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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3163-8.txt b/3163-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..befd4e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/3163-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5362 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes and, Other Papers, by +John Burroughs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes and, Other Papers + +Author: John Burroughs + +Commentator: Mary E. Burt + +Posting Date: January 17, 2009 [EBook #3163] +Release Date: April, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS AND BEES *** + + + + +Produced by Patricia C. Franks, Lisa Carter, Danette Dulny, +Charles Duvall, Cheri Ripley, and Cheryl Sullivan + + + + + + +BIRDS AND BEES + +SHARP EYES + +AND OTHER PAPERS + + +By John Burroughs + + +With An Introduction + +By Mary E. Burt + + +And A Biographical Sketch + + +CONTENTS + + +Biographical Sketch + +Introduction By Mary E. Burt + +Birds + + Bird Enemies + + The Tragedies of the Nests + +Bees + + An Idyl of the Honey-Bee + + The Pastoral Bees + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. + + +Nature chose the spring of the year for the time of John Burroughs's +birth. A little before the day when the wake-robin shows itself, that +the observer might be on hand for the sight, he was born in Roxbury, +Delaware County, New York, on the western borders of the Catskill +Mountains; the precise date was April 3, 1837. Until 1863 he remained +in the country about his native place, working on his father's farm, +getting his schooling in the district school and neighboring academies, +and taking his turn also as teacher. As he himself has hinted, the +originality, freshness, and wholesomeness of his writings are probably +due in great measure to the unliterary surroundings of his early life, +which allowed his mind to form itself on unconventional lines, and to +the later companionships with unlettered men, which kept him in touch +with the sturdy simplicities of life. + +From the very beginnings of his taste for literature, the essay was his +favorite form. Dr. Johnson was the prophet of his youth, but he soon +transferred his allegiance to Emerson, who for many years remained his +"master enchanter." To cure himself of too close an imitation of +the Concord seer, which showed itself in his first magazine article, +Expression, he took to writing his sketches of nature, and about this +time he fell in with the writings of Thoreau, which doubtless confirmed +and encouraged him in this direction. But of all authors and of all men, +Walt Whitman, in his personality and as a literary force, seems to have +made the profoundest impression upon Mr. Burroughs, though doubtless +Emerson had a greater influence on his style of writing. + +Expression appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in 1860, and most of his +contributions to literature have been in the form of papers first +published in the magazines, and afterwards collected into books. He more +than once paid tribute to his teachers in literature. His first book, +now out of print, was Notes on Walt Whitman, as Poet and Person, +published in 1867; and Whitman: A Study, which appeared in 1896, is a +more extended treatment of the man and his poetry and philosophy. Birds +and Poets, too, contains a paper on Whitman, entitled The Flight of the +Eagle, besides an essay on Emerson, whom he also treated incidentally in +his paper, Matthew Arnold on Emerson and Carlyle, in Indoor Studies; and +the latter volume contains his essay on Thoreau. + +In the autumn of 1863 he went to Washington, and in the following +January entered the Treasury Department. He was for some years an +assistant in the office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and later +chief of the organization division of that Bureau. For some time he was +keeper of one of the vaults, and for a great part of the day his only +duty was to be at his desk. In these leisure hours his mind traveled off +into the country, where his previous life had been spent, and with the +help of his pen, always a faithful friend and magician, he lived over +again those happy days, now happier still with the glamour of all +past pleasures. In this way he wrote Wake-Robin and a part of Winter +Sunshine. It must not be supposed, however, that he was deprived of +outdoor pleasures while at Washington. On the contrary, he enjoyed many +walks in the suburbs of the capital, and in those days the real country +came up to the very edges of the city. His Spring at the Capital, Winter +Sunshine, A March Chronicle, and other papers bear the fruit of his life +on the Potomac. He went to England in 1871 on business for the Treasury +Department, and again on his own account a dozen years later. The record +of the two visits is to be found mainly in his chapters on An October +Abroad, contained in the volume Winter Sunshine, and in the papers +gathered into the volume Fresh Fields. + +He resigned his place in the Treasury in 1873, and was appointed +receiver of a broken national bank. Later, until 1885, his business +occupation was that of a National Bank Examiner. An article contributed +by him to The Century Magazine for March, 1881, on Broken Banks and Lax +Directors, is perhaps the only literary outcome of this occupation, but +the keen powers of observation, trained in the field of nature, could +not fail to disclose themselves in analyzing columns of figures. After +leaving Washington Mr. Burroughs bought a fruit farm at West Park, near +Esopus, on the Hudson, and there building his house from the stones +found in his fields, has given himself the best conditions for that +humanizing of nature which constitutes the charm of his books. He was +married in 1857 to a lady living in the New York village where he was +at the time teaching. He keeps his country home the year round, only +occasionally visiting New York. The cultivation of grapes absorbs the +greater part of his time; but he has by no means given over letters. His +work, which has long found ready acceptance both at home and abroad, +is now passing into that security of fame which comes from its entrance +into the school-life of American children. + +Besides his outdoor sketches and the other papers already mentioned, +Mr. Burroughs has written a number of critical essays on life and +literature, published in Indoor Studies, and other volumes. He has also +taken his readers into his confidence in An Egotistical Chapter, +the final one of his Indoor Studies; and in the Introduction to the +Riverside Edition of his writings he has given us further glimpses of +his private intellectual life. + +Probably no other American writer has a greater sympathy with, and a +keener enjoyment of, country life in all its phases--farming, camping, +fishing, walking--than has John Burroughs. His books are redolent of the +soil, and have such "freshness and primal sweetness," that we need not +be told that the pleasure he gets from his walks and excursions is by no +means over when he steps inside his doors again. As he tells us on more +than one occasion, he finds he can get much more out of his outdoor +experiences by thinking them over, and writing them out afterwards. + +Numbers 28, 36, and 92 of the Riverside Literature Series consist of +selections from Mr. Burroughs's books. No. 28, which is entitled Birds +and Bees, is made up of Bird Enemies and The Tragedies of the Nests from +the volume Signs and Seasons, An Idyl of the Honey-Bee from Pepacton, +and The Pastoral Bees from Locusts and Wild Honey. The Introduction, +by Miss Mary E. Burt, gives an account of the use of Mr. Burroughs's +writings in Chicago schools. + +In No. 36, Sharp Eyes, and Other Papers, the initial paper, Sharp +Eyes, is drawn from Locusts and Wild Honey, The Apple comes from Winter +Sunshine, A Taste of Maine Birch and Winter Neighbors from Signs and +Seasons, and Notes by the Way (on muskrats, squirrels, foxes, and +woodchucks) from Pepacton. + +The collection called A Bunch of Herbs, and Other Papers, forming No. +92 of the Series, was designed with special reference to what the author +has to say of trees and flowers, and contains A Bunch of Herbs from +Pepacton, Strawberries from Locusts and Wild Honey, A March Chronicle +and Autumn Tides from Winter Sunshine, A Spray of Pine and A Spring +Relish from Signs and Seasons, and English Woods: A Contrast from Fresh +Fields. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + + +It is seldom that I find a book so far above children that I cannot +share its best thought with them. So when I first took up one of John +Burroughs's essays, I at once foresaw many a ramble with my pupils +through the enchanted country that is found within its breezy pages. To +read John Burroughs is to live in the woods and fields, and to associate +intimately with all their little timid inhabitants; to learn that-- + + "God made all the creatures and gave them our love and our fear, + To give sign, we and they are his children, one family here." + +When I came to use Pepacton in my class of the sixth grade, I soon +found, not only that the children read better but that they came rapidly +to a better appreciation of the finer bits of literature in their +regular readers, while their interest in their new author grew quickly +to an enthusiasm. Never was a little brother or sister more real to +them than was "Peggy Mel" as she rushed into the hive laden with stolen +honey, while her neighbors gossiped about it, or the stately elm that +played sly tricks, or the log which proved to be a good bedfellow +because it did not grumble. Burroughs's way of investing beasts, birds, +insects, and inanimate things with human motives is very pleasing +to children. They like to trace analogies between the human and the +irrational, to think of a weed as a tramp stealing rides, of Nature as a +tell-tale when taken by surprise. + +The quiet enthusiasm of John Burroughs's essays is much healthier +than the over-wrought dramatic action which sets all the nerves +a-quiver,--nerves already stimulated to excess by the comedies and +tragedies forced upon the daily lives of children. It is especially +true of children living in crowded cities, shut away from the woods and +hills, constant witnesses of the effects of human passion, that they +need the tonic of a quiet literature rather than the stimulant of a +stormy or dramatic one,--a literature which develops gentle feelings, +deep thought, and a relish for what is homely and homespun, rather than +a literature which calls forth excited feelings. + +The essays in this volume are those in which my pupils have expressed an +enthusiastic interest, or which, after careful reading, I have selected +for future use. I have found in them few pages so hard as to require +over much study, or a too frequent use of the dictionary. John +Burroughs, more than almost any other writer of the time, has a +prevailing taste for simple words and simple constructions. "He that +runs may read" him. I have found many children under eleven years of age +who could read a whole page without hesitating. If I discover some words +which I foresee will cause difficulty, I place such on the blackboard +and rapidly pronounce and explain them before the reading. Generally, +however, I find the text the best interpreter of its words. What follows +explains what goes before, if the child is led to read on to the end of +the sentence. It is a mistake to allow children to be frightened away +from choice reading by an occasional hard word. There is no better time +than his reading lesson in which to teach a child that the hard things +of life are to be grappled with and overcome. A mistake also, I think, +is that toilsome process of explanation which I sometimes find teachers +following, under the impression that it will be "parrot work" (as the +stock phrase of the "institutes" has it) for the pupils to read anything +which they do not clearly and fully comprehend. Teachers' definitions, +in such cases, I have often noticed, are no better than dictionary +definitions, and surely everybody knows that few more fruitless things +than dictionary definitions are ever crammed into the memory of a child. +Better far give free play to the native intelligence of the child, and +trust it to apprehend, though it may not yet comprehend nor be able to +express its apprehension in definition. On this subject I am glad to +quote so high an authority as Sir Walter Scott: "Indeed I rather suspect +that children derive impulses of a powerful and important kind from +reading things which they do not comprehend, and therefore that to write +down to children's understanding is a mistake. Set them on the scent and +let them puzzle it out." + +From time to time I have allowed my pupils to give me written +reports from memory of these essays, and have often found these little +compositions sparkling with pleasing information, or full of that +childlike fun which is characteristic of the author. I have marked the +errors in these exercises, and have given them back to the children +to rewrite. Sometimes the second papers show careful correction-and +sometimes the mistakes are partially neglected. Very often the child +wishes to improve on the first composition, and so adds new blunders as +well as creates new interest. + +There is a law of self-preservation in Nature, which takes care of +mistakes. Every human soul reaches toward the light in the most direct +path open to it, and will correct its own errors as soon as it is +developed far enough. There is no use in trying to force maturity; +teachers who trouble children beyond all reason, and worry over their +mistakes, are fumbling at the roots of young plants that will grow if +they are let alone long enough. + +The average mechanical work (spelling, construction of sentences, +writing, etc.) is better under this method than when more time is +devoted to the mechanics and less to the thought of composition. I have +seen many reports of Burroughs's essays from the pens of children more +pleasing and reliable than the essays of some professional reviewers; +in these papers I often find the children adding little suggestions of +their own; as, "Do birds dream?" One of the girls says her bird "jumps +in its sleep." A little ten year old writes, "Weeds are unuseful +flowers," and, "I like this book because there are real things in it." +Another thinks she "will look more carefully" if she ever gets out into +the country again. For the development of close observation and good +feeling toward the common things of life, I know of no writings better +than those of John Burroughs. + + +MARY E. BURT + +JONES SCHOOL, CHICAGO, Sept. 1, 1887. + + + + +BIRDS. + + + + +BIRD ENEMIES. + + +How surely the birds know their enemies! See how the wrens and robins +and bluebirds pursue and scold the cat, while they take little or no +notice of the dog! Even the swallow will fight the cat, and, relying too +confidently upon its powers of flight, sometimes swoops down so near +to its enemy that it is caught by a sudden stroke of the cat's paw. The +only case I know of in which our small birds fail to recognize their +enemy is furnished by the shrike; apparently the little birds do not +know that this modest-colored bird is an assassin. At least, I have +never seen them scold or molest him, or utter any outcries at his +presence, as they usually do at birds of prey. Probably it is because +the shrike is a rare visitant, and is not found in this part of the +country during the nesting season of our songsters. + +But the birds have nearly all found out the trick the jay, and when he +comes sneaking through the trees in May and June in quest of eggs, he +is quickly exposed and roundly abused. It is amusing to see the robins +hustle him out of the tree which holds their nest. They cry "Thief, +thief!" to the top of their voices as they charge upon him, and the jay +retorts in a voice scarcely less complimentary as he makes off. + +The jays have their enemies also, and need to keep an eye on their own +eggs. It would be interesting to know if jays ever rob jays, or crows +plunder crows; or is there honor among thieves even in the feathered +tribes? I suspect the jay is often punished by birds which are otherwise +innocent of nest-robbing. One season I found a jay's nest in a small +cedar on the side of a wooded ridge. It held five eggs, every one of +which had been punctured. Apparently some bird had driven its sharp beak +through their shells, with the sole intention of destroying them, for no +part of the contents of the eggs had been removed. It looked like a case +of revenge; as if some thrush or warbler, whose nest had suffered at +the hands of the jays, had watched its opportunity, and had in this way +retaliated upon its enemies. An egg for an egg. The jays were lingering +near, very demure and silent, and probably ready to join a crusade +against nest-robbers. + +The great bugaboo of the birds is the owl. The owl snatches them from +off their roosts at night, and gobbles up their eggs and young in their +nests. He is a veritable ogre to them, and his presence fills them with +consternation and alarm. + +One season, to protect my early cherries I placed a large stuffed owl +amid the branches of the tree. Such a racket as there instantly began +about my grounds is not pleasant to think upon! The orioles and robins +fairly "shrieked out their affright." The news instantly spread in every +direction, and apparently every bird in town came to see that owl in +the cherry-tree, and every bird took a cherry, so that I lost more fruit +than if I had left the owl in-doors. With craning necks and horrified +looks the birds alighted upon the branches, and between their screams +would snatch off a cherry, as if the act was some relief to their +outraged feelings. + +The chirp and chatter of the young of birds which build in concealed or +inclosed places, like the woodpeckers, the house wren, the high-hole, +the oriole, is in marked contrast to the silence of the fledglings +of most birds that build open and exposed nests. The young of the +sparrows,--unless the social sparrow be an exception,--warblers, +fly-catchers, thrushes, never allow a sound to escape them; and on +the alarm note of their parents being heard, sit especially close +and motionless, while the young of chimney swallows, woodpeckers, and +orioles are very noisy. The latter, in its deep pouch, is quite safe +from birds of prey, except perhaps the owl. The owl, I suspect, thrusts +its leg into the cavities of woodpeckers and into the pocket-like nest +of the oriole, and clutches and brings forth the birds in its talons. +In one case which I heard of, a screech-owl had thrust its claw into a +cavity in a tree, and grasped the head of a red-headed woodpecker; being +apparently unable to draw its prey forth, it had thrust its own round +head into the hole, and in some way became fixed there, and had thus +died with the woodpecker in its talons. + +The life of birds is beset with dangers and mishaps of which we know +little. One day, in my walk, I came upon a goldfinch with the tip of one +wing securely fastened to the feathers of its rump, by what appeared +to be the silk of some caterpillar. The bird, though uninjured, was +completely crippled, and could not fly a stroke. Its little body was hot +and panting in my hands, as I carefully broke the fetter. Then it +darted swiftly away with a happy cry. A record of all the accidents +and tragedies of bird life for a single season would show many curious +incidents. A friend of mine opened his box-stove one fall to kindle a +fire in it, when he beheld in the black interior the desiccated forms of +two bluebirds. The birds had probably taken refuge in the chimney during +some cold spring storm, and had come down the pipe to the stove, from +whence they were unable to ascend. A peculiarly touching little incident +of bird life occurred to a caged female canary. Though unmated, it laid +some eggs, and the happy bird was so carried away by her feelings that +she would offer food to the eggs, and chatter and twitter, trying, as it +seemed, to encourage them to eat! The incident is hardly tragic, neither +is it comic. + +Certain birds nest in the vicinity of our houses and outbuildings, or +even in and upon them, for protection from their enemies, but they often +thus expose themselves to a plague of the most deadly character. + +I refer to the vermin with which their nests often swarm, and which kill +the young before they are fledged. In a state of nature this probably +never happens; at least I have never seen or heard of it happening to +nests placed in trees or under rocks. It is the curse of civilization +falling upon the birds which come too near man. The vermin, or the germ +of the vermin, is probably conveyed to the nest in hen's feathers, or in +straws and hairs picked up about the barn or hen-house. A robin's nest +upon your porch or in your summer-house will occasionally become an +intolerable nuisance from the swarms upon swarms of minute vermin with +which it is filled. The parent birds stem the tide as long as they can, +but are often compelled to leave the young to their terrible fate. + +One season a phoebe-bird built on a projecting stone under the eaves +of the house, and all appeared to go well till the young were nearly +fledged, when the nest suddenly became a bit of purgatory. The birds +kept their places in their burning bed till they could hold no longer, +when they leaped forth and fell dead upon the ground. + +After a delay of a week or more, during which I imagine the parent +birds purified themselves by every means known to them, the couple built +another nest a few yards from the first, and proceeded to rear a second +brood; but the new nest developed into the same bed of torment that the +first did, and the three young birds, nearly ready to fly, perished as +they sat within it. The parent birds then left the place as if it had +been accursed. + +I imagine the smaller birds have an enemy in our native white-footed +mouse, though I have not proof enough to convict him. But one season the +nest of a chickadee which I was observing was broken up in a position +where nothing but a mouse could have reached it. The bird had chosen a +cavity in the limb of an apple-tree which stood but a few yards from the +house. The cavity was deep, and the entrance to it, which was ten feet +from the ground, was small. Barely light enough was admitted, when the +sun was in the most favorable position, to enable one to make out the +number of eggs, which was six, at the bottom of the dim interior. While +one was peering in and trying to get his head out of his own light, the +bird would startle him by a queer kind of puffing sound. She would not +leave her nest like most birds, but really tried to blow or scare the +intruder away; and after repeated experiments I could hardly refrain +from jerking my head back when that little explosion of sound came +up from the dark interior. One night, when incubation was about half +finished, the nest was harried. A slight trace of hair or fur at the +entrance led me to infer that some small animal was the robber. A weasel +might have done it, as they sometimes climb trees, but I doubt if either +a squirrel or a rat could have passed the entrance. + +Probably few persons have ever suspected the cat-bird of being an +egg-sucker; I do not know that she has ever been accused of such a +thing, but there is something uncanny and disagreeable about her, which +I at once understood, when I one day caught her in the very act of going +through a nest of eggs. + +A pair of the least fly-catchers, the bird which says chebec, chebec, +and is a small edition of the pewee, one season built their nest where +I had them for many hours each day under my observation. The nest was +a very snug and compact structure placed in the forks of a small maple +about twelve feet from the ground. The season before, a red squirrel +had harried the nest of a wood-thrush in this same tree, and I was +apprehensive that he would serve the fly-catchers the same trick; so, +as I sat with my book in a summer-house near by, I kept my loaded gun +within easy reach. One egg was laid, and the next morning, as I made my +daily inspection of the nest, only a fragment of its empty shell was +to be found. This I removed, mentally imprecating the rogue of a red +squirrel. The birds were much disturbed by the event, but did not desert +the nest, as I had feared they would, but after much inspection of it +and many consultations together, concluded, it seems, to try again. Two +more eggs were laid, when one day I heard the birds utter a sharp cry, +and on looking up I saw a cat-bird perched upon the rim of the nest, +hastily devouring the eggs. I soon regretted my precipitation in killing +her, because such interference is generally unwise. It turned out +that she had a nest of her own with five eggs in a spruce-tree near my +window. + +Then this pair of little fly-catchers did what I had never seen birds +do before; they pulled the nest to pieces and rebuilt it in a peach-tree +not many rods away, where a brood was successfully reared. The nest was +here exposed to the direct rays of the noon-day sun, and to shield her +young when the heat was greatest, the mother-bird would stand above them +with wings slightly spread, as other birds have been know to do under +like circumstances. + +To what extent the cat-bird is a nest-robber I have no evidence, but +that feline mew of hers, and that flirting, flexible tail, suggest +something not entirely bird-like. + +Probably the darkest tragedy of the nest is enacted when a snake +plunders it. All birds and animals, so far I have observed, behave in +a peculiar manner toward a snake. They seem to feel something of the +loathing toward it that the human species experiences. The bark of a dog +when he encounters a snake is different from that which he gives out on +any other occasion; it is a mingled note of alarm, inquiry, and disgust. + +One day a tragedy was enacted a few yards from where I was sitting with +a book; two song-sparrows trying to defend their nest against a black +snake. The curious, interrogating note of a chicken who had suddenly +come upon the scene in his walk caused me to look up from my reading. +There were the sparrows, with wings raised in a way peculiarly +expressive of horror and dismay, rushing about a low clump of grass and +bushes. Then, looking more closely, I saw the glistening form of the +black snake and the quick movement of his head as he tried to seize the +birds. The sparrows darted about and through the grass and weeds, trying +to beat the snake off. Their tails and wings were spread, and, panting +with the heat and the desperate struggle, they presented a most singular +spectacle. They uttered no cry, not a sound escaped them; they were +plainly speechless with horror and dismay. Not once did they drop their +wings, and the peculiar expression of those uplifted palms, as it were, +I shall never forget. It occurred to me that perhaps here was a case of +attempted bird-charming on the part of the snake, so I looked on from +behind the fence. The birds charged the snake and harassed him from +every side, but were evidently under no spell save that of courage in +defending their nest. Every moment or two I could see the head and neck +of the serpent make a sweep at the birds, when the one struck at would +fall back, and the other would renew the assault from the rear. There +appeared to be little danger that the snake could strike and hold one of +the birds, though I trembled for them, they were so bold and approached +so near to the snake's head. Time and again he sprang at them, but +without success. How the poor things panted, and held up their wings +appealingly! Then the snake glided off to the near fence, barely +escaping the stone which I hurled at him. I found the nest rifled and +deranged; whether it had contained eggs or young I know not. The male +sparrow had cheered me many a day with his song, and I blamed myself for +not having rushed at once to the rescue, when the arch enemy was upon +him. There is probably little truth in the popular notion that snakes +charm birds. The black snake is the most subtle, alert, and devilish of +our snakes, and I have never seen him have any but young, helpless birds +in his mouth. + +We have one parasitical bird, the cow-bird, so-called because it walks +about amid the grazing cattle and seizes the insects which their heavy +tread sets going, which is an enemy of most of the smaller birds. It +drops its egg in the nest of the song-sparrow, the social sparrow, the +snow-bird, the vireos, and the wood-warblers, and as a rule it is the +only egg in the nest that issues successfully. Either the eggs of +the rightful owner of the nest are not hatched, or else the young are +overridden and overreached by the parasite and perish prematurely. + +Among the worst enemies of our birds are the so-called "collectors," men +who plunder nests and murder their owners in the name of science. Not +the genuine ornithologist, for no one is more careful of squandering +bird life than he; but the sham ornithologist, the man whose vanity or +affectation happens to take an ornithological turn. He is seized with an +itching for a collection of eggs and birds because it happens to be the +fashion, or because it gives him the air of a man of science. But in the +majority of cases the motive is a mercenary one; the collector expects +to sell these spoils of the groves and orchards. Robbing the nests +and killing birds becomes a business with him. He goes about it +systematically, and becomes expert in circumventing and slaying our +songsters. Every town of any considerable size is infested with one or +more of these bird highwaymen, and every nest in the country round about +that the wretches can lay hands on is harried. Their professional term +for a nest of eggs is "a clutch," a word that well expresses the work of +their grasping, murderous fingers. They clutch and destroy in the germ +the life and music of the woodlands. Certain of our natural history +journals are mainly organs of communication between these human weasels. +They record their exploits at nest-robbing and bird-slaying in their +columns. One collector tells with gusto how he "worked his way" through +an orchard, ransacking every tree, and leaving, as he believed, not one +nest behind him. He had better not be caught working his way through my +orchard. Another gloats over the number of Connecticut warblers--a rare +bird--he killed in one season in Massachusetts. Another tells how a +mocking-bird appeared in southern New England and was hunted down by +himself and friend, its eggs "clutched," and the bird killed. Who knows +how much the bird lovers of New England lost by that foul deed? The +progeny of the birds would probably have returned to Connecticut to +breed, and their progeny, or a part of them, the same, till in time the +famous songster would have become a regular visitant to New England. +In the same journal still another collector describes minutely how he +outwitted three humming birds and captured their nests and eggs,--a +clutch he was very proud of. A Massachusetts bird harrier boasts of his +clutch of the egg's of that dainty little warbler, the blue yellow-back. +One season he took two sets, the next five sets, the next four sets, +besides some single eggs, and the next season four sets, and says he +might have found more had he had more time. One season he took, in +about twenty days, three from one tree. I have heard of a collector who +boasted of having taken one hundred sets of the eggs of the marsh wren, +in a single day; of another, who took in the same time, thirty nests +of the yellow-breasted chat; and of still another, who claimed to have +taken one thousand sets of eggs of different birds in one season. A +large business has grown up under the influence of this collecting +craze. One dealer in eggs has those of over five hundred species. He +says that his business in 1883 was twice that of 1882; in 1884 it was +twice that of 1883, and so on. Collectors vie with each other in the +extent and variety of their cabinets. They not only obtain eggs in sets, +but aim to have a number of sets of the same bird so as to show all +possible variations. I hear of a private collection that contains twelve +sets of kingbirds' eggs, eight sets of house-wrens' eggs, four sets +mocking-birds' eggs, etc.; sets of eggs taken in low trees, high trees, +medium trees; spotted sets, dark sets, plain sets, and light sets of the +same species of bird. Many collections are made on this latter plan. + +Thus are our birds hunted and cut off and all in the name of science; as +if science had not long ago finished with these birds. She has weighed +and measured, and dissected, and described them, and their nests, and +eggs, and placed them in her cabinet; and the interest of science and +of humanity now demands that this wholesale nest-robbing cease. These +incidents I have given above, it is true, are but drops in the bucket, +but the bucket would be more than full if we could get all the facts. +Where one man publishes his notes, hundreds, perhaps thousands, say +nothing, but go as silently about their nest-robbing as weasels. + +It is true that the student of ornithology often feels compelled to take +bird-life. It is not an easy matter to "name all the birds without a +gun," though an opera-glass will often render identification entirely +certain, and leave the songster unharmed; but once having mastered the +birds, the true ornithologist leaves his gun at home. This view of the +case may not be agreeable to that desiccated mortal called the "closet +naturalist," but for my own part the closet naturalist is a person with +whom I have very little sympathy. He is about the most wearisome and +profitless creature in existence. With his piles of skins, his cases of +eggs, his laborious feather-splitting, and his outlandish nomenclature, +he is not only the enemy of the birds but the enemy of all those who +would know them rightly. + +Not the collectors alone are to blame for the diminishing numbers of our +wild birds, but a large share of the responsibility rests upon quite a +different class of persons, namely, the milliners. False taste in dress +is as destructive to our feathered friends as are false aims in science. +It is said that the traffic in the skins of our brighter plumaged +birds, arising from their use by the milliners, reaches to hundreds of +thousands annually. I am told of one middleman who collected from the +shooters in one district, in four months, seventy thousand skins. It +is a barbarous taste that craves this kind of ornamentation. Think of a +woman or girl of real refinement appearing upon the street with her head +gear adorned with the scalps of our songsters! + +It is probably true that the number of our birds destroyed by man is but +a small percentage of the number cut off by their natural enemies; but +it is to be remembered that those he destroys are in addition to those +thus cut off, and that it is this extra or artificial destruction that +disturbs the balance of nature. The operation of natural causes keeps +the birds in check, but the greed of the collectors and milliners tends +to their extinction. + +I can pardon a man who wishes to make a collection of eggs and birds +for his own private use, if he will content himself with one or two +specimens of a kind, though he will find any collection much less +satisfactory and less valuable than he imagines, but the professional +nest-robber and skin collector should be put down, either by legislation +or with dogs and shotguns. + +I have remarked above that there is probably very little truth in +the popular notion that snakes can "charm" birds. But two of my +correspondents have each furnished me with an incident from his own +experience, which seems to confirm the popular belief. One of them +writes from Georgia as follows:-- + +"Some twenty-eight years ago I was in Calaveras County, California, +engaged in cutting lumber. One day in coming out of the camp or cabin, +my attention was attracted to the curious action of a quail in the air, +which, instead of flying low and straight ahead as usual, was some fifty +feet high, flying in a circle, and uttering cries of distress. I watched +the bird and saw it gradually descend, and following with my eye in a +line from the bird to the ground saw a large snake with head erect and +some ten or twelve inches above the ground, and mouth wide open, and +as far as I could see, gazing intently on the quail (I was about thirty +feet from the snake). The quail gradually descended, its circles growing +smaller and smaller and all the time uttering cries of distress, until +its feet were within two or three inches of the mouth of the snake; when +I threw a stone, and though not hitting the snake, yet struck the ground +so near as to frighten him, and he gradually started off. The quail, +however, fell to the ground, apparently lifeless. I went forward and +picked it up and found it was thoroughly overcome with fright, its +little heart beating as if it would burst through the skin. After +holding it in my hand a few moments it flew away. I then tried to find +the snake, but could not. I am unable to say whether the snake was +venomous or belonged to the constricting family, like the black snake. +I can well recollect it was large and moved off rather slow. As I had +never seen anything of the kind before, it made a great impression on +my mind, and after the lapse of so long a time, the incident appears as +vivid to me as though it had occurred yesterday." + +It is not probable that the snake had its mouth open; its darting tongue +may have given that impression. + +The other incident comes to me from Vermont. "While returning from +church in 1876," says the writer, "as I was crossing a bridge... I +noticed a striped snake in the act of charming a song-sparrow. They were +both upon the sand beneath the bridge. The snake kept his head swaying +slowly from side to side, and darted his tongue out continually. The +bird, not over a foot away, was facing the snake, hopping from one foot +to the other, and uttering a dissatisfied little chirp. I watched them +till the snake seized the bird, having gradually drawn nearer. As he +seized it, I leaped over the side of the bridge; the snake glided away +and I took up the bird, which he had dropped. It was too frightened to +try to fly and I carried it nearly a mile before it flew from my open +hand." + +If these observers are quite sure of what they saw, then undoubtedly +snakes have the power to draw birds within their grasp. I remember that +my mother told me that while gathering wild strawberries she had on one +occasion come upon a bird fluttering about the head of a snake as if +held there by a spell. On her appearance, the snake lowered its head and +made off, and the panting bird flew away. A neighbor of mine killed +a black snake which had swallowed a full-grown red squirrel, probably +captured by the same power of fascination. + + + + +THE TRAGEDIES OF THE NESTS + + +The life of the birds, especially of our migratory song-birds, is a +series of adventures and of hair-breadth escapes by flood and field. +Very few of them probably die a natural death, or even live out half +their appointed days. The home instinct is strong in birds as it is in +most creatures; and I am convinced that every spring a large number +of those which have survived the Southern campaign return to their old +haunts to breed. A Connecticut farmer took me out under his porch, one +April day, and showed me a phoebe bird's nest six stories high. The same +bird had no doubt returned year after year; and as there was room for +only one nest upon her favorite shelf, she had each season reared a new +superstructure upon the old as a foundation. I have heard of a white +robin--an albino--that nested several years in succession in the suburbs +of a Maryland city. A sparrow with a very marked peculiarity of song I +have heard several seasons in my own locality. But the birds do not all +live to return to their old haunts: the bobolinks and starlings run a +gauntlet of fire from the Hudson to the Savannah, and the robins and +meadow-larks and other song-birds are shot by boys and pot-hunters in +great numbers,--to say nothing of their danger from hawks and owls. But +of those that do return, what perils beset their nests, even in the most +favored localities! The cabins of the early settlers, when the country +was swarming with hostile Indians, were not surrounded by such dangers. +The tender households of the birds are not only exposed to hostile +Indians in the shape of cats and collectors, but to numerous murderous +and bloodthirsty animals, against whom they have no defense but +concealment. They lead the darkest kind of pioneer life, even in our +gardens and orchards, and under the walls of our houses. Not a day or a +night passes, from the time the eggs are laid till the young are flown, +when the chances are not greatly in favor of the nest being rifled and +its contents devoured,--by owls, skunks, minks, and coons at night, and +by crows, jays, squirrels, weasels, snakes, and rats during the day. +Infancy, we say, is hedged about by many perils; but the infancy of +birds is cradled and pillowed in peril. An old Michigan settler told +me that the first six children that were born to him died; malaria and +teething invariably carried them off when they had reached a certain +age; but other children were born, the country improved, and by and by +the babies weathered the critical period and the next six lived and grew +up. The birds, too, would no doubt persevere six times and twice six +times, if the season were long enough, and finally rear their family, +but the waning summer cuts them short, and but a few species have the +heart and strength to make even the third trial. + +The first nest-builders in spring, like the first settlers near hostile +tribes, suffer the most casualties. A large portion of the nests of +April and May are destroyed; their enemies have been many months without +eggs and their appetites are keen for them. It is a time, too, when +other food is scarce, and the crows and squirrels are hard put. But the +second nests of June, and still more the nests of July and August, are +seldom molested. It is rarely that the nest of the goldfinch or the +cedar-bird is harried. + +My neighborhood on the Hudson is perhaps exceptionally unfavorable as +a breeding haunt for birds, owing to the abundance of fish-crows and +of red squirrels; and the season of which this chapter is mainly a +chronicle, the season of 1881, seems to have been a black-letter one +even for this place, for at least nine nests out of every ten that I +observed during that spring and summer failed of their proper issue. +From the first nest I noted, which was that of a bluebird,--built +(very imprudently I thought at the time) in a squirrel-hole in a decayed +apple-tree, about the last of April, and which came to naught, even +the mother-bird, I suspect, perishing by a violent death,--to the last, +which was that of a snow-bird, observed in August, among the Catskills, +deftly concealed in a mossy bank by the side of a road that skirted a +wood, where the tall thimble blackberries grew in abundance, from which +the last young one was taken, when it was about half grown, by some +nocturnal walker or daylight prowler, some untoward fate seemed hovering +about them. It was a season of calamities, of violent deaths, of pillage +and massacre, among our feathered neighbors. For the first time I +noticed that the orioles were not safe in their strong, pendent nests. +Three broods were started in the apple-trees, only a few yards from +the house, where, for previous seasons, the birds had nested without +molestation; but this time the young were all destroyed when about half +grown. Their chirping and chattering, which was so noticeable one day, +suddenly ceased the next. The nests were probably plundered at night, +and doubtless by the little red screech-owl, which I know is a denizen +of these old orchards, living in the deeper cavities of the trees. The +owl could alight on the top of the nest, and easily thrust his murderous +claw down into its long pocket and seize the young and draw them forth. +The tragedy of one of the nests was heightened, or at least made more +palpable, by one of the half-fledged birds, either in its attempt to +escape or while in the clutches of the enemy, being caught and entangled +in one of the horse-hairs by which the nest was stayed and held to the +limb above. There it hung bruised and dead, gibbeted to its own cradle. +This nest was the theatre of another little tragedy later in the season. +Some time in August a bluebird, indulging its propensity to peep and +pry into holes and crevices, alighted upon it and probably inspected the +interior; but by some unlucky move it got its wings entangled in this +same fatal horse-hair. Its efforts to free itself appeared only to +result in its being more securely and hopelessly bound; and there it +perished; and there its form, dried and embalmed by the summer heats, +was yet hanging in September, the outspread wings and plumage showing +nearly as bright as in life. + +A correspondent writes me that one of his orioles got entangled in a +cord while building her nest, and that though by the aid of a ladder +he reached and liberated her, she died soon afterward. He also found +a "chippie" (called also "hair bird") suspended from a branch by a +horse-hair, beneath a partly constructed nest. I heard of a cedar-bird +caught and destroyed in the same way, and of two young bluebirds, +around whose legs a horse-hair had become so tightly wound that the legs +withered up and dropped off. The birds became fledged, and left the nest +with the others. Such tragedies are probably quite common. + +Before the advent of civilization in this country, the oriole probably +built a much deeper nest than it usually does at present. When now it +builds in remote trees and along the borders of the woods, its nest, +I have noticed, is long and gourd-shaped; but in orchards and near +dwellings it is only a deep cup or pouch. It shortens it up in +proportion as the danger lessens. Probably a succession of disastrous +years, like the one under review, would cause it to lengthen it again +beyond the reach of owl's talons or jay-bird's beak. + +The first song-sparrow's nest I observed in the spring of 1881 was in +the field under a fragment of a board, the board being raised from the +ground a couple of inches by two poles. It had its full complement of +eggs, and probably sent forth a brood of young birds, though as to this +I cannot speak positively, as I neglected to observe it further. It was +well sheltered and concealed, and was not easily come at by any of its +natural enemies, save snakes and weasels. But concealment often avails +little. In May, a song-sparrow, that had evidently met with disaster +earlier in the season, built its nest in a thick mass of woodbine +against the side of my house, about fifteen feet from the ground. +Perhaps it took the hint from its cousin, the English sparrow. The nest +was admirably placed, protected from the storms by the overhanging +eaves and from all eyes by the thick screen of leaves. Only by patiently +watching the suspicious bird, as she lingered near with food in her +beak, did I discover its whereabouts. That brood is safe, I thought, +beyond doubt. But it was not; the nest was pillaged one night, either +by an owl, or else by a rat that had climbed into the vine, seeking +an entrance to the house. The mother-bird, after reflecting upon her +ill-luck about a week, seemed to resolve to try a different system of +tactics and to throw all appearances of concealment aside. She built a +nest few yards from the house beside the drive, upon a smooth piece +of greensward. There was not a weed or a shrub or anything whatever to +conceal it or mark its site. The structure was completed and incubation +had begun before I discovered what was going on. "Well, well," I said, +looking down upon the bird almost at my feet, "this is going to the +other extreme indeed; now, the cats will have you." The desperate little +bird sat there day after day, looking like a brown leaf pressed down in +the short green grass. As the weather grew hot, her position became very +trying. It was no longer a question of keeping the eggs warm, but of +keeping them from roasting. The sun had no mercy on her, and she fairly +panted in the middle of the day. In such an emergency the male robin +has been known to perch above the sitting female and shade her with his +outstretched wings. But in this case there was no perch for the male +bird, had he been disposed to make a sunshade of himself. I thought to +lend a hand in this direction myself, and so stuck a leafy twig beside +the nest. This was probably an unwise interference; it guided disaster +to the spot; the nest was broken up, and the mother-bird was probably +caught, as I never saw her afterward. + +For several previous summers a pair of kingbirds had reared, unmolested, +a brood of young in an apple-tree, only a few yards from the house; but +during this season disaster overtook them also. The nest was completed, +the eggs laid, and incubation had begun, when, one morning about +sunrise, I heard cries of distress and alarm proceed from the old +apple-tree. Looking out of the window I saw a crow, which I knew to be a +fish-crow, perched upon the edge of the nest, hastily bolting the eggs. +The parent birds, usually so ready for the attack, seemed over-come +with grief and alarm. They fluttered about in the most helpless and +bewildered manner, and it was not till the robber fled on my approach +that they recovered themselves and charged upon him. The crow scurried +away with upturned, threatening head, the furious kingbirds fairly upon +his back. The pair lingered around their desecrated nest for several +days, almost silent, and saddened by their loss, and then disappeared. +They probably made another trial elsewhere. + +The fish-crow only fishes when it has destroyed all the eggs and young +birds it can find. It is the most despicable thief and robber among +our feathered creatures. From May to August, it is gorged with the +fledglings of the nest. It is fortunate that its range is so limited. +In size it is smaller than the common crow, and is a much less noble +and dignified bird. Its caw is weak and feminine--a sort of split and +abortive caw, that stamps it the sneak-thief it is. This crow is +common farther south, but is not found in this State, so far as I have +observed, except in the valley of the Hudson. + +One season a pair of them built a nest in a Norway Spruce that stood +amid a dense growth of other ornamental trees near a large unoccupied +house. They sat down amid plenty. The wolf established himself in the +fold. The many birds--robins, thrushes, finches, vireos, pewees--that +seek the vicinity of dwellings (especially of these large country +residences with their many trees and park-like grounds), for the greater +safety of their eggs and young, were the easy and convenient victims +of these robbers. They plundered right and left, and were not disturbed +till their young were nearly fledged, when some boys, who had long +before marked them as their prize, rifled the nest. + +The song-birds nearly all build low; their cradle is not upon the +tree-top. It is only birds of prey that fear danger from below more than +from above, and that seek the higher branches for their nests. A line +five feet from the ground would run above more than half the nests, and +one ten feet would bound more than three fourths of them. It is only +the oriole and the wood pewee that, as a rule, go higher than this. The +crows and jays and other enemies of the birds have learned to explore +this belt pretty thoroughly. But the leaves and the protective coloring +of most nests baffle them as effectually, no doubt as they do the +professional oölogist. The nest of the red-eyed vireo is one of the most +artfully placed in the wood. It is just beyond the point where the eye +naturally pauses in its search; namely, on the extreme end of the lowest +branch of the tree, usually four or five feet from the ground. One looks +up and down through the tree,--shoots his eye-beams into it as he might +discharge his gun at some game hidden there, but the drooping tip of +that low horizontal branch--who would think of pointing his piece just +there? If a crow or other marauder were to alight upon the branch or +upon those above it, the nest would be screened from him by the large +leaf that usually forms a canopy immediately above it. The nest-hunter +standing at the foot of the tree and looking straight before him, might +discover it easily, were it not for its soft, neutral gray tint which +blends so thoroughly with the trunks and branches of trees. Indeed, +I think there is no nest in the woods--no arboreal nest--so well +concealed. The last one I saw was a pendent from the end of a low branch +of a maple, that nearly grazed the clapboards of an unused hay-barn in +a remote backwoods clearing. I peeped through a crack and saw the old +birds feed the nearly fledged young within a few inches of my face. And +yet the cow-bird finds this nest and drops her parasitical egg in +it. Her tactics in this as in other cases are probably to watch the +movements of the parent bird. She may often be seen searching anxiously +through the trees or bushes for a suitable nest, yet she may still +oftener be seen perched upon some good point of observation watching +the birds as they come and go about her. There is no doubt that, in many +cases, the cow-bird makes room for her own illegitimate egg in the nest +by removing one of the bird's own. When the cow-bird finds two or more +eggs in a nest in which she wishes to deposit her own, she will remove +one of them. I found a sparrow's nest with two sparrow's eggs and one +cow-bird's egg, another egg lying a foot or so below it on the ground. +I replaced the ejected egg, and the next day found it again removed, and +another cow-bird's egg in its place; I put it back the second time, when +it was again ejected, or destroyed, for I failed to find it anywhere. +Very alert and sensitive birds like the warblers often bury the strange +egg beneath a second nest built on top of the old. A lady, living in the +suburbs of an eastern city, one morning heard cries of distress from a +pair of house-wrens that had a nest in a honeysuckle on her front porch. +On looking out of the window, she beheld this little comedy--comedy from +her point of view, but no doubt grim-tragedy from the point of view +of the wrens; a cow-bird with a wren's egg in its beak running rapidly +along the walk with the outraged wrens forming a procession behind it, +screaming, scolding, and gesticulating as only these voluble little +birds can. The cow-bird had probably been surprised in the act of +violating the nest, and the wrens were giving her a piece of theirs +minds. + +Every cow-bird is reared at the expense of two or more song-birds. +For every one of these dusky little pedestrians there amid the grazing +cattle there are two more sparrows, or vireos, or warblers, the less. +It is a big price to pay--two larks for a bunting-two sovereigns for +a shilling; but Nature does not hesitate occasionally to +contradict herself in just this way. The young of the cow-bird is +disproportionately large and aggressive, one might say hoggish. +When disturbed it will clasp the nest and scream, and snap its beak +threateningly. One hatched out in a song-sparrow's nest which was under +my observation, and would soon have overridden and overborne the young +sparrow, which came out of the shell a few hours later, had I not +interfered from time to time and lent the young sparrow a helping hand. +Every day I would visit the nest and take the sparrow out from under the +pot-bellied interloper and place it on top so that presently it was able +to hold its own against its enemy. Both birds became fledged and left +the nest about the same time. Whether the race was an even one after +that, I know not. + +I noted but two warblers' nests during that season, one of the +black-throated blue-back and one of the redstart,--the latter built in +an apple-tree but a few yards from a little rustic summer-house where +I idle away many summer days. The lively little birds, darting and +flashing about, attracted my attention for a week before I discovered +their nest. They probably built it by working early in the morning, +before I appeared upon the scene, as I never saw them with material in +their beaks. Guessing from their movements that the nest was in a large +maple that stood near by, I climbed the tree and explored it thoroughly, +looking especially in the forks of the branches, as the authorities say +these birds build in a fork. But no nest could I find. Indeed, how can +one by searching find a bird's nest? I overshot the mark; the nest was +much nearer me, almost under my very nose, and I discovered it, not by +searching but by a casual glance of the eye, while thinking of other +matters. The bird was just settling upon it as I looked up from my book +and caught her in the act. The nest was built near the end of a long, +knotty, horizontal branch of an apple-tree, but effectually hidden by +the grouping of the leaves; it had three eggs, one of which proved to be +barren. The two young birds grew apace, and were out of the nest early +in the second week; but something caught one of them the first night. +The other probably grew to maturity, as it disappeared from the vicinity +with its parents after some days. + +The blue-back's nest was scarcely a foot from the ground, in a little +bush situated in a low, dense wood of hemlock and beech and maple, +amid the Catskills,--a deep, massive, elaborate structure, in which the +sitting bird sank till her beak and tail alone were visible above the +brim. It was a misty, chilly day when I chanced to find the nest, and +the mother-bird knew instinctively that it was not prudent to leave her +four half incubated eggs uncovered and exposed for a moment. When I sat +down near the nest she grew very uneasy, and after trying in vain +to decoy me away by suddenly dropping from the branches and dragging +herself over the ground as if mortally wounded, she approached and +timidly and half doubtingly covered her eggs within two yards of where +I sat. I disturbed her several times to note her ways. There came to be +something almost appealing in her looks and manner, and she would keep +her place on her precious eggs till my outstretched hand was within a +few feet of her. Finally, I covered the cavity of the nest with a dry +leaf. This she did not remove with her beak, but thrust her head deftly +beneath it and shook it off upon the ground. Many of her sympathizing +neighbors, attracted by her alarm note, came and had a peep at the +intruder and then flew away, but the male bird did not appear upon the +scene. The final history of this nest I am unable to give, as I did not +again visit it till late in the season, when, of course, it was empty. + +Years pass without my finding a brown-thrasher's nest; it is not a nest +you are likely to stumble upon in your walk; it is hidden as a miser +hides his gold, and watched as jealously. The male pours out his rich +and triumphant song from the tallest tree he can find, and fairly +challenges you to come and look for his treasures in his vicinity. But +you will not find them if you go. The nest is somewhere on the outer +circle of his song; he is never so imprudent as to take up his stand +very near it. The artists who draw those cosy little pictures of a +brooding mother-bird with the male perched but a yard away in full song, +do not copy from nature. The thrasher's nest I found thirty or forty +rods from the point where the male was wont to indulge in his brilliant +recitative. It was in an open field under a low ground-juniper. My dog +disturbed the sitting bird as I was passing near. The nest could be +seen only by lifting up and parting away the branches. All the arts of +concealment had been carefully studied. It was the last place you would +think of looking, and, if you did look, nothing was visible but the +dense green circle of the low-spreading juniper. When you approached, +the bird would keep her place till you had begun to stir the branches, +when she would start out, and, just skimming the ground, make a bright +brown line to the near fence and bushes. I confidently expected that +this nest would escape molestation, but it did not. Its discovery by +myself and dog probably opened the door for ill luck, as one day, not +long afterward, when I peeped in upon it, it was empty. The proud song +of the male had ceased from his accustomed tree, and the pair were seen +no more in that vicinity. + +The phoebe-bird is a wise architect, and perhaps enjoys as great an +immunity from danger, both in its person and its nest, as any other +bird. Its modest, ashen-gray suit is the color of the rocks where it +builds, and the moss of which it makes such free use gives to its nest +the look of a natural growth or accretion. But when it comes into the +barn or under the shed to build, as it so frequently does, the moss is +rather out of place. Doubtless in time the bird will take the hint, and +when she builds in such places will leave the moss out. I noted but two +nests, the summer I am speaking of: one, in a barn, failed of issue, on +account of the rats, I suspect, though the little owl may have been the +depredator; the other, in the woods, sent forth three young. This latter +nest was most charmingly and ingeniously placed. I discovered it while +in quest of pond-lilies, in a long, deep level stretch of water in the +woods. A large tree had blown over at the edge of the water, and its +dense mass of up-turned roots, with the black, peaty soil filling the +interstices, was like the fragment of a wall several feet high, rising +from the edge of the languid current. In a niche in this earthy wall, +and visible and accessible only from the water, a phoebe had built her +nest, and reared her brood. I paddled my boat up and came alongside +prepared to take the family aboard. The young, nearly ready to fly, were +quite undisturbed by my presence, having probably been assured that no +danger need be apprehended from that side. It was not a likely place for +minks, or they would not have been so secure. + +I noted but one nest of the wood pewee, and that, too, like so many +other nests, failed of issue. It was saddled upon a small dry limb of a +plane-tree that stood by the roadside, about forty feet from the ground. +Every day for nearly a week, as I passed by I saw the sitting bird upon +the nest. Then one morning she was not in her place, and on examination +the nest proved to be empty--robbed, I had no doubt, by the red +squirrels, as they were very abundant in its vicinity, and appeared to +make a clean sweep of every nest. The wood pewee builds an exquisite +nest, shaped and finished as if cast in a mould. It is modeled +without and within with equal neatness and art, like the nest of the +humming-bird and the little gray gnat-catcher. The