unite but sparingly and feebly. From
these elements, life chooses combinations
that are easily changed in form
and light enough to stand up from the
earth, to swim in the waters, and even
to fly in the atmosphere. So gaseous
and quick to change are the things of
life that life itself has the reputation
of being fleeting. Development is a
change in the arrangement of parts,
and function is a transformation of
motion. These four elements, three
gaseous and one solid, three very
exclusive and one very free in choosing
all sorts of associates, have been the
means whereby life has been possible
upon the earth. Their characters
have provided for what are known as
differentiation and integration.</p>
<p>With these materials is formed the
mass which is the lowest form of life,
protoplasm. This may be formed
into cells or not, but it is from this
beginning the scale of living things
springs, rising in beautiful and
mysterious forms till the earth is
enveloped and beautified so that we
can hardly think of it except as the
receptacle prepared by Omniscience
for the entertainment of living beings,
all of which point to the highest and
speak of the expansion and eternal
value of the human soul.</p>
<p>By getting next to other substances,
or by getting them inside, the
organism draws within itself new
matter of its own selection. It chooses
always material that is chemically
similar to itself, and we say it grows.
Where it wears away in the pursuit,
it makes repairs with the fresh
material. Where the pursuit is
wearing, and requires great activity or
strength, the new matter is consumed
in furnishing energy alone.</p>
<p>When the period of growth is well
advanced, the living thing matures
organs for the preservation of its kind.
Male and female are distinguished. A
seed marks the female element in the
plant, and in the animal an ovum or
egg. And as soon as the race has
been provided for, the individual is of
no more use upon the face of the
earth. It has served its purpose, and
merits a reward. But whether in the
economy of nature the joys of life are
regarded as sufficient reward to every
living creature, there follows fast upon
the heels of its usefulness a period of
lamentable decline. The elements
which were so facile in building up
the individual are no longer active in
furnishing energy, repair, and growth.
All these products are lopped off.
Weakness, debility, and shrinking
ensue. The organism loses its
attractiveness for its kind, the pulse
of life weakens, and the corpse falls to
the earth, yielding rapidly to a process
of transformation called decay, which
is merely a giving up of what has
been recently of use to this form of
life to some new form of the same sort
or a different one. Life is so swift
and relentless that most of its subjects
fall by the way and give up their
substance so effectually that there is
no memory or record left upon the face
of the earth that such a form has ever
been.</p>
<p>And so God is creating the heavens
and the earth. While we participate
in a measure in this creation, let us
observe and enjoy it and be wise.</p>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="THE_BLOODLESS_SPORTSMEN" id="THE_BLOODLESS_SPORTSMEN"> </SPAN>THE BLOODLESS SPORTSMEN.</h2>
<div class="poetry-container">
<div class="poetry">
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse"><span style="margin-left:-1em;">
<ANTIMG src="images/initial_i_2.jpg" width-obs="12" height-obs="25" alt="I" title="" />
go a-gunning, but take no gun;</span></div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">I fish without a pole;</div>
<div class="verse">And I bag good game and catch such fish</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">As suit a sportsman's soul;</div>
<div class="verse">For the choicest game that the forest holds,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">And the best fish of the brook,</div>
<div class="verse">Are never brought down by a rifle shot</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">And are never caught with a hook.</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">I bob for fish by the forest brook,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">I hunt for game in the trees,</div>
<div class="verse">For bigger birds than wing the air</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Or fish that swim the seas.</div>
<div class="verse">A rodless Walton of the brooks</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">A bloodless sportsman, I—</div>
