Part 6

February Sixteenth

Even the coldest weather does not close the swift-running streams, which gives the muskrats a chance to exercise their legs. It makes you shudder to see one swim along the edge of the ice, then dive, and come to the surface with a mouthful of food. Climbing upon the ice, he eats it, then silently slips into the water again. His hair is so well oiled, that an ordinary wetting does not penetrate to the skin.

February Seventeenth

A crow's track can always be told from the tracks of other birds of similar size, because there is a dash in the snow made by the claw of his middle toe. Again, his toes are long and set rather closely together, and he seldom walks in a straight line, but wanders about as though looking for something, which is usually the case.

February Eighteenth

Many persons believe that a porcupine has the power to throw his quills, but it is not so. When alarmed, he hurries, in a lumbering sort of way, for shelter. If you close in on him, he stops at once, ducks his head, humps his back, raises his quill armor, and awaits your attack. Approach closely, and he turns his back and tail toward you, and the instant you touch him he strikes with his club-like tail, also armed with quills, leaving souvenirs sticking into whatever they come in contact with.

Notes

February Nineteenth

As the migrating birds are beginning to arrive in the Southern States, and will soon be North, let us consider the subject of migration. The reason why birds migrate North in the spring is not definitely-known. Of course they leave the North because cold and snow cut off their food supply; but why in the spring do they abandon a country where food is plentiful and make such long flights, apparently for no other object than to bring forth their young in the North?

February Twentieth

Is it not wonderful how birds find their way, over thousands of miles of land and water, to the same locality and often to the same nest, season after season? How do we know that this is true? The reappearance of a bird with a crippled foot or wing, or one that has been tamed to feed from one's hand, is unmistakable proof.

February Twenty-first

Ducks and geese make longest flights of any of the migrating birds. They have been known to cover three hundred miles without resting. The smaller birds advance as the season advances, the early arrivals being the ones that do not winter very far south. Storm-waves often check their progress and compel them to turn back a few hundred miles and wait for the weather to moderate.

Notes

February Twenty-second

Most birds migrate at night; and a continued warm rain followed by a clear warm night is sure to bring a host of new arrivals. If you listen on moonlight nights, you can often hear their chirps and calls as they pass over. During foggy weather many meet with accidents by getting lost and being blown out to sea, or by flying against monuments, buildings, or lighthouses.

February Twenty-third

Mr. Chapman tells us that, when migrating, birds fly at a height of from one to three miles, and that our Eastern birds leave the United States by the way of the Florida peninsula. They are guided in their flight by the coast-line and the river valleys.

February Twenty-fourth

Some migrants fly in compact flocks of hundreds, like the ducks, for example, while others, like the swallows, spread out. Then, again, there are birds that arrive in pairs or singly. With still others, the male precedes his mate by a week or ten days. Not infrequently a flock of birds containing several different species will be seen. This is particularly true of the blackbirds and grackles.

Notes

February Twenty-fifth

You will notice that the birds are usually in full song when they arrive from the South. Save for a few calls and scolding notes, most of them are silent during the winter, but as spring approaches they begin to find their voices and probably are as glad to sing as we are to hear them.

February Twenty-sixth

The snow-shoe rabbit, or Northern varying hare, changes its color twice a year. In winter it is snow white, but at this season it is turning reddish-brown. In the far Northwest these hares are so abundant that they make deep trails through the snow, and the Indians and white trappers and traders shoot and snare large numbers of them for food.

February Twenty-seventh

It makes no difference to the "chickaree," or red squirrel, how much snow falls or how cold it gets. He has laid by a stock of provisions and he is not dependent on the food the season furnishes. He is as spry and happy during the coldest blizzard as he is on a midsummer day, for he knows well where the hollow limb or tree-trunk is that contains his store of nuts or grain.

Notes