Of uniform grayish color, swift in flight, and shaped like cigars with wings, the chimney swifts might well be called the torpedo boats of the air. They never alight outside of chimneys or old buildings, and are usually seen flying high above the house-tops. For hours they chase each other through the air, keeping up a continuous "chip, chip, chip, chip, chip, chip," whenever the participants of the game come near each other.

May Second

No sooner does the frost leave the ground, than the moles begin to work close to the surface, making ridges where the earth is soft, and throwing out small mounds, when it is packed firm. The star-nose mole inhabits damp soil, while the common mole likes the dry highlands. Although moles' eyes are small, he who thinks that they cannot see, should hold his finger before one's nose and see how quickly it will be bitten.

May Third

The marsh marigold, which grows in thick clusters in the swamps and along the streams, is now in full bloom. These flowers are often sold on the streets for "cowslips," a name wholly incorrect. The leaves make fine greens.

Notes

May Fourth

By this time one of your bird houses should be tenanted by a pair of house wrens. They migrate at night and the male arrives about a week in advance of his mate. Both birds assist in building the nest and in raising the young. As soon as the first brood has been reared, the lining of the nest is removed, and a new one built before the second set of six eggs is laid. Wrens may easily be tamed to take spiders and caterpillars (not the hairy ones) from the end of a stick and even from one's hand.

May Fifth

How much easier would be the work of nest building if we provided the birds with nesting material. Scatter strips of cloth, and pieces of coarse twine on the ground for the robins; hair from the tail and mane of horses for the chipping sparrows and wrens; twine and horse-hair for the orioles; bits of "waste" for the yellow warblers, and grapevine bark for the catbirds. None of these strands should be more than four inches long.

May Sixth

In some localities the shad-tree is now in full blossom. As you pause to cut off a few twigs, your ears are greeted by a never ceasing chorus of toad music. This is the toad's "love song"—a high-pitched, somewhat tremulous, and rather monotonous note.

Notes

May Seventh

Perched upon a stump, fence post, or low limb of a tree, the Bob-white sends forth his clear, far-reaching whistle "Bob-white." In the North this bird is known to every boy as Bob-white, or quail, while in the South he is called "partridge." The last two names are misnomers, for we have no native quails or partridges in this country.

May Eighth

The fronds of the sensitive fern resemble somewhat the leaves of the oak-tree, and in some localities it is called the oak-leaf fern. It is found in damp, shady spots, and is one of the common ferns of New England. The delicate, light green leaves wither soon after being picked, and it is the first of the ferns to fall under the touch of Jack Frost.

May Ninth

A low, squeaking sound made with the lips is understood by some birds as a signal of distress. Orioles, wrens, catbirds, cuckoos, warblers, vireos, robins, and many other birds may be called close to one, particularly if the intruder is near their nest. You should learn this trick, for often it is possible to coax a shy bird from a thicket in order that it may be identified.

Notes

May Tenth

In summer the most common of our Northern wood warblers, yet one of the most difficult to see, on account of its liking for the tops of the tall trees, is the black-throated green warbler. Its song is a cheerful, interrogative, "Will you co-ome, will you co-ome, will you?" (Wright), or "a droning zee, zee, ze-ee, zee." (Chapman and Reed.)

May Eleventh

Why is it that the usually frisky and noisy red squirrels have become so quiet? If you could look into the nest of dried grass and bark, in a hollow tree-trunk, or a deserted woodpecker's nest, you would understand their reason for not wishing to make their presence known. Keep close watch of the opening, and some day you will see several little heads appear, and in a few days a family of squirrels will be scrambling about the trees. Pretty and graceful as these squirrels are, they do great damage by destroying the eggs and young of birds.

May Twelfth

Wintering south of Central America, the veery, or Wilson's thrush, should now appear in the vicinity of Albany. "A weird rhythm" is the expression sometimes used to describe the song of this bird. Weird it certainly is, and beautiful, as well, coming from the depths of some sombre wood, growing more sombre still as the night falls.

Notes

May Thirteenth

The wood thrush is much larger than the veery, and easily distinguished from the six other species of true thrushes of North America, by the large black spots on the breast, and the bright cinnamon head. As you listened for the veery, you probably heard the wood thrush's pure liquid song—so far away that you could not catch the low after-notes. To me, the flute-like quality of the wood thrush's song makes it the most enchanting of all bird music.

May Fourteenth

At intervals during the day, a distinct booming sound is heard coming from the forests. At first the beats are slow and measured, but as they are repeated the time quickens, until they finally blend, and then gradually die away. This is the "drumming" of the ruffed grouse, produced by the cock bird beating with his wings against the sides of his body. At this time of the year it is his love song, but you can hear it at other seasons as well.

May Fifteenth

Visit again the locality where a week ago you heard so many toads, and what do you find? Long strings of gelatine-covered specks strewn on the bottom of the pond. These black spots are the eggs of the toad, and the gelatine is put around them to protect them and to furnish the first meal for the young polywogs.

Notes

May Sixteenth

To find a hummingbird's nest, snugly saddled on a branch of a maple or apple tree, ten feet or more above the ground, requires patience and keen eyesight. Unless you have seen one, you almost surely would mistake it for a bunch of lichens. It is a neat little structure of downy material covered with bits of lichens, fastened with spider and caterpillar webs.