material is much +more refractory than that used by either of these birds, being, in the +present case, dry, fine cedar twigs; but these were bound into a shape +as rounded and compact as could be moulded out of the most plastic +material. Indeed, the nest of this bird looks precisely like a large, +lichen-covered, cup-shaped excrescence of the limb upon which it is +placed. And the bird, while sitting, seems entirely at ease. Most birds +seem to make very hard work of incubation. It is a kind of martyrdom +which appears to tax all their powers of endurance. They have such a +fixed, rigid, predetermined look, pressed down into the nest and as +motionless as if made of cast-iron. But the wood pewee is an exception. +She is largely visible above the rim of the nest. Her attitude is easy +and graceful; she moves her head this way and that, and seems to take +note of whatever goes on about her; and if her neighbor were to drop in +for a little social chat, she could doubtless do her part. In fact, +she makes light and easy work of what, to most other birds, is such a +serious and engrossing matter. If it does not look like play with her, +it at least looks like leisure and quiet contemplation. + +There is no nest-builder that suffers more from crows and squirrels +and other enemies than the wood-thrush. It builds as openly and +unsuspiciously as if it thought the whole world as honest as itself. +Its favorite place is the fork of a sapling, eight or ten feet from +the ground, where it falls an easy prey to every nest-robber that comes +prowling through the woods and groves. It is not a bird that skulks and +hides, like the cat-bird, the brown-thrasher, the chat, or the cheewink, +and its nest is not concealed with the same art as theirs. Our thrushes +are all frank, open-mannered birds; but the veery and the hermit build +upon the ground, where they at least escape the crows, owls, and jays, +and stand a better chance to be overlooked, by the red squirrel and +weasel also; while the robin seeks the protection of dwellings and +out-buildings. For years I have not known the nest of a wood-thrush +to succeed. During the season referred to I observed but two, both +apparently a second attempt, as the season was well advanced, and both +failures. In one case, the nest was placed in a branch that an apple +tree, standing near a dwelling, held out over the highway. The structure +was barely ten feet above the middle of the road, and would just escape +a passing load of hay. It was made conspicuous by the use of a large +fragment of newspaper in its foundation--an unsafe material to build +upon in most cases. Whatever else the press may guard, this particular +newspaper did not guard this nest from harm. It saw the egg and probably +the chick, but not the fledgeling. A murderous deed was committed +above the public highway, but whether in the open day or under cover +of darkness I have no means of knowing. The frisky red squirrel was +doubtless the culprit. The other nest was in a maple sapling, within +a few yards of the little rustic summer-house already referred to. The +first attempt of the season, I suspect, had failed in a more secluded +place under the hill; so the pair had come up nearer the house for +protection. The male sang in the trees near by for several days before +I chanced to see the nest. The very morning, I think, it was finished, +I saw a red squirrel exploring a tree but a few yards away; he probably +knew what the singing meant as well as I did. I did not see the inside +of the nest, for it was almost instantly deserted, the female having +probably laid a single egg, which the squirrel had devoured. + +If I were a bird, in building my nest I should follow the example of the +bobolink, placing it in the midst of a broad meadow, where there was no +spear of grass, or flower or growth unlike another to mark its site. I +judge that the bobolink escapes the dangers to which I have adverted +as few or no other birds do. Unless the mowers come along at an earlier +date than she has anticipated, that is, before July lst, or a skunk goes +nosing through the grass, which is unusual, she is as safe as bird well +can be in the great open of nature. She selects the most monotonous and +uniform place she can find amid the daisies or the timothy and clover, +and places her simple structure upon the ground in the midst of it. +There is no concealment, except as the great conceals the little, as +the desert conceals the pebble, as the myriad conceals the unit. You +may find the nest once, if your course chances to lead you across it +and your eye is quick enough to note the silent brown bird as she darts +quickly away; but step three paces in the wrong direction, and your +search will probably be fruitless. My friend and I found a nest by +accident one day, and then lost it again one minute afterward. I moved +away a few yards to be sure of the mother-bird, charging my friend not +to stir from his tracks. When I returned, he had moved two paces, he +said (he had really moved four), and we spent a half hour stooping +over the daisies and the buttercups, looking for the lost clew. We +grew desperate, and fairly felt the ground all over with our hands, but +without avail. I marked the spot with a bush, and came the next day, and +with the bush as a centre, moved about it in slowly increasing circles, +covering, I thought, nearly every inch of ground with my feet, and +laying hold of it with all the visual power that I could command, till +my patience was exhausted, and I gave up, baffled. I began to doubt +the ability of the parent birds themselves to find it, and so secreted +myself and watched. After much delay, the male bird appeared with food +in his beak, and satisfying himself that the coast was clear, dropped +into the grass which I had trodden down in my search. Fastening my eye +upon a particular meadow-lily, I walked straight to the spot, bent down, +and gazed long and intently into the grass. Finally my eye separated the +nest and its young from its surroundings. My foot had barely missed them +in my search, but by how much they had escaped my eye I could not tell. +Probably not by distance at all, but simply by unrecognition. They were +virtually invisible. The dark gray and yellowish brown dry grass and +stubble of the meadow-bottom were exactly copied in the color of the +half-fledged young. More than that, they hugged the nest so closely and +formed such a compact mass, that though there were five of them, they +preserved the unit of expression,--no single head or form was defined; +they were one, and that one was without shape or color, and +not separable, except by closest scrutiny, from the one of the +meadow-bottom. That nest prospered, as bobolinks' nests doubtless +generally do; for, notwithstanding the enormous slaughter of the birds +during their fall migrations by Southern sportsmen, the bobolink +appears to hold its own, and its music does not diminish in our Northern +meadows. + +Birds with whom the struggle for life is the sharpest seem to be more +prolific than those whose nest and young are exposed to fewer dangers. +The robin, the sparrow, the pewee, etc., will rear, or make the attempt +to rear, two and sometimes three broods in a season; but the bobolink, +the oriole, the kingbird, the goldfinch, the cedar-bird, the birds of +prey, and the woodpeckers, that build in safe retreats, in the trunks +of trees, have usually but a single brood. If the boblink reared two +broods, our meadows would swarm with them. + +I noted three nests of the cedar-bird in August in a single orchard, +all productive, but all with one or more unfruitful eggs in them. The +cedar-bird is the most silent of our birds having but a single fine +note, so far as I have observed, but its manners are very expressive at +times. No bird known to me is capable of expressing so much silent alarm +while on the nest as this bird. As you ascend the tree and draw near it, +it depresses its plumage and crest, stretches up its neck, and becomes +the very picture of fear. Other birds, under like circumstances, hardly +change their expression at all till they launch into the air, when by +their voice they express anger rather than alarm. + +I have referred to the red squirrel as a destroyer of the eggs and young +of birds. I think the mischief it does in this respect can hardly be +over estimated. Nearly all birds look upon it as their enemy, and attack +and annoy it when it appears near their breeding haunts. Thus, I have +seen the pewee, the cuckoo, the robin, and the wood-thrush pursuing it +with angry voice and gestures. A friend of mine saw a pair of robins +attack one in the top of a tall tree so vigorously that they caused it +to lose its hold, when it fell to the ground, and was so stunned by the +blow as to allow him to pick it up. If you wish the birds to breed and +thrive in your orchard and groves, kill every red squirrel that infests +the place; kill every weasel also. The weasel is a subtle and arch enemy +of the birds. It climbs trees and explores them with great ease and +nimbleness. I have seen it do so on several occasions. One day my +attention was arrested by the angry notes of a pair of brown-thrashers +that were flitting from bush to bush along an old stone row in a remote +field. Presently I saw what it was that excited them--three large red +weasels, or ermines coming along the stone wall, and leisurely and half +playfully exploring every tree that stood near it. They had probably +robbed the thrashers. They would go up the trees with great ease, and +glide serpent-like out upon the main branches. When they descended the +tree they were unable to come straight down, like a squirrel, but went +around it spirally. How boldly they thrust their heads out of the wall, +and eyed me and sniffed me, as I drew near,--their round, thin ears, +their prominent, glistening, bead-like eyes, and the curving, snake-like +motions of the head and neck being very noticeable. They looked like +blood-suckers and egg-suckers. They suggested something extremely +remorseless and cruel. One could understand the alarm of the rats when +they discover one of these fearless, subtle, and circumventing creatures +threading their holes. To flee must be like trying to escape death +itself. I was one day standing in the woods upon a flat stone, in what +at certain seasons was the bed of a stream, when one of these weasels +came undulating along and ran under the stone upon which I was standing. +As I remained motionless, he thrust his wedge-shaped head, and turned it +back above the stone as if half in mind to seize my foot; then he drew +back, and presently went his way. These weasels often hunt in packs like +the British stoat. When I was a boy, my father one day armed me with +an old musket and sent me to shoot chipmunks around the corn. While +watching the squirrels, a troop of weasels tried to cross a bar-way +where I sat, and were so bent on doing it that I fired at them, +boy-like, simply to thwart their purpose. One of the weasels was +disabled by my shot, but the troop was not discouraged, and, after +making several feints to cross, one of them seized the wounded one and +bore it over, and the pack disappeared in the wall on the other side. + +Let me conclude this chapter with two or three notes about this alert +enemy of the birds and the lesser animals, the weasel. + +A farmer one day heard a queer growling sound in the grass; on +approaching the spot he saw two weasels contending over a mouse; each +had hold of the mouse pulling in opposite directions, and were so +absorbed in the struggle that the farmer cautiously put his hands down +and grabbed them both by the back of the neck. He put them in a cage, +and offered them bread and other food. This they refused to eat, but in +a few days one of them had eaten the other up, picking his bones clean +and leaving nothing but the skeleton. + +The same farmer was one day in his cellar when two rats came out of a +hole near him in great haste, and ran up the cellar wall and along its +top till they came to a floor timber that stopped their progress, when +they turned at bay, and looked excitedly back along the course they had +come. In a moment a weasel, evidently in hot pursuit of them, came out +of the hole, and seeing the farmer, checked his course and darted back. +The rats had doubtless turned to give him fight, and would probably have +been a match for him. + +The weasel seems to track its game by scent. A hunter of my acquaintance +was one day sitting in the woods, when he saw a red squirrel run with +great speed up a tree near him, and out upon a long branch, from which +he leaped to some rocks, and disappeared beneath them. In a moment a +weasel came in full course upon his trail, ran up the tree, then out +along the branch, from the end of which he leaped to the rocks as the +squirrel did, and plunged beneath them. + +Doubtless the squirrel fell a prey to him. The squirrel's best game +would have been to have kept to the higher tree-tops, where he could +easily have distanced the weasel. But beneath the rocks he stood a very +poor chance. I have often wondered what keeps such an animal as the +weasel in check, for weasels are quite rare. They never need go hungry, +for rats and squirrels and mice and birds are everywhere. They probably +do not fall a prey to any other animal, and very rarely to man. But +the circumstances or agencies that check the increase of any species of +animal are, as Darwin says, very obscure and but little known. + + + + +BEES. + + + + +AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE. + + +There is no creature with which man has surrounded himself that seems +so much like a product of civilization, so much like the result of +development on special lines and in special fields, as the honey-bee. +Indeed, a colony of bees, with their neatness and love of order, their +division of labor, their public spiritedness, their thrift, their +complex economies and their inordinate love of gain, seems as far +removed from a condition of rude nature as does a walled city or a +cathedral town. Our native bee, on the other hand, "the burly, dozing +humble-bee," affects one more like the rude, untutored savage. He +has learned nothing from experience. He lives from hand to mouth. He +luxuriates in time of plenty, and he starves in times of scarcity. +He lives in a rude nest or in a hole in the ground, and in small +communities; he builds a few deep cells or sacks in which he stores a +little honey and bee-bread for his young, but as a worker in wax he is +of the most primitive and awkward. The Indian regarded the honey-bee as +an ill-omen. She was the white man's fly. In fact she was the epitome of +the white man himself. She has the white man's craftiness, his industry, +his architectural skill, his neatness and love of system, his foresight; +and above all his eager, miserly habits. The honeybee's great ambition +is to be rich, to lay up great stores, to possess the sweet of every +flower that blooms. She is more than provident. Enough will not satisfy +her, she must have all she can get by hook or by crook. She comes from +the oldest country, Asia, and thrives best in the most fertile and +long-settled lands. + +Yet the fact remains that the honey-bee is essentially a wild creature, +and never has been and cannot be thoroughly domesticated. Its proper +home is the woods, and thither every new swarm counts on going; +and thither many do go in spite of the care and watchfulness of the +bee-keeper. If the woods in any given locality are deficient in trees +with suitable cavities, the bees resort to all sorts of makeshifts; they +go into chimneys, into barns and outhouses, under stones, into rocks, +and so forth. Several chimneys in my locality with disused flues are +taken possession of by colonies of bees nearly every season. One day, +while bee-hunting, I developed a line that went toward a farm-house +where I had reason to believe no bees were kept. I followed it up and +questioned the farmer about his bees. He said he kept no bees, but that +a swarm had taken possession of his chimney, and another had gone under +the clapboards in the gable end of his house. He had taken a large lot +of honey out of both places the year before. Another farmer told me that +one day his family had seen a number of bees examining a knot-hole in +the side of his house; the next day as they were sitting down to +dinner their attention was attracted by a loud humming noise, when +they discovered a swarm of bees settling upon the side of the house and +pouring into the knot-hole. In subsequent years other swarms came to the +same place. + +Apparently, every swarm of bees before it leaves the parent hive sends +out exploring parties to look up the future home. The woods and groves +are searched through and through, and no doubt the privacy of many a +squirrel and many a wood mouse is intruded upon. What cozy nooks and +retreats they do spy out, so much more attractive than the painted hive +in the garden, so much cooler in summer and so much warmer in winter! + +The bee is in the main an honest citizen; she prefers legitimate to +illegitimate business; she is never an outlaw until her proper sources +of supply fail; she will not touch honey as long as honey-yielding +flowers can be found; she always prefers to go to the fountain-head, and +dislikes to take her sweets at second hand. But in the fall, after the +flowers have failed, she can be tempted. The bee-hunter takes advantage +of this fact; he betrays her with a little honey. He wants to steal her +stores, and he first encourages her to steal his, then follows the thief +home with her booty. This is the whole trick of the bee-hunter. The bees +never suspect his game, else by taking a circuitous route they could +easily baffle him. But the honey-bee has absolutely no wit or cunning +outside of her special gifts as a gatherer and storer of honey. She is a +simple-minded creature, and can be imposed upon by any novice. Yet it is +not every novice that can find a bee-tree. The sportsman may track his +game to its retreat by the aid of his dog, but in hunting the honey-bee +one must be his own dog, and track his game through an element in which +it leaves no trail. It is a task for a sharp, quick eye, and may test +the resources of the best wood-craft. One autumn when I devoted much +time to this pursuit, as the best means of getting at nature and the +open-air exhilaration, my eye became so trained that bees were nearly +as easy to it as birds. I saw and heard bees wherever I went. One day, +standing on a street corner in a great city, I saw above the trucks +and the traffic a line of bees carrying off sweets from some grocery or +confectionery shop. + +One looks upon the woods with a new interest when he suspects they hold +a colony of bees. What a pleasing secret it is; a tree with a heart +of comb-honey, a decayed oak or maple with a bit of Sicily or Mount +Hymettus stowed away in its trunk or branches; secret chambers where +lies hidden the wealth of ten thousand little freebooters, great nuggets +and wedges of precious ore gathered with risk and labor from every field +and wood about. + +But if you would know the delights of bee-hunting, and how many sweets +such a trip yields beside honey, come with me some bright, warm, late +September or early October day. It is the golden season of the year, +and any errand or pursuit that takes us abroad upon the hills or by +the painted woods and along the amber colored streams at such a time is +enough. So, with haversacks filled with grapes and peaches and apples +and a bottle of milk,--for we shall not be home to dinner,--and armed +with a compass, a hatchet, a pail, and a box with a piece of comb-honey +neatly fitted into it--any box the size of your hand with a lid will do +nearly as well as the elaborate and ingenious contrivance of the regular +bee-hunter--we sally forth. Our course at first lies along the highway, +under great chestnut-trees whose nuts are just dropping, then through an +orchard and across a little creek, thence gently rising through a long +series of cultivated fields toward some high, uplying land, behind which +rises a rugged wooded ridge or mountain, the most sightly point in all +this section. Behind this ridge for several miles the country is wild, +wooded, and rocky, and is no doubt the home of many wild swarms of +bees. What a gleeful uproar the robins, cedar-birds, high-holes, and +cow black-birds make amid the black cherry-trees as we pass along. The +raccoons, too, have been here after black cherries, and we see their +marks at various points. Several crows are walking about a newly +sowed wheat field we pass through, and we pause to note their graceful +movements and glossy coats. I have seen no bird walk the ground with +just the same air the crow does. It is not exactly pride; there is no +strut or swagger in it, though perhaps just a little condescension; it +is the contented, complaisant, and self-possessed gait of a lord over +his domains. All these acres are mine, he says, and all these crops; men +plow and sow for me, and I stay here or go there, and find life sweet +and good wherever I am. The hawk looks awkward and out of place on the +ground; the game birds hurry and skulk, but the crow is at home and +treads the earth as if there were none to molest him or make him afraid. + +The crows we have always with us, but it is not every day or every +season that one sees an eagle. Hence I must preserve the memory of one I +saw the last day I went bee-hunting. As I was laboring up the side of a +mountain at the head of a valley, the noble bird sprang from the top of +a dry tree above me and came sailing directly over my head. I saw him +bend his eye down upon me, and I could hear the low hum of his plumage, +as if the web off every quill in his great wings vibrated in his strong, +level flight. I watched him as long as my eye could hold him. When he +was fairly clear of the mountain he began that sweeping spiral movement +in which he climbs the sky. Up and up he went without once breaking his +majestic poise till he appeared to sight some far-off alien geography, +when he bent his course thitherward and gradually vanished in the blue +depths. The eagle is a bird of large ideas, he embraces long distances; +the continent is his home. I never look upon one without emotion; I +follow him with my eye as long as I can. I think of Canada, of the Great +Lakes, of the Rocky Mountains, of the wild and sounding sea-coast. The +waters are his, and the woods and the inaccessible cliffs. He pierces +behind the veil of the storm, and his joy is height and depth and vast +spaces. + +We go out of our way to touch at a spring run in the edge of the woods, +and are lucky to find a single scarlet lobelia lingering there. It seems +almost to light up the gloom with its intense bit of color. Beside +a ditch in a field beyond we find the great blue lobelia (Lobelia +syphilitica), and near it amid the weeds and wild grasses and purple +asters the most beautiful of our fall flowers, the fringed gentian. What +a rare and delicate, almost aristocratic look the gentian has amid its +coarse, unkempt surroundings. It does not lure the bee, but it lures and +holds every passing human eye. If we strike through the corner of yonder +woods, where the ground is moistened by hidden springs and where there +is a little opening amid the trees, we shall find the closed gentian, a +rare flower in this locality. I had walked this way many times before +I chanced upon its retreat; and then I was following a line of bees. I +lost the bees but I got the gentians. How curiously this flower looks, +with its deep blue petals folded together so tightly--a bud and yet a +blossom. It is the nun among our wild flowers, a form closely veiled +and cloaked. The buccaneer bumble-bee sometimes tries to rifle it of +its sweets. I have seen the blossom with the bee entombed in it. He +had forced his way into the virgin corolla as if determined to know its +secret, but he had never returned with the knowledge he had gained. + +After a refreshing walk of a couple of miles we reach a point where we +will make our first trial--a high stone wall that runs parallel with the +wooded ridge referred to, and separated from it by a broad field. There +are bees at work there on that goldenrod, and it requires but little +maneuvering to sweep one into our box. Almost any other creature rudely +and suddenly arrested in its career and clapped into a cage in this way +would show great confusion and alarm. The bee is alarmed for a moment, +but the bee has a passion stronger than its love of life or fear of +death, namely, desire for honey, not simply to eat, but to carry home +as booty. "Such rage of honey in their bosom beats," says Virgil. It is +quick to catch the scent of honey in the box, and as quick to fall to +filling itself. We now set the box down upon the wall and gently remove +the cover. The bee is head and shoulders in one of the half-filled +cells, and is oblivious to everything else about it. Come rack, come +ruin, it will die at work. We step back a few paces, and sit down upon +the ground so as to bring the box against the blue sky as a background. +In two or three minutes the bee is seen rising slowly and heavily from +the box. It seems loath to leave so much honey behind and it marks the +place well. It mounts aloft in a rapidly increasing spiral, surveying +the near and minute objects first, then the larger and more distant, +till having circled about the spot five or six times and taken all its +bearings it darts away for home. It is a good eye that holds fast to the +bee till it is fairly off. Sometimes one's head will swim following it, +and often one's eyes are put out by the sun. This bee gradually drifts +down the hill, then strikes away toward a farm-house half a mile away, +where I know bees are kept. Then we try another and another, and the +third bee, much to our satisfaction, goes straight toward the woods. We +could see the brown speck against the darker background for many yards. +The regular bee-hunter professes to be able to tell a wild bee from a +tame one by the color, the former, he says, being lighter. But there is +no difference; they are both alike in color and in manner. Young bees +are lighter than old, and that is all there is of it. If a bee +lived many years in the woods it would doubtless come to have some +distinguishing marks, but the life of a bee is only a few months at the +farthest, and no change is wrought in this brief time. + +Our bees are all soon back, and more with them, for we have touched +the box here and there with the cork of a bottle of anise oil, and this +fragrant and pungent oil will attract bees half a mile or more. When no +flowers can be found, this is the quickest way to obtain a bee. + +It is a singular fact that when the bee first finds the hunter's box +its first feeling is one of anger; it is as mad as a hornet; its tone +changes, it sounds its shrill war trumpet and darts to and fro, and +gives vent to its rage and indignation in no uncertain manner. It seems +to scent foul play at once. It says, "Here is robbery; here is the +spoil of some hive, may be my own," and its blood is up. But its ruling +passion soon comes to the surface, its avarice gets the better of its +indignation, and it seems to say, "Well, I had better take possession +of this and carry it home." So after many feints and approaches and +dartings off with a loud angry hum as if it would none of it, the bee +settles down and fills itself. + +It does not entirely cool off and get soberly to work till it has made +two or three trips home with its booty. When other bees come, even if +all from the same swarm, they quarrel and dispute over the box, and clip +and dart at each other like bantam cocks. Apparently the ill feeling +which the sight of the honey awakens is not one of jealousy or rivalry, +but wrath. + +A bee will usually make three or four trips from the hunter's box before +it brings back a companion. I suspect the bee does not tell its fellows +what it has found, but that they smell out the secret; it doubtless +bears some evidence with it upon its feet or proboscis that it has been +upon honey-comb and not upon flowers, and its companions take the hint +and follow, arriving always many seconds behind. Then the quantity and +quality of the booty would also betray it. No doubt, also, there are +plenty of gossips about a hive that note and tell everything. "Oh, did +you see that? Peggy Mel came in a few moments ago in great haste, and +one of the up-stairs packers says she was loaded till she groaned with +apple-blossom honey which she deposited, and then rushed off again +like mad. Apple-blossom honey in October! Fee, fi, fo, fum! I smell +something! Let's after." + +In about half an hour we have three well-defined lines of bees +established--two to farm-houses and one to the woods, and our box is +being rapidly depleted of its honey. About every fourth bee goes to the +woods, and now that they have learned the way thoroughly they do not +make the long preliminary whirl above the box, but start directly from +it. The woods are rough and dense and the hill steep, and we do not like +to follow the line of bees until we have tried at least to settle the +problem as to the distance they go into the woods-whether the tree is on +this side of the ridge or in the depth of the forest on the other side. +So we shut up the box when it is full of bees and carry it about +three hundred yards along the wall from which we are operating. When +liberated, the bees, as they always will in such cases, go off in the +same directions they have been going; they do not seem to know that they +have been moved. But other bees have followed our scent, and it is not +many minutes before a second line to the woods is established. This is +called cross-lining the bees. The new line makes a sharp angle with the +other line, and we know at once that the tree is only a few rods +into the woods. The two lines we have established form two sides of a +triangle of which the wall is the base; at the apex of the triangle, or +where the two lines meet in the woods, we are sure to find the tree. We +quickly follow up these lines, and where they cross each other on the +side of the hill we scan every tree closely. I pause at the foot of an +oak and examine a hole near the root; now the bees are in this tree and +their entrance is on the upper side near the ground, not two feet from +the hole I peer into, and yet so quiet and secret is their going and +coming that I fail to discover them and pass on up the hill. Failing in +this direction, I return to the oak again, and then perceive the bees +going out in a small crack in the tree. The bees do not know they are +found out and that the game is in our hands, and are as oblivious of our +presence as if we were ants or crickets. The indications are that the +swarm is a small one, and the store of honey trifling. In "taking up" a +bee-tree it is usual first to kill or stupefy the bees with the fumes of +burning sulfur or with tobacco smoke. But this course is impracticable +on the present occasion, so we boldly and ruthlessly assault the tree +with an ax we have procured. At the first blow the bees set up a loud +buzzing, but we have no mercy, and the side of the cavity is soon +cut away and the interior with its white-yellow mass of comb-honey is +exposed, and not a bee strikes a blow in defense of its all. This may +seem singular, but it has nearly always been my experience. When a swarm +of bees are thus rudely assaulted with an ax, they evidently think the +end of the world has come, and, like true misers as they are, each one +seizes as much of the treasure as it can hold; in other words they all +fall to and gorge themselves with honey, and calmly await the issue. +When in this condition they make no defense and will not sting unless +taken hold of. In fact they are as harmless as flies. Bees are always to +be managed with boldness and decision. + +Any half-way measures, any timid poking about, any feeble attempts to +reach their honey, are sure to be quickly resented. The popular notion +that bees have a special antipathy toward certain persons and a liking +for certain others has only this fact at the bottom of it; they will +sting a person who is afraid of them and goes skulking and dodging +about, and they will not sting a person who faces them boldly and has no +dread of them. They are like dogs. The way to disarm a vicious dog is to +show him you do not fear him; it is his turn to be afraid then. I never +had any dread of bees and am seldom stung by them. I have climbed up +into a large chestnut that contained a swarm in one of its cavities and +chopped them out with an ax, being obliged at times to pause and brush +the bewildered bees from my hands and face, and not been stung once. +I have chopped a swarm out of an apple-tree in June and taken out the +cards of honey and arranged them in a hive, and then dipped out the +bees with a dipper, and taken the whole home with me in pretty good +condition, with scarcely any opposition on the part of the bees. In +reaching your hand into the cavity to detach and remove the comb you +are pretty sure to get stung, for when you touch the "business end" of a +bee, it will sting even though its head be off. But the bee carries the +antidote to its own poison. The best remedy for bee sting is honey, and +when your hands are besmeared with honey, as they are sure to be on such +occasions, the wound is scarcely more painful than the prick of a pin. +Assault your bee-tree, then, boldly with your ax, and you will find that +when the honey is exposed every bee has surrendered and the whole swarm +is cowering in helpless bewilderment and terror. Our tree yields only a +few pounds of honey, not enough to have lasted the swarm till January, +but no matter; we have the less burden to carry. + +In the afternoon we go nearly half a mile farther along the ridge to +a cornfield that lies immediately in front of the highest point of the +mountain. The view is superb; the ripe autumn landscape rolls away to +the east, cut through by the great placid river; in the extreme north +the wall of the Catskills stands out clear and strong, while in the +south the mountains of the Highlands bound the view. The day is warm and +the bees are very busy there in that neglected corner of the field, rich +in asters, flea-bane, and golden-rod. The corn has been cut, and upon a +stout, but a few rods from the woods, which here drop quickly down from +the precipitous heights, we set up our bee-box, touched again with +the pungent oil. In a few moments a bee has found it; she comes up +to leeward, following the scent. On leaving the box she goes straight +toward the woods. More bees quickly come, and it is not long before the +line is well established. Now we have recourse to the same tactics we +employed before, and move along the ridge to another field to get our +cross line. But the bees still go in almost the same direction they did +from the corn stout. The tree is then either on the top of the mountain +or on the other or west side of it. We hesitate to make the plunge into +the woods and seek to scale those precipices, for the eye can plainly +see what is before us. As the afternoon sun gets lower the bees are seen +with wonderful distinctness. They fly toward and under the sun and are +in a strong light, while the near woods which form the background are +in deep shadow. They look like large luminous motes. Their swiftly +vibrating, transparent wings surround their bodies with a shining nimbus +that makes them visible for a long distance. They seem magnified many +times. We see them bridge the little gulf between us and the woods, then +rise up over the tree-tops with their burdens, swerving neither to the +right hand nor to the left. It is almost pathetic to see them labor so, +climbing the mountain and unwittingly guiding us to their treasures. +When the sun gets down so that his direction corresponds exactly with +the course of the bees, we make the plunge. It proves even harder +climbing than we had anticipated; the mountain is faced by a broken and +irregular wall of rock, up which we pull ourselves slowly and cautiously +by main strength. In half an hour, the perspiration streaming from +every pore, we reach the summit. The trees here are all small, a second +growth, and we are soon convinced the bees are not here. Then down we +go on the other side, clambering down the rocky stairways till we reach +quite a broad plateau that forms something like the shoulder of the +mountain. On the brink of this there are many large hemlocks, and we +scan them closely and rap upon them with our ax. But not a bee is seen +or heard; we do not seem as near the tree as we were in the fields +below; yet if some divinity would only whisper the fact to us we are +within a few rods of the coveted prize, which is not in one of the large +hemlocks or oaks that absorb our attention, but in an old stub or stump +not six feet high, and which we have seen and passed several times +without giving it a thought. We go farther down the mountain and beat +about to the right and left and get entangled in brush and arrested by +precipices, and finally as the day is nearly spent, give up the search +and leave the woods quite baffled, but resolved to return on the morrow. +The next day we come back and commence operations in an opening in +the woods well down on the side of the mountain, where we gave up the +search. Our box is soon swarming with the eager bees, and they go back +toward the summit we have passed. We follow back and establish a new +line where the ground will permit; then another and another, and yet the +riddle is not solved. One time we are south of them, then north, then +the bees get up through the trees and we cannot tell where they go. But +after much searching, and after the mystery seems rather to deepen than +to clear up, we chance to pause beside the old stump. A bee comes out of +a small opening, like that made by ants in decayed wood, rubs its eyes +and examines its antennae as bees always do before leaving their hive, +then takes flight. At the same instant several bees come by us loaded +with our honey and settle home with that peculiar low complacent buzz +of the well-filled insect. Here then is our idyl, our bit of Virgil and +Theocritus, in a decayed stump of a hemlock tree. We could tear it open +with our hands, and a bear would find it an easy prize, and a rich one +too, for we take from it fifty pounds of excellent honey. The bees have +been here many years, and have of course sent out swarm after swarm +into the wilds. They have protected themselves against the weather and +strengthened their shaky habitation by a copious use of wax. + +When a bee-tree is thus "taken up" in the middle of the day, of course a +good many bees are away from home and have not heard the news. When they +return and find the ground flowing with honey, and piles of bleeding +combs lying about, they apparently do not recognize the place, and their +first instinct is to fall to and fill themselves; this done, their next +thought is to carry it home, so they rise up slowly through the branches +of the trees till they have attained an altitude that enables them to +survey the scene, when they seem to say, "Why, this is home," and down +they come again; beholding the wreck and ruins once more they still +think there is some mistake, and get up a second or a third time and +then drop back pitifully as before. It is the most pathetic sight of +all, the surviving and bewildered bees struggling to save a few drops of +their wasted treasures. + +Presently, if there is another swarm in the woods, robber-bees appear. +You may know them by their saucy, chiding, devil-may-care hum. It is +an ill wind that blows nobody good, and they make the most of the +misfortune of their neighbors; and thereby pave the way for their own +ruin. The hunter marks their course and the next day looks them up. On +this occasion the day was hot and the honey very fragrant, and a line of +bees was soon established S. S. W. Though there was much refuse honey in +the old stub, and though little golden rills trickled down the hill from +it, and the near branches and saplings were besmeared with it where we +wiped our murderous hands, yet not a drop was wasted. It was a feast to +which not only honey-bees came, but bumble-bees, wasps, hornets, flies, +ants. The bumble-bees, which at this season are hungry vagrants with +no fixed place of abode, would gorge themselves, then creep beneath the +bits of empty comb or fragments of bark and pass the night, and renew +the feast next day. The bumble-bee is an insect of which the bee-hunter +sees much. There are all sorts and sizes of them. They are dull and +clumsy compared with the honey-bee. Attracted in the fields by the +bee-hunter's box, they will come up the wind on the scent and blunder +into it in the most stupid, lubberly fashion. + +The honey-bee that licked up our leavings on the old stub belonged to a +swarm, as it proved, about half a mile farther down the ridge, and a few +days afterward fate overtook them, and their stores in turn became the +prey of another swarm in the vicinity, which also tempted Providence +and were overwhelmed. The first mentioned swarm I had lined from several +points, and was following up the clew over rocks and through gulleys, +when I came to where a large hemlock had been felled a few years before +and a swarm taken from a cavity near the top of it; fragments of the old +comb were yet to be seen. A few yards away stood another short, squatty +hemlock, and I said my bees ought to be there. As I paused near it I +noticed where the tree had been wounded with an ax a couple of feet from +the ground many years before. The wound had partially grown over, but +there was an opening there that I did not see at the first glance. I +was about to pass on when a bee passed me making that peculiar shrill, +discordant hum that a bee makes when besmeared with honey. I saw it +alight in the partially closed wound and crawl home; then came others +and others, little bands and squads of them heavily freighted with honey +from the box. The tree was about twenty inches through and hollow at +the butt, or from the ax mark down. This space the bees had completely +filled with honey. With an ax we cut away the outer ring of live wood +and exposed the treasure. Despite the utmost care, we wounded the comb +so that little rills of the golden liquid issued from the root of the +tree and trickled down the hill. + +The other bee-tree in the vicinity, to which I have referred, we found +one warm November day in less than half an hour after entering the +woods. It also was a hemlock, that stood in a niche in a wall of hoary, +moss-covered rocks thirty feet high. The tree hardly reached to the top +of the precipice. The bees entered a small hole at the root, which was +seven or eight feet from the ground. The position was a striking one. +Never did apiary have a finer outlook or more rugged surroundings. A +black, wood-embraced lake lay at our feet; the long panorama of the +Catskills filled the far distance, and the more broken outlines of the +Shawangunk range filled the rear. On every hand were precipices and a +wild confusion of rocks and trees. + +The cavity occupied by the bees was about three feet and a half long and +eight or ten inches in diameter. With an ax we cut away one side of the +tree and laid bare its curiously wrought heart of honey. It was a most +pleasing sight. What winding and devious ways the bees had through their +palace! What great masses and blocks of snow-white comb there were! +Where it was sealed up, presenting that slightly dented, uneven surface, +it looked like some precious ore. When we carried a large pail full of +it out of the woods, it seemed still more like ore. + +Your native bee-hunter predicates the distance of the tree by the time +the bee occupies in making its first trip. But this is no certain guide. +You are always safe in calculating that the tree is inside of a mile, +and you need not as a rule look for your bee's return under ten minutes. +One day I picked up a bee in an opening in the woods and gave it honey, +and it made three trips to my box with an interval of about twelve +minutes between them; it returned alone each time; the tree, which I +afterward found, was about half a mile distant. + +In lining bees through the woods, the tactics of the hunter are to +pause every twenty or thirty rods, lop away the branches or cut down the +trees, and set the bees to work again. If they still go forward, he goes +forward also and repeats his observations till the tree is found or till +the bees turn and come back upon the trail. Then he knows he has passed +the tree, and he retraces his steps to a convenient distance and tries +again, and thus quickly reduces the space to be looked over till the +swarm is traced home. On one occasion, in a wild rocky wood, where the +surface alternated between deep gulfs and chasms filled with thick, +heavy growths of timber and sharp, precipitous, rocky ridges like a +tempest tossed sea, I carried my bees directly under their tree, and +set them to work from a high, exposed ledge of rocks not thirty feet +distant. One would have expected them under such circumstances to have +gone straight home, as there were but few branches intervening, but +they did not; they labored up through the trees and attained an altitude +above the woods as if they had miles to travel, and thus baffled me for +hours. Bees will always do this. They are acquainted with the woods only +from the top side, and from the air above they recognize home only by +land-marks here, and in every instance they rise aloft to take their +bearings. Think how familiar to them the topography of the forest +summits must be-an umbrageous sea or plain where every mask and point is +known. + +Another curious fact is that generally you will get track of a bee-tree +sooner when you are half a mile from it than when you are only a few +yards. Bees, like us human insects, have little faith in the near at +hand; they expect to make their fortune in a distant field, they are +lured by the remote and the difficult, and hence overlook the flower and +the sweet at their very door. On several occasions I have unwittingly +set my box within a few paces of a bee-tree and waited long for bees +without getting them, when, on removing to a distant field or opening in +the woods I have got a clew at once. + +I have a theory that when bees leave the hive, unless there is some +special attraction in some other direction, they generally go against +the wind. They would thus have the wind with them when they returned +home heavily laden, and with these little navigators the difference +is an important one. With a full cargo, a stiff head-wind is a great +hindrance, but fresh and empty-handed they can face it with more ease. +Virgil says bees bear gravel stones as ballast, but their only ballast +is their honey bag. Hence, when I go bee-hunting, I prefer to get to +windward of the woods in which the swarm is supposed to have taken +refuge. + +Bees, like the milkman, like to be near a spring. They do water their +honey, especially in a dry time. The liquid is then of course thicker +and sweeter, and will bear diluting. Hence, old bee-hunters look for +bee-trees along creeks and near spring runs in the woods. I once found a +tree a long distance from any water, and the honey had a peculiar bitter +flavor imparted to it, I was convinced, by rainwater sucked from the +decayed and spongy hemlock tree, in which the swarm was found. In +cutting into the tree, the north side of it was found to be saturated +with water like a spring, which ran out in big drops, and had a bitter +flavor. The bees had thus found a spring or a cistern in their own +house. + +Bees are exposed to many hardships and many dangers. Winds and storms +prove as disastrous to them as to other navigators. Black spiders lie in +wait for them as do brigands for travelers. One day as I was looking for +a bee amid some golden-rod, I spied one partly concealed under a leaf. +Its baskets were full of pollen, and it did not move. On lifting up the +leaf I discovered that a hairy spider was ambushed there and had the bee +by the throat. The vampire was evidently afraid of the bee's sting, and +was holding it by the throat till quite sure of its death. Virgil speaks +of the painted lizard, perhaps a species of salamander, as an enemy +of the honey-bee. We have no lizard that destroys the bee; but our +tree-toad, ambushed among the apple and cherry blossoms, snaps them up +wholesale. Quick as lightning that subtle but clammy tongue darts forth, +and the unsuspecting bee is gone. Virgil also accuses the titmouse +and the woodpecker of preying upon the bees, and our kingbird has been +charged with the like crime, but the latter devours only the drones. The +workers are either too small and quick for it, or else it dreads their +sting. + +Virgil, by the way, had little more than a child's knowledge of the +honey-bee. There is little fact and much fable in his fourth Georgic. If +he had ever kept bees himself, or even visited an apiary, it is hard to +see how he could have believed that the bee in its flight abroad carried +a gravel stone for ballast:-- + + "And as when empty barks on billows float, + With Sandy ballast sailors trim the boat; + So bees bear gravel stones, whose poising weight + Steers through the whistling winds their steady flight;" + +or that when two colonies made war upon each other they issued forth +from their hives led by their kings and fought in the air, strewing the +ground with the dead and dying:-- + + "Hard hailstones lie not thicker on the plain, + Nor shaken oaks such show'rs of acorns rain." + +It is quite certain he had never been bee-hunting. If he had, we should +have had a fifth Georgic. Yet he seems to have known that bees sometimes +escaped to the woods:-- + + "Nor bees are lodged in hives alone, but found + In chambers of their own beneath the ground: + Their vaulted roofs are hung in pumices, + And in the rotten trunks of hollow trees." + +Wild honey is as near like tame as wild bees are like their brothers +in hive. The only difference is that wild honey is flavored with your +adventure, which makes it a little more delectable than the domestic +article. + + + + +THE PASTORAL BEES + + +The honey-bee goes forth from the hive in spring like the dove from +Noah's ark, and it is not till after many days that she brings back the +olive leaf, which in this case is a pellet of golden pollen upon each +hip, usually obtained from the alder or the swamp willow. In a country +where maple sugar is made, the bees get their first taste of sweet from +the sap as it flows from the spiles, or as it dries and is condensed +upon the sides of the buckets. They will sometimes, in their eagerness, +come about the boiling place and be overwhelmed by the steam and the +smoke. But bees appear to be more eager for bread in the spring than for +honey; their supply of this article, perhaps, does not keep as well +as their stores of the latter, hence fresh bread, in the shape of new +pollen, is diligently sought for. My bees get their first supplies from +the catkins of the willows. How quickly they find them out. If but one +catkin opens anywhere within range, a bee is on hand that very hour to +rifle it, and it is a most pleasing experience to stand near the hive +some mild April day and see them come pouring in with their little +baskets packed with this first fruitage of the spring. They will have +new bread now; they have been to mill in good earnest; see their dusty +coats, and the golden grist they bring home with them. + +When a bee brings pollen into the hive, he advances to the cell in which +it is to be deposited and kicks it off as one might his overalls or +rubber boots, making one foot help the other; then he walks off without +ever looking behind him; another bee, one of the indoor hands, comes +along and rams it down with his head and packs it into the cell as the +dairymaid packs butter into a firkin. + +The first spring wild-flowers, whose shy faces among the dry leaves and +rocks are so welcome, yield no honey. The anemone, the hepatica, the +bloodroot, the arbutus, the numerous violets, the spring beauty, the +corydalis, etc., woo lovers of nature, but do not woo the honey-loving +bee. It requires more sun and warmth to develop the saccharine element, +and the beauty of these pale striplings of the woods and groves is their +sole and sufficient excuse for being. The arbutus, lying low and keeping +green all winter, attains to perfume, but not to honey. + +The first honey is perhaps obtained from the flowers of the red maple +and the golden willow. The latter sends forth a wild, delicious perfume. +The sugar maple blooms a little later, and from its silken tassels +a rich nectar is gathered. My bees will not label these different +varieties for me as I really wish they would. Honey from the maples, a +tree so clean and wholesome, and full of such virtues every way, would +be something to put one's tongue to. Or that from the blossoms of the +apple, the peach, the cherry, the quince, the currant,--one would like +a card of each of these varieties to note their peculiar qualities. The +apple-blossom is very important to the bees. A single swarm has been +known to gain twenty pounds in weight during its continuance. Bees love +the ripened fruit, too, and in August and September will suck themselves +tipsy upon varieties such as the sops-of-wine. + +The interval between the blooming of the fruit-trees and that of the +clover and the raspberry is bridged over in many localities by the honey +locust. What a delightful summer murmur these trees send forth at this +season. I know nothing about the quality of the honey, but it ought to +keep well. But when the red raspberry blooms, the fountains of plenty +are unsealed indeed; what a commotion about the hives then, especially +in localities where it is extensively cultivated, as in places along the +Hudson. The delicate white clover, which begins to bloom about the +same time, is neglected; even honey itself is passed by for this modest +colorless, all but odorless flower. A field of these berries in June +sends forth a continuous murmur like that of an enormous hive. The honey +is not so white as that obtained from clover but it is easier gathered; +it is in shallow cups while that of the clover is in deep tubes. The +bees are up and at it before sunrise, and it takes a brisk shower to +drive them in. But the clover blooms later and blooms everywhere, and +is the staple source of supply of the finest quality of honey. The +red clover yields up its stores only to the longer proboscis of the +bumble-bee, else the bee pasturage of our agricultural districts would +be unequaled. I do not know from what the famous honey of Chamouni +in the Alps is made, but it can hardly surpass our best products. The +snow-white honey of Anatolia in Asiatic Turkey, which is regularly sent +to Constantinople for the use of the grand seignior and the ladies of +his seraglio, is obtained from the cotton plant, which makes me think +that the white clover does not flourish these. The white clover is +indigenous with us; its seeds seem latent in the ground, and the +application of certain stimulants to the soil, such as wood ashes, +causes them to germinate and spring up. + +The rose, with all its beauty and perfume, yields no honey to the bee, +unless the wild species be sought by the bumble-bee. + +Among the humbler plants, let me not forget the dandelion that so +early dots the sunny slopes, and upon which the bee languidly grazes, +wallowing to his knees in the golden but not over-succulent pasturage. +From the blooming rye and wheat the bee gathers pollen, also from +the obscure blossoms of Indian corn. Among weeds, catnip is the great +favorite. It lasts nearly the whole season and yields richly. It could +no doubt be profitably cultivated in some localities, and catnip honey +would be a novelty in the market. It would probably partake of the +aromatic properties of the plant from which it was derived. + +Among your stores of honey gathered before midsummer, you may chance +upon a card, or mayhap only a square inch or two of comb, in which the +liquid is as transparent as water, of a delicious quality, with a slight +flavor of mint. This is the product of the linden or basswood, of all +the trees in our forest the one most beloved by the bees. Melissa, the +goddess of honey, has placed her seal upon this tree. The wild swarms +in the woods frequently reap a choice harvest from it. I have seen +a mountain side thickly studded with it, its straight, tall, smooth, +light-gray shaft carrying its deep-green crown far aloft, like the +tulip-tree or the maple. + +In some of the Northwestern States there are large forests of it, and +the amount of honey reported stored by strong swarms in this section +during the time the tree is in bloom is quite incredible. As a shade and +ornamental tree the linden is fully equal to the maple, and if it were +as extensively planted and cared for, our supplies of virgin honey would +be greatly increased. The famous honey of Lithuania in Russia is the +product of the linden. + +It is a homely old stanza current among bee folk that-- + + "A swarm of bees in May + Is worth a load of hay; + A swarm of bees in June + Is worth a silver spoon; + But a swarm in July + Is not worth a fly." + +A swarm in May is indeed a treasure; it is, like an April baby, sure +to thrive, and will very likely itself send out a swarm a month or +two later; but a swarm in July is not to be despised; it will store no +clover or linden honey for the "grand seignior and the ladies of his +seraglio," but plenty of the rank and wholesome poor man's nectar, the +sun-tanned product of the plebeian buckwheat. Buckwheat honey is the +black sheep in this white flock, but there is spirit and character in +it. It lays hold of the taste in no equivocal manner, especially when at +a winter breakfast it meets its fellow, the russet buckwheat cake. Bread +with honey to cover it from the same stalk is double good fortune. It is +not black, either, but nut-brown, and belongs to the same class of goods +as Herrick's + + "Nut-brown mirth and russet wit." + +How the bees love it, and they bring the delicious odor of the blooming +plant to the hive with them, so that in the moist warm twilight the +apiary is redolent with the perfume of buckwheat. + +Yet evidently it is not the perfume of any flower that attracts +the bees; they pay no attention to the sweet-scented lilac, or to +heliotrope, but work upon sumach, silkweed, and the hateful snapdragon. +In September they are hard pressed, and do well if they pick up enough +sweet to pay the running expenses of their establishment. The purple +asters and the golden-rod are about all that remain to them. + +Bees will go three or four miles in quest of honey, but it is a great +advantage to move the hive near the good pasturage, as has been the +custom from the earliest times in the Old World. Some enterprising +person, taking a hint perhaps from the ancient Egyptians, who had +floating apiaries on the Nile, has tried the experiment of floating +several hundred colonies north on the Mississippi, starting from New +Orleans and following the opening season up, thus realizing a sort of +perpetual May or June, the chief attraction being the blossoms of the +river willow, which yield honey of rare excellence. Some of the bees +were no doubt left behind, but the amount of virgin honey secured must +have been very great. In September they should have begun the return +trip, following the retreating summer South. + +It is the making of the wax that costs with the bee. As with the poet, +the form, the receptacle, gives him more trouble than the sweet that +fills it, though, to be sure, there is always more or less empty comb in +both cases. The honey he can have for the gathering, but the wax he must +make himself--must evolve from his own inner consciousness. When wax +is to be made the wax-makers fill themselves with honey and retire into +their chamber for private meditation; it is like some solemn religious +rite; they take hold of hands, or hook themselves together in long lines +that hang in festoons from the top of the hive, and wait for the miracle +to transpire. After about twenty-four hours their patience is rewarded, +the honey is turned into wax, minute scales of which are secreted from +between the rings of the abdomen of each bee; this is taken off and from +it the comb is built up. It is calculated that about twenty-five pounds +of honey are used in elaborating one pound of comb, to say nothing of +the time that is lost. Hence the importance in an economical point of +view, of a recent device by which the honey is extracted and the comb +returned intact to the bees. But honey without the comb is the perfume +without the rose,--it is sweet merely, and soon degenerates into candy. +Half the delectableness is in breaking down these frail and exquisite +walls yourself, and tasting the nectar before it has lost its freshness +by the contact with the air. Then the comb is a sort of shield or foil +that prevents the tongue from being overwhelmed by the shock of the +sweet. + +The drones have the least enviable time of it. Their foothold in the +hive is very precarious. They look like the giants, the lords of the +swarm, but they are really the tools. Their loud, threatening hum has +no sting to back it up, and their size and noise make them only the more +conspicuous marks for the birds. + +Toward the close of the season, say in July or August, the fiat goes +forth that the drones must die; there is no further use for them. Then +the poor creatures, how they are huddled and hustled about, trying to +hide in corners and by-ways. There is no loud, defiant humming now, but +abject fear seizes them. They cower like hunted criminals. I have seen +a dozen or more of them wedge themselves into a small space between the +glass and the comb, where the bees could not get hold of them or where +they seemed to be overlooked in the general slaughter. They will also +crawl outside and hide under the edges of the hive. But sooner or later +they are all killed or kicked out. The drone makes no resistance, except +to pull back and try to get away; but (putting yourself in his place) +with one bee a-hold of your collar or the hair of your head, and another +a-hold of each arm or leg, and still another feeling for your waistbands +with his sting, the odds are greatly against you. + +It is a singular fact, also, that the queen is made, not born. If the +entire population of Spain or Great Britain were the offspring of one +mother, it might be found necessary to hit upon some device by which a +royal baby could be manufactured out of an ordinary one, or else give +up the fashion of royalty. All the bees in the hive have a common +parentage, and the queen and the worker are the same in the egg and in +the chick; the patent of royalty is in the cell and in the food; the +cell being much larger, and the food a peculiar stimulating kind of +jelly. In certain contingencies, such as the loss of the queen with no +eggs in the royal cells, the workers take the larva