P R E FAC E .

I T h as b ee n my imi
a n arra n gi n g th e lesson s fo r th i s
vo l u m e to se l e c t c h ie fly su c hj t su b e c s, i n th e s udt y of

z o ol o g
y , as treat of th e m t f mili
os a ar o b e c s j t to b e mt e

t
wi h i n e ver d
y ya lif e .

I h ave e n d e a vore d , al so, to give so c le a r a d escri p ti on

of th e f o r m , l
c o o r, a n d h ab i t s of ea ch ty p e u n d e r c o n si d

c ra tion t hat n e ith er teac h ers nor p u p i l s c a n b e l eft at a ll

,

in d o u b t a s to th e i d e n tity o f a S p ec i men w h e n th e
y h av e

it i n h a n d .

No on e b ut a teac h er ca n ful ly re al iz e th e j o y an d th e
sa tisfa cti o n of a c h i l d wh o b ri n gs to h er a mtho ,
a t
c a er

p i l l ar,
o r so m th e o er fo r mfi o n se c t l i fe ,
and p ro u d ly p l a c e s
it i n th e ran k to w h i ch it b e l o n gs .

T his assure d succe ss l ea ds on to farth er a n d farth er

in ve sti g ati on a n d aw a k en s a n e n t h u si asma n d a d e si re to
,

b e co m e s ti ll b ett e r a c q u a in t e d w ith th e w o n d e r w o rl d of

n at u re .

A few sh o rt b l ac k b o ard e xerc i se s every d ay w i ll so o n

e n a b l e t h e c h i l d to m a st e r a l l t h e n e c e s sar
y t e c h n ic al

n am e s a n d t e rm s i n v o l v e d i n th e st u d y o f t h e s e l o w e r

fo rm s o f l i f e ; a n d i t i s f ar b e tt er to l e a rn th e rig h t n a m es

o f t h i n g s a t th e o u t se t .

A s far a s it i s p ra c t ica b l e e a c h s ubj ec t sh o u l d b e carrie d

,

o n i n th e w a y o f a n o b j e c t l e s so n ; a n d w i t h a l i tt l e

6 6 5 3 1
e n c o ura g e m t th p t
en on e ar of th e t e a c h er , y
ev e r u
p p i l in
th e l
c a ssro o mw ill gl d l y t k a p a e a rt in a ddi n g to th e z o ol o g

i ca l treasu re s of th e sc h o o l c a b i n e t

mt
.

I n as m uc h as i n se ct l if e i s tirely by
s u pp or e d al t os en

th e p ro d uc t s of veg et at io n (t h e re b ei n g o n l y a ve ry f ew
i n se ct s th at prey up on o n e a n ot h e r! I h ave t ho ugh t i t b e st ,

to g ive t h a t subj e ct a l ib e ra l sp ac e i n t h i s v o l um e .

I t i s n ow a n acce pt e d truth t h a t th ere are at l east te n

in sect s to every p l ant a n d t h at a l arge m , aj ority o f t he m

a re h ar m f u l t o v e g et at i o n
s h ig h l y i m
.

T h i s b e in g th e c a se it see m p o rt a n t t h a t a

c are f u l stu dy h e m
,

a d e b ot h o f t h e h a b it s a n d o f th e h a b

i tat s o f t h ese sw i ft d e st ro y ers o f p l a n t l ife .

F o r v a l u a b l e s u g g e st i o n s a s w e l l a s f o r a i d i n p o i n t s o f
,

re fe re n c e to th e h i h e st a u t h o riti e s I a m re at l i d b t d
g g y n e e ,

to m an
y l e a d in
g i n v e st i g a t o rs i n t h i s l i n e o f w o rk P r o m
o n g t h emare : D r L O H o w ard U n i te d S ta t e s
.

in e nt a m
Ent omo l ogist ; D r J A L intner N ew York S tate E nto
.
,
. .

molog ist ; D r A S P a ck a rd B rown U niversity R h o de

. . .
,

. . .
, ,

I sl an d ; D r C h arl e s E B ee c h e r Ya l e U n ive rs ity N ew

. .
, ,

H a ve n C o nn ; an d D r D S K e ll ic o tt O h io S ta te U n i
, . . . .
,

v e rsit
y .

Fi n a ll y th at t h is v ol um
, e m a
y p ro v e t o b e a h e l p f u l
g u i d e b o t h t o t h e t e a c h e r a n d t o t h e u
p p i l i n t h e i r s t u d y
of th e m o re c o m mon typ es of an ima l l ife is th e sinc ere ,

d e si re of

TH E AU TH O R .
 C O N TE N TS .

T he I sa be l la M o th
T he B i rth of a Y o ung Lo rd

P h aeb e
'
s F amily

P h e be M ate
'

T e n t B u i l d ers
R eal G yps i es
A Li ttl e C apti ve
M r R a n a s D i n ner
’
.

A P l a i n S to ry
The M o urn i ng C l oak
A G i fted Fa mil y
A ! ain Littl e M o th
Th e P atch ed C oat
A C rus ty F e ll o w
Was it a S hado w
Al mt os a B ird
(6
If ”

W ith Auger a nd S aw.

W ith Auger a n d S aw.

F o u r P i nk B ab ies
T h e S l ug Fl y and th e G ras sh opper

T he Tru th of It

R ai n F rogs
M o vi ng D ay . P a rt 1 .

M o ving D ay . P a rt I ! .
G rowl er s Prize
’

The R eal C ul prit

H is tory of a B ug
H i story of a B eetl e
Dr . Leech
A D i vided H o useh o l d .

A D ivided H o useho l d .

B orn i n a D i tch
I T o l d Y ou S o

Al ways at H o m
e

A S k il l ful S pi nner
A D evoted M other
Li nes to a S pider
D o Y ou B el i e ve I t ?
W i nter F riends
The C h i ckadee
Th e N uth atch
h
T e R ed -
h eaded Wo odpeck er
T he G o l de n crested Wren
-

T he B ro wn C ree per
The D own y Woodpecker
S no w T ra cks
The R ufled G ro use
'

Th e Wo o d M o use
T h e C h ip mnk
u

The R ed S q ui rre l
R eynard, the Fox, a nd R a nger, th e D og
The W ease l
The N o rth ern H a re

T he M usk rat
Th e G ray S q ui rrel
 S H O R T S TO R I E S O F O UR SHY
N E I G H B O RS .

TH E I S AB E L LA M OT H .

O NEday late in autumn R uth and her teacher

, ,

were walking in the fields .

All at once R uth cried o u t “

O h see what a
, ,

queer furry worm ! It looks like a wee bit o f a

clothes brush moving about .
 Her teacher smiled
“
I t is n o t a wor m she said ,
“
It is sometimes .

called a wooly b ear b ut it is more g nerally

‘
,
’
e

‘ ’
known as a caterpillar .

“
Where did it come from ? asked
R uth .

Th L
e a rv a .

It was hatched fro man egg laid b y a

mother moth ; and some day it wil l be a moth itself .

“
We must call it the larva of the moth n o w ;
for that is its right name Whe n we speak of .

more than o n e we call them larvae

, .

“ ‘ ‘ ’
The word larva means a mask People .
’

sometimes wear a mask to hide their faces J ust .

s o under this furry mask i s hidden the form of

an insect with four wings .
”

I wish I could see i ts wings said R uth , .

L et us take it home with us and put it into ,

a glass covered b o x ; the n we c a n watch fo r the

-

coming wings replied her teacher

, .

But whe n She tried to pick it up it rolled ,

itself into a l ittle ball and slid fro mher hands .

Then She Slipped a piece o f clo th unde r it and

wrapped it up so that it could n o t g e t a way .

“
N ow look at this caterpillar closely said the ,
”

teacher , and yo u wil l find th a t its bo dy is

marked with twelve fur ry rings ; thi s fu r is made
up o f sti ff short hairs
, .
 9

The first four ri ngs and the last two are q uite
bl ac k ; b ut the six rings that cover the space
be twe e n these a re of a chestnut brown
n — a co l or ,

that some people call a tan red‘ .

’

“
Because of these s ti ff spiny hairs and of the
,

way in which it ro ll s itself up it is ofte n cal l ed the

,

‘hedgehog caterpillar but when it lies

’
o u t straight
; ,

i t is more than an inch l ong as yo u can see , .

When they reached home they put their fur ry

friend into a l arge b ox fi ll ed with c l over l eaves ,

dande l ion and plantain

, .

This was j ust what it l iked and it b egan eating ,

at once ; it had sharp jaws and it ate very fast .

R uth an d her teacher watche d it from day to

day ; but after a few wee k s it crept over i ts wel l
spread ta b le without o ffering to taste i ts food .

A t l ast it crawled slowly away toward o n e si d e

of the b o x rol l ed itse lf up l i ke a ball an d fe ll
, ,

i nto a sort of sleep .

I f it was asleep it too k a very lo n g nap ; fo r

,

it was n o w late in the fall an d it di d not wake ,

up again till the next spri ng .

And oh what a hungry creature it was then !

,

Why it ate and ate every soft green l eaf that

, ,

came in its way .

O ne day R uth place d a l arge ripe sour appl e

, , ,

among the leaves I t began at once to gnaw the

.
 I O

s mooth s k in of the fruit ; an d it d id not leave

o ff unti l it ha d eate n a space a roun d the apple
as large as the width of its
o wn body Then i t t urne d .

again to feast on the leaves ,

as before .

But it soon grew tired of

its food and acted as if it
had not slept eno ugh ; so it
L APPI °
arva
wove a little blanket arou nd
!

i tse lf and again went to sleep This warm cover .

ing that it made was oval in shape a n d of a dark ,

brown color .

A nd what is strangest of al l it was made of ,

the hairs of its own body fastened together by a

,

silken thread which it spun out of a stic k y gum

that came out of itself .

That was indeed a home made crad l e strong -

,

a nd warm and safe .

The teacher explained to R uth that the cater

pillar had spun for itself a
cocoo n as its crad l e is
,

called and that i t was

,

now a pupa a word which

,

“ ”
Th C
means baby ,
e oc o o n.

“
What a sleepyhead this b aby moth is said ,

R uth ; one would suppose that it might need

“
 I I

something more to eat N o w if there were two .

or more of them what would you cal l them ?

,

“
I would speak of the mas the p up ae ans wered ,

the teacher .

L a rvae and p upa said R uth to herself ; ,

those are not very hard word s to remember .

”

”
If yo u could peep inside o f its cocoon said ,

“
the teacher yo u would fi n d tha t it has cast off
,
°

its cate rpi ll ar skin and that it is now a very black

,

infant i ndeed I n fact it changed its dress a good

, .
,

many times before it Spun

its cocoon ; and every new
dress was a warm furry ,

robe like the o n e in which

”
you first saw it .

Th l b ll M th e sa e a o .

S o the baby sl ept and

slept fo r nearly a month ; an d then a strange thing
happened . For one bright morning in J une it
awoke and freeing itself from its prison cradle it
, ,

came forth a moth ; and behol d its baby days ,

were over !
It was n o t very strong at first for its wings were ,

weak and were pressed close to its body ; but in

,

less than half an hour there was a great change .

The wings grew broader wh ile their color began ,

to deepen ; and all four of them were of a yellow

buff tinge dotted here and there with black
, .
 2

The front pair were mark ed with two or th re e

brownis h lines ; but the hind pa ir were faintl y
tinged with red .

The body of the insect was of a deeper yello w

than the wings and was prettily marked with ,

three rows of blac k spots there being six spots ,

in each row .

R uth looked at it caref ul ly “

It has six tiny .
,

b ro wn l egs she said ,

“
And see its little short.

feelers ' They are as yellow as th e

wings .

“
Those feelers are the antenn a o f
“
the insect replied the teac h er and , ,

when we Speak of one of them we ,

A t f
n e nnae o
call it the
a
antenna .

M th
o .
You will n o t find that a hard word
to Speak after yo u have said it once o r twice ; and
,

it is always better to call things by their right names .

Y o u will se e that these antenn a are round and ,

almost smooth ; b u t the antenn a o f most moths

are feathered They look like l ittle p l umes
. .

“
Yet yo u can ge n erally t ell a b utterfly from a
moth by the ante nn a ; fo r those o f a butterfly are
threadlike with a knob at the end But both mot h s
, .

and butterflies belong to the same great family of 1

insects .

Le p i d o p te ra , sc a l e wi ng
'
1 - - -
 1 3

But where are the eyes ? ask ed R uth .

This insect has so m any eyes that it wou l d take

you a l ong time to count them said her teacher ,
”
.

“
There is an eye Spot on each
side of the head ; and in each
eye Spot there are at l east three
thousand s mall eyes These are .

called compound eyes and be ,

sides these there are two singl e

,

”
eyes on top of the head .

A t f B tt fly n e nnae o a u er
No wonder then that it is so .

hard to catch moths and butterflies said R uth ; ,

”
they see everything !
L oo k c l osely at the wings said the teacher , .

You will never have a b etter

cha n c e than now ; fo r they are
growi n g stronger every
mi nute and the insect ,

wil l soo n fly away .

”

O h how pretty ,

they are ! They

l ook as if they
were covered with
a mealy powder ,

Wi g S l
n f M th
c a es o o
said the lit tl e girl
a .

They are covered with little scales that l ap over

one a nother l i k e the scal es of a fish answe re d the ,
”
 14

teache r an d they are made fast to the sk i n of th e

,

insect by short tiny ste m

, s ; yo u wi ll see th a t th e
whol e body is covered with soft d owny scal e s th e , ,

same as the wings .

“
This pretty littl e moth h as l os t i ts cate rpillar
jaws and in their place the re is a s l ender tongue ;
,

for now it wi ll l ive o n the j uicy sweets of th e

”
flowers .

As she spoke the i nsect rose and floate d light ly

,

away on i ts pretty b u ff yellow wings

-
.

“
Ah we have l ost our queen said the teacher
,
”
,

she has gone to fin d her mate I k now she is a .

queen because her wi n gs are of a deeper ye l low

than those of her mate .

“
A nd now I wil l tel l you why I call her a q u een .

S he was named in honor of Princess Isabe l l a ,

daughter of K ing Philip I I of S pain . .

This princess made a vo w that she would not

change her l inen fo r three years S he no doub t .

had some good reason fo r it .

At any rate She kept her pro m

, ise an d at the ,

end of that time her l inen must have b ecome fu ll y

,

as yellow as the wings of o u r l itt l e Isabella moth .

S o I think she is very wel l named ; don t you ? ’ ”

S he is indee d replied R uth ; and how stra nge

,
”

that al l this time we have had a no bl e q uee n h idde n

under the furry mask of a caterpil l ar !
 TH E B I RT H O F A YOUN G LO R D .

O very hot day i n J uly Mrs Papil io decided

NE , .
l

to give a select party .

And it was very select I assure you ; fo r none ,

b ut the swallowtail family were i nvited .

Now this family are noted for their fine array ,

there being over three hundred di fferent styles of

dress among them ; and had all the gu e sts that
’
were i n vited ac c ep ted Mrs Papilio s garden could , .

n o t have he l d one half of them .

The list was headed with the names of L ord and

L ady Asterias so they came early 2
.

I was glad of this fo r it gave me a very good ,

opportunity to watch their movements ; and so

ple ase d was I with their fine appearance that I
hardly cast a glance at any other member of the
party .

My l ord and lady came sailing in upon their four

showy wings (the hind wings of eac h having tails ! ,

and seated themselves at once near a bed of parsley .

My lord was gayly dressed in a black swallo wtail

suit b anded with a double ro w of brigh t yello w
,
-

spots ; and on each o f the hind wings wa s a row

1
Pa -
p i l -
1 0 . T he La ti n na m e of th e butterfl y .

9
As te-
’
ri -as . T he na m e of a pec u l iar spec ies or k ind of b utterfly
.
 16

of seven bl ue spots between the outer and th e

i nner line of yellow ones .

But this was not all ; for on the lower inner edge ,

of the tailed wings was an eyelike sp o t of ora ng e

yellow having a black center
, .

The S wal l owtai l e d P a pi li o .

He also had a d ouble row of bright yellow Spots -

o n his back that l ooked like gold buttons and his ,

shining black head was adorned with the same

color
.

G old and black blac k and gold

,
— ah it was a , ,

fine su it indeed ! You should have seen it .

My lady wa s dressed in about the same s ty l e ,

 1 8

A nd I did watch them very careful l y b ut I d id ,

not have to wait long ; for in a fe w days they we re

hatched and oh what tiny things the young c a te r
, ,

pillars were !
Why it wou l d have tak en te n of them p l aced
, ,

end to end to make one inch in l ength

, .

But these babies l ike thei r parents were c l ad in

, ,

fine array ; and they had a num b e r of pretty suits .

Their first suit was blac k b anded with whit e ,

around the middle and botto mof the dress ; b ut as

they grew larger this dress was cast aside for
,

another .

A nd so they kept on till they go t the fourth sui t ;

,

and this l ast outfit was very fine ind e ed It wa s .

o f an apple green color having black bands dotted

-
,

with bright yellow spots and was much more showy

-
,

than any of the other dresses that they had worn .

You would n o t wonder that they o utgrew their

clothes so quick ly could y o u have see n them eat
, .

There was a very large family of them about two ,

hundred in all ; and w ith their sharp hungry jaws ,

they were n o t long in laying waste that fine bed of

green parsley yo u may be sure
, .

As each h u ngry bab y had sixteen tiny l egs they ,

found no trouble i n creeping a b out here there and , , ,

everywhere .

I a mobliged to say right here that they were

, ,
 19

no t very good natured children eithe r fo r when I

-
,

touched any one of them with a s mall stick it

'

would thrust out fro m behind its head a pair of

, ,

orange yello w horns

-
.

A n d what was stil l worse these horns gave ,

o u t such a bad odor that I was glad to get away

from it .

After a few days they seemed to have lost their

,

appetite ; a n d did not care to eat S o they crept . .

a way to a cl ump o f b us h es near b y .

Then I made a discovery I found that each o f .

these infants young as it wa s knew ho w to spin

, , .

I t spun a sil k en thread too B u t where did it get

, .

its sil k ? I will tell you .

E ach l itt l e spinner of this sort has in the midd l e ,

of its l ower lip a tiny tube This t u be ope n s into

, .

two long slender bags inside of the spinner s body

’

, .

These b ags a re filled with a sticky fluid that flows

through the tube in a very fine stream ; but as soon
as the air strikes it it becomes a strong slender
, ,

thread .

A nd so these b aby spinners have everything at

hand quite ready fo r their w ork As I co u ld not
, .

well observe the mall I watched one of them care

,

fully ; and now let me tell yo u w hat he did .

First he spun a small tuft of silk and made it

, ,

fast to the twig of a lo w bush Then he put the .

 20

hoo k s of his hi n d feet into this tu fte d snare N e x t .

he spun a strong silken loo p made up of many

’

, ,

threads and glued the ends of it fast to the twig ;

,

but the ends were n o t glued very closely togethe r .

They were placed a little way apart so as to make ,

the loop b road and roomy .

It really did look as if this wise l ittl e creature wa s

making a swing for itself .

But as soon as the loop was mad e

strong eno ugh he put his head ,

under it and then worked it over

,

h is back I n this way he b o u nd

.
,

himself in an upright position clos e ,

to the twig .

H ow strange that of his o wn

choice he had become a helpless
Bou n d C h y li
r sa s
“
prisoner bound hand and foot !
.
”
,

I n about twenty four hours he cast o ff his app le

-
,

green s uit and became a pupa o r chrysalis The n

, , .

the Skin of h is body s eemed to shrivel up till it was ,

li k e a strong hard case ; but it made a safe cradle

,

for the baby to lie in .

A nd j u st such a cradle was needed ; for it was

n o w nearly O ctober and this tender infant m ust
,

remain bou n d to that twig through all the long

months of winter .

There wo uld be no l ullaby song to soothe it ,

 2!

excepting such as the cold wintry winds sing ; and

,

that is a very harsh song as we a ll know

, .

“
Will it ever come to life ? I as k ed myself as ,

I went from time to time and look ed at the poor ,

helpless thing hanging there in its silken fetters ,

a l l alone .

But behol d ! O ne day in the early part of J une ,

the dry hard pupa case burst open a nd out came ,

a poor feeble little butterfly with four limp moist

, , , ,

wings .

I nstead of sixteen legs i t had but six ; an d in

the p l ace of sharp hungry jaws it had a slender
,

tongue .

I ts great eyes seemed to be almost blind e d by

the sudden bright light ; for like the moth it , ,

had not only two simple eyes o n the to p of its

head but it had the two large compound eyes
,
.
,

a s well .

It crept slow l y up to the top of the twig an d ,

then the weak drooping wings began to expand

, .

Broader and broader they grew till at last they ,

were spread out firm and free .

And there right before my astonished eyes

, ,

rose up a bea u tiful creature clad in Shining black

,

and I knew by the band of golden spots on all

four of i ts wings that he was a young L ord
Asterias l
 22

PH CE B E S FA M I LY
’ ‘
.

MY first acquainta n ce with Ph oeb e b egan a t

the garden gate on the morning t h at she and he r
,

mate called to look for lodgings .

I could see at a glance that th e ir hearts were

, ,

set on havi ng the b road beam that upheld the

roof of my balc o ny ; so I made t h em welcome .

I t was a bright Spring morning and I remem ,

ber just how Ph oebe was dressed .

S he wa s clad i n a sensible dull o l ive brown ;, ,

her small crest w as a trifle d a rker tha n h e r body ,

and under n eath sh e wa s o f a yellowish white .

H er eyes we re brown b ut her feet as well a s

, ,

her bill were black The bro wn fe athers of her

, .

wings were edged with a dull white and so was ,

the outer edge o f th e feathers of her fork ed tail .

H er mate w a s clad in abo u t the same fashion ,

only that the Sides of h is neck we re darker .

I t was a b almy mo rni n g in April when they

began to b uild their nest .

The w hole front o f the balco n y wa s draped

with vines s o that when it was clothed w ith leaves
,

it made a heavy thick curtai n o f g re e n ; and h ere

,

the nest was hidden and s ecure from harm

, .

This nest wa s made of g rasses and moss p l a s ,

 23

Pha be B i rds an d N es t
.

te redtogether with mud and wa s li n e d with b it s

,

of down hair and shreds of wool

, , .

Ah it took many and many a weary flight to

,

gather the materials for that modest home .

Back and forth back and forth the happy couple

, ,

flew bearing in their slender bills a scrap of mo ss

,
 24

or a mite of dow n til l at last the whole thing was

,

finished handsome and complete

, .

I placed a stepladder conveniently n ear where ,

I could sta n d and loo k into the nest ; fo r alth ough

I had every reason to b e l ieve that Ph oeb e was a
painstaking and tidy little housekeeper yet I rather ,

wanted to see the inside of her home for myself .

S o one day when she and her mate were not

,

there I peeped in at the nest and 10 there was

, , ,

a smal l cream white egg spotted on the larger

,
-
,

end with reddish brown ! I was very careful not

to touch it .

The next day I l ooked in again and there was ,

another And so day after day a new egg was

.
, ,

added to the num b er till there were five of them,

in all .

Then I noticed that P h a be began to stay at

h ome a good deal ; and if s h e did chance to go
out fo r a little airi n g her mate always took her ,

pl ace
.

At length one morning I thought I heard a

, ,

low peep and seeing that b oth of the b irds were

,

away I glanced in at the nest

, .

There I saw four tiny young birds cuddled ,

down close together I found that o n e of the eggs

.

did n o t hatch and that it had been thrown out

,

o f the n est to th e porch .

 26

the very sma l lest o n e o f the family looked so muc h

like i ts moth er I called her Ph oebe J unior
, .

Now a better b ehaved family o f children one

,

could n o t desire to see ; t h ere was n o co n fusion

whatever in the nest and I never heard an angry
,

peep fro mone of t h em .

What was my surprise then on seeing the m , ,

wh en they were a little more than two weeks old ,

al l sitting in a row o n the garden pali n g whi l e ,

both the father and m ot h er were perched on a

l o w b ough c hirping loudly i n a hars h scoldin g
, , ,

tone.

I ran to look into the nest thinking that per ,

haps some enemy had driven the fa mily from home ;

but I saw n othi n g .

Finally in about an h our th e young birds left

, ,

th eir perc h and flew toward the nest a few paces

, ,

at a time ; fo r their wings were weak and their

flights were short a n d they made several stops
,

before re ac h ing home .

The nex t day n o t heari n g a n y sound from my

,

lit tle n e ighb o rs I peeped in again a n d behold the

, , ,

nest wa s e mpty !
O n the day fol lowing Ph oebe and her mate came
,

back but the young ones were nowhere to be seen

, .

They at once began to clean and repair the nest .

They threw o u t bits o f thread down hair moss , , , ,

.
 27

and other thi ngs that seemed to be in their way ;

and then added a mite o f do wn here and a thread ,

o f wool t h ere t ill the nest wa s all ready fo r u se

,

again .

Then Ph oebe laid four small c rea mwhi te eggs i

,

like the others and in due time her hea rt was made
,

glad by hearing the faint peep peep o f four wee ”

b aby birds .

Both parents seemed quite as proud o f their sec

ond broo d a s of the first and were never weary o f
,

cramming them with the rarest tid b its that they

could find .