May Seventeenth

It would interest you to visit a zoological park to study the growing antlers of a deer or an elk. A pair of black antlers, "in the velvet," as the hunters call it, have taken the place of the bony-colored ones shed in March. Just now they are somewhat flexible, and feverishly hot from the steady flow of blood that feeds them. If they are injured at this time, the owner might bleed to death.

May Eighteenth

"Caw, caw, caw, ka, ka, ka, ka-k-k-k-r-r-r-r." It sounds as though a crow were being strangled. Looking in that direction you see a large black bird fly from the woods to a meadow. After filling her beak with food she returns. No sooner is she within sight of the young crows, than they flap their wings, open their mouths and caw until the stifled, guttural sounds tell you that the morsel is being swallowed.

Notes

May Nineteenth

When perched or flying the bobolink sends forth his jolly song in such a flood of ecstasy that you would scarcely be surprised to see him suddenly explode and vanish in a cloud of feathers. Would that we could overlook the damage he does to Southern rice crops.

May Twentieth

Before now you have noticed the dainty little Jack-in-the-pulpit in the damp, shady woods and marshes. Would you suppose that this innocent looking plant is really an insect trap? The thick fleshy "corm" when boiled is quite palatable, but who would think so after digging it from the ground, cutting into it, and feeling the sharp prickly sensation it gives when touched with the tongue?

May Twenty-first

The song of the brown thrasher can easily be mistaken for that of a catbird, particularly as both birds inhabit roadways, thickets, and open brush lots. The male, while singing to his mate, nearly always perches in the top of a tall bush or tree. His song is a disconnected combination of pleasant musical tones, which might be arranged so as to sound thrush-like in effect, but they are usually uttered in pairs or trios, rather than in the modulated phrase of the hermit or the wood thrush.

Notes

May Twenty-second

Look intently at the bottom of shallow streams or ponds and you will see what appear to be small twigs and sandy lumps moving about like snails. These are the larvÆ of the caddis fly. Pick up one and poke the creature with a straw. You now discover that it lives in a case made of gravel, or sand, or tiny shells, or pieces of bark, all glued together in a perfect mask.

May Twenty-third

Keep watch of any brown bird about the size and shape of a female English sparrow, that you see hopping about the trees and bushes, peeping under bridges, and looking into hollow limbs of trees. She is a cowbird, or cow bunting, looking for the nest of another bird who is away for the moment. When she finds one, she will slip into it and drop one of her eggs, which will be hatched and the birdling reared by the foster mother, unless she can manage to get rid of it.

May Twenty-fourth

The Greeks were persistent in their belief that the harmless red, or fire salamander, found only in damp and shady places, was insensible to heat. In reality the reverse is true. Its delicate skin cannot even withstand the sun's rays. During sunny days it hides under leaves and logs, coming forth only after storms, or at night.

Notes

May Twenty-fifth

If there are currant or gooseberry bushes about your grounds, you must know the yellow warbler, or summer yellowbird. He is the little chap, almost pure yellow, who hunts carefully under each leaf for the caterpillars that attack the bushes. The female lacks the reddish streaks on the under parts, and her crown is not as bright as that of the male. Do not confuse this bird with the male American goldfinch, which just now has a yellow body, but black crown, wings, and tail.

May Twenty-sixth

Quite unlike the strings of beady eggs of the toad, the eggs of the frogs are attached in a bulky mass to sticks or to the limbs of aquatic plants in sluggish or stagnant water. But there is the same gelatine-like casing around each black egg.

May Twenty-seventh

In the Northern States, where he nests, the redstart is often seen in the shade-trees along our streets, as well as in the groves and forests. "'Ching, ching, chee; ser-wee, swee, swee-e-s' he sings, and with wings and tail outspread whirls about, dancing from limb to limb, darts upward, floats downward, blows hither and thither like a leaf in the breeze." (Chapman.)

Notes

May Twenty-eighth

In the evening you often see a chimney swift (it is not a swallow) flying back and forth over dead tree-tops. Each time it pauses as though about to alight, but after what seems to be a momentary hesitation, it passes on. With a field-glass you might detect it snapping off the twigs and carrying them into an unused chimney, where it fastens them to the bricks with a glutinous saliva. One after another the twigs are glued together until a bracket-like basket is made, and in this the four white eggs are laid.

May Twenty-ninth

It is now time to look in the meadows for the dainty blue-eyed grass, or blue star; in the marshes for the purple or water avens, and the white hellebore, or Indian poke; and in the damp shady woods for the blossoming mandrake, or Mayapple.

May Thirtieth

Judging from the name, one might expect to find the pewee, or wood pewee, in the woods only, but his high plaintive "P-e-w-e-e, p-e-w-e-e," first rising, then falling, coming from the tops of the village shade-trees, is one of the last notes heard at the close of the day. Short as the song is, he frequently sings but half of it.

Notes

May Thirty-first

Birds are often great sufferers from heat. The open bill, drooping wings, and panting body, all testify to this fact. A bird sitting on an unshaded nest during a hot day is an object for our pity. Fill flower-pot saucers with fresh water, and place them in depressions about the grounds. The birds will get great relief from these drinking and bathing dishes, and your opportunity for observation will be increased.

Notes

---