of an ordinary bee, +enlarge the cell by taking in the two adjoining ones, and nurse it and +stuff it and coddle it, till at the end of sixteen days it comes out a +queen. But ordinarily, in the natural course of events, the young queen +is kept a prisoner in her cell till the old queen has left with the +swarm. Later on, the unhatched queen is guarded against the reigning +queen, who only wants an opportunity to murder every royal scion in the +hive. At this time both the queens, the one a prisoner and the other at +large, pipe defiance at each other, a shrill, fine, trumpet-like note +that any ear will at once recognize. This challenge, not being allowed +to be accepted by either party, is followed, in a day or two by the +abdication of the reigning queen; she leads out the swarm, and her +successor is liberated by her keepers, who, in her time, abdicates +in favor of the next younger. When the bees have decided that no more +swarms can issue, the reigning queen is allowed to use her stiletto upon +her unhatched sisters. Cases have been known where two queens issued at +the same time, when a mortal combat ensued, encouraged by the workers, +who formed a ring about them, but showed no preference, and recognized +the victor as the lawful sovereign. For these and many other curious +facts we are indebted to the blind Huber. + +It is worthy of note that the position of the queen cells is always +vertical, while that of the drones and workers is horizontal; majesty +stands on its head, which fact may be a part of the secret. + +The notion has always very generally prevailed that the queen of the +bees is an absolute ruler, and issues her royal orders to willing +subjects. Hence Napoleon the First sprinkled the symbolic bees over the +imperial mantle that bore the arms of his dynasty; and in the country +of the Pharaohs the bee was used as the emblem of a people sweetly +submissive to the orders of its king. But the fact is, a swarm of bees +is an absolute democracy, and kings and despots can find no warrant in +their example. The power and authority are entirely vested in the great +mass, the workers. They furnish all the brains and foresight of the +colony, and administer its affairs. Their word is law, and both king and +queen must obey. They regulate the swarming, and give the signal for the +swarm to issue from the hive; they select and make ready the tree in the +woods and conduct the queen to it. + +The peculiar office and sacredness of the queen consists in the fact +that she is the mother of the swarm, and the bees love and cherish her +as a mother and not as a sovereign. She is the sole female bee in the +hive, and the swarm clings to her because she is their life. Deprived +of their queen, and of all brood from which to rear one, the swarm loses +all heart and soon dies, though there be an abundance of honey in the +hive. + +The common bees will never use their sting upon the queen; if she is +to be disposed of they starve her to death; and the queen herself will +sting nothing but royalty--nothing but a rival queen. + +The queen, I say, is the mother bee; it is undoubtedly complimenting her +to call her a queen and invest her with regal authority, yet she is +a superb creature, and looks every inch a queen. It is an event to +distinguish her amid the mass of bees when the swarm alights; it awakens +a thrill. Before you have seen a queen you wonder if this or that bee, +which seems a little larger than its fellows, is not she, but when you +once really set eyes upon her you do not doubt for a moment. You +know that is the queen. That long, elegant, shining, feminine-looking +creature can be none less than royalty. How beautifully her body tapers, +how distinguished she looks, how deliberate her movements! The bees +do not fall down before her, but caress her and touch her person. +The drones or males, are large bees too, but coarse, blunt, +broad-shouldered, masculine-looking. There is but one fact or incident +in the life of the queen that looks imperial and authoritative: Huber +relates that when the old queen is restrained in her movements by the +workers, and prevented from destroying the young queens in their cells, +she assumes a peculiar attitude and utters a note that strikes every bee +motionless, and makes every head bow; while this sound lasts not a bee +stirs, but all look abashed and humbled, yet whether the emotion is one +of fear, or reverence, or of sympathy with the distress of the queen +mother, is hard to determine. The moment it ceases and she advances +again toward the royal cells, the bees bite and pull and insult her as +before. + +I always feel that I have missed some good fortune if I am away from +home when my bees swarm. What a delightful summer sound it is; how +they come pouring out of the hive, twenty or thirty thousand bees each +striving to get out first; it is as when the dam gives way and lets the +waters loose; it is a flood of bees which breaks upward into the air, +and becomes a maze of whirling black lines to the eye and a soft chorus +of myriad musical sounds to the ear. This way and that way they drift, +now contracting, now expanding, rising, sinking, growing thick about +some branch or bush, then dispersing and massing at some other point, +till finally they begin to alight in earnest, when in a few moments the +whole swarm is collected upon the branch, forming a bunch perhaps as +large as a two-gallon measure. Here they will hang from one to three or +four hours, or until a suitable tree in the woods is looked up, when, if +they have not been offered a hive in the mean time, they are up and +off. In hiving them, if any accident happens to the queen the enterprise +miscarries at once. One day I shook a swarm from a small pear-tree into +a tin pan, set the pan down on a shawl spread beneath the tree, and put +the hive over it. The bees presently all crawled up into it, and all +seemed to go well for ten or fifteen minutes, when I observed that +something was wrong; the bees began to buzz excitedly and to rush about +in a bewildered manner, then they took to the wing and all returned to +the parent stock. On lifting up the pan, I found beneath it the queen +with three or four other bees. She had been one of the first to fall, +had missed the pan in her descent, and I had set it upon her. I conveyed +her tenderly back to the hive, but either the accident terminated +fatally with her or else the young queen had been liberated in the +interim, and one of them had fallen in combat, for it was ten days +before the swarm issued a second time. + +No one, to my knowledge, has ever seen the bees house-hunting in the +woods. Yet there can be no doubt that they look up new quarters either +before or on the day the swarm issues. For all bees are wild bees and +incapable of domestication; that is, the instinct to go back to nature +and take up again their wild abodes in the trees is never eradicated. +Years upon years of life in the apiary seems to have no appreciable +effect towards their final, permanent domestication. That every new +swarm contemplates migrating to the woods, seems confirmed by the fact +that they will only come out when the weather is favorable to such an +enterprise, and that a passing cloud or a sudden wind, after the bees +are in the air, will usually drive them back into the parent hive. Or +an attack upon them with sand or gravel, or loose earth or water, will +quickly cause them to change their plans. I would not even say but +that, when the bees are going off, the apparently absurd practice, now +entirely discredited by regular bee-keepers but still resorted to by +unscientific folk, of beating upon tin pans, blowing horns, and creating +an uproar generally, might not be without good results. Certainly not by +drowning the "orders" of the queen, but by impressing the bees as +with some unusual commotion in nature. Bees are easily alarmed and +disconcerted, and I have known runaway swarms to be brought down by a +farmer ploughing in the field who showered them with handfuls of loose +soil. + +I love to see a swarm go off--if it is not mine, and if mine must go I +want to be on hand to see the fun. It is a return to first principles +again by a very direct route. The past season I witnessed two such +escapes. One swarm had come out the day before, and, without alighting, +had returned to the parent hive--some hitch in the plan, perhaps, or may +be the queen had found her wings too weak. The next day they came out +again, and were hived. But something offended them, or else the tree in +the woods--perhaps some royal old maple or birch holding its head +high above all others, with snug, spacious, irregular chambers and +galleries--had too many attractions; for they were presently discovered +filling the air over the garden, and whirling excitedly around. +Gradually they began to drift over the street; a moment more, and they +had become separated from the other bees, and, drawing together in a +more compact mass or cloud, away they went, a humming, flying vortex of +bees, the queen in the centre, and the swarm revolving around her as a +pivot,--over meadows, across creeks and swamps, straight for the heart +of the mountain, about a mile distant,--slow at first, so that the youth +who gave chase kept up with them, but increasing their speed till only a +fox hound could have kept them in sight. I saw their pursuer laboring +up the side of the mountain; saw his white shirt-sleeves gleam as he +entered the woods; but he returned a few hours afterward without any +clew as to the particular tree in which they had taken refuge out of the +ten thousand that covered the side of the mountain. + +The other swarm came out about one o'clock of a hot July day, and +at once showed symptoms that alarmed the keeper, who, however, threw +neither dirt nor water. The house was situated on a steep side-hill. +Behind it the ground rose, for a hundred rods or so, at an angle of +nearly forty-five degrees, and the prospect of having to chase them up +this hill, if chase them we should, promised a good trial of wind +at least; for it soon became evident that their course lay in this +direction. Determined to have a hand, or rather a foot, in the chase, +I threw off my coat and hurried on, before the swarm was yet fairly +organized and under way. The route soon led me into a field of +standing rye, every spear of which held its head above my own. Plunging +recklessly forward, my course marked to those watching from below by the +agitated and wriggling grain, I emerged from the miniature forest just +in time to see the runaways disappearing over the top of the hill, some +fifty rods in advance of me. Lining them as well as I could, I soon +reached the hill-top, my breath utterly gone and the perspiration +streaming from every pore of my skin. On the other side the country +opened deep and wide. A large valley swept around to the north, heavily +wooded at its head and on its sides. It became evident at once that the +bees had made good their escape, and that whether they had stopped on +one side of the valley or the other, or had indeed cleared the opposite +mountain and gone into some unknown forest beyond, was entirely +problematical. I turned back, therefore, thinking of the honey-laden +tree that some of these forests would hold before the falling of the +leaf. + +I heard of a youth in the neighborhood, more lucky than myself on a like +occasion. It seems that he had got well in advance of the swarm, whose +route lay over a hill, as in my case, and as he neared the summit, hat +in hand, the bees had just come up and were all about him. Presently he +noticed them hovering about his straw hat, and alighting on his arm; and +in almost as brief a time as it takes to relate it, the whole swarm +had followed the queen into his hat. Being near a stone wall, he +coolly deposited his prize upon it, quickly disengaged himself from the +accommodating bees, and returned for a hive. The explanation of this +singular circumstance no doubt is, that the queen, unused to such long +and heavy flights, was obliged to alight from very exhaustion. It is +not very unusual for swarms to be thus found in remote fields, collected +upon a bush or branch of a tree. + +When a swarm migrates to the woods in this manner, the individual bees, +as I have intimated, do not move in right lines or straight forward, +like a flock of birds, but round and round, like chaff in a whirlwind. +Unitedly they form a humming, revolving, nebulous mass, ten or fifteen +feet across, which keeps just high enough to clear all obstacles, except +in crossing deep valleys, when, of course, it may be very high. The +swarm seems to be guided by a line of couriers, which may be seen (at +least at the outset) constantly going and coming. As they take a direct +course, there is always some chance of following them to the tree, +unless they go a long distance, and some obstruction, like a wood, or +a swamp, or a high hill, intervenes--enough chance, at any rate, to +stimulate the lookers-on to give vigorous chase as long as their wind +holds out. If the bees are successfully followed to their retreat, two +plans are feasible: either to fell the tree at once, and seek to hive +them, perhaps bring them home in the section of the tree that contains +the cavity; or to leave the tree till fall, then invite your neighbors, +and go and cut it, and see the ground flow with honey. The former course +is more business-like; but the latter is the one usually recommended by +one's friends and neighbors. + +Perhaps nearly one third of all the runaway swarms leave when no one +is about, and hence are unseen and unheard, save, perchance, by some +distant laborers in the field, or by some youth ploughing on the side +of the mountain, who hears an unusual humming noise, and sees the swarm +dimly whirling by overhead, and, may be, gives chase; or he may simply +catch the sound, when he pauses, looks quickly around, but sees nothing. +When he comes in at night he tells how he heard or saw a swarm of bees +go over; and, perhaps from beneath one of the hives in the garden a +black mass of bees has disappeared during the day. + +They are not partial as to the kind of tree,--pine, hemlock, elm, birch, +maple, hickory,--any tree with a good cavity high up or low down. A +swarm of mine ran away from the new patent hive I gave them, and took +up their quarters in the hollow trunk of an old apple-tree across an +adjoining field. The entrance was a mouse-hole near the ground. + +Another swarm in the neighborhood deserted their keeper and went into +the cornice of an out-house that stood amid evergreens in the rear of +a large mansion. But there is no accounting for the taste of bees, +as Samson found when he discovered the swarm in the carcass, or more +probably the skeleton, of the lion he had slain. + +In any given locality, especially in the more wooded and mountainous +districts, the number of swarms that thus assert their independence +forms quite a large per cent. In the Northern States these swarms very +often perish before spring; but in such a country as Florida they seem +to multiply, till bee-trees are very common. In the West, also, wild +honey is often gathered in large quantities. I noticed not long since, +that some wood-choppers on the west slope of the Coast Range felled a +tree that had several pailfuls in it. + +One night on the Potomac a party of us unwittingly made our camp near +the foot of a bee-tree, which next day the winds of heaven blew down, +for our special delectation, at least so we read the sign. Another time +while sitting by a waterfall in the leafless April woods I discovered +a swarm in the top of a large hickory. I had the season before remarked +the tree as a likely place for bees, but the screen of leaves concealed +them from me. This time my former presentiment occurred to me, and, +looking sharply, sure enough there were the bees, going out and in a +large, irregular opening. In June a violent tempest of wind and rain +demolished the tree, and the honey was all lost in the creek into which +it fell. I happened along that way two or three days after the tornado, +when I saw a remnant of the swarm, those, doubtless, that escaped the +flood and those that were away when the disaster came, hanging in a +small black mass to a branch high up near where their home used to be. +They looked forlorn enough. If the queen was saved the remnant probably +sought another tree; otherwise the bees have soon died. + +I have seen bees desert their hive in the spring when it was infested +with worms, or when the honey was exhausted; at such times the swarm +seems to wander aimlessly, alighting here and there, and perhaps in the +end uniting with some other colony. In case of such union, it would be +curious to know if negotiations were first opened between the parties, +and if the houseless bees are admitted at once to all the rights and +franchises of their benefactors. It would be very like the bees to have +some preliminary plan and understanding about the matter on both sides. + +Bees will accommodate themselves to almost any quarters, yet no hive +seems to please them so well as a section of a hollow tree--"gums" as +they are called in the South and West where the sweet gum grows. In some +European countries the hive is always made from the trunk of a tree, a +suitable cavity being formed by boring. The old-fashioned straw hive is +picturesque, and a great favorite with the bees also. + +The life of a swarm of bees is like an active and hazardous campaign +of an army; the ranks are being continually depleted, and continually +recruited. What adventures they have by flood and field, and what +hair-breadth escapes! A strong swarm during the honey season loses, on +an average, about four or five thousand per month, or one hundred and +fifty per day. They are overwhelmed by wind and rain, caught by spiders, +benumbed by cold, crushed by cattle, drowned in rivers and ponds, and +in many nameless ways cut off or disabled. In the spring the principal +mortality is from the cold. As the sun declines they get chilled before +they can reach home. Many fall down outside the hive, unable to get +in with their burden. One may see them come utterly spent and drop +hopelessly into the grass in front of their very doors. Before they can +rest the cold has stiffened them. I go out in April and May and pick +them up by the handfuls, their baskets loaded with pollen, and warm them +in the sun or in the house, or by the simple warmth of my hand, until +they can crawl into the hive. Heat is their life, and an apparently +lifeless bee may be revived by warming him. I have also picked them up +while rowing on the river and seen them safely to shore. It is amusing +to see them come hurrying home when there is a thunderstorm approaching. +They come piling in till the rain is upon them. Those that are overtaken +by the storm doubtless weather it as best they can in the sheltering +trees or grass. It is not probable that a bee ever gets lost by +wandering into strange and unknown parts. With their myriad eyes they +see everything; and then, their sense of locality is very acute, is, +indeed, one of their ruling traits. When a bee marks the place of his +hive, or of a bit of good pasturage in the fields or swamps, or of the +bee-hunter's box of honey on the hills or in the woods, he returns to it +as unerringly as fate. + +Honey was a much more important article of food with the ancients than +it is with us. As they appear to have been unacquainted with sugar, +honey, no doubt, stood them instead. It is too rank and pungent for the +modern taste; it soon cloys upon the palate. It demands the appetite of +youth, and the strong, robust digestion of people who live much in +the open air. It is a more wholesome food than sugar, and modern +confectionery is poison beside it. Beside grape sugar, honey contains +manna, mucilage, pollen, acid, and other vegetable odoriferous +substances and juices. It is a sugar with a kind of wild natural bread +added. The manna of itself is both food and medicine, and the pungent +vegetable extracts have rare virtues. Honey promotes the excretions and +dissolves the glutinous and starchy impedimenta of the system. + +Hence it is not without reason that with the ancients a land flowing +with milk and honey should mean a land abounding in all good things; +and the queen in the nursery rhyme, who lingered in the kitchen to eat +"bread and honey" while the "king was in the parlor counting out his +money," was doing a very sensible thing. Epaminondas is said to have +rarely eaten anything but bread and honey. The Emperor Augustus one day +inquired of a centenarian how he had kept his vigor of mind and body so +long; to which the veteran replied that it was by "oil without and honey +within." Cicero, in his "Old Age," classes honey with meat and milk and +cheese as among the staple articles with which a well-kept farm-house +will be supplied. + +Italy and Greece, in fact all the Mediterranean countries, appear to +have been famous lands for honey. Mount Hymettus, Mount Hybla, and +Mount Ida produced what may be called the classic honey of antiquity, an +article doubtless in nowise superior to our best products. Leigh Hunt's +"Jar of Honey" is mainly distilled from Sicilian history and literature, +Theocritus furnishing the best yield. Sicily has always been rich in +bees. Swinburne (the traveler of a hundred years ago) says the woods on +this island abounded in wild honey, and that the people also had many +hives near their houses. The idyls of Theocritus are native to the +island in this respect, and abound in bees--"Flat-nosed bees" as he +calls them in the Seventh Idyl--and comparisons in which comb-honey is +the standard of the most delectable of this world's goods. His goatherds +can think of no greater bliss than that the mouth be filled with +honey-combs, or to be inclosed in a chest like Daphnis and fed on the +combs of bees; and among the delectables with which Arsinoe cherishes +Adonis are "honey-cakes," and other tid-bits made of "sweet honey." In +the country of Theocritus this custom is said still to prevail: when a +couple are married the attendants place honey in their mouths, by which +they would symbolize the hope that their love may be as sweet to their +souls as honey to the palate. + +It was fabled that Homer was suckled by a priestess whose breasts +distilled honey; and that once when Pindar lay asleep the bees dropped +honey upon his lips. In the Old Testament the food of the promised +Immanuel was to be butter and honey (there is much doubt about the +butter in the original), that he might know good from evil; and +Jonathan's eyes were enlightened, by partaking of some wood or wild +honey: "See, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because +I tasted a little of this honey." So far as this part of his diet +was concerned, therefore, John the Baptist, during his sojourn in the +wilderness, his divinity school-days in the mountains and plains of +Judea, fared extremely well. About the other part, the locusts, or, not +to put too fine a point on it, the grasshoppers, as much cannot be said, +though they were among the creeping and leaping things the children +of Israel were permitted to eat. They were probably not eaten raw, but +roasted in that most primitive of ovens, a hole in the ground made hot +by building a fire in it. The locusts and honey may have been served +together, as the Bedas of Ceylon are said to season their meat with +honey. At any rate, as the locust is often a great plague in Palestine, +the prophet in eating them found his account in the general weal, and +in the profit of the pastoral bees; the fewer locusts, the more flowers. +Owing to its numerous wild-flowers and flowering shrubs, Palestine +has always been a famous country for bees. They deposit their honey in +hollow trees as our bees do when they escape from the hive, and in holes +in the rocks as ours do not. In a tropical or semi-tropical climate +bees are quite apt to take refuge in the rocks, but where ice and snow +prevail, as with us, they are much safer high up in the trunk of a +forest tree. + +The best honey is the product of the milder parts of the temperate zone. +There are too many rank and poisonous plants in the tropics. Honey from +certain districts of Turkey produces headache and vomiting, and that +from Brazil is used chiefly as medicine. The honey of Mount Hymettus +owes its fine quality to wild thyme. The best honey in Persia and in +Florida is collected from the orange blossom. The celebrated honey of +Narbonne in the south of France is obtained from a species of rosemary. +In Scotland good honey is made from the blossoming heather. + +California honey is white and delicate and highly perfumed, and now +takes the lead in the market. But honey is honey the world over; and the +bee is the bee still. "Men may degenerate," says an old traveler, "may +forget the arts by which they acquired renown; manufactories may fail, +and commodities be debased, but the sweets of the wild-flowers of the +wilderness, the industry and natural mechanics of the bee, will continue +without change or derogation." + + + + +II. SHARP EYES AND OTHER PAPERS + + + +CONTENTS + +SHARP EYES + +THE APPLE + +A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH + +WINTER NEIGHBORS + +NOTES BY THE WAY. + + I. The Weather-wise Muskrat + II. Cheating the Squirrels + III. Fox and Hound + IV. The Woodchuck + + + + +SHARP EYES. + + +Noting how one eye seconds and reinforces the other, I have often amused +myself by wondering what the effect would be if one could go on opening +eye after eye to the number say of a dozen or more. What would he see? +Perhaps not the invisible--not the odors of flowers nor the fever +germs in the air--not the infinitely small of the microscope nor the +infinitely distant of the telescope. This would require, not more eyes +so much as an eye constructed with more and different lenses; but would +he not see with augmented power within the natural limits of vision? At +any rate some persons seem to have opened more eyes than others, they +see with such force and distinctness; their vision penetrates the +tangle and obscurity where that of others fails like a spent or impotent +bullet. How many eyes did Gilbert White open? how many did Henry +Thoreau? how many did Audubon? how many does the hunter, matching his +sight against the keen and alert sense of a deer or a moose, or a fox +or a wolf? Not outward eyes, but inward. We open another eye whenever we +see beyond the first general features or outlines of things--whenever +we grasp the special details and characteristic markings that this mask +covers. Science confers new powers of vision. + +Whenever you have learned to discriminate the birds, or the plants, or +the geological features of a country, it is as if new and keener eyes +were added. + +Of course one must not only see sharply, but read aright what he sees. +The facts in the life of Nature that are transpiring about us are like +written words that the observer is to arrange into sentences. Or the +writing is in cipher and he must furnish the key. A female oriole was +one day observed very much preoccupied under a shed where the refuse +from the horse stable was thrown. She hopped about among the barn fowls, +scolding them sharply when they came too near her. The stable, dark +and cavernous, was just beyond. The bird, not finding what she wanted +outside, boldly ventured into the stable, and was presently captured by +the farmer. What did she want? was the query. What, but a horsehair +for her nest which was in an apple-tree near by; and she was so bent on +having one that I have no doubt she would have tweaked one out of the +horse's tail had he been in the stable. Later in the season I examined +her nest and found it sewed through and through with several long horse +hairs, so that the bird persisted in her search till the hair was found. + +Little dramas and tragedies and comedies, little characteristic scenes, +are always being enacted in the lives of the birds, if our eyes are +sharp enough to see them. Some clever observer saw this little comedy +played among some English sparrows and wrote an account of it in his +newspaper; it is too good not to be true: A male bird brought to his +box a large, fine goose feather, which is a great find for a sparrow +and much coveted. After he had deposited his prize and chattered his +gratulations over it he went away in quest of his mate. His next-door +neighbor, a female bird, seeing her chance, quickly slipped in and +seized the feather,--and here the wit of the bird came out, for instead +of carrying it into her own box she flew with it to a near tree and +hid it in a fork of the branches, then went home, and when her neighbor +returned with his mate was innocently employed about her own affairs. +The proud male, finding his feather gone, came out of his box in a high +state of excitement, and, with wrath in his manner and accusation on +his tongue, rushed into the cot of the female. Not finding his goods and +chattels there as he had expected, he stormed around a while, abusing +everybody in general and his neighbor in particular, and then went away +as if to repair the loss. As soon as he was out of sight, the shrewd +thief went and brought the feather home and lined her own domicile with +it. + +I was much amused one summer day in seeing a bluebird feeding her young +one in the shaded street of a large town. She had captured a cicada or +harvest-fly, and after bruising it a while on the ground flew with it +to a tree and placed it in the beak of the young bird. It was a large +morsel, and the mother seemed to have doubts of her chick's ability to +dispose of it, for she stood near and watched its efforts with great +solicitude. The young bird struggled valiantly with the cicada, but made +no head way in swallowing it, when the mother took it from him and flew +to the sidewalk, and proceeded to break and bruise it more thoroughly. +Then she again placed it in his beak, and seemed to say, "There, try it +now," and sympathized so thoroughly with his efforts that she repeated +many of his motions and contortions. But the great fly was unyielding, +and, indeed, seemed ridiculously disproportioned to the beak that held +it. The young bird fluttered and fluttered and screamed, "I'm stuck, I'm +stuck," till the anxious parent again seized the morsel and carried +it to an iron railing, where she came down upon it for the space of a +minute with all the force and momentum her beak could command. Then +she offered it to her young a third time, but with the same result as +before, except that this time the bird dropped it; but she was at the +ground as soon as the cicada was, and taking it in her beak flew +some distance to a high board fence where she sat motionless for some +moments. While pondering the problem how that fly should be broken, +the male bluebird approached her, and said very plainly, and I thought +rather curtly, "Give me that bug," but she quickly resented his +interference and flew farther away, where she sat apparently quite +discouraged when I last saw her. + +The bluebird is a home bird, and I am never tired of recurring to him. +His coming or reappearance in the spring marks a new chapter in the +progress of the season; things are never quite the same after one has +heard that note. The past spring the males came about a week in advance +of the females. A fine male lingered about my grounds and orchard all +the time, apparently waiting the arrival of his mate. He called and +warbled every day, as if he felt sure she was within ear-shot, and +could be hurried up. Now he warbled half-angrily or upbraidingly, +then coaxingly, then cheerily and confidently, the next moment in a +plaintive, far-away manner. He would half open his wings, and twinkle +them caressingly, as if beckoning his mate to his heart. One morning she +had come, but was shy and reserved. The fond male flew to a knot-hole +in an old apple-tree, and coaxed her to his side. I heard a fine +confidential warble,--the old, old story. But the female flew to a near +tree, and uttered her plaintive, homesick note. The male went and got +some dry grass or bark in his beak, and flew again to the hole in the +old tree, and promised unremitting devotion, but the other said "nay," +and flew away in the distance. When he saw her going, or rather heard +her distant note, he dropped his stuff, and cried out in a tone that +said plainly enough, "Wait a minute. One word, please," and flew swiftly +in pursuit. He won her before long, however, and early in April the pair +were established in one of the four or five boxes I had put up for them, +but not until they had changed their minds several times. As soon as +the first brood had flown, and while they were yet under their parents' +care, they began another nest in one of the other boxes, the female, as +usual, doing all the work, and the male all the complimenting. + +A source of occasional great distress to the mother-bird was a white cat +that sometimes followed me about. The cat had never been known to catch +a bird, but she had a way of watching them that was very embarrassing to +the bird. Whenever she appeared, the mother bluebird would set up that +pitiful melodious plaint. One morning the cat was standing by me, when +the bird came with her beak loaded with building material, and alighted +above me to survey the place before going into the box. When she saw the +cat, she was greatly disturbed, and in her agitation could not keep her +hold upon all her material. Straw after straw came eddying down, till +not half her original burden remained. After the cat had gone away, the +bird's alarm subsided, till, presently seeing the coast clear, she flew +quickly to the box and pitched in her remaining straws with the greatest +precipitation, and, without going in to arrange them, as was her wont, +flew away in evident relief. + +In the cavity of an apple-tree but a few yards off, and much nearer the +house than they usually build, a pair of high-holes, or golden-shafted +woodpeckers, took up their abode. A knot-hole which led to the decayed +interior was enlarged, the live wood being cut away as clean as a +squirrel would have done it. The inside preparations I could not +witness, but day after day, as I passed near, I heard the bird hammering +away, evidently beating down obstructions and shaping and enlarging the +cavity. The chips were not brought out, but were used rather to +floor the interior. The woodpeckers are not nest-builders, but rather +nest-carvers. + +The time seemed very short before the voices of the young were heard in +the heart of the old tree,--at first feebly, but waxing stronger day by +day until they could be heard many rods distant. When I put my hand upon +the trunk of the tree, they would set up an eager, expectant chattering; +but if I climbed up it toward the opening, they soon detected the +unusual sound and would hush quickly, only now and then uttering a +warning note. Long before they were fully fledged they clambered up to +the orifice to receive their food. As but one could stand in the opening +at a time, there was a good deal of elbowing and struggling for this +position. It was a very desirable one aside from the advantages it had +when food was served; it looked out upon the great shining world, into +which the young birds seemed never tired of gazing. The fresh air +must have been a consideration also, for the interior of a high-hole's +dwelling is not sweet. When the parent birds came with food the young +one in the opening did not get it all, but after he had received a +portion, either on his own motion or on a hint from the old one, he +would give place to the one behind him. Still, one bird evidently +outstripped his fellows, and in the race of life, was two or three days +in advance of them. His voice was loudest and his head oftenest at the +window. But I noticed that when he had kept the position too long, +the others evidently made it uncomfortable in his rear, and, after +"fidgeting" about a while, he would be compelled to "back down." But +retaliation was then easy, and I fear his mates spent few easy moments +at that lookout. They would close their eyes and slide back into the +cavity as if the world had suddenly lost all its charms for them. + +This bird was, of course, the first to leave the nest. For two days +before that event he kept his position in the opening most of the time +and sent forth his strong voice incessantly. The old ones abstained from +feeding him almost entirely, no doubt to encourage his exit. As I +stood looking at him one afternoon and noting his progress, he suddenly +reached a resolution,--seconded, I have no doubt, from the rear,--and +launched forth upon his untried wings. They served him well and carried +him about fifty yards up-hill the first heat. The second day after, the +next in size and spirit left in the same manner; then another, till only +one remained. The parent birds ceased their visits to him, and for one +day he called and called till our ears were tired of the sound. His +was the faintest heart of all. Then he had none to encourage him from +behind. He left the nest and clung to the outer bowl of the tree, and +yelped and piped for an hour longer; then he committed himself to his +wings and went his way like the rest. + +A young farmer in the western part of New York, who has a sharp, +discriminating eye, sends me some interesting notes about a tame +high-hole he once had. + +"Did you ever notice," says he, "that the high-hole never eats anything +that he cannot pick up with his tongue? At least this was the case with +a young one I took from the nest and tamed. He could thrust out his +tongue two or three inches, and it was amusing to see his efforts to eat +currants from the hand. He would run out his tongue and try to stick it +to the currant; failing in that, he would bend his tongue around it like +a hook and try to raise it by a sudden jerk. But he never succeeded, +the round fruit would roll and slip away every time. He never seemed to +think of taking it in his beak. His tongue was in constant use to find +out the nature of everything he saw; a nail-hole in a board or any +similar hole was carefully explored. If he was held near the face he +would soon be attracted by the eye and thrust his tongue into it. In +this way he gained the respect of a number of half-grown cats that were +around the house. I wished to make them familiar to each other, so there +would be less danger of their killing him. So I would take them both on +my knee, when the bird would soon notice the kitten's eyes, and leveling +his bill as carefully as a marksman levels his rifle, he would remain so +a minute when he would dart his tongue into the cat's eye. This was held +by the cats to be very mysterious: being struck in the eye by something +invisible to them. They soon acquired such a terror of him that they +would avoid him and run away whenever they saw his bill turned in their +direction. He never would swallow a grasshopper even when it was placed +in his throat; he would shake himself until he had thrown it out of his +mouth. His 'best hold' was ants. He never was surprised at anything, and +never was afraid of anything. He would drive the turkey gobbler and +the rooster. He would advance upon them holding one wing up as high as +possible, as if to strike with it, and shuffle along the ground toward +them, scolding all the while in a harsh voice. I feared at first that +they might kill him, but I soon found that he was able to take care of +himself. I would turn over stones and dig into ant-hills for him, and he +would lick up the ants so fast that a stream of them seemed going +into his mouth unceasingly. I kept him till late in the fall, when he +disappeared, probably going south, and I never saw him again." + +My correspondent also sends me some interesting observations about the +cuckoo. He says a large gooseberry bush standing in the border of an old +hedgerow, in the midst of open fields, and not far from his house, was +occupied by a pair of cuckoos for two seasons in succession, and, after +an interval of a year, for two seasons more. This gave him a good chance +to observe them. He says the mother-bird lays a single egg, and sits +upon it a number of days before laying the second, so that he has seen +one young bird nearly grown, a second just hatched, and a whole egg +all in the nest at once. "So far as I have seen, this is the settled +practice,--the young leaving the nest one at a time to the number of six +or eight. The young have quite the look of the young of the dove in many +respects. When nearly grown they are covered with long blue pin-feathers +as long as darning-needles, without a bit of plumage on them. They part +on the back and hang down on each side by their own weight. With its +curious feathers and misshapen body the young bird is anything but +handsome. They never open their mouths when approached, as many young +birds do, but sit perfectly still, hardly moving when touched." He also +notes the unnatural indifference of the mother-bird when her nest and +young are approached. She makes no sound, but sits quietly on a near +branch in apparent perfect unconcern. + +These observations, together with the fact that the egg of the cuckoo +is occasionally found in the nests of other birds, raise the inquiry +whether our bird is slowly relapsing into the habit of the European +species, which always foists its egg upon other birds; or whether, on +the other hand, it is not mending its manners in this respect. It has +but little to unlearn or to forget in the one case, but great progress +to make in the other. How far is its rudimentary nest--a mere platform +of coarse twigs and dry stalks of weeds--from the deep, compact, finely +woven and finely modeled nest of the goldfinch or king-bird, and what a +gulf between its indifference toward its young and their solicitude! Its +irregular manner of laying also seems better suited to a parasite like +our cow-bird, or the European cuckoo, than to a regular nest-builder. + +This observer, like most sharp-eyed persons, sees plenty of interesting +things as he goes about his work. He one day saw a white swallow, which +is of rare occurrence. He saw a bird, a sparrow he thinks, fly against +the side of a horse and fill his beak with hair from the loosened coat +of the animal. He saw a shrike pursue a chickadee, when the latter +escaped by taking refuge in a small hole in a tree. One day in early +spring he saw two hen-hawks that were circling and screaming high in +air, approach each other, extend a claw, and, clasping them together, +fall toward the earth flapping and struggling as if they were tied +together; on nearing the ground they separated and soared aloft again. +He supposed that it was not a passage of war but of love, and that the +hawks were toying fondly with each other. + +He further relates a curious circumstance of finding a humming-bird in +the upper part of a barn with its bill stuck fast in a crack of one of +the large timbers, dead, of course, with wings extended, and as dry as a +chip. The bird seems to have died as it had lived, on the wing, and its +last act was indeed a ghastly parody of its living career. Fancy this +nimble, flashing sprite, whose life was passed probing the honeyed +depths of flowers, at last thrusting its bill into a crack in a dry +timber in a hayloft, and, with spread wings, ending its existence. + +When the air is damp and heavy, swallows frequently hawk for insects +about cattle and moving herds in the field. My farmer describes how +they attended him one foggy day, as he was mowing in the meadow with a +mowing-machine. It had been foggy for two days, and the swallows were +very hungry, and the insects stupid and inert. When the sound of his +machine was heard, the swallows appeared and attended him like a brood +of hungry chickens. He says there was a continued rush of purple wings +over the "cut-bar," and just where it was causing the grass to tremble +and fall. Without his assistance the swallows would doubtless have gone +hungry yet another day. + +Of the hen-hawk, he has observed that both male and female take part in +incubation. "I was rather surprised," he says, "on one occasion, to +see how quickly they change places on the nest. The nest was in a tall +beech, and the leaves were not yet fully out. I could see the head and +neck of the hawk over the edge of the nest, when I saw the other hawk +coming down through the air at full speed. I expected he would alight +near by, but instead of that he struck directly upon the nest, his mate +getting out of the way barely in time to avoid being hit; it seemed +almost as if he had knocked her off the nest. I hardly see how they can +make such a rush on the nest without danger to the eggs." + +The king-bird will worry the hawk as a whiffet dog will worry a bear. It +is by his persistence and audacity, not by any injury he is capable of +dealing his great antagonist. The king-bird seldom more than dogs the +hawk, keeping above and between his wings, and making a great ado; but +my correspondent says he once "saw a king-bird riding on a hawk's +back. The hawk flew as fast as possible, and the king-bird sat upon his +shoulders in triumph until they had passed out of sight,"--tweaking his +feathers, no doubt, and threatening to scalp him the next moment. + +That near relative of the king-bird, the great crested fly-catcher, +has one well known peculiarity: he appears never to consider his nest +finished until it contains a cast-off snake-skin. My alert correspondent +one day saw him eagerly catch up an onion skin and make off with it, +either deceived by it or else thinking it a good substitute for the +coveted material. + +One day in May, walking in the woods, I came upon the nest of a +whippoorwill, or rather its eggs, for it builds no nest,--two elliptical +whitish spotted eggs lying upon the dry leaves. My foot was within a +yard of the mother-bird before she flew. I wondered what a sharp eye +would detect curious or characteristic in the ways of the bird, so I +came to the place many times and had a look. It was always a task to +separate the bird from her surroundings though I stood within a few feet +of her, and knew exactly where to look. One had to bear on with his eye, +as it were, and refuse to be baffled. The sticks and leaves, and bits of +black or dark-brown bark, were all exactly copied in the bird's plumage. +And then she did sit so close, and simulate so well a shapeless decaying +piece of wood or bark! Twice I brought a companion, and guiding his eye +to the spot, noted how difficult it was for him to make out there, in +full view upon the dry leaves, any semblance to a bird. When the bird +returned after being disturbed, she would alight within a few inches of +her eggs, and then, after a moment's pause, hobble awkwardly upon them. + +After the young had appeared, all the wit of the bird came into play. I +was on hand the next day, I think. The mother-bird sprang up when I was +within a pace of her, and in doing so fanned the leaves with her wings +till they sprang up too; as the leaves started the young started, and, +being of the same color, to tell which was the leaf and which the bird +was a trying task to any eye. I came the next day, when the same tactics +were repeated. Once a leaf fell upon one of the young birds and +nearly hid it. The young are covered with a reddish down like a young +partridge, and soon follow their mother about. When disturbed, they gave +but one leap, then settled down, perfectly motionless and stupid, with +eyes closed. The parent bird, on these occasions made frantic efforts +to decoy me away from her young. She would fly a few paces and fall +upon her breast, and a spasm, like that of death, would run through her +tremulous outstretched wings and prostrate body. She kept a sharp eye +out the meanwhile to see if the ruse took, and if it did not, she was +quickly cured, and moving about to some other point tried to draw my +attention as before. When followed she always alighted upon the ground, +dropping down in a sudden peculiar way. The second or third day both old +and young had disappeared. + +The whippoorwill walks as awkwardly as a swallow, which is as awkward as +a man in a bag, and yet she manages to lead her young about the woods. +The latter, I think, move by leaps and sudden spurts, their protective +coloring shielding them most effectively. Wilson once came upon the +mother-bird and her brood in the woods, and, though they were at his +very feet, was so baffled by the concealment of the young that he +was about to give up the search, much disappointed, when he perceived +something "like a slight moldiness among the withered leaves, and, +on stooping down, discovered it to be a young whippoorwill seemingly +asleep." Wilson's description of the young is very accurate, as its +downy covering does look precisely like a "slight moldiness." Returning +a few moments afterward to the spot to get a pencil he had forgotten, he +could find neither old nor young. + +It takes an eye to see a partridge in the woods motionless upon the +leaves; this sense needs to be as sharp as that of smell in hounds and +pointers; and yet I know an unkempt youth that seldom fails to see the +bird and shoot it before it takes wing. I think he sees it as soon as it +sees him and before it suspects itself seen. What a training to the eye +is hunting! To pick out the game from its surroundings, the grouse +from the leaves, the gray squirrel from the mossy oak limb it hugs so +closely, the red fox from the ruddy or brown or gray field, the rabbit +from the stubble, or the white hare from the snow requires the best +powers of this sense. A woodchuck, motionless in the fields or upon +a rock, looks very much like a large stone or bowlder, yet a keen eye +knows the difference at a glance, a quarter of a mile away. + +A man has a sharper eye than a dog, or a fox, or than any of the wild +creatures, but not so sharp an ear or nose. But in the birds he finds +his match. How quickly the old turkey discovers the hawk, a mere speck +against the sky, and how quickly the hawk discovers you if you happen to +be secreted in the bushes or behind the fence near which he alights! +One advantage the bird surely has, and that is, owing to the form, +structure, and position of the eye, it has a much larger field of +vision--indeed, can probably see in nearly every direction at the same +instant, behind as well as before. Man's field of vision embraces less +than half a circle horizontally, and still less vertically; his brow and +brain prevent him from seeing within many degrees of the zenith without +a movement of the head; the bird on the other hand, takes in nearly the +whole sphere at a glance. + +I find I see almost without effort nearly every bird within sight in the +field or wood I pass through (a flit of the wing, a flirt of the tail +are enough, though the flickering leaves do all conspire to hide them), +and that with like ease the birds see me, though, unquestionably, the +chances are immensely in their favor. The eye sees what it has the means +of seeing, truly. You must have the bird in your heart before you can +find it in the bush. The eye must have purpose and aim. No one ever yet +found the walking fern who did not have the walking fern in his mind. A +person whose eye is full of Indian relics picks them up in every field +he walks through. + +One season I was interested in the tree-frogs; especially the tiny piper +that one hears about the woods and brushy fields--the hyla of the swamps +become a denizen of the trees; I had never seen him in this new role. +But this season, having hylas in mind, or rather being ripe for them, I +several times came across them. One Sunday, walking amid some bushes, +I captured two. They leaped before me as doubtless they had done many +times before; but though I was not looking for or thinking of them, yet +they were quickly recognized, because the eye had been commissioned +to find them. On another occasion, not long afterward, I was hurriedly +loading my gun in the October woods in hopes of overtaking a gray +squirrel that was fast escaping through the tree-tops, when one of these +lilliput frogs, the color of the fast-yellowing leaves, leaped near me. +I saw him only out of the corner of my eye and yet bagged him, because I +had already made him my own. + +Nevertheless, the habit of observation is the habit of clear and +decisive gazing. Not by a first casual glance, but by a steady +deliberate aim of the eye are the rare and characteristic things +discovered. You must look intently and hold your eye firmly to the spot, +to see more than do the rank and file of mankind. The sharp-shooter +picks out his man and knows him with fatal certainty from a stump, or a +rock, or a cap on a pole. The phrenologists do well to locate, not only +form, color, and weight, in the region of the eye, but also a faculty +which they call individuality--that which separates, discriminates, and +sees in every object its essential character. This is just as necessary +to the naturalist as to the artist or the poet. The sharp eye notes +specific points and differences,--it seizes upon and preserves the +individuality of the thing. Persons frequently describe to me some bird +they have seen or heard and ask me to name it, but in most cases the +bird might be any one of a dozen, or else it is totally unlike any bird +found in this continent. They have either seen falsely or else vaguely. +Not so the farm youth who wrote me one winter day that he had seen a +single pair of strange birds, which he describes as follows: "They were +about the size of the 'chippie,' the tops of their heads were red, and +the breast of the male was of the same color, while that of the female +was much lighter; their rumps were also faintly tinged with red. If I +have described them so that you would know them, please write me their +names." There can be little doubt but the young observer had seen a pair +of red-polls,--a bird related to the goldfinch, and that occasionally +comes down to us in the winter from the far north. Another time, +the same youth wrote that he had seen a strange bird, the color of +a sparrow, that alighted on fences and buildings as well as upon +the ground, and that walked. This last fact shoved the youth's +discriminating eye and settled the case. I knew it to be a species of +the lark, and from the size, color, season, etc., the tit-lark. But how +many persons would have observed that the bird walked instead of hopped? + +Some friends of mine who lived in the country tried to describe to me a +bird that built a nest in a tree within a few feet of the house. As it +was a brown bird, I should have taken it for a wood-thrush, had not +the nest been described as so thin and loose that from beneath the eggs +could be distinctly seen. The most pronounced feature in the description +was the barred appearance of the under side of the bird's tail. I was +quite at sea, until one day, when we were driving out, a cuckoo flew +across the road in front of us, when my friends exclaimed, "There is our +bird!" I had never known a cuckoo to build near a house, and I had never +noted the appearance the tail presents when viewed from beneath; but if +the bird had been described in its most obvious features, as slender, +with a long tail, cinnamon brown above and white beneath, with a curved +bill, anyone who knew the bird would have recognized the portrait. + +We think we have looked at a thing sharply until we are asked for its +specific features. I thought I knew exactly the form of the leaf of the +tulip-tree, until one day a lady asked me to draw the outline of one. A +good observer is quick to take a hint and to follow it up. Most of the +facts of nature, especially in the life of the birds and animals, are +well screened. We do not see the play because we do not look intently +enough. The other day I was sitting with a friend upon a high rock +in the woods, near a small stream, when we saw a water-snake swimming +across a pool toward the opposite bank. Any eye would have noted it, +perhaps nothing more. A little closer and sharper gaze revealed the fact +that the snake bore something in its mouth, which, as we went down to +investigate, proved to be a small cat-fish, three or four inches long. +The snake had captured it in the pool, and, like any other fisherman, +wanted to get its prey to dry land, although itself lived mostly in the +water. Here, we said, is being enacted a little tragedy, that would have +escaped any but sharp eyes. The snake, which was itself small, had the +fish by the throat, the hold of vantage among all creatures, and clung +to it with great tenacity. The snake knew that its best tactics was to +get upon dry land as soon as possible. It could not swallow its victim +alive, and it could not strangle it in the water. For a while it tried +to kill its game by holding it up out of the water, but the fish grew +heavy, and every few moments its struggles brought down the snake's +head. This would not do. Compressing the fish's throat would not shut +off its breath under such circumstances, so the wily serpent tried to +get ashore with it, and after several attempts succeeded in effecting a +landing on a flat rock. But the fish died hard. Cat-fish do not give up +the ghost in a hurry. Its throat was becoming congested, but the snake's +distended jaws must have ached. It was like a petrified gape. Then the +spectators became very curious and close in their scrutiny, and the +snake determined to withdraw from the public gaze and finish the +business in hand to its own notions. But, when gently but firmly +remonstrated with by my friend with his walking-stick, it dropped the +fish and retreated in high dudgeon beneath a stone in the bed of the +creek. The fish, with a swollen and angry throat, went its way also. + +Birds, I say, have wonderfully keen eyes. Throw a fresh bone or a +piece of meat upon the snow in winter, and see how soon the crows will +discover it and be on hand. If it be near the house or barn, the crow +that first discovers it will alight near it, to make sure he is not +deceived; then he will go away, and soon return with a companion. The +two alight a few yards from the bone, and after some delay, during which +the vicinity is sharply scrutinized, one of the crows advances boldly to +within a few feet of the coveted prize. Here he pauses, and if no trick +is discovered, and the meat be indeed meat, he seizes it and makes off. + +One midwinter I cleared away the snow under an apple-tree near the house +and scattered some corn there. I had not seen a blue-jay for weeks, yet +that very day one found my corn, and after that several came daily and +partook of it, holding the kernels under their feet upon the limbs of +the trees and pecking them vigorously. + +Of course the woodpecker and his kind have sharp eyes; still I was +surprised to see how quickly Downy found out some bones that were placed +in a convenient place under the shed to be pounded up for the hens. In +going out to the barn I often disturbed him making a meal off the bite +of meat that still adhered to them. + +"Look intently enough at anything," said a poet to me one day, "and you +will see something that would otherwise escape you." I thought of the +remark as I sat on a stump in an opening of the woods one spring day. I +saw a small hawk approaching; he flew to a tall tulip-tree and alighted +on a large limb near the top. He eyed me and I eyed him. Then the bird +disclosed a trait that was new to me: he hopped along the limb to a +small cavity near the trunk, when he thrust in his head and pulled out +some small object and fell to eating it. After he had partaken of it for +some minutes he put the remainder back in his larder and flew away. I +had seen something like feathers eddying slowly down as the hawk ate, +and on approaching the spot found the feathers of a sparrow here and +there clinging to the bushes beneath the tree. The hawk then--commonly +called the chicken hawk--is as provident as a mouse or a squirrel, and +lays by a store against a time of need, but I should not have discovered +the fact had I not held my eye on him. + +An observer of the birds is attracted by any unusual sound or commotion +among them. In May or June, when other birds are most vocal, the jay +is a silent bird; he goes sneaking about the orchards and the groves +as silent as a pickpocket; he is robbing bird's-nests and he is very +anxious that nothing should be said about it; but in the fall none so +quick and loud to cry "Thief, thief!" as he. One December morning a +troop of jays discovered a little screech-owl secreted in the hollow +trunk of an old apple-tree near my house. How they found the owl out is +a mystery, since it never ventures forth in the light of day; but +they did, and proclaimed the fact with great emphasis. I suspect the +bluebirds first told them, for these birds are constantly peeping into +holes and crannies, both spring and fall. Some unsuspecting bird had +probably entered the cavity prospecting for a place for next year's +nest, or else looking out a likely place to pass a cold night, and then +had rushed out with important news. A boy who should unwittingly venture +into a bear's den when Bruin was at home could not be more astonished +and alarmed than a bluebird would be on finding itself in the cavity of +a decayed tree with an owl. At any rate the bluebirds joined the jays +in calling the attention of all whom it might concern to the fact that +a culprit of some sort was hiding from the light of day in the old +apple-tree. I heard the notes of warning and alarm and approached to +within eye-shot. The bluebirds were cautious and hovered about uttering +their peculiar twittering calls; but the jays were bolder and took turns +looking in at the cavity, and deriding the poor shrinking owl. A +jay would alight in the entrance of the hole and flirt and peer and +attitudinize, and then flyaway crying "Thief, thief, thief!" at the top +of his voice. + +I climbed up and peered into the opening, and could just descry the +owl clinging to the inside of the tree. I reached in and took him out, +giving little heed to the threatening snapping of his beak. He was as +red as a fox and as yellow-eyed as a cat. He made no effort to escape, +but planted his claws in my forefinger and clung there with a grip that +soon grew uncomfortable. I placed him in the loft of an out-house +in hopes of getting better acquainted with him. By day he was a very +willing prisoner, scarcely moving at all, even when approached and +touched with the hand, but looking out upon the world with half-closed, +sleepy eyes. But at night what a change; how alert, how wild, how +active! He was like another bird; he darted about with wide, fearful +eyes, and regarded me like a cornered cat. I opened the window, and +swiftly, but as silent as a shadow, he glided out into the congenial +darkness, and perhaps, ere this, has revenged himself upon the sleeping +jay or bluebird that first betrayed his hiding-place. + + + + +THE APPLE. + + + Lo! sweetened with the summer light, + The full-juiced apple, waxing over-mellow, + Drops in a silent autumn night.