And when the chil d ren were a l ittle more than

two weeks old t hey were driven f ro mthe n est to
,

the g a rden pal ing and were taugh t to try their

,

wi n gs in the same way a s the other brood

'

.
,

A day o r two later the whole family d is ap

,

p e a re d ; and w hat i s strangest o f all they went ,

away in the n ight .

N o w a s Ph oebe a n d her m
, ate h a d occ u pied their
snug quarters all this time free o f charge I thought
, ,

it was rather ungra teful of them to steal away in

suc h a manner as that .

But I have si n ce learned that it i s the habit

o f this fa m ily of fl yc a tc h e rs o n the approach o f
,

autumn to forsake the nest at night and trave l

, ,

southward to a milder clime .

 28

Wh o k nows but that their little hearts are so

sad at leaving the home in which they have bee n
,

so happy that they can n o t we l l endure a fina l

,

leave taking in the open su nlight ?

-

I felt very lone l y after they were gone for I ,

never expected to see them again .

But behold ! when the genial sunshine and the

gentle raindrops of the next spring b ro u ght back
the swelling leaf buds of the bough s I heard one , ,

day a lo w chirp at the garden gate

, .

A nd then two little birds clad in dull olive

, ,

brown flew in at the old nest on the bea m; and

,

I hailed their comi n g w ith de l ight .

O ne of them wa s Ph oebe s mate b ut the other

’

w as a shy little creature o f a much smal l er size

,

than the Ph oebe that I had known and l et me— ,

’
whisper a little secret i n your ear Ph oebe s mate
had come b ack with a second wife !
 M AT E
’
P H CE B E S .

TH E R E ’
S a l itt le b rown b ird on that l ow, le afy
b ough
you see ? D o yo u see ?
Do
He is calling his mate for I heard him j ust
, no w

S ay Ph oeb e a n d Ph oebe
, .
”

I do wonder wh a t secret he hol d s in his b reast

S ome good news it may b e
Fo r the shy l ittle mate sitting there on her nest
—
H is Ph oeb e s weet Ph oebe .

He is b rimf ul of joy and he sings all the day ;

,

But it s eems strange to me

Th at this glad merrymaker finds nothing to say
But Ph oeb e j ust Ph oeb e .
”

I sh o ul d thin k she might weary of such a dul l

so ng ,

But not she o h not she ;

, ,

It is music to h e r thro u gh the whole summe r

l o ng ,

G ood Ph oebe — fa ir Ph oebe .

 3
0

By an d b y th ey wi l l fin d so me wee b i rd s i n th a t

n est ,

—
H e and she h e an d she ;
An d they ll cra m them with tid b its the c h o i c e s t
’
,

and b est ,

An d so pro ud wi l l he be

That he ll al l h er name twi c e where he cal l s i t

’
c

once now ; ,

You will s ee yo u will see, ,

I f you ll watch him some d ay when he sits o n the

’

bough
—
With Ph oeb e his Ph oebe .

T E NT B UI L DE R S .

m
TH E gyp sies are coming ! T he gy psies are
co ing ! cried little May and s h e hurried into the
,

house and took her station at the window

, .

”
H o w do you know ? asked her brother as ,

he slowl y followed her to the window and l ooked

out
Because I can see their long cloth covered ,
-

wagons full of little stolen children .

But ho w do yo u kno w they are s l olm children ?

he said .
 31

Beca use I have heard that gyps ies do steal

chil d ren whenever they get a c h ance ; and I hope
they will not pitch their tents near o u r house fo r ,

I am afraid of them .

Why little Sister we have had tent builders a l l

, ,

aro u nd our house for months and I h ave never ,

heard you s ay a word

”
about it before .

“
Tent b u i l d e r s all
around o u r house ! a n ”

s we re d his sister in
“
great surprise Whe re .

are they pray ?

,

“
C ome and I will
,

Show you he replied

, .

By this time the

gypsy wagon had passed
well o ut of sight a n d ,
E gg L “ d B I t nY ! T “t s at a l 3” 3

B lad ;
so the l i ttle g i rl was n o t e

afraid to venture o ut .

Her brother led the way to a l arge apple tree

that stood in o n e corner of the garden .

“
L ook up at those boughs he said and tell “
,
”
,

me what you see .

’
I don t see anything but a l o t o f wo rms nests ’
,

she rep l ied .

“
Those are n o t worm s ne sts he an swered ’
,
.
 32

W o rms do n o t buil d nests like that Thos e a re .

silken tents and they are j ust as full as they c a n

,

be of the little workers that put them there .

“ ”
Then I want to see them said she , .

The b o y to o k up a long pole having a brush at

the en d of it ; thi s he dipped into a pai l of strong
lime water and t h rust it into o n e of the nests
, .

Behold ! do w n tumbled a l arge fami ly o f cate r

pillars each o n e of them nearl y two inches i n
,

length .

The heads of these creatures were black ; thei r

bodies were tinged with yellow marked wit h fi n e ly ,

crinkled black lines and there was a whitish l in e

,

running th e whole length of their backs .

O n each ring of the body there was a black spot ,

a n d in the middle o f each spot there was a d o t o f

bl ue ; th e n to o every ring of the b ody sent o u t

, ,

thin tufts of soft Short hairs , .

“
You se e these little busybodies wear gay colors ,

said the b oy .

L ittle May looked at the squirming caterpillars

fo r a few moments and then said , H ow is it th at ,

s o many of them happen to be living together o n

”
one apple tree ?
I wil l tell yo u he replied , .

O ne day a mother moth l aid about four hundred

,

eggs around the end of a twig or branch ; these

 34

As they grow older and l arger they find thei r ,

tent too small ; and t h en t h ey build it o u t so that ,

all can have ple n ty of room .

“
These infants see mto know how to take care
of thei r h ealth to o ; fo r they have only t wo meal s
,

a day and n o t even the smallest baby amo n g the m

,

thin k s of s u ch a thing as eating betwe en m eals .

“
And what is more they w ill n o t venture o u t,

when it rai n s ; they w ould rather go hungry than

e t their bodi e s wet
g .

But about the first w e ek in J une this happy ,

fa mily w il l begin to separate o n e from another , .

Then they will wander abo u t in a lonesome sort

of a wa till they fin a lly re a ch some Sh e ltered place
y ,

and th e n each o n e w ill weave fo r

itself a cocoo n .

This will be a sor t of silken w e b ,

and it would be a very frail affai r

i n deed o n ly th a t such cocoo n s a re
,

h e ld toge ther by a thin p a ste ; b u t

C
o c oo n
when this paste becomes dried i t
.

looks lik e y ell o w dust .

“
Th e y will st ay in th e se cocoons a little more
t h an two weeks and th e n th ey will come o ut full
,

”
gro wn moths .

“
But h o w c a n they ge t o u t o f a cocoon that i s
wove n of silk ? asked the littl e g i rl
”
 35

O h they moisten
, en d of it so as to make
o ne

it soft and then they can easily press through the

,

opening .

“
And now wou l d yo u l ike to see the mother ,

herself ? he inq u ired .

S he followed him to his room and he Sho wed ,

her a small cabinet havi n g a glass door I n this .

cabinet were two moth s pinned one above the ,

other ; b u t th e female moth was m uch l arger than

the m ale .

They were clothed i n a color of reddish brown ;

and each o f the fore wings wa s crossed by two
dull whitish lines that d id n o t run straight across
,

the wings but were a trifle slanting

, .

T he u pper portion o f their bodies was tufted

with short soft hairs S ome o f the se hairs we re
, .

brown some were yellow ; bu t the mother moth

,

had a few that were tinged w ith red .

May looked a t the insects very closely ; but

her brother noticed that sh e seemed to be d is
appointed .

“
Never mind said he ; th
, e se a re only the
moths of the tent caterpillar ; and now yo u shal l
.

come with me and I w ill show yo u some re al

g ypsy moths ; and when I t e l l y o u all about them ,

y ou will agree with me tha t they are rightly

”
n amed .
 36

E
R AL GY P S I E S .

L I TTLE May s brother had anoth er cab inet i n

’

which there wa s a large collection of insects ; and

when he opened the door of this o n e the l ittl e ,

girl again saw two moths .

“
O ne of these moths is a gypsy q ueen h e ,

said C an you te ll which one it is ?

“
I think it is the o n e t h at wears the soi l e d
“
white dress replied the child ; for it would be
,

j u st like a gypsy queen to wear such a dres s

a s that
”
.

“
Her brother smiled You are right said he .
, .

“
It is her mate that wears the coat o f brownis h
yellow and he is much sm a ller than she S ee
, .

how prettily h is hind wings are bordered at th e

margin with brown .
”

But they both have dark brown l ines o n thei r -

” “
fore wings said the girl and the fi ne fringe of
, ,

their edges i s broken b y — let me count yes , , ,

there are eight dark brown Spots along the edge -

of each w ing Isn t it pretty ?

.
’

“ “
! ery pretty he said b u t I can plainly se e
, ,

that yo u are n o t so well pleased w ith some of the

queen s finery
’
.
’

“
I do n o t call that fi n ery rep l ie d the girl , .
 37

Her dress is of a di rty white ; and h e r antenn a

are not so prettily feathered as those of her mate .

No I d o n o t li ke her at al l
, .

“
Besides I can n o t see why she i s any more a
gyp y q
s u een than the mother m oth o f the tent
cate rpillar in the other cabinet .
”

“
You are right replied her brother
,
“
S he is .

not a queen at all — that is only a title that I

have given her But sh e i s a real gypsy moth
.
,

and now I will tell yo u why She h as received this

n ame ; and then o u will see that She has a right
y
to it

Many years ago a gentleman wh o was studying

,

the habits o f moths b rought a few eggs of this

kind to our co u ntry from over the sea, .

“
O ne day he laid the mo n the Sill
,

of an open window and whe n he ,

'
turned to look fo r them they were
gone .

“
The wind h a d scattered th e m far
and wide ; and t his proved to be a
g reat misfortune a s yo u will pres
,

ently lea rn .

The gyp sy moth lays a large num

Gy p y M th E gg s o s .

ber o f cream yellow eggs ; a n d th ese

-

eggs she covers with soft hairs pl ucked from her

o w n body .
 38

S he tak es care to pl ace them on the unde r

si d e of leaves t wigs a n d branches in such a way

, , ,

that no harm can come to them ; and so nearly

every egg bri n gs forth a caterpi l lar .

E ven those eggs that were blown away by

the wind soon hatched o ut ; and I now will Sho w
”
you what the caterpillars were like .

Then little May saw pinned fas t to the back,

of th e cabinet a som ewhat shriveled up larva l

,
.
-

baby nearly two inches in l ength

, .

I t had a very black head ; an d its b o d y was

o f a browni s h yel l ow having a pale yellow line
,
-

run n ing alo n g the middle of the back O n each .

side o f this line w a s a ro w of spots five of which ,

were blue and the others were of a deep cri m

, son -

shade .

There were t ufts of hairs all alo n g

the sides of the body ; and although it was
clothed for the most part in b right co l ors
, , ,

it was an ugly thi n g to look at .

“
These caterpillars said her brother
, ,

are ve ry hungry creat u res ; and they

trave l about ev e rywhere devouring all the ,

tender green things that they chance to

,

find
“
.

3
3
“
When they h ave stripped a twig or 2 3
1
a b ranch of i ts leaves they spin a slende r
, M th , o ,
 39

sil k en thread and l et themselves down to the earth ;

and the n like the true gypsies that they are they
, ,

roam about til l they find something to e a t e lse

”
where .

But how can yo u

b e so cruel as to pin
”
them fast ? asked
the child .

O h I never run a
,

pin through the b ody

of a n
y insect while it
is al i ve little Sister ;
,

that would be crue l

indeed .

I put them in
Gy p y M th
s o s
a covered b o x and .

smother them with something that kills them i n

sta n tl ; and w h en I am quite sure that they are
y
dead I place them here in th e cabinet as yo u se e
,

them n o w ; and in that way I make a good use o f

them .

“
For by this means I have been able to Show
,

you a family o f gypsies th a t are much more to be

feared than th at small band o f s u n browned men-

and women w ho have pitched their tents in the

edge of the forest yon der .

I t is t rue such people as those may n o w and

,
 40

then carry off a few supp l ies from our garde n s ;

but they wi l l not destroy every green thing in their
way so as to leave n ot h ing behind t h em but wi th
,

ered vines and l eafless trees as these gypsy i n sects ,

do.

L ittl e May was silent fo r a moment and then she ,

“
said , These gypsy moths are very bad insects
indeed but after all they do not s tea l their babies
, ,

and our real grown up gypsies do

,
-
.
”

A nd with that she ran away to the attic to watch

, ,

at a safe distance that strange company o f restles s

,

rovers whose great great grandfathers l ike those - -

,

of the gypsy moth were born in a far away land ,

-

beyond the sea .

A L I TT L E CA PT I V E .

So Madam I ve caught yo u at l ast ;

, ,
’

Pray why did you venture so near ?

,

Your four dainty pinions are fast ;

Ti s useless to struggle my dear
’

, .

Ah little you ve gained pretty o n e

,
’

, ,

In breaking your self woven chain -

,

To flaunt your fine robes in the s u n

If y o u must a captive remain .
 4 2

J ust b efore they leaped o u t of the water the ,

female laid a number of dark roun d eggs inclosed

, ,

in a thin gluey case

, .

This egg case of the frog swe l ls out in the water

and looks li k e a mass of jelly I t tak es abo ut a .

month fo r the egg o f a frog to hatch out ; and the

little creature that comes o u t of it is calle d a tadpole .

J ust as soon as it i s hatched it b egins to swi m ,

about in search of food and it i s then very active ;

,

but it wou l d q uickly die

if it were taken o ut o f
the water I t has a p a ir .

o f small horny j aws with ,

which it feeds upon soft

animal foo d a s well a s ,

upon the ten d er roots and

Th F g
e ro .

leaves of water plants .

U p o n its upper jaw there is a row of very fine

teeth but the l ower jaw is toothless .

I ts wide mouth extends more than half way round

i ts head and i ts two nostrils open upon the inside
,

o f the head .

J u s t back of each bulging eye there is a round

patch o f thin tight skin that forms the eardrum
, .

This tadpole or baby frog is a queer looking

, ,
-

creature ; it has a large head a long flat tail and no

, ,

limbs at al l .
 43

But it does n ot remain in this condition l ong ; for

p rett y soon it gets a pair of hind legs and then a ,

p air of fore l egs ; and as soon a s its fore legs appear ,

it has a tongue Then it can see hear taste and

.
, , ,

s mel l
.

Its hind legs gro w very fast and as they get larger
,

a n d larger its tail becomes smaller and smaller ti l l

, ,

a t l as t it disappears altogether .

E ggs Ta dpoles
. , and Fro gs .

But the tai l of a tadp ol e never drops o ff although ,

some very ignorant peop le declare that it does If .

they would collect a few tadpoles and put them into

a wide mouthed jar they could easily watch their
-
,

g rowth and
, the n they would s e e fo r themselves that

the tai l becomes a part of the young frog s body ’

.
 44

N ow as I have to l d yo u before our baby frog c a n

, ,

n o t l ive o u t of the water H ow then does h e

.
, ,

breathe ? I wi ll tel l yo u .

O n each side of h is head there is a small tuft

that is made up of thin horny plates These tufts
, .

are called gills ; and as the water passe s through

these small gills it is separated from the air that is
,

in it and i n this way the l ittle tadpole gets all t h e

,

air that he needs to support life .

But as soon a s he becomes a frog he can n o ,

longer live all the time under the water ; for he is

then a changed creature and instead of breathing
,

through gills he has a pair o f lungs

, .

S o when he comes to the surface of the water for

air he gets h i s first glimpse of the great world
,

around him ; and what a strange sight it must be !

But while frogs breathe through lungs they also ,

breathe through the pores o f the skin which have ,

to be kept moist most o f the ti m e ; and if a frog is

left o u t of the w ater too long he will die , .

It takes about five years fo r these animals to get

their full gro wth from the time they are hatched
,

from the egg ; and a s they become too large fo r

their skins they pull them o ff over their heads
, .

Their cousins the toads do the same thi ng with

, ,

their warty hides ; and both toads and frogs have

been known to live to be ten or twelve years of age .
 45

But to ads unlike frogs can live al l the time on th e

, ,

l a nd ; and they never visit the water except to lay

their eggs there .

Now let us see wha t became of our two friends

o n the o l d mossy log .

Ah we l l they had not b een Sitting on the l og

, ,

very long when they heard a loud noise that fright

,

ened them and in an instant they were bac k in the

,

wa ter a nd were lost to Sight

, .

After awhile they came up to the surface and

, ,

leaped upon the log as before .

Then the l argest one said in a harsh croaking , ,

tone ,
“
Well I wonder wh at wi l l happen next ?
,

There seems to be no peace fo r us anywhere .

If we had only tried to be contented when we

were tadpoles how much happier we might have
,

been ; but young ones never know when they are

well o ff .

Fo r I remember we ll that I could hard l y wait to

see th e last b it o f my tail disappear — I was i n such a ,

hurry to put on this shini ng spotted coat ; and now ,

that I have it on see what trouble it brings me

, .
”

O n each side of the frog s nec k there was a ’

large sac which fil l ed with air every time that he

spoke ; and that is why his voice had such a
croaking tone .

“
What you say is ve ry true replied his mate ; ,
 46

b ut it d oes seem good to have a tongue in o n e s ’

head after al l
, .
”

There was no harsh c roaki ng sound in her

,

voice fo r a mother frog has no air sacs i n the

,

sides o f her neck to produce it .

As she Spo k e she darted her to n gue out ve ry

,

swiftl y and caught a large fly that went buzzing

,

past ; and present l y her mate did

the same thing .

Now the to n gue o f these ani

mals is l arge flat and fleshy and , , ,

is tied fast to the jaws in front so ,

W d m f
zgz
J 3 a g ° n
that w he n it is at rest it points ,

g '

backwa rd toward the t h roat

,
.

But i f an insect of any kind ventures too near ,

out flies this very nimble member a n d glues it ,

fast. Fo r on the tong ue of both the frog and

the toad t h ere is al ways a thick fluid that is as
,

sticky as gl ue .

But the poor frogs did not have a c hanc e to

enjoy their banquet very lo n g ; fo r n o t far away
there wa s a group of b oys w ith a fishing basket
and a strongly woven net a n d as soon as they ,

spied the frogs they crept very softly towards

,

them .

“
I wonder what a frog would do without its
hea said o n e o f the boy s .
 47

O r without its brain said another , .

At this both frogs held up their heads and

,

listened .

“
Did you hear that ? croaked the larger one .

What wo uld I do without my brain indeed ! ,

Why it is my brai n that sets me to th i nki n g

, .

A n d as for my head it is fully one third the

,

si z e of my b ody so how could I do without

,

”
that ?
Then he raised one of h is short fore legs and
pointed towards his head with h is four sm a ll fi n
gers ; and at the same time he stretc h ed out h is
,

very long hind legs spreading apart the five

,

w ebbed toes o n each foot as if getting ready for

a leap .

But b efore he was aware of it both he and h is ,

mate were caught in the fine meshes of a net ,

and were dragged from the lo g .

As the boys were walki n g along with their pri z e ,

they met their teacher o n the way .

“What are you going t

o do with those frogs ?

sa id he .

“ We shall b roil their hind legs and have them

”
fo r our dinner they replied
,
.

A t this the male frog opened his w ide mo uth

, ,

and gave such a loud croak that the boys dropped

their basket on the gro und .
 4 8

If you wil l come wi th m e

‘
said the teacher °

, ,

I wil l place a foot of one of your frogs under

my microscope ; then you can see the fine drops
o f blood in the thin we b that ho l ds its long toes

together .

The boys were de l ighted ; and very soon they

had the pleasure of seeing this web through a
glass that made even the smallest atoms
look very large .

The little drops of blood followed one

another in such a way that one of the
“
boys said Why they look ever s o much
, ,

like the fine grains o f red sand that fall

”
from the upper part of an hourglass !
They were never wea ry o f watching it ;
but the teacher said that it w ould be cruel
to keep the animals o u t of the water to o
F °f
long and that he thought they had earned
?g
0 a
,

ro
their liberty and ought to be carried back
'

to the pond .

S o they were placed in a tub of water and ,

covered up carefully till after dinner

, .

But when the cover of the tub wa s removed be ,

hold the male frog w as the only o n e to be found !

,

What co u ld have become of the other ? The

cover w as put o n so secure ly that neither of the
animals could leap out But there sa t the larger
.
 SO

upon his he l pless mate and gulped her down

, ,

without the least scrup l e whatever ; but it is n o

more than fair to say that had she been the l arger
and stronger of the two she would have devoured
,

him instead of b ei ng eaten herse l f

, .

Ah Mr R a na yo u n o doubt greatly enjoyed

, .
,

that dinner ; b ut it might possibly have taken away

the keen edge of your appetite had you know n ,

that it was to b e your last meal !

The C o mm on Toa d

A P LA I N S TO R Y .

’
Ia clumsy awkward toad
M , ,

A nd I hop al ong the road

‘
Ti s the only way we toads can well meander ;
While in yonder marshy bog ,

L eaps my rel ative the frog , ,

! ery near my aunt the water salamander

, .
 S I

And if you should ever stra y

Near a s l imy pool some day , ,

A nd al o ng i ts gras sy margin chance to loiter ,

Do not pass it lightly by ,

For it is the spot where I

Was born a lively litt l e tadpole in the water
, .

And althou gh I take no pride

I n my ugly warty hide , ,

Yet they say within my head there is a jewel ;

But I hope you will not tell ,

Fo r you all know very well , ,

That some boys (whom I could name ! are very cruel .

I m a homely harmless thing

’

, ,

I catch insects on the wi ng ,

And in this I serve yo u al l i f is my duty ;

, ,

And now tell me which is best ,

To be useless and well dressed ,

O r be useful even tho ugh I have no beauty ?

,

TH E M OU RN I N G C LO A K .
1

IT was a very sunny day in March j ust such a ,

day as o n e migh t mistake fo r April .

But April had n o t come yet ; fo r there were

1
! a n- '
es sa A n- ti o pa , th e n a
- ’
m
e of a pa rti c ula r k i nd of butterfly .
 5
2

patches of sno w here and there upon the hi l ltops ,

and the air wa s n o t without a touch o f frost .

Yet it really did seem so much like spring that

many a shy thi n g peeped
o u t from i ts hidden nook ,

a s if wondering whethe r

th e long wintry month s

,

were really over .

The little pussy cats of th e

willow s a t in double rows along
!

the stem all ready to throw o ff

,

their scaly cloaks so as to make a

fi ne display of their soft mouse ,

colored fur .

A nd the squirrels and chipmunks

sported about as if they had never seen
a hard crusted snowdrift in all their li ves
, .

Far do w n in the meadow there wa s a

great heap o f stones from which the ,

snow had melted away ; and even this

rough h ard pile held i ts share of win
,

’
t e r s hidden treasures a s you will
y W ll W
,
Puss l O S .

presently se e .

For i n a deep space between two large stones

there was the f a int flutter o f a tiny sash of gold .

Wa s it the gi ld e d b o rder of a fairy queen s man tle ? ’

Ah but there wa s another and still another !

, ,
 53

A nd some of them had the edges bad l y soiled and

tor n
.

There we re so many in fact that it l ooked a s if

, ,

there might be a whole band of fairies shut up in

that strong sto n e fortress
, .

A nd s o it proved that a l arge troupe of fairy

b eings had been caught in a November snowstorm ,

and had fled to this stony refuge for safety .

And there they had remained during the long ,

drea ry winter waiti n g for the warm b reath of sp ring

,

to float over their hidi n g place and set them f ree .

Now can you guess hat this fairy circle wa s

w ?

I w ill tell yo u I t was nothing more n o r less than

.
‘

a family of butterflies that had hidden themse l ves

away during the winter so a s to come o u t and gre et
,

the pale sunbeams of the earl y sp ri n g .

The helpless almost l ifeless little creatures w ere

,

v ery closely huddle d together as if to keep o n e

a nother w a rm ; an d th ey had n o doubt found it

quite a Safe Strongho l d fo r their wi n ter quarters .

E ach o n e had its w ings folded close ly tog e th e r

above i ts back as if it had settled do w n fo r a very
,

long na p .

The wi n gs of this family o f butterflies a re of a

purplish brown above prettily edged with a broad
,

b and o f bu ff ; and near this yello w edge there is a

row of pale bl ue spots
-
.
 54

But the under part of the wings is of a much

darker color ; it is of a dull blue black marked here
-
, ,

and there with a few faint streaks of a l ighter h ue

, .

I t is perhaps on account of its som b er Shade that

this insect is sometimes cal l ed the mourning cloak .

M o u rn i ng C l oa k B utte rfl i es .

N very many butterflies are able to live through

ot

the cold weather ; but quite a nu mber of this family

may often be found in midwinter sticking fast to ,

the rafters of o ld buildings and in the cracks o f

,

stone wall s .
 55

When found in this way they a p pear to b e d ead ; ,

b u t if they are placed in the warm sunshine t h ey ,

w ill soon Show signs o f life and become a s active ,

a s ever .

They are very welcome visitors in early spri ng ,

even though their pretty

w ings are often somewhat
faded and torn .

