Part 29

Conspicuous in the withered grass of upland meadows are the white flowers of the several species of everlasting. If picked before they begin to fade, they will keep through winter nearly as fresh and white as when the blossoming season was at its height.

November Eleventh

In the mountains of the North, the black bear is beginning to look for a suitable place in which to pass the winter. Many bears could wear their skins much longer if they would only hibernate before the snow begins to fly. Every hunter anxiously awaits the first fall of snow, which makes the tracking of bears so easy.

November Twelfth

Nine out of every ten persons call salamanders or newts, "lizards." Lizards do not metamorphose; consequently they are never found in the water. They are very swift; lovers of the sun, and in the East are rarely seen north of a line parallel with southern New England. Salamanders are found either in the water or in damp places. They metamorphose, and when on the ground their efforts to escape are feeble.

Notes

November Thirteenth

Owls, woodpeckers, ducks, doves, pigeons, the ruffed grouse, Bob-white, belted kingfisher, ruby-throated hummingbird, chimney swift, short-billed marsh wren, and bush-tit lay eggs that are glossy white or various shades of white or buff-color. The eggs of the herons, cuckoos, robin, bluebird, catbird, Wilson's thrush, and hermit thrush are blue, green, or various shades of those colors.

November Fourteenth

Just at evening the white-throated sparrows, from the thickets, call their sweet, clear good-night to one another. As the darkness falls, the calls gradually cease, until only an occasional flutter is heard as some restless bird, not satisfied with its perch, chooses a new position for the night.

November Fifteenth

It is now time to build winter shelters for Bob-white, and to begin to feed the winter birds. Cut pine or evergreen boughs, and pile them against the side of a log, leaving a small opening at each end for the quail to enter. Make the shelters on the south or east side of a hill or bank, where it will be protected from the cold winter storms. Now scatter buckwheat about your bird "wickey-up," as an Indian would call it, and they will soon find it. You should feed grain to your flock all winter.

Notes

November Sixteenth

The sparrow hawk is a summer resident in New England, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio. It nests in a cavity of a tree or in a deserted woodpecker's nest, and it will return to the same locality year after year. The bird is no larger than a robin, and instead of being a sparrow killer, it lives chiefly upon insects.

November Seventeenth

The opossum is the only North American member of the order Marsupialia which has so many representatives in Australia and New Zealand. The marsupials are the animals that have pouches over their abdomens in which they carry their young. Some people wrongly include in this order the pocket gopher, pocket mouse, and other mammals that have cheek pouches in which they carry food.

November Eighteenth

Accounts of the capture of "extremely rare and valuable monkey-faced owls," are often published. These owls are nothing more than barn owls, which are so common in the Southern States. They nest in holes in banks, in cavities in trees, or in church belfries. A pair has occupied one of the towers in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, for several years.

Notes

November Nineteenth

The common meadow mouse makes a docile and interesting pet, if captured without frightening or exciting him. Within fifteen minutes from the time of his capture he will often lose all fear, and while you hold him he will wash his face with his paws.

November Twentieth

The snowy, and the great-gray, owls, both inhabitants of the North-land, are the largest American members of the owl family. They are more frequently seen in the daytime and are much tamer than other owls, often permitting one to approach very close to them. Except in very severe weather they rarely come below the Canadian border. In disposition the great-horned owl and the snow owl are considered fierce, still they can be tamed, even if captured when adult.

November Twenty-first

It is a general impression that bears hug their victims to death. When enraged a bear will charge to within a few feet of a man, rise upon its hind legs, and strike him down with its fore paws, or hold him with them while it attacks his neck and shoulders with its teeth. After inflicting several wounds a bear will often leave its victim without further injuring him.

THE GREAT HORNED OWL AND THE SNOWY OWL CAN BE TAMED.]

Notes