<div class="verse">I hunt for the thoughts that throng the woods,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">The dreams that haunt the sky.</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">The woods were made for the hunters of dreams,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">The brooks for the fishers of song;</div>
<div class="verse">To the hunters who hunt for the gunless game</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">The streams and the woods belong.</div>
<div class="verse">There are thoughts that moan from the soul of the pine,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">And thoughts in a flower bell curled;</div>
<div class="verse">And the thoughts that are blown with the scent of the fern</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Are as new and as old as the world.</div>
<div class="verse ar">—<span class="sc">Sam Walter Foss.</span></div>
</div></div>
</div>
<hr class="small" />
<h2><SPAN name="A_BOOK_BY_THE_BROOK" id="A_BOOK_BY_THE_BROOK"></SPAN>A BOOK BY THE BROOK.</h2>
<div class="poetry-container">
<div class="poetry">
<div class="verse">Give me a nook and a brook,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">And let the proud world spin round;</div>
<div class="verse">Let it scramble by hook or by crook</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">For wealth or name with a sound,</div>
<div class="verse">You are welcome to amble your ways,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">Aspirers to place or to glory;</div>
<div class="verse">May big bells jangle your praise,</div>
<div class="verse indent-1_5">And golden pens blazon your story;</div>
<div class="verse">For me, let me dwell in my nook,</div>
<div class="verse">Here by the curve of this brook,</div>
<div class="verse">That croons to the tune of my book,</div>
<div class="verse">Whose melody wafts me forever</div>
<div class="verse">On the waves of an unseen river!</div>
<div class="verse ar">—<span class="sc">James Freeman Clarke.</span></div>
</div></div>
<hr class="small" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="SUMMARY" id="SUMMARY"></SPAN>SUMMARY.</h2>
<p>Page <SPAN href="#Page_6">6</SPAN>.</p>
<p><b>WILSON'S SNIPE.</b>—<i>Gallinago delicata.</i>
Other names: English Snipe, Jack Snipe,
Gutter Snipe.</p>
<p><span class="sc">Range</span>—From Canada and British Columbia,
south in winter to the West Indies, and even
to South America. Breeds from the latitude
of New England southward.</p>
<p><span class="sc">Nest</span>—Slight depression in the grass or moss
of a bog.</p>
<p><span class="sc">Eggs</span>—Three to four; grayish-olive to
greenish-brown, spotted and blotched with
reddish-brown.</p>
<hr class="w5" />
<p>Page <SPAN href="#Page_10">10</SPAN>.</p>
<p><b>BLACK WOLF.</b>—<i>Canis occidentalis.</i> Found
in Florida.</p>
<hr class="w5" />
<p>Page <SPAN href="#Page_14">14</SPAN>.</p>
<p><b>AMERICAN RED SQUIRREL.</b>—<i>Seiurus
Hudsonius.</i> Other name: Chickaree, from
its cry.</p>
<p>Common in North America.</p>
<hr class="w5" />
<p>Page <SPAN href="#Page_18">18</SPAN>.</p>
<p><b>PRAIRIE HEN.</b>—<i>Tympanucus americanus.</i>
Other name: Pinnated Grouse.</p>
<p><span class="sc">Range</span>—Prairies of the Mississippi Valley,
east to Indiana and Kentucky, north to
Manitoba, west to the eastern Dakotas,
south to Texas and Louisiana. <i>T. cupido</i>, until
lately supposed to be this species, is now
apparently extinct, except on the island of
Martha's Vineyard.</p>
<p><span class="sc">Nest</span>—On the ground in the thick prairie
grass.</p>
<p><span class="sc">Eggs</span>—Eight to twelve, of tawn brown, sometimes
with an olive brown hue, occasionally
sprinkled with brown.</p>
<hr class="w5" />
<p>Page <SPAN href="#Page_27">27</SPAN>.</p>
<p><b>AMERICAN RABBIT.</b>—<i>Lepus sylvaticus.</i>
Other names: Cottontail and Molly Cottontail.</p>
<hr class="w5" />
<p>Page <SPAN href="#Page_31">31</SPAN>.</p>
<p><b>OCELOT.</b>—<i>Felis pardalis.</i> Other name:
Tiger-Cat.</p>
<p><span class="sc">Range</span>—From the southwestern United States
to Patagonia.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<div class="transnote">
<h3>Transcriber's Note:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.</li>
<li>Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant form was
found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.</li>
<li>Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.</li>
<li>The Contents table was added by the transcriber.</li>
</ul></div>
<SPAN name="endofbook"></SPAN>
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