A very close observer o f 1

i n sects and of their habits

tells u s that this butterfly if ,

disturbed will often fold up

,

its legs and appear to be

dead I wonder if it thinks
.

i t will escape harm by doing

that !
I ts la rval babies are homely
thi n gs and they are hungry
,

things too ; they feed on the

L f th M i g a rv a o e o urn n
leaves of the poplar the elm ,
Cl k
,
oa .

and the willow .

A nd l ike their parents they huddle together as ,

c l osely as possible ; so c l osely indeed that it does , ,

see mas if they would all feed on the same leaf if

they cou l d .

S ometimes they crowd so thickly upon a singl e

1
D J A Li t
r
. N Y S t t E t ml gi t
. . n n er, . . a e n o o o s .
 6

b ranch that they b end it down very l ow with thei r

weight S o yo u may b e sure that it does n o t tak e
.

them a great while to strip a tree of its green leaves .

These black bristly creatures are marked w ith

,

very small white dots ; and there is a row of eight

,

brick red Spots along the back

-
.

A s they creep alo n g over the trees they eat and ,

grow a n d eat and grow while al l along their track

, ,

may be found their shriveled cast o ff clothing ,

-
.

A n d n o w should yo u chance to come across a

,

family o f these ugly larval children you need hav e ,

no fear o f their black bristly spines fo r they will

, ,

n o t h arm ou
y .

A nd if yo u will gather a few of them and feed ,

them on the leaves that they like best they will ,

enter the pupa state after a time ; and then in a ,

little le ss than two weeks they will all come fo rt h

, ,

each o n e clad in a mourning cloak .

A G I FT ED F A M I LY .

D o yo u kno w the brown thrasher ? He is ow n

cousin to th e mocki n g bird a n d is a noted si n ger
, .

H e w e a rs a co at o f cinnamon red trimmed with ,

b rown a n d marked at the edges w ith lines of white

, .

H i s vest i s o f a somewh a t lighter shade and is ,

streaked with da rk b rown lines:

-
 58

leaves and was line d with fine t h read l i k e ro o ts ;

, ,

but there was no mud plaster to make it firm an d

strong .

These b irds build so low that the rough wind s

can n o t shake their nests so they do n o t need to,

make them very secure .

Within the nest the mother bird laid five

greenish white eggs dotted with re d dish brown ;
-
,

they were pretti l y ovate i n form and were nearly ,

an inch in length .

N o w it happened one d ay whi l e the o wners of

, ,

this small abode were away from home that a large , ,

black snake took it upon himse lf to visit their quar

ters in search of fresh eggs
, .

He had hardly made his way through the tangled

briers when the two birds returned and finding the , ,

intruder s head so near their open door they flew

’

at him in a great fury .

They beat him with their strong wings and ,

pecked at h i s head and eyes with their hard horny ,

beaks till he was forced to glide swiftly away

,

through the Sharp thorny briers that pierced and

,

stu n g him o n either side .

S oon afterwards the mother bird took her place

upon the nest and she did not leave it til l the eggs
,

were hatched .

H er mate kept her constantly supplied with b ee

 5
9

Fi ght b etw ee n th e B row n Th ras he rs a nd the S n a k e .

tles crickets and other insects and I am afraid that

, , ,

he sto l e a kerne l of corn now and then from a newly

planted hil l But the large number of insects th at
.

he destroyed more than made amends fo r the theft .

 O ne day a man , was stro l ling in the fie l d s
wh o ,

came upon the nest of sma ll fl edgeli n gs and carried ,

one of the mhome with him to raise a s a pet .

The parent birds pursued him scoldi n g loudly , ,

but final ly returned to the nest to look after the

others that were still left to them .

The young thrasher was put into a cage and he ,

grew to be ve ry tame a n d had many cunni ng ways

, .

When a crust of bread was thrown into the cage ,

he would pick it up and carry it to his saucer o f

water and soak it we l l before eating it .

L ike his parents he was fond o f crickets beetles

, , ,

wasps and al l insects having a crusty hard cover

, ,

ing for their b od ies .

O ne day a large wasp was dropped into h is food

basket H e caught it at o n ce and knocked and
.
, ,

thras h ed it about till its wings were s o b roken that

it could n o l onger fly .

Then h e th rew it down o n its b ac k a n d eyed it ,

very closely to s e e if it had a sting ; and to make ,

h imself very sure o n this point he took up the ,

i n sect s abdo men in h i s bil l a n d gave it a tight

’

s q uee z e so as to make the poison fl o w out before

, ,

he ventured to swallo w it .

Then he gu lped it down with a relish a n d tur n ed ,

his pretty head from side to side a s if asking for ,

m o re
.
 61

AS he did so there was a proud l oo k in h is

,

golden yellow eye that seemed to say O h I am

-
“
, ,

a knowing fello w ; but it is not to be wonde red at

!

fo r I b elong to a very gifted family .

A VA I N L I TT L E M OT H .

I K N O W I must be a lovely creature el s e why do ,

“
people ca ll me the beautiful wood nymph
L ook at my pure white fore
legs marked here and there with
,

brown spots .

S ee the dark purple brown ,

-

b and t h at is se t along the edge ‘

o f them I S it n o t pretty ?
.

This ba n d h as a narrow h ead

ing of oli ve green a n d there is a ,

slender wavy li ne of white run

,

ning through it .
Th W d N y mph e oo

Y o u will s e e m y hi n d wings

a re of a rich ye llow ; and they too are edged o n , ,

the hind bo rder with a deep purple b ro w n band ,

-
.

My fi n e ly shaped yello w body is dott e d with

-

s mall pearly scal e s and strip e d with n a rro w bands

, ,

of black .

I wear tiny white mu fflers on my fore l egs b u t ,

 62

my other legs al l four of them are black and so is

, , ,

my head .

My anten n a are very gracefu l b ecause they are

so long and thread l i k e ; they are n o t feathered like
the antenn a of most m oths Is it an y wonder that .

I amcal led b eaut iful ?

I was as handsome when I was a larva l b aby as
I am n o w for I was clad i n a pretty bl ue dress
, ,

banded with twelve orange stripes and each band ,

wa s dotted with black .

A re yo u q uite sure that you did not see me when

I had on that dress ? You must h ave seen me then ,

although you may not have known my name .

I used to v isit your grapevine often and ofte n in

those days ; for I was very fo n d of chewing the
young j uicy leaves and sometimes my friends and
, ,

I would strip the vines bare .

Then we would go to t h e climbi ng creeper above

your doorway and take a good n ip at the leaves
,

and stalks of t h at .

We were as pretty a family of l arval infants as

one would care to look at ; our colors were very
bright and our heads as well as our feet were of
, , ,

a deep ora nge hue

-
.

But we did n o t always keep together on the

same leaves and if yo u had looked for us almost
,

any hot day in A ugust you would have fou n d us

,
 53

resting singly o n the under side of a coo l gree n

, , ,

le af
.

N ow it is the habit of some of our family af ter ,

they have eaten all they need to bore into the ,

stem of a plant or so m etimes into a piece of wood

, ,

and make it their winter quarters But I was too .

wise to do that for I wanted a still safer place for

,

myself .

S o one night late in S eptember I crept soft l y

, ,

down a s l ender vine and buried myself i n the

gro und There I was a help less pupa an under
.
, ,

ground ba b y without so much as a cocoon to

,

cover me Was I not ve ry brave ?

.

But it was the ri ght thing to do after a l l fo r I ,

s l ept there safely through all the cold winter and ,

i t was early i n J une before I awoke from my long

nap Then I came up from the dark earth
. .

I was very weak and feeble at first but it was ,

not l ong b efore I found myself sailing gaily about

in this handsome robe that I am wearing to day -
.

A nd now I will te l l you a strange thing about

some of my relations There i s quite a large
.

family of them and they fed o n the leaves of a

,

fine creeper that ran over the walls and windows

of a city church .

S o when they had eaten and eaten till they were

satisfied they crept inside the ch urch and hid them
,
 64

se lves under the edge of a soft woolen carpet , .

What a snug co z y corner the y had fo und to be

, ,

sure !
Then with their sharp jaws the y b it o ff some
threads here and there and soon they had a fine
, ,

warm place for their winter quarters .

But it turned out that this was n o t a safe place

for them at all ; they might better have gone down
into the cold earth as I did .

For in a very Short time the poor helpless things

, ,

were discovered and I have heard that not one of

,

them wa s left to tell the tale .

TH E P A T C H ED C OAT .

W H AT an odd looking coat you have on ! said

-

a buzzing J une beet le to a larval infant of the

common clothes moth .

“
Y e s it is made up of a go od m
, any colors ,

“
replied the other ; but you will not wonder at that
when I tell y o u that I was b orn i n a rag bag .

“ ”
Born in a rag bag ? said the beetle and he ,

went flying and bu zz ing about the room for nearly

five minutes before he spoke again .

Then he came back and lit on the soft wo ol en

,
e

rug where the plump larval i nfant wa s at work .

 66

A nd it wa s a good place for as soon as we came,

out of the shell we found o ur food ready for us

, .

S o we gnawed and gnawed everything within

our reac h an d covered our bodies with the bits
,

that were left .

“
S o me of these scraps were red some were ,

white and others were b l ue ; that is why my c oat

,
’

as you call it has so many col ors in it

, .

But by a n d by I shall get m ,y growth ; then I

shal l close one end of my case and lie still with , ,

my head toward the open end through all the long ,

wi nter .

“
A nd when the Spring comes I shall c h ange to ,

a pupa ; then l sh al l b e a real baby moth and i n ,

about three weeks

from th a t time I shal l
leave my c l ose nar ,

ro w q uarters and b e ,

”
a bab y n o longer .

But how will you

get out of that hollow
Th C l th M th
e o es
case
o
?
.
in q uired the ”

other .

O h I h ave so me small Sharp spines on my

, ,

body and I can use them in creeping towards th e

,

mouth of the case ; then I will crawl c l ear out of

it and leave it forever .
 67

It wi l l be of no further use to me for when I ,

come forth I shall flit a bout o n four tiny bu ff ,

c o l ored wi n gs. I sha ll l oo k very pretty the n for ,

o n my forehead there will be a thic k si l k en tuft of ,

oran g e ye ll o w.

“
At nightfal l I will dart about here and there
, ,

into dark closets where I can find so m e thic k ,

winte r dre s s es h a n g in g up o r s o me soft woolen

, ,

blank e ts pa c ked away ; and maybe I sha l l g e t a

chance t o creep in a mong s o m e ni c e war mfurs or

fe athers ; a n d when I find as good a place for my

eggs a s my mother found fo r hers I s h all lay ,

h undreds o f them .

With that she bit o ff some b right fu zz y threads

, ,

o f the woolen rug and went o n with her mending

, .

A nd the J une beetl e flew round a n d round and ,

made a loud whi zz ing noise a s muc h as to say

, ,

I do wonder !

A C R U S TY F L L O W E .

I K N O W where a clear crystal strea mflows through

a deep gorge in th e mountains S ometim e s it .

passes over high rocks and then dashes down like

,

white s ea foam to its stony bed below .

At other places where the rocks are not so high

, ,

it falls in thin sheets or in shining silvery t hreads

, , .
 68

It is a pretty stream and I often wander along

,

i ts banks ; for I am ac q uainted with some queer

little people that dwell there and they live right
,

in the wate r too

, .

There is one strange fel l ow in particu l ar that I

, ,

want to tell you about But he hides himself i n

.

Th e C ray fis h .

d eep holes and under stones during the day ; so

o n e must understand this S l y trick o f his in orde r

to find him at ho me .

L et me tell you h o w he l ooks H is b ody i s l ong

.
,

and somewhat flattened and he is clad in a sti ff

, ,

h orny coat that i s very hard and stro n g

,
.
 66

B u t h is coat never b ecomes ve ry ragged ; for h e

gro ws so fast that he has to put on a new o n e every
year .

And very often he h as a hard time i n pu l ling the

old coat o ff ; for the new thi n garment is al ready ,

there fitted closely to his b ody Its color is of a

, .

l i ght yellowish b rown at first b ut after a time it

, , ,

grows darker .

A nd now I hope you wil l b e l ieve me when I tell ,

you that this fellow has n o less than five pai rs of

wal k ing legs and six pairs of swimming l egs .

A nd what is more should he chance to l ose o n e

, ,

of h is legs he would have anot h er in its p l ace in

, ,

the course of a year .

B u t he needs them al l every one of them as I , ,

can plainly prove to you .

H is swimming legs are generally called swim

“
ming feet and sometimes they are called swim
,

merets The word swimmeret means a little

.
” “ “

swimmer .

The swimming feet when not in use are almost, ,

entire l y hidden under his large abdomen which i s ,

made up of many plates that end i n a wide fin at

the tail .

H is mate has smal l l eafl ik e p l ates at the end of

,

her swimming feet an d thes e are edged with a fine

, ,

hai ry fringe .
 70

S he l ays a l arge number of e

gg S
'

wh ic h she car
ries about attached to this fringe .

I t seems a l itt l e odd that this creature sh o uld

have ten walk ing l egs beside s his te n swimmerets ;
but he is not b ui l t like a fish and he would soon
,

become tire d of swimming about al l the time .

H is first two legs are the largest and each one ,

of them en d s in a long claw that is divided like a

pair of nippers .

A nd what a tight pinch he can give with those

nippers ! The tiny fishes in the stream know a ll
about it ; and they dart away i n terror the moment ,

they get a glimpse of him .

But t h is is not all fo r he has five pairs of jaw

,

feet besi d es ; so he is we l l armed to seize upon the

weaker a n imals in the water and he seldom goes
,

without a good dinner .

H e likes to make a meal of small fishes water ,

snails larval bab ies and the like

, , .

H e also h as two pairs of antenn a and the out ,

side pair is very lo ng ; he can move the mup and

do wn and turn or cur ve them at his will This l o n g
, .

pair he uses to feel with ; and the small antenn a

are used to hear with .

But his compound eyes are the q ueerest of all ;

for they are set on two pegs and he can push them
'

o u t o r pu l l them in as he pleases
, .
 I

Now this curious fe l low i s called th e crayfish or ,

c raw fi s h though he i s really a crab fish ; for he is

,

own cousin to the common crabs that are found

along the seashore .

H ave yo u e ve r see n a soft shelled crab ?

.
-

When the salt water crabs first Shed their coats

-

they are cal l ed soft s h elled crabs and are gathered

-

i n large numbers fo r food .

But they d o not all shed their coats every year ,

as h as been proved ; for a f ull grown crab of this -

sort was once found covered with oyster shells of

five years growth S o it is plain that he must have
’
.

worn the same coat fo r five years at least , .

The salt water crab of this ki n d has one of the

-

hands much la rger and stronger than the other .

H e uses either or both of t h em for feeding h imself ,

but with the l arger one he digs in the sand .

N o w withi n the b ody of a crab there are fou nd ,

at certain times of the year two hard balls that , ,

are of the nature of lime ; t h ey are often called

crab s sto n es a nd sometimes crab s eyes
’

,
”
,
’
.

But i n some st range man n er the substance of

these balls is changed so a s to form the hard o u t
‘

, ,

side covering of the animal s body ’

.

And it is j ust in t h is way that the small crusty

fellow i n the mountai n streams gets a new coat fo r
him self every year of h is li fe .
 WAS IT A SH A D OW ?
O NEsunny afternoon in summer
1
time a water boatman and a skater
,

chanced to meet o n the su rface of a smal l

pond Now both of these insects belong
.

to the water bug family and that i s why ,

Th W t e a er
they happened to be travel i ng by water B tm , a an .

instead of goi ng about by lan d .

H alloa friend S kipjack shouted the b oatman

, ,

would yo u like to take a trip with me to the bot

to mo f this pond ?
“
Thank you I am not a swimmer replied the
, ,

“
other so I do n o t care to go to the bottom so
, ,

”
long as I can stay on top .

O h I see ans wered the boatman ; my l ong hind

, ,
”
,

legs were made for swimming and your sprawl ,

e rs fo r skating ; so it ,

is j u st as well fo r
each one to stick to
his trade .

He h ad hardly
spoken the last word
Th S k t e a er .

when he made a dive

for the bot tom and was o u t of sight i n an instant .

O f th H y d m t
1 — b g
'
ne o e w t-
ro -
e ra , a a er u .
 74

A nd he h a d very good cause for b eing glad ,

too ; fo r if he h ad to uc h ed those creatures with so

'

much a s a single toe of his foot they would have ,

t h ro wn out all about them a very disagreeable

milky fluid .

Th e Water B eetl e a nd Larv a , a nd the

“
Water Ti ge r
.

Pretty soon there was a sligh t ripple o n th e

water and in a moment more up came a large
, ,

divi n g beetle to the su rface .

H is body w a s also oval i n shape and so flat , ,

 75

above and be l ow that he looked like a littl e boat

,

as he sped along over the waves .

The skater watched him a fe w moments and ,

“
the n said Pray Mr Diver have you seen any
, , .
,

thing of my friend the water boatman in your

.
, ,

travels ?
“ “
Y es replied the ot h er
, I saw some young
.

water tigers runni ng about after h i monly a short ,

time before I came to the top .

”

“ ” “
Water tigers ? said the other What are .

”
they ?
'

They are very hungry larval infants with ,

stro ng Sha rp j aws and t h ey live at the bottom o f

, ,

the pond where they can find plenty to eat A nd

, .

a fi n e ti me they have of it to o I wa s once a baby

, .

tiger myself so I ought to know all about that kind

,

of life .

Many and many a time have I s n ipped o ff

the tails of the little tadpoles and of the young ,

fishes ; and I would n o t mind even n o w to get

hold of
The skater gave a sudden j erk backwards and ,

when the diver looked arou nd he wa s nowhere to ,

be seen .

We l l that seems a little strange s a id he

, , .

C an it be possible that all this time I was talking

with a Shadow ?
 76

A LM O S T A B I R D .

Do you s ee that large green worm creeping

,

upon the tomato vines ? I ts thick stout body ,

i s ful ly three inches in length .

It is an ugly thing
to look at but it w ill ,

not hurt you ; that

sharp horn upon its
tai l can not harm
you in the l east .

S ee those whitish ,

slanting stripes along

the sides of its body .

They make q uite a

pretty tri m ming fo r
i ts green coat do ,

they n o t ?
Th T mt W m
e o a o or .

Take it home with

y o u and put it into a panful of earth
, C over it over
.

with tomato leaves o r the leaves o f the potato ; i t is

quite as fond of one kind a s of th e other .

But yo u must look after it once i n a whi l e ; fo r

a s soon a s it has eaten e n ough of the leaves it will

bury itself at the bottom o f the pan .

There it will build an earthen cocoon and be

 77

come a pupa ; and i ts pupa case wil l be of a

reddish brown co lor
-
.

I t will have a long sle n der tongue case b ent

, ,

down from the body so a s to touch the breast and

Shaped somewhat like the handle of a pitcher .

Think of a little creature having

so long a tongue that it ha s to be in
closed in a separate c ase even in its ,

babyhood !
When the long winter is over it will ,

waken from its Sleep Then a poor .

,

weak moth with feeble crumpled

, ,

wings will make its way up from the

,

soil in the pa n .

Push a stick down into the soil so ,

as to lend it a helping hand It is the .

most that yo u can do for it and that ,

is q uite enough It will soon creep P P C ° °f th ° U a aS

T mt w m
.

o a o or
to the top of th e stick and when its
'

wings b ecome dry and strong i t wi l l need no ,

farther aid from y o u .

H ave you ever seen a humming bird ? Well ,

your l ittle moth wil l look very much like o n e In .

”
fact it is often called a h ummi ng bird moth
,
-
.

This insect has a stout body ; a n d o n each side

of the b ody are five round orange colored spots en ,
-

ci rcled with black .

 78

I tswi n gs are narrow and pointed of a gray

,

color and marked with dark lines ; but the fore

,

wings longer and broader than the hind ones .

Th e H u mmi g B i d
n -
r

I ts tongue i s a good deal lo nger than i ts body ;

and when not i n use it is coiled up li k e the spring
,

o f a watch. No wonder that it n eeded a separate

case for itself !
 79

This tongue is for sucking up the sweets of

flowers ; and as the insect flits around a mo n g the
pretty blossoms it makes a l o w humming n o ise
, , .

It chooses the early morning hour o r the even ,

i n g t wilight to go i n se arch O f i ts food ; and t h e n ,

if yo u watch it very closely yo u may see its l o ng ,

tongue as it darts it q uickly into the s weet blos

,

soms of the h oneysuckle the morni n g glory an d— , ,

other flowers havi ng deep tube l ike throats , .

“
Almost a bird yo u will say to yourself as you
,
”
,

watch its movements ; and you will wonder more

and more tha t so beautiful a creature could ever
have lain hidden away under the ugl y larval Skin
“ ”
of a green tomato worm .

T AB B Y the house cat lay on a soft rug by the

, ,

O pen door looking wistfu l ly toward the to p of a

,

small cherry tree that stood close at ha nd .

“ ”
There is a robin s nest in th a t tree said S h e
’

“
to herself and there are some young birds in it
, .

What a tender morsel o n e O f them would make

for my breakfast if ,

J ust then the h ousemaid chanced to spy the

k een eyes of the cat directed to ward th e tree and ,
 80

she gave her a soun d box on the ear that sent h er

flying into the b ac k yard .

But Tabby was not to be cheated out of a good

meal by such treat ment as this ;
and she stole softly back toward
the foot O f the tree and crouched
low down in the grass so that She ,

was al m ost hidden from sight .

“ “
I will wait S h e said till one
, ,

O f the old bi rds flies down from

i ts perch then I wil l pounce upon

,

it and begin my breakfast on that

, ,
Th R b i
’
N t e o n s es .

an d if
All at once a l arge heavy stone came whizzing
,

through the air and barely misse d hitting her on

the head.

With a loud me o w she bounded away and

“ - -
,

hid herself
in one c o r -

ner O f the
fence .

N o w th i s
nest on the
bough was
T b by a
well built
of mosses straws and dried s tems p l astered to
, , ,

gether with mud and wa s lined with soft grass

, .
 ,

Beetles grubs moths caterpillars an d cutworms

, , , , ,

by the hundred were carried to that young family

,

every day ; and yet four tiny hungry bills were

a lways op e n calli ng fo r more
, .

S O they grew and grew and pretty soon the l ittle

,

nest was too smal l to hold all O f them together ;

and o ne day as one of them was crowded to the
,

ve ry edge of the nest he tumb l ed out and fel l to

,

the gro und .

’
Alas alas ! Tabby s w a tchful eyes beheld the
,

N o w i s my chance She said and in a

”
mishap .
, ,

moment sh e was on the spot .

As she moved her tail from side to side she ,

l ooked very fierce indeed almost as fierce as her ,

wi l d cousins the tigers and the l ions that roam the

, ,

forests in search of their prey .

S uddenly she m ade a spring to seize the he l pless

baby bird with her Sharp claws .

This w a s more than the terror s tricken parents -

cou l d endure and s weeping down fro mthe bough

, ,

they hovered above her form and dealt her several

hard blows with their wings .

Then they pecked her body with their sharp

bills and pulled tufts of hair out of her head
, .

It was hard very hard for her to yie l d up her

, ,

prize ; but the birds fought her S O furiously that

sh e was glad to e s cape ; and with a cry of rage
 33

an d pain S h e leaped away leaving man y tufts of

,

her soft fur behind her .

The housemaid hearing the clamor made by

,

th e old birds came to the door and sa w the

, ,

helpless infant lying o n the ground S h e took it .

up tenderly and replaced it i n the nest where i t ,

soon cuddled down as happy and contented as if

nothing had happened to it .

When the p arent birds found that the i r darl ing

was unhar m ed they fl itte d about from bough to
,

bough and chirped their gratitude and delight ;

,

but it was a l ong time before they would leave

t h eir little home unguarded .

When one of them went away i n search of food ,

the other wou l d remain o n the bough to watch

their treasures .

I t was not many days ho wever before the young

, ,

b irds b egan to try their wings ; and one morning

the whole fam ily fl e w away from their leafy home ,

and did not come back .

As for the cat S he had learned a usefu l l esson ;

,

fo r when the parent birds returned the next

spring and took possession of their O ld q uarters
, ,

Tabby never so much a s cast a glance toward the

tree.

I will not go near them sh e me owed to ,

- -

herse lf ; for if I do
“
here sh e stopped li cked
”
,
 84

her paws and ru bbed very

, tenderly a b are place
on the side O f her head .

Ah Tab by it wi ll take
, , you many a day to
co mb and smooth your fur , before that b al d Spot
will be covered ; and even then you wi l l never
,

l ook as sleek and fine as you did before the battle !

WI TH AU GE R AN D S AW .

P AR T I .

WH Y you speed along i n such haste ? said

do
a stout bodied sawfly to her cousin the horntai l
-
,

fly as they both chanced to b e going in the same

,

d irection .

Pray do not as k me to
trave l at your sluggish pace ,
”

“
replied the other I am .

o n my way to that tall e l m

yonder ; for I want to bore

into its trunk and hide my ,
Th H t i l Fly
e orn a .

eggs there and this bright ,

J uly morning is j ust the time for it

,
.
”

“
I am going to that very tree myse l f said the ,

s a wfl but I s h all make a slit in one of the leaves

y ;
fo r my eggs w h ich I am sure will be much easier
,

to do than to bore into the hard trun k of a tree

”
.
 That is as you l ike answered the other I, .
“

w ork w ith an auger and you with a saw ; and it

,

is a good thing that e ach of us prefers h is o wn

tools . And with this short answer She sped on ,

out of sight .