--TENNYSON. + + +Not a little of the sunshine of our northern winters is surely wrapped +up in the apple. How could we winter over without it! How is life +sweetened by its mild acids! A cellar well filled with apples is more +valuable than a chamber filled with flax and wool. So much sound ruddy +life to draw upon, to strike one's roots down into, as it were. + +Especially to those whose soil of life is inclined to be a little clayey +and heavy, is the apple a winter necessity. It is the natural antidote +of most of the ills the flesh is heir to. Full of vegetable acids and +aromatics, qualities which act as refrigerants and antiseptics, what an +enemy it is to jaundice, indigestion, torpidity of liver, etc. It is a +gentle spur and tonic to the whole biliary system. Then I have read that +it has been found by analysis to contain more phosphorus than any +other vegetable. This makes it the proper food of the scholar and the +sedentary man; it feeds his brain and it stimulates his liver. Nor is +this all. Besides its hygienic properties, the apple is full of +sugar and mucilage, which make it highly nutritious. It is said, +"The operators of Cornwall, England, consider ripe apples nearly +as nourishing as bread, and far more so than potatoes. In the year +1801--which was a year of much scarcity--apples, instead of being +converted into cider, were sold to the poor, and the laborers asserted +that they could 'stand their work' on baked apples without meat; whereas +a potato diet required either meat or some other substantial nutriment. +The French and Germans use apples extensively, so do the inhabitants +of all European nations. The laborers depend upon them as an article of +food, and frequently make a dinner of sliced apples and bread." + +Yet the English apple is a tame and insipid affair compared with the +intense, sun-colored and sun-steeped fruit our orchards yield. +The English have no sweet apple, I am told, the saccharine element +apparently being less abundant in vegetable nature in that sour and +chilly climate than in our own. It is well known that the European maple +yields no sugar, while both our birch and hickory have sweet in their +veins. Perhaps this fact accounts for our excessive love of sweets, +which may be said to be a national trait. + +The Russian apple has a lovely complexion, smooth and transparent, +but the Cossack is not yet all eliminated from it. The only one I have +seen--the Duchess of Oldenburg--is as beautiful as a Tartar princess, +with a distracting odor, but it is the least bit puckery to the taste. + +The best thing I know about Chili is not its guano beds, but this fact +which I learn from Darwin's "Voyage," namely, that the apple thrives +well there. Darwin saw a town there so completely buried in a wood of +apple-trees, that its streets were merely paths in an orchard. The tree +indeed thrives so well, that large branches cut off in the spring and +planted two or three feet deep in the ground send out roots and develop +into fine full-bearing trees by the third year. The people know the +value of the apple too. They make cider and wine of it and then from +the refuse a white and finely flavored spirit; then by another process +a sweet treacle is obtained called honey. The children and the pigs eat +little or no other food. He does not add that the people are healthy +and temperate, but I have no doubt they are. We knew the apple had many +virtues, but these Chilians have really opened a deep beneath a deep. +We had found out the cider and the spirits, but who guessed the wine and +the honey, unless it were the bees? There is a variety in our orchards +called the winesap, a doubly liquid name that suggests what might be +done with this fruit. + +The apple is the commonest and yet the most varied and beautiful of +fruits. A dish of them is as becoming to the centre-table in winter as +was the vase of flowers in the summer,--a bouquet of spitzenbergs and +greenings and northern spies. A rose when it blooms, the apple is a rose +when it ripens. It pleases every sense to which it can be addressed, the +touch, the smell, the sight, the taste; and when it falls in the still +October days it pleases the ear. It is a call to a banquet, it is a +signal that the feast is ready. The bough would fain hold it, but it can +now assert its independence; it can now live a life of its own. + +Daily the stem relaxes its hold, till finally it lets go completely, and +down comes the painted sphere with a mellow thump to the earth, towards +which it has been nodding so long. It bounds away to seek its bed, +to hide under a leaf, or in a tuft of grass. It will now take time to +meditate and ripen! What delicious thoughts it has there nestled with +its fellows under the fence, turning acid into sugar, and sugar into +wine! + +How pleasing to the touch! I love to stroke its polished rondure with +my hand, to carry it in my pocket on my tramp over the winter hills, or +through the early spring woods. You are company, you red-cheeked spitz, +or you salmon-fleshed greening! I toy with you; press your face to mine, +toss you in the air, roll you on the ground, see you shine out where you +lie amid the moss and dry leaves and sticks. You are so alive! You glow +like a ruddy flower. You look so animated I almost expect to see you +move. I postpone the eating of you, you are so beautiful! How compact; +how exquisitely tinted! Stained by the sun and varnished against the +rains. An independent vegetable existence, alive and vascular as my own +flesh; capable of being wounded, bleeding, wasting away, and almost of +repairing damages! + +How it resists the cold! holding out almost as long as the red cheeks +of the boys do. A frost that destroys the potatoes and other roots only +makes the apple more crisp and vigorous; it peeps out from the chance +November snows unscathed. When I see the fruit-vender on the street +corner stamping his feet and beating his hands to keep them warm, and +his naked apples lying exposed to the blasts, I wonder if they do not +ache too to clap their hands and enliven their circulation. But they can +stand it nearly as long as the vender can. + +Noble common fruit, best friend of man and most loved by him, following +him like his dog or his cow, wherever he goes. His homestead is not +planted till you are planted, your roots intertwine with his; thriving +best where he thrives best, loving the limestone and the frost, the +plow and the pruning-knife, you are indeed suggestive of hardy, cheerful +industry, and a healthy life in the open air. Temperate, chaste fruit! +you mean neither luxury nor sloth, neither satiety nor indolence, +neither enervating heats nor the Frigid Zones. Uncloying fruit, fruit +whose best sauce is the open air, whose finest flavors only he whose +taste is sharpened by brisk work or walking knows; winter fruit, when +the fire of life burns brightest; fruit always a little hyperborean, +leaning towards the cold; bracing, sub-acid, active fruit. I think you +must come from the north, you are so frank and honest, so sturdy and +appetizing. You are stocky and homely like the northern races. Your +quality is Saxon. Surely the fiery and impetuous south is not akin to +you. Not spices or olives or the sumptuous liquid fruits, but the grass, +the snow, the grains, the coolness is akin to you. I think if I could +subsist on you or the like of you, I should never have an intemperate +or ignoble thought, never be feverish or despondent. So far as I could +absorb or transmute your quality I should be cheerful, continent, +equitable, sweet-blooded, long-lived, and should shed warmth and +contentment around. + +Is there any other fruit that has so much facial expression as the +apple? What boy does not more than half believe they can see with that +single eye of theirs? Do they not look and nod to him from the bough? +The swaar has one look, the rambo another, the spy another. The youth +recognizes the seek-no-further buried beneath a dozen other varieties, +the moment he catches a glance of its eye, or the bonny-cheeked Newtown +pippin, or the gentle but sharp-nosed gilliflower. He goes to the great +bin in the cellar and sinks his shafts here and there in the garnered +wealth of the orchards, mining for his favorites, sometimes coming plump +upon them, sometimes catching a glimpse of them to the right or left, +or uncovering them as keystones in an arch made up of many varieties. +In the dark he can usually tell them by the sense of touch. There is +not only the size and shape, but there is the texture and polish. Some +apples are coarse grained and some are fine; some are thin-skinned and +some are thick. One variety is quick and vigorous beneath the touch; +another gentle and yielding. The pinnock has a thick skin with a spongy +lining, a bruise in it becomes like a piece of cork. The tallow apple +has an unctuous feel, as its name suggests. It sheds water like a duck. +What apple is that with a fat curved stem that blends so prettily +with its own flesh,--the wine-apple? Some varieties impress me as +masculine,--weather-stained, freckled, lasting and rugged; others +are indeed lady apples, fair, delicate, shining, mild-flavored, +white-meated, like the egg-drop and the lady-finger. The practiced hand +knows each kind by the touch. Do you remember the apple hole in the +garden or back of the house, Ben Bolt? In the fall after the bins in the +cellar had been well stocked, we excavated a circular pit in the warm, +mellow earth, and covering the bottom with clean rye straw, emptied in +basketful after basketful of hardy choice varieties, till there was a +tent-shaped mound several feet high of shining variegated fruit. Then +wrapping it about with a thick layer of long rye straw, and tucking it +up snug and warm, the mound was covered, with a thin coating of earth, a +flat stone on the top holding down the straw. As winter set in, another +coating of earth was put upon it, with perhaps an overcoat of coarse dry +stable manure, and the precious pile was left in silence and darkness +till spring. No marmot hibernating under-ground in his nest of leaves +and dry grass, more cosy and warm. No frost, no wet, but fragrant +privacy and quiet. Then how the earth tempers and flavors the apples! It +draws out all the acrid unripe qualities, and infuses into them a subtle +refreshing taste of the soil. Some varieties perish; but the ranker, +hardier kinds, like the northern spy, the greening, or the black apple, +or the russet, or the pinnock, how they ripen and grow in grace, how the +green becomes gold, and the bitter becomes sweet! + +As the supply in the bins and barrels gets low and spring approaches, +the buried treasures in the garden are remembered. With spade and axe +we go out and penetrate through the snow and frozen earth till the inner +dressing of straw is laid bare. It is not quite as clear and bright as +when we placed it there last fall, but the fruit beneath, which the +hand soon exposes, is just as bright and far more luscious. Then, as day +after day you resort to the hole, and, removing the straw and earth from +the opening, thrust your arm into the fragrant pit, you have a better +chance than ever before to become acquainted with your favorites by the +sense of touch. How you feel for them, reaching to the right and left! +Now you have got a Tolman sweet; you imagine you can feel that single +meridian line that divides it into two hemispheres. Now a greening fills +your hand, you feel its fine quality beneath its rough coat. Now you +have hooked a swaar, you recognize its full face; now a Vandevere or a +King rolls down from the apex above, and you bag it at once. When you +were a school-boy you stowed these away in your pockets and ate them +along the road and at recess, and again at noon time; and they, in +a measure, corrected the effects of the cake and pie with which your +indulgent mother filled your lunch-basket. + +The boy is indeed the true apple-eater, and is not to be questioned how +he came by the fruit with which his pockets are filled. It belongs to +him...His own juicy flesh craves the juicy flesh of the apple. Sap draws +sap. His fruit-eating has little reference to the state of his appetite. +Whether he be full of meat or empty of meat he wants the apple just +the same. Before meal or after meal it never comes amiss. The farm-boy +munches apples all day long. He has nests of them in the hay-mow, +mellowing, to which he makes frequent visits. Sometimes old Brindle, +having access through the open door, smells them out and makes short +work of them. + +In some countries the custom remains of placing a rosy apple in the hand +of the dead that they may find it when they enter paradise. In northern +mythology the giants eat apples to keep off old age. + +The apple is indeed the fruit of youth. As we grow old we crave apples +less. It is an ominous sign. When you are ashamed to be seen eating them +on the street; when you can carry them in your pocket and your hand not +constantly find its way to them; when your neighbor has apples and you +have none, and you make no nocturnal visits to his orchard; when your +lunch-basket is without them, and you can pass a winter's night by the +fireside with no thought of the fruit at your elbow, then be assured you +are no longer a boy, either in heart or years. + +The genuine apple-eater comforts himself with an apple in their season +as others with a pipe or cigar. When he has nothing else to do, or is +bored, he eats an apple. While he is waiting for the train he eats an +apple, sometimes several of them. When he takes a walk, he arms himself +with apples. His traveling bag is full of apples. He offers an apple to +his companion, and takes one himself. They are his chief solace when +on the road. He sows their seed all along the route. He tosses the core +from the car-window and from the top of the stage-coach. He would, in +time, make the land one vast orchard. He dispenses with a knife. He +prefers that his teeth shall have the first taste. Then he knows the +best flavor is immediately beneath the skin, and that in a pared apple +this is lost. If you will stew the apple, he says, instead of baking +it, by all means leave the skin on. It improves the color and vastly +heightens the flavor of the dish. + +The apple is a masculine fruit; hence women are poor apple-eaters. It +belongs to the open air, and requires an open-air taste and relish. + +I instantly sympathized with that clergyman I read of, who on pulling +out his pocket-handkerchief in the midst of his discourse, pulled out +two bouncing apples with it that went rolling across the pulpit floor +and down the pulpit stairs. These apples were, no doubt, to be eaten +after the sermon on his way home, or to his next appointment. They would +take the taste of it out of his mouth. Then, would a minister be apt to +grow tiresome with two big apples in his coat-tail pockets? Would he not +naturally hasten along to "lastly," and the big apples? If they were the +dominie apples, and it was April or May, he certainly.... + +How the early settlers prized the apple! When their trees broke down or +were split asunder by the storms, the neighbors turned out, the divided +tree was put together again and fastened with iron bolts. In some of the +oldest orchards one may still occasionally see a large dilapidated tree +with the rusty iron bolt yet visible. Poor, sour fruit, too, but sweet +in those early pioneer days. My grandfather, who was one of these heroes +of the stump, used every fall to make a journey of forty miles for a +few apples, which he brought home in a bag on horseback. He frequently +started from home by two or three o'clock in the morning, and at one +time both he and his horse were much frightened by the screaming of +panthers in a narrow pass in the mountains through which the road led. + +Emerson, I believe, has spoken of the apple as the social fruit of New +England. Indeed, what a promoter or abettor of social intercourse among +our rural population the apple has been, the company growing more merry +and unrestrained as soon as the basket of apples was passed round! +When the cider followed, the introduction and good understanding were +complete. Then those rural gatherings that enlivened the autumn in the +country, known as "apple cuts," now, alas! nearly obsolete, where so +many things were cut and dried besides apples! The larger and more +loaded the orchard, the more frequently the invitations went round and +the higher the social and convivial spirit ran. Ours is eminently a +country of the orchard. Horace Greeley said he had seen no land in +which the orchard formed such a prominent feature in the rural and +agricultural districts. Nearly every farmhouse in the Eastern and +Northern States has its setting or its background of apple-trees, which +generally date back to the first settlement of the farm. Indeed, the +orchard, more than almost any other thing, tends to soften and humanize +the country, and to give the place of which it is an adjunct, a settled, +domestic look. The apple-tree takes the rawness and wildness off any +scene. On the top of a mountain, or in remote pastures, it sheds the +sentiment of home. It never loses its domestic air, or lapses into a +wild state. And in planting a homestead, or in choosing a building +site for the new house, what a help it is to have a few old, maternal +apple-trees near by; regular old grandmothers, who have seen trouble, +who have been sad and glad through so many winters and summers, who have +blossomed till the air about them is sweeter than elsewhere, and borne +fruit till the grass beneath them has become thick and soft from human +contact, and who have nourished robins and finches in their branches +till they have a tender, brooding look. The ground, the turf, the +atmosphere of an old orchard, seem several stages nearer to man than +that of the adjoining field, as if the trees had given back to the soil +more than they had taken from it; as if they had tempered the elements +and attracted all the genial and beneficent influences in the landscape +around. + +An apple orchard is sure to bear you several crops beside the apple. +There is the crop of sweet and tender reminiscences dating from +childhood and spanning the seasons from May to October, and making the +orchard a sort of outlying part of the household. You have played +there as a child, mused there as a youth or lover, strolled there as a +thoughtful, sad-eyed man. Your father, perhaps, planted the trees, or +reared them from the seed, and you yourself have pruned and grafted +them, and worked among them, till every separate tree has a peculiar +history and meaning in your mind. Then there is the never-failing crop +of birds--robins, goldfinches, king-birds, cedar-birds, hair-birds, +orioles, starlings--all nesting and breeding in its branches, and fitly +described by Wilson Flagg as "Birds of the Garden and Orchard." Whether +the pippin and sweetbough bear or not, the "punctual birds" can always +be depended on. Indeed, there are few better places to study ornithology +than in the orchard. Besides its regular occupants, many of the birds +of the deeper forest find occasion to visit it during the season. The +cuckoo comes for the tent-caterpillar, the jay for frozen apples, +the ruffed grouse for buds, the crow foraging for birds' eggs, the +woodpecker and chickadees for their food, and the high-hole for ants. +The red-bird comes too, if only to see what a friendly covert its +branches form; and the wood-thrush now and then comes out of the grove +near by, and nests alongside of its cousin, the robin. The smaller hawks +know that this is a most likely spot for their prey; and in spring the +shy northern warblers may be studied as they pause to feed on the fine +insects amid its branches. The mice love to dwell here also, and hither +comes from the near woods the squirrel and the rabbit. The latter will +put his head through the boy's slipper-noose any time for taste of the +sweet apple, and the red squirrel and chipmunk esteem its seeds a great +rarity. + +All the domestic animals love the apple, but none so much so as the cow. +The taste of it wakes her up as few other things do, and bars and fences +must be well looked after. No need to assort them or pick out the ripe +ones for her. An apple is an apple, and there is no best about it. I +heard of a quick-witted old cow that learned to shake them down from +the tree. While rubbing herself she had observed that an apple sometimes +fell. This stimulated her to rub a little harder, when more apples fell. +She then took the hint and rubbed her shoulder with such vigor that the +farmer had to check her and keep an eye on her to save his fruit. + +But the cow is the friend of the apple. How many trees she has planted +about the farm, in the edge of the woods, and in remote fields and +pastures. The wild apples, celebrated by Thoreau, are mostly of her +planting. She browses them down to be sure, but they are hers, and why +should she not? + +What an individuality the apple-tree has, each variety being nearly +as marked by its form as by its fruit. What a vigorous grower, for +instance, is the Ribston pippin, an English apple. Wide branching like +the oak, and its large ridgy fruit, in late fall or early winter, is one +of my favorites. Or the thick and more pendent top of the belleflower, +with its equally rich, sprightly uncloying fruit. + +Sweet apples are perhaps the most nutritious, and when baked are a feast +in themselves. With a tree of the Jersey sweet or of Tolman's sweeting +in bearing, no man's table need be devoid of luxuries and one of the +most wholesome of all deserts. Or the red astrachan, an August apple, +what a gap may be filled in the culinary department of a household at +this season, by a single tree of this fruit! And what a feast is its +shining crimson coat to the eye before its snow-white flesh has +reached the tongue. But the apple of apples for the household is the +spitzenberg. In this casket Pomona has put her highest flavors. It can +stand the ordeal of cooking and still remain a spitz. I recently saw +a barrel of these apples from the orchard of a fruit-grower in the +northern part of New York, who has devoted special attention to this +variety. They were perfect gems. Not large, that had not been the aim, +but small, fair, uniform, and red to the core. How intense, how spicy +and aromatic! + +But all the excellences of the apple are not confined to the cultivated +fruit. Occasionally a seedling springs up about the farm that produces +fruit of rare beauty and worth. In sections peculiarly adapted to the +apple, like a certain belt along the Hudson River, I have noticed that +most of the wild unbidden trees bear good, edible fruit. In cold and +ungenial districts, the seedlings are mostly sour and crabbed, but in +more favorable soils they are oftener mild and sweet. I know wild +apples that ripen in August, and that do not need, if it could be had, +Thoreau's sauce of sharp November air to be eaten with. At the foot of +a hill near me and striking its roots deep in the shale, is a giant +specimen of native tree that bears an apple that has about the clearest, +waxiest, most transparent complexion I ever saw. It is good size, and +the color of a tea-rose. Its quality is best appreciated in the kitchen. +I know another seedling of excellent quality and so remarkable for its +firmness and density, that it is known on the farm where it grows as the +"heavy apple." + +I have alluded to Thoreau, to whom all lovers of the apple and its tree +are under obligation. His chapter on Wild Apples is a most delicious +piece of writing. It has a "tang and smack" like the fruit it +celebrates, and is dashed and streaked with color in the same manner. +It has the hue and perfume of the crab, and the richness and raciness of +the pippin. But Thoreau loved other apples than the wild sorts and was +obliged to confess that his favorites could not be eaten in-doors. Late +in November he found a blue-pearmain tree growing within the edge of a +swamp, almost as good as wild. "You would not suppose," he says, "that +there was any fruit left there on the first survey, but you must look +according to system. Those which lie exposed are quite brown and rotten +now, or perchance a few still show one blooming cheek here and there +amid the wet leaves. Nevertheless, with experienced eyes I explore amid +the bare alders, and the huckleberry bushes, and the withered sedge, and +in the crevices of the rocks, which are full of leaves, and pry under +the fallen and decayed ferns which, with apple and alder leaves, thickly +strew the ground. For I know that they lie concealed, fallen into +hollows long since, and covered up by the leaves of the tree itself--a +proper kind of packing. From these lurking places, everywhere within the +circumference of the tree, I draw forth the fruit all wet and glossy, +maybe nibbled by rabbits and hollowed out by crickets, and perhaps +a leaf or two cemented to it (as Curzon an old manuscript from a +monastery's mouldy cellar), but still with a rich bloom on it, and at +least as ripe and well kept, if no better than those in barrels, more +crisp and lively than they. If these resources fail to yield anything, +I have learned to look between the leaves of the suckers which spring +thickly from some horizontal limb, for now and then one lodges there, or +in the very midst of an alder-clump, where they are covered by leaves, +safe from cows which may have smelled them out. If I am sharp-set, for I +do not refuse the blue-pearmain, I fill my pockets on each side; and as +I retrace my steps, in the frosty eve being perhaps four or five miles +from home, I eat one first from this side, and then from that, to keep +my balance." + + + + +A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH. + + +The traveler and camper-out in Maine, unless he penetrates its more +northern portions, has less reason to remember it as a pine-tree State +than a birch-tree State. The white-pine forests have melted away like +snow in the spring and gone down stream, leaving only patches here and +there in the more remote and inaccessible parts. The portion of the +State I saw--the valley of the Kennebec and the woods about Moxie +Lake--had been shorn of its pine timber more than forty years before, +and is now covered with a thick growth of spruce and cedar and various +deciduous trees. But the birch abounds. Indeed, when the pine goes out +the birch comes in; the race of men succeeds the race of giants. +This tree has great stay-at-home virtues. Let the sombre, aspiring, +mysterious pine go; the birch has humble every-day uses. In Maine, the +paper or canoe birch is turned to more account than any other tree. I +read in Gibbon that the natives of ancient Assyria used to celebrate +in verse or prose the three hundred and sixty uses to which the various +parts and products of the palm-tree were applied. The Maine birch is +turned to so many accounts that it may well be called the palm of this +region. Uncle Nathan, our guide, said it was made especially for the +camper-out; yes, and for the wood-man and frontiersman generally. It is +a magazine, a furnishing store set up in the wilderness, whose goods are +free to every comer. The whole equipment of the camp lies folded in it, +and comes forth at the beck of the woodman's axe; tent, waterproof +roof, boat, camp utensils, buckets, cups, plates, spoons, napkins, +table cloths, paper for letters or your journal, torches, candles, +kindling-wood, and fuel. The canoe-birch yields you its vestments with +the utmost liberality. Ask for its coat, and it gives you its waistcoat +also. Its bark seems wrapped about it layer upon layer, and comes off +with great ease. We saw many rude structures and cabins shingled and +sided with it, and haystacks capped with it. Near a maple-sugar camp +there was a large pile of birch-bark sap-buckets,--each bucket made of +a piece of bark about a yard square, folded up as the tinman folds up +a sheet of tin to make a square vessel, the corners bent around against +the sides and held by a wooden pin. When, one day, we were overtaken +by a shower in traveling through the woods, our guide quickly stripped +large sheets of the bark from a near tree, and we had each a perfect +umbrella as by magic. When the rain was over, and we moved on, I wrapped +mine about me like a large leather apron, and it shielded my clothes +from the wet bushes. When we came to a spring, Uncle Nathan would have +a birch-bark cup ready before any of us could get a tin one out of his +knapsack, and I think water never tasted so sweet as from one of these +bark cups. It is exactly the thing. It just fits the mouth and it seems +to give new virtues to the water. It makes me thirsty now when I think +of it. In our camp at Moxie we made a large birch-bark box to keep the +butter in; and the butter in this box, covered with some leafy boughs, +I think improved in flavor day by day. Maine butter needs something to +mollify and sweeten it a little, and I think birch bark will do it. In +camp Uncle Nathan often drank his tea and coffee from a bark cup; the +china closet in the birch-tree was always handy, and our vulgar tin +ware was generally a good deal mixed, and the kitchen-maid not at all +particular about dish-washing. We all tried the oatmeal with the maple +syrup in one of these dishes, and the stewed mountain cranberries, +using a birch-bark spoon, and never found service better. Uncle Nathan +declared he could boil potatoes in a bark kettle, and I did not doubt +him. Instead of sending our soiled napkins and table-spreads to the +wash, we rolled them up into candles and torches, and drew daily upon +our stores in the forest for new ones. + +But the great triumph of the birch is of course the bark canoe. When +Uncle Nathan took us out under his little wood-shed, and showed us, or +rather modestly permitted us to see, his nearly finished canoe, it was +like a first glimpse of some new and unknown genius of the woods or +streams. It sat there on the chips and shavings and fragments of bark +like some shy delicate creature just emerged from its hiding-place, or +like some wild flower just opened. It was the first boat of the kind +I had ever seen, and it filled my eye completely. What woodcraft it +indicated, and what a wild free life, sylvan life, it promised! It had +such a fresh, aboriginal look as I had never before seen in any kind of +handiwork. Its clear yellow-red color would have become the cheek of an +Indian maiden. Then its supple curves and swells, its sinewy stays +and thwarts, its bow-like contour, its tomahawk stem and stern rising +quickly and sharply from its frame, were all vividly suggestive of the +race from which it came. An old Indian had taught Uncle Nathan the art, +and the soul of the ideal red man looked out of the boat before us. +Uncle Nathan had spent two days ranging the mountains looking for a +suitable tree, and had worked nearly a week on the craft. It was +twelve feet long, and would seat and carry five men nicely. Three trees +contribute to the making of a canoe besides the birch, namely, the white +cedar for ribs and lining, the spruce for roots and fibres to sew its +joints and bind its frame, and the pine for pitch or rosin to stop its +seams and cracks. It is hand-made and home-made, or rather wood-made, +in a sense that no other craft is, except a dug-out, and it suggests a +taste and a refinement that few products of civilization realize. The +design of a savage, it yet looks like the thought of a poet, and its +grace and fitness haunt the imagination. I suppose its production was +the inevitable result of the Indian's wants and surroundings, but that +does not detract from its beauty. It is, indeed, one of the fairest +flowers the thorny plant of necessity ever bore. Our canoe, as I have +intimated, was not yet finished when we first saw it, nor yet when we +took it up, with its architect, upon our metaphorical backs and bore it +to the woods. It lacked part of its cedar lining and the rosin upon its +joints, and these were added after we reached our destination. + +Though we were not indebted to the birch-tree for our guide, Uncle +Nathan, as he was known in all the country, yet he matched well these +woodsy products and conveniences. The birch-tree had given him a large +part of his tuition, and kneeling in his canoe and making it shoot +noiselessly over the water with that subtle yet indescribably expressive +and athletic play of the muscles of the back and shoulders, the boat and +the man seemed born of the same spirit. He had been a hunter and trapper +for over forty years; he had grown gray in the woods, had ripened and +matured there, and everything about him was as if the spirit of the +woods had had the ordering of it; his whole make-up was in a minor +and subdued key, like the moss and the lichens, or like the protective +coloring of the game,--everything but his quick sense and penetrative +glance. He was as gentle and modest as a girl; his sensibilities were +like plants that grow in the shade. The woods and the solitudes had +touched him with their own softening and refining influence; had indeed +shed upon his soil of life a rich deep leaf mould that was delightful, +and that nursed, half concealed, the tenderest and wildest growths. +There was grit enough back of and beneath it all, but he presented +none of the rough and repelling traits of character of the conventional +backwoods-man. In the spring he was a driver of logs on the Kennebec, +usually having charge of a large gang of men; in the winter he was a +solitary trapper and hunter in the forests. + +Our first glimpse of Maine waters was Pleasant Pond, which we found by +following a white, rapid, musical stream from the Kennebec three +miles back into the mountains. Maine waters are for the most part +dark-complexioned, Indian-colored streams, but Pleasant Pond is a +pale-face among them both in name and nature. It is the only strictly +silver lake I ever saw. Its waters seem almost artificially white and +brilliant, though of remarkable transparency. I think I detected minute +shining motes held in suspension in it. As for the trout they are +veritable bars of silver until you have cut their flesh, when they +are the reddest of gold. They have no crimson or other spots, and the +straight lateral line is but a faint pencil mark. They appeared to be +a species of lake trout peculiar to these waters, uniformly from ten to +twelve inches in length. And these beautiful fish, at the time of our +visit (last of August) at least, were to be taken only in deep water +upon a hook baited with salt pork. And then you needed a letter +of introduction to them. They were not to be tempted or cajoled by +strangers. We did not succeed in raising a fish, although instructed how +it was to be done, until one of the natives, a young and obliging farmer +living hard by, came and lent his countenance to the enterprise. I sat +in one end of the boat and he in the other; my pork was the same as his, +and I maneuvered it as directed, and yet those fish knew his hook +from mine in sixty feet of water, and preferred it four times in five. +Evidently they did not bite because they were hungry, but solely for old +acquaintance' sake. + +Pleasant Pond is an irregular sheet of water, two miles or more in +its greatest diameter, with high, rugged mountains rising up from its +western shore, and low rolling hills sweeping back from its eastern and +northern, covered by a few sterile farms. I was never tired, when the +wind was still, of floating along its margin and gazing down into its +marvelously translucent depths. The boulders and fragments of rocks were +seen, at a depth of twenty-five or thirty feet, strewing its floor, +and apparently as free from any covering of sediment as when they were +dropped there by the old glaciers aeons ago. Our camp was amid a dense +grove of second growth of white pine on the eastern shore, where, for +one, I found a most admirable cradle in a little depression, outside of +the tent, carpeted with pine needles, in which to pass the night. The +camper-out is always in luck if he can find, sheltered by the trees, a +soft hole in the ground, even if he has a stone for a pillow. The earth +must open its arms a little for us even in life, if we are to sleep well +upon its bosom. I have often heard my grand-father, who was a soldier of +the Revolution, tell with great gusto how he once bivouacked in a little +hollow made by the overturning of a tree, and slept so soundly that he +did not wake up till his cradle was half full of water from a passing +shower. + +What bird or other creature might represent the divinity of Pleasant +Pond I do not know, but its demon, as of most northern inland waters, is +the loon, and a very good demon he is too, suggesting something not so +much malevolent, as arch, sardonic, ubiquitous, circumventing, with just +a tinge of something inhuman and uncanny. His fiery red eyes gleaming +forth from that jet-black head are full of meaning. Then his strange +horse laughter by day and his weird, doleful cry at night, like that of +a lost and wandering spirit, recall no other bird or beast. He suggests +something almost supernatural in his alertness and amazing quickness, +cheating the shot and the bullet of the sportsman out of their aim. I +know of but one other bird so quick, and that is the humming-bird, which +I have never been able to kill with a gun. The loon laughs the shot-gun +to scorn, and the obliging young farmer above referred to told me he +had shot at them hundreds of times with his rifle, without effect,--they +always dodged his bullet. We had in our party a breach-loading rifle, +which weapon is perhaps an appreciable moment of time quicker than +the ordinary muzzleloader, and this the poor loon could not or did not +dodge. He had not timed himself to that species of fire-arm, and when, +with his fellow, he swam about within rifle range of our camp, letting +off volleys of his wild ironical ha-ha, he little suspected the +dangerous gun that was matched against him. As the rifle cracked both +loons made the gesture of diving, but only one of them disappeared +beneath the water; and when he came to the surface in a few moments, a +hundred or more yards away, and saw his companion did not follow, but +was floating on the water where he had last seen him, he took the alarm +and sped away in the distance. The bird I had killed was a magnificent +specimen, and I looked him over with great interest. His glossy +checkered coat, his banded neck, his snow-white breast, his powerful +lance-shaped beak, his red eyes, his black, thin, slender, marvelously +delicate feet and legs, issuing from his muscular thighs, and looking +as if they had never touched the ground, his strong wings well forward +while his legs were quite at the apex, and the neat, elegant model of +the entire bird, speed and quickness and strength stamped upon every +feature,--all delighted and lingered in the eye. The loon appears like +anything but a silly bird, unless you see him in some collection, or +in the shop of the taxidermist, where he usually looks very tame and +goose-like. Nature never meant the loon to stand up, or to use his +feet and legs for other purposes than swimming. Indeed, he cannot stand +except upon his tail in a perpendicular attitude, but in the collections +he is poised upon his feet like a barn-yard fowl, all the wildness and +grace and alertness goes out of him. My specimen sits upon a table as +upon the surface of the water, his feet trailing behind him, his body +low and trim, his head elevated and slightly turned as if in the act +of bringing that fiery eye to bear upon you, and vigilance and power +stamped upon every lineament. + +The loon is to the fishes what the hawk is to the birds; he swoops down +to unknown depths upon them, and not even the wary trout can elude him. +Uncle Nathan said he had seen the loon disappear and in a moment come up +with a large trout, which he would cut in two with his strong beak, and +swallow piecemeal. Neither the loon nor the otter can bolt a fish under +the water; he must come to the surface to dispose of it. (I once saw a +man eat a cake under water in London.) Our guide told me he had seen the +parent loon swimming with a single young one upon its back. When closely +pressed it dove, or "div" as he would have it, and left the young bird +sitting upon the water. Then it too disappeared, and when the old one +returned and called, it came out from the shore. On the wing overhead, +the loon looks not unlike a very large duck, but when it alights it +ploughs into the water like a bombshell. It probably cannot take flight +from the land, as the one Gilbert White saw and describes in his letters +was picked up in a field, unable to launch itself into the air. + +From Pleasant Pond we went seven miles through the woods to Moxie Lake, +following an overgrown lumberman's "tote" road, our canoe and supplies, +etc., hauled on a sled by the young farmer with his three-year-old +steers. I doubt if birch-bark ever made rougher voyage than that. As I +watched it above the bushes, the sled and the luggage being hidden, it +appeared as if tossed in the wildest and most tempestuous sea. When the +bushes closed above it I felt as if it had gone down, or been broken +into a hundred pieces. Billows of rocks and logs, and chasms of creeks +and spring runs, kept it rearing and pitching in the most frightful +manner. The steers went at a spanking pace; indeed, it was a regular +bovine gale; but their driver clung to their side amid the brush and +boulders with desperate tenacity, and seemed to manage them by signs +and nudges, for he hardly uttered his orders aloud. But we got through +without any serious mishap, passing Mosquito Creek and Mosquito Pond, +and flanking Mosquito Mountain, but seeing no mosquitoes, and brought up +at dusk at a lumberman's old hay-barn, standing in the midst of a lonely +clearing on the shores of Moxie Lake. + +Here we passed the night, and were lucky in having a good roof over our +heads, for it rained heavily. After we were rolled in our blankets and +variously disposed upon the haymow, Uncle Nathan lulled us to sleep by a +long and characteristic yarn. + +I had asked him, half jocosely, if he believed in "spooks"; but he took +my question seriously, and without answering it directly, proceeded to +tell us what he himself had known and witnessed. It was, by the way, +extremely difficult either to surprise or to steal upon any of Uncle +Nathan's private opinions and beliefs about matters and things. He +was as shy of all debatable subjects as a fox is of a trap. He usually +talked in a circle, just as he hunted moose and caribou, so as not to +approach his point too rudely and suddenly. He would keep on the lee +side of his interlocutor in spite of all one could do. He was thoroughly +good and reliable, but the wild creatures of the woods, in pursuit +of which he had spent so much of his life, had taught him a curious +gentleness and indirection, and to keep himself in the back-ground; he +was careful that you should not scent his opinions upon any subject at +all polemic, but he would tell you what he had seen and known. What he +had seen and known about spooks was briefly this:--In company with +a neighbor he was passing the night with an old recluse who lived +somewhere in these woods. Their host was an Englishman, who had the +reputation of having murdered his wife some years before in another part +of the country, and, deserted by his grown-up children, was eking out +his days in poverty amid these solitudes. The three men were sleeping +upon the floor, with Uncle Nathan next to a rude partition that divided +the cabin into two rooms. At his head there was a door that opened into +this other apartment. Late at night, Uncle Nathan said, he awoke and +turned over, and his mind was occupied with various things, when he +heard somebody behind the partition. He reached over and felt that both +of his companions were in their places beside him, and he was somewhat +surprised. The person, or whatever it was, in the other room moved about +heavily, and pulled the table from its place beside the wall to the +middle of the floor. "I was not dreaming," said Uncle Nathan; "I felt of +my eyes twice to make sure, and they were wide open." Presently the door +opened; he was sensible of the draught upon his head, and a woman's form +stepped heavily past him; he felt the "swirl" of her skirts as she went +by. Then there was a loud noise in the room as if some one had fallen +their whole length upon the floor. "It jarred the house," said he, "and +woke everybody up. I asked old Mr. ------ if he heard that noise. 'Yes,' +said he, 'it was thunder.' But it was not thunder, I know that;" and +then added, "I was no more afraid than I am this minute. I never was the +least mite afraid in my life. And my eyes were wide open," he repeated; +"I felt of them twice; but whether that was the speret of that man's +murdered wife or not I cannot tell. They said she was an uncommon heavy +woman." Uncle Nathan was a man of unusually quick and acute senses, and +he did not doubt their evidence on this occasion any more than he did +when they prompted him to level his rifle at a bear or a moose. + +Moxie Lake lies much lower than Pleasant Pond, and its waters compared +with those of the latter are as copper compared with silver. It is very +irregular in shape; now narrowing to the dimensions of a slow moving +grassy creek, then expanding into a broad deep basin with rocky shores, +and commanding the noblest mountain scenery. It is rarely that the +pond-lily and the speckled trout are found together,--the fish the soul +of the purest spring water, the flower the transfigured spirit of the +dark mud and slime of sluggish summer streams and ponds; yet in Moxie +they were both found in perfection. Our camp was amid the birches, +poplars, and white cedars near the head of the lake, where the best +fishing at this season was to be had. Moxie has a small oval head, +rather shallow, but bumpy with rocks; a long, deep neck, full of +springs, where the trout lie; and a very broad chest, with two islands +tufted with pine-trees for breasts. We swam in the head, we fished in +the neck, or in a small section of it, a space about the size of the +Adam's apple, and we paddled across and around the broad expanse below. +Our birch bark was not finished and christened till we reached Moxie. +The cedar lining was completed at Pleasant Pond, where we had the use +of a bateau, but the rosin was not applied to the seams till we reached +this lake. When I knelt down in it for the first time and put its +slender maple paddle into the water, it sprang away with such quickness +and speed that it disturbed me in my seat. I had spurred a more restive +and spirited steed than I was used to. In fact, I had never been in +a craft that sustained so close a relation to my will, and was so +responsive to my slightest wish. When I caught my first large trout from +it, it sympathized a little too closely, and my enthusiasm started a +leak, which, however, with a live coal and a piece of rosin, was quickly +ended. You cannot perform much of a war-dance in a birch-bark canoe: +better wait till you get on dry land. Yet as a boat it is not so shy and +"ticklish" as I had imagined. One needs to be on the alert, as becomes a +sportsman and an angler, and in his dealings with it must charge himself +with three things,--precision, moderation, and circumspection. + +Trout weighing four and five pounds have been taken at Moxie, but none +of that size came to our hand. I realized the fondest hopes I had dared +to indulge in when I hooked the first two-pounder of my life, and my +extreme solicitude lest he get away I trust was pardonable. My friend, +in relating the episode in camp, said I implored him to row me down in +the middle of the lake that I might have room to manoeuver my fish. But +the slander has barely a grain of truth in it. The water near us showed +several old stakes broken off just below the surface, and my fish was +determined to wrap my leader about one of these stakes; it was only for +the clear space a few yards farther out that I prayed. It was not long +after that my friend found himself in an anxious frame of mind. He +hooked a large trout, which came home on him so suddenly that he had +not time to reel up his line, and in his extremity he stretched his tall +form into the air and lifted up his pole to an incredible height. He +checked the trout before it got under the boat, but dared not come down +an inch, and then began his amusing further elongation in reaching for +his reel with one hand while he carried it ten feet into the air with +the other. A step-ladder would perhaps have been more welcome to him +just then than at any other moment during his life. But the trout was +saved, though my friend's buttons and suspenders suffered. + +We learned a new trick in fly-fishing here, worth disclosing. It was not +one day in four that the trout would take the fly on the surface. When +the south wind was blowing and the clouds threatened rain, they would +at times, notably about three o'clock, rise handsomely. But on all other +occasions it was rarely that we could entice them up through the twelve +or fifteen feet of water. Earlier in the season they are not so lazy and +indifferent, but the August languor and drowsiness were now upon them. +So we learned by a lucky accident to fish deep for them, even weighting +our leaders with a shot, and allowing the flies to sink nearly to the +bottom. After a moment's pause we would draw them slowly up, and when +half or two thirds of the way to the top the trout would strike, when +the sport became lively enough. Most of our fish were taken in this +way. There is nothing like the flash and the strike at the surface, and +perhaps only the need of food will ever tempt the genuine angler into +any more prosaic style of fishing; but if you must go below the surface, +a shotted leader is the best thing to use. + +Our camp-fire at night served more purposes than one; from its embers +and flickering shadows, Uncle Nathan read us many a tale of his life +in the woods. They were the same old hunter's stories, except that they +evidently had the merit of being strictly true, and hence were not very +thrilling or marvelous. Uncle Nathan's tendency was rather to tone down +and belittle his experiences than to exaggerate them. If he ever bragged +at all (and I suspect he did just a little, when telling us how he +outshot one of the famous riflemen of the American team, whom he was +guiding through these woods), he did it in such a sly, round-about +way that it was hard to catch him at it. His passage with the rifleman +referred to shows the difference between the practical off-hand skill of +the hunter in the woods and the science of the long-range target hitter. +Mr. Bull's Eye had heard that his guide was a capital shot and had seen +some proof of it, and hence could not rest till he had had a trial of +skill with him. Uncle Nathan, being the challenged party, had the right +to name the distance and the conditions. A piece of white paper the size +of a silver dollar was put upon a tree twelve rods off, the contestants +to fire three shots each off-hand. Uncle Nathan's first bullet barely +missed the mark, but the other two were planted well into it. Then the +great rifleman took his turn, and missed every time. + +"By hemp!" said Uncle Nathan, "I was sorry I shot so well, Mr. ------ +took it so to heart; and I had used his own rifle, too. He did not get +over it for a week." + +But far more ignominious was the failure of Mr. Bull's Eye when he saw +his first bear. They were paddling slowly and silently down Dead River, +when the guide heard a slight noise in the bushes just behind a little +bend. He whispered to the rifleman, who sat kneeling in the bow of +the boat, to take his rifle. But instead of doing so he picked up his +two-barreled shot-gun. As they turned the point, there stood a bear +not twenty yards away, drinking from the stream. Uncle Nathan held the +canoe, while the man who had come so far in quest of this very game was +trying to lay down his shot-gun and pick up his rifle. "His hand moved +like the hand of a clock," said Uncle Nathan, "and I could hardly keep +my seat. I knew the bear would see us in a moment more, and run." Instead +of laying his gun by his side, where it belonged, he reached it across +in front of him and laid it upon his rifle, and in trying to get the +latter from under it a noise was made; the bear heard it and raised his +head. Still there was time, for as the bear sprang into the woods he +stopped and looked back,--"as I knew he would," said the guide; yet +the marksman was not ready. "By hemp! I could have shot three bears," +exclaimed Uncle Nathan, "while he was getting that rifle to his face!" + +Poor Mr. Bull's Eye was deeply humiliated. "Just the chance I had been +looking for," he said, "and my wits suddenly left me." + +As a hunter Uncle Nathan always took the game on its own terms, that of +still-hunting. He even shot foxes in this way, going into the fields in +the fall just at break of day, and watching for them about their mousing +haunts. One morning, by these tactics, he shot a black fox; a fine +specimen, he said, and a wild one, for he stopped and looked and +listened every few yards. + +He had killed over two hundred moose, a large number of them at night on +the lakes. His method was to go out in his canoe and conceal himself by +some point or island, and wait till he heard the game. In the fall +the moose comes into the water to eat the large fibrous roots of the +pond-lilies. He splashes along till he finds a suitable spot, when he +begins feeding, sometimes thrusting his bead and neck several feet under +water. The hunter listens, and when the moose lifts his head and the +rills of water run from it, and he hears him "swash" the lily roots +about to get off the mud, it is his time to start. Silently as a shadow +he creeps up on the moose, who by the way, it seems, never expects the +approach of danger from the water side. If the hunter accidentally +makes a noise the moose looks toward the shore for it. There is always a +slight gleam on the water, Uncle Nathan says, even in the darkest night, +and the dusky form of the moose can be distinctly seen upon it. When the +hunter sees this darker shadow he lifts his gun to the sky and gets the +range of its barrels, then lowers it till it covers the mark, and fires. + +The largest moose Uncle Nathan ever killed is mounted in the State House +at Augusta. He shot him while hunting in winter on snow-shoes. The moose +was reposing upon the ground, with his head stretched out in front of +him, as one may sometimes see a cow resting. The position was such that +only a quartering shot through the animal's hip could reach its heart. +Studying the problem carefully, and taking his own time, the hunter +fired. The moose sprang into the air, turned, and came with tremendous +strides straight toward him. "I knew he had not seen or scented me," +said Uncle Nathan, "but, by hemp, I wished myself somewhere else just +then; for I was lying right down in his path." But the noble animal +stopped, a few yards short, and fell dead with a bullet-hole through his +heart. + +When the moose yard in the winter, that is, restrict their wanderings +to a well-defined section of the forest or mountain, trampling down the +snow and beating paths in all directions, they browse off only the most +dainty morsels first; when they go over the ground a second time they +crop a little cleaner; the third time they sort still closer, till by +and by nothing is left. Spruce, hemlock, poplar, the barks of various +trees, everything within reach, is cropped close. When the hunter comes +upon one of these yards the problem for him to settle is, Where are the +moose? for it is absolutely necessary that he keep on the lee side of +them. So he considers the lay of the land, the direction of the wind, +the time of day, the depth of the snow, examines the spoor, the cropped +twigs, and studies every hint and clew like a detective. Uncle Nathan +said he could not explain to another how he did it, but he could usually +tell in a few minutes in what direction to look for the game. His +experience had ripened into a kind of intuition or winged reasoning that +was above rules. + +He said that most large game, deer, caribou, moose, bear, when started +by the hunter and not much scared, were sure to stop and look back +before disappearing from sight: he usually waited for this last and best +chance to fire. He told us of a huge bear he had seen one morning while +still-hunting foxes in the fields; the bear saw him, and got into the +woods before he could get a good shot. In her course some distance up +the mountain was a bald, open spot, and he felt sure when she crossed +this spot she would pause and look behind her; and sure enough, like +Lot's wife, her curiosity got the better of her; she stopped to have a +final look, and her travels ended there and then. + +Uncle Nathan had trapped and shot a great many bears, and some of his +experiences revealed an unusual degree of sagacity in this animal. One +April, when the weather began to get warm and thawy, an old bear left +her den in the rocks and built a large, warm nest of grass, leaves, and +the bark of the white cedar, under a tall balsam fir that stood in a +low, sunny, open place amid the mountains. Hither she conducted her two +cubs, and the family began life in what might be called their spring +residence. The tree above them was for shelter, and for refuge for the +cubs in case danger approached, as it soon did in the form of Uncle +Nathan. He happened that way soon after the bear had moved. Seeing her +track in the snow, he concluded to follow it. When the bear had passed, +the snow had been soft and sposhy, and she had "slumped," he said, +several inches. It was now hard and slippery. As he neared the tree the +track turned and doubled, and tacked this way and that, and led through +the worst brush and brambles to be found. This was a shrewd thought of +the old bear; she could thus hear her enemy coming a long time before he +drew very near. When Uncle Nathan finally reached the nest, he found it +empty, but still warm. Then he began to circle about and look for the +bear's footprints or nail-prints upon the frozen snow. Not finding them +the first time, he took a larger circle, then a still larger; finally he +made a long detour, and spent nearly an hour searching for some clew +to the direction the bear had taken, but all to no purpose. Then he +returned to the tree and scrutinized it. The foliage was very dense, but +presently he made out one of the cubs near the top, standing up amid the +branches, and peering down at him. This he killed. Further search only +revealed a mass of foliage apparently more dense than usual, but a +bullet sent into it was followed by loud whimpering and crying, and +the other baby bear came tumbling down. In leaving the place, greatly +puzzled as to what had become of the mother bear, Uncle Nathan followed +another of her frozen tracks, and after about a quarter of a mile saw +beside it, upon the snow, the fresh trail he had been in search of. In +making her escape the bear had stepped exactly in her old tracks that +were hard and icy, and had thus left no mark till she took to the snow +again. + +During his trapping expeditions into the woods in midwinter, I was +curious to know how Uncle Nathan passed the nights, as we were twice +pinched with the cold at that season in our tent and blankets. It was +no trouble to keep warm, he said, in the coldest weather. As night +approached, he would select a place for his camp on the side of a hill. +With one of his snow-shoes he would shovel out the snow till the ground +was reached, carrying the snow out in front, as we scrape the earth out +of the side of a hill to level up a place for the house and yard. On +this level place, which, however, was made to incline slightly toward +the hill, his bed of boughs was made. On the ground he had uncovered he +built his fire. His bed was thus on a level with the fire, and the heat +could not thaw the snow under him and let him down, or the burning logs +roll upon him. With a steep ascent behind it the fire burned better, and +the wind was not so apt to drive the smoke and blaze in upon him. Then, +with the long, curving branches of the spruce stuck thickly around three +sides of the bed, and curving over and uniting their tops above it, a +shelter was formed that would keep out the cold and the snow, and that +would catch and retain the warmth of the fire. Rolled in his blanket in +such a nest, Uncle Nathan had passed hundreds of the most frigid winter +nights. + +One day we made an excursion of three miles through the woods to Bald +Mountain, following a dim trail. We saw, as we filed silently along, +plenty of signs of caribou, deer, and bear, but were not blessed with a +sight of either of the animals themselves. I noticed that Uncle Nathan, +in looking through the woods, did not hold his head as we did, but +thrust it slightly forward, and peered under the branches like a deer or +other wild creature. + +The summit of Bald Mountain was the most impressive mountain-top I had +ever seen, mainly, perhaps, because it was one enormous crown of nearly +naked granite. The rock had that gray, elemental, eternal look which +granite alone has. One seemed to be face to face with the gods of the +fore-world. Like an atom, like a breath of to-day, we were suddenly +confronted by abysmal geologic time,--the eternities past and the +eternities to come. The enormous cleavage of the rocks, the appalling +cracks and fissures, the rent boulders, the smitten granite floors, gave +one a new sense of the power of heat and frost. In one place we +noticed several deep parallel grooves, made by the old glaciers. In the +depressions on the summit there was a hard, black, peaty-like soil that +looked indescribably ancient and unfamiliar. Out of this mould, that +might have come from the moon or the interplanetary spaces, were growing +mountain cranberries and blueberries or huckleberries. We were soon so +absorbed in gathering the latter that we were quite oblivious of the +grandeurs about us. It is these blueberries that attract the bears. In +eating them, Uncle Nathan said, they take the bushes in their mouths, +and by an upward movement strip them clean of both leaves and berries. +We were constantly on the lookout for the bears, but failed to see +any. Yet a few days afterward, when two of our party returned here and +encamped upon the mountain, they saw five during their stay, but failed +to get a good shot. The rifle was in the wrong place each time. The +man with the shot-gun saw an old bear and two cubs lift themselves +from behind a rock and twist their noses around for his scent, and then +shrink away. They were too far off for his buckshot. I must not forget +the superb view that lay before us, a wilderness of woods and waters +stretching away to the horizon on every band. Nearly a dozen lakes and +ponds could be seen, and in a clearer atmosphere the foot of Moosehead +Lake would have been visible. The highest and most striking mountain to +be seen was Mount Bigelow, rising above Dead River, far to the west, +and its two sharp peaks notching the horizon like enormous saw-teeth. +We walked around and viewed