Mourning-cloak butterflies do not all die when winter comes. Those that hibernate are usually found singly or in clusters, hanging from the rafters in old buildings, or from the under side of stones, rails, limbs of trees, or boards. Those that appear in the spring with tattered wings, have probably been confined in buildings, and in their efforts to escape have battered themselves against the windows.

February Second

Does any one know how old the story is that tells us this is the day on which the bear and the woodchuck rub their sleepy eyes and leave their winter quarters for the first time? If they see their shadow they return and sleep six weeks longer, but should the day be cloudy, they are supposed to remain active the rest of the season. This of course is only a myth.

February Third

Frogs usually pass the winter in the mud at the bottom of a stream, lake, or pond, or below frost-line in a woodchuck, rabbit, or chipmunk burrow. However, it is not uncommon to find them active all winter in a spring, or a roadside drinking-trough supplied from a spring. I wonder if they know that spring-water seldom freezes, and that by choosing such a place, they will not have to hibernate.

Notes

February Fourth

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.

Notes

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

February Twenty-eighth

The Carolina wren is the largest member of the wren family in the Eastern United States. It breeds sparingly in Southern New York and New England, but is common about Washington, D. C., where it is a resident. It is found in the forests, thickets, and undergrowth along streams and lakes. Mr. Hoffman says that its song "is so loud and clear that it can be heard easily a quarter of a mile."

Notes

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