And now l et uS
watch her a s She ,

busies herself on the

trunk of the tree yon
der. Her head is
large her body is
,

round and long and ,

S h e has long narrow ,

wings .

At the end o f her

body she has a sharp
L f th H t i l Fly a rv a o e o rn a .

needle or auger w ith ,

which s h e can bore through both th e bark and

the wood of a tree .

It does not take her very l o ng to do her work

either for She h a s al ready made se veral holes a n d
, ,

into each hole She h as pu shed a small egg .

Now Mrs H orntail s in fants will be ugly w hite

, .
’

grubs with small round horny heads a n d pointed

, , , , ,

horny tails T h ey will each have Six legs a n d such

.
,

Sharp jaws that they can gnaw their way anywhere

through the tree .
 86

They will feed on its sweet sapwood ; and when

they have eaten so much that they can eat no
more they will make for themsel ves each a silke n
, , ,

cocoon and into that they wil l weave some of

,

the small chips that they have chewed Then they .

w il l go to s l eep .

And wh en at l ast they h a ve finished their nap t

they w ill cast O ff their pupa skins break open their ,

cocoons and crawl up to the very end of t h ei r

!

b urrows .

Then they w ill

soon gnaw away
the b ark and ,

come out w ith

four smoky brown -

wings .

And w hat is
strangest of all ,

insects of this
Th i h
e m Fly
c neu on
kind ha ve been
.

known to re main s o long in the pupa state that

a fter a tree wa s cut down and the wood was planed

a n d poli shed and m, ade into furniture they gnawed ,

their way out of it .

But the horntail fly is n o t the only i nsect that

w orks with an a u ger ; and although her sharp borer
is a full inch i n length sh e h a s a sl y enemy that
,
 87

ca rries one from th ree to four inches long And .

1

what do you suppose S he do es w ith this long tool ?

S he hunts around for a time till at last she finds
’
the tree in which Mrs H orntail s larval children .

are hidde n Then she thrusts in her auger he re

.
,

and there and sly ly pushes an egg into eac h

,

hole.

A nd w hen her babies hatch o u t they creep about ,

through the body of the tree till they find a fat

young horntail .

Then they have n o farther to look for their

dinne I t i s all ready fo r them ; and yo u may
r.

be sure that t h ey do not wait to be invited but ,

seize upon i t at once .

T h ey soon make themselves fast to the skin o f

the helpless infant and feast o n him to their he a rts ’

content ; and no matter h o w much he may wriggle

a n d squirm they do n o t loosen their hold till the
,

meal is finished .

Ah M rs H orntail yo u would n o t have sailed S O

, .
,

proudly away could yo u have seen what the e n d

,

might b e !
Possibly your family may live to flit about in th e
warm sunshine Of a pleasant J uly day ; but your
enemy has marked the tree and sh e is o n your ,

track .

Th i h m fly1
e c -
n eu
’
on .
 88

WI T H AU GE R AN D S AW .

P AR T II .

AH , here comes the other wise l ittle carpenter ,

bringing two Sharp saws along with her S he h as .

taken her own time ; b ut S he is here at last A nd .

what a pretty little b usy

b ody S h e is !
L ook at her closely ,

and you w ill see that

both h e r head and her
Th S wfly e a
thorax are of a gl ossy
.

bl ack ; but the other parts O f her b ody are of a

steel b lue spotted with yellow
, .

H er four thin wings are of a smoky b rown ; her

legs are stout and o f a bl ue b lack c o l or and her
,
-
,

feet are of a pale yellow .

Does s he n o t resemble a horn et ? We ll she

'

belongs to the same great family as the hornet ; 1

SO it i s no w onder that we can trace a family

likeness .

But the hornet has at the end of her b ody a , ,

very Sharp sting ; while th e sawfl y carries a pair

O f keen edged saws instead
-
.

S ee She is using them now to make a slit in

,

Hy m
1
p t -mmben owi g
- '
th i w i -
g
e ra, e ra n e n , or n n .
 90

infant wi l l stay snug and s afe till spring Then

, .

it will break O pen its pupa case and push hard

against one end of its cocoon ti l l it ope n s like a
,

l ittl e lid and out it will come a four winged saw

, ,
-

fl y having a b ody nearly an inch in length

, .

The body of the male is longer and narrower

than that of the femal e ; and there is no s a w at the
end of it The males of b ees hornets ants horn
.
, , ,

tails and all other insects of this kind have neither

,

sting nor b orer at the end O f the b ody .

But both males and females have two pairs of

j aws ,
— O ne for biting and cutting the leaves and
twigs of plants and the o ther for sucki n g the
,

sweet j uices .

There are many curious insects t hat b elong to

this large family and among them i s one that is
,

named the gall fly It is a very small insect havi ng

.
,

a body n o t O ver a quarter O f an inch in length .

H ave you ever seen a little brown b all fastened

to a t wig or to the leaf of a plant ?
, I hope you
did not try to bite it thinking it was a n ut
, L et .

me tell yo u how these little bal ls happen to be

found in such places .

A mother gall fl y lays her eggs in a leaf or stem ,

somet h ing after the manner of the sawfl y and these ,

nutgalls are the homes of her larval infants .

A s soon a s t h ese larv a are hatched from the

 9 I

egg they b egin to feed on the soft pulp with i n

,

the b all ; and as they increase in size they cast

their Skins ti l l they reach the pupa state .

Finally they escape from this pupa case and

gnaw a little hole through the Shell of the nut ;
then they co me forth w ith w i n gs i n to the great
world outside .

A nd now that you

know h o w these l it
tle b rown nuts are
formed I am qu ite
,

sure that you will

examine them very
careful ly shou l d you
chance to come up
on them in your
walks .

If you will look C ll ta O k L

nu on a e a ve s .

at some of them
closely you will find the open door through which
,

the winged insect came .

S O yo u see these litt l e mothers that we find fl y

,

ing about everywhere are real ly very wise and they ,

are worth our careful study .

The fie l ds and forests are alive with them for ,

they are ever on the wing and we ha ve only to keep

,

o u r eyes O pen in order to learn a ll their secrets .

 FO U R PI N K B AB I ES .

T H E R E was a great stir in the cottage of Dame

Dutton ; for it was the first day of Apri l and the ,

good dame never all owed that day to pass (un l ess
it chanced to fall on S unday! without a general
upheaving a nd ove rturning o f eve rything that was
movable under her roof .

“
I will b egin at the pant ry first said Mistress ,

“
D utton ; fo r if my sense of smell does not deceive
me there is a mouse hidden away in that cake cup
,

”
board .

S o with s l eeves ro lled to th e e lb ow and with her

, ,

longest b i b apro n tied snugly ab out her she pro ,

c e e de d to attac k the cake cupboard witho ut farther ,

delay .

Bless me ! cried the dame as the first whisk of

,

her b room brought down a large b lack spider and, ,

with it the fine gossamer web that had b een wove n

with so much care .

“
Bless m e ! who wo uld ha ve b e l ieve d it and I so ,

particular ab out cobwebs too , .

”

But after the cob webs (together with all the vic
tims that had b een snared b y the m ! were lying
in loose tufts o n the pantry floor Mrs Dutton fe lt , .

that she had a still greater work to do .

 93

Fo r now th ere was

no possibility of a m is
take ; she certain l y did
sni ff the strong odor of
a mouse and she fe l t
,

quite sure that the l it

tle thief was not far O ff .

Nor was she m is

taken ; for whi l e she
stood there p ry i ng and
,

peeping into this corner

and that up jumped a
,

mouse al most into her

,

very face an d s cam

,

pered away to an O ppo

Up j mp d M u e a ouse .
site corner of the room .

Mrs Dutton gave a l ittle scream and fo r a

.
,

moment it was hard to tell which was the more

frightened she or the mouse
, .

Then She gained courage to mak e a search along

the wooden c l eat O f the pantry she lf and could—
—
she believe her own eyes there in a snug cozy , ,

corner w er e four w ee b aby mi ce

, , .

Po or litt l e things ! they were so yo u ng that they

had as yet n o furry coat l i k e their mother s ; and
, ,
’

the color of their n a ked bodies was almost as pink

as the gay ri b bon on Dame Dutton s S unday cap ’
.
 94

And their eyes — well they had n o eyes so far

, , ,

a s she could make o u t .

There were two mites Of eye l ids that looked like

little warts but the whole family see m ed to be as
'

blind as a nest Of you ng kittens ; and every b ody

knows that young kittens do not get their eyes
fairly open till they are nine days O ld at least , .

What funny looki n g little creatures they were !

-

They were both

sightless and hair
less ugh !
But these ugly
looki n g babie s
were very precious
in the Sigh t O f the
mother mouse as ,

o u will present
y
Th F
e W B by M i
o ur ee a ce
ly learn ; a n d y o u
.

must n o t suppose that S he ra n away l ike a coward

to return to them no m ore .

Ah no i n deed sh e could n o t do that ; s h e simply

, ,

hid herself away fo r a moment as if planning what ,

it w a s best to do next It w as most pitiful to see

.

her trembling there in the cor n er .

The re wa s a quiver in her pretty silky ears in , ,

the Short sti ff hairs abo u t h e r pointed snout and

, ,

e ven h e r long smooth tail shook w ith terror

, .
 95

Oh , her poor hear t did flutter l est some

ho w
harm should come to the helpless i nfants that She
loved so well .

S he had felt so secure in that dark cake cup

board and she had worke d so very hard to get inside
, .

Why S h e had gnawed and gnawed for mo re t h an a

,

week before sh e had been able to make a hole large

,

enough fo r her o wn little b ody to pass in and out .

Now that small opening was her own private

—
door the little door of her bedroom ; a n d it was
s o very smal l that s h e had never dreamed that any

eye but hers cou l d fi n d it .

S he had used her front teeth for a chisel in cut

,

ting the doorway and very Sharp teeth they were

,

to o I a ssure you
, .

—
There were four of them in all two o n th e
upper and two o n the under jaw ; and the more s h e
,

used them the stronger and sha rper t h ey gre w

, .

Many and many a night when She had been

gnawing at the doo rway s h e had h e ard the foot
,

steps O f Dame Dutton app roaching the pantry .

Then She had sped a way in terror n o t daring to

,

return to her wo rk till al mos t morning Poor soul !

.

D O yo u n o t feel sorry fo r h e r ? I d o
.

I think Dame D utton must h a ve f e lt a l ittle

sorry too ; fo r She j u s t stood stock s till and looked
,

at her .
 96

After awhi l e the ti mid trembling creature seemed

,

to gain a l ittl e courage ; and so very cautio usly sh e ,

crept towards the nest — that li tt l e ho m

, e that held
her treasures .

Then she stopped and fixed her b right litt l e eyes

,

o n the tall giant sta n ding so very near her .

But suddenly sh e made a dash toward the nest ,

and seizing one of the babies b y the nape of the

neck j ust as a cat catches up her kittens she held
, ,

it firmly be
tween her teeth ,

and sca m pered

away with it a s
fast as her l egs
Th M th e d h
o B by M
er an er a
cou l d carry
o use
her .

C o ul d yo u
.

have looked c l osely at her soft tiny feet you would , ,

n o t wonder that she sped away s o nim bl y .

S he had four fi nger toes and a bit of a thumb ,

besides on each of her fore feet ; w h ile each of her

,

hind feet had fi ve toes ; and each toe was armed

with a sharp nail .

Ah such feet as hers were n o t mad e to stumbl e ;

,

they were a l most as swift a s wi n gs !

S he was gone but a mome n t and then her ,

pointed snout appeared at the O pen door again .

I n a twinkling sh e sprang to the she lf and rush ,

 9 8

up gave a quick jump caught her peeping treasure

, ,

from the nest and was out of sight in an i n stant

, .

“
Wel l said Mistress Dutton as soon as she
,
”

had recovered from her astonishment well I ,

never ! A nd I always so particular ab out mice ,

”
too .

TH E S LU G FL Y AN D TH E G R A S S H O PPE R .

A M OTH E R slug fly that had been darting ab out

in the sunshine all day final ly settled down a m ong ,

the green leaves O f a pear tree .

L ike the horntail fly she ,

was armed with a Sharp

pointed auger ; and w ith
this auger S h e cut several
s lits in the under part of
the leaf .

Th S l g Fly
e u .

These slits were i n the

form of a half circle and in each one O f them she
,

placed an egg After that She fl e w away and gave

.
,

no further heed to it .

S he was a very small insect S O s mall indeed , , ,

that her body was not more than a quarter of an

inch in length .

But She w as really quite pretty ; fo r she was O f

a glossy black color and her four thin wi n gs were
-
,
 99

very clear and were veined with b rown ; whi l e

,

across the midd l e of the first pair there was a

wide b and of a somewhat smoky hue .

I t was a warmday in J u n e ; and as S h e darted

ab out in the s u nlight her wings looked as if they
,

had caught some O f the b right tints O f the rai nbow .

What a b eautiful creat ure you are ! said a ”

large green grasshop

“
per. I think I must
get a little nearer to
you where I can see
,

u b etter
”

y o .

Th G h pp e rass o er
And S h e gave such
.

a long l eap that s he we n t clear over th e head of

the slug fly and l anded on the other side o f her .

“
B l ess me ! said the fly ; what very long legs
” “

you have m y
, friend .

Yes my hind legs are very l ong ; they are made

,

fo r l e aping about as you can p l ainly see

”

, .

“ ”
And what very very long antenn a said the
, ,

other “
They must be nearly twice as l o n g as
your b ody I am sure “ ,

At this the grasshopper turned her ante n na

b ack till they extended way beyond her long hi nd
,

l egs .

“
Wonde rful ! said the Slug fly What a pit y .

that you have not wings like me .

 I OO

Wings ? said the other ; you had better use

your eyes .

And with that she displayed two long straight ,

wing covers and two thin hind wings that were

,

hidden under them .

“
Wh o would have thought it ? said the slug
fly . But tell me m y f riend
, what were you ,

digging into the ground fo r j ust before you came ,

here ?
I was hiding m y eggs there replied the other ,
.

Y o u did n o t see my wings and you m a

y not
,

have seen the sword at the e nd of m y body ; but

I alw ays carry o n e with me wherever I go .

“
It was with this sharp sword that I made a ho l e
in the earth and put my eggs into it Then I
, .

smeared them all over with a thick glue ; fo r as

soon as the gl ue hardens it wi l l form a strong ,

case for them .

“
And now I have covered up the hole in th e
ground carefully a n d have left them there ; for I
,

know they will be safe and warm through all the

long winter .
”

Now what will your babies be like ? in q uired

the other .

They will be like me only their wings at first

, , ,

wil l look l i ke little scales But they will feed on all

.

the green things that come in their way till the y

 102

They are covered at first with a soft sticky

, , ,

s li m e of a pretty olive shade ; but when they get

,

their fifth coat it is ,

very dry and of a

yellow tint and as ,

L f th S l g Fly
arva o e u
there is no slime
.

upon that they do not care to eat it

, .

“
And such nimb l e l ittle creatures you never
saw ; fo r although they are not q uite h alf an i n ch
in length they have no less than twenty short l egs
,

apiece .

“
S O they creep ab out upon the green leaves of
the pear and of the cherry tree and with their ,

sharp j aws they cut o u t all the soft parts of the

leaf But they are so dainty that they will touch
.

neither the veins nor the skin of a leaf no matter ,

h o w tender it may be .

“ ” “
Dai nty ! said the grasshopper A creature .

that will eat

i ts o w n skin
”
ugh !
The slug fly
paid no heed to
this remark but ,
P L f w i th th S l g Fly E gg
ea r ea d
e L u s an arva
“
went on : The
.

l a rval babies o f my kind are cal l ed slugs ; and they

are very shy l ittle creatures with small brown heads , .
 10 3

S hou l d ever meet them you wi ll k now them

y o u ,

by this : They have a way of swelling out the

fore part of the b ody so a s to hi d e their modest
,

heads comp l etely .

But yo u will have to loo k for them pretty soon

for my eggs will hatch out before long A nd after
‘

the babies have eaten all they need they wi l l leave ,

the pear tree and creep down into the ground .

There each one will make for itse lf an earthen

cocoon ; and when it awak ens from its l ong winter s ’

sleep it will come up into the ai r and sunshine

, .

“
Then it wil l have four handsome wi n gs l i ke
mine ; a nd it wi l l be even more beautiful than
when it was a slimy larval infant .
”

More beautiful ! I should hope so said the ,

grasshopper ; and she l et fall a whole mouthful of

brown fluid and gave a leap that sent her clear o ut
,

of sight .

TH E TRUTH O F IT .

A si ll y yo un g c ri c k et , acc usto md
e to si ng

Thro ugh the l o ng sunny

,
m o n th s o f g y
a su mm er and spri ng,

B egan to co m p l a i n wh e n he fo und th t
a t h m
a o e

H is c up board was e mpty and winter h d

a mco e .
”

WE have all heard the sorrowf ul tale ; how the

poor starved cricket wen t to a very stin gy old ant
, ,

and begged for food and Shelter ; and how the

 1 04

ant met him with harsh words and final l y turned

,

him out of doors .

It is a very interesti ng story indeed ; but I am

,

afraid that it is n o t true for it does not agree

,

with the history of the cricket family .

The fact is that most all crickets die on the

approach of winter There a re only a ve ry few
.

among them that live till spring ; and these e ither

hide themselves under stones or else they creep
,

into so m e hole in the ground that is warm and

dry.

I t is true that some of them do sing through

the long sunny months of su mmer and even until ,

quite late in the fall .

But it is the father cricket that makes the music ;

and he del ights in it .

H e rubs the inner edges of his outside wings

together with great glee ; and he will keep up h i s
shrill music for hours and hours at a time .

It is a way that he has of tal k ing to his wife ;

and sh e never seems to grow weary o f it But .

s h e takes no part i n h is tune ; fo r h e r wings are

not formed like h is to make music

, .

Many of these insects are clothed in black ; and

it does seem a little strange that so chee rful a
chirper as the father cricket should be c l ad i n
mourning array .
 I t is true that there will b e a large family of
bab y crickets i n the spring ; but such bab ie s are ,

in no way helpless They all know j ust what to do

, . .

They will n o t be wormlike larval babies either ;

.

they will look j ust like their parents only that ,

the wings of young crickets are at first nothing

but tiny scales .

Y o u ng C ri c k e ts fe e di n g on S q uas h .

As soon as they come out of the shell they will

begin to eat They will feast o n the j uicy roots
.

o f the melon the squ ash the potato grass and

, , , ,

other green things that come in the i r way .

As these insects become large r and larger they ,

cast off their baby clothes ti l l they get their seventh

suit.

Then they are full grown crickets with a pair of

-
,

l ong sl ender antenn a and four straight wings But

, .
 1 07

the two outside wings are not used fo r flying ;

they are used as covers both for the under wings
an d for the sides of the b ody .

The re are some kinds of crickets that i f they ,

chance to get into a room where they find a woolen

carpet or a woolen garment of any kind wi l l soon ,

destroy it .

They have even been known to gnaw hol es in

bo ots and in shoes that were made of thick heavy ,

leather .

’
A gentleman who was very fond of the cricket s
clear sha rp notes opened his w indow one eveni ng
, , , ,

so that he might go to sleep with the sound of their

music in his ears .

But when he awoke in the morning he found ,

that q uite a nu mber of them had entered h is room

during the night and had eaten several large holes
,

in a new suit o f clothes that wa s hanging upon the

bac k of a chair n ear the window .

The shrill creak of the cric ket late in the

autumn does sometimes sound a little s ad ; but
there is no good reason fo r supposing that it is a
song o f complaint .

H e generally finds enough to eat as lo n g as he

needs it ; and crickets are n o t above devouring
other insects in case they fa ll short of the green
, ,

j uicy stems and leaves of plants .

 108

S o I thi nk you will agree with me that if a b old ,

hungry cricket should cha nce to c al l at the door

of a wel l to do ant she had much b etter divide her
- -
,

store with him than to run the risk of being eaten

,

hers elf.

R AI N FR O GS .

W I LL I E and James were on their way to school .

I t had rained very hard during the night and there ,

were l itt l e pools of water standing al l along the

roadside .

S uddenly J ames called out O h b rother come , , ,

here a nd look at these queer little frogs that have

,

j ust rained down S ome of them have quite long

.

tails and others have no tails at all I wonder if

, .

”
there are any more like them in the clouds and he ,

looked upward toward the sky .

L et s tak e a few of them to school said Willie

’

, .

S o they gathered quite a n umber of the little

animals and put them into one of their dinner p a ils ,

which they had e mptied for that purpose .

When the teacher saw what the boys had brought

to schoo l she was greatly pleased and pro m
, ised ,

them a little talk upon the subject ; a nd this is what

they learned that day ab out rain frogs as they ,
”

are often cal led :

 I I O

soon after that small rents appear upon the unde r

,

Side of it .

At about this stage the poor toad looks ragged

,

enough ; but he pays no heed to that for he well ,

knows that he h as a fine new garment hidden ,

away underneath S o he proceeds to get rid of

, .

the old one a s soon as possible .

H e twists and turns

his body and uses ,

first a hind leg and ,

then a fore leg till at ,

last h e is entirely f ree

from his old worn
o u t suit ; but he seems

to be very tired after

the struggle that he

Th C m
e o m T d on oa .

has made .

A nd what is queerest of all he rolls the old ,

garment up into a small bundle and swallows it ,

without so much as a drink of water to rinse it

down .

H e does not even chew the hard dry morsel fo r , ,

he h as n o t a tooth i n either jaw .

Toads can d art out th eir to ngues very quickly

to catch a n insect o n the wing ; and they are

quite a s fo n d of small wo rms and caterpillars as

of the winged d a inties that come in their way .
 I I I

O ne day a toad chanced to see a large number

of small insects flying about a panful o f sour dough
that had been set out near the chicken coop .

S o he hopped along till he came to th epan and ,

then he hopped into that and rol l ed himse lf over

,

and over in the wet dough .

The N ewt (M a l e a nd Y o un g i n the Water

, Fe ml
a e on th e B a n k!
.

Whe n he was well covered with it he j umped

out and sat ve ry still fo r awhile ; i t was not
,

l ong before the insects began to swarm ab out

him a n d behold ! h i s plan was a success ; for all
,

he had to d o wa s to d a rt o u t h is tongue a nd
gulp them down a s fast a s they came along .
 1 12

But what ab out the other little rain frogs that “

the boys had collected that morning ?

Behold ! they were not frogs at all ; they were
smal l red newts or efts ; and they are sometimes
,

cal l ed l and sa l amande rs

“
.
”

These creatures have a body about two inches

i n l ength and the tail is nearly as l ong as the
,

body .

They are very shy harmless l ittle things and

, ,

they l ive near the water i n cool damp places S O , .

when the ground becomes h o t and dry they bury

themselves i n the same manner a s the toads ; but
after a shower they come to the su rface in large
num b ers .

In winter they coil themse l ves up in the earth ,

and remain there ti ll spring returns .

They are playfu l creatures and will run an d , ,

chase one another about as l ively as kittens

,
.

S ome of them are of a du l l red color a n d o th e rs

, ,
'

are of a bright orange red sprin kled with b l ack

, ,

dots.

They feed on i nsects worms and snails and are

, , ,

far more hel pful than harmful i n the world .

Most of them are born in the wate r and when ,

fi rst h a tched they have the tadpole form .

They a re cousin s to the water salamanders so ,

often seen in creeks and s mal l ponds .

 1 14

M OVI N G D AY .

P AR T I .

D E AR me ! said a very old worker ant as sh e ,

bit o ff a piece of soft earth and rolled and smoothed ,

it with her feet “

Dear me ! my teeth are nearl y
.

worn out n o w and this roadway is not hal f done yet

,
.

“
J ust l oo k at me ! said a
nimble young ant as she stood ,

up o n her hi n d feet and bi t o ff

a mite of hard sand above her
head .

A nd j ust loo k at me ! said

a l arge drone as he Spread four ,

thin wings and flew out at the ,

D ro ne .

open door of the ant hill -

.

Yes you have a fine time of it Mr D rone

, , .
,

said the old ant ; but any of u s could do that if ,

we had wings .
”

As She said this a long l ine of l ittle ants ran

,

across the roadway and each one he l d in her j aws

,

a small white roll

, .

L ittle girl litt le b oy yo u and I have often seen

, ,

sm all ants running about i n this way but we did ,

n o t d ream that these tiny white rolls were wee

l arval babies did we ? ,

 1 1 5

Neither did we know that the nimble little a n ts

that were carrying them about were the nurses o f
the family A nd what faithful little
.

nurses they are !

W h en the w eather is fine they ,

c arry the infants up into the su n

light ; but if the Sky grows dark o r ,

if a few drops of rai n fall they seize ,

them at once and take them down

,
W k
into the little bedroo ms below
or e r .

They pet them to o and lick them with thei r

, ,

litt le rough tongues ,a n d feed them from their o w n ,

mo n ths with food which th e y make ready for t h em

, .

N ow the queen and the drones are the o n ly ants

that have wings ; and that is w hy the old a n t said
“
to the drone , We could any o f u s do that if we ,

had wings .
”

The upper two wings

are b o o k e d fa st to the
lower pair ; th ey a re
much larg e r than the
!uee n
lower two and com
.

, .

p l e te ly hide th e m w he n the insect i s at rest .