curiously a huge boulder on the top of the +mountain that had been split in two vertically, and one of the halves +moved a few feet out of its bed. It looked recent and familiar, but +suggested gods instead of men. The force that moved the rock had plainly +come from the north. I thought of a similar boulder I had seen not long +before on the highest point of the Shawangunk Mountains in New York, one +side of which is propped up with a large stone, as wall-builders prop up +a rock to wrap a chain around it. The rock seems poised lightly, and has +but a few points of bearing. In this instance, too, the power had come +from the north. + +The prettiest botanical specimen my trip yielded was a little plant that +bears the ugly name of horned bladderwort (Utricularia cornuta), and +which I found growing in marshy places along the shores of Moxie Lake. +It has a slender, naked stem nearly a foot high, crowned by two or +more large deep yellow flowers,--flowers the shape of little bonnets or +hoods. One almost expected to see tiny faces looking out of them. This +illusion is heightened by the horn or spur of the flower, which projects +from the hood like a long tapering chin,--some masker's device. Then +the cape behind,--what a smart upward curve it has, as if spurned by +the fairy shoulders it was meant to cover! But perhaps the most notable +thing about the flower was its fragrance,--the richest and strongest +perfume I have ever found in a wild flower. This our botanist, Gray, +does not mention; as if one should describe the lark and forget its +song. The fragrance suggested that of white clover, but was more rank +and spicy. + +The woods about Moxie Lake were literally carpeted with Linnæa. I had +never seen it in such profusion. In early summer, the period of its +bloom, what a charming spectacle the mossy floors of these remote woods +must present! The flowers are purple rose-color, nodding and fragrant. +Another very abundant plant in these woods was the Clintonia borealis. +Uncle Nathan said it was called "bear's corn," though he did not know +why. The only noticeable flower by the Maine roadsides at this season +that is not common in other parts of the country is the harebell. Its +bright blue, bell-shaped corolla shone out from amid the dry grass and +weeds all along the route. It was one of the most delicate roadside +flowers I had ever seen. + +The only new bird I saw in Maine was the pileated woodpecker, or black +"log cock," called by Uncle Nathan "wood cock." I had never before seen +or heard this bird, and its loud cackle in the woods about Moxie was +a new sound to me. It is the wildest and largest of our northern +woodpeckers, and the rarest. Its voice and the sound of its hammer are +heard only in the depths of the northern woods. It is about as large as +a crow, and nearly as black. + +We stayed a week at Moxie, or until we became surfeited with its trout, +and had killed the last Merganser duck that lingered about our end of +the lake. The trout that had accumulated on our hands we had kept alive +in a large champagne basket submerged in the lake, and the morning we +broke camp the basket was towed to the shore and opened; and after we +had feasted our eyes upon the superb spectacle, every trout, twelve or +fifteen in number, some of them two-pounders, was allowed to swim back +into the lake. They went leisurely, in couples and in trios, and were +soon kicking up their heels in their old haunts. I expect that the +divinity who presides over Moxie will see to it that every one of those +trout, doubled in weight, comes to our basket in the future. + + + + +WINTER NEIGHBORS. + + +The country is more of a wilderness, more of a wild solitude, in +the winter than in the summer. The wild comes out. The urban, the +cultivated, is hidden or negatived. You shall hardly know a good field +from a poor, a meadow from a pasture, a park from a forest. Lines and +boundaries are disregarded; gates and bar-ways are unclosed; man lets go +his hold upon the earth; title-deeds are deep buried beneath the snow; +the best-kept grounds relapse to a state of nature; under the pressure +of the cold all the wild creatures become outlaws, and roam abroad +beyond their usual haunts. The partridge comes to the orchard for buds; +the rabbit comes to the garden and lawn; the crows and jays come to +the ash-heap and corn-crib, the snow-buntings to the stack and to +the barn-yard; the sparrows pilfer from the domestic fowls; the pine +grosbeak comes down from the north and shears your maples of their buds; +the fox prowls about your premises at night, and the red squirrels find +your grain in the barn or steal the butternuts from your attic. In fact, +winter, like some great calamity, changes the status of most creatures +and sets them adrift. Winter, like poverty, makes us acquainted with +strange bedfellows. + +For my part, my nearest approach to a strange bedfellow is the little +gray rabbit that has taken up her abode under my study floor. As she +spends the day here and is out larking at night, she is not much of a +bedfellow after all. It is probable that I disturb her slumbers more +than she does mine. I think she is some support to me under there-a +silent wild-eyed witness and backer; a type of the gentle and harmless +in savage nature. She has no sagacity to give me or lend me, but that +soft, nimble foot of hers, and that touch as of cotton wherever she +goes, are worthy of emulation. I think I can feel her good-will through +the floor, and I hope she can mine. When I have a happy thought I +imagine her ears twitch, especially when I think of the sweet apple +I will place by her doorway at night. I wonder if that fox chanced to +catch a glimpse of her the other night when he stealthily leaped over +the fence near by and walked along between the study and the house? +How clearly one could read that it was not a little dog that had passed +there. There was something furtive in the track; it shied off away from +the house and around it, as if eying it suspiciously; and then it had +the caution and deliberation of the fox--bold, bold, but not too bold; +wariness was in every footprint. If it had been a little dog that +had chanced to wander that way, when he crossed my path he would have +followed it up to the barn and have gone smelling around for a bone; but +this sharp, cautious track held straight across all others, keeping five +or six rods from the house, up the hill, across the highway towards +a neighboring farmstead, with its nose in the air and its eye and ear +alert, so to speak. + +A winter neighbor of mine in whom I am interested, and who perhaps lends +me his support after his kind, is a little red owl, whose retreat is +in the heart of an old apple-tree just over the fence. Where he keeps +himself in spring and summer I do not know, but late every fall, and +at intervals all winter, his hiding-place is discovered by the jays and +nut-hatches, and proclaimed from the tree-tops for the space of half an +hour or so, with all the powers of voice they can command. Four times +during one winter they called me out to behold this little ogre feigning +sleep in his den, sometimes in one apple-tree, sometimes in another. +Whenever I heard their cries, I knew my neighbor was being berated. +The birds would take turns at looking in upon him and uttering their +alarm-notes. Every jay within hearing would come to the spot and at once +approach the hole in the trunk or limb, and with a kind of breathless +eagerness and excitement take a peep at the owl, and then join the +outcry. When I approached they would hastily take a final look and then +withdraw and regard my movements intently. After accustoming my eye to +the faint light of the cavity for a few moments, I could usually make +out the owl at the bottom feigning sleep. Feigning, I say, because this +is what he really did, as I first discovered one day when I cut into +his retreat with the axe. The loud blows and the falling chips did not +disturb him at all. When I reached in a stick and pulled him over on his +side, leaving one of his wings spread out, he made no attempt to recover +himself, but lay among the chips and fragments of decayed wood, like a +part of themselves. Indeed, it took a sharp eye to distinguish him. Nor +till I had pulled him forth by one wing, rather rudely, did he abandon +his trick of simulated sleep or death. Then, like a detected pickpocket, +he was suddenly transformed into another creature. His eyes flew wide +open, his talons clutched my finger, his ears were depressed, and every +motion and look said, "Hands off, at your peril." Finding this game did +not work, he soon began to "play 'possum" again. I put a cover over my +study wood-box and kept him captive for a week. Look in upon him any +time, night or day, and he was apparently wrapped in the profoundest +slumber; but the live mice which I put into his box from time to time +found his sleep was easily broken; there would be a sudden rustle in the +box, a faint squeak, and then silence. After a week of captivity I gave +him his freedom in the full sunshine: no trouble for him to see which +way and where to go. + +Just at dusk in the winter nights, I often hear his soft bur-r-r-r, very +pleasing and bell-like. What a furtive, woody sound it is in the winter +stillness, so unlike the harsh scream of the hawk. But all the ways +of the owl are ways of softness and duskiness. His wings are shod with +silence, his plumage is edged with down. + +Another owl neighbor of mine, with whom I pass the time of day more +frequently than with the last, lives farther away. I pass his castle +every night on my way to the post-office, and in winter, if the hour +is late enough, am pretty sure to see him standing in his doorway, +surveying the passers-by and the landscape through narrow slits in +his eyes. For four successive winters now have I observed him. As the +twilight begins to deepen he rises out of his cavity in the apple-tree, +scarcely faster than the moon rises from behind the hill, and sits in +the opening, completely framed by its outlines of gray bark and dead +wood, and by his protective coloring virtually invisible to every eye +that does not know he is there. Probably my own is the only eye that has +ever penetrated his secret, and mine never would have done so had I not +chanced on one occasion to see him leave his retreat and make a +raid upon a shrike that was impaling a shrew-mouse upon a thorn in a +neighboring tree and which I was watching. Failing to get the mouse, +the owl returned swiftly to his cavity, and ever since, while going +that way, I have been on the lookout for him. Dozens of teams and +foot-passengers pass him late in the day, but he regards them not, nor +they him. When I come alone and pause to salute him, he opens his eyes a +little wider, and, appearing to recognize me, quickly shrinks and fades +into the background of his door in a very weird and curious manner. When +he is not at his outlook, or when he is, it requires the best powers +of the eye to decide the point, as the empty cavity itself is almost +an exact image of him. If the whole thing had been carefully studied +it could not have answered its purpose better. The owl stands quite +perpendicular, presenting a front of light mottled gray; the eyes are +closed to a mere slit, the ear-feathers depressed, the beak buried in +the plumage, and the whole attitude is one of silent, motionless waiting +and observation. If a mouse should be seen crossing the highway, or +scudding over any exposed part of the snowy surface in the twilight, the +owl would doubtless swoop down upon it. I think the owl has learned to +distinguish me from the rest of the passers-by; at least, when I stop +before him, and he sees himself observed, he backs down into his den, as +I have said, in a very amusing manner. Whether bluebirds, nut-hatches, +and chickadees--birds that pass the night in cavities of trees--ever +run into the clutches of the dozing owl, I should be glad to know. My +impression is, however, that they seek out smaller cavities. An old +willow by the roadside blew down one summer, and a decayed branch broke +open, revealing a brood of half-fledged owls, and many feathers and +quills of bluebirds, orioles, and other songsters, showing plainly +enough why all birds fear and berate the owl. + +The English house sparrows, that are so rapidly increasing among us, and +that must add greatly to the food supply of the owls and other birds of +prey, seek to baffle their enemies by roosting in the densest evergreens +they can find, in the arbor-vitæ, and in hemlock hedges. Soft-winged as +the owl is, he cannot steal in upon such a retreat without giving them +warning. + +These sparrows are becoming about the most noticeable of my winter +neighbors, and a troop of them every morning watch me put out the hens' +feed, and soon claim their share. I rather encouraged them in their +neighborliness, till one day I discovered the snow under a favorite +plum-tree where they most frequently perched covered with the scales of +the fruit-buds. On investigating I found that the tree had been nearly +stripped of its buds--a very unneighborly act on the part of the +sparrows, considering, too, all the cracked corn I had scattered for +them. So I at once served notice on them that our good understanding was +at an end. And a hint is as good as a kick with this bird. The stone I +hurled among them, and the one with which I followed them up, may have +been taken as a kick; but they were only a hint of the shot-gun that +stood ready in the corner. The sparrows left in high dungeon, and were +not back again in some days, and were then very shy. No doubt the +time is near at hand when we shall have to wage serious war upon these +sparrows, as they long have had to do on the continent of Europe. And +yet it will be hard to kill the little wretches, the only Old World bird +we have. When I take down my gun to shoot them I shall probably remember +that the Psalmist said, "I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the +house-top," and maybe the recollection will cause me to stay my hand. +The sparrows have the Old World hardiness and prolificness; they are +wise and tenacious of life, and we shall find it by and by no small +matter to keep them in check. Our native birds are much different, less +prolific, less shrewd, less aggressive and persistent, less quick-witted +and able to read the note of danger or hostility--in short, less +sophisticated. Most of our birds are yet essentially wild, that is, +little changed by civilization. In winter, especially, they sweep by +me and around me in flocks,--the Canada sparrow, the snow-bunting, the +shore-lark, the pine grosbeak, the red-poll, the cedar-bird,--feeding +upon frozen apples in the orchard, upon cedar-berries, upon maple-buds, +and the berries of the mountain ash, and the celtis, and upon the seeds +of the weeds that rise above the snow in the field, or upon the hay-seed +dropped where the cattle have been foddered in the barn-yard or about +the distant stack; but yet taking no heed of man, in no way changing +their habits so as to take advantage of his presence in nature. The pine +grosbeak will come in numbers upon your porch, to get the black drupes +of the honeysuckle or the woodbine, or within reach of your windows to +get the berries of the mountain-ash, but they know you not; they look +at you as innocently and unconcernedly as at a bear or moose in their +native north, and your house is no more to them than a ledge of rocks. + +The only ones of my winter neighbors that actually rap at my door are +the nut-hatches and woodpeckers, and these do not know that it is my +door. My retreat is covered with the bark of young chestnut-trees, and +the birds, I suspect, mistake it for a huge stump that ought to hold +fat grubs (there is not even a bookworm inside of it), and their loud +rapping often makes me think I have a caller indeed. I place fragments +of hickory-nuts in the interstices of the bark, and thus attract the +nut-hatches; a bone upon my window-sill attracts both nut-hatches and +the downy woodpecker. They peep in curiously through the window upon me, +pecking away at my bone, too often a very poor one. A bone nailed to a +tree a few feet in front of the window attracts crows as well as lesser +birds. Even the slate-colored snow-bird, a seed-eater, comes and nibbles +it occasionally. + +The bird that seems to consider he has the best right to the bone both +upon the tree and upon the sill is the downy woodpecker, my favorite +neighbor among the winter birds, to whom I will mainly devote the +remainder of this chapter. His retreat is but a few paces from my own, +in the decayed limb of an apple-tree which he excavated several autumns +ago. I say "he" because the red plume on the top of his head proclaims +the sex. It seems not to be generally known to our writers upon +ornithology that certain of our woodpeckers--probably all the winter +residents--each fall excavate a limb or the trunk of a tree in which +to pass the winter, and that the cavity is abandoned in the spring, +probably for a new one in which nidification takes place. So far as I +have observed, these cavities are drilled out only by the males. Where +the females take up their quarters I am not so well informed, though I +suspect that they use the abandoned holes of the males of the previous +year. + +The particular woodpecker to which I refer drilled his first hole in my +apple-tree one fall four or five years ago. This he occupied till the +following spring when he abandoned it. The next fall he began a hole +in an adjoining limb, later than before, and when it was about half +completed a female took possession of his old quarters. I am sorry to +say that this seemed to enrage the male, very much, and he persecuted +the poor bird whenever she appeared upon the scene. He would fly at her +spitefully and drive her off. One chilly November morning, as I passed +under the tree, I heard the hammer of the little architect in his +cavity, and at the same time saw the persecuted female sitting at +the entrance of the other hole as if she would fain come out. She was +actually shivering, probably from both fear and cold. I understood the +situation at a glance; the bird was afraid to come forth and brave the +anger of the male. Not till I had rapped smartly upon the limb with my +stick did she come out and attempt to escape; but she had not gone ten +feet from the tree before the male was in hot pursuit, and in a few +moments had driven her back to the same tree, where she tried to +avoid him among the branches. A few days after, he rid himself of his +unwelcome neighbor in the following ingenious manner: he fairly scuttled +the other cavity; he drilled a hole into the bottom of it that let in +the light and the cold, and I saw the female there no more. I did not +see him in the act of rendering this tenement uninhabitable; but one +morning, behold it was punctured at the bottom, and the circumstances +all seemed to point to him as the author of it. There is probably no +gallantry among the birds except at the mating season. I have frequently +seen the male woodpecker drive the female away from the bone upon the +tree. When she hopped around to the other end and timidly nibbled it, +he would presently dart spitefully at her. She would then take up +her position in his rear and wait till he had finished his meal. The +position of the female among the birds is very much the same as that of +woman among savage tribes. Most of the drudgery of life falls upon her, +and the leavings of the males are often her lot. + +My bird is a genuine little savage, doubtless, but I value him as a +neighbor. It is a satisfaction during the cold or stormy winter nights +to know he is warm and cosy there in his retreat. When the day is bad +and unfit to be abroad in; he is there too. When I wish to know if he +is at home, I go and rap upon his tree, and, if he is not too lazy or +indifferent, after some delay he shows his head in his round doorway +about ten feet above, and looks down inquiringly upon me--sometimes +latterly I think half resentfully, as much as to say, "I would thank you +not to disturb me so often." After sundown, he will not put his head +out any more when I call, but as I step away I can get a glimpse of him +inside looking cold and reserved. He is a late riser, especially if it +is a cold or disagreeable morning, in this respect being like the fowls; +it is sometimes near nine o'clock before I see him leave his tree. On +the other hand, he comes home early, being in if the day is unpleasant +by four P. M. He lives all alone; in this respect I do not commend his +example. Where his mate is I should like to know. + +I have discovered several other woodpeckers in adjoining orchards, each +of which has a like home and leads a like solitary life. One of them has +excavated a dry limb within easy reach of my hand, doing the work also +in September. But the choice of tree was not a good one; the limb was +too much decayed, and the workman had made the cavity too large; a chip +had come out, making a hole in the outer wall. Then he went a few +inches down the limb and began again, and excavated a large, commodious +chamber, but had again come too near the surface; scarcely more than the +bark protected him in one place, and the limb was very much weakened. +Then he made another attempt still farther down the limb, and drilled in +an inch or two, but seemed to change his mind; the work stopped, and +I concluded the bird had wisely abandoned the tree. Passing there one +cold, rainy November day, I thrust in my two fingers and was surprised +to feel something soft and warm: as I drew away my hand the bird came +out, apparently no more surprised than I was. It had decided, then, to +make its home in the old limb; a decision it had occasion to regret, for +not long after, on a stormy night, the branch gave way and fell to the +ground. + + "When the bough breaks the cradle will fall, + and down will come baby, cradle and all." + +Such a cavity makes a snug, warm home, and when the entrance is on the +under side if the limb, as is usual, the wind and snow cannot reach +the occupant. Late in December, while crossing a high, wooded mountain, +lured by the music of fox-hounds, I discovered fresh yellow chips +strewing the new-fallen snow, and at once thought of my woodpeckers. On +looking around I saw where one had been at work excavating a lodge in a +small yellow birch. The orifice was about fifteen feet from the ground, +and appeared as round as if struck with a compass. It was on the east +side of the tree, so as to avoid the prevailing west and northeast +winds. As it was nearly two inches in diameter, it could not have been +the work of the downy, but must have been that of the hairy, or else the +yellow-bellied woodpecker. His home had probably been wrecked by some +violent wind, and he was thus providing himself another. In digging out +these retreats the woodpeckers prefer a dry, brittle, trunk, not too +soft. They go in horizontally to the centre and then turn downward, +enlarging the tunnel as they go, till when finished it is the shape of a +long, deep pear. + +Another trait our woodpeckers have that endears them to me, and that has +never been pointedly noticed by our ornithologists, is their habit +of drumming in the spring. They are songless birds, and yet all are +musicians; they make the dry limbs eloquent of the coming change. Did +you think that loud, sonorous hammering which proceeded from the orchard +or from the near woods on that still March or April morning was only +some bird getting its breakfast? It is downy, but he is not rapping at +the door of a grub; he is rapping at the door of spring, and the dry +limb thrills beneath the ardor of his blows. Or, later in the season, +in the dense forest or by some remote mountain lake, does that measured +rhythmic beat that breaks upon the silence, first three strokes +following each other rapidly, succeeded by two louder ones with longer +intervals between them, and that has an effect upon the alert ear as +if the solitude itself had at last found a voice--does that suggest +anything less than a deliberate musical performance? In fact, our +woodpeckers are just as characteristically drummers as is the ruffed +grouse, and they have their particular limbs and stubs to which they +resort for that purpose. Their need of expression is apparently just +as great as that of the song-birds, and it is not surprising that they +should have found out that there is music in a dry, seasoned limb which +can be evoked beneath their beaks. + +A few seasons ago a downy woodpecker, probably the individual one who is +now my winter neighbor, began to drum early in March in a partly decayed +apple-tree that stands in the edge of a narrow strip of woodland near +me. When the morning was still and mild I would often hear him through +my window before I was up, or by half-past six o'clock, and he would +keep it up pretty briskly till nine or ten o'clock, in this respect +resembling the grouse, which do most of their drumming in the forenoon. +His drum was the stub of a dry limb about the size of one's wrist. The +heart was decayed and gone, but the outer shell was hard and resonant. +The bird would keep his position there for an hour at a time. Between +his drummings he would preen his plumage and listen as if for the +response of the female, or for the drum of some rival. How swift his +head would go when he was delivering his blows upon the limb! His beak +wore the surface perceptibly. When he wished to change the key, which +was quite often, he would shift his position an inch or two to a knot +which gave out a higher, shriller note. When I climbed up to examine his +drum he was much disturbed. I did not know he was in the vicinity, +but it seems he saw me from a near tree, and came in haste to the +neighboring branches, and with spread plumage and a sharp note demanded +plainly enough what my business was with his drum. I was invading his +privacy, desecrating his shrine, and the bird was much put out. After +some weeks the female appeared; he had literally drummed up a mate; his +urgent and oft-repeated advertisement was answered. Still the drumming +did not cease, but was quite as fervent as before. If a mate could be +won by drumming she could be kept and entertained by more drumming; +courtship should not end with marriage. If the bird felt musical before, +of course he felt much more so now. Besides that, the gentle deities +needed propitiating in behalf of the nest and young as well as in behalf +of the mate. After a time a second female came, when there was war +between the two. I did not see them come to blows, but I saw one female +pursuing the other about the place, and giving her no rest for several +days. She was evidently trying to run her out of the neighborhood. Now +and then she, too, would drum briefly as if sending a triumphant message +to her mate. + +The woodpeckers do not each have a particular dry limb to which they +resort at all times to drum, like the one I have described. The woods +are full of suitable branches, and they drum more or less here and +there as they are in quest of food; yet I am convinced each one has its +favorite spot, like the grouse, to which it resorts, especially in the +morning. The sugar-maker in the maple-woods may notice that their +sound proceeds from the same tree or trees about his camp with great +regularity. A woodpecker in my vicinity has drummed for two seasons on +a telegraph pole, and he makes the wires and glass insulators ring. +Another drums on a thin board on the end of a long grape-arbor, and on +still mornings can be heard a long distance. + +A friend of mine in a Southern city tells me of a red-headed woodpecker +that drums upon a lightning-rod on his neighbor's house. Nearly every +clear, still morning at certain seasons, he says, this musical rapping +may be heard. "He alternates his tapping with his stridulous call, and +the effect on a cool, autumn-like morning is very pleasing." + +The high-hole appears to drum more promiscuously than does the downy. He +utters his long, loud spring call, whick--whick--whick--whick, and then +begins to rap with his beak upon his perch before the last note has +reached your ear. I have seen him drum sitting upon the ridge of the +barn. The log cock, or pileated woodpecker, the largest and wildest of +our Northern species, I have never heard drum. His blows should wake the +echoes. + +When the woodpecker is searching for food, or laying siege to some +hidden grub, the sound of his hammer is dead or muffled, and is heard +but a few yards. It is only upon dry, seasoned timber, freed of its +bark, that he beats his reveille to spring and wooes his mate. + +Wilson was evidently familiar with this vernal drumming of the +woodpeckers, but quite misinterprets it. Speaking of the red-bellied +species, he says: "It rattles like the rest of the tribe on the dead +limbs, and with such violence as to be heard in still weather more than +half a mile off; and listens to hear the insect it has alarmed." He +listens rather to hear the drum of his rival or the brief and coy +response of the female; for there are no insects in these dry limbs. + +On one occasion I saw downy at his drum when a female flew quickly +through the tree and alighted a few yards beyond him. He paused +instantly, and kept his place, apparently without moving a muscle. The +female, I took it, had answered his advertisement. She flitted about +from limb to limb (the female may be known by the absence of the crimson +spot on the back of the head), apparently full of business of her own, +and now and then would drum in a shy, tentative manner. The male watched +her a few moments and, convinced perhaps that she meant business, struck +up his liveliest tune, then listened for her response. As it came back +timidly but promptly, he left his perch and sought a nearer acquaintance +with the prudent female. Whether or not a match grew out of this little +flirtation I cannot say. + +Our smaller woodpeckers are sometimes accused of injuring the apple and +other fruit trees, but the depredator is probably the larger and rarer +yellow-bellied species. One autumn I caught one of these fellows in +the act of sinking long rows of his little wells in the limb of an +apple-tree. There were series of rings of them, one above another, quite +around the stem, some of them the third of an inch across. They are +evidently made to get at the tender, juicy bark, or cambium layer, next +to the hard wood of the tree. The health and vitality of the branch are +so seriously impaired by them that it often dies. + +In the following winter the same bird (probably) tapped a maple-tree in +front of my window in fifty-six places; and when the day was sunny, and +the sap oozed out, he spent most of his time there. He knew the good +sap-days, and was on hand promptly for his tipple; cold and cloudy +days he did not appear. He knew which side of the tree to tap, too, and +avoided the sunless northern exposure. When one series of well-holes +failed to supply him, he would sink another, drilling through the bark +with great ease and quickness. Then, when the day was warm, and the sap +ran freely, he would have a regular sugar-maple debauch, sitting there +by his wells hour after hour, and as fast as they became filled sipping +out the sap. This he did in a gentle, caressing manner that was very +suggestive. He made a row of wells near the foot of the tree, and other +rows higher up, and he would hop up and down the trunk as these became +filled. He would hop down the tree backward with the utmost ease, +throwing his tail outward and his head inward at each hop. When the +wells would freeze or his thirst become slaked, he would ruffle his +feathers, draw himself together, and sit and doze in the sun on the side +of the tree. He passed the night in a hole in an apple-tree not far off. +He was evidently a young bird not yet having the plumage of the mature +male or female, and yet he knew which tree to tap and where to tap it. +I saw where he had bored several maples in the vicinity, but no oaks +or chestnuts. I nailed up a fat bone near his sap-works: the downy +woodpecker came there several times a day to dine; the nut-hatch came, +and even the snow-bird took a taste occasionally; but this sap-sucker +never touched it; the sweet of the tree sufficed for him. This +woodpecker does not breed or abound in my vicinity; only stray specimens +are now and then to be met with in the colder months. As spring +approached, the one I refer to took his departure. + +I must bring my account of my neighbor in the tree down to the latest +date; so after the lapse of a year I add the following notes. The last +day of February was bright and springlike. I heard the first sparrow +sing that morning and the first screaming of the circling hawks, and +about seven o'clock the first drumming of my little friend. His first +notes were uncertain and at long intervals, but by and by he warmed up +and beat a lively tattoo. As the season advanced he ceased to lodge in +his old quarters. I would rap and find nobody at home. Was he out on a +lark, I said, the spring fever working in his blood? After a time his +drumming grew less frequent, and finally, in the middle of April, ceased +entirely. Had some accident befallen him, or had he wandered away to +fresh fields, following some siren of his species? Probably the latter. +Another bird that I had under observation also left his winter-quarters +in the spring. This, then, appears to be the usual custom. The wrens and +the nut-hatches and chickadees succeed to these abandoned cavities, and +often have amusing disputes over them. The nut-hatches frequently pass +the night in them, and the wrens and chickadees nest in them. I have +further observed that in excavating a cavity for a nest the downy +woodpecker makes the entrance smaller than when he is excavating his +winter-quarters. This is doubtless for the greater safety of the young +birds. + +The next fall, the downy excavated another limb in the old apple-tree, +but had not got his retreat quite finished, when the large hairy +woodpecker appeared upon the scene. I heard his loud click, click, early +one frosty November morning. There was something impatient and angry +in the tone that arrested my attention. I saw the bird fly to the tree +where downy had been at work, and fall with great violence upon the +entrance to his cavity. The bark and the chips flew beneath his +vigorous blows, and before I fairly woke up to what he was doing, he had +completely demolished the neat, round doorway of downy. He had made a +large ragged opening large enough for himself to enter. I drove him away +and my favorite came back, but only to survey the ruins of his castle +for a moment and then go away. He lingered about for a day or two and +then disappeared. The big hairy usurper passed a night in the cavity, +but on being hustled out of it the next night by me, he also left, but +not till he had demolished the entrance to a cavity in a neighboring +tree where downy and his mate had reared their brood that summer, and +where I had hoped the female would pass the winter. + + + + +NOTES BY THE WAY. + + + + +I. THE WEATHER-WISE MUSKRAT + + +I am more than half persuaded that the muskrat is a wise little animal, +and that on the subject of the weather, especially, he possesses some +secret that I should be glad to know. In the fall of 1878 I noticed that +he built unusually high and massive nests. I noticed them in several +different localities. In a shallow, sluggish pond by the roadside, +which I used to pass daily in my walk, two nests were in process of +construction throughout the month of November. The builders worked only +at night, and I could see each day that the work had visibly advanced. +When there was a slight skim of ice over the pond, this was broken up +about the nests, with trails through it in different directions where +the material had been brought. The houses were placed a little to one +side of the main channel, and were constructed entirely of a species of +coarse wild grass that grew all about. So far as I could see, from first +to last they were solid masses of grass, as if the interior cavity or +nest was to be excavated afterward, as doubtless it was. As they emerged +from the pond they gradually assumed the shape of a miniature mountain, +very bold and steep on the south side, and running down a long gentle +grade to the surface of the water on the north. One could see that the +little architect hauled all his material up this easy slope, and thrust +it out boldly around the other side. Every mouthful was distinctly +defined. After they were two feet or more above the water, I expected +each day to see that the finishing stroke had been given and the work +brought to a close. But higher yet, said the builder. December drew +near, the cold became threatening, and I was apprehensive that winter +would suddenly shut down upon those unfinished nests. But the wise +rats knew better than I did; they had received private advices from +headquarters that I knew not of. Finally, about the 6th of December, the +nests assumed completion; the northern incline was absorbed or carried +up, and each structure became a strong massive cone, three or four +feet high, the largest nest of the kind I had ever seen. Does it mean a +severe winter? I inquired. An old farmer said it meant "high water," +and he was right once, at least, for in a few days afterward we had the +heaviest rainfall known in this section for half a century. The creeks +rose to an almost unprecedented height. The sluggish pond became a +seething, turbulent watercourse; gradually the angry element crept up +the sides of these lake dwellings, till, when the rain ceased, about +four o'clock they showed above the flood no larger than a man's hat. +During the night the channel shifted till the main current swept over +them, and next day not a vestige of the nests was to be seen; they +had gone down-stream, as had many other dwellings of a less temporary +character. The rats had built wisely, and would have been perfectly +secure against any ordinary high water, but who can foresee a flood? The +oldest traditions of their race did not run back to the time of such a +visitation. + +Nearly a week afterward another dwelling was begun, well away from the +treacherous channel, but the architects did not work at it with much +heart; the material was very scarce, the ice hindered, and before the +basement-story was fairly finished, winter had the pond under his lock +and key. + +In other localities I noticed that where the nests were placed on the +banks of streams, they were made secure against the floods by being +built amid a small clump of bushes. When the fall of 1879 came, the +muskrats were very tardy about beginning their house, laying the +corner-stone--or the corner-sod-about December 1st, and continuing the +work slowly and indifferently. On the 15th of the month the nest was not +yet finished. This, I said, indicates a mild winter; and, sure enough, +the season was one of the mildest known for many years. The rats had +little use for their house. + +Again, in the fall of 1880, while the weather-wise were wagging their +heads, some forecasting a mild, some a severe winter, I watched with +interest for a sign from my muskrats. About November 1st, a month +earlier than the previous year, they began their nest, and worked at it +with a will. They appeared to have just got tidings of what was coming. +If I had taken the hint so palpably given, my celery would not have been +frozen in the ground, and my apples caught in unprotected places. +When the cold wave struck us, about November 20th, my four-legged +"I-told-you-so's" had nearly completed their dwelling; it lacked only +the ridge-board, so to speak; it needed a little "topping out," to give +it a finished look. But this it never got. The winter had come to stay, +and it waxed more and more severe, till the unprecedented cold of the +last days of December must have astonished even the wise muskrats in +their snug retreat. I approached their nest at this time, a white mound +upon the white, deeply frozen surface of the pond, and wondered if +there was any life in that apparent sepulchre. I thrust my walking-stick +sharply into it, when there was a rustle and a splash into the water, +as the occupant made his escape. What a damp basement that house has, I +thought, and what a pity to rout out a peaceful neighbor out of his bed +in this weather and into such a state of things as this! But water does +not wet the muskrat; his fur is charmed, and not a drop penetrates +it. Where the ground is favorable, the muskrats do not build these +mound-like nests, but burrow into the bank a long distance, and +establish their winter-quarters there. + +Shall we not say, then, in view of the above facts, that this little +creature is weather-wise? The hitting of the mark twice might be +mere good luck; but three bull's-eyes in succession is not a mere +coincidence; it is a proof of skill. The muskrat is not found in the Old +World, which is a little singular, as other rats so abound there, and +as those slow-going English streams especially, with their grassy banks, +are so well suited to him. The water-rat of Europe is smaller, but of +similar nature and habits. The muskrat does not hibernate like some +rodents, but is pretty active all winter. In December I noticed in my +walk where they had made excursions of a few yards to an orchard for +frozen apples. One day, along a little stream, I saw a mink track amid +those of the muskrat; following it up, I presently came to blood and +other marks of strife upon the snow beside a stone wall. Looking in +between the stones, I found the carcass of the luckless rat, with its +head and neck eaten away. The mink had made a meal of him. + + + + +II. CHEATING THE SQUIRRELS. + + +FOR the largest and finest chestnuts I had last fall I was indebted to +the gray squirrels. Walking through the early October woods one day, I +came upon a place where the ground was thickly strewn with very large +unopened chestnut burs. On examination I found that every bur had been +cut square off with about an inch of the stem adhering, and not one +had been left on the tree. It was not accident, then, but design. Whose +design? The squirrels'. The fruit was the finest I had ever seen in the +woods, and some wise squirrel had marked it for his own. The burs were +ripe, and had just begun to divide, not "threefold," but fourfold, "to +show the fruit within." The squirrel that had taken all this pains had +evidently reasoned with himself thus: "Now, these are extremely fine +chestnuts, and I want them; if I wait till the burs open on the tree the +crows and jays will be sure to carry off a great many of the nuts before +they fall; then, after the wind has rattled out what remain, there are +the mice, the chipmunks, the red squirrels, the raccoons, the grouse, to +say nothing of the boys and the pigs, to come in for their share; so I +will forestall events a little; I will cut off the burs when they have +matured, and a few days of this dry October weather will cause everyone +of them to open on the ground; I shall be on hand in the nick of time to +gather up my nuts." The squirrel, of course, had to take the chances of +a prowler like myself coming along, but he had fairly stolen a march on +his neighbors. As I proceeded to collect and open the burs, I was +half prepared to hear an audible protest from the trees about, for I +constantly fancied myself watched by shy but jealous eyes. It is an +interesting inquiry how the squirrel knew the burs would open if left to +know, but thought the experiment worth trying. + +The gray squirrel is peculiarly an American product, and might serve +very well as a national emblem. The Old World can beat us on rats and +mice, but we are far ahead on squirrels, having five or six species to +Europe's one. + + + + +III. FOX AND HOUND. + + +I STOOD on a high hill or ridge one autumn day and saw a hound run a fox +through the fields far beneath me. What odors that fox must have shaken +out of himself, I thought, to be traced thus easily, and how great their +specific gravity not to have been blown away like smoke by the breeze! +The fox ran a long distance down the hill, keeping within a few feet of +a stone wall; then turned a right angle and led off for the mountain, +across a plowed field and a succession of pasture lands. In about +fifteen minutes the hound came in full blast with her nose in the air, +and never once did she put it to the ground while in my sight. When she +came to the stone wall she took the other side from that taken by the +fox, and kept about the same distance from it, being thus separated +several yards from his track, with the fence between her and it. At the +point where the fox turned sharply to the left, the hound overshot a few +yards, then wheeled, and feeling the air a moment with her nose, took +up the scent again and was off on his trail as unerringly as fate. It +seemed as if the fox must have sowed himself broadcast as he went along, +and that his scent was so rank and heavy that it settled in the hollows +and clung tenaciously to the bushes and crevices in the fence. I thought +I ought to have caught a remnant of it as I passed that way some minutes +later, but I did not. But I suppose it was not that the light-footed fox +so impressed himself upon the ground he ran over, but that the sense of +the hound was so keen. To her sensitive nose these tracks steamed +like hot cakes, and they would not have cooled off so as to be +undistinguishable for several hours. For the time being she had but one +sense: her whole soul was concentrated in her nose. + +It is amusing when the hunter starts out of a winter morning to see his +hound probe the old tracks to determine how recent they are. He sinks +his nose down deep in the snow so as to exclude the air from above, then +draws a long full breath, giving sometimes an audible snort. If there +remains the least effluvium of the fox the hound will detect it. If +it be very slight it only sets his tail wagging; if it be strong it +unloosens his tongue. + +Such things remind one of the waste, the friction that is going on all +about us, even when the wheels of life run the most smoothly. A fox +cannot trip along the top of a stone wall so lightly but that he will +leave enough of himself to betray his course to the hound for hours +afterward. When the boys play "hare and hounds" the hare scatters bits +of paper to give a clew to the pursuers, but he scatters himself much +more freely if only our sight and scent were sharp enough to detect the +fragments. Even the fish leave a trail in the water, and it is said the +otter will pursue them by it. The birds make a track in the air, only +their enemies hunt by sight rather than by scent. The fox baffles the +hound most upon a hard crust of frozen snow; the scent will not hold to +the smooth, bead-like granules. + +Judged by the eye alone, the fox is the lightest and most buoyant +creature that runs. His soft wrapping of fur conceals the muscular play +and effort that is so obvious in the hound that pursues him, and he +comes bounding along precisely as if blown by a gentle wind. His massive +tail is carried as if it floated upon the air by its own lightness. + +The hound is not remarkable for his fleetness, but how he will +hang!--often running late into the night and sometimes till morning, +from ridge to ridge, from peak to peak; now on the mountain, now +crossing the valley, now playing about a large slope of uplying pasture +fields. At times the fox has a pretty well-defined orbit, and the hunter +knows where to intercept him. Again he leads off like a comet, quite +beyond the system of hills and ridges upon which he was started, and his +return is entirely a matter of conjecture; but if the day be not more +than half spent, the chances are that the fox will be back before night, +though the sportsman's patience seldom holds out that long. + +The hound is a most interesting dog. How solemn and long-visaged he +is--how peaceful and well-disposed! He is the Quaker among dogs. All +the viciousness and currishness seem to have been weeded out of him; +he seldom quarrels, or fights, or plays, like other dogs. Two strange +hounds, meeting for the first time, behave as civilly toward each other +as if two men. I know a hound that has an ancient, wrinkled, human, +far-away look that reminds one of the bust of Homer among the Elgin +marbles. He looks like the mountains toward which his heart yearns so +much. + +The hound is a great puzzle to the farm dog; the latter, attracted by +his baying, comes barking and snarling up through the fields bent on +picking a quarrel; he intercepts the hound, snubs and insults and annoys +him in every way possible, but the hound heeds him not; if the dog +attacks him he gets away as best he can, and goes on with the trail; the +cur bristles and barks and struts about for a while, then goes back to +the house, evidently thinking the hound a lunatic, which he is for the +time being--a monomaniac, the slave and victim of one idea. I saw the +master of a hound one day arrest him in full course to give one of the +hunters time to get to a certain runaway; the dog cried and struggled to +free himself and would listen neither to threats nor caresses. Knowing +he must be hungry, I offered him my lunch, but he would not touch it. I +put it in his mouth, but he threw it contemptuously from him. We coaxed +and petted and reassured him, but he was under a spell; he was bereft of +all thought or desire but the one passion to pursue that trail. + + + + +IV. THE WOODCHUCK + + +Writers upon rural England and her familiar natural history make no +mention of the marmot or woodchuck. In Europe this animal seems to +be confined to high mountainous districts, as on our Pacific slope, +burrowing near the snow line. It is more social or gregarious than the +American species, living in large families like our prairie-dog. In +the Middle and Eastern States our woodchuck takes the place, in some +respects, of the English rabbit, burrowing in every hillside and under +every stone wall and jutting ledge and large bowlder, from whence it +makes raids upon the grass and clover and sometimes upon the garden +vegetables. It is quite solitary in its habits, seldom more than one +inhabiting the same den, unless it be a mother and her young. It is not +now so much a wood chuck as a field chuck. Occasionally, however, one +seems to prefer the woods, and is not seduced by the sunny slopes and +the succulent grass, but feeds, as did his fathers before him, upon +roots and twigs, the bark of young trees, and upon various wood plants. + +One summer day, as I was swimming across a broad, deep pool in the creek +in a secluded place in the woods, I saw one of these sylvan chucks amid +the rocks but a few feet from the edge of the water where I proposed to +touch. He saw my approach, but doubtless took me for some water-fowl, +or for some cousin of his of the muskrat tribe; for he went on with his +feeding, and regarded me not till I paused within ten feet of him and +lifted myself up. Then he did not know me; having, perhaps, never seen +Adam in his simplicity, but he twisted his nose around to catch my +scent; and the moment he had done so he sprang like a jumping-jack and +rushed into his den with the utmost precipitation. + +The woodchuck is the true serf among our animals; he belongs to the +soil, and savors of it. He is of the earth, earthy. There is generally +a decided odor about his dens and lurking-places, but it is not at all +disagreeable in the clover-scented air, and his shrill whistle, as he +takes to his hole or defies the farm dog from the interior of the stone +wall, is a pleasant summer sound. In form and movement the woodchuck is +not captivating. His body is heavy and flabby. Indeed, such a flaccid, +fluid, pouchy carcass, I have never before seen. It has absolutely no +muscular tension or rigidity, but is as baggy and shaky as a skin +filled with water. Let the rifleman shoot one while it lies basking on +a sidelong rock, and its body slumps off, and rolls and spills down the +hill, as if it were a mass of bowels only. The legs of the woodchuck are +short and stout, and made for digging rather than running. The latter +operation he performs by short leaps, his belly scarcely clearing the +ground. For a short distance he can make very good time, but he +seldom trusts himself far from his hole, and when surprised in that +predicament, makes little effort to escape, but, grating his teeth, +looks the danger squarely in the face. + +I knew a farmer in New York who had a very large bob-tailed churn-dog by +the name of Cuff. The farmer kept a large dairy and made a great deal of +butter, and it was the business of Cuff to spend nearly the half of each +summer day treading the endless round of the churning-machine. During +the remainder of the day he had plenty of time to sleep, and rest, and +sit on his hips and survey the landscape. One day, sitting thus, he +discovered a woodchuck about forty rods from the house, on a steep +side-hill, feeding about near his hole, which was beneath a large rock. +The old dog, forgetting his stiffness, and remembering the fun he had +had with woodchucks in his earlier days, started off at his highest +speed, vainly hoping to catch this one before he could get to his hole. +But the woodchuck, seeing the dog come laboring up the hill, sprang to +the mouth of his den, and, when his pursuer was only a few rods off, +whistled tauntingly and went in. This occurred several times, the old +dog marching up the hill, and then marching down again, having had his +labor for his pains. I suspect that he revolved the subject in his mind +while he revolved the great wheel of the churning-machine, and that +some turn or other brought him a happy thought, for next time he showed +himself a strategist. Instead of giving chase to the woodchuck when +first discovered, he crouched down to the ground, and, resting his head +on his paws, watched him. The woodchuck kept working away from the hole, +lured by the tender clover, but, not unmindful of his safety, +lifted himself up on his haunches every few moments and surveyed the +approaches. Presently, after the woodchuck had let himself down from one +of these attitudes of observation, and resumed his feeding, Cuff started +swiftly but stealthily up the hill, precisely in the attitude of a cat +when she is stalking a bird. When the woodchuck rose up again, Cuff was +perfectly motionless and half hid by the grass. When he again resumed +his clover, Cuff sped up the hill as before, this time crossing a fence, +but in a low place, and so nimbly that he was not discovered. Again the +wood chuck was on the outlook, again Cuff was motionless and hugging the +ground. As the dog nears his victim he is partially hidden by a swell in +the earth, but still the woodchuck from his outlook reports "all right," +when Cuff, having not twice as far to run as the 'chuck, throws all +stealthiness aside and rushes directly for the hole. At that moment the +woodchuck discovers his danger, and, seeing that it is a race for life, +leaps as I never saw marmot leap before. But he is two seconds too late, +his retreat is cut off, and the powerful jaws of the old dog close upon +him. + +The next season Cuff tried the same tactics again with like success; but +when the third woodchuck had taken up his abode at the fatal hole, +the old churner's wits and strength had begun to fail him, and he was +baffled in each attempt to capture the animal. + +The woodchuck always burrows on a side-hill. This enables him to guard +against being drowned out, by making the termination of the hole higher +than the entrance. He digs in slantingly for about two or three feet, +then makes a sharp upward turn and keeps nearly parallel with the +surface of the ground for a distance of eight or ten feet farther, +according to the grade. Here he makes his nest and passes the winter, +holing up in October or November and coming out again in April. This is +a long sleep, and is rendered possible only by the amount of fat with +which the system has become stored during the summer. The fire of life +still burns, but very faintly and slowly, as with the draughts all +closed and the ashes heaped up. Respiration is continued, but at longer +intervals, and all the vital processes are nearly at a standstill. Dig +one out during hibernation (Audubon did so), and you find it a mere +inanimate ball, that suffers itself to be moved and rolled about +without showing signs of awakening. But bring it in by the fire, and it +presently unrolls and opens its eyes, and crawls feebly about, and if +left to itself will seek some dark hole or corner, roll itself up again, +and resume its former condition. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes and, Other +Papers, by John Burroughs + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS AND BEES *** + +***** This file should be named 3163-8.txt or 3163-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/6/3163/ + +Produced by Patricia C. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes and, Other Papers + +Author: John Burroughs + +Commentator: Mary E. Burt + +Release Date: January 17, 2009 [EBook #3163] +Last Updated: February 1, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS AND BEES *** + + + + +Produced by Patricia C. Franks, Lisa Carter, Danette Dulny, +Charles Duvall, Cheri Ripley, Cheryl Sullivan, and David Widger + + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + BIRDS AND BEES <br /><br /> SHARP EYES <br /><br /> AND OTHER PAPERS + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By John Burroughs + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + With An Introduction By Mary E. Burt + </h3> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + And A Biographical Sketch + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_INTR"> INTRODUCTION. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> <b>BIRDS.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> BIRD ENEMIES. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> THE TRAGEDIES OF THE NESTS </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> <b>BEES.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> THE PASTORAL BEES </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> <b>SHARP EYES AND OTHER PAPERS</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> SHARP EYES. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> THE APPLE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> WINTER NEIGHBORS. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_NOTE"> <b>NOTES BY THE WAY.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> I. THE WEATHER-WISE MUSKRAT </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> II. CHEATING THE SQUIRRELS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> III. FOX AND HOUND. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> IV. THE WOODCHUCK </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. + </p> + <p> + Nature chose the spring of the year for the time of John Burroughs's + birth. A little before the day when the wake-robin shows itself, that the + observer might be on hand for the sight, he was born in Roxbury, Delaware + County, New York, on the western borders of the Catskill Mountains; the + precise date was April 3, 1837. Until 1863 he remained in the country + about his native place, working on his father's farm, getting his + schooling in the district school and neighboring academies, and taking his + turn also as teacher. As he himself has hinted, the originality, + freshness, and wholesomeness of his writings are probably due in great + measure to the unliterary surroundings of his early life, which allowed + his mind to form itself on unconventional lines, and to the later + companionships with unlettered men, which kept him in touch with the + sturdy simplicities of life. + </p> + <p> + From the very beginnings of his taste for literature, the essay was his + favorite form. Dr. Johnson was the prophet of his youth, but he soon + transferred his allegiance to Emerson, who for many years remained his + "master enchanter." To cure himself of too close an imitation of the + Concord seer, which showed itself in his first magazine article, + Expression, he took to writing his sketches of nature, and about this time + he fell in with the writings of Thoreau, which doubtless confirmed and + encouraged him in this direction. But of all authors and of all men, Walt + Whitman, in his personality and as a literary force, seems to have made + the profoundest impression upon Mr. Burroughs, though doubtless Emerson + had a greater influence on his style of writing. + </p> + <p> + Expression appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in 1860, and most of his + contributions to literature have been in the form of papers first + published in the magazines, and afterwards collected into books. He more + than once paid tribute to his teachers in literature. His first book, now + out of print, was Notes on Walt Whitman, as Poet and Person, published in + 1867; and Whitman: A Study, which appeared in 1896, is a more extended + treatment of the man and his poetry and philosophy. Birds and Poets, too, + contains a paper on Whitman, entitled The Flight of the Eagle, besides an + essay on Emerson, whom he also treated incidentally in his paper, Matthew + Arnold on Emerson and Carlyle, in Indoor Studies; and the latter volume + contains his essay on Thoreau. + </p> + <p> + In the autumn of 1863 he went to Washington, and in the following January + entered the Treasury Department. He was for some years an assistant in the + office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and later chief of the + organization division of that Bureau. For some time he was keeper of one + of the vaults, and for a great part of the day his only duty was to be at + his desk. In these leisure hours his mind traveled off into the country, + where his previous life had been spent, and with the help of his pen, + always a faithful friend and magician, he lived over again those happy + days, now happier still with the glamour of all past pleasures. In this + way he wrote Wake-Robin and a part of Winter Sunshine. It must not be + supposed, however, that he was deprived of outdoor pleasures while at + Washington. On the contrary, he enjoyed many walks in the suburbs of the + capital, and in those days the real country came up to the very edges of + the city. His Spring at the Capital, Winter Sunshine, A March Chronicle, + and other papers bear the fruit of his life on the Potomac. He went to + England in 1871 on business for the Treasury Department, and again on his + own account a dozen years later. The record of the two visits is to be + found mainly in his chapters on An October Abroad, contained in the volume + Winter Sunshine, and in the papers gathered into the volume Fresh Fields. + </p> + <p> + He resigned his place in the Treasury in 1873, and was appointed receiver + of a broken national bank. Later, until 1885, his business occupation was + that of a National Bank Examiner. An article contributed by him to The + Century Magazine for March, 1881, on Broken Banks and Lax Directors, is + perhaps the only literary outcome of this occupation, but the keen powers + of observation, trained in the field of nature, could not fail to disclose + themselves in analyzing columns of figures. After leaving Washington Mr. + Burroughs bought a fruit farm at West Park, near Esopus, on the Hudson, + and there building his house from the stones found in his fields, has + given himself the best conditions for that humanizing of nature which + constitutes the charm of his books. He was married in 1857 to a lady + living in the New York village where he was at the time teaching. He keeps + his country home the year round, only occasionally visiting New York. The + cultivation of grapes absorbs the greater part of his time; but he has by + no means given over letters. His work, which has long found ready + acceptance both at home and abroad, is now passing into that security of + fame which comes from its entrance into the school-life of American + children. + </p> + <p> + Besides his outdoor sketches and the other papers already mentioned, Mr. + Burroughs has written a number of critical essays on life and literature, + published in Indoor Studies, and other volumes. He has also taken his + readers into his confidence in An Egotistical Chapter, the final one of + his Indoor Studies; and in the Introduction to the Riverside Edition of + his writings he has given us further glimpses of his private intellectual + life. + </p> + <p> + Probably no other American writer has a greater sympathy with, and a + keener enjoyment of, country life in all its phases—farming, + camping, fishing, walking—than has John Burroughs. His books are + redolent of the soil, and have such "freshness and primal sweetness," that + we need not be told that the pleasure he gets from his walks and + excursions is by no means over when he steps inside his doors again. As he + tells us on more than one occasion, he finds he can get much more out of + his outdoor experiences by thinking them over, and writing them out + afterwards. + </p> + <p> + Numbers 28, 36, and 92 of the Riverside Literature Series consist of + selections from Mr. Burroughs's books. No. 28, which is entitled Birds and + Bees, is made up of Bird Enemies and The Tragedies of the Nests from the + volume Signs and Seasons, An Idyl of the Honey-Bee from Pepacton, and The + Pastoral Bees from Locusts and Wild Honey. The Introduction, by Miss Mary + E. Burt, gives an account of the use of Mr. Burroughs's writings in + Chicago schools. + </p> + <p> + In No. 36, Sharp Eyes, and Other Papers, the initial paper, Sharp Eyes, is + drawn from Locusts and Wild Honey, The Apple comes from Winter Sunshine, A + Taste of Maine Birch and Winter Neighbors from Signs and Seasons, and + Notes by the Way (on muskrats, squirrels, foxes, and woodchucks) from + Pepacton. + </p> + <p> + The collection called A Bunch of Herbs, and Other Papers, forming No. 92 + of the Series, was designed with special reference to what the author has + to say of trees and flowers, and contains A Bunch of Herbs from Pepacton, + Strawberries from Locusts and Wild Honey, A March Chronicle and Autumn + Tides from Winter Sunshine, A Spray of Pine and A Spring Relish from Signs + and Seasons, and English Woods: A Contrast from Fresh Fields. