Part 5

The bloodthirsty weasel, which is reddish brown in summer (save the tip of his tail, which is always black), is now colored to match his surroundings, white. His tracks may be found in the woods and along the stump fences in the fields, where he has been searching for mice. He is one of the very few mammals that will shed blood simply for the pleasure of killing.

February Fifth

Students of nature will find it much easier to identify birds if they take this opportunity before the migrating birds arrive, to study carefully the haunts of the common species. Many birds, you know, are not found beyond the bounds of a certain character of country chosen for them by nature. So should you see in the deep woods a bird that you at first take to be a Baltimore oriole or a bobolink, a second thought will cause you to remember that these birds are not found in the woods, consequently you must be wrong.

February Sixth

The meadow lark, horned lark, bobolink, grasshopper sparrow, vesper sparrow, and savannah sparrow, are all common birds of the fields and meadows, and they are seldom seen in the dense woods or in the villages.

Notes

February Seventh

Among the birds that one may expect to see in the woods and groves are the great-horned owl, hermit thrush, wood thrush, blue-headed vireo, golden-crowned thrush, scarlet tanager, black-throated green warbler, and the black-throated blue warbler.

February Eighth

The swamp birds, and birds found along the banks of lakes, rivers, and streams, and seldom seen far from them, are the belted kingfisher, red-shouldered blackbird, spotted and solitary sandpipers, great blue, night, and little green herons, and the osprey, or fish-hawk.

February Ninth

Cleared woodlands overgrown with thick bushes, shrubs, and vines, as well as the bushy thickets by the waysides, are the favorite nesting-places for another class of birds. In this category the common varieties are the yellow-breasted chat, yellow warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, Maryland yellow-throat, catbird, brown thrasher, mocking-bird, indigo bunting, and the black-billed and yellow-billed cuckoos.

Notes

February Tenth

The swimming birds spend the greater part of their time in the water. Most of them nest in the lake regions of Canada. They are the ducks, geese, and swans, of which there are nearly fifty species; the grebes and loons, eleven species; the gulls and terns, thirty-seven species; and the cormorants and pelicans, beside many other water birds that we seldom or never see in Eastern United States.

February Eleventh

Then, of course, there is a miscellaneous lot that nest in the woods, orchards, village shade trees, or any place where large trees are found. The flicker, downy and hairy woodpeckers, screech owl, white-breasted nuthatch, chickadee, robin, red-eyed vireo, warbling vireo, and the yellow-throated vireo, comprise some of the birds in this group.

February Twelfth

About spring-holes the snow melts quickly and the grass remains green all winter. It is here that you will find the runways of meadow mice, or voles (not moles). They live on the roots and tender blades of grass, but at this time of the year hunger often compels them to eat the bark from fruit trees, vines, and berry bushes, and during severe winters they do great damage to apple trees.

Notes

February Thirteenth

The whistle-wing duck, or American golden eye, attracts your attention by the peculiar whistling sound that it makes with its wings while flying. As it gets its food (small fish, and mussels), by diving, it is able to remain in the Northern States all winter and feed in the swift-running streams, in air-holes, or other open water.

February Fourteenth

The skunk is one of the mammals who can hibernate or not, just as he chooses. During prolonged periods of cold, he takes shelter in a woodchuck's burrow, and "cuddling down," goes to sleep but a few inches from the rightful owner, who, in turn, is also sleeping in a chamber back of the thin partition of earth which he threw out in front of himself when he retired in the fall.

February Fifteenth

The first bird to actually voice the approach of spring, is the jolly little chickadee. His spring song, "spring's-com-ing," sounds more like "phoebe" than does the note of the phoebe itself, for which it is often mistaken. It is a clear, plaintive whistle, easily imitated, and when answered, the songster can often be called within a few feet of one, where he will perch and repeat his song as long as he receives a reply.

HIBERNATING WOODCHUCK.]

Notes