But the queen h a s n o u se fo r her wi n gs after she

goes down i n to the earth ; S O S h e unhooks them
from her body a n d lay s t h em aside ; and sometimes
,

the worker ants take th e mo ff fo r her .

 1 16

Then she goes about laying eggs ; and as fast as

she drops them the workers follow her and ta k e
,

care o f them These mites of eggs are of a yel

.

l owish white and are somewhat oval in form

, .

I t takes but a month for the eggs of some

k inds of a n ts to hatch out ; but there are other
k inds that require a muc h l onger period For .

sometimes the eggs are laid in the fall and they d o ,

not hatch out unti l the ne xt spring ; and even after

the insect enters the pupa state it often remains ,

i n closed i n its pupa case fo r six or seven weeks .

N ow there were a good many larval babies in

this ant hil l The eggs were laid late i n the fal l
-
.

before ; and now that spring had come ,

and they were al l h atched out it made ,

a large family for one house .

S o it h appened one day that the same , ,

wise old ant who had Spoken first sai d ,

“
There are too many o f us here .
”

What is to be done about it ? aske d

’

another .

We must look for new quarters sai d ,

A t L g
n
'
s she
e . .

AS she Spoke she drew one of h er fore feet

,

through her j aws two o r three times , .

Now old as she was She was a very neat creature

, ,

in all her habits S he carried a sma ll hairy brush

.
 1 18

moving ; some of t h em carried a load o f v al uables

to the n e w home while others returne d e mpty , ,

handed for more .

M OVI N G D AY .

PAR T I I .

WE h ave l eft
good little cows b ehind us
o ur ,

said the wise O ld ant Who will g o after them ?

.

J ust at that mome n t there came

a large number of workers running
with all speed tow a rds the new
h o me each with a tiny green i n ,

A Pl t L an ouse .
sect i n its jaws These green insects .

’
are the ants co ws .

T he ants had built t h eir new quarters near the

roots of a tree ; there the fine tender rootlets ran ,

down into their nests ; and here the workers

stopped and let fall their light burdens
, .

N o w these good little cows were nothing more ”

nor less than a family o f small gree n plant lice .

T h ese insects b elong to the bug family ; a n d al 1

though they are suc h ti n y thi n gs th em selves they ,

have some relatio n s that are of large size and that ,

make q u ite a noise in the wo rld .

1
H me - '
i p t a th i -md m
e r : h l f wi g ; th
e w -
pp wi f
ea ns
g a n e u er n s o

these i nsects a re th ick at th e b as e .

 1 19

S ome of them do a great deal o f harm to o as , ,

you will learn when you read the story abou t the
squash b ug .

At a certain time of the year there are some

“
pl ant lice that have wings ; b ut these tiny green
c ows have none .

Their b odies are small ; b u t they have very l ong

an tenn a long slender l egs and a b eak that is
, , ,

three jointed
-
.

With this strong h orny beak th ey are abl e to

,

suck the j uice from every part of a plant even from ,

the topmost l e af to the very roots And sometimes

, .

they will cling to a twig o r a root with their b eaks ,

and throw up their l egs as if they were having a real

,

frolic among themselves ; and if the y are touched

or disturbed in any way they wil l resent it with a,

speedy kic k .

N o w the j uice that they suc k from the p l ants

soon turns to honey within their small bodies ; b ut
they do not store it up as the honeybees do , .

At the end of their bodi e s the re is a sm all opening

from which this sweet honeylike fluid is continually
dropping .

A nts are ve ry fond of this sweet fluid a n d when ,

it does not fall fast enough to please them they will ,

pat the lice with their antenn a and coax th e m to

ive o u t m o re This i s their way o f milkin the cow s
g .
g .
 20

They take very good care of their cows to o ;

they stroke them and keep them clean and wi ll
, ,

not allow any harm to befall them .

They carry them do wn into their nests and ,

place them near the sweet j uicy roots of the ,

plants where they will b e sure to have plenty to

,

eat I n fact they look upon these plant lice as

.
,

their o w n property .

Is it any wonder then that the old ant was un

, ,

easy b ecause they were left behind ?

We often read i n books of travel ab o ut di fferent
kinds of ants that do very wonderful things .

S ome of them wage war o n their neighbors and

make prisoners of them ; they will even carry o ff
the larval b ab ies of t h eir weaker neighbors and
.

bring t h em up as slaves .

A nd there is another kind that b uilds large

mounds and m , akes smooth pavements around
them And there are still others so very wise
.
,

that they know how to plan t seeds and to harvest

their crops .

I n Africa t h ere is a kind called the driver ants ,

and they are well n amed ; for they march in great

armies and drive everything before them
, .

But we need n o t go to foreign countries in order

to study the k n owing ways o f these little insects ;
for we may find them here all about us We , .
 1 22

The ants seemed to be greatly distressed at first ;

b ut after awh ile they all gathered into that part of
the nest that was left unharmed .

Then the gentleman went close to the hil l and ,

lo oked through the glass .

There he s aw roadways halls and rooms both

, , ,

large and sm a ll ; and through these there were ,

hundreds of busy worker ants running a b out in ,

all directions each o n e performing its own tas k

,

in i ts own way .

N o w why may not you and I surprise these

knowing little creatures on some moving day ?
A nd when t h ey b ecome quietly settled down i n
their new quarters we to o can put a pane of
, , ,

glass into th e front door of thei r underground

h o me and see for ourselves h o w they manage
,

their household affairs ; for it i s al ways better to

u se o u r o w n eyes s o far as we are able
, than to ,

depe n d upon the stories that are told to us by

others .

G R O WL E R S P R I Z E
’
.

Two large falcons lived in the to p of a tall pine

tree T h eir home w a s built in the fork of the tree
. ,

a n d w a s securely made ; but to say the least it was

, ,

a very rou gh and homely abod e .

 1 23

I t was built o f coarse sticks and leaves and wa s ,

lined with dry loose bark , .

Withi n the nest were five quite large eggs o f

a dirty bluish color b lotched with brown , The
female bird guarded these eggs with so m uc h care
that sh e would scarcely l eave them even for a few ,

moments at a time .

S o her mate had to provide food for her as well ,

as fo r himse l f and it kept him constantly on the

,
-

wi ng ; fo r the mistress of the house had an excel

lent appetite and she wanted the very best thing
,

that could be found i n the market .

Mr Falcon was a strong fi n e looking fe l low with

.
,
-
,

a bold dashing ai r about him upon which he really

, ,

seemed to pride himself .

I n fact — it may a s well be told first as l ast

, ,

“
M r Falcon s common everyday name was chicken
’
.
,

”
hawk ; and you have n o doubt heard o f him many
a time ; for he was a fierce h ighw ay robber by
trade and he understood his b usiness wel l
, .

H e was dressed in a thick heavy suit of bl uish ,

gray with a dark head covering H e wore white

, .

about his throat ; but h i s breast a n d h is Sides were

handsomely fl ec k ed with light yel lowish red , .

H is rounded tail w a s ma rked abo ve with four , ,

very dark bro w n bands ; while the under part and

,

the tips of the t a il feath e rs were white .

 1 24

H is mate
wa s eve n
la rger tha n
he and wa s
,

c l ad
Sh a rp cu rv e d
, cl a ws t h ey h a d ! S O when
they both went proudly soaring th rough
forest a n d fie l d it i s n o won der that the smal ler
,

and weaker b irds abou t t h em quaked with fear .

Mr Falcon sat on a bough near th e nest dress

.
,

ing h is p l u mage w i th g reat care A t l e n gth he

.
,

said to his mate I a mg oi n g out my dear ; what

“
, ,

wou ld you like for your din n er ?

“ “
”
I have been thinki ng sh e replied
, ,that a n ice
 1 20

saved her a vast amount of trou bl e an d of f rig h t

if she had done so .

For see ! there is a dark form swooping down

with noise l ess wings j ust above her head S ud .

de n ly she becomes aware of the danger and her ,

feathers are so ru ffl ed that S he l ooks twice her

natural si z e .

C luck ! cluck l she calls i n her very sharpest

tones of command ; and her frightened family
understand to o well that signal of al arm for they
, , ,

have heard it before .

N o t less than three of their number have al ready

b een seized and borne a way by the terrible claws
that are n o w reaching down after anothe r .

H ither and thither they run in all directions , ,

not knowi n g in their fright which way to g o ;

, ,

and there seems to be no mea n s of escape for

them .

The terror stricken mother c l ucks and calls and

-
,

seeks fo r a hidi n g place in vain , .

Alas has She discovered the danger too late ?

,

Fo r n o w the fierce talons of the rob b er are about

to fasten upon another of her luc k less brood .

Bang ! bang ! what a c l oud of s m

”
o k e ! But it
clears away and there stands a hunter with a gun
,

in h is hand .

But he did not bring down the bo ld robber afte r ,

 1 27

all ; for do you not hear that shrill screech of de

fiance as he disappears from view ?
With all possible speed the o l d hen and her ,

chickens hasten back to the barnyard we l l content ,

to dine on the simplest fare rather than to ris k ,

their lives for the more choice tidbits of the fie l d .

O n the to p of an o ld stump in the middle of a ,

quiet stream sits the fal con perfectly composed

, , ,

with not so much as o n e feather of his fine plumage

out of place .

A mother duck and her young o n es are movi n g

q uietly about on the surface of the water entirely ,

u nconscious of da n ger Their webbed feet are

.

made fo r swimming and they enj oy it , All at .

once the mother discovers her enemy sitting there ,

so still on the old stump

, .

S he gives the alarm dives to the b ottom and in

, ,

a t winkling every little duckling disappears with

,

her S he swims away from h e r family quite a

.
,

little distance and then comes to the to p hoping

, ,

the falcon wil l make a dash at her instead o f at the ,

little ones.

But he is to o wise a bird fo r that ; he has watche d

these swimmers many a time and he u nderstands
, ,

their ways .

H e k n ows that the duckli ngs can n o t swim very

far under the water and that they will soon come
,
 1 28

to the surface for air very near the pl ace w he re

,

they went down ; so he keeps h is eye on the spot .

For he says to himself S ince Mrs Falcon has

“
, .

b een cheated out of her chicken pie nothing less ,

than a nice plump duckling can fi l l its place A nd .

”

he patiently watches h is c h ance .

Pretty soon up comes a small downy head ; then ,

another and another

, .

Th e mother duck tries b ut al l in vain to attract , ,

his attention to herself ; for he suddenly leaves

his p e rch and sweeps down ti l l he almost touches
the water with his wings Then he stretc h es out .

“
his long c l aws But again is heard the bang !
.

b ang ! of a gu n
”
.

And when the smoke clears away this time there ,

l ies the wou n ded falcon struggling to rise fro mthe

,

water ; but he finds himself helpless with a broken ,

wing .

J ust at this point co m “

es a loud quack quack , ,

that sounds exactly like a mocking laugh and the ,

o ld duck and her b rood make swiftly for the shore .

”
Here G rowler calls the h unter and with a
, , ,

glad b ound the dog springs i nto the stream and

brings his prize to land .

The hu n ter carries it home a n d carefully removes

the skin in order to prepare it fo r his cab inet fo r ,

he is a collector of birds .
 1 30

Fi rst a nim b le red s q ui rre l ran down from a tre e

, ,

But he did not peep in at the nest ;

He j ust cracked a few nuts and win k ed slyly at
me ,

Ah — ,b ut wait til l I te l l you the rest .

Next a shining green snak e crept so n ear that

, , ,

alas ,

I had fears for th at snug l ittl e nest ;

Bu t he glided away th rough the tal l meadow
grass ,

And b u t wait ti l l I tel l yo u the rest !

,

Then heard the soft tread o f a shy meado w

I
mo use ,

But she swiftly sped on past the nest , ,

I n her search o f sweet nuts fo r her winter store

house ,

A nd b ut wait till I te ll you the rest

, .

For at last a young truant from school passed that

,

way ,

A n d h is q uick eye disco vered th e nest ;

And n o w a poor mot h er b ird cries all the day ,

S hal l I leave her to te l l yo u the rest ?

 1 31

H I S TO R Y O F A BU G .

Do you know the di fference b etween a b ug and

a b eetle ? S ome people do not ; and they call every
insect that chances to come in their way a b ug .

Now a b ug has a slender horny b eak that is

,

made fo r sucking fluids ; sometimes it is used for

sucking up the j u ice of a pla n t and so m etimes for
,

drawing out the b lood of an a n imal .

Bugs are very troublesome creatures ; and most

of them give out a bad odor All the lice th a t are
.

found either upon animals or upon p l ants bel o ng

, ,

to the b ug fami l y.

There are a few kinds o f bugs that have no wings

at all ; b ut the greater part of them have two wing
covers ; and u nderneath these are two very thin
wings that are used in fl y ing .

The hi nd part of each wing cove r is q uite thin

and clear ; while the fore part is so thick that the
light can not shine th rough it .

The l arval b abies that hatch from th e eggs of a

bug are very much l ike the full grown insects -
,

excepting that thei r sm al l wing pads l ook like little

scales upon the to p of their b acks b ut t h ey eat and
grow and c ast o ff their skins from time to time
, ,

till they soon become as large as their pare n ts .

 132

Here is a b ug that I fo u nd upon the l eaf of a

squash vi ne i n t h e garden The leaf was wrinkled
.

and withered ; and when I looked at it closely I ,

discovered that it was full of fi ne ho l es .

What was the cause o f it ?

A h Mr S quash Bug co ul d answer that q uestion
, .
,

if he cou ld on l y speak through that sharp horny , ,

sucking tube that n o w lies b ent

b ac k ward b eneath his b reast .

I t is well that I caught him this

bright autumn day fo r to morrow ,
-

he might have hidden himse lf away

in a wall o r fence and there he ,

wou l d have taken a l ong winter

nap .

Th S q
e h B g
uas
L etu
us.
l oo k at him H is b ody .

is rather more than hal f an inch i n

length of a rusty b lack co l or above and of a dirty
, , , ,

yellow shade b eneath .

S urely he has n o good reason fo r b eing proud of

,

h i s coat and w hat an o do r

,
I

O n each side of the head there is a large com

pound eye and o n the b ack part of h i s head there
,

are two small sin gle eyes that shine like glass H is
, .

two jointed anten n a are q uite l ong as you can see

-
, ,

and t h ere is a knob at the end of each of them .

N o w look at h is wing covers They are p l aced

.
 1 3
4

pos e an d they greedil y suc k ed the j ui ce of eve ry

,

le af as they we n t along .

After they had feaste d about a month the m o ther ,

s q uash b ugs began to l ay their eggs T h ese little .

eggs were round in shape and q uite flat ; and they

,

were laid in patches here and there upon the under

, ,

side of the l eaves at n ight

, .

I n order to make them secure these careful moth ,

ers glued them fast with a gum m, y fluid from their

own b odies . I t was n o t many days before the
young b ugs were hatched o ut an d what homely ,

little t h ings they were !

They had sho rt ro u nd b o dies that were of a pale
,

ash color ; and the j o ints of thei r large antenn a

were q uite flat .

They ate and ate an d grew very fast ; and after

,

casting o ff their s k ins a few ti mes they became as ,

l arge as their parents .

For a few days they l ived together in little

,

families ; b ut th ey soon left the leaves on which

they were hatched and went fro mvi ne to vine i n
, ,

search of more j uicy food while all the leaves ,

t hat they left b ehind them b ecame withered and

b rown .

Now as you can we ll understand these insects

, ,

are among the most harmful of all the b ug family ;

b ut since we have learned so much concerning thei r
 I 3S

habits there is n o goo d reason why we should not

,

get rid o f them .

If we are carefu l to watch our vines as soon

as the you n g leaves put forth we shall find the ,

b ugs before they h ave begun their feast ; and if

we closely examine the under parts of the leaves
every morning we shall find the b unches of eggs
,

that the mother s q uash b ugs so carefully glued to

them the night before ; and in t his way it wil l n o t ,

take us very long to clear our vi nes of these u n wel

c ome visitors.

H I S TO R Y O F A B EE T L E .

N ow that we have taken a l ook at a bug le t us ,

also take a look at a b eetle ; then we shall know

whether bugs and beetles are as nearly alike as
many people s uppose them to b e .

“
Here we have a May b ug as it is generally ,

called ; but if we examine it we shal l find that it

,

is n o t a bug at all .

T h is insect is nearly an i nch in l ength .

I t h as n o sucking beak fo r it needs none ; it has

,

two sets o f s trong horny jaws instead These jaws

, , .

are fo r cutting and biti ng the roots stems and , ,

leaves of plants ; fo r there are only a few b eetles

 1 36

that l i ve upo n a n im a l food an d such b eetles usua l l y

,

prey upon other insects .

L ook at it closely and yo u wi ll see that its j aws

,

are made to m ove sidewise and n o t up and down , ,

li k e your own .

Its body is ova l i n form an d of a chestnut b ro wn ,

-

color ; but all b eet l es do n o t have this ova l form .

S ome kinds o f b eetles have the body q uite flat and ,

some o f them have very b eautifu l c o l

o rs as well , .

I ts sti ff hard wing co vers mee t i n

,
-
,

a straight line upon its bac k ; they

do n o t l a p over at the tips l i k e the ,

wing covers of a b ug .

Do you see th at littl e we d ge where ,

Th B tl
e ee e
they are joined together a t the b ase ?
.

It looks l ike a smal l gore set i n there to ho ld the

wings in place .

Y o u can easily see t h at these wi n g cases are we l l

sprinkled over with little dots as if they had b een ,

pricked here and there with a fine need l e ; and

, ,

t here are three rough lines runni n g the whole ,

l ength of each cover .

U nderneath these wi n g cove rs are two thin , ,

silky wi ngs folded crosswise and what a pret ty

, ,

shade of brown !
W h en these light wings a re spread then away ,
 1 38

The mother b eetl e makes a hole I n the earth ,

and sometimes this hole is six inches in depth ; a nd

She uses her strong j agged fore l egs for diggi ng
, .

In this hole she places her eggs and very ofte n ,

there are as many as fifty o r more of them ; the n

s h e flies away and l eaves them fo r she knows they ,

will be safe .

S oon after the eggs are l aid b oth the father and ,

mother beet l e die ; they do n o t hide away and s l eep

through the winter as some other i n
sects d o .

N o w l et us see what becomes of the

eggs that the mother beetle has placed
L f th
a rv a o in the ground with s o much care I n
e

about fourteen days there com

.

es forth ,

from each egg a little soft grub having a round

, , ,

white body and a smal l bro w n head ; and when ,

this grub is at rest it lies curled up in the form

, ,

o f a half circle .

These larval bab ies are provided with six legs ,

a n d with a mouth that i s ar m ed with strong jaws ,

and o h how greedy they are for something to eat !

,

D uring the warm summer mont hs they remain

,

very near the surface o f the ground and gnaw the ,

roots of every green thing that they can find ; but

as cold weather comes on they go down deeper ,

into the earth .

 I 39

There they remai n till the warm springtime re

turns ; t h en they cast o ff their skins and come up ,

to the su rface o f the ground again for food .

These hungry creatures s p end as many as three

summers under the soil in this way before they
, ,

have eaten a ll they want .

And then they go down still farther into the

earth as if they co uld not bury themselves deep
,

eno ugh ; and there they enter the pupa state .

A nd when the springtime again rolls round they ,

creep up for the last time from th e cold dam

, , p ,

earth ; and casting aside their pupa skins they come ,

fort h active brown winged buzzing May beet l es

, ,
-
, ,

like their parents b efore them .

Many of these insects are often seen flyi n g about

in the month of J une ; and then they are commonly
“ ”
called J u n e bugs.

But they all belong to the same fami l y and every ,

one of them is a destroyer of plant life .

DR . LE E CH .

O half hol iday three school boys went to a

NE ,

small pond to catc h some fish .

After they had fished awhi l e without getting

so much as one nibble at the hook they threw ,
 1 40

o fftheir c l othing and plunged into the water fo r

a bath .

Finally one o f th e l ads swam out to an old

stump that stood near the middle o f the pond
and cli m bed up on the top .

H e had not been there ve ry

lo n g when h is back arms and
, , ,

legs b egan to tingle as if he ,

had b een stung by some small

insect ; and he soon found that
5“ °k 1“8 his body was covered in places
WI th t i ny l i ttle th m
f L h o eec .

g s that
looked like flat worms .

H e wa s terror st ricke n and -

,

so w ere h is mates and they ,

all ran towards home a s fast

J w f L h
a s their l egs wo u ld carry them
a o eec .

Th L
e h eec .
N ow the fact i s this O ld ,

stum p wa s the headquarters o f

Dr L eech and h is large family o f young ones ; and a
.

more bloodthirsty set o f creatures wa s never known .

Indeed they are often called bloodsuckers and

, ,

that is a good name for them .

The leech i s an ugly thick Skinned wormhaving

,
-
,

a very flat body that tapers at each end Its color .

is general l y dark thickly mottled with light b rown

,
-

dots .
 1 42

This l eech worm lays ab out a dozen eggs i n a

gluey b and that encircles the upper half of its b ody .

When all the eggs are laid the worm withdra w s ,

itself from the band which then closes up formi n g

, ,

a strong sac This sac is the cocoon ; it i s oval i n

.

sha pe about a qu arter of an inch in length a n d

, ,

contains from s ix to sixteen eggs .

The egg cases of the leech may often be foun d

in mud banks an d also i n old logs and stumps tha t
,

are in the water .

The baby bloodsuckers stay in their slimy cradle s

nea rl y a month ; and then they begin to push hard ,

with their heads against the walls of their cocoons

, ,

till Some weak point gives way and lets them o u t , .

They are very thin little things at first n o t a ,

te n th of an inch i n length and no thicker than a,

fine thread But they know well how to u se thei r

.

teeth as the poor lad that visited the old stump

,

that day could testify .

I n winter they are n o t seen ; fo r they b ury them

,

se lves under water deep in the mud till spri n g re

, ,

turns ; then they come up mo re b loodthirsty than

ever.

But we must give these ugly worms the credit of

doing some good i n th e wo rld ; for they were for
me rly much used to draw o u t the impure bl o od of
peop le who were si ck .
 A D I V I DED H O U S E H O LD .

P AR T 1 .

W H AT a noisy din and b ust l e th ere is in the

domain of the q ueen honey b ee to day l I w o n der -

what it all means We will wait a little while and

.

mayb e we shall b e ab le to learn more about it .

Ah now I understand it ; th e bees are getting

,

ready to swarm L et me exp l ain

. .

I
N hen honey b ees swarm a large number of them
,

fly away from the hive an d the queen b ee goes

,

with them .

N o w this q ueen and her su bj ects have a nice ,

large hive under that o ld apple tree i n the garden ;

and one would suppose that they might all dwell
together there i n peace and harmony But not so ; .

for this morning there came a thin piping sound ,

from one of the cells and there is j ust where the

,

tro ubl e began .

 1 44

The moment the q ueen b ee heard the sound she ,

said H a that is the voice of a y o ung quee n I

, , ,

know I t well and I wil l n o t stay in this

,

h ive any longer ; fo r o n e q ueen i n a

h ive is enough
”
.

As she spoke she darted a sharp ,

piercer o ut of the end of her bo dy two ,

o r three times .

Now strange to say a q ueen bee will

, ,

sting another queen to death through ,

jealousy and spite ; but she never puts

AB
forth her sting to harm anything e lSe
’
ee sS ti g
n '

Do you want to know ho w the q ueen b ee looks ?

L ike all insects her b od y is made up o f rings ; her
,

abdo men is l ong and slender and her wings are short .

Besides her two great compound eyes she h as

, , ,

three single eyes and a long sle n

, ,

der tongue fo r l apping up sweets .

But sh e never stores up the

sweets that sh e gathers ; for she
does no work S he is mistress of
.

the hive and she lays all the eggs

, .

H d f B h w ea o a ee , s o
S he I s a born q ueen ; for when i g C mp d E y n o o un es ,

she was an infant sh e lived on S imp l E y d e es . an

A t m
b etter fare than the other l arval n en ’

babies i n the swarm I s she to be blamed then

.
, ,

that she will n o t divide her realm with a n other ?

 1 46

fo rms thin scal es of wax upo n the rings of her

abdomen and on the under Si d e of her body .

These rings are her wax b as kets .

H o w strange that the oi l upon the insi d e of h e r

b ody should find its way to the outsi d e and harde n
into wax !
But it is stil l more strange that after she h as
c hanged other portions of her foo d into c l ear swee t ,

honey S h e shoul d b e able to draw it up fro mher

,

stomach b ac k into her mouth again so as to store

, ,

it away in the white cups of the com b .

Now when the b askets of the l ittl e wax maker

are full what d oes she do ?
,

O n her hind l egs there is a smal l hairy b rush or

,

scraper and with this she scrapes the wax fro mher
,

b askets and passes it forward to her jaws with he r

fore feet .

Then S he chews it and makes i t very soft an d

, ,

when she draws it through her mouth it comes out,

l ike a white satin ribbon ; then it is all ready to b e

worke d into honeycomb .

If you examin e a piece of the com b you wi ll see

,

that it is made up of a double row of c e lls p l aced ,

bac k to back in such a way that it fo rms quite a

,

thick midd l e wal l of wax b etween the two rows .