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + INTRODUCTION. + </h2> + <p> + It is seldom that I find a book so far above children that I cannot share + its best thought with them. So when I first took up one of John + Burroughs's essays, I at once foresaw many a ramble with my pupils through + the enchanted country that is found within its breezy pages. To read John + Burroughs is to live in the woods and fields, and to associate intimately + with all their little timid inhabitants; to learn that— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "God made all the creatures and gave them our love and our fear, + To give sign, we and they are his children, one family here." +</pre> + <p> + When I came to use Pepacton in my class of the sixth grade, I soon found, + not only that the children read better but that they came rapidly to a + better appreciation of the finer bits of literature in their regular + readers, while their interest in their new author grew quickly to an + enthusiasm. Never was a little brother or sister more real to them than + was "Peggy Mel" as she rushed into the hive laden with stolen honey, while + her neighbors gossiped about it, or the stately elm that played sly + tricks, or the log which proved to be a good bedfellow because it did not + grumble. Burroughs's way of investing beasts, birds, insects, and + inanimate things with human motives is very pleasing to children. They + like to trace analogies between the human and the irrational, to think of + a weed as a tramp stealing rides, of Nature as a tell-tale when taken by + surprise. + </p> + <p> + The quiet enthusiasm of John Burroughs's essays is much healthier than the + over-wrought dramatic action which sets all the nerves a-quiver,—nerves + already stimulated to excess by the comedies and tragedies forced upon the + daily lives of children. It is especially true of children living in + crowded cities, shut away from the woods and hills, constant witnesses of + the effects of human passion, that they need the tonic of a quiet + literature rather than the stimulant of a stormy or dramatic one,—a + literature which develops gentle feelings, deep thought, and a relish for + what is homely and homespun, rather than a literature which calls forth + excited feelings. + </p> + <p> + The essays in this volume are those in which my pupils have expressed an + enthusiastic interest, or which, after careful reading, I have selected + for future use. I have found in them few pages so hard as to require over + much study, or a too frequent use of the dictionary. John Burroughs, more + than almost any other writer of the time, has a prevailing taste for + simple words and simple constructions. "He that runs may read" him. I have + found many children under eleven years of age who could read a whole page + without hesitating. If I discover some words which I foresee will cause + difficulty, I place such on the blackboard and rapidly pronounce and + explain them before the reading. Generally, however, I find the text the + best interpreter of its words. What follows explains what goes before, if + the child is led to read on to the end of the sentence. It is a mistake to + allow children to be frightened away from choice reading by an occasional + hard word. There is no better time than his reading lesson in which to + teach a child that the hard things of life are to be grappled with and + overcome. A mistake also, I think, is that toilsome process of explanation + which I sometimes find teachers following, under the impression that it + will be "parrot work" (as the stock phrase of the "institutes" has it) for + the pupils to read anything which they do not clearly and fully + comprehend. Teachers' definitions, in such cases, I have often noticed, + are no better than dictionary definitions, and surely everybody knows that + few more fruitless things than dictionary definitions are ever crammed + into the memory of a child. Better far give free play to the native + intelligence of the child, and trust it to apprehend, though it may not + yet comprehend nor be able to express its apprehension in definition. On + this subject I am glad to quote so high an authority as Sir Walter Scott: + "Indeed I rather suspect that children derive impulses of a powerful and + important kind from reading things which they do not comprehend, and + therefore that to write down to children's understanding is a mistake. Set + them on the scent and let them puzzle it out." + </p> + <p> + From time to time I have allowed my pupils to give me written reports from + memory of these essays, and have often found these little compositions + sparkling with pleasing information, or full of that childlike fun which + is characteristic of the author. I have marked the errors in these + exercises, and have given them back to the children to rewrite. Sometimes + the second papers show careful correction-and sometimes the mistakes are + partially neglected. Very often the child wishes to improve on the first + composition, and so adds new blunders as well as creates new interest. + </p> + <p> + There is a law of self-preservation in Nature, which takes care of + mistakes. Every human soul reaches toward the light in the most direct + path open to it, and will correct its own errors as soon as it is + developed far enough. There is no use in trying to force maturity; + teachers who trouble children beyond all reason, and worry over their + mistakes, are fumbling at the roots of young plants that will grow if they + are let alone long enough. + </p> + <p> + The average mechanical work (spelling, construction of sentences, writing, + etc.) is better under this method than when more time is devoted to the + mechanics and less to the thought of composition. I have seen many reports + of Burroughs's essays from the pens of children more pleasing and reliable + than the essays of some professional reviewers; in these papers I often + find the children adding little suggestions of their own; as, "Do birds + dream?" One of the girls says her bird "jumps in its sleep." A little ten + year old writes, "Weeds are unuseful flowers," and, "I like this book + because there are real things in it." Another thinks she "will look more + carefully" if she ever gets out into the country again. For the + development of close observation and good feeling toward the common things + of life, I know of no writings better than those of John Burroughs. + </p> + <p> + MARY E. BURT + </p> + <p> + JONES SCHOOL, CHICAGO, Sept. 1, 1887. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + BIRDS. + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BIRD ENEMIES. + </h2> + <p> + How surely the birds know their enemies! See how the wrens and robins and + bluebirds pursue and scold the cat, while they take little or no notice of + the dog! Even the swallow will fight the cat, and, relying too confidently + upon its powers of flight, sometimes swoops down so near to its enemy that + it is caught by a sudden stroke of the cat's paw. The only case I know of + in which our small birds fail to recognize their enemy is furnished by the + shrike; apparently the little birds do not know that this modest-colored + bird is an assassin. At least, I have never seen them scold or molest him, + or utter any outcries at his presence, as they usually do at birds of + prey. Probably it is because the shrike is a rare visitant, and is not + found in this part of the country during the nesting season of our + songsters. + </p> + <p> + But the birds have nearly all found out the trick the jay, and when he + comes sneaking through the trees in May and June in quest of eggs, he is + quickly exposed and roundly abused. It is amusing to see the robins hustle + him out of the tree which holds their nest. They cry "Thief, thief!" to + the top of their voices as they charge upon him, and the jay retorts in a + voice scarcely less complimentary as he makes off. + </p> + <p> + The jays have their enemies also, and need to keep an eye on their own + eggs. It would be interesting to know if jays ever rob jays, or crows + plunder crows; or is there honor among thieves even in the feathered + tribes? I suspect the jay is often punished by birds which are otherwise + innocent of nest-robbing. One season I found a jay's nest in a small cedar + on the side of a wooded ridge. It held five eggs, every one of which had + been punctured. Apparently some bird had driven its sharp beak through + their shells, with the sole intention of destroying them, for no part of + the contents of the eggs had been removed. It looked like a case of + revenge; as if some thrush or warbler, whose nest had suffered at the + hands of the jays, had watched its opportunity, and had in this way + retaliated upon its enemies. An egg for an egg. The jays were lingering + near, very demure and silent, and probably ready to join a crusade against + nest-robbers. + </p> + <p> + The great bugaboo of the birds is the owl. The owl snatches them from off + their roosts at night, and gobbles up their eggs and young in their nests. + He is a veritable ogre to them, and his presence fills them with + consternation and alarm. + </p> + <p> + One season, to protect my early cherries I placed a large stuffed owl amid + the branches of the tree. Such a racket as there instantly began about my + grounds is not pleasant to think upon! The orioles and robins fairly + "shrieked out their affright." The news instantly spread in every + direction, and apparently every bird in town came to see that owl in the + cherry-tree, and every bird took a cherry, so that I lost more fruit than + if I had left the owl in-doors. With craning necks and horrified looks the + birds alighted upon the branches, and between their screams would snatch + off a cherry, as if the act was some relief to their outraged feelings. + </p> + <p> + The chirp and chatter of the young of birds which build in concealed or + inclosed places, like the woodpeckers, the house wren, the high-hole, the + oriole, is in marked contrast to the silence of the fledglings of most + birds that build open and exposed nests. The young of the sparrows,—unless + the social sparrow be an exception,—warblers, fly-catchers, + thrushes, never allow a sound to escape them; and on the alarm note of + their parents being heard, sit especially close and motionless, while the + young of chimney swallows, woodpeckers, and orioles are very noisy. The + latter, in its deep pouch, is quite safe from birds of prey, except + perhaps the owl. The owl, I suspect, thrusts its leg into the cavities of + woodpeckers and into the pocket-like nest of the oriole, and clutches and + brings forth the birds in its talons. In one case which I heard of, a + screech-owl had thrust its claw into a cavity in a tree, and grasped the + head of a red-headed woodpecker; being apparently unable to draw its prey + forth, it had thrust its own round head into the hole, and in some way + became fixed there, and had thus died with the woodpecker in its talons. + </p> + <p> + The life of birds is beset with dangers and mishaps of which we know + little. One day, in my walk, I came upon a goldfinch with the tip of one + wing securely fastened to the feathers of its rump, by what appeared to be + the silk of some caterpillar. The bird, though uninjured, was completely + crippled, and could not fly a stroke. Its little body was hot and panting + in my hands, as I carefully broke the fetter. Then it darted swiftly away + with a happy cry. A record of all the accidents and tragedies of bird life + for a single season would show many curious incidents. A friend of mine + opened his box-stove one fall to kindle a fire in it, when he beheld in + the black interior the desiccated forms of two bluebirds. The birds had + probably taken refuge in the chimney during some cold spring storm, and + had come down the pipe to the stove, from whence they were unable to + ascend. A peculiarly touching little incident of bird life occurred to a + caged female canary. Though unmated, it laid some eggs, and the happy bird + was so carried away by her feelings that she would offer food to the eggs, + and chatter and twitter, trying, as it seemed, to encourage them to eat! + The incident is hardly tragic, neither is it comic. + </p> + <p> + Certain birds nest in the vicinity of our houses and outbuildings, or even + in and upon them, for protection from their enemies, but they often thus + expose themselves to a plague of the most deadly character. + </p> + <p> + I refer to the vermin with which their nests often swarm, and which kill + the young before they are fledged. In a state of nature this probably + never happens; at least I have never seen or heard of it happening to + nests placed in trees or under rocks. It is the curse of civilization + falling upon the birds which come too near man. The vermin, or the germ of + the vermin, is probably conveyed to the nest in hen's feathers, or in + straws and hairs picked up about the barn or hen-house. A robin's nest + upon your porch or in your summer-house will occasionally become an + intolerable nuisance from the swarms upon swarms of minute vermin with + which it is filled. The parent birds stem the tide as long as they can, + but are often compelled to leave the young to their terrible fate. + </p> + <p> + One season a phoebe-bird built on a projecting stone under the eaves of + the house, and all appeared to go well till the young were nearly fledged, + when the nest suddenly became a bit of purgatory. The birds kept their + places in their burning bed till they could hold no longer, when they + leaped forth and fell dead upon the ground. + </p> + <p> + After a delay of a week or more, during which I imagine the parent birds + purified themselves by every means known to them, the couple built another + nest a few yards from the first, and proceeded to rear a second brood; but + the new nest developed into the same bed of torment that the first did, + and the three young birds, nearly ready to fly, perished as they sat + within it. The parent birds then left the place as if it had been + accursed. + </p> + <p> + I imagine the smaller birds have an enemy in our native white-footed + mouse, though I have not proof enough to convict him. But one season the + nest of a chickadee which I was observing was broken up in a position + where nothing but a mouse could have reached it. The bird had chosen a + cavity in the limb of an apple-tree which stood but a few yards from the + house. The cavity was deep, and the entrance to it, which was ten feet + from the ground, was small. Barely light enough was admitted, when the sun + was in the most favorable position, to enable one to make out the number + of eggs, which was six, at the bottom of the dim interior. While one was + peering in and trying to get his head out of his own light, the bird would + startle him by a queer kind of puffing sound. She would not leave her nest + like most birds, but really tried to blow or scare the intruder away; and + after repeated experiments I could hardly refrain from jerking my head + back when that little explosion of sound came up from the dark interior. + One night, when incubation was about half finished, the nest was harried. + A slight trace of hair or fur at the entrance led me to infer that some + small animal was the robber. A weasel might have done it, as they + sometimes climb trees, but I doubt if either a squirrel or a rat could + have passed the entrance. + </p> + <p> + Probably few persons have ever suspected the cat-bird of being an + egg-sucker; I do not know that she has ever been accused of such a thing, + but there is something uncanny and disagreeable about her, which I at once + understood, when I one day caught her in the very act of going through a + nest of eggs. + </p> + <p> + A pair of the least fly-catchers, the bird which says chebec, chebec, and + is a small edition of the pewee, one season built their nest where I had + them for many hours each day under my observation. The nest was a very + snug and compact structure placed in the forks of a small maple about + twelve feet from the ground. The season before, a red squirrel had harried + the nest of a wood-thrush in this same tree, and I was apprehensive that + he would serve the fly-catchers the same trick; so, as I sat with my book + in a summer-house near by, I kept my loaded gun within easy reach. One egg + was laid, and the next morning, as I made my daily inspection of the nest, + only a fragment of its empty shell was to be found. This I removed, + mentally imprecating the rogue of a red squirrel. The birds were much + disturbed by the event, but did not desert the nest, as I had feared they + would, but after much inspection of it and many consultations together, + concluded, it seems, to try again. Two more eggs were laid, when one day I + heard the birds utter a sharp cry, and on looking up I saw a cat-bird + perched upon the rim of the nest, hastily devouring the eggs. I soon + regretted my precipitation in killing her, because such interference is + generally unwise. It turned out that she had a nest of her own with five + eggs in a spruce-tree near my window. + </p> + <p> + Then this pair of little fly-catchers did what I had never seen birds do + before; they pulled the nest to pieces and rebuilt it in a peach-tree not + many rods away, where a brood was successfully reared. The nest was here + exposed to the direct rays of the noon-day sun, and to shield her young + when the heat was greatest, the mother-bird would stand above them with + wings slightly spread, as other birds have been know to do under like + circumstances. + </p> + <p> + To what extent the cat-bird is a nest-robber I have no evidence, but that + feline mew of hers, and that flirting, flexible tail, suggest something + not entirely bird-like. + </p> + <p> + Probably the darkest tragedy of the nest is enacted when a snake plunders + it. All birds and animals, so far I have observed, behave in a peculiar + manner toward a snake. They seem to feel something of the loathing toward + it that the human species experiences. The bark of a dog when he + encounters a snake is different from that which he gives out on any other + occasion; it is a mingled note of alarm, inquiry, and disgust. + </p> + <p> + One day a tragedy was enacted a few yards from where I was sitting with a + book; two song-sparrows trying to defend their nest against a black snake. + The curious, interrogating note of a chicken who had suddenly come upon + the scene in his walk caused me to look up from my reading. There were the + sparrows, with wings raised in a way peculiarly expressive of horror and + dismay, rushing about a low clump of grass and bushes. Then, looking more + closely, I saw the glistening form of the black snake and the quick + movement of his head as he tried to seize the birds. The sparrows darted + about and through the grass and weeds, trying to beat the snake off. Their + tails and wings were spread, and, panting with the heat and the desperate + struggle, they presented a most singular spectacle. They uttered no cry, + not a sound escaped them; they were plainly speechless with horror and + dismay. Not once did they drop their wings, and the peculiar expression of + those uplifted palms, as it were, I shall never forget. It occurred to me + that perhaps here was a case of attempted bird-charming on the part of the + snake, so I looked on from behind the fence. The birds charged the snake + and harassed him from every side, but were evidently under no spell save + that of courage in defending their nest. Every moment or two I could see + the head and neck of the serpent make a sweep at the birds, when the one + struck at would fall back, and the other would renew the assault from the + rear. There appeared to be little danger that the snake could strike and + hold one of the birds, though I trembled for them, they were so bold and + approached so near to the snake's head. Time and again he sprang at them, + but without success. How the poor things panted, and held up their wings + appealingly! Then the snake glided off to the near fence, barely escaping + the stone which I hurled at him. I found the nest rifled and deranged; + whether it had contained eggs or young I know not. The male sparrow had + cheered me many a day with his song, and I blamed myself for not having + rushed at once to the rescue, when the arch enemy was upon him. There is + probably little truth in the popular notion that snakes charm birds. The + black snake is the most subtle, alert, and devilish of our snakes, and I + have never seen him have any but young, helpless birds in his mouth. + </p> + <p> + We have one parasitical bird, the cow-bird, so-called because it walks + about amid the grazing cattle and seizes the insects which their heavy + tread sets going, which is an enemy of most of the smaller birds. It drops + its egg in the nest of the song-sparrow, the social sparrow, the + snow-bird, the vireos, and the wood-warblers, and as a rule it is the only + egg in the nest that issues successfully. Either the eggs of the rightful + owner of the nest are not hatched, or else the young are overridden and + overreached by the parasite and perish prematurely. + </p> + <p> + Among the worst enemies of our birds are the so-called "collectors," men + who plunder nests and murder their owners in the name of science. Not the + genuine ornithologist, for no one is more careful of squandering bird life + than he; but the sham ornithologist, the man whose vanity or affectation + happens to take an ornithological turn. He is seized with an itching for a + collection of eggs and birds because it happens to be the fashion, or + because it gives him the air of a man of science. But in the majority of + cases the motive is a mercenary one; the collector expects to sell these + spoils of the groves and orchards. Robbing the nests and killing birds + becomes a business with him. He goes about it systematically, and becomes + expert in circumventing and slaying our songsters. Every town of any + considerable size is infested with one or more of these bird highwaymen, + and every nest in the country round about that the wretches can lay hands + on is harried. Their professional term for a nest of eggs is "a clutch," a + word that well expresses the work of their grasping, murderous fingers. + They clutch and destroy in the germ the life and music of the woodlands. + Certain of our natural history journals are mainly organs of communication + between these human weasels. They record their exploits at nest-robbing + and bird-slaying in their columns. One collector tells with gusto how he + "worked his way" through an orchard, ransacking every tree, and leaving, + as he believed, not one nest behind him. He had better not be caught + working his way through my orchard. Another gloats over the number of + Connecticut warblers—a rare bird—he killed in one season in + Massachusetts. Another tells how a mocking-bird appeared in southern New + England and was hunted down by himself and friend, its eggs "clutched," + and the bird killed. Who knows how much the bird lovers of New England + lost by that foul deed? The progeny of the birds would probably have + returned to Connecticut to breed, and their progeny, or a part of them, + the same, till in time the famous songster would have become a regular + visitant to New England. In the same journal still another collector + describes minutely how he outwitted three humming birds and captured their + nests and eggs,—a clutch he was very proud of. A Massachusetts bird + harrier boasts of his clutch of the egg's of that dainty little warbler, + the blue yellow-back. One season he took two sets, the next five sets, the + next four sets, besides some single eggs, and the next season four sets, + and says he might have found more had he had more time. One season he + took, in about twenty days, three from one tree. I have heard of a + collector who boasted of having taken one hundred sets of the eggs of the + marsh wren, in a single day; of another, who took in the same time, thirty + nests of the yellow-breasted chat; and of still another, who claimed to + have taken one thousand sets of eggs of different birds in one season. A + large business has grown up under the influence of this collecting craze. + One dealer in eggs has those of over five hundred species. He says that + his business in 1883 was twice that of 1882; in 1884 it was twice that of + 1883, and so on. Collectors vie with each other in the extent and variety + of their cabinets. They not only obtain eggs in sets, but aim to have a + number of sets of the same bird so as to show all possible variations. I + hear of a private collection that contains twelve sets of kingbirds' eggs, + eight sets of house-wrens' eggs, four sets mocking-birds' eggs, etc.; sets + of eggs taken in low trees, high trees, medium trees; spotted sets, dark + sets, plain sets, and light sets of the same species of bird. Many + collections are made on this latter plan. + </p> + <p> + Thus are our birds hunted and cut off and all in the name of science; as + if science had not long ago finished with these birds. She has weighed and + measured, and dissected, and described them, and their nests, and eggs, + and placed them in her cabinet; and the interest of science and of + humanity now demands that this wholesale nest-robbing cease. These + incidents I have given above, it is true, are but drops in the bucket, but + the bucket would be more than full if we could get all the facts. Where + one man publishes his notes, hundreds, perhaps thousands, say nothing, but + go as silently about their nest-robbing as weasels. + </p> + <p> + It is true that the student of ornithology often feels compelled to take + bird-life. It is not an easy matter to "name all the birds without a gun," + though an opera-glass will often render identification entirely certain, + and leave the songster unharmed; but once having mastered the birds, the + true ornithologist leaves his gun at home. This view of the case may not + be agreeable to that desiccated mortal called the "closet naturalist," but + for my own part the closet naturalist is a person with whom I have very + little sympathy. He is about the most wearisome and profitless creature in + existence. With his piles of skins, his cases of eggs, his laborious + feather-splitting, and his outlandish nomenclature, he is not only the + enemy of the birds but the enemy of all those who would know them rightly. + </p> + <p> + Not the collectors alone are to blame for the diminishing numbers of our + wild birds, but a large share of the responsibility rests upon quite a + different class of persons, namely, the milliners. False taste in dress is + as destructive to our feathered friends as are false aims in science. It + is said that the traffic in the skins of our brighter plumaged birds, + arising from their use by the milliners, reaches to hundreds of thousands + annually. I am told of one middleman who collected from the shooters in + one district, in four months, seventy thousand skins. It is a barbarous + taste that craves this kind of ornamentation. Think of a woman or girl of + real refinement appearing upon the street with her head gear adorned with + the scalps of our songsters! + </p> + <p> + It is probably true that the number of our birds destroyed by man is but a + small percentage of the number cut off by their natural enemies; but it is + to be remembered that those he destroys are in addition to those thus cut + off, and that it is this extra or artificial destruction that disturbs the + balance of nature. The operation of natural causes keeps the birds in + check, but the greed of the collectors and milliners tends to their + extinction. + </p> + <p> + I can pardon a man who wishes to make a collection of eggs and birds for + his own private use, if he will content himself with one or two specimens + of a kind, though he will find any collection much less satisfactory and + less valuable than he imagines, but the professional nest-robber and skin + collector should be put down, either by legislation or with dogs and + shotguns. + </p> + <p> + I have remarked above that there is probably very little truth in the + popular notion that snakes can "charm" birds. But two of my correspondents + have each furnished me with an incident from his own experience, which + seems to confirm the popular belief. One of them writes from Georgia as + follows:— + </p> + <p> + "Some twenty-eight years ago I was in Calaveras County, California, + engaged in cutting lumber. One day in coming out of the camp or cabin, my + attention was attracted to the curious action of a quail in the air, + which, instead of flying low and straight ahead as usual, was some fifty + feet high, flying in a circle, and uttering cries of distress. I watched + the bird and saw it gradually descend, and following with my eye in a line + from the bird to the ground saw a large snake with head erect and some ten + or twelve inches above the ground, and mouth wide open, and as far as I + could see, gazing intently on the quail (I was about thirty feet from the + snake). The quail gradually descended, its circles growing smaller and + smaller and all the time uttering cries of distress, until its feet were + within two or three inches of the mouth of the snake; when I threw a + stone, and though not hitting the snake, yet struck the ground so near as + to frighten him, and he gradually started off. The quail, however, fell to + the ground, apparently lifeless. I went forward and picked it up and found + it was thoroughly overcome with fright, its little heart beating as if it + would burst through the skin. After holding it in my hand a few moments it + flew away. I then tried to find the snake, but could not. I am unable to + say whether the snake was venomous or belonged to the constricting family, + like the black snake. I can well recollect it was large and moved off + rather slow. As I had never seen anything of the kind before, it made a + great impression on my mind, and after the lapse of so long a time, the + incident appears as vivid to me as though it had occurred yesterday." + </p> + <p> + It is not probable that the snake had its mouth open; its darting tongue + may have given that impression. + </p> + <p> + The other incident comes to me from Vermont. "While returning from church + in 1876," says the writer, "as I was crossing a bridge... I noticed a + striped snake in the act of charming a song-sparrow. They were both upon + the sand beneath the bridge. The snake kept his head swaying slowly from + side to side, and darted his tongue out continually. The bird, not over a + foot away, was facing the snake, hopping from one foot to the other, and + uttering a dissatisfied little chirp. I watched them till the snake seized + the bird, having gradually drawn nearer. As he seized it, I leaped over + the side of the bridge; the snake glided away and I took up the bird, + which he had dropped. It was too frightened to try to fly and I carried it + nearly a mile before it flew from my open hand." + </p> + <p> + If these observers are quite sure of what they saw, then undoubtedly + snakes have the power to draw birds within their grasp. I remember that my + mother told me that while gathering wild strawberries she had on one + occasion come upon a bird fluttering about the head of a snake as if held + there by a spell. On her appearance, the snake lowered its head and made + off, and the panting bird flew away. A neighbor of mine killed a black + snake which had swallowed a full-grown red squirrel, probably captured by + the same power of fascination. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE TRAGEDIES OF THE NESTS + </h2> + <p> + The life of the birds, especially of our migratory song-birds, is a series + of adventures and of hair-breadth escapes by flood and field. Very few of + them probably die a natural death, or even live out half their appointed + days. The home instinct is strong in birds as it is in most creatures; and + I am convinced that every spring a large number of those which have + survived the Southern campaign return to their old haunts to breed. A + Connecticut farmer took me out under his porch, one April day, and showed + me a phoebe bird's nest six stories high. The same bird had no doubt + returned year after year; and as there was room for only one nest upon her + favorite shelf, she had each season reared a new superstructure upon the + old as a foundation. I have heard of a white robin—an albino—that + nested several years in succession in the suburbs of a Maryland city. A + sparrow with a very marked peculiarity of song I have heard several + seasons in my own locality. But the birds do not all live to return to + their old haunts: the bobolinks and starlings run a gauntlet of fire from + the Hudson to the Savannah, and the robins and meadow-larks and other + song-birds are shot by boys and pot-hunters in great numbers,—to say + nothing of their danger from hawks and owls. But of those that do return, + what perils beset their nests, even in the most favored localities! The + cabins of the early settlers, when the country was swarming with hostile + Indians, were not surrounded by such dangers. The tender households of the + birds are not only exposed to hostile Indians in the shape of cats and + collectors, but to numerous murderous and bloodthirsty animals, against + whom they have no defense but concealment. They lead the darkest kind of + pioneer life, even in our gardens and orchards, and under the walls of our + houses. Not a day or a night passes, from the time the eggs are laid till + the young are flown, when the chances are not greatly in favor of the nest + being rifled and its contents devoured,—by owls, skunks, minks, and + coons at night, and by crows, jays, squirrels, weasels, snakes, and rats + during the day. Infancy, we say, is hedged about by many perils; but the + infancy of birds is cradled and pillowed in peril. An old Michigan settler + told me that the first six children that were born to him died; malaria + and teething invariably carried them off when they had reached a certain + age; but other children were born, the country improved, and by and by the + babies weathered the critical period and the next six lived and grew up. + The birds, too, would no doubt persevere six times and twice six times, if + the season were long enough, and finally rear their family, but the waning + summer cuts them short, and but a few species have the heart and strength + to make even the third trial. + </p> + <p> + The first nest-builders in spring, like the first settlers near hostile + tribes, suffer the most casualties. A large portion of the nests of April + and May are destroyed; their enemies have been many months without eggs + and their appetites are keen for them. It is a time, too, when other food + is scarce, and the crows and squirrels are hard put. But the second nests + of June, and still more the nests of July and August, are seldom molested. + It is rarely that the nest of the goldfinch or the cedar-bird is harried. + </p> + <p> + My neighborhood on the Hudson is perhaps exceptionally unfavorable as a + breeding haunt for birds, owing to the abundance of fish-crows and of red + squirrels; and the season of which this chapter is mainly a chronicle, the + season of 1881, seems to have been a black-letter one even for this place, + for at least nine nests out of every ten that I observed during that + spring and summer failed of their proper issue. From the first nest I + noted, which was that of a bluebird,—built (very imprudently I + thought at the time) in a squirrel-hole in a decayed apple-tree, about the + last of April, and which came to naught, even the mother-bird, I suspect, + perishing by a violent death,—to the last, which was that of a + snow-bird, observed in August, among the Catskills, deftly concealed in a + mossy bank by the side of a road that skirted a wood, where the tall + thimble blackberries grew in abundance, from which the last young one was + taken, when it was about half grown, by some nocturnal walker or daylight + prowler, some untoward fate seemed hovering about them. It was a season of + calamities, of violent deaths, of pillage and massacre, among our + feathered neighbors. For the first time I noticed that the orioles were + not safe in their strong, pendent nests. Three broods were started in the + apple-trees, only a few yards from the house, where, for previous seasons, + the birds had nested without molestation; but this time the young were all + destroyed when about half grown. Their chirping and chattering, which was + so noticeable one day, suddenly ceased the next. The nests were probably + plundered at night, and doubtless by the little red screech-owl, which I + know is a denizen of these old orchards, living in the deeper cavities of + the trees. The owl could alight on the top of the nest, and easily thrust + his murderous claw down into its long pocket and seize the young and draw + them forth. The tragedy of one of the nests was heightened, or at least + made more palpable, by one of the half-fledged birds, either in its + attempt to escape or while in the clutches of the enemy, being caught and + entangled in one of the horse-hairs by which the nest was stayed and held + to the limb above. There it hung bruised and dead, gibbeted to its own + cradle. This nest was the theatre of another little tragedy later in the + season. Some time in August a bluebird, indulging its propensity to peep + and pry into holes and crevices, alighted upon it and probably inspected + the interior; but by some unlucky move it got its wings entangled in this + same fatal horse-hair. Its efforts to free itself appeared only to result + in its being more securely and hopelessly bound; and there it perished; + and there its form, dried and embalmed by the summer heats, was yet + hanging in September, the outspread wings and plumage showing nearly as + bright as in life. + </p> + <p> + A correspondent writes me that one of his orioles got entangled in a cord + while building her nest, and that though by the aid of a ladder he reached + and liberated her, she died soon afterward. He also found a "chippie" + (called also "hair bird") suspended from a branch by a horse-hair, beneath + a partly constructed nest. I heard of a cedar-bird caught and destroyed in + the same way, and of two young bluebirds, around whose legs a horse-hair + had become so tightly wound that the legs withered up and dropped off. The + birds became fledged, and left the nest with the others. Such tragedies + are probably quite common. + </p> + <p> + Before the advent of civilization in this country, the oriole probably + built a much deeper nest than it usually does at present. When now it + builds in remote trees and along the borders of the woods, its nest, I + have noticed, is long and gourd-shaped; but in orchards and near dwellings + it is only a deep cup or pouch. It shortens it up in proportion as the + danger lessens. Probably a succession of disastrous years, like the one + under review, would cause it to lengthen it again beyond the reach of + owl's talons or jay-bird's beak. + </p> + <p> + The first song-sparrow's nest I observed in the spring of 1881 was in the + field under a fragment of a board, the board being raised from the ground + a couple of inches by two poles. It had its full complement of eggs, and + probably sent forth a brood of young birds, though as to this I cannot + speak positively, as I neglected to observe it further. It was well + sheltered and concealed, and was not easily come at by any of its natural + enemies, save snakes and weasels. But concealment often avails little. In + May, a song-sparrow, that had evidently met with disaster earlier in the + season, built its nest in a thick mass of woodbine against the side of my + house, about fifteen feet from the ground. Perhaps it took the hint from + its cousin, the English sparrow. The nest was admirably placed, protected + from the storms by the overhanging eaves and from all eyes by the thick + screen of leaves. Only by patiently watching the suspicious bird, as she + lingered near with food in her beak, did I discover its whereabouts. That + brood is safe, I thought, beyond doubt. But it was not; the nest was + pillaged one night, either by an owl, or else by a rat that had climbed + into the vine, seeking an entrance to the house. The mother-bird, after + reflecting upon her ill-luck about a week, seemed to resolve to try a + different system of tactics and to throw all appearances of concealment + aside. She built a nest few yards from the house beside the drive, upon a + smooth piece of greensward. There was not a weed or a shrub or anything + whatever to conceal it or mark its site. The structure was completed and + incubation had begun before I discovered what was going on. "Well, well," + I said, looking down upon the bird almost at my feet, "this is going to + the other extreme indeed; now, the cats will have you." The desperate + little bird sat there day after day, looking like a brown leaf pressed + down in the short green grass. As the weather grew hot, her position + became very trying. It was no longer a question of keeping the eggs warm, + but of keeping them from roasting. The sun had no mercy on her, and she + fairly panted in the middle of the day. In such an emergency the male + robin has been known to perch above the sitting female and shade her with + his outstretched wings. But in this case there was no perch for the male + bird, had he been disposed to make a sunshade of himself. I thought to + lend a hand in this direction myself, and so stuck a leafy twig beside the + nest. This was probably an unwise interference; it guided disaster to the + spot; the nest was broken up, and the mother-bird was probably caught, as + I never saw her afterward. + </p> + <p> + For several previous summers a pair of kingbirds had reared, unmolested, a + brood of young in an apple-tree, only a few yards from the house; but + during this season disaster overtook them also. The nest was completed, + the eggs laid, and incubation had begun, when, one morning about sunrise, + I heard cries of distress and alarm proceed from the old apple-tree. + Looking out of the window I saw a crow, which I knew to be a fish-crow, + perched upon the edge of the nest, hastily bolting the eggs. The parent + birds, usually so ready for the attack, seemed over-come with grief and + alarm. They fluttered about in the most helpless and bewildered manner, + and it was not till the robber fled on my approach that they recovered + themselves and charged upon him. The crow scurried away with upturned, + threatening head, the furious kingbirds fairly upon his back. The pair + lingered around their desecrated nest for several days, almost silent, and + saddened by their loss, and then disappeared. They probably made another + trial elsewhere. + </p> + <p> + The fish-crow only fishes when it has destroyed all the eggs and young + birds it can find. It is the most despicable thief and robber among our + feathered creatures. From May to August, it is gorged with the fledglings + of the nest. It is fortunate that its range is so limited. In size it is + smaller than the common crow, and is a much less noble and dignified bird. + Its caw is weak and feminine—a sort of split and abortive caw, that + stamps it the sneak-thief it is. This crow is common farther south, but is + not found in this State, so far as I have observed, except in the valley + of the Hudson. + </p> + <p> + One season a pair of them built a nest in a Norway Spruce that stood amid + a dense growth of other ornamental trees near a large unoccupied house. + They sat down amid plenty. The wolf established himself in the fold. The + many birds—robins, thrushes, finches, vireos, pewees—that seek + the vicinity of dwellings (especially of these large country residences + with their many trees and park-like grounds), for the greater safety of + their eggs and young, were the easy and convenient victims of these + robbers. They plundered right and left, and were not disturbed till their + young were nearly fledged, when some boys, who had long before marked them + as their prize, rifled the nest. + </p> + <p> + The song-birds nearly all build low; their cradle is not upon the + tree-top. It is only birds of prey that fear danger from below more than + from above, and that seek the higher branches for their nests. A line five + feet from the ground would run above more than half the nests, and one ten + feet would bound more than three fourths of them. It is only the oriole + and the wood pewee that, as a rule, go higher than this. The crows and + jays and other enemies of the birds have learned to explore this belt + pretty thoroughly. But the leaves and the protective coloring of most + nests baffle them as effectually, no doubt as they do the professional + oölogist. The nest of the red-eyed vireo is one of the most artfully + placed in the wood. It is just beyond the point where the eye naturally + pauses in its search; namely, on the extreme end of the lowest branch of + the tree, usually four or five feet from the ground. One looks up and down + through the tree,—shoots his eye-beams into it as he might discharge + his gun at some game hidden there, but the drooping tip of that low + horizontal branch—who would think of pointing his piece just there? + If a crow or other marauder were to alight upon the branch or upon those + above it, the nest would be screened from him by the large leaf that + usually forms a canopy immediately above it. The nest-hunter standing at + the foot of the tree and looking straight before him, might discover it + easily, were it not for its soft, neutral gray tint which blends so + thoroughly with the trunks and branches of trees. Indeed, I think there is + no nest in the woods—no arboreal nest—so well concealed. The + last one I saw was a pendent from the end of a low branch of a maple, that + nearly grazed the clapboards of an unused hay-barn in a remote backwoods + clearing. I peeped through a crack and saw the old birds feed the nearly + fledged young within a few inches of my face. And yet the cow-bird finds + this nest and drops her parasitical egg in it. Her tactics in this as in + other cases are probably to watch the movements of the parent bird. She + may often be seen searching anxiously through the trees or bushes for a + suitable nest, yet she may still oftener be seen perched upon some good + point of observation watching the birds as they come and go about her. + There is no doubt that, in many cases, the cow-bird makes room for her own + illegitimate egg in the nest by removing one of the bird's own. When the + cow-bird finds two or more eggs in a nest in which she wishes to deposit + her own, she will remove one of them. I found a sparrow's nest with two + sparrow's eggs and one cow-bird's egg, another egg lying a foot or so + below it on the ground. I replaced the ejected egg, and the next day found + it again removed, and another cow-bird's egg in its place; I put it back + the second time, when it was again ejected, or destroyed, for I failed to + find it anywhere. Very alert and sensitive birds like the warblers often + bury the strange egg beneath a second nest built on top of the old. A + lady, living in the suburbs of an eastern city, one morning heard cries of + distress from a pair of house-wrens that had a nest in a honeysuckle on + her front porch. On looking out of the window, she beheld this little + comedy—comedy from her point of view, but no doubt grim-tragedy from + the point of view of the wrens; a cow-bird with a wren's egg in its beak + running rapidly along the walk with the outraged wrens forming a + procession behind it, screaming, scolding, and gesticulating as only these + voluble little birds can. The cow-bird had probably been surprised in the + act of violating the nest, and the wrens were giving her a piece of theirs + minds. + </p> + <p> + Every cow-bird is reared at the expense of two or more song-birds. For + every one of these dusky little pedestrians there amid the grazing cattle + there are two more sparrows, or vireos, or warblers, the less. It is a big + price to pay—two larks for a bunting-two sovereigns for a shilling; + but Nature does not hesitate occasionally to contradict herself in just + this way. The young of the cow-bird is disproportionately large and + aggressive, one might say hoggish. When disturbed it will clasp the nest + and scream, and snap its beak threateningly. One hatched out in a + song-sparrow's nest which was under my observation, and would soon have + overridden and overborne the young sparrow, which came out of the shell a + few hours later, had I not interfered from time to time and lent the young + sparrow a helping hand. Every day I would visit the nest and take the + sparrow out from under the pot-bellied interloper and place it on top so + that presently it was able to hold its own against its enemy. Both birds + became fledged and left the nest about the same time. Whether the race was + an even one after that, I know not. + </p> + <p> + I noted but two warblers' nests during that season, one of the + black-throated blue-back and one of the redstart,—the latter built + in an apple-tree but a few yards from a little rustic summer-house where I + idle away many summer days. The lively little birds, darting and flashing + about, attracted my attention for a week before I discovered their nest. + They probably built it by working early in the morning, before I appeared + upon the scene, as I never saw them with material in their beaks. Guessing + from their movements that the nest was in a large maple that stood near + by, I climbed the tree and explored it thoroughly, looking especially in + the forks of the branches, as the authorities say these birds build in a + fork. But no nest could I find. Indeed, how can one by searching find a + bird's nest? I overshot the mark; the nest was much nearer me, almost + under my very nose, and I discovered it, not by searching but by a casual + glance of the eye, while thinking of other matters. The bird was just + settling upon it as I looked up from my book and caught her in the act. + The nest was built near the end of a long, knotty, horizontal branch of an + apple-tree, but effectually hidden by the grouping of the leaves; it had + three eggs, one of which proved to be barren. The two young birds grew + apace, and were out of the nest early in the second week; but something + caught one of them the first night. The other probably grew to maturity, + as it disappeared from the vicinity with its parents after some days. + </p> + <p> + The blue-back's nest was scarcely a foot from the ground, in a little bush + situated in a low, dense wood of hemlock and beech and maple, amid the + Catskills,—a deep, massive, elaborate structure, in which the + sitting bird sank till her beak and tail alone were visible above the + brim. It was a misty, chilly day when I chanced to find the nest, and the + mother-bird knew instinctively that it was not prudent to leave her four + half incubated eggs uncovered and exposed for a moment. When I sat down + near the nest she grew very uneasy, and after trying in vain to decoy me + away by suddenly dropping from the branches and dragging herself over the + ground as if mortally wounded, she approached and timidly and half + doubtingly covered her eggs within two yards of where I sat. I disturbed + her several times to note her ways. There came to be something almost + appealing in her looks and manner, and she would keep her place on her + precious eggs till my outstretched hand was within a few feet of her. + Finally, I covered the cavity of the nest with a dry leaf. This she did + not remove with her beak, but thrust her head deftly beneath it and shook + it off upon the ground. Many of her sympathizing neighbors, attracted by + her alarm note, came and had a peep at the intruder and then flew away, + but the male bird did not appear upon the scene. The final history of this + nest I am unable to give, as I did not again visit it till late in the + season, when, of course, it was empty. + </p> + <p> + Years pass without my finding a brown-thrasher's nest; it is not a nest + you are likely to stumble upon in your walk; it is hidden as a miser hides + his gold, and watched as jealously. The male pours out his rich and + triumphant song from the tallest tree he can find, and fairly challenges + you to come and look for his treasures in his vicinity. But you will not + find them if you go. The nest is somewhere on the outer circle of his + song; he is never so imprudent as to take up his stand very near it. The + artists who draw those cosy little pictures of a brooding mother-bird with + the male perched but a yard away in full song, do not copy from nature. + The thrasher's nest I found thirty or forty rods from the point where the + male was wont to indulge in his brilliant recitative. It was in an open + field under a low ground-juniper. My dog disturbed the sitting bird as I + was passing near. The nest could be seen only by lifting up and parting + away the branches. All the arts of concealment had been carefully studied. + It was the last place you would think of looking, and, if you did look, + nothing was visible but the dense green circle of the low-spreading + juniper. When you approached, the bird would keep her place till you had + begun to stir the branches, when she would start out, and, just skimming + the ground, make a bright brown line to the near fence and bushes. I + confidently expected that this nest would escape molestation, but it did + not. Its discovery by myself and dog probably opened the door for ill + luck, as one day, not long afterward, when I peeped in upon it, it was + empty. The proud song of the male had ceased from his accustomed tree, and + the pair were seen no more in that vicinity. + </p> + <p> + The phoebe-bird is a wise architect, and perhaps enjoys as great an + immunity from danger, both in its person and its nest, as any other bird. + Its modest, ashen-gray suit is the color of the rocks where it builds, and + the moss of which it makes such free use gives to its nest the look of a + natural growth or accretion. But when it comes into the barn or under the + shed to build, as it so frequently does, the moss is rather out of place. + Doubtless in time the bird will take the hint, and when she builds in such + places will leave the moss out. I noted but two nests, the summer I am + speaking of: one, in a barn, failed of issue, on account of the rats, I + suspect, though the little owl may have been the depredator; the other, in + the woods, sent forth three young. This latter nest was most charmingly + and ingeniously placed. I discovered it while in quest of pond-lilies, in + a long, deep level stretch of water in the woods. A large tree had blown + over at the edge of the water, and its dense mass of up-turned roots, with + the black, peaty soil filling the interstices, was like the fragment of a + wall several feet high, rising from the edge of the languid current. In a + niche in this earthy wall, and visible and accessible only from the water, + a phoebe had built her nest, and reared her brood. I paddled my boat up + and came alongside prepared to take the family aboard. The young, nearly + ready to fly, were quite undisturbed by my presence, having probably been + assured that no danger need be apprehended from that side. It was not a + likely place for minks, or they would not have been so secure. + </p> + <p> + I noted but one nest of the wood pewee, and that, too, like so many other + nests, failed of issue. It was saddled upon a small dry limb of a + plane-tree that stood by the roadside, about forty feet from the ground. + Every day for nearly a week, as I passed by I saw the sitting bird upon + the nest. Then one morning she was not in her place, and on examination + the nest proved to be empty—robbed, I had no doubt, by the red + squirrels, as they were very abundant in its vicinity, and appeared to + make a clean sweep of every nest. The wood pewee builds an exquisite nest, + shaped and finished as if cast in a mould. It is modeled without and + within with equal neatness and art, like the nest of the humming-bird and + the little gray gnat-catcher. The material is much more refractory than + that used by either of these birds, being, in the present case, dry, fine + cedar twigs; but these were bound into a shape as rounded and compact as + could be moulded out of the most plastic material. Indeed, the nest of + this bird looks precisely like a large, lichen-covered, cup-shaped + excrescence of the limb upon which it is placed. And the bird, while + sitting, seems entirely at ease. Most birds seem to make very hard work of + incubation. It is a kind of martyrdom which appears to tax all their + powers of endurance. They have such a fixed, rigid, predetermined look, + pressed down into the nest and as motionless as if made of cast-iron. But + the wood pewee is an exception. She is largely visible above the rim of + the nest. Her attitude is easy and graceful; she moves her head this way + and that, and seems to take note of whatever goes on about her; and if her + neighbor were to drop in for a little social chat, she could doubtless do + her part. In fact, she makes light and easy work of what, to most other + birds, is such a serious and engrossing matter. If it does not look like + play with her, it at least looks like leisure and quiet contemplation. + </p> + <p> + There is no nest-builder that suffers more from crows and squirrels and + other enemies than the wood-thrush. It builds as openly and unsuspiciously + as if it thought the whole world as honest as itself. Its favorite place + is the fork of a sapling, eight or ten feet from the ground, where it + falls an easy prey to every nest-robber that comes prowling through the + woods and groves. It is not a bird that skulks and hides, like the + cat-bird, the brown-thrasher, the chat, or the cheewink, and its nest is + not concealed with the same art as theirs. Our thrushes are all frank, + open-mannered birds; but the veery and the hermit build upon the ground, + where they at least escape the crows, owls, and jays, and stand a better + chance to be overlooked, by the red squirrel and weasel also; while the + robin seeks the protection of dwellings and out-buildings. For years I + have not known the nest of a wood-thrush to succeed. During the season + referred to I observed but two, both apparently a second attempt, as the + season was well advanced, and both failures. In one case, the nest was + placed in a branch that an apple tree, standing near a dwelling, held out + over the highway. The structure was barely ten feet above the middle of + the road, and would just escape a passing load of hay. It was made + conspicuous by the use of a large fragment of newspaper in its foundation—an + unsafe material to build upon in most cases. Whatever else the press may + guard, this particular newspaper did not guard this nest from harm. It saw + the egg and probably the chick, but not the fledgeling. A murderous deed + was committed above the public highway, but whether in the open day or + under cover of darkness I have no means of knowing. The frisky red + squirrel was doubtless the culprit. The other nest was in a maple sapling, + within a few yards of the little rustic summer-house already referred to. + The first attempt of the season, I suspect, had failed in a more secluded + place under the hill; so the pair had come up nearer the house for + protection. The male sang in the trees near by for several days before I + chanced to see the nest. The very morning, I think, it was finished, I saw + a red squirrel exploring a tree but a few yards away; he probably knew + what the singing meant as well as I did. I did not see the inside of the + nest, for it was almost instantly deserted, the female having probably + laid a single