This wal l i s the base of the cells ; and here the

l ittle bee first begins to work with the fine strip of
 1 47

whit e ,
rib b o n
I ik e w a x t h at s h e
has ch e wed a n d s of ten e d
s o c a re fully in he r s mall

Th e c e l ls a re quite d e ep and,

S i x s i d e d i n fo rm; t h e y a re s e t v e ry
-

clo s e ly t o ge th e r a n d th ey lo o k som e
,

thi ng li k e lon g wa xe n box es l aid

,

down u po n t h e i r s id e s .

D o yo u suppo s e th a t yo u c o uld
e v e r l e ar n to m a k e a s e t o f b o xe s like

th at ? A n d y e t th e lit tl e brown be e
,

ma k e s t h e m ve ry e a sily with h e r
s ha r a ws w it h o ut a n o n e t o te a ch
p j ,
y
he r h o w .

In e ve r y hive t h e re a re mo
e bu sy r

litt le wa x ma k e rs th a n yo u c a n c o u n t .

Their bodies are n o t so large as those

H oney c o mb
o f the ueen but their wings are
,

q ;
sh owi ng di f
‘
ere nt ce s ll .
larger and stronger than hers .
 1 48

A nd they need j ust such strong wings as they

have ; for they must fly fa r and wide in search of
, ,

sweets to make their clear honey and to furnis h ,

wax for the com b .

These b usy l ittle creatures are well nam ed the

workers in the hive since they b oth make the
,

cells and fill the mwith honey for their winter store .

But the cells are not al l of the sa m e size ; n eithe r

are they all u sed for the same purpose .

S o me of them are made fo r holding honey ; others

are for the queen b ee to lay her eggs in ; and
ot h e rs still are fo r storing a k ind o f food called
, ,

beebread .

This bee b read is a sticky mass that the b ee s

make of a fine dust called pollen which they gathe r
, ,

from flowers ; the b read is of a dark b rown color -

,

and is n o t sweet to the taste .

The queen b ee lays her eggs i n three separate

sets of ce l ls placi n g o n e egg in each cell
, .

S he first lays some eggs in the smal l cells that

are used for hatchin g out workers ; then she l ays
some more eggs in a se t o f larger c ells that are
built fo r hatching o u t thick stout bodied b ees cal l ed
,
-

drones .

T hese drones have no stings and they do not ,

gath e r honey They are the father b ees in the hive ;

.

while the queen bee is the mother .

 1 5
0

c l ings to her bo dy is often q uite yellow ; b ut sh e

has a litt l e tuft of hairs on one o f her legs a n d ,

with this she brushes the pollen from her body a n d

stores it in her bas kets where it bel ongs
, .

O h she starts out for her day s work we l l pre

,
’

pared as yo u can see and s he never l oses he r

, ,

baskets on the way either , .

N o w in every hive or colony of bees there a re

more worker cells than any other kind For it is .

th e b usy workers that make up the col

ony ; and among these there are a great
many that act as nurses in the hive ;
and it is these nurse b ees that take
charge of the l arval bab ies and feed ,

them when they are hungry .

A s these b aby bees l ie curle d up in

their cells they loo k like l ittle white
,
La rv a of B ee .

worms ; and when they are in need of

food the nurses chew some b ee b read very fi ne and
soft and feed it to them f rom their own jaws
, .

But when they have eaten all they want they n o ,

longer lie curl e d up in the cell ; so when the nurses

s e e that these larval b abies have straightened out

their small bodies they put a thin cap o f wax over

,

each cell and then each baby spins a silken cocoon

,

abo ut itself and goes to sleep in its pretty waxe n

, ,

cradle .
 1 5 1

It takes ab out twenty one days for a worker bee

-

to hatch from the egg ; an d then it casts aside its

silken wrap gnaws open the waxen cover and
, ,

come s out with four thin wings .

It take s only sixteen days for the young queens

to hatch out ; b ut the drone b ees are ab out twenty
four days i n hatching .

S ometi m es the worker b ab ies have to struggle

very hard to come forth ; b ut the nurse b ee s al ways
help the royal infants out .

When a you n g b ee first comes o ut of its c ell ,

both its b ody an d its wings are of a very pale

b rown shade an d it seems to be rather weak in
,

its l egs ; b ut it b egins at once to creep a bo ut over

the com b an d wh en it comes to a cell that con
,

tains honey it stops and takes its first meal of the

,

sweet food .

Many of the ho ney cel l s a re l eft open a wee k or

more after they are filled ; fo r the b ees will not cap
them over with wax until they kno w that the h oney
“
in them is ripe or ready to b e sealed up S o it
,
”
.

is always easy fo r the young b ee to find an open

cell where it can eat all it wants .

But it does n o t feed upon the stored honey very

l o ng ; for in a day o r two it h as the full use o f its
wings and then away it goes to gather s weets from
,

the flowers j ust like the older b ees

, .
 1 5
2

A n d it is well t ha t it b egins its work at onc e ;

for th e l e ngth of a worker s l ife is b ut a fe w
’

month s at most an d some of the ml ive only a fe w

,

weeks But a q ueen b ee h as been known to live

.

four o r fi ve years .

As for the drone s the gre ate r n um b er of them

,

are d riven o ut of the h ive by the workers ; and

as they can not gather honey they are le ft to ,

starve ; an d if they attempt to ret urn to the hive ,

the work e rs o fte n fall up o n t hem and sting them,

to death .

D o you n o t pity th ese poor father b ees ? I d o .

But the b usy workers are very eager to store up

a good supp ly of honey for their wi nter use ; and
they wi ll n ot share this precio us store with the
d ro nes .

A great many b ees in the h i ve die d u ring the

winter ; but the q ueen b ee begins to lay her eggs
very early in the spring and these eggs hatch out
,

so fast that the num b e r in the hiv e is soon as large

a s ever .

S he wan d ers ab out ove r the com b I n search of

cells that the workers h ave prepared fo r her eggs ;
for sh e does not lay eggs in every empty cell that
comes in her way .

S he knows at once which are the egg cel l s an d ,

when she comes to one of them sh e lowers the tip,

 5
4

queen will s e ek them o u t and sting them to death

, .

And on this acco unt the owner of a b eehive keep s

,

a ve ry close watch over the roya l cells in the hatch

,

ing season and examines them every few hours o f

,

the day .

But see ! our queen has gathered her su b j ect s

around her in a b lack bu zz ing mass o n the l im b
, ,

of an old apple tree .

They are planning n o w which way they wi ll go .

A nd perhaps they will fly away to the woo d s a n d ,

make their home i n a hollow tree o r stump ; the n

“
they will become wild bees
S o we will spread a white cloth u n der the appl e
trees Bees have a very keen sense of sight a nd
.
,

they will notice the cloth at once ; then we wi l l

put some honeycom b in an empty hive and se t ,

the hive down o n two small blocks upon the white

clo th
.

This will give the b ees a chance to go in at the

bottom of the box ; the y will be glad eno ugh to
move i n to a new house where there is some n ice
honeycomb to b egin with .

But if t h ey are to o long ab out it we will saw o ff

,

the limb on w h ich they rest and l et it go to th e

,

ground very gently ; then they can peep in at th e

,

open door of the new hive .

But these insects have such a strong sen se o f

 5

smell that they do not need to see the h oneycom b ,

fo r they can smell it afar o ff .

S o the old queen and the new one wi l l b e

neigh b ors after all ; b ut each one wi l l control her
,

own household an d there will b e n o more cause

,

fo r war .

B OR N I N A D I TC H .

Do you see that elegant dragon fly winging her

way through the air ? H o w s h e l oves the light o f
the sun !
Her head is very large and she h as two enor
,

mous compound eyes as ,

you can plainly see .

But she d oes not move

them ; fo r insects are n o t
ab l e to rol l their eyes about
as you do .

Th D g Fly e ra on
Her b eautiful wings are
.

so fine l y veined that they look as if they were made

of clear thin gauze ; while all four of them a re
,

b arred across the center with a rich golden b rown , .

Now she stops a n d lights on the top of a tall reed

that grows by the border of the ditch .

S ee sh e pushes the en d o f her body down into

,

th e water and glues a bunch o f little yellow eggs to

, ,
 1 6
5

the root of th e ree d Now her wo r k is d one and

. ,

a way she fli es .

A fe w weeks l ater these eggs will hatch out,

.

What will he r i nfants be like ? They wil l not loo k

like her I can assure you ; for the larval babies of
,

the dragon fly are ugly things to beho l d .

It i s true each b aby has a ve ry l arge h ead two

, ,

large compound eyes and ,

a pair of singl e eyes b e ,

sides ; b ut it has six ,

spra wling spiderlike legs , ,

and no wings at all .

Moreover the lowe r ,

part o f the face is covered

with a mask ; u n der this
mask is hid d en a fierce
pair of j aws that rese mb le
L d Eg f th D g
a rv a a n s o
tW O sharp hooks
e ra on

gy
.

'

These greedy creatures

creep ab out the pond or the ditch in which they
live and feed upon other larval babies
, .

T h ey loo k so in n ocent and so harmless under

this mask that their poor victims seem to have no
,

fear of them whatever .

But woe b etide the young tadpo le or th e tiny ,

baby fish that crosses their path ; for it wil l be

snatched up i n an i nst an t .
h a rdl y fee l at a ll ; b ut you must han d le her ve ry
carefully or S he may bite off the end of her o w n
,

body in trying to escape .

It is generally b etter to place such an insect a s

this under a glass dis h and look at it carefully from
,

the outside Then no harm can come to it ; for

.

you may regard it as your friend ; an d whe n yo u

see it flying a b out in the hot sunshine you may ,

know that it is in search of oth er insects that de

stroy your plants and flowers .

Therefore we will all look upon this han dso me

creat ure with a feeling of real friendship even if ,

s h e was born in the bottom of a s l imy ditc h .

I TO L D YOU S O .

A P AI R of handsome b lue b irds were hopping

briskly about side b y side a l ong the furrows of a
, ,

newly plowed garden .

They had b een s o b usi l y engaged in picking up

choice tidbits from the freshly turned soi l that
neither o f them had spo k en a word for severa l
minutes .

Both of these b irds were showily clad in bright ,

az ure blue and both of them wore white on the

,

under pa rts .
 1 5
9

B ut the gl ossy plumage of the mal e was a trifle

darker than that of his mate ; and the reddish
brown tint of h is fore neck an d sides was a little
brighter than hers ; the feet as well as the b i l ls of
,

b oth birds were black

, .

A t last M rs Bluebird b roke the si l ence

. .

“
I can n o t see said she why yo u o bject to
,
“ ”

B l ueb i rds .

making the nest in that o ld hollow stump ; for I ,

am sure it is as cozy a place as we can find .

”

Mr Blue b ird swallowed several fat wriggling lar

.
,

va , b efore he made any reply .

“
Then b e cleared h is throat a little and said B ut , ,

my dear have you forgotten the j ays and the crows

,

that we saw in that neighborh ood yesterday ?

“
The n to o there are the rats and weasels that
, ,

are prowling about there all the ti me N o I am in .

,
 1 00

favor of taking possession of that fine martin bo x

under the bough yonder ; it is roomy and safe a n d ,

think of the ti m e that wi ll b e saved in buildin g

”
the nest .

“
Yes and b e d riven o ut of i t by the E nglis h
,

sparrows as soon as it is mad e answered M i s ,

tress Bluebird i n a short q uerulous tone

, , .

“
I never can be happy a moment in that marti n
“
b ox she continued ; and if I have to go o ver there
,

against my will I am q uite sure that not o n e of m

, y
”
eggs will ever hatch o u t .

There was a little more sharp d iscussion b etwee n

them and then both birds rose from the g round
,

an d flew d irectly toward

the o ld mossy stump , .

The mistress of th e
household had gaine d
the day and the work ,

of building soon began .

The ne st was not

very tastefully built ;
B l bi d
’
N t
ue r s es .

but it was l ined wit h

some soft grass a few feathers a n d a bit of woo l
, , .

a n d was quite comfortable .

N ot l ong afte rwards there were five light b l u e ,

-

eggs l a id within it and everything seemed to go ,

wel l
.
 1 62

sucked those little bl ue eggs and left nothing b u t

,

”
empty shells behi nd ! and away he goes to break
up some other home .

By a n d by the owners of the nest return Th e

, .

mother bird enters the house at once while he r ,

mate alights on th e
stump and warbles a ,

low soft tune , .

But w h at is all this

bustle about ? Mis
tress Bluebird fl ies
swiftly out at the
door and in an agi ,

ta ted tone calls he r

mate to j ust co me
”
and look here !
Th B l
Then s h e goes back ,
e J y
ue a .

and he darts in afte r

h e r and then they both come o u t agai n and cast
, ,

quick s earching looks all around them ; and pretty

,

soon they retu rn to the nest to make themselve s ,

su re that there i s no mi stake about it .

But it is to o sadly true S ome winged robber has

.

stolen i nto their quiet home and left nothing b e

hind him but empty shel ls I t is hard to believe
.

it but there is n o chance for do ubt ; so they must

,

seek new quarters and be gi n all over again .

 16
3

Now they fly to the open door of the martin

house and this time Mistress Bluebird raises no
,

objections ; fo r she i s so mute with grief a n d

d isappointment that she is willing to go any
where .

They soon b ui l d another cozy nest an d again ,

five light blue eggs are laid within it ; and the

-

little housekeeper at once settles down to her

duties .

H er mate goes forth on glad wings and brings

her al l the rare morsels that he c a n find and gives ,

her now and then a kiss I n the ba rgain

, , .

Final l y there co mes a faint peep peep from ,

fi ve tiny b i l l s and then wh o can be happier than

,

the joint owners of that household ?

Mistress Bluebird seems to have almost entirely
forgotten her sorrow ; and as for the master of the
house he warbles a song so full of me lody that it
,

does seem as if he must have a real S wiss music

box hidden away under h is glossy breast .

H is wife responds with a low happy chirrup and

, ,

says H o w glad I am that we chose this martin

,

box ; it is j ust the place for us so roomy and so ,

safe withal
, .
”

A nd he t ries to keep down a sly l iquid chuckle , ,

“
a s he replies I told you so my dear ; I told you
, ,

”
so !
 A LWAY S A T H OM E .

O NEmorni ng a noisy drone honeybee was b uzz

,

ing about among some sweet clover b lossoms whe n ,

al l at once he came upon

a s l ow plod d ing snail
-

“
Y o u p o or thing said
,

“
he ; h o w I d o pity you !
P r y why do you pity
a

me ? an swered the snail

”

“
I have n o need of you r
”
pity
.

Bec a use I never see yo u

without that heavy b urde n
on yo u r shoulders ; a n d I am
sure it must take you at l east
a whole week to get acro ss
this small patch of c l over ,

while I go over and over it

many times a day .

“
J u st look at my four
Th H b
e o ne
y ee .

l ight wi ngs n o w ! Is it any

”
wonder that I kno w all about this fie ld o f clover ?
At t h is the s n a i l st retched out two l o n g horns .

In the end o f each horn was an eye ; and sh e

wanted to see fo r herself the dron e s gau z y wings’

.
 166

I do n o t live upon honey as yo u do replied the

, ,

“
snail
. Both my tongue and my upper lip are
covered with fine sharp teeth ; and with these I
,

scrape up and eat the soft part of g reen leaves a n d

”
othe r j uicy plants that come in my way .

The drone was silent for a little time and then ,

he said : But I do n o t see how yo u happened to be

”
born in the very top of that house of yours .

“ ” “
I will tell you said the snail
, My mother .

laid a number of small white eggs i n the earth ; and

,

when the babies h a tched o u t they each had a little

,

ho me of their own like the top of this house of

,

mine ; and as they gre w older they made it l arger , ,

”
as I have done .

Well well said the other so the tO p o f your

, ,
”

house wa s built first ; and yo u have never been

away from home in your life — h o w stupid that ,

must be ! For m y part I lo ve a l ife on the wing

, ,

—
and I never grow tired of it never But what .

”
w ill yo u d o with yourself when winter sets in ?
“

I can pour out from my body a sticky fluid that

wil l dry and make a thick strong door for my ,

house ; and I will stay inside of it snug a nd safe , ,

all through the cold winter and when I want to ,

come o u t I can push the door open with my foot .

”

The drone went buzzi n g about fo r a long time ;

then he came back with another question .
 1 67

N ow what wou l d you do said he if an enemy , ,

“

should come to your door ?

My enemies can not harm me sai d she ; for I
“
,

can dodge quickly back i nto my house and close ,

the door with a soft pi nk curtain that I have

, .
”

“
I wish I had a house to hide in said the ,

“
other ; for I have no sting at all in the end of my
body such as the worker bees have in theirs and if
, ,

they choose they can fal l upon me at any time and

,

”
sting me to death .

“
Why should they do such a cruel thing as
”
that ? asked the snail .

Because they are too stingy to share their honey

”
with me said the other
, .

But why do you not gather honey for yourself ?

O h that is not my trade I was not made to
, .

gather honey and I do not know h o w ; so I like to

,

fl y about i n the sunshine and ,

The poor drone did n o t have time to finish his

sentence ; for at that moment two s mal l worker ,

bees chanced to Spy him .

The snai l quickly drew in her horns and when ,

she looked out again the d rone lay dead and ,

he l pless on the ground .

“
S o much fo r being always on the wing said ,

She For my part I would rather stay at home

,

”
all the days of my life .
 The G a rde n S pi de r.

A S K I L L FU L S I N N P ER .

H AV E yo u ever watched the cunning spi der as s he

makes the strong silken nest for he r eggs and spin s
her pretty lace snares i n the corner of your room or
across the Windowpane ?
A s you se e h e r at work you may wonder wh at
,

u s e sh e can possib l y have fo r so m any legs ; for

the re a re eight of t hem in all a n d if yo u loo k
,

at them closely you will se e t h at they are many

,

j ointed and covered w ith sti ff hairs

,
.

Ah the poor fly that is caught in h e r snare woul d

,

explai n it to yo u if he could only speak ; for as

, ,

s he glares at him with her eight b e a d l ik e eyes she

-

,
 1 70

j uices whenever she gets hungry If anythi ng

.

touches her web she knows it at once ; and

,

draws in all her feet towards her body so as ,

to tighten the t hreads of her snare .

S o you see she does have use for every one of

those eight bristly legs of hers after all , .

You have already learned that the body of an

i nsect is divided into three parts ; but if you look
closely at a spider yo u will see that the h ead i s
,

j c i n ed to the thorax without

, any neck between
them .

S o we may n o t speak o f the spider as an insect .

There are a fe w insects that have not a very long

neck but their heads are not set closely to the
,

thorax like that of the spider .

The eyes o f a spider are usually eight in n umber ;

and they are placed on the tO p o f the head in two
rows w ith fou r eyes in each row S piders can not
, .

move their eyes ; b u t they have so many o f them

that they can look in a ll directions at once .

The mouth parts of a spider consist of an upper

and a lo wer lip and two pairs o f stro n g j aws The
, .

two upper j aws are placed side by side ; and the

two lower jaws are s et close together in th e same
way .

The upper jaws are curve d a n d are quite sti ff

,

’
and horny These jaws are the spider s fangs ; and
.
 1 71

at the base o f each fang there is a smal l sac that is

filled with poison .

The l ower pair of j aws is sma l ler than the u pper

pair and n o t q uite as strong
, .

O n each side of the lower pair of ‘

jaws there is a fi ve jointed member -

that looks so m ething like a spider s ’

leg only it is very much shorter ; these

,

are its feelers and with these short

,

A S pi d J
'

w er s a s
feelers it sei z es its prey .
.

At the end of each bristly leg there is a claw , ,

well covered with sti ff hairs ; and with these hair

covered claws the spider can creep up a very
s mooth wall .

But if it wants to get down from a high wall or ,

f rom the branch of a tree it fastens one end o f a ,

thread there and then lets itself d own to the

,

ground .

Nearly all spiders b uild s n ares ;

b ut the mother spider makes a
much better n et than that o f her
mate O nce in a while a father
.

and a moth er spider may be found

A S pi d F t
’
er s oo
living in the same web ; but this
.

does not often happen .

Young spiders spin very small webs b ut their ,

work is perfect .
 1 72

Many of the we b s that we see are round i n

form ; and the spiders that make the mare called
“
orb weavers b ecause the word o rb means circle
,
“
.

A nd now l et us l earn so mething abo u t the work

of the l ittle o rb weaver
.

When this spider finds a good place fo r her orb ,

s h e first spins some strong lines to ma k e a frame

work ; this framework often has four Sides and ,

sometimes it has even more a n d the l ines of

,

which it is spun are made up of five o r six silke n

thread s
.

Then across this framework she S pins a few

,

strong lines from corner to corner

, N ow her
.

foundation is laid ; and from its center she spins ,

a n umber of fi ne threads and fastens the end of

,

each thread to the sides of her framewo rk .

These fine threads stretch o u t fro m the center

of the web somewhat as the spokes of a whee l
,

reach toward the hub ; but they are not al ways

the same distance apart from o n e another These .

threads are called the rays of the web .

Now S h e begins at the center again and spins a

,

thre ad across the rays ; and as sh e goes ro u nd and

round toward the outs i d e l ines of her framework ,

s h e gl u es her threads to each fine ray These .

threads are called spiral lines because they wi n d

,

ro und and round .

 1 74

Ma n y spiders hide themselves a way durin g the

winter months ; and that is why they a re so often
seen spinning t heir webs so early in the spring .

Although most Spi ders do n o t liv e more tha n

a year yet some ,

kinds have been

k n o w n to live
much longer .

The spide rs that

we see about u s i n ,

outhouses in gar ,

den a n d fields are

, ,

harmless creatures ;
they will not b ite
us ; and even if
they should nip u s
with their small
jaws it would do ,

u s no har m .

A n d they can
S pi d
er aB ll
oo ns .

b u ild rafts and

sail upon the water ; and they can throw ou t
threads upon the air and make little balloons that
will carry them up as high as the top o f a tall tree .

They can even build silken bridges across

streams ; and d o many wonderful things as we ,

s h al l find o u t if we watch them .

 I 7S

A DEV OT ED
M OT H E R .

te ll
now l et m
e

ou abou t a v ery l arge

y
spi d er n a med the ta ra n ’
-

tu la -
.

S he lived i n a wooden
bo x havi n g a g l a s s cover ;
,

b u t s h e d id n o t s tay there
f ro m c hoic e fo r sh e was a
,

pri s o n e r .

Whe n s he wa s a t home she ,

l e d a w a n d e ri n g life a n d ran
a b out o ve r ro c ks a n d s tones in

the wo o ds and fields in search of her

T t l
prey
ara n u as .
.

S he h as some relations that l ive in

holes in the ground and that line the walls of
,

their underground homes with silken curtains

o f their o w n spinning And there a e others
.
r
 1 76

among them that c lose the top of their holes w ith

a round trapdoor that is both l ined and hinged
w ith strong silk.

Both the b ody and the l egs of this tarantu l a

were covered with short sti ff hairs of a dark brown
,
-

color ; and the joints of her legs were so c l ear that

they looked li ke thin scales of mica .

L ike all other spiders S h e was an ugl y hunch

,

back ; for the head and body were joined together

without any neck b etween them .

O n the top of her head were eight b eadli k e eyes , ,

arranged in doub l e rows ; and she had strong ,

sharp jaws with a poison fang at the base ; and

,

hidden within her head was a smal l poison gland .

S he kne w we ll h o w to u se her ugly jaws ; for

when a living insect was thrown into her cage she
would pounce upon it fiercely Th en sh e w ou l d
.

tear its wi n gs from its b ody and crush it b etween

,

her jaws without farther delay .

O ne day a dead a nd withered l ocust was give n

her ; a n d when sh e sa w that it was hard and dry ,

s h e carried it to her dish of water a n d soaked it

w ell before sh e tried to eat it H ow c o uld She.

know t hat dry crusts are made s ofter by being

soaked in water ?
! ery soon after this Mrs Tarantu l a bega n to
, .

spi n some soft white threads across the inside

 1 78

And finally after she had fasted for two who l e

,

months she was no longer ab le to hold herself

,

upon the nes t ; and one day she fell to the bottom
of the b ox too weak and helpless to move a limb ;
,

and in a few hours more this devoted mother spider

was dead .

I am sorry to te ll you that the eggs did not

hatch out ; the young spiders within the cocoon
must have died through the lack of warmth that
their mother s b ody would have furnished them if
’

she had remained alive .

But had they lived there doubtless would have

,

been a very large family of them ; for the tarantula

spider l ays as many as one h undred eggs at one
time.

A nd had this mother spider been permitted to

hatch her brood in her own nest instead of in a ,

close wooden b o x it is very likely that she would

,

not have died ; for some spiders of this kind

have been known to re ach the age of seven or
eight years .

The home of this tarantula was in the southern

part of the U nited S tates ; but such spiders are
often brought into northern markets concealed ,

among clusters of fruit and so they may some ,

times be seen and studied far away from thei r

native haunts .
 I 79

LI N E S TO A S P I DE R .

hunchba c k where d id yo u l e a rn
To spin that pre tt y we b ? O ne n e ed n o t s pur n
To copy such fi n e l a ce so ,
ra re co m
, plete ,

H a n d wove n I m
-
ight say b u t
, ,
th a t y o u r f eet

S pun o u t i
, o ndro u s
n s te a d , th e w

And with what cun n i n g s k ill — b eh old

I n thes e stro n g s ilken th re ad s , th a t

stretch across ,

From side to center b right ,

as shini n g floss .
 1 80

H ow innocent you seem — how mod est shy ;

, ,

I m sure I s h ould be cau ght were I a fly ;

’

Fo r when with luring tone yo u w h ispered low ,

Please walk into my parlor I should go ,

”
.

Weave on weave on my patient hunchback friend ;

, , ,

For soon your work like mine will have an end

, , .

But in your cunni ng craft I claim n o share ;

For I but spin a ta le — y o u spin a snare .

DO YO U B E L I EV E IT?

O day i n summe r time I s a w some boys very

NE ,

busily at work o n the edge o f a little stream .

A s I came upon them I noticed that they were

,

putting some long white h orsehai rs in the water

, ,

and were t rying to keep them down with a large

stone .

When I asked them why they did this one of ,

“
the lads promptly re plied Why d on t you see ?, ,
’

We are going to raise some hair snakes .

D o yo u believe that you c a n do it ? said I .

I kno w it he an swe red and went o n with his

,
”

work .

N o w it i s plain that some ig n orant pers on had

told these boys that hair snake s were produced i n
 1 82

An d it is at such times that we often see them

in the water looking like real hairs from the tail
,

of a horse .

A strange thing about them is that they may b e

left in the hot sunshine till they are completely
dried up and until they appear to be dead ; b ut if
,

placed i n water for a Short time they will come to ,

life a n d b e as acti ve as ever

, .

I have walked along the borders of that li ttle

stream many a time since that day and have always ,

found the heavy stone on duty ho l di ng the horse ,

hairs down .

But alas ! if those simple hearted lads live long -

enough they will find that their labors were in

,

vain ; for those hairs were n ever so much alive as

when they were actively employed in brushing o ff
flies and other insects from the poor horse s bac k ’

and sides .

WI N T R FR I E EN D S .

I . TH E C H I C K AD E E .

D o you k n o w the l ittl e ti t o use m

In hs b o
i r wn i sh -
ashe n c o at,

Wi th a c a p so blac k a nd j aunty,

And a blac k p a tc h a t hi s thro at ?

WH Y y e s, o f
course we all know him ; for
, he is
the b rav e little C hickadee that always has a wo rd of
 1 83

cheer for us even in the co ld est winter weather ;

,

and he is no more afraid o f the ic e and snow than

we are.

His body measures about five and a half inches

The C hi c kadee .

in l ength from the point of his short b lac k bill to

, ,

the tip of h is tai l

.

H e wears a b lack j aunty cap upon his head but

,

from the base of his bill there is a narrow white

band that runs all along the sides of h is neck H is .

pretty wings are also edged with white while his ,

Slender legs are of a li ght b l ue color

-
.
 84

A nd what an active noisy little creature he is !

,

H is l oud twitter is full of sharp notes but it can ,

n o t well be called a song .

H is mate wears a suit very much like his own ,

and sh e is quite as lively as he .

I n summer time sh e builds a nest o f soft grasses

,

and wool and within it she lays s ix small white

, ,

eggs ma rked with specks o f red

, .

This n est is usu

a ll
y made in a k no t
hole o n th e limb or
trunk o f a tree ; some
tim es it is a hole that
a squirrel o r some
other animal h as dug
out and left .

Th C h i k d N t
But I f the l ittle
’
e c a ee s es .

chic k adees can n o t find a hole o f this kind they will ,

cut one in the t re e with t h eir strong sharp bills

, , .

These bird s like to flit about among the ever

g reen trees in winter whe re they can pick up seeds
, ,

o r draw fo rth a larval in s ect from i ts hiding place

u n der th e loo s e ba rk o f th e trunk .

S o yo u see the s e small wint e r visitors are our

,

frien d s ; fo r th e y fe ed upon the h ung ry larva that

destroy the fruit and foliage of our gardens and
fields .
eggs and the larva of different insects ; so he
often comes creeping down the tree head fore m ost
, ,

in his search for them .

S ometimes he finds a smal l broken acorn that ,

has a plump gr ub
inside of it ; this he
wil l crowd tightly
into a deep crack of
the b ark so that i t ,

wil l stay secure ; and

then he can easily
pick out the choice
morsel that he loves
so we l l when he ,

wants it .

B ut if his mate is
confined to her nest ,

he will carry the rich

prize to her instead ,

of eating it himse l f .

Is he not generous ?
Th N th t h
e u a c T T
on ak ree run .

He is a cheerful
little fello w and sings quite as merrily among the
,

branches of the leafless woods in winter time as ,

when he i s sitting in some leafy bower on a b righ t

s ummer day .

But when the tru n k of the tree becomes smooth

 1 87

and s l ippery from froz en rain then o u r litt l e nut

, ,

hatch has q uite a hard time of it ; for he can not

very well make his way alo n g the smooth icy surface ,

of the trunk neither can he get at the fat larva that

,

are so safe l y shut in beneath their icy cove ri n g .

Then it i s that you may see hi mflying about the

,

door the barn or other outhouses in search of a

, ,

crum b to satisfy his hungry craving for food .

If he happens to find a fallen nut he wi l l soo n ,

break it open by means of the quick hard strokes ,

of his bill But it is not the n u t inside of the shel l

.

that he cares so much about ; he knows when there

is a fat maggot within it and wants to get at that !,

I t is because of this ha b it of hammering or ,

hatching the shells of some kinds of nuts that he

, ,

has received the name of nuthatch

”
.

III . TH E RE D -
B E AD E D WOOD P E C K E R .

D o yo u k no w tha t styli sh fello w that sta nds rappi ng a t th e doo r

O f the hel pl e ss larval i nfan ts i n that tree
N o w h e turns his he ad an d l istens then
,
ra p s lo ud er than before ,

J ust as i f to say, Why do n t ’

yo u a n swer m e

That is the handsome red headed woodpec ker -

.

He is clad in a suit of bl uish b lack trimmed with ,

bands of white .
 1 88

H e wears a white vest also b ut his head an d

, ,

neck are clothed in crimson red Is he not a .

b eautiful bird
With h i s strong bill he raps loudly upon the
trunk of the tree ; and as soon a s he hears th e
larval insects within b e
gin to move he says to ,

“
himself Ah yes I , , ,

knew I wa s a t the right

door glad to find you
,

all at home .

Then he forces an
entrance with his b ill ,

and darts in his long ,

b arbed tongue .

H e brings out a fat

morsel every time ; and
the thievish j ays that
are searching about i n
vai n for something to
satisfy their h u n gry
R d h d d W dp k
e -
ea e oo ec
crops
ers.
look upon him
,

with envy If he were .

a smaller bird they would pounce upon him a n d

, ,

ro b him o n the spot But they a re af raid of him

.
,

so they leave him alone .

H i s mate wea rs q uite as fine a suit a s his o wn ;

 1 90

I! . TH E G O L D E N C R E S TE
-
D WR E N .

Do yo u k no w ano ther bird wi th a bl ac k and go l d en c rest ,

An d a su i t o f o l ive gree n that i s e dged wi th bro wnish gray ?

Th e re i s white upo n his fo re head an d the re s whi te u po n hi s b reast
’
, ,

Fo r h e l o ves the gayest c o l o rs and h e wears the mevery day

, .

This b eautiful golde n

crested wren is often found
in wi nter upon
evergreen trees ,

such as the s pruce ,

the cedar and the ,

pine .

H e is generally i n
search of the larval i n
sects that lie hidden
away under the scales
of the evergreen
co n e s ; and he m a
y always
be known by h is fine golde n ,

body Of the golden

Th e
cre s ted wren is fully four
G ld t dW d N
o e n-
c res e t
inches i n length a n d h i s
re ns a n es .

mate i s very nearly the same size .

S he likes to build her nest upon the leafy branch

 191

of an oak ; b ut sometimes it may b e found upon

the b ough of a fir tree .

The little round nest of this wren is very neatly

,

made It is covered entirely ove r with moss ; b ut

.

there i s a small hole at the side of the nest for an

entra nce I t is lined with soft down and within it
.
,

the mother wren lays fro msix to eight pure white

eggs specked with red
, .

V . TH E BR O WN CR E E PE R .

D o you k no w the li ttl e c reeper i n his ,

g a rb o f re d d ish b ro wn ,

H avi ng narro w ban d s o f whi te upo n his

ea rl aps and his c ro wn ?

Wi th the fea thers o f his tail nel y edged fi

wi th bro wni sh yello w ,

And a vest o f silk y whi te , do yo u

k no w this dapper fe ll o w ?

H e is anot h er boon c o m p an

ion O f the C hickadee ; and he is

well named as yo u would say
, ,

could you se e him creeping

round and round a free i n his ,

Th B w C p e ro n re e er
journey toward the top .
.

The truth is he finds so many good places o n the

,

way to l unch at that he can not well pass them by ;

,

for the b ark of the tre e is filled with c hoice d ainties .

 1 92

And very often this bird will build a nest

bet ween a piece of l oose b ark and the body of the
tree where he can have a well spread table always
,
-

at han d .

H i s mate lays six smal l grayish eggs spotted , ,

with light brown ; and the baby creepers that are

hatched from them very quickly learn the ways of
‘
their parents a nd travel up and down the tree as
,

soon as they can leave the nest .

! I . TH E DO WN Y WOOD P E C K E R .

D o yo u k no w a l ittl e b ird that i n mu ning

o r sh ad es i s d ressed,
B lac k an d whi te u pon his wi ngs,blac k and whi te u po n his h ead
U nd e rneath a b ib o f whi te o n hi s p retty thro at and breast ;
,

Whil e above upo n his nape gl ea m

,
s a shi n i ng ho w o f re d ?
,

This i s the suit that the downy woodpec k er

wears and h i s mate is clad in about the same style
,
’
,

except that sh e does n o t wear the flaming red

ribbon o n her neck .

These birds are fit companions fo r the others

t hat I have told yo u about fo r they do not seem to ,

mind the cold weather in the least .

Both the male and the female are carpenters by

trade ; s o they will no t conte n t themselves with
a deserted nest They b uild a snug little home of
.

their own .
 1 94

The bottom of the hole is made very smooth ,

and upon this six pure white eggs are laid This
, .

cu rio us house is very neat and comfortable but the ,

dear little b uilders are not always permitted to

enjoy it as yo u will see
, .

For n o w I am o b liged to tell you something

very b ad about the ho use wrens .

These birds will often watch the li ttle wood

peckers till they have made quite a large hole in
the b ody of a tree ; and then they will drive them
away f rom it and take possession themselves
, .

The poor little birds fight for it as long a s they

are a ble but they are finally forced to gi ve i t up
, .

I am very sure that their little f riends the chick ,

adees would help them defend it if they could for

,

they are n o t mere summe r friends as you have ,

al ready learned .

Do you know the house wren and h is mate ?

They are small birds having a body not over ,

five inches in length from the point o f the b eak

to the tip of the tail .

Y o u would hardly believe that s uch little crea

tures could ro b other birds of their nests would you ? ,

But the house wren does not belong to our list

of winter friends although he has a cousin called
, ,

the winter wren that remains with u s through al l

,

the long cold winter

, .
 19 5

The bod y of this littl e bird is hardly four i nches

in l ength He i s dressed in a plain dark brown suit
. ,
-
,

having a few black lines across the back ; and these

li nes are touched here and there with dull white .

Besides this there are a few other small spots of

,

white upon h i s body .

In h is tail which is
,

short and erect there ,

are twelve feathers .

These birds may

O ften be seen about
the dooryard or fl y ,

ing about the bar n

and outhouses in ,

search of crumbs lar ,

va , o r anything that

will k eep them alive

through the cold
mont h s of the winter ;
Th Wi t W e n er re n
and however hu n g ry
.

they may b e t h ey k eep up a cheerful twitter

,

through it a l l .

Now I have made yo u acquainted with only a

very few of the little birds that stay with u s dur
ing the winter months B ut all of these are our .

fri e nds ; fo r they help us destroy the worms and

i nsects that infest our gardens and orchards .
 1 96

An d Shou l d they come hopping ab out your d oor

when the boughs are withered and bare and the ,

fields are covered with s n o w I amve ry sure that ,

you will not drive them away .

SN O W T RA C KS .

I . TH E R U F FE D G R OU S E .

I midwinter an d the earth is covere d all o ver

T is ,

wit h a counterpane of sno w .

The silvery rills and

stream l ets gl ide al ong b e
tween their flowery banks
more ; fo r they are
locked up in
strong icy fet
!

ters and J ack ,

k ey .

Here and there

Th R ff d G
e u e ro use .
a c l ump of weeds
or grasses rises above the drifted snow and a ,

fe w frozen apples hang from the leafless b oughs .

But the bird s with their keen eyes have spied the
top s o f the weeds and they are going to ma ke the
,

most of them .
 1 98

Then every one o f the brood will hide f rom

sight in an instant and it will b e impossible to
, ,

find them .

The name of this bird is the ru ffed grouse ,

“
although it is Often called a partridge .
”

What d o yo u suppose happened to some b irds

of this kind a few days ago ? The re came a
dreary stormy night and the poor thi ngs had
, ,

nowhere to sleep so they made their bed in a

,

deep snowdrift thinki ng that it would keep them

,

warm .

A nd so it might have done ; but it rained duri n g

the night and froze to a sheet of ice and there
, ,

were the helpless creatures locked with i n their

bed rooms behind a strong icy door ! Was n o t ,

that pitiful ?
N o w the very next time that yo u wish yourself
a bird with n ot h ing to do but to fly from tree to
,

t ree remember h o w much your feathered f riends

,

often su ffer with cold and hunger outside while ,

you have comfort and warmth within .

11 . TH E W OOD M OU S E .

Here are some tiny tracks that wind in and out

among the fo re st t rees making little zigzag lines
,

upon the surface o f the snow .

 I 99

A t the foot of some of these

trees and so m
, etimes highe r up i n
th e trunk there are deep holes ;
,

and here the wood mice have

stored away nuts and other choice
tidbits fo r winter u se .

H o w much wiser of yo u little ,

white foot had you pu t your goodies

,

all in one pl a ce ; fo r see there are large tracks ,

mixed up with yours and I greatly fea r tha t yo u

,

will fi n d some of you r storehou ses empty .

I t i s a very easy thing to se lect the nuts that

o u have tried to crack because o u make such
y y,

bad work of getting at the kernel .

If yo u w e re sha rp yo u woul d n o t gnaw a hole

,

at both ends o f the hard shell ; there is n o u se in

doing that Y o u had better watch the squi rrel
.

and fo r more reasons than o n e .

He knows enou gh to gnaw a hole at the large

end then he can turn the Shell u p
,

s ide down a n d let the kernel

drop o u t .

But it will soon make very

little di ffe rence to yo u ; fo r
there is a mottled o wl in that
tree yonder and n othing c an ,

Th W d M
e oo d th O w l
o us e a n e pl e ase him better than an
.
 2 00

early breakfast of fie ld mice H e can wait for he .

,

w e a rs h is th i ck tufted ear mu ffs and he does n o t

, ,

mind the cold weather at al l .

I ” . TH E CH I PM U N K .

Th e chipmunk leaves his tracks on this snowy

counterpane too ; b ut the re are not very many of
,

them for his bar ,

re l s and bins are

pretty full and he ,

has no need to
browse arou n d
in th e winter fo r
something to eat .

He i s to o good a
Th C h i pm k
e un .

provider fo r that .

H i s home i s built down deep in the ground with ,

a s tro n g stone wall at his door so that no robber ,

can get in and mole s t him .

But whenever there comes a w a rm springlike day ,

he se ems to find it o u t at o n ce and up he co mes to ,

s ee what i s going o n a bove ground .

H ere h e i s n o w whiski n g h is round narrow tail

, , ,

and sc a mp e ring ligh tly about u pon the crusted

s n ow as h appy as a bo y o n Skates
,
.

H is eye s are la rge and bright ; h i s small ears

st a n d u p e rect ; and he h a s a very pointed snout .
 20 2

N . TH E RED S! U I R R E L .

Ah here are some tracks that look a good deal

,

like those of our little chipmunk .

They were made by the chickaree or red squi rrel , .

“
H e has received the name of chickaree because ,

he makes such a loud chattering noise as he runs

briskly about from tree
to tree .

Both his head and

his body are quite
as large as the chip
munk s but his nose is ’
,

l ess pointed H is round .

,

Th R d S q i
e le
b road ears
u rre
are
.
covere d
with Short hairs and he ,

wears thin b lack whiskers that are a trifle longer

,

than h is head .

H is long flat tai l as wel l as the upper part of his

, ,

body is of a deep reddish brown ; but his throat

, , ,

his chin the inside o f h is legs and all the under

, ,

part Of his body are white .

This red squirrel lays up large stores for his win

ter u se ; and as he has no cheek p ouch like the
chipmunk he ca rries the nuts between his front teeth
,
.

Both he and h is mate may be seen in autumn

getting nuts seeds the bark o f trees and food o f
, , ,
 20 3

that kind which they carefully hide away either in

,

hollow stumps or under logs and brush heaps .

They are not very timid animals ; and someti mes

they will steal into storehouses where there is plenty ,

of grain and make a nest there for their winter

,

quarters .

These litt le squirrels are more brave than the

chipmunk family and they do not hide themse l ves
,

so closely away in winter time .

But the two animals are very nearly related as ,

o u can see by their for mand by their style O f

y
dress ; in fact they have been called half brothers
,
-
.

V . R E Y N AR D, TH E F O X, AN D R AN G E R , TH E DO G .

Here are the footprints of two cousins ; but

they are not very much alike either in their dress
or in their habits .

O ne of them is named R eynard the fox , .

H e wears a coat of reddish yellow ; his nose and

his ears are pointed and he has a bushy tail that he
,

may well be proud of .

H i s cousin is R anger the d o g and these snow

, ,

tracks show that they have been running a swift

race.

The dog s master is n o t far o ff ; fo r l isten the re

’
,

is the crack of his rifle and now poor R ey ,

 2 04

nard leaps l imping away with the d og fol l owi n g

, ,

close upon his heels .

If he can only ge t back to h is d en in the rocks ,

he will be happy ; for home is the best place after ,

all fo r anybody that i s in trouble

, .

R ey n ard a nd R an ger .

As he speeds o n he l eaves a b loody trai l al l the

,

way behind him; but the do g h a s the best of it and ,

Master R eynard s h andsome fur coat will soon be

’

in the market and it will fetch a good p rice too

, ,
.

A S for h is worthless carcass the crows wil l b e

,

“
glad to pick that ; for their h ungry caw caw is ”

al ready sounding in the distance .

 2 06

re dd ish brown hairs gro w i n to tak e their p l aces ;

-

and when winter comes again the dark hair falls ,

o u t and the white hair grows in

, .

A nimals that shed thei r coats in this way can

easi l y hide away fro m their ene mies I n winter .

The We ase l a nd the B i rd .

their white fur can not we ll b e seen among the

snowdrifts ; an d in summer their brown coats are
readily hidden b y the lo w brushwood of the forest .

But a s I have said before the weasel is very,

nim b le o f foot and i s not easily caught at any sea

,

s o n o f the year .

H e h as a very l ong Slim b ody a small head and

, , ,
 20 7

a pointed snout ; and when he is peering ab out in ,

search of prey he curves his neck in a sna k eli k e

, ,

manner that makes him look very ugly indeed .

This animal has many accomplish m ents H e is .

a swift runner and climber a good swimmer and I , ,

o nce saw a tame weasel that could dance .

! II . TH E N OR T H E R N H AR E .

Here are the tracks of the soft footed creature -

,

t h e b a re and S h e also changes her garments to suit

,

the season for now She i s cloth ed in white .

’
A nd this c o lor like the weasel s often helps her
, ,

to hide hersel f away from her enemies ; fo r s h e can

conceal herself in a bank of sno w very easily .

Her summer coat of brown hair shields her in

the same way ; fo r w hen s h e hears an enemy o n her
track She l eaps into a thicket of low bushes and
, ,

then it is not an easy thing to find her .

This timid innocent creature makes her home in

,

h ollo w stumps in brushwood and in holes in the

, ,

earth where sh e always prepares a nice warm bed

, ,

fo r herself and her babies to lie upon .

H ares are harmless c reatures ; and as they turn

back their long soft ears and look at y o u with t h eir
, ,

great eyes it almost seems as if they were trying to

,

as k o u to b efriend them
y .
 20 8

It is true that our garden plants sometimes bea r

th e marks of their sharp chisel like teeth ; but they
,
-

w ill n o t stray far from the She l ter of the forest if

they can fi nd any j uicy thing to feed upon there .

They wander about at night i n search of food , ,

and their long hind legs and broad furry feet , ,

enable them to pass very swiftly over the snow

covered earth ;
sometimes t h ey
hunt under the
snow to find ,

the l eaves and

the berries that

a re hidden the re .

When they
h ear a noise ,

th ey sta mp upon
Th N th
e or H e rn a re .
the ground with
their hind feet ,

and then leap into a thicket of bushes and hide

themselves .

But the hare family have some e nemies from

which they very seldom escape ; these are the ha wk ,

the owl and the wea sel

, .

S o when the se poo r c reatures wander about on a

cold winter ni ght in search o f a bud o r a leaf to
k eep the m fro m starving they are like ly to be
,
 2 10

they general ly gnaw the roots and stems o f plants

that gro w along the edge of the stream on which
their homes are made .

But they can not always find what they l ike b est
i n wi nter time and then they must eat such food
,

as falls in their way .

It is plain that they have made more th a n one

The M us kra t
.

vi s I that old apple tree that stands on the edge

t to

of the forest ; for the frozen fruit lying upon the

ground bears the marks of their sharp teeth .

O ne might suppose that eating so many hard ,

frozen apples would give them all the toothache ;

but since there are no j uicy roots and grasses for
them to feed upon they must take whatever they
,

can find or starve

, .

But these animals are used to hard fare ; th e ir

 21 1

homes are b ui l t of s ods and coarse grass and they ,

have no soft warm b eds inside s uch as the b i rd s

, ,

ma k e up in their nests .

A nd yet they are wise enough to b uild their huts

,

so high that should the water of the strea mrise

above their lo w mud floors they can c l imb up into

, ,

the l oft and nest there The mother muskrat often

.

has a s many a s six bab ies i n o n e nest and she and ,

her young family generally s l eep upstairs .

IX . TH E G R AY S! U I R R E L .

A nd now we come upon the tracks of a gray

squirrel and what very long l eaps he has taken !
,

But h is footprints were all made in the daytime ;

for he loves his warm nest to o well to go forth into
the darkness of a cold winter s night ’
.

H i s nut bins are generally not very wel l filled ;

b ut even if he does run short of stores in the win
ter he never seems to grow lank and lean like his
,

cousi n the red squirrel

, .

It may b e that his large b ushy tail gives him a ,

“
well fed and thrifty appearance ; fo r fine feathers
-

make fi ne b irds we are told ,

”
.

There i s a large family of animals called rodents .

R odent means a gnawer that i s an animal

”

,
”
,

that gn aws th e food upon which it feeds such as ,

 212

the wood and the bark of trees the hard she ll s of ,

nuts and things of that k ind

, .

Now our handsome gray squirre l b e l ongs to this

family of rodents ; and so do the red squirrel the ,

chipmunk the mouse the hare and the muskrat

, , , .

These rodents are armed with strong teeth ; and

their four front teeth are very sharp There are .

tw o of these teeth in each jaw ; a n d they a re

Shaped like the edge of a chisel .

The more these chise l shaped teeth are used the

-
,

s h arpe r they become ; and they never wear o u t fo r ,

the growth is always being renewed from the roots .

No wonder then that these animal s are so fond

, ,

of nuts ; for they carry four strong nutcrackers

with them wherever they go .

D O you know the gray squirrel when yo u se e

him ? He wears whiskers that are l onger than
his head and his nose is somewhat bl unt l ike
, ,

that of the red squirre l .

H is cheeks his nose a n d his pretty round ears

, ,

are o f a yellowish b rown color ; and there is a

-

stripe of the same shade a l ong h is Sides There .

is also a dull stripe of brown running from the

to p of his head to his tai l H is neck sides and .
, ,

h ips are of a light gray color and most of the hairs ,

in h i s long tail are gray .

I n summer weather these gray s q uirre l s m a k e

,
 2 14

N ow we might go on an d follo w these sno w

,

tracks for miles and miles and find in every foot

,

print an interesting sto ry of the little animal tha t

made it .

But since I have guided you so far o n the way ,

I am quite sure that you will be ab l e to pursue the

rest of the journey by yourselves .

It wi ll take you a l o n g time to come to the end

.

I n fact I am afraid that you will n e ve r quite

'

reach it But wh ether yo u thread your way

.

through the pathless forest in the long bright ,

days of summe r ; whether you wander beside the

margin o f some small river or pond ; or whether
you follow the curious tracks that are left upon
the newly fallen snow I do not believe that you
-
,

will ever grow weary of the journey For every

.

day will afford you new sights and fresh scenes

that will amply repay yo u for all your toi l and
t rouble .
 N a t u re R ea de rs
FO R E L E M E N TA R Y G R A D E S

STO R I E S O F AN I MA L LI F E
B CH LE S F H AR O LD E R LL D Au tho r o f E l emen ts
yZ
.
, .