egg, which the squirrel had devoured. + </p> + <p> + If I were a bird, in building my nest I should follow the example of the + bobolink, placing it in the midst of a broad meadow, where there was no + spear of grass, or flower or growth unlike another to mark its site. I + judge that the bobolink escapes the dangers to which I have adverted as + few or no other birds do. Unless the mowers come along at an earlier date + than she has anticipated, that is, before July lst, or a skunk goes nosing + through the grass, which is unusual, she is as safe as bird well can be in + the great open of nature. She selects the most monotonous and uniform + place she can find amid the daisies or the timothy and clover, and places + her simple structure upon the ground in the midst of it. There is no + concealment, except as the great conceals the little, as the desert + conceals the pebble, as the myriad conceals the unit. You may find the + nest once, if your course chances to lead you across it and your eye is + quick enough to note the silent brown bird as she darts quickly away; but + step three paces in the wrong direction, and your search will probably be + fruitless. My friend and I found a nest by accident one day, and then lost + it again one minute afterward. I moved away a few yards to be sure of the + mother-bird, charging my friend not to stir from his tracks. When I + returned, he had moved two paces, he said (he had really moved four), and + we spent a half hour stooping over the daisies and the buttercups, looking + for the lost clew. We grew desperate, and fairly felt the ground all over + with our hands, but without avail. I marked the spot with a bush, and came + the next day, and with the bush as a centre, moved about it in slowly + increasing circles, covering, I thought, nearly every inch of ground with + my feet, and laying hold of it with all the visual power that I could + command, till my patience was exhausted, and I gave up, baffled. I began + to doubt the ability of the parent birds themselves to find it, and so + secreted myself and watched. After much delay, the male bird appeared with + food in his beak, and satisfying himself that the coast was clear, dropped + into the grass which I had trodden down in my search. Fastening my eye + upon a particular meadow-lily, I walked straight to the spot, bent down, + and gazed long and intently into the grass. Finally my eye separated the + nest and its young from its surroundings. My foot had barely missed them + in my search, but by how much they had escaped my eye I could not tell. + Probably not by distance at all, but simply by unrecognition. They were + virtually invisible. The dark gray and yellowish brown dry grass and + stubble of the meadow-bottom were exactly copied in the color of the + half-fledged young. More than that, they hugged the nest so closely and + formed such a compact mass, that though there were five of them, they + preserved the unit of expression,—no single head or form was + defined; they were one, and that one was without shape or color, and not + separable, except by closest scrutiny, from the one of the meadow-bottom. + That nest prospered, as bobolinks' nests doubtless generally do; for, + notwithstanding the enormous slaughter of the birds during their fall + migrations by Southern sportsmen, the bobolink appears to hold its own, + and its music does not diminish in our Northern meadows. + </p> + <p> + Birds with whom the struggle for life is the sharpest seem to be more + prolific than those whose nest and young are exposed to fewer dangers. The + robin, the sparrow, the pewee, etc., will rear, or make the attempt to + rear, two and sometimes three broods in a season; but the bobolink, the + oriole, the kingbird, the goldfinch, the cedar-bird, the birds of prey, + and the woodpeckers, that build in safe retreats, in the trunks of trees, + have usually but a single brood. If the boblink reared two broods, our + meadows would swarm with them. + </p> + <p> + I noted three nests of the cedar-bird in August in a single orchard, all + productive, but all with one or more unfruitful eggs in them. The + cedar-bird is the most silent of our birds having but a single fine note, + so far as I have observed, but its manners are very expressive at times. + No bird known to me is capable of expressing so much silent alarm while on + the nest as this bird. As you ascend the tree and draw near it, it + depresses its plumage and crest, stretches up its neck, and becomes the + very picture of fear. Other birds, under like circumstances, hardly change + their expression at all till they launch into the air, when by their voice + they express anger rather than alarm. + </p> + <p> + I have referred to the red squirrel as a destroyer of the eggs and young + of birds. I think the mischief it does in this respect can hardly be over + estimated. Nearly all birds look upon it as their enemy, and attack and + annoy it when it appears near their breeding haunts. Thus, I have seen the + pewee, the cuckoo, the robin, and the wood-thrush pursuing it with angry + voice and gestures. A friend of mine saw a pair of robins attack one in + the top of a tall tree so vigorously that they caused it to lose its hold, + when it fell to the ground, and was so stunned by the blow as to allow him + to pick it up. If you wish the birds to breed and thrive in your orchard + and groves, kill every red squirrel that infests the place; kill every + weasel also. The weasel is a subtle and arch enemy of the birds. It climbs + trees and explores them with great ease and nimbleness. I have seen it do + so on several occasions. One day my attention was arrested by the angry + notes of a pair of brown-thrashers that were flitting from bush to bush + along an old stone row in a remote field. Presently I saw what it was that + excited them—three large red weasels, or ermines coming along the + stone wall, and leisurely and half playfully exploring every tree that + stood near it. They had probably robbed the thrashers. They would go up + the trees with great ease, and glide serpent-like out upon the main + branches. When they descended the tree they were unable to come straight + down, like a squirrel, but went around it spirally. How boldly they thrust + their heads out of the wall, and eyed me and sniffed me, as I drew near,—their + round, thin ears, their prominent, glistening, bead-like eyes, and the + curving, snake-like motions of the head and neck being very noticeable. + They looked like blood-suckers and egg-suckers. They suggested something + extremely remorseless and cruel. One could understand the alarm of the + rats when they discover one of these fearless, subtle, and circumventing + creatures threading their holes. To flee must be like trying to escape + death itself. I was one day standing in the woods upon a flat stone, in + what at certain seasons was the bed of a stream, when one of these weasels + came undulating along and ran under the stone upon which I was standing. + As I remained motionless, he thrust his wedge-shaped head, and turned it + back above the stone as if half in mind to seize my foot; then he drew + back, and presently went his way. These weasels often hunt in packs like + the British stoat. When I was a boy, my father one day armed me with an + old musket and sent me to shoot chipmunks around the corn. While watching + the squirrels, a troop of weasels tried to cross a bar-way where I sat, + and were so bent on doing it that I fired at them, boy-like, simply to + thwart their purpose. One of the weasels was disabled by my shot, but the + troop was not discouraged, and, after making several feints to cross, one + of them seized the wounded one and bore it over, and the pack disappeared + in the wall on the other side. + </p> + <p> + Let me conclude this chapter with two or three notes about this alert + enemy of the birds and the lesser animals, the weasel. + </p> + <p> + A farmer one day heard a queer growling sound in the grass; on approaching + the spot he saw two weasels contending over a mouse; each had hold of the + mouse pulling in opposite directions, and were so absorbed in the struggle + that the farmer cautiously put his hands down and grabbed them both by the + back of the neck. He put them in a cage, and offered them bread and other + food. This they refused to eat, but in a few days one of them had eaten + the other up, picking his bones clean and leaving nothing but the + skeleton. + </p> + <p> + The same farmer was one day in his cellar when two rats came out of a hole + near him in great haste, and ran up the cellar wall and along its top till + they came to a floor timber that stopped their progress, when they turned + at bay, and looked excitedly back along the course they had come. In a + moment a weasel, evidently in hot pursuit of them, came out of the hole, + and seeing the farmer, checked his course and darted back. The rats had + doubtless turned to give him fight, and would probably have been a match + for him. + </p> + <p> + The weasel seems to track its game by scent. A hunter of my acquaintance + was one day sitting in the woods, when he saw a red squirrel run with + great speed up a tree near him, and out upon a long branch, from which he + leaped to some rocks, and disappeared beneath them. In a moment a weasel + came in full course upon his trail, ran up the tree, then out along the + branch, from the end of which he leaped to the rocks as the squirrel did, + and plunged beneath them. + </p> + <p> + Doubtless the squirrel fell a prey to him. The squirrel's best game would + have been to have kept to the higher tree-tops, where he could easily have + distanced the weasel. But beneath the rocks he stood a very poor chance. I + have often wondered what keeps such an animal as the weasel in check, for + weasels are quite rare. They never need go hungry, for rats and squirrels + and mice and birds are everywhere. They probably do not fall a prey to any + other animal, and very rarely to man. But the circumstances or agencies + that check the increase of any species of animal are, as Darwin says, very + obscure and but little known. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BEES. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE. + </h2> + <p> + There is no creature with which man has surrounded himself that seems so + much like a product of civilization, so much like the result of + development on special lines and in special fields, as the honey-bee. + Indeed, a colony of bees, with their neatness and love of order, their + division of labor, their public spiritedness, their thrift, their complex + economies and their inordinate love of gain, seems as far removed from a + condition of rude nature as does a walled city or a cathedral town. Our + native bee, on the other hand, "the burly, dozing humble-bee," affects one + more like the rude, untutored savage. He has learned nothing from + experience. He lives from hand to mouth. He luxuriates in time of plenty, + and he starves in times of scarcity. He lives in a rude nest or in a hole + in the ground, and in small communities; he builds a few deep cells or + sacks in which he stores a little honey and bee-bread for his young, but + as a worker in wax he is of the most primitive and awkward. The Indian + regarded the honey-bee as an ill-omen. She was the white man's fly. In + fact she was the epitome of the white man himself. She has the white man's + craftiness, his industry, his architectural skill, his neatness and love + of system, his foresight; and above all his eager, miserly habits. The + honeybee's great ambition is to be rich, to lay up great stores, to + possess the sweet of every flower that blooms. She is more than provident. + Enough will not satisfy her, she must have all she can get by hook or by + crook. She comes from the oldest country, Asia, and thrives best in the + most fertile and long-settled lands. + </p> + <p> + Yet the fact remains that the honey-bee is essentially a wild creature, + and never has been and cannot be thoroughly domesticated. Its proper home + is the woods, and thither every new swarm counts on going; and thither + many do go in spite of the care and watchfulness of the bee-keeper. If the + woods in any given locality are deficient in trees with suitable cavities, + the bees resort to all sorts of makeshifts; they go into chimneys, into + barns and outhouses, under stones, into rocks, and so forth. Several + chimneys in my locality with disused flues are taken possession of by + colonies of bees nearly every season. One day, while bee-hunting, I + developed a line that went toward a farm-house where I had reason to + believe no bees were kept. I followed it up and questioned the farmer + about his bees. He said he kept no bees, but that a swarm had taken + possession of his chimney, and another had gone under the clapboards in + the gable end of his house. He had taken a large lot of honey out of both + places the year before. Another farmer told me that one day his family had + seen a number of bees examining a knot-hole in the side of his house; the + next day as they were sitting down to dinner their attention was attracted + by a loud humming noise, when they discovered a swarm of bees settling + upon the side of the house and pouring into the knot-hole. In subsequent + years other swarms came to the same place. + </p> + <p> + Apparently, every swarm of bees before it leaves the parent hive sends out + exploring parties to look up the future home. The woods and groves are + searched through and through, and no doubt the privacy of many a squirrel + and many a wood mouse is intruded upon. What cozy nooks and retreats they + do spy out, so much more attractive than the painted hive in the garden, + so much cooler in summer and so much warmer in winter! + </p> + <p> + The bee is in the main an honest citizen; she prefers legitimate to + illegitimate business; she is never an outlaw until her proper sources of + supply fail; she will not touch honey as long as honey-yielding flowers + can be found; she always prefers to go to the fountain-head, and dislikes + to take her sweets at second hand. But in the fall, after the flowers have + failed, she can be tempted. The bee-hunter takes advantage of this fact; + he betrays her with a little honey. He wants to steal her stores, and he + first encourages her to steal his, then follows the thief home with her + booty. This is the whole trick of the bee-hunter. The bees never suspect + his game, else by taking a circuitous route they could easily baffle him. + But the honey-bee has absolutely no wit or cunning outside of her special + gifts as a gatherer and storer of honey. She is a simple-minded creature, + and can be imposed upon by any novice. Yet it is not every novice that can + find a bee-tree. The sportsman may track his game to its retreat by the + aid of his dog, but in hunting the honey-bee one must be his own dog, and + track his game through an element in which it leaves no trail. It is a + task for a sharp, quick eye, and may test the resources of the best + wood-craft. One autumn when I devoted much time to this pursuit, as the + best means of getting at nature and the open-air exhilaration, my eye + became so trained that bees were nearly as easy to it as birds. I saw and + heard bees wherever I went. One day, standing on a street corner in a + great city, I saw above the trucks and the traffic a line of bees carrying + off sweets from some grocery or confectionery shop. + </p> + <p> + One looks upon the woods with a new interest when he suspects they hold a + colony of bees. What a pleasing secret it is; a tree with a heart of + comb-honey, a decayed oak or maple with a bit of Sicily or Mount Hymettus + stowed away in its trunk or branches; secret chambers where lies hidden + the wealth of ten thousand little freebooters, great nuggets and wedges of + precious ore gathered with risk and labor from every field and wood about. + </p> + <p> + But if you would know the delights of bee-hunting, and how many sweets + such a trip yields beside honey, come with me some bright, warm, late + September or early October day. It is the golden season of the year, and + any errand or pursuit that takes us abroad upon the hills or by the + painted woods and along the amber colored streams at such a time is + enough. So, with haversacks filled with grapes and peaches and apples and + a bottle of milk,—for we shall not be home to dinner,—and + armed with a compass, a hatchet, a pail, and a box with a piece of + comb-honey neatly fitted into it—any box the size of your hand with + a lid will do nearly as well as the elaborate and ingenious contrivance of + the regular bee-hunter—we sally forth. Our course at first lies + along the highway, under great chestnut-trees whose nuts are just + dropping, then through an orchard and across a little creek, thence gently + rising through a long series of cultivated fields toward some high, + uplying land, behind which rises a rugged wooded ridge or mountain, the + most sightly point in all this section. Behind this ridge for several + miles the country is wild, wooded, and rocky, and is no doubt the home of + many wild swarms of bees. What a gleeful uproar the robins, cedar-birds, + high-holes, and cow black-birds make amid the black cherry-trees as we + pass along. The raccoons, too, have been here after black cherries, and we + see their marks at various points. Several crows are walking about a newly + sowed wheat field we pass through, and we pause to note their graceful + movements and glossy coats. I have seen no bird walk the ground with just + the same air the crow does. It is not exactly pride; there is no strut or + swagger in it, though perhaps just a little condescension; it is the + contented, complaisant, and self-possessed gait of a lord over his + domains. All these acres are mine, he says, and all these crops; men plow + and sow for me, and I stay here or go there, and find life sweet and good + wherever I am. The hawk looks awkward and out of place on the ground; the + game birds hurry and skulk, but the crow is at home and treads the earth + as if there were none to molest him or make him afraid. + </p> + <p> + The crows we have always with us, but it is not every day or every season + that one sees an eagle. Hence I must preserve the memory of one I saw the + last day I went bee-hunting. As I was laboring up the side of a mountain + at the head of a valley, the noble bird sprang from the top of a dry tree + above me and came sailing directly over my head. I saw him bend his eye + down upon me, and I could hear the low hum of his plumage, as if the web + off every quill in his great wings vibrated in his strong, level flight. I + watched him as long as my eye could hold him. When he was fairly clear of + the mountain he began that sweeping spiral movement in which he climbs the + sky. Up and up he went without once breaking his majestic poise till he + appeared to sight some far-off alien geography, when he bent his course + thitherward and gradually vanished in the blue depths. The eagle is a bird + of large ideas, he embraces long distances; the continent is his home. I + never look upon one without emotion; I follow him with my eye as long as I + can. I think of Canada, of the Great Lakes, of the Rocky Mountains, of the + wild and sounding sea-coast. The waters are his, and the woods and the + inaccessible cliffs. He pierces behind the veil of the storm, and his joy + is height and depth and vast spaces. + </p> + <p> + We go out of our way to touch at a spring run in the edge of the woods, + and are lucky to find a single scarlet lobelia lingering there. It seems + almost to light up the gloom with its intense bit of color. Beside a ditch + in a field beyond we find the great blue lobelia (Lobelia syphilitica), + and near it amid the weeds and wild grasses and purple asters the most + beautiful of our fall flowers, the fringed gentian. What a rare and + delicate, almost aristocratic look the gentian has amid its coarse, + unkempt surroundings. It does not lure the bee, but it lures and holds + every passing human eye. If we strike through the corner of yonder woods, + where the ground is moistened by hidden springs and where there is a + little opening amid the trees, we shall find the closed gentian, a rare + flower in this locality. I had walked this way many times before I chanced + upon its retreat; and then I was following a line of bees. I lost the bees + but I got the gentians. How curiously this flower looks, with its deep + blue petals folded together so tightly—a bud and yet a blossom. It + is the nun among our wild flowers, a form closely veiled and cloaked. The + buccaneer bumble-bee sometimes tries to rifle it of its sweets. I have + seen the blossom with the bee entombed in it. He had forced his way into + the virgin corolla as if determined to know its secret, but he had never + returned with the knowledge he had gained. + </p> + <p> + After a refreshing walk of a couple of miles we reach a point where we + will make our first trial—a high stone wall that runs parallel with + the wooded ridge referred to, and separated from it by a broad field. + There are bees at work there on that goldenrod, and it requires but little + maneuvering to sweep one into our box. Almost any other creature rudely + and suddenly arrested in its career and clapped into a cage in this way + would show great confusion and alarm. The bee is alarmed for a moment, but + the bee has a passion stronger than its love of life or fear of death, + namely, desire for honey, not simply to eat, but to carry home as booty. + "Such rage of honey in their bosom beats," says Virgil. It is quick to + catch the scent of honey in the box, and as quick to fall to filling + itself. We now set the box down upon the wall and gently remove the cover. + The bee is head and shoulders in one of the half-filled cells, and is + oblivious to everything else about it. Come rack, come ruin, it will die + at work. We step back a few paces, and sit down upon the ground so as to + bring the box against the blue sky as a background. In two or three + minutes the bee is seen rising slowly and heavily from the box. It seems + loath to leave so much honey behind and it marks the place well. It mounts + aloft in a rapidly increasing spiral, surveying the near and minute + objects first, then the larger and more distant, till having circled about + the spot five or six times and taken all its bearings it darts away for + home. It is a good eye that holds fast to the bee till it is fairly off. + Sometimes one's head will swim following it, and often one's eyes are put + out by the sun. This bee gradually drifts down the hill, then strikes away + toward a farm-house half a mile away, where I know bees are kept. Then we + try another and another, and the third bee, much to our satisfaction, goes + straight toward the woods. We could see the brown speck against the darker + background for many yards. The regular bee-hunter professes to be able to + tell a wild bee from a tame one by the color, the former, he says, being + lighter. But there is no difference; they are both alike in color and in + manner. Young bees are lighter than old, and that is all there is of it. + If a bee lived many years in the woods it would doubtless come to have + some distinguishing marks, but the life of a bee is only a few months at + the farthest, and no change is wrought in this brief time. + </p> + <p> + Our bees are all soon back, and more with them, for we have touched the + box here and there with the cork of a bottle of anise oil, and this + fragrant and pungent oil will attract bees half a mile or more. When no + flowers can be found, this is the quickest way to obtain a bee. + </p> + <p> + It is a singular fact that when the bee first finds the hunter's box its + first feeling is one of anger; it is as mad as a hornet; its tone changes, + it sounds its shrill war trumpet and darts to and fro, and gives vent to + its rage and indignation in no uncertain manner. It seems to scent foul + play at once. It says, "Here is robbery; here is the spoil of some hive, + may be my own," and its blood is up. But its ruling passion soon comes to + the surface, its avarice gets the better of its indignation, and it seems + to say, "Well, I had better take possession of this and carry it home." So + after many feints and approaches and dartings off with a loud angry hum as + if it would none of it, the bee settles down and fills itself. + </p> + <p> + It does not entirely cool off and get soberly to work till it has made two + or three trips home with its booty. When other bees come, even if all from + the same swarm, they quarrel and dispute over the box, and clip and dart + at each other like bantam cocks. Apparently the ill feeling which the + sight of the honey awakens is not one of jealousy or rivalry, but wrath. + </p> + <p> + A bee will usually make three or four trips from the hunter's box before + it brings back a companion. I suspect the bee does not tell its fellows + what it has found, but that they smell out the secret; it doubtless bears + some evidence with it upon its feet or proboscis that it has been upon + honey-comb and not upon flowers, and its companions take the hint and + follow, arriving always many seconds behind. Then the quantity and quality + of the booty would also betray it. No doubt, also, there are plenty of + gossips about a hive that note and tell everything. "Oh, did you see that? + Peggy Mel came in a few moments ago in great haste, and one of the + up-stairs packers says she was loaded till she groaned with apple-blossom + honey which she deposited, and then rushed off again like mad. + Apple-blossom honey in October! Fee, fi, fo, fum! I smell something! Let's + after." + </p> + <p> + In about half an hour we have three well-defined lines of bees established—two + to farm-houses and one to the woods, and our box is being rapidly depleted + of its honey. About every fourth bee goes to the woods, and now that they + have learned the way thoroughly they do not make the long preliminary + whirl above the box, but start directly from it. The woods are rough and + dense and the hill steep, and we do not like to follow the line of bees + until we have tried at least to settle the problem as to the distance they + go into the woods-whether the tree is on this side of the ridge or in the + depth of the forest on the other side. So we shut up the box when it is + full of bees and carry it about three hundred yards along the wall from + which we are operating. When liberated, the bees, as they always will in + such cases, go off in the same directions they have been going; they do + not seem to know that they have been moved. But other bees have followed + our scent, and it is not many minutes before a second line to the woods is + established. This is called cross-lining the bees. The new line makes a + sharp angle with the other line, and we know at once that the tree is only + a few rods into the woods. The two lines we have established form two + sides of a triangle of which the wall is the base; at the apex of the + triangle, or where the two lines meet in the woods, we are sure to find + the tree. We quickly follow up these lines, and where they cross each + other on the side of the hill we scan every tree closely. I pause at the + foot of an oak and examine a hole near the root; now the bees are in this + tree and their entrance is on the upper side near the ground, not two feet + from the hole I peer into, and yet so quiet and secret is their going and + coming that I fail to discover them and pass on up the hill. Failing in + this direction, I return to the oak again, and then perceive the bees + going out in a small crack in the tree. The bees do not know they are + found out and that the game is in our hands, and are as oblivious of our + presence as if we were ants or crickets. The indications are that the + swarm is a small one, and the store of honey trifling. In "taking up" a + bee-tree it is usual first to kill or stupefy the bees with the fumes of + burning sulfur or with tobacco smoke. But this course is impracticable on + the present occasion, so we boldly and ruthlessly assault the tree with an + ax we have procured. At the first blow the bees set up a loud buzzing, but + we have no mercy, and the side of the cavity is soon cut away and the + interior with its white-yellow mass of comb-honey is exposed, and not a + bee strikes a blow in defense of its all. This may seem singular, but it + has nearly always been my experience. When a swarm of bees are thus rudely + assaulted with an ax, they evidently think the end of the world has come, + and, like true misers as they are, each one seizes as much of the treasure + as it can hold; in other words they all fall to and gorge themselves with + honey, and calmly await the issue. When in this condition they make no + defense and will not sting unless taken hold of. In fact they are as + harmless as flies. Bees are always to be managed with boldness and + decision. + </p> + <p> + Any half-way measures, any timid poking about, any feeble attempts to + reach their honey, are sure to be quickly resented. The popular notion + that bees have a special antipathy toward certain persons and a liking for + certain others has only this fact at the bottom of it; they will sting a + person who is afraid of them and goes skulking and dodging about, and they + will not sting a person who faces them boldly and has no dread of them. + They are like dogs. The way to disarm a vicious dog is to show him you do + not fear him; it is his turn to be afraid then. I never had any dread of + bees and am seldom stung by them. I have climbed up into a large chestnut + that contained a swarm in one of its cavities and chopped them out with an + ax, being obliged at times to pause and brush the bewildered bees from my + hands and face, and not been stung once. I have chopped a swarm out of an + apple-tree in June and taken out the cards of honey and arranged them in a + hive, and then dipped out the bees with a dipper, and taken the whole home + with me in pretty good condition, with scarcely any opposition on the part + of the bees. In reaching your hand into the cavity to detach and remove + the comb you are pretty sure to get stung, for when you touch the + "business end" of a bee, it will sting even though its head be off. But + the bee carries the antidote to its own poison. The best remedy for bee + sting is honey, and when your hands are besmeared with honey, as they are + sure to be on such occasions, the wound is scarcely more painful than the + prick of a pin. Assault your bee-tree, then, boldly with your ax, and you + will find that when the honey is exposed every bee has surrendered and the + whole swarm is cowering in helpless bewilderment and terror. Our tree + yields only a few pounds of honey, not enough to have lasted the swarm + till January, but no matter; we have the less burden to carry. + </p> + <p> + In the afternoon we go nearly half a mile farther along the ridge to a + cornfield that lies immediately in front of the highest point of the + mountain. The view is superb; the ripe autumn landscape rolls away to the + east, cut through by the great placid river; in the extreme north the wall + of the Catskills stands out clear and strong, while in the south the + mountains of the Highlands bound the view. The day is warm and the bees + are very busy there in that neglected corner of the field, rich in asters, + flea-bane, and golden-rod. The corn has been cut, and upon a stout, but a + few rods from the woods, which here drop quickly down from the precipitous + heights, we set up our bee-box, touched again with the pungent oil. In a + few moments a bee has found it; she comes up to leeward, following the + scent. On leaving the box she goes straight toward the woods. More bees + quickly come, and it is not long before the line is well established. Now + we have recourse to the same tactics we employed before, and move along + the ridge to another field to get our cross line. But the bees still go in + almost the same direction they did from the corn stout. The tree is then + either on the top of the mountain or on the other or west side of it. We + hesitate to make the plunge into the woods and seek to scale those + precipices, for the eye can plainly see what is before us. As the + afternoon sun gets lower the bees are seen with wonderful distinctness. + They fly toward and under the sun and are in a strong light, while the + near woods which form the background are in deep shadow. They look like + large luminous motes. Their swiftly vibrating, transparent wings surround + their bodies with a shining nimbus that makes them visible for a long + distance. They seem magnified many times. We see them bridge the little + gulf between us and the woods, then rise up over the tree-tops with their + burdens, swerving neither to the right hand nor to the left. It is almost + pathetic to see them labor so, climbing the mountain and unwittingly + guiding us to their treasures. When the sun gets down so that his + direction corresponds exactly with the course of the bees, we make the + plunge. It proves even harder climbing than we had anticipated; the + mountain is faced by a broken and irregular wall of rock, up which we pull + ourselves slowly and cautiously by main strength. In half an hour, the + perspiration streaming from every pore, we reach the summit. The trees + here are all small, a second growth, and we are soon convinced the bees + are not here. Then down we go on the other side, clambering down the rocky + stairways till we reach quite a broad plateau that forms something like + the shoulder of the mountain. On the brink of this there are many large + hemlocks, and we scan them closely and rap upon them with our ax. But not + a bee is seen or heard; we do not seem as near the tree as we were in the + fields below; yet if some divinity would only whisper the fact to us we + are within a few rods of the coveted prize, which is not in one of the + large hemlocks or oaks that absorb our attention, but in an old stub or + stump not six feet high, and which we have seen and passed several times + without giving it a thought. We go farther down the mountain and beat + about to the right and left and get entangled in brush and arrested by + precipices, and finally as the day is nearly spent, give up the search and + leave the woods quite baffled, but resolved to return on the morrow. The + next day we come back and commence operations in an opening in the woods + well down on the side of the mountain, where we gave up the search. Our + box is soon swarming with the eager bees, and they go back toward the + summit we have passed. We follow back and establish a new line where the + ground will permit; then another and another, and yet the riddle is not + solved. One time we are south of them, then north, then the bees get up + through the trees and we cannot tell where they go. But after much + searching, and after the mystery seems rather to deepen than to clear up, + we chance to pause beside the old stump. A bee comes out of a small + opening, like that made by ants in decayed wood, rubs its eyes and + examines its antennae as bees always do before leaving their hive, then + takes flight. At the same instant several bees come by us loaded with our + honey and settle home with that peculiar low complacent buzz of the + well-filled insect. Here then is our idyl, our bit of Virgil and + Theocritus, in a decayed stump of a hemlock tree. We could tear it open + with our hands, and a bear would find it an easy prize, and a rich one + too, for we take from it fifty pounds of excellent honey. The bees have + been here many years, and have of course sent out swarm after swarm into + the wilds. They have protected themselves against the weather and + strengthened their shaky habitation by a copious use of wax. + </p> + <p> + When a bee-tree is thus "taken up" in the middle of the day, of course a + good many bees are away from home and have not heard the news. When they + return and find the ground flowing with honey, and piles of bleeding combs + lying about, they apparently do not recognize the place, and their first + instinct is to fall to and fill themselves; this done, their next thought + is to carry it home, so they rise up slowly through the branches of the + trees till they have attained an altitude that enables them to survey the + scene, when they seem to say, "Why, this is home," and down they come + again; beholding the wreck and ruins once more they still think there is + some mistake, and get up a second or a third time and then drop back + pitifully as before. It is the most pathetic sight of all, the surviving + and bewildered bees struggling to save a few drops of their wasted + treasures. + </p> + <p> + Presently, if there is another swarm in the woods, robber-bees appear. You + may know them by their saucy, chiding, devil-may-care hum. It is an ill + wind that blows nobody good, and they make the most of the misfortune of + their neighbors; and thereby pave the way for their own ruin. The hunter + marks their course and the next day looks them up. On this occasion the + day was hot and the honey very fragrant, and a line of bees was soon + established S. S. W. Though there was much refuse honey in the old stub, + and though little golden rills trickled down the hill from it, and the + near branches and saplings were besmeared with it where we wiped our + murderous hands, yet not a drop was wasted. It was a feast to which not + only honey-bees came, but bumble-bees, wasps, hornets, flies, ants. The + bumble-bees, which at this season are hungry vagrants with no fixed place + of abode, would gorge themselves, then creep beneath the bits of empty + comb or fragments of bark and pass the night, and renew the feast next + day. The bumble-bee is an insect of which the bee-hunter sees much. There + are all sorts and sizes of them. They are dull and clumsy compared with + the honey-bee. Attracted in the fields by the bee-hunter's box, they will + come up the wind on the scent and blunder into it in the most stupid, + lubberly fashion. + </p> + <p> + The honey-bee that licked up our leavings on the old stub belonged to a + swarm, as it proved, about half a mile farther down the ridge, and a few + days afterward fate overtook them, and their stores in turn became the + prey of another swarm in the vicinity, which also tempted Providence and + were overwhelmed. The first mentioned swarm I had lined from several + points, and was following up the clew over rocks and through gulleys, when + I came to where a large hemlock had been felled a few years before and a + swarm taken from a cavity near the top of it; fragments of the old comb + were yet to be seen. A few yards away stood another short, squatty + hemlock, and I said my bees ought to be there. As I paused near it I + noticed where the tree had been wounded with an ax a couple of feet from + the ground many years before. The wound had partially grown over, but + there was an opening there that I did not see at the first glance. I was + about to pass on when a bee passed me making that peculiar shrill, + discordant hum that a bee makes when besmeared with honey. I saw it alight + in the partially closed wound and crawl home; then came others and others, + little bands and squads of them heavily freighted with honey from the box. + The tree was about twenty inches through and hollow at the butt, or from + the ax mark down. This space the bees had completely filled with honey. + With an ax we cut away the outer ring of live wood and exposed the + treasure. Despite the utmost care, we wounded the comb so that little + rills of the golden liquid issued from the root of the tree and trickled + down the hill. + </p> + <p> + The other bee-tree in the vicinity, to which I have referred, we found one + warm November day in less than half an hour after entering the woods. It + also was a hemlock, that stood in a niche in a wall of hoary, moss-covered + rocks thirty feet high. The tree hardly reached to the top of the + precipice. The bees entered a small hole at the root, which was seven or + eight feet from the ground. The position was a striking one. Never did + apiary have a finer outlook or more rugged surroundings. A black, + wood-embraced lake lay at our feet; the long panorama of the Catskills + filled the far distance, and the more broken outlines of the Shawangunk + range filled the rear. On every hand were precipices and a wild confusion + of rocks and trees. + </p> + <p> + The cavity occupied by the bees was about three feet and a half long and + eight or ten inches in diameter. With an ax we cut away one side of the + tree and laid bare its curiously wrought heart of honey. It was a most + pleasing sight. What winding and devious ways the bees had through their + palace! What great masses and blocks of snow-white comb there were! Where + it was sealed up, presenting that slightly dented, uneven surface, it + looked like some precious ore. When we carried a large pail full of it out + of the woods, it seemed still more like ore. + </p> + <p> + Your native bee-hunter predicates the distance of the tree by the time the + bee occupies in making its first trip. But this is no certain guide. You + are always safe in calculating that the tree is inside of a mile, and you + need not as a rule look for your bee's return under ten minutes. One day I + picked up a bee in an opening in the woods and gave it honey, and it made + three trips to my box with an interval of about twelve minutes between + them; it returned alone each time; the tree, which I afterward found, was + about half a mile distant. + </p> + <p> + In lining bees through the woods, the tactics of the hunter are to pause + every twenty or thirty rods, lop away the branches or cut down the trees, + and set the bees to work again. If they still go forward, he goes forward + also and repeats his observations till the tree is found or till the bees + turn and come back upon the trail. Then he knows he has passed the tree, + and he retraces his steps to a convenient distance and tries again, and + thus quickly reduces the space to be looked over till the swarm is traced + home. On one occasion, in a wild rocky wood, where the surface alternated + between deep gulfs and chasms filled with thick, heavy growths of timber + and sharp, precipitous, rocky ridges like a tempest tossed sea, I carried + my bees directly under their tree, and set them to work from a high, + exposed ledge of rocks not thirty feet distant. One would have expected + them under such circumstances to have gone straight home, as there were + but few branches intervening, but they did not; they labored up through + the trees and attained an altitude above the woods as if they had miles to + travel, and thus baffled me for hours. Bees will always do this. They are + acquainted with the woods only from the top side, and from the air above + they recognize home only by land-marks here, and in every instance they + rise aloft to take their bearings. Think how familiar to them the + topography of the forest summits must be-an umbrageous sea or plain where + every mask and point is known. + </p> + <p> + Another curious fact is that generally you will get track of a bee-tree + sooner when you are half a mile from it than when you are only a few + yards. Bees, like us human insects, have little faith in the near at hand; + they expect to make their fortune in a distant field, they are lured by + the remote and the difficult, and hence overlook the flower and the sweet + at their very door. On several occasions I have unwittingly set my box + within a few paces of a bee-tree and waited long for bees without getting + them, when, on removing to a distant field or opening in the woods I have + got a clew at once. + </p> + <p> + I have a theory that when bees leave the hive, unless there is some + special attraction in some other direction, they generally go against the + wind. They would thus have the wind with them when they returned home + heavily laden, and with these little navigators the difference is an + important one. With a full cargo, a stiff head-wind is a great hindrance, + but fresh and empty-handed they can face it with more ease. Virgil says + bees bear gravel stones as ballast, but their only ballast is their honey + bag. Hence, when I go bee-hunting, I prefer to get to windward of the + woods in which the swarm is supposed to have taken refuge. + </p> + <p> + Bees, like the milkman, like to be near a spring. They do water their + honey, especially in a dry time. The liquid is then of course thicker and + sweeter, and will bear diluting. Hence, old bee-hunters look for bee-trees + along creeks and near spring runs in the woods. I once found a tree a long + distance from any water, and the honey had a peculiar bitter flavor + imparted to it, I was convinced, by rainwater sucked from the decayed and + spongy hemlock tree, in which the swarm was found. In cutting into the + tree, the north side of it was found to be saturated with water like a + spring, which ran out in big drops, and had a bitter flavor. The bees had + thus found a spring or a cistern in their own house. + </p> + <p> + Bees are exposed to many hardships and many dangers. Winds and storms + prove as disastrous to them as to other navigators. Black spiders lie in + wait for them as do brigands for travelers. One day as I was looking for a + bee amid some golden-rod, I spied one partly concealed under a leaf. Its + baskets were full of pollen, and it did not move. On lifting up the leaf I + discovered that a hairy spider was ambushed there and had the bee by the + throat. The vampire was evidently afraid of the bee's sting, and was + holding it by the throat till quite sure of its death. Virgil speaks of + the painted lizard, perhaps a species of salamander, as an enemy of the + honey-bee. We have no lizard that destroys the bee; but our tree-toad, + ambushed among the apple and cherry blossoms, snaps them up wholesale. + Quick as lightning that subtle but clammy tongue darts forth, and the + unsuspecting bee is gone. Virgil also accuses the titmouse and the + woodpecker of preying upon the bees, and our kingbird has been charged + with the like crime, but the latter devours only the drones. The workers + are either too small and quick for it, or else it dreads their sting. + </p> + <p> + Virgil, by the way, had little more than a child's knowledge of the + honey-bee. There is little fact and much fable in his fourth Georgic. If + he had ever kept bees himself, or even visited an apiary, it is hard to + see how he could have believed that the bee in its flight abroad carried a + gravel stone for ballast:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "And as when empty barks on billows float, + With Sandy ballast sailors trim the boat; + So bees bear gravel stones, whose poising weight + Steers through the whistling winds their steady flight;" +</pre> + <p> + or that when two colonies made war upon each other they issued forth from + their hives led by their kings and fought in the air, strewing the ground + with the dead and dying:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Hard hailstones lie not thicker on the plain, + Nor shaken oaks such show'rs of acorns rain." +</pre> + <p> + It is quite certain he had never been bee-hunting. If he had, we should + have had a fifth Georgic. Yet he seems to have known that bees sometimes + escaped to the woods:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Nor bees are lodged in hives alone, but found + In chambers of their own beneath the ground: + Their vaulted roofs are hung in pumices, + And in the rotten trunks of hollow trees." +</pre> + <p> + Wild honey is as near like tame as wild bees are like their brothers in + hive. The only difference is that wild honey is flavored with your + adventure, which makes it a little more delectable than the domestic + article. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE PASTORAL BEES + </h2> + <p> + The honey-bee goes forth from the hive in spring like the dove from Noah's + ark, and it is not till after many days that she brings back the olive + leaf, which in this case is a pellet of golden pollen upon each hip, + usually obtained from the alder or the swamp willow. In a country where + maple sugar is made, the bees get their first taste of sweet from the sap + as it flows from the spiles, or as it dries and is condensed upon the + sides of the buckets. They will sometimes, in their eagerness, come about + the boiling place and be overwhelmed by the steam and the smoke. But bees + appear to be more eager for bread in the spring than for honey; their + supply of this article, perhaps, does not keep as well as their stores of + the latter, hence fresh bread, in the shape of new pollen, is diligently + sought for. My bees get their first supplies from the catkins of the + willows. How quickly they find them out. If but one catkin opens anywhere + within range, a bee is on hand that very hour to rifle it, and it is a + most pleasing experience to stand near the hive some mild April day and + see them come pouring in with their little baskets packed with this first + fruitage of the spring. They will have new bread now; they have been to + mill in good earnest; see their dusty coats, and the golden grist they + bring home with them. + </p> + <p> + When a bee brings pollen into the hive, he advances to the cell in which + it is to be deposited and kicks it off as one might his overalls or rubber + boots, making one foot help the other; then he walks off without ever + looking behind him; another bee, one of the indoor hands, comes along and + rams it down with his head and packs it into the cell as the dairymaid + packs butter into a firkin. + </p> + <p> + The first spring wild-flowers, whose shy faces among the dry leaves and + rocks are so welcome, yield no honey. The anemone, the hepatica, the + bloodroot, the arbutus, the numerous violets, the spring beauty, the + corydalis, etc., woo lovers of nature, but do not woo the honey-loving + bee. It requires more sun and warmth to develop the saccharine element, + and the beauty of these pale striplings of the woods and groves is their + sole and sufficient excuse for being. The arbutus, lying low and keeping + green all winter, attains to perfume, but not to honey. + </p> + <p> + The first honey is perhaps obtained from the flowers of the red maple and + the golden willow. The latter sends forth a wild, delicious perfume. The + sugar maple blooms a little later, and from its silken tassels a rich + nectar is gathered. My bees will not label these different varieties for + me as I really wish they would. Honey from the maples, a tree so clean and + wholesome, and full of such virtues every way, would be something to put + one's tongue to. Or that from the blossoms of the apple, the peach, the + cherry, the quince, the currant,—one would like a card of each of + these varieties to note their peculiar qualities. The apple-blossom is + very important to the bees. A single swarm has been known to gain twenty + pounds in weight during its continuance. Bees love the ripened fruit, too, + and in August and September will suck themselves tipsy upon varieties such + as the sops-of-wine. + </p> + <p> + The interval between the blooming of the fruit-trees and that of the + clover and the raspberry is bridged over in many localities by the honey + locust. What a delightful summer murmur these trees send forth at this + season. I know nothing about the quality of the honey, but it ought to + keep well. But when the red raspberry blooms, the fountains of plenty are + unsealed indeed; what a commotion about the hives then, especially in + localities where it is extensively cultivated, as in places along the + Hudson. The delicate white clover, which begins to bloom about the same + time, is neglected; even honey itself is passed by for this modest + colorless, all but odorless flower. A field of these berries in June sends + forth a continuous murmur like that of an enormous hive. The honey is not + so white as that obtained from clover but it is easier gathered; it is in + shallow cups while that of the clover is in deep tubes. The bees are up + and at it before sunrise, and it takes a brisk shower to drive them in. + But the clover blooms later and blooms everywhere, and is the staple + source of supply of the finest quality of honey. The red clover yields up + its stores only to the longer proboscis of the bumble-bee, else the bee + pasturage of our agricultural districts would be unequaled. I do not know + from what the famous honey of Chamouni in the Alps is made, but it can + hardly surpass our best products. The snow-white honey of Anatolia in + Asiatic Turkey, which is regularly sent to Constantinople for the use of + the grand seignior and the ladies of his seraglio, is obtained from the + cotton plant, which makes me think that the white clover does not flourish + these. The white clover is indigenous with us; its seeds seem latent in + the ground, and the application of certain stimulants to the soil, such as + wood ashes, causes them to germinate and spring up. + </p> + <p> + The rose, with all its beauty and perfume, yields no honey to the bee, + unless the wild species be sought by the bumble-bee. + </p> + <p> + Among the humbler plants, let me not forget the dandelion that so early + dots the sunny slopes, and upon which the bee languidly grazes, wallowing + to his knees in the golden but not over-succulent pasturage. From the + blooming rye and wheat the bee gathers pollen, also from the obscure + blossoms of Indian corn. Among weeds, catnip is the great favorite. It + lasts nearly the whole season and yields richly. It could no doubt be + profitably cultivated in some localities, and catnip honey would be a + novelty in the market. It would probably partake of the aromatic + properties of the plant from which it was derived. + </p> + <p> + Among your stores of honey gathered before midsummer, you may chance upon + a card, or mayhap only a square inch or two of comb, in which the liquid + is as transparent as water, of a delicious quality, with a slight flavor + of mint. This is the product of the linden or basswood, of all the trees + in our forest the one most beloved by the bees. Melissa, the goddess of + honey, has placed her seal upon this tree. The wild swarms in the woods + frequently reap a choice harvest from it. I have seen a mountain side + thickly studded with it, its straight, tall, smooth, light-gray shaft + carrying its deep-green crown far aloft, like the tulip-tree or the maple. + </p> + <p> + In some of the Northwestern States there are large forests of it, and the + amount of honey reported stored by strong swarms in this section during + the time the tree is in bloom is quite incredible. As a shade and + ornamental tree the linden is fully equal to the maple, and if it were as + extensively planted and cared for, our supplies of virgin honey would be + greatly increased. The famous honey of Lithuania in Russia is the product + of the linden. + </p> + <p> + It is a homely old stanza current among bee folk that— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "A swarm of bees in May + Is worth a load of hay; + A swarm of bees in June + Is worth a silver spoon; + But a swarm in July + Is not worth a fly." +</pre> + <p> + A swarm in May is indeed a treasure; it is, like an April baby, sure to + thrive, and will very likely itself send out a swarm a month or two later; + but a swarm in July is not to be despised; it will store no clover or + linden honey for the "grand seignior and the ladies of his seraglio," but + plenty of the rank and wholesome poor man's nectar, the sun-tanned product + of the plebeian buckwheat. Buckwheat honey is the black sheep in this + white flock, but there is spirit and character in it. It lays hold of the + taste in no equivocal manner, especially when at a winter breakfast it + meets its fellow, the russet buckwheat cake. Bread with honey to cover it + from the same stalk is double good fortune. It is not black, either, but + nut-brown, and belongs to the same class of goods as Herrick's + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Nut-brown mirth and russet wit." +</pre> + <p> + How the bees love it, and they bring the delicious odor of the blooming + plant to the hive with them, so that in the moist warm twilight the apiary + is redolent with the perfume of buckwheat. + </p> + <p> + Yet evidently it is not the perfume of any flower that attracts the bees; + they pay no attention to the sweet-scented lilac, or to heliotrope, but + work upon sumach, silkweed, and the hateful snapdragon. In September they + are hard pressed, and do well if they pick up enough sweet to pay the + running expenses of their establishment. The purple asters and the + golden-rod are about all that remain to them. + </p> + <p> + Bees will go three or four miles in quest of honey, but it is a great + advantage to move the hive near the good pasturage, as has been the custom + from the earliest times in the Old World. Some enterprising person, taking + a hint perhaps from the ancient Egyptians, who had floating apiaries on + the Nile, has tried the experiment of floating several hundred colonies + north on the Mississippi, starting from New Orleans and following the + opening season up, thus realizing a sort of perpetual May or June, the + chief attraction being the blossoms of the river willow, which yield honey + of rare excellence. Some of the bees were no doubt left behind, but the + amount of virgin honey secured must have been very great. In September + they should have begun the return trip, following the retreating summer + South. + </p> + <p> + It is the making of the wax that costs with the bee. As with the poet, the + form, the receptacle, gives him more trouble than the sweet that fills it, + though, to be sure, there is always more or less empty comb in both cases. + The honey he can have for the gathering, but the wax he must make himself—must + evolve from his own inner consciousness. When wax is to be made the + wax-makers fill themselves with honey and retire into their chamber for + private meditation; it is like some solemn religious rite; they take hold + of hands, or hook themselves together in long lines that hang in festoons + from the top of the hive, and wait for the miracle to transpire. After + about twenty-four hours their patience is rewarded, the honey is turned + into wax, minute scales of which are secreted from between the rings of + the abdomen of each bee; this is taken off and from it the comb is built + up. It is calculated that about twenty-five pounds of honey are used in + elaborating one pound of comb, to say nothing of the time that is lost. + Hence the importance in an economical point of view, of a recent device by + which the honey is extracted and the comb returned intact to the bees. But + honey without the comb is the perfume without the rose,—it is sweet + merely, and soon degenerates into candy. Half the delectableness is in + breaking down these frail and exquisite walls yourself, and tasting the + nectar before it has lost its freshness by the contact with the air. Then + the comb is a sort of shield or foil that prevents the tongue from being + overwhelmed by the shock of the sweet. + </p> + <p> + The drones have the least enviable time of it. Their foothold in the hive + is very precarious. They look like the giants, the lords of the swarm, but + they are really the tools. Their loud, threatening hum has no sting to + back it up, and their size and noise make them only the more conspicuous + marks for the birds. + </p> + <p> + Toward the close of the season, say in July or August, the fiat goes forth + that the drones must die; there is no further use for them. Then the poor + creatures, how they are huddled and hustled about, trying to hide in + corners and by-ways. There is no loud, defiant humming now, but abject + fear seizes them. They cower like hunted criminals. I have seen a dozen or + more of them wedge themselves into a small space between the glass and the + comb, where the bees could not get hold of them or where they seemed to be + overlooked in the general slaughter. They will also crawl outside and hide + under the edges of the hive. But sooner or later they are all killed or + kicked out. The drone makes no resistance, except to pull back and try to + get away; but (putting yourself in his place) with one bee a-hold of your + collar or the hair of your head, and another a-hold of each arm or leg, + and still another feeling for your waistbands with his sting, the odds are + greatly against you. + </p> + <p> + It is a singular fact, also, that the queen is made, not born. If the + entire population of Spain or Great Britain were the offspring of one + mother, it might be found necessary to hit upon some device by which a + royal baby could be manufactured out of an ordinary one, or else give up + the fashion of royalty. All the bees in the hive have a common parentage, + and the queen and the worker are the same in the egg and in the chick; the + patent of royalty is in the cell and in the food; the cell being much + larger, and the food a peculiar stimulating kind of jelly. In certain + contingencies, such as the loss of the queen with no eggs in the royal + cells, the workers take the larva of an ordinary bee, enlarge the cell by + taking in the two adjoining ones, and nurse it and stuff it and coddle it, + till at the end of sixteen days it comes out a queen. But ordinarily, in + the natural course of events, the young queen is kept a prisoner in her + cell till the old queen has left with the swarm. Later on, the unhatched + queen is guarded against the reigning queen, who only wants an opportunity + to murder every royal scion in the hive. At this time both the queens, the + one a prisoner and the other at large, pipe defiance at each other, a + shrill, fine, trumpet-like note that any ear will at once recognize. This + challenge, not being allowed to be accepted by either party, is followed, + in a day or two by the abdication of the reigning queen; she leads out the + swarm, and her successor is liberated by her keepers, who, in her time, + abdicates in favor of the next younger. When the bees have decided that no + more swarms can issue, the reigning queen is allowed to use her stiletto + upon her unhatched sisters. Cases have been known where two queens issued + at the same time, when a mortal combat ensued, encouraged by the workers, + who formed a ring about them, but showed no preference, and recognized the + victor as the lawful sovereign. For these and many other curious facts we + are indebted to the blind Huber. + </p> + <p> + It is worthy of note that the position of the queen cells is always + vertical, while that of the drones and workers is horizontal; majesty + stands on its head, which fact may be a part of the secret. + </p> + <p> + The notion has always very generally prevailed that the queen of the bees + is an absolute ruler, and issues her royal orders to willing subjects. + Hence Napoleon the First sprinkled the symbolic bees over the imperial + mantle that bore the arms of his dynasty; and in the country of the + Pharaohs the bee was used as the emblem of a people sweetly submissive to + the orders of its king. But the fact is, a swarm of bees is an absolute + democracy, and kings and despots can find no warrant in their example. The + power and authority are entirely vested in the great mass, the workers. + They furnish all the brains and foresight of the colony, and administer + its affairs. Their word is law, and both king and queen must obey. They + regulate the swarming, and give the signal for the swarm to issue from the + hive; they select and make ready the tree in the woods and conduct the + queen to it. + </p> + <p> + The peculiar office and sacredness of the queen consists in the fact that + she is the mother of the swarm, and the bees love and cherish her as a + mother and not as a sovereign. She is the sole female bee in the hive, and + the swarm clings to her because she is their life. Deprived of their + queen, and of all brood from which to rear one, the swarm loses all heart + and soon dies, though there be an abundance of honey in the hive. + </p> + <p> + The common bees will never use their sting upon the queen; if she is to be + disposed of they starve her to death; and the queen herself will sting + nothing but royalty—nothing but a rival queen. + </p> + <p> + The queen, I say, is the mother bee; it is undoubtedly complimenting her + to call her a queen and invest her with regal authority, yet she is a + superb creature, and looks every inch a queen. It is an event to + distinguish her amid the mass of bees when the swarm alights; it awakens a + thrill. Before you have seen a queen you wonder if this or that bee, which + seems a little larger than its fellows, is not she, but when you once + really set eyes upon her you do not doubt for a moment. You know that is + the queen. That long, elegant, shining, feminine-looking creature can be + none less than royalty. How beautifully her body tapers, how distinguished + she looks, how deliberate her movements! The bees do not fall down before + her, but caress her and touch her person. The drones or males, are large + bees too, but coarse, blunt, broad-shouldered, masculine-looking. There is + but one fact or incident in the life of the queen that looks imperial and + authoritative: Huber relates that when the old queen is restrained in her + movements by the workers, and prevented from destroying the young queens + in their cells, she assumes a peculiar attitude and utters a note that + strikes every bee motionless, and makes every head bow; while this sound + lasts not a bee stirs, but all look abashed and humbled, yet whether the + emotion is one of fear, or reverence, or of sympathy with the distress of + the queen mother, is hard to determine. The moment it ceases and she + advances again toward the royal cells, the bees bite and pull and insult + her as before. + </p> + <p> + I always feel that I have missed some good fortune if I am away from home + when my bees swarm. What a delightful summer sound it is; how they come + pouring out of the hive, twenty or thirty thousand bees each striving to + get out first; it is as when the dam gives way and lets the waters loose; + it is a flood of bees which breaks upward into the air, and becomes a maze + of whirling black lines to the eye and a soft chorus of myriad musical + sounds to the ear. This way and that way they drift, now contracting, now + expanding, rising, sinking, growing thick about some branch or bush, then + dispersing and massing at some other point, till finally they begin to + alight in earnest, when in a few moments the whole swarm is collected upon + the branch, forming a bunch perhaps as large as a two-gallon measure. Here + they will hang from one to three or four hours, or until a suitable tree + in the woods is looked up, when, if they have not been offered a hive in + the mean time, they are up and off. In hiving them, if any accident + happens to the queen the enterprise miscarries at once. One day I shook a + swarm from a small pear-tree into a tin pan, set the pan down on a shawl + spread beneath the tree, and put the hive over it. The bees presently all + crawled up into it, and all seemed to go well for ten or fifteen minutes, + when I observed that something was wrong; the bees began to buzz excitedly + and to rush about in a bewildered manner, then they took to the wing and + all returned to the parent stock. On lifting up the pan, I found beneath + it the queen with three or four other bees. She had been one of the first + to fall, had missed the pan in her descent, and I had set it upon her. I + conveyed her tenderly back to the hive, but either the accident terminated + fatally with her or else the young queen had been liberated in the + interim, and one of them had fallen in combat, for it was ten days before + the swarm issued a second time. + </p> + <p> + No one, to my knowledge, has ever seen the bees house-hunting in the + woods. Yet there can be no doubt that they look up new quarters either + before or on the day the swarm issues. For all bees are wild bees and + incapable of domestication; that is, the instinct to go back to nature and + take up again their wild abodes in the trees is never eradicated. Years + upon years of life in the apiary seems to have no appreciable effect + towards their final, permanent domestication. That every new swarm + contemplates migrating to the woods, seems confirmed by the fact that they + will only come out when the weather is favorable to such an enterprise, + and that a passing cloud or a sudden wind, after the bees are in the air, + will usually drive them back into the parent hive. Or an attack upon them + with sand or gravel, or loose earth or water, will quickly cause them to + change their plans. I would not even say but that, when the bees are going + off, the apparently absurd practice, now entirely discredited by regular + bee-keepers but still resorted to by unscientific folk, of beating upon + tin pans, blowing horns, and creating an uproar generally, might not be + without good results. Certainly not by drowning the "orders" of the queen, + but by impressing the bees as with some unusual commotion in nature. Bees + are easily alarmed and disconcerted, and I have known runaway swarms to be + brought down by a farmer ploughing in the field who showered them with + handfuls of loose soil. + </p> + <p> + I love to see a swarm go off—if it is not mine, and if mine must go + I want to be on hand to see the fun. It is a return to first principles + again by a very direct route. The past season I witnessed two such + escapes. One swarm had come out the day before, and, without alighting, + had returned to the parent hive—some hitch in the plan, perhaps, or + may be the queen had found her wings too weak. The next day they came out + again, and were hived. But something offended them, or else the tree in + the woods—perhaps some royal old maple or birch holding its head + high above all others, with snug, spacious, irregular chambers and + galleries—had too many attractions; for they were presently + discovered filling the air over the garden, and whirling excitedly around. + Gradually they began to drift over the street; a moment more, and they had + become separated from the other bees, and, drawing together in a more + compact mass or cloud, away they went, a humming, flying vortex of bees, + the queen in the centre, and the swarm revolving around her as a pivot,—over + meadows, across creeks and swamps, straight for the heart of the mountain, + about a mile distant,—slow at first, so that the youth who gave + chase kept up with them, but increasing their speed till only a fox hound + could have kept them in sight. I saw their pursuer laboring up the side of + the mountain; saw his white shirt-sleeves gleam as he entered the woods; + but he returned a few hours afterward without any clew as to the + particular tree in which they had taken refuge out of the ten thousand + that covered the side of the mountain. + </p> + <p> + The other swarm came out about one o'clock of a hot July day, and at once + showed symptoms that alarmed the keeper, who, however, threw neither dirt + nor water. The house was situated on a steep side-hill. Behind it the + ground rose, for a hundred rods or so, at an angle of nearly forty-five + degrees, and the prospect of having to chase them up this hill, if chase + them we should, promised a good trial of wind at least; for it soon became + evident that their course lay in this direction. Determined to have a + hand, or rather a foot, in the chase, I threw off my coat and hurried on, + before the swarm was yet fairly organized and under way. The route soon + led me into a field of standing rye, every spear of which held its head + above my own. Plunging recklessly forward, my course marked to those + watching from below by the agitated and wriggling grain, I emerged from + the miniature forest just in time to see the runaways disappearing over + the top of the hill, some fifty rods in advance of me. Lining them as well + as I could, I soon reached the hill-top, my breath utterly gone and the + perspiration streaming from every pore of my skin. On the other side the + country opened deep and wide. A large valley swept around to the north, + heavily wooded at its head and on its sides. It became evident at once + that the bees had made good their escape, and that whether they had + stopped on one side of the valley or the other, or had indeed cleared the + opposite mountain and gone into some unknown forest beyond, was entirely + problematical. I turned back, therefore, thinking of the honey-laden tree + that some of these forests would hold before the falling of the leaf. + </p> + <p> + I heard of a youth in the neighborhood, more lucky than myself on a like + occasion. It seems that he had got well in advance of the swarm, whose + route lay over a hill, as in my case, and as he neared the summit, hat in + hand, the bees had just come up and were all about him. Presently he + noticed them hovering about his straw hat, and alighting on his arm; and + in almost as brief a time as it takes to relate it, the whole swarm had + followed the queen into his hat. Being near a stone wall, he coolly + deposited his prize upon it, quickly disengaged himself from the + accommodating bees, and returned for a hive. The explanation of this + singular circumstance no doubt is, that the queen, unused to such long and + heavy flights, was obliged to alight from very exhaustion. It is not very + unusual for swarms to be thus found in remote fields, collected upon a + bush or branch of a tree. + </p> + <p> + When a swarm migrates to the woods in this manner, the individual bees, as + I have intimated, do not move in right lines or straight forward, like a + flock of birds, but round and round, like chaff in a whirlwind. Unitedly + they form a humming, revolving, nebulous mass, ten or fifteen feet across, + which keeps just high enough to clear all obstacles, except in crossing + deep valleys, when, of course, it may be very high. The swarm seems to be + guided by a line of couriers, which may be seen (at least at the outset) + constantly going and coming. As they take a direct course, there is always + some chance of following them to the tree, unless they go a long distance, + and some obstruction, like a wood, or a swamp, or a high hill, intervenes—enough + chance, at any rate, to stimulate the lookers-on to give vigorous chase as + long as their wind holds out. If the bees are successfully followed to + their retreat, two plans are feasible: either to fell the tree at once, + and seek to hive them, perhaps bring them home in the section of the tree + that contains the cavity; or to leave the tree till fall, then invite your + neighbors, and go and cut it, and see the ground flow with honey. The + former course is more business-like; but the latter is the one usually + recommended by one's friends and neighbors. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps nearly one third of all the runaway swarms leave when no one is + about, and hence are unseen and unheard, save, perchance, by some distant + laborers in the field, or by some youth ploughing on the side of the + mountain, who hears an unusual humming noise, and sees the swarm dimly + whirling by overhead, and, may be, gives chase; or he may simply catch the + sound, when he pauses, looks quickly around, but sees nothing. When he + comes in at night he tells how he heard or saw a swarm of bees go over; + and, perhaps from beneath one of the hives in the garden a black mass of + bees has disappeared during the day. + </p> + <p> + They are not partial as to the kind of tree,—pine, hemlock, elm, + birch, maple, hickory,—any tree with a good cavity high up or low + down. A swarm of mine ran away from the new patent hive I gave them, and + took up their quarters in the hollow trunk of an old apple-tree across an + adjoining field. The entrance was a mouse-hole near the ground. + </p> + <p> + Another swarm in the neighborhood deserted their keeper and went into the + cornice of an out-house that stood amid evergreens in the rear of a large + mansion. But there is no accounting for the taste of bees, as Samson found + when he discovered the swarm in the carcass, or more probably the + skeleton, of the lion he had slain. + </p> + <p> + In any given locality, especially in the more wooded and mountainous + districts, the number of swarms that thus assert their independence forms + quite a large per cent. In the Northern States these swarms very often + perish before spring; but in such a country as Florida they seem to + multiply, till bee-trees are very common. In the West, also, wild honey is + often gathered in large quantities. I noticed not long since, that some + wood-choppers on the west slope of the Coast Range felled a tree that had + several pailfuls in it. + </p> + <p> + One night on the Potomac a party of us unwittingly made our camp near the + foot of a bee-tree, which next day the winds of heaven blew down, for our + special delectation, at least so we read the sign. Another time while + sitting by a waterfall in the leafless April woods I discovered a swarm in + the top of a large hickory. I had the season before remarked the tree as a + likely place for bees, but the screen of leaves concealed them from me. + This time my former presentiment occurred to me, and, looking sharply, + sure enough there were the bees, going out and in a large, irregular + opening. In June a violent tempest of wind and rain demolished the tree, + and the honey was all lost in the creek into which it fell. I happened + along that way two or three days after the tornado, when I saw a remnant + of the swarm, those, doubtless, that escaped the flood and those that were + away when the disaster came, hanging in a small black mass to a branch + high up near where their home used to be. They looked forlorn enough. If + the queen was saved the remnant probably sought another tree; otherwise + the bees have soon died. + </p> + <p> + I have seen bees desert their hive in the spring when it was infested with + worms, or when the honey was exhausted; at such times the swarm seems to + wander aimlessly, alighting here and there, and perhaps in the end uniting + with some other colony. In case of such union, it would be curious to know + if negotiations were first opened between the parties, and if the + houseless bees are admitted at once to all the rights and franchises of + their benefactors. It would be very like the bees to have some preliminary + plan and understanding about the matter on both sides. + </p> + <p> + Bees will accommodate themselves to almost any quarters, yet no hive seems + to please them so well as a section of a hollow tree—"gums" as they + are called in the South and West where the sweet gum grows. In some + European countries the hive is always made from the trunk of a tree, a + suitable cavity being formed by boring. The old-fashioned straw hive is + picturesque, and a great favorite with the bees also. + </p> + <p> + The life of a swarm of bees is like an active and hazardous campaign of an + army; the ranks are being continually depleted, and continually recruited. + What adventures they have by flood and field, and what hair-breadth + escapes! A strong swarm during the honey season loses, on an average, + about four or five thousand per month, or one hundred and fifty per day. + They are overwhelmed by wind and rain, caught by spiders, benumbed by + cold, crushed by cattle, drowned in rivers and ponds, and in many nameless + ways cut off or disabled. In the spring the principal mortality is from + the cold. As the sun declines they get chilled before they can reach home. + Many fall down outside the hive, unable to get in with their burden. One + may see them come utterly spent and drop hopelessly into the grass in + front of their very doors. Before they can rest the cold has stiffened + them. I go out in April and May and pick them up by the handfuls, their + baskets loaded with pollen, and warm them in the sun or in the house, or + by the simple warmth of my hand, until they can crawl into the hive. Heat + is their life, and an apparently lifeless bee may be revived by warming + him. I have also picked them up while rowing on the river and seen them + safely to shore. It is amusing to see them come hurrying home when there + is a thunderstorm approaching. They come piling in till the rain is upon + them. Those that are overtaken by the storm doubtless weather it as best + they can in the sheltering trees or grass. It is not probable that a bee + ever gets lost by wandering into strange and unknown parts. With their + myriad eyes they see everything; and then, their sense of locality is very + acute, is, indeed, one of their ruling traits. When a bee marks the place + of his hive, or of a bit of good pasturage in the fields or swamps, or of + the bee-hunter's box of honey on the hills or in the woods, he returns to + it as unerringly as fate. + </p> + <p> + Honey was a much more important article of food with the ancients than it + is with us. As they appear to have been unacquainted with sugar, honey, no + doubt, stood them instead. It is too rank and pungent for the modern + taste; it soon cloys upon the palate. It demands the appetite of youth, + and the strong, robust digestion of people who live much in the open air. + It is a more wholesome food than sugar, and modern confectionery is poison + beside it. Beside grape sugar, honey contains manna, mucilage, pollen, + acid, and other vegetable odoriferous substances and juices. It is a sugar + with a kind of wild natural bread added. The manna of itself is both food + and medicine, and the pungent vegetable extracts have rare virtues. Honey + promotes the excretions and dissolves the glutinous and starchy + impedimenta of the system. + </p> + <p> + Hence it is not without reason that with the ancients a land flowing with + milk and honey should mean a land abounding in all good things; and the + queen in the nursery rhyme, who lingered in the kitchen to eat "bread and + honey" while the "king was in the parlor counting out his money," was + doing a very sensible thing. Epaminondas is said to have rarely eaten + anything but bread and honey. The Emperor Augustus one day inquired of a + centenarian how he had kept his vigor of mind and body so long; to which + the veteran replied that it was by "oil without and honey within." Cicero, + in his "Old Age," classes honey with meat and milk and cheese as among the + staple articles with which a well-kept farm-house will be supplied. + </p> + <p> + Italy and Greece, in fact all the Mediterranean countries, appear to have + been famous lands for honey. Mount Hymettus, Mount Hybla, and Mount Ida + produced what may be called the classic honey of antiquity, an article + doubtless in nowise superior to our best products. Leigh Hunt's "Jar of + Honey" is mainly distilled from Sicilian history and literature, + Theocritus furnishing the best yield. Sicily has always been rich in bees. + Swinburne (the traveler of a hundred years ago) says the woods on this + island abounded in wild honey, and that the people also had many hives + near their houses. The idyls of Theocritus are native to the island in + this respect, and abound in bees—"Flat-nosed bees" as he calls them + in the Seventh Idyl—and comparisons in which comb-honey is the + standard of the most delectable of this world's goods. His goatherds can + think of no greater bliss than that the mouth be filled with honey-combs, + or to be inclosed in a chest like Daphnis and fed on the combs of bees; + and among the delectables with which Arsinoe cherishes Adonis are + "honey-cakes," and other tid-bits made of "sweet honey." In the country of + Theocritus this custom is said still to prevail: when a couple are married + the attendants place honey in their mouths, by which they would symbolize + the hope that their love may be as sweet to their souls as honey to the + palate. + </p> + <p> + It was fabled that Homer was suckled by a priestess whose breasts + distilled honey; and that once when Pindar lay asleep the bees dropped + honey upon his lips. In the Old Testament the food of the promised + Immanuel was to be butter and honey (there is much doubt about the butter + in the original), that he might know good from evil; and Jonathan's eyes + were enlightened, by partaking of some wood or wild honey: "See, I pray + you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of + this honey." So far as this part of his diet was concerned, therefore, + John the Baptist, during his sojourn in the wilderness, his divinity + school-days in the mountains and plains of Judea, fared extremely well. + About the other part, the locusts, or, not to put too fine a point on it, + the grasshoppers, as much cannot be said, though they were among the + creeping and leaping things the children of Israel were permitted to eat. + They were probably not eaten raw, but roasted in that most primitive of + ovens, a hole in the ground made hot by building a fire in it. The locusts + and honey may have been served together, as the Bedas of Ceylon are said + to season their meat with honey. At any rate, as the locust is often a + great plague in Palestine, the prophet in eating them found his account in + the general weal, and in the profit of the pastoral bees; the fewer + locusts, the more flowers. Owing to its numerous wild-flowers and + flowering shrubs, Palestine has always been a famous country for bees. + They deposit their honey in hollow trees as our bees do when they escape + from the hive, and in holes in the rocks as ours do not. In a tropical or + semi-tropical climate bees are quite apt to take refuge in the rocks, but + where ice and snow prevail, as with us, they are much safer high up in the + trunk of a forest tree. + </p> + <p> + The best honey is the product of the milder parts of the temperate zone. + There are too many rank and poisonous plants in the tropics. Honey from + certain districts of Turkey produces headache and vomiting, and that from + Brazil is used chiefly as medicine. The honey of Mount Hymettus owes its + fine quality to wild thyme. The best honey in Persia and in Florida is + collected from the orange blossom. The celebrated honey of Narbonne in the + south of France is obtained from a species of rosemary. In Scotland good + honey is made from the blossoming heather. + </p> + <p> + California honey is white and delicate and highly perfumed, and now takes + the lead in the market. But honey is honey the world over; and the bee is + the bee still. "Men may degenerate," says an old traveler, "may forget the + arts by which they acquired renown; manufactories may fail, and + commodities be debased, but the sweets of the wild-flowers of the + wilderness, the industry and natural mechanics of the bee, will continue + without change or derogation." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. SHARP EYES AND OTHER PAPERS + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_CONT" id="link2H_CONT"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CONTENTS + </h2> + <h3> + SHARP EYES + </h3> + <p> + THE APPLE A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH WINTER NEIGHBORS + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + NOTES BY THE WAY. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + I. The Weather-wise Muskrat + II. Cheating the Squirrels + III. Fox and Hound + IV. The Woodchuck +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SHARP EYES. + </h2> + <p> + Noting how one eye seconds and reinforces the other, I have often amused + myself by wondering what the effect would be if one could go on opening + eye after eye to the number say of a dozen or more. What would he see? + Perhaps not the invisible—not the odors of flowers nor the fever + germs in the air—not the infinitely small of the microscope nor the + infinitely distant of the telescope. This would require, not more eyes so + much as an eye constructed with more and different lenses; but would he + not see with augmented power within the natural limits of vision? At any + rate some persons seem to have opened more eyes than others, they see with + such force and distinctness; their vision penetrates the tangle and + obscurity where that of others fails like a spent or impotent bullet. How + many eyes did Gilbert White open? how many did Henry Thoreau? how many did + Audubon? how many does the hunter, matching his sight against the keen and + alert sense of a deer or a moose, or a fox or a wolf? Not outward eyes, + but inward. We open another eye whenever we see beyond the first general + features or outlines of things—whenever we grasp the special details + and characteristic markings that this mask covers. Science confers new + powers of vision. + </p> + <p> + Whenever you have learned to discriminate the birds, or the plants, or the + geological features of a country, it is as if new and keener eyes were + added. + </p> + <p> + Of course one must not only see sharply, but read aright what he sees. The + facts in the life of Nature that are transpiring about us are like written + words that the observer is to arrange into sentences. Or the writing is in + cipher and he must furnish the key. A female oriole was one day observed + very much preoccupied under a shed where the refuse from the horse stable + was thrown. She hopped about among the barn fowls, scolding them sharply + when they came too near her. The stable, dark and cavernous, was just + beyond. The bird, not finding what she wanted outside, boldly ventured + into the stable, and was presently captured by the farmer. What did she + want? was the query. What, but a horsehair for her nest which was in an + apple-tree near by; and she was so bent on having one that I have no doubt + she would have tweaked one out of the horse's tail had he been in the + stable. Later in the season I examined her nest and found it sewed through + and through with several long horse hairs, so that the bird persisted in + her search till the hair was found. + </p> + <p> + Little dramas and tragedies and comedies, little characteristic scenes, + are always being enacted in the lives of the birds, if our eyes are sharp + enough to see them. Some clever observer saw this little comedy played + among some English sparrows and wrote an account of it in his newspaper; + it is too good not to be true: A male bird brought to his box a large, + fine goose feather, which is a great find for a sparrow and much coveted. + After he had deposited his prize and chattered his gratulations over it he + went away in quest of his mate. His next-door neighbor, a female bird, + seeing her chance, quickly slipped in and seized the feather,—and + here the wit of the bird came out, for instead of carrying it into her own + box she flew with it to a near tree and hid it in a fork of the branches, + then went home, and when her neighbor returned with his mate was + innocently employed about her own affairs. The proud male, finding his + feather gone, came out of his box in a high state of excitement, and, with + wrath in his manner and accusation on his tongue, rushed into the cot of + the female. Not finding his goods and chattels there as he had expected, + he stormed around a while, abusing everybody in general and his neighbor + in particular, and then went away as if to repair the loss. As soon as he + was out of sight, the shrewd thief went and brought the feather home and + lined her own domicile with it. + </p> + <p> + I was much amused one summer day in seeing a bluebird feeding her young + one in the shaded street of a large town. She had captured a cicada or + harvest-fly, and after bruising it a while on the ground flew with it to a + tree and placed it in the beak of the young bird. It was a large morsel, + and the mother seemed to have doubts of her chick's ability to dispose of + it, for she stood near and watched its efforts with great solicitude. The + young bird struggled valiantly with the cicada, but made no head way in + swallowing it, when the mother took it from him and flew to the sidewalk, + and proceeded to break and bruise it more thoroughly. Then she again + placed it in his beak, and seemed to say, "There, try it now," and + sympathized so thoroughly with his efforts that she repeated many of his + motions and contortions. But the great fly was unyielding, and, indeed, + seemed ridiculously disproportioned to the beak that held it. The young + bird fluttered and fluttered and screamed, "I'm stuck, I'm stuck," till + the anxious parent again seized the morsel and carried it to an iron + railing, where she came down upon it for the space of a minute with all + the force and momentum her beak could command. Then she offered it to her + young a third time, but with the same result as before, except that this + time the bird dropped it; but she was at the ground as soon as the cicada + was, and taking it in her beak flew some distance to a high board fence + where she sat motionless for some moments. While pondering the problem how + that fly should be broken, the male bluebird approached her, and said very + plainly, and I thought rather curtly, "Give me that bug," but she quickly + resented his interference and flew farther away, where she sat apparently + quite discouraged when I last saw her. + </p> + <p> + The bluebird is a home bird, and I am never tired of recurring to him. His + coming or reappearance in the spring marks a new chapter in the progress + of the season; things are never quite the same after one has heard that + note. The past spring the males came about a week in advance of the + females. A fine male lingered about my grounds and orchard all the time, + apparently waiting the arrival of his mate. He called and warbled every + day, as if he felt sure she was within ear-shot, and could be hurried up. + Now he warbled half-angrily or upbraidingly, then coaxingly, then cheerily + and confidently, the next moment in a plaintive, far-away manner. He would + half open his wings, and twinkle them caressingly, as if beckoning his + mate to his heart. One morning she had come, but was shy and reserved. The + fond male flew to a knot-hole in an old apple-tree, and coaxed her to his + side. I heard a fine confidential warble,—the old, old story. But + the female flew to a near tree, and uttered her plaintive, homesick note. + The male went and got some dry grass or bark in his beak, and flew again + to the hole in the old tree, and promised unremitting devotion, but the + other said "nay," and flew away in the distance. When he saw her going, or + rather heard her distant note, he dropped his stuff, and cried out in a + tone that said plainly enough, "Wait a minute. One word, please," and flew + swiftly in pursuit. He won her before long, however, and early in April + the pair were established in one of the four or five boxes I had put up + for them, but not until they had changed their minds several times. As + soon as the first brood had flown, and while they were yet under their + parents' care, they began another nest in one of the other boxes, the + female, as usual, doing all the work, and the male all the complimenting. + </p> + <p> + A source of occasional great distress to the mother-bird was a white cat + that sometimes followed me about. The cat had never been known to catch a + bird, but she had a way of watching them that was very embarrassing to the + bird. Whenever she appeared, the mother bluebird would set up that pitiful + melodious plaint. One morning the cat was standing by me, when the bird + came with her beak loaded with building material, and alighted above me to + survey the place before going into the box. When she saw the cat, she was + greatly disturbed, and in her agitation could not keep her hold upon all + her material. Straw after straw came eddying down, till not half her + original burden remained. After the cat had gone away, the bird's alarm + subsided, till, presently seeing the coast clear, she flew quickly to the + box and pitched in her remaining straws with the greatest precipitation, + and, without going in to arrange them, as was her wont, flew away in + evident relief. + </p> + <p> + In the cavity of an apple-tree but a few yards off, and much nearer the + house than they usually build, a pair of high-holes, or golden-shafted + woodpeckers, took up their abode. A knot-hole which led to the decayed + interior was enlarged, the live wood being cut away as clean as a squirrel + would have done it. The inside preparations I could not witness, but day + after day, as I passed near, I heard the bird hammering away, evidently + beating down obstructions and shaping and enlarging the cavity. The chips + were not brought out, but were used rather to floor the interior. The + woodpeckers are not nest-builders, but rather nest-carvers. + </p> + <p> + The time seemed very short before the voices of the young were heard in + the heart of the old tree,—at first feebly, but waxing stronger day + by day until they could be heard many rods distant. When I put my hand + upon the trunk of the tree, they would set up an eager, expectant + chattering; but if I climbed up it toward the opening, they soon detected + the unusual sound and would hush quickly, only now and then uttering a + warning note. Long before they were fully fledged they clambered up to the + orifice to receive their food. As but one could stand in the opening at a + time, there was a good deal of elbowing and struggling for this position. + It was a very desirable one aside from the advantages it had when food was + served; it looked out upon the great shining world, into which the young + birds seemed never tired of gazing. The fresh air must have been a + consideration also, for the interior of a high-hole's dwelling is not + sweet. When the parent birds came with food the young one in the opening + did not get it all, but after he had received a portion, either on his own + motion or on a hint from the old one, he would give place to the one + behind him. Still, one bird evidently outstripped his fellows, and in the + race of life, was two or three days in advance of them. His voice was + loudest and his head oftenest at the window. But I noticed that when he + had kept the position too long, the others evidently made it uncomfortable + in his rear, and, after "fidgeting" about a while, he would be compelled + to "back down." But retaliation was then easy, and I fear his mates spent + few easy moments at that lookout. They would close their eyes and slide + back into the cavity as if the world had suddenly lost all its charms for + them. + </p> + <p> + This bird was, of course, the first to leave the nest. For two days before + that event he kept his position in the opening most of the time and sent + forth his strong voice incessantly. The old ones abstained from feeding + him almost entirely, no doubt to encourage his exit. As I stood looking at + him one afternoon and noting his progress, he suddenly reached a + resolution,—seconded, I have no doubt, from the rear,—and + launched forth upon his untried wings. They served him well and carried + him about fifty yards up-hill the first heat. The second day after, the + next in size and spirit left in the same manner; then another, till only + one remained. The parent birds ceased their visits to him, and for one day + he called and called till our ears were tired of the sound. His was the + faintest heart of all. Then he had none to encourage him from behind. He + left the nest and clung to the outer bowl of the tree, and yelped and + piped for an hour longer; then he committed himself to his wings and went + his way like the rest. + </p> + <p> + A young farmer in the western part of New York, who has a sharp, + discriminating eye, sends me some interesting notes about a tame high-hole + he once had. + </p> + <p> + "Did you ever notice," says he, "that the high-hole never eats anything + that he cannot pick up with his tongue? At least this was the case with a + young one I took from the nest and tamed. He could thrust out his tongue + two or three inches, and it was amusing to see his efforts to eat currants + from the hand. He would run out his tongue and try to stick it to the + currant; failing in that, he would bend his tongue around it like a hook + and try to raise it by a sudden jerk. But he never succeeded, the round + fruit would roll and slip away every time. He never seemed to think of + taking it in his beak. His tongue was in constant use to find out the + nature of everything he saw; a nail-hole in a board or any similar hole + was carefully explored. If he was held near the face he would soon be + attracted by the eye and thrust his tongue into it. In this way he gained + the respect of a number of half-grown cats that were around the house. I + wished to make them familiar to each other, so there would be less danger + of their killing him. So I would take them both on my knee, when the bird + would soon notice the kitten's eyes, and leveling his bill as carefully as + a marksman levels his rifle, he would remain so a minute when he would + dart his tongue into the cat's eye. This was held by the cats to be very + mysterious: being struck in the eye by something invisible to them. They + soon acquired such a terror of him that they would avoid him and run away + whenever they saw his bill turned in their direction. He never would + swallow a grasshopper even when it was placed in his throat; he would + shake himself until he had thrown it out of his mouth. His 'best hold' was + ants. He never was surprised at anything, and never was afraid of + anything. He would drive the turkey gobbler and the rooster. He would + advance upon them holding one wing up as high as possible, as if to strike + with it, and shuffle along the ground toward them, scolding all the while + in a harsh voice. I feared at first that they might kill him, but I soon + found that he was able to take care of himself. I would turn over stones + and dig into ant-hills for him, and he would lick up the ants so fast that + a stream of them seemed going into his mouth unceasingly. I kept him till + late in the fall, when he disappeared, probably going south, and I never + saw him again." + </p> + <p> + My correspondent also sends me some interesting observations about the + cuckoo. He says a large gooseberry bush standing in the border of an old + hedgerow, in the midst of open fields, and not far from his house, was + occupied by a pair of cuckoos for two seasons in succession, and, after an + interval of a year, for two seasons more. This gave him a good chance to + observe them. He says the mother-bird lays a single egg, and sits upon it + a number of days before laying the second, so that he has seen one young + bird nearly grown, a second just hatched, and a whole egg all in the nest + at once. "So far as I have seen, this is the settled practice,—the + young leaving the nest one at a time to the number of six or eight. The + young have quite the look of the young of the dove in many respects. When + nearly grown they are covered with long blue pin-feathers as long as + darning-needles, without a bit of plumage on them. They part on the back + and hang down on each side by their own weight. With its curious feathers + and misshapen body the young bird is anything but handsome. They never + open their mouths when approached, as many young birds do, but sit + perfectly still, hardly moving when touched." He also notes the unnatural + indifference of the mother-bird when her nest and young are approached. + She makes no sound, but sits quietly on a near branch in apparent perfect + unconcern. + </p> + <p> + These observations, together with the fact that the egg of the cuckoo is + occasionally found in the nests of other birds, raise the inquiry whether + our bird is slowly relapsing into the habit of the European species, which + always foists its egg upon other birds; or whether, on the other hand, it + is not mending its manners in this respect. It has but little to unlearn + or to forget in the one case, but great progress to make in the other. How + far is its rudimentary nest—a mere platform of coarse twigs and dry + stalks of weeds—from the deep, compact, finely woven and finely + modeled nest of the goldfinch or king-bird, and what a gulf between its + indifference toward its young and their solicitude! Its irregular manner + of laying also seems better suited to a parasite like our cow-bird, or the + European cuckoo, than to a regular nest-builder. + </p> + <p> + This observer, like most sharp-eyed persons, sees plenty of interesting + things as he goes about his work. He one day saw a white swallow, which is + of rare occurrence. He saw a bird, a sparrow he thinks, fly against the + side of a horse and fill his beak with hair from the loosened coat of the + animal. He saw a shrike pursue a chickadee, when the latter escaped by + taking refuge in a small hole in a tree. One day in early spring he saw + two hen-hawks that were circling and screaming high in air, approach each + other, extend a claw, and, clasping them together, fall toward the earth + flapping and struggling as if they were tied together; on nearing the + ground they separated and soared aloft again. He supposed that it was not + a passage of war but of love, and that the hawks were toying fondly with + each other. + </p> + <p> + He further relates a curious circumstance of finding a humming-bird in the + upper part of a barn with its bill stuck fast in a crack of one of the + large timbers, dead, of course, with wings extended, and as dry as a chip. + The bird seems to have died as it had lived, on the wing, and its last act + was indeed a ghastly parody of its living career. Fancy this nimble, + flashing sprite, whose life was passed probing the honeyed depths of + flowers, at last thrusting its bill into a crack in a dry timber in a + hayloft, and, with spread wings, ending its existence. + </p> + <p> + When the air is damp and heavy, swallows frequently hawk for insects about + cattle and moving herds in the field. My farmer describes how they + attended him one foggy day, as he was mowing in the meadow with a + mowing-machine. It had been foggy for two days, and the swallows were very + hungry, and the insects stupid and inert. When the sound of his machine + was heard, the swallows appeared and attended him like a brood of hungry + chickens. He says there was a continued rush of purple wings over the + "cut-bar," and just where it was causing the grass to tremble and fall. + Without his assistance the swallows would doubtless have gone hungry yet + another day. + </p> + <p> + Of the hen-hawk, he has observed that both male and female take part in + incubation. "I was rather surprised," he says, "on one occasion, to see + how quickly they change places on the nest. The nest was in a tall beech, + and the leaves were not yet fully out. I could see the head and neck of + the hawk over the edge of the nest, when I saw the other hawk coming down + through the air at full speed. I expected he would alight near by, but + instead of that he struck directly upon the nest, his mate getting out of + the way barely in time to avoid being hit; it seemed almost as if he had + knocked her off the nest. I hardly see how they can make such a rush on + the nest without danger to the eggs." + </p> + <p> + The king-bird will worry the hawk as a whiffet dog will worry a bear. It + is by his persistence and audacity, not by any injury he is capable of + dealing his great antagonist. The king-bird seldom more than dogs the + hawk, keeping above and between his wings, and making a great ado; but my + correspondent says he once "saw a king-bird riding on a hawk's back. The + hawk flew as fast as possible, and the king-bird sat upon his shoulders in + triumph until they had passed out of sight,"—tweaking his feathers, + no doubt, and threatening to scalp him the next moment. + </p> + <p> + That near relative of the king-bird, the great crested fly-catcher, has + one well known peculiarity: he appears never to consider his nest finished + until it contains a cast-off snake-skin. My alert correspondent one day + saw him eagerly catch up an onion skin and make off with it, either + deceived by it or else thinking it a good substitute for the coveted + material. + </p> + <p> + One day in May, walking in the woods, I came upon the nest of a + whippoorwill, or rather its eggs, for it builds no nest,—two + elliptical whitish spotted eggs lying upon the dry leaves. My foot was + within a yard of the mother-bird before she flew. I wondered what a sharp + eye would detect curious or characteristic in the ways of the bird, so I + came to the place many times and had a look. It was always a task to + separate the bird from her surroundings though I stood within a few feet + of her, and knew exactly where to look. One had to bear on with his eye, + as it were, and refuse to be baffled. The sticks and leaves, and bits of + black or dark-brown bark, were all exactly copied in the bird's plumage. + And then she did sit so close, and simulate so well a shapeless decaying + piece of wood or bark! Twice I brought a companion, and guiding his eye to + the spot, noted how difficult it was for him to make out there, in full + view upon the dry leaves, any semblance to a bird. When the bird returned + after being disturbed, she would alight within a few inches of her eggs, + and then, after a moment's pause, hobble awkwardly upon them. + </p> + <p> + After the young had appeared, all the wit of the bird came into play. I + was on hand the next day, I think. The mother-bird sprang up when I was + within a pace of her, and in doing so fanned the leaves with her wings + till they sprang up too; as the leaves started the young started, and, + being of the same color, to tell which was the leaf and which the bird was + a trying task to any eye. I came the next day, when the same tactics were + repeated. Once a leaf fell upon one of the young birds and nearly hid it. + The young are covered with a reddish down like a young partridge, and soon + follow their mother about. When disturbed, they gave but one leap, then + settled down, perfectly motionless and stupid, with eyes closed. The + parent bird, on these occasions made frantic efforts to decoy me away from + her young. She would fly a few paces and fall upon her breast, and a + spasm, like that of death, would run through her tremulous outstretched + wings and prostrate body. She kept a sharp eye out the meanwhile to see if + the ruse took, and if it did not, she was quickly cured, and moving about + to some other point tried to draw my attention as before. When followed + she always alighted upon the ground, dropping down in a sudden peculiar + way. The second or third day both old and young had disappeared. + </p> + <p> + The whippoorwill walks as awkwardly as a swallow, which is as awkward as a + man in a bag, and yet she manages to lead her young about the woods. The + latter, I think, move by leaps and sudden spurts, their protective + coloring shielding them most effectively. Wilson once came upon the + mother-bird and her brood in the woods, and, though they were at his very + feet, was so baffled by the concealment of the young that he was about to + give up the search, much disappointed, when he perceived something "like a + slight moldiness among the withered leaves, and, on stooping down, + discovered it to be a young whippoorwill seemingly asleep." Wilson's + description of the young is very accurate, as its downy covering does look + precisely like a "slight moldiness." Returning a few moments afterward to + the spot to get a pencil he had forgotten, he could find neither old nor + young. + </p> + <p> + It takes an eye to see a partridge in the woods motionless upon the + leaves; this sense needs to be as sharp as that of smell in hounds and + pointers; and yet I know an unkempt youth that seldom fails to see the + bird and shoot it before it takes wing. I think he sees it as soon as it + sees him and before it suspects itself seen. What a training to the eye is + hunting! To pick out the game from its surroundings, the grouse from the + leaves, the gray squirrel from the mossy oak limb it hugs so closely, the + red fox from the ruddy or brown or gray field, the rabbit from the + stubble, or the white hare from the snow requires the best powers of this + sense. A woodchuck, motionless in the fields or upon a rock, looks very + much like a large stone or bowlder, yet a keen eye knows the difference at + a glance, a quarter of a mile away. + </p> + <p> + A man has a sharper eye than a dog, or a fox, or than any of the wild + creatures, but not so sharp an ear or nose. But in the birds he finds his + match. How quickly the old turkey discovers the hawk, a mere speck against + the sky, and how quickly the hawk discovers you if you happen to be + secreted in the bushes or behind the fence near which he alights! One + advantage the bird surely has, and that is, owing to the form, structure, + and position of the eye, it has a much larger field of vision—indeed, + can probably see in nearly every direction at the same instant, behind as + well as before. Man's field of vision embraces less than half a circle + horizontally, and still less vertically; his brow and brain prevent him + from seeing within many degrees of the zenith without a movement of the + head; the bird on the other hand, takes in nearly the whole sphere at a + glance. + </p> + <p> + I find I see almost without effort nearly every bird within sight in the + field or wood I pass through (a flit of the wing, a flirt of the tail are + enough, though the flickering leaves do all conspire to hide them), and + that with like ease the birds see me, though, unquestionably, the chances + are immensely in their favor. The eye sees what it has the means of + seeing, truly. You must have the bird in your heart before you can find it + in the bush. The eye must have purpose and aim. No one ever yet found the + walking fern who did not have the walking fern in his mind. A person whose + eye is full of Indian relics picks them up in every field he walks + through. + </p> + <p> + One season I was interested in the tree-frogs; especially the tiny piper + that one hears about the woods and brushy fields—the hyla of the + swamps become a denizen of the trees; I had never seen him in this new + role. But this season, having hylas in mind, or rather being ripe for + them, I several times came across them. One Sunday, walking amid some + bushes, I captured two. They leaped before me as doubtless they had done + many times before; but though I was not looking for or thinking of them, + yet they were quickly recognized, because the eye had been commissioned to + find them. On another occasion, not long afterward, I was hurriedly + loading my gun in the October woods in hopes of overtaking a gray squirrel + that was fast escaping through the tree-tops, when one of these lilliput + frogs, the color of the fast-yellowing leaves, leaped near me. I saw him + only out of the corner of my eye and yet bagged him, because I had already + made him my own. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, the habit of observation is the habit of clear and decisive + gazing. Not by a first casual glance, but by a steady deliberate aim of + the eye are the rare and characteristic things discovered. You must look + intently and hold your eye firmly to the spot, to see more than do the + rank and file of mankind. The sharp-shooter picks out his man and knows + him with fatal certainty from a stump, or a rock, or a cap on a pole. The + phrenologists do well to locate, not only form, color, and weight, in the + region of the eye, but also a faculty which they call individuality—that + which separates, discriminates, and sees in every object its essential + character. This is just as necessary to the naturalist as to the artist or + the poet. The sharp eye notes specific points and differences,—it + seizes upon and preserves the individuality of the thing. Persons + frequently describe to me some bird they have seen or heard and ask me to + name it, but in most cases the bird might be any one of a dozen, or else + it is totally unlike any bird found in this continent. They have either + seen falsely or else vaguely. Not so the farm youth who wrote me one + winter day that he had seen a single pair of strange birds, which he + describes as follows: "They were about the size of the 'chippie,' the tops + of their heads were red, and the breast of the male was of the same color, + while that of the female was much lighter; their rumps were also faintly + tinged with red. If I have described them so that you would know them, + please write me their names." There can be little doubt but the young + observer had seen a pair of red-polls,—a bird related to the + goldfinch, and that occasionally comes down to us in the winter from the + far north. Another time, the same youth wrote that he had seen a strange + bird, the color of a sparrow, that alighted on fences and buildings as + well as upon the ground, and that walked. This last fact shoved the + youth's discriminating eye and settled the case. I knew it to be a species + of the lark, and from the size, color, season, etc., the tit-lark. But how + many persons would have observed that the bird walked instead of hopped? + </p> + <p> + Some friends of mine who lived in the country tried to describe to me a + bird that built a nest in a tree within a few feet of the house. As it was + a brown bird, I should have taken it for a wood-thrush, had not the nest + been described as so thin and loose that from beneath the eggs could be + distinctly seen. The most pronounced feature in the description was the + barred appearance of the under side of the bird's tail. I was quite at + sea, until one day, when we were driving out, a cuckoo flew across the + road in front of us, when my friends exclaimed, "There is our bird!" I had + never known a cuckoo to build near a house, and I had never noted the + appearance the tail presents when viewed from beneath; but if the bird had + been described in its most obvious features, as slender, with a long tail, + cinnamon brown above and white beneath, with a curved bill, anyone who + knew the bird would have recognized the portrait. + </p> + <p> + We think we have looked at a thing sharply until we are asked for its + specific features. I thought I knew exactly the form of the leaf of the + tulip-tree, until one day a lady asked me to draw the outline of one. A + good observer is quick to take a hint and to follow it up. Most of the + facts of nature, especially in the life of the birds and animals, are well + screened. We do not see the play because we do not look intently enough. + The other day I was sitting with a friend upon a high rock in the woods, + near a small stream, when we saw a water-snake swimming across a pool + toward the opposite bank. Any eye would have noted it, perhaps nothing + more. A little closer and sharper gaze revealed the fact that the snake + bore something in its mouth, which, as we went down to investigate, proved + to be a small cat-fish, three or four inches long. The snake had captured + it in the pool, and, like any other fisherman, wanted to get its prey to + dry land, although itself lived mostly in the water. Here, we said, is + being enacted a little tragedy, that would have escaped any but sharp + eyes. The snake, which was itself small, had the fish by the throat, the + hold of vantage among all creatures, and clung to it with great tenacity. + The snake knew that its best tactics was to get upon dry land as soon as + possible. It could not swallow its victim alive, and it could not strangle + it in the water. For a while it tried to kill its game by holding it up + out of the water, but the fish grew heavy, and every few moments its + struggles brought down the snake's head. This would not do. Compressing + the fish's throat would not shut off its breath under such circumstances, + so the wily serpent tried to get ashore with it, and after several + attempts succeeded in effecting a landing on a flat rock. But the fish + died hard. Cat-fish do not give up the ghost in a hurry. Its throat was + becoming congested, but the snake's distended jaws must have ached. It was + like a petrified gape. Then the spectators became very curious and close + in their scrutiny, and the snake determined to withdraw from the public + gaze and finish the business in hand to its own notions. But, when gently + but firmly remonstrated with by my friend with his walking-stick, it + dropped the fish and retreated in high dudgeon beneath a stone in the bed + of the creek. The fish, with a swollen and angry throat, went its way + also. + </p> + <p> + Birds, I say, have wonderfully keen eyes. Throw a fresh bone or a piece of + meat upon the snow in winter, and see how soon the crows will discover it + and be on hand. If it be near the house or barn, the crow that first + discovers it will alight near it, to make sure he is not deceived; then he + will go away, and soon return with a companion. The two alight a few yards + from the bone, and after some delay, during which the vicinity is sharply + scrutinized, one of the crows advances boldly to within a few feet of the + coveted prize. Here he pauses, and if no trick is discovered, and the meat + be indeed meat, he seizes it and makes off. + </p> + <p> + One midwinter I cleared away the snow under an apple-tree near the house + and scattered some corn there. I had not seen a blue-jay for weeks, yet + that very day one found my corn, and after that several came daily and + partook of it, holding the kernels under their feet upon the limbs of the + trees and pecking them vigorously. + </p> + <p> + Of course the woodpecker and his kind have sharp eyes; still I was + surprised to see how quickly Downy found out some bones that were placed + in a convenient place under the shed to be pounded up for the hens. In + going out to the barn I often disturbed him making a meal off the bite of + meat that still adhered to them. + </p> + <p> + "Look intently enough at anything," said a poet to me one day, "and you + will see something that would otherwise escape you." I thought of the + remark as I sat on a stump in an opening of the woods one spring day. I + saw a small hawk approaching; he flew to a tall tulip-tree and alighted on + a large limb near the top. He eyed me and I eyed him. Then the bird + disclosed a trait that was new to me: he hopped along the limb to a small + cavity near the trunk, when he thrust in his head and pulled out some + small object and fell to eating it. After he had partaken of it for some + minutes he put the remainder back in his larder and flew away. I had seen + something like feathers eddying slowly down as the hawk ate, and on + approaching the spot found the feathers of a sparrow here and there + clinging to the bushes beneath the tree. The hawk then—commonly + called the chicken hawk—is as provident as a mouse or a squirrel, + and lays by a store against a time of need, but I should not have + discovered the fact had I not held my eye on him. + </p> + <p> + An observer of the birds is attracted by any unusual sound or commotion + among them. In May or June, when other birds are most vocal, the jay is a + silent bird; he goes sneaking about the orchards and the groves as silent + as a pickpocket; he is robbing bird's-nests and he is very anxious that + nothing should be said about it; but in the fall none so quick and loud to + cry "Thief, thief!" as he. One December morning a troop of jays discovered + a little screech-owl secreted in the hollow trunk of an old apple-tree + near my house. How they found the owl out is a mystery, since it never + ventures forth in the light of day; but they did, and proclaimed the fact + with great emphasis. I suspect the bluebirds first told them, for these + birds are constantly peeping into holes and crannies, both spring and + fall. Some unsuspecting bird had probably entered the cavity prospecting + for a place for next year's nest, or else looking out a likely place to + pass a cold night, and then had rushed out with important news. A boy who + should unwittingly venture into a bear's den when Bruin was at home could + not be more astonished and alarmed than a bluebird would be on finding + itself in the cavity of a decayed tree with an owl. At any rate the + bluebirds joined the jays in calling the attention of all whom it might + concern to the fact that a culprit of some sort was hiding from the light + of day in the old apple-tree. I heard the notes of warning and alarm and + approached to within eye-shot. The bluebirds were cautious and hovered + about uttering their peculiar twittering calls; but the jays were bolder + and took turns looking in at the cavity, and deriding the poor shrinking + owl. A jay would alight in the entrance of the hole and flirt and peer and + attitudinize, and then flyaway crying "Thief, thief, thief!" at the top of + his voice. + </p> + <p> + I climbed up and peered into the opening, and could just descry the owl + clinging to the inside of the tree. I reached in and took him out, giving + little heed to the threatening snapping of his beak. He was as red as a + fox and as yellow-eyed as a cat. He made no effort to escape, but planted + his claws in my forefinger and clung there with a grip that soon grew + uncomfortable. I placed him in the loft of an out-house in hopes of + getting better acquainted with him. By day he was a very willing prisoner, + scarcely moving at all, even when approached and touched with the hand, + but looking out upon the world with half-closed, sleepy eyes. But at night + what a change; how alert, how wild, how active! He was like another bird; + he darted about with wide, fearful eyes, and regarded me like a cornered + cat. I opened the window, and swiftly, but as silent as a shadow, he + glided out into the congenial darkness, and perhaps, ere this, has + revenged himself upon the sleeping jay or bluebird that first betrayed his + hiding-place. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE APPLE. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Lo! sweetened with the summer light, + The full-juiced apple, waxing over-mellow, + Drops in a silent autumn night.—TENNYSON. +</pre> + <p> + Not a little of