0 l
oo o gy 60 ce nts
This b oo k is inte nd ed to se rve eithe r as a fi rs t b oo k o n Z o ol o gy o r
as a su p l e
p e n t m
a ry rea d e r T h e a u t ho r h as a i e d to c rea te i n yo ung m
m
.

stud ents a n e n th usia s tic i n tere st i n N a ture tu d y b y p resen ti ng so e S

o f t he os t re m m
a rka b l e pha se s o f a n i a l l i fe U n d er the guise o f m
m
.

s to ries he ha s b ro ug ht out any fa cts n o t ge n e ra ll y a va i l a b l e a nd co ve r .

i n g a wi de fi e l d .

S H O RT S TO R I E S OF O U R S H Y N E I G H BO R S
B y M rs M A B LLY . . . . KE 50 c e nts
Thi s b ook furni sh es c hi ld ren wi th e n te rta i ni ng and i n stru c tive
rea d i ng i n th e fi e l d o f N atura l H is to ry I t te ll s a b o ut the b ird s i n sec ts
m
. , ,

a n d o ther l i vi n g crea tu res tha t d we l l n ear us a nd y et a re o ften ti es

stran g ers a nd u n no tic ed sa ve b y the c l osest o b se rve rs I t do es thi s i n
m
.
,

the fo r o f s to ri es wri tte n i n s uc h a p l ea si ng a n d a t tra c ti ve s ty l e , a nd

,

so co p io usl i ll u stra t d t d e p l y i n te rest th e yo un g read er a nd

y e a s o e
m m m
, ,

a wa ke n 1 n h is i n d an e n thus ia s a nd d esi re to beco e better a cq ua i nted

wi th t he wo n de rs o f the a n i a te wo rl d m .

P LANTS AN D TH E I R C H I LDR E N
B y M rs W1 L L1AM T D S A RR AA
N I l lustrated by Al ice
m
. .

J p
o s e h i n e S i th 65c e nts
A se ries o f easy lesso ns on the Wo nders o f Plan t
L ife wri tten i n
such a c ha r i n g m m
a nner a s to a k e the m m
a s e n te rta i n i n g fo r ch i l d ren a s
sto ri es , a n d th ei r stud y a p leas ure i n s tea d o f a task These stud ies i n
m
.

n a tu re are n o t o n l y i n teresti ng a nd i n stru c ti ve i n the se l ves b ut they

teac h the o st i pom m
rta n t l e sso ns a c h i l d c a n l ea rn , t o s e e t o th i n k a n d —
m m
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to o b serve fo r hi se l f a n d thus to b eco e a n i n te ll igent stude nt o f

,

n a tu re .

O UTDOO R STU DI ES
By J AM E S G N E E D H AM . 40 c e nts
to su pp l N a ture S tud y sui ta b l e for
a seri es o f lesso n s
'

I n tend ed
my
in

p pu i l s I n
'

t he ai n te r ed
te o r g ra a r g ra d e s a n d d es i g n ed mm
fo r p up i l s o f
so m e
y ea rs e per i
’
e n ce x
a n d so e tra i n i n g i n o b se rva ti o n m T h e b oo k
m
.

a y b e use d as a guid e fo r fi e l d w o rk as we ll as a rea d e r I n N a tu re tudy

’

S .

The i n sig ht thus ga i ned i nto the secrets o f n a tu re wi ll pave the way fo r
m x
o re i nte ll ig en t a n d pro fi ta b le te t-bo o k stud y a nd fo r l a b o ra to ry w ork
i n the h ig he r g rad es .

Copies o
f a ny o f tire a bove books w i l l be sen t, pr epa i d ,
to an
y a dd r ess

on r acer
} : o
f the pr i ce by M e P u bli c/ter :

Ame ri c a n B o o k C o mp an
y
Ci nc innati 0 Chicago
 E c l e c t i c S c ho o l R ea d i n gs
A c a re f u l l y g ra d e d c o ll e c t i o n o f fre s h i n t e re st i ng a n d , ,

i n struc t i ve b o o k s fo r sc h o o l a n d h o m e re a d i n g T hey a re .

adm i ra b l y a da p t e d i n c o n t e n t s a nd g ra d a t io n to fo ll o w
a n d s u pp l e m e n t t h e re g u l a r sc h o o l re a d e rs T h e bo o k s .

a re we ll a n d c o p io u sl y i ll us t ra t e d b y t h e b es t a rt i s t s a n d

a re h a n d so m e l y b o un d i n c l o t h .

Fo l k S to rie s
L AN E S S ORI E S
’ ‘
C HI L D RE
T FO R N

L OG I E AN D U S OR Y R A R ’
Ec s T E DE

B A L DWIN S FAI R Y S OR I S AN D F A LE S
’
T E B

B A L D WIN S F F Y FAM O U S S OR I E S R E O L
'
I T T T D

B A L D WIN S O S OR I E S O E AS
'
LD T F TH E T

B A L D WIN S O G REEK S OR I E S
’
LD T

N OR S E S OR I E S
’
B O
R AD I S H S LD T

P L E S P RO S E AN D V ER S E C HI L D R
’
Y FO R EN

Fa m o us S to rie s
C L A RKE S OR I S RO M
’
A A I A N G H TS
ST E F TH E R B N I

D c STORY L L N ELL (G d !
ENs S
’
O F I TT E o r on

T A L O F T w C I I E S (K i k!
’
D IORE NS S E o T r

D E F OE S R O IN S O N C R S OE (S t ph
’
B! U e en s

S c oT r s K ENI L WOR H (N i !
'
T o rr s

SCO S ! U EN I D U R WA R (N i !
TT
’
T N D o rr s

SCO T A L S MA (D w y!
’
TT S I N e e

G e o g ra p hic al S to rie s
KR O UT S
’
AL I CE S V S I’
I T To T H E H Aw AI I AN I S LAN DS
SH Aw s
’
BIG P EO L AN D
P E L I TT LE PE O P LE OF O TH E R
L AN DS
w D I S CO ER R S E XP L ORER
’
SH A s ! E AN D S

Pat rio t ic a nd Mo ra l R e a di ng s
M AR K W I C K AN D S MI H S T R C T
’
UE I TI ZE N
PE R S O NS S
’
O UR CO R Y P OE M
UNT IN AN D P R O SE

Copi er ren t, re a i d , r ecei f the pr ice

p p on p t o .

Ame ri c a n B o o k C mp o an
y
Cinc innati 0 Chicago
 C arpe n t er G e o gra phi c a l R e ade rs
’
s

B y FR A N R G . C A R P E N TE R

N o rth A mi e r ca . C l o t h, I a m o, 35 2 p g
a e s

S o ut h Am i e r ca . C l o t h, I a m o, 35 2 p g
a e s

Asia . C l o t h, ra m o, 3 04 p g
a e s

T h ese ne w G eo g ra p hica l R ea d ers a re b y fa r t h e mt os

a t t ra c ti ve a nd i nst ruc ti ve b oo k s O f t he i r k i nd e ve r pu b
l i s h ed . T h ey a re n o t m e re co mpi l a ti o n s o f o t h er bo o k s
o r s to ri e s o f i mgi a na ry t r I vel s, b u t t h ey a re
. t h e res ul t s o f
t h e a ut ho r s ac t ua l j th ro ug h th e d iff e ren t
’
o u rn e y s c o un

t ri es, wi t h pe rso na l o b se rva t io n s o i th e ir na ti ve p eo p les ,

j ust as t h ey a re fo u n d t o -d a y i n t h e ir h o m e s a nd a t t he i r

wo rk T hese j o urn ey s a nd vi s i ts are d esc ri b ed i n s uc h

mk
.

Si mpl e a nd e nga g i n g m a n n er as to a e t he bo o k s as

e n t e rta i n i ng as s t o rie s, wh il e c o n ve y i ng in th i s a tt ra c t i ve

wa y, u s ef ul k no wl ed ge a nd i n fo rm a t io n Whi l e t h ey are
wri tte n i n ea sy fa m
.

i l ia r s tyl e, a nd i n l a ngua ge n o t a bove

‘

the c o m p re h e n si o n o f C h i l d re n t h e
y a re s t ri c t l y a cc ura te
,

i n e ve ry d e ta i l a nd s ta t e m e nt .

T h e b o o k s a re well s u p pl ie d wi th c o l o red m a ps a n d

i ll ust ra t io ns t h e la tter m
,
o st l y rep ro d uc t io n s fro mo rig i na l

p h o t o g p
ra h s ta k e n b y t h e a u t h o r o n t h e g ro u n d T h e y .

co m b i n e s tud ies i n g eo g ra p hy wi th sto ri es o f tra ve l a nd .

O b se rva t i o n i n a m a n n e r a t o nce a t t ra c t i ve a n d i ns t ruc tive .

T h e ir use i n c o nn ec ti o n wi t h t h e reg ul a r t e xt bo o k s o n -

g g p y
e o r a h a n d h i s t o ry w i ll i m p a rt a fr e s h a n d l i vi n g
i n t ere st to t h ei r l esso ns .

Geogr ap b i ca l R ea der: wi ll be
'
Cop i es f
o Ca rpen ter s sent , r e a id ,
p p to a ny

add r ess on r ecei p t o f M e pri ce by Me P ubl i c/ter:

A mi e r can B ook C o mpany

C inc i nnati 0 Chicago
 Z o o lo gy an d N a t u ra l H i sto ry
B U R N ET S S C H OO L ZOO LO GY 75 c e nts
’

A ne w x
te t-b oo k fo r h igh sc hoo ls a n d a ca d e i es , b y a p ra ctica l m
tea che r ; su ffi c i e n t l y e l e e n ta r
y fo r bm
e g i n n ers a n d fu ll e n o ug h fo r t he
us ua l co urs e i n N a tura l H i s to ry .

DO DG E S ’
I NTR O DU CTI O N To E LE ME NTARY P R ACTI CAL
B I O LO GY
A l a bo ra to ry g uid e fo r hi gh sc hoo l a nd co ll ege s tuden ts , i n tended to
deve lo p th e po we r o f p erso na l i n vestiga tio n U n d e r ea c h sec tio n a re
mm
.

g e n q ue s t io ns o n the s truc tu re a n d th e p hy s io l o gy o f a se ri e s o f co
iv on
a ni m
a ls a nd
p l a n ts typ i c a l o f t h e i r k i n d D i rec ti o n s are g i ve n fo r th e
m m xm
.

co lle c tio n a n d p rese rva t io n O f s pe c i e n s fo r pre p a ri n g t h e fo r e a

m
i natio n , a n d fo r pe rfo r i n g s i p le p hysio l o gi c a l e pe ri en ts m
,

x m .
,

N E E DH AM S E LE ME NTARY LE S S O N
’
S I N ZO O LO GY 90 c e nts

A te x fo r h ig h Sc ho o l s a c a de ies n o r a l sc hoo l s a nd p repa r

t-b oo k ,
m m ,

a to ry c o ll e g e c l a sse s
p ec ia l a t te n t io n i sSg i ve n to t h e s tu d y yb sc i e n ti fic
m m m
.

e tho d s l a b o ra to r ti i i t u d n d ti l z octo
, y p ra c ce c ro sc o p c s
y a, p ra c ca y , .

O RTO N '
S C O M PAR ATI ! E ZOO LO GY
St ru c tu ra l a nd s y s te mti
i n sc ho o l s a n d c o ll eges
a c Fo r T he
u se
m
. .

d i st i n c ti ve c ha ra c te r o f th is wo rk c o n si s ts i n the tre a t e n t o f th e w ho l e
An i al m K
i ng d o m
a s a u n i t ; i n th e c o p a ra ti ve s tud y o f t he deve l o
p me n t m
a n d va ri a tio n s o f o rg a n s a nd t h e i r fu n c tio n s , fro th e s i p l es t to th e m m
m o st c o pml e s ta te ; i n x
w i th h o l d i n g y
s s te a ti c zo olo gy unti l the stud ent m
has m
as te red t h ose s tru c tu ra l a ffi ni t i e s u po n w hi ch tru e C lass i fi ca tio n i s
fo u n d ed .

H O LDE R S ’
E LE ME N TARY ZOO LO GY
A x
te t-b o o k for h ig h s c ho o l c la sse s a n d o th e r se c o n dar
y schoo s l .

MO R S E ’
S F I R ST B OO K I N ZOO LO GY 87 c e nts

Fo r th e stu d y o f th e l o wer a nd p l a i n er fo rms o f a n i ma l l ife Th e

x mpl co m mon a nd fa mil iar
.

re se n te d a re suc h a s a re
e a es p .

STE E LE S PO PU LAR ZO O LO GY
'

Fo r a ca d e mi es , p p
re a ra to ry l
sc h o o s , a nd Th e
g e n e ra l rea d i ng

m mk m
.

trea t ent is ar ed by th e sa e c l e a rne ss a nd i n te res t tha t cha ra c te rize

a ll P ro fesso r S l ’
tee e s te x
t-b o o k s i n th e N a tu ra l c i e nc es S .

TE N N EY S
’
N ATU R AL H I STO R Y OF AN I MALS —R e vise d

T hi s n ew e d i tio n h a s b ee n tho ro ug h l y revi sed , the re c en t c ha nges i n

c l a ss i fi ca tio n i ntro d uc ed , a n d the b o o k i n a ll respe c ts b ro ug h t up to da te .

Copi es w i l l be sen t , p p re a i d, to a ny add r ess on r ecei

p t f
o Me pri ce .

Ame ri c a n B o o k C o mp an
y
Cinc innati 0 Chicago
 B u rn e t Z o O l o gy
’
s

H IG H S C H O O LS AN D AC ADE M I E S

M AR G AR E T T A B U R N E T
Tea c h e r of Zob lo g y , Woo d wa rd H ig h S c h oo l , C i nc i nn a t i , 0 .

Cl oth . 1 2 m o, 2 I 6 pag e s . I ll ustrate d . Pric e . 75c e nts

Thi s n ew text -
boo k on Z o o l o gy i s i n te nd ed fo r l
c a sses

i n H i gh S c ho o l s, Ac a d e i es, m and o th e r S ec o n d a ry S c h oo l s
l y e l em
.

Wh i le su ffi c i en t en ta ry fo r b egin n e rs i n th e stu dy i t is
full a nd co mp reh e n si ve en o ugh fo r stu d e n ts pursu i n g a

l
re gu ar c o u rse i n th e N atu ra l S c i en c es I t has b ee n p p ed
re a r

m
.

by a p ra c ti c a l teac h e r, a n d i s th e d i rec t resu l t o f sc h oo l -

ro o

e xp e ri e n c e, fi e ld o b se rva ti o n a n d l ab o rato ry p ra c ti c e .

T h e d esi gn o f th e b o o k i s to gi ve a go o d ge n e ra l k no wl
ed ge o f th e su bj ec t
Z o O l o gy, to c ul ti va te a n i n terest i n
of

n a tu re stu d y , a n d to e n c o u ra ge th e u
p p i l to O b se r ve a n d t o

co m p a re fo r h i se l f a n d tm
h e n to a rra n g e a n d c l assi fy h i s

k n o wl ed ge O n ly typ i c a l or p ri n c i
p a l fo r m s a re d esc ri be d ,
m
.

an d i n th ei r d e sc ri p ti o n on ly su c h tec h n ic a l ter s are used

a s a re n e c essary, a n d th ese are c are fu ll y de fi ned .

E ac h su bj ec t i s fu ll y i ll ustra te d , th e i ll u stra ti o n s b e i ng
l
se e c te d an d a rran ged to a id the p up i l in u n derstan d i n g th e

stru c tu re o f ea c h fo r m .

Cop i es f B
’
o u r n et s S cb ool Zool ogy w i l l be sen t p p re a i d to a ny a dd r ess .

o n r ecei p t of M e p r i ce , by M e P u bl i s her s :

A mi e r c an B oo k C o mp an
y
C inc innat i o Chic ago
 G ray S e ri e s f B o ta n i e s
’ '

s o

By t he l a te AS A G R A Y , L L D . .
,
of H a rva rd U n i vers i ty

FO R E LE ME N TAR Y AN D G R AM MAR S C H OO LS
G ray
’
s H o w Pl a nts G ro w . Wi th a Po pu l ar F l o ra
A si mpl e i n tro d uct ion to th e stu d y
i
of B o ta n y .

G ray H o w Pl a nts Be have A B o tan y fo r Y o un g Pe o pl e

'
s .

A p ri myb ar oo k sh o wi n g h ow p l a n ts m o ve , c l imb , ac t , e tc .

FO R S E C O N DAR Y S C H OO LS
G ray Le sso ns in B o ta ny
’
s . R e vi se d e di tio n

G ray
'
s F ie l d F o re st
, , a nd Ga rd e n Bo ta ny . N ew ed iti o n ,

c o n tai n i n g F l o ra on ly
G ray
'
s Sc ho o l a nd F ie ld Bo o k of Bo ta ny . Co mp i r si n g th e

Fi e l d , Fo re st
”
L esso n s an d ,
a nd G a rd e n B o ta ny,
A co mpl e te b o o k for sch oo l use .

FO R C O LLEG E S AN D AD! AN C E D S TU DE NTS

G ray s Ma nua l
’
of Bo ta ny . R e vi se d , co n ta i n i n g Fl o ra on ly .

Fo r th e N o rth e rn U n i ted St a te s, east o f th e M i ss i si pp i ,

The S a m e . To u ri st
’
s e d i ti o n . Th i n pa pe r, fl e ib l e x l eath e r ,

G ray
’
Le s so ns and Manua l o f B ota ny O
s . n e vo l u m e . R e vi sed ,

co p m
ri si n
g th e
‘
L e sso n s i n B o tan y an d th e M anua l ,
”

G ray s Bo ta nic al Te xt-Bo o k

’

S t ruc tura l B o ta ny
’
I . G ray s

G o o d a le Phys io l o g ic a l B otany
’
I I . s

FO R WE STE R N S TU DE NTS

C o ulte r s Ma nua l of the B ota ny of t he R o c ky Mo untai ns

’

G ray a nd Co ul te r s Te xt -Bo o k
’
of We ste rn Bo ta ny . Co m
C o ul ter s M an ua l
’
i of
”
a nd
’

p r s i n g G ra y s L e sso ns
th e R o cky M o un ta i n s

Copi es of a ny f
o Me a bove books w i l l be sen t ,
p p re a i d , to a ny add r ess

on r ecei p t o
f M e p r i ce by M e P u bl i s k er s

Ame ric a n B oo k C o mp an
y
C I N C I N N ATI 0 C H I CAG O
 H N L a n gu age C o u rse
’
a rve ew
y s

H AR ! EY S N EW LAN G U AG E LE S S O N S
'

Cl oth l 2 , m
o . 1 68 pag e s . Pric e 35 c e nts
H AR ! EY S N EW E N GLI S H G R AM MAR FO R S C H OO LS
'

Cl o th. l 2 m
o . 277 pag e s . Pric e 60 c e nt s

T h e t wo b o o k s o f t h e fo r e r H a rve y m L
a n g ua g e C o urse

m m
ha v e b e e n s o c o p l et e l y re o d e l e d a n d t h o ro ug h l y re v i s ed
t ha t t h e y a re p ra c t ic a l l y n ew b o o k s, a n d i n t h e i r p re se n t
fo r m c o n s ti t u t e a L
N e w a ng ua g e C o urse
”
O f t h e g re a t
m mm
.

nu b e r a n d va rie t y o f te x t- b o o k s o n g ra a r p ub l i s h e d

d uri n g t h e pa s t t we n ty - fi ve y e a rs H a rve y s G ra
’
mm
a rs

ha ve h a d a m o re e xte n d e d use a n d a m
o re wi d e sp rea d

p po u l a r i t y t h a n a n
y o t h e r E n g l i s h g r a mm
ars e v e r p u b
l is h ed i n t h i s c o u n t ry ; a n d a ft e r t h e t est o f m
a ny yea rs
’

s ucc e ssf ul u se i n s c h o o l s t h e y s t i l l m
a i n ta i n a h i g h pl a c e
i n t h e e s te e m O f t h o se w h o a i m t o s e c u re t h e b e st re s ul t s
i n t he te ac h i ng o f E n gl i s h
m
.

I n t h ese bo o k s a s re o d e l e d a n d re wri t t e n , b o t h i nd uc
ti ve a n d d e d uc t i ve me t h o d s h a v e b e e n a pp l i e d , a n d t h e
s t u d y o f l a n g ua g e ha s b e e n c o rre la t ed wi t h t e c h n ic a l
g r a mm a r i n a p e r f e c t l y n a t u r a l a n d l o g i c a l a m
n n e r

mm
.

G ra a r i s t re a t e d b o th a s a sc i e n c e a n d a s a n a rt .

Wi t h a v i go ro us a n d sc i e n t ifi c pre se n t a t io n O f t h e pri nc i
p l es o f t h e E n g l i s h l a n
g gu a e i s c o b m
i n e d a t h o r o u g h a n d
Co m p l e t e c o u rs e O f t ra i n i n g i n t h e c o rr e c t u se O f t h e s e

p r i n c i p l es

m
.

T h e p up i l w h o s t ud i e s t h e s e b o o k s wi l l ha v e a fi r
g r a s p O f t h e p r i n c i p l e s o f t h e E n g l i s h l a n g u a g ,e a s u re

sk i ll i n t h e e x p ress i o n o f hi s o wn t h o ug h t s , a n d a k e e n
a pp rec ia t i o n o f t h e e xpre sse d t h o ug h t s O f o t h e rs T h ey
m m fi
.

a re pre -e i n e n t l y p ra c t i c al t e x t-b o o k s Fro t he rs t

m
.

t h e y s e t t h e s t ud e n t t o wo rk T he y g i ve h i t he be st
m m
.

o d el s fo r h i s wo rk , a n d s h o w h i ho w t o a vo i d
e rro rs a n d h o w to re a c h d e s i re d re s u l ts , i n s h o rt , t h e y

te ac h G ra mm a r i n s uc h a wa y t h a t t h e k no wle d g e g a i n e d

ca n b e m ade o f i mme d i a te us e b O t h i n sc h o o l a n d i n
e ve ry d a y l i fe .

Copi es of M ese books w i l l be s en t to an

y a dd r ess r e a id , o n
p p r ece i
p t o
f
M e p r i ce .

Ame rc ic a n B oo k C o mp an
y
N ew Y o rk C inc innat i C hic ag o
 Ari t h mt i e c B l a n ks

Ari t h mt i
b l a nk s wi t h g ra d e d e xa p l es
e c m a re a m o st

c o nv e n i e n t , ec o n o m
i c a l , a n d use ful a i d i n c lass ro o mw or k .

T h ey a ss i s t t h e t ea c h e r b y f urn is h i n g a l a rg e nu mb er o f

c a re fu l ly l
c a s si fi ed a nd g ra d ed e xa mpl es wh ic h my a be
u se d fo r re g u a r l l
C ass d ri l l s a nd fo r e xa mi na tio n t es ts .

T he e xa mpl es , b e i n g wi t h o ut a ns we rs , f u rn i s h a u n ifo r m
s ta n d a rd O f co mp a riso n a n d a c o mp l e te t e s t o f t he pup il s
’

p g
ro re s s . T h e be st a nd c h ea pes t a ri t h mti e c bl a nk s a re

t h e fo l l o w i ng :

NATI O N AL N U MB E R TAB LETS

T we lve nu mb ers Pe r do zen 90 c e nt s
Thi s se ri es c o mp i r se s l
tw e ve ta b e ts o r n u l mb e rs and l
s u pp ie s su f

fi c ie n t w o rk to c o ve r l
th e w ho e c o u rse o f w ri tte n a rI th mti e c . T he ta b l ets
an d l esso n s a re c are fu lly g ra d e d a n d so a rra n g d
e th a t tw o ta b l e ts fu rn i sh

e no ugh s upp l e m e n ta rv w o rk fo r a sc h oo l y ea r .

R AY S TE S T E XAM P LE TAB LETS

’

E i gh t nu mb e rs P e r d o ze n

These ta b l e ts fu rn i sh i n c o n ve n i en t fo r mw e ll l
se e cte d a n d c are fu ll y
g ra d e d te s t e x mp l
a es , ea c h S hee t ha vi n g p ri n te d a t th e h ea d fro fi ve to m
te n p ro b l e m s . Th e e i gh t n u m b ers co ver a fu ll co u rse o f a ri th e tic a l m
O e ra ti o n s
p .

S I L! E R S P R I MAR Y EXE R C I S E S I N AR I TH M ETI C

’

N u mb e rs I and 2 E ach 1 0 c e nt s

N u mb e rs 3 a nd 4 E a c h 1 5 c e nts

A seri e s o f g ra d e d e x e rc i ses in t he fun d a m e n ta l l

ru es o f a ri th meti c

fo r b eg i n ne rs ; o ne pag e fo r e a ch sc ho o l d a y , p rin te d i n b o l d type la rg e

x
, ,

m
gi vi ng th e p up i l a l a rg e a o u n t o f p ra c tice T h e a n swe rs to the e a p l es . m
are to b e rec o rd ed b y th e p u pi l o n t h e ri n te d a T h e se b l a n k s wi ll
p p g e

x
.

b e fo un d a very use fu l s upp e l m en t to a ny te t -boo k in ari th mti e c .

Speci m en co p i es o
f a ny o
f Me a bove Ar i M mti c
e B l a n ks w i ll be sen t,

re a id , M e pr i ce
p p to a ny a dd r ess on r ecei
p t f
o .

Ame ri c a n B o o k C o mp an
y
C inc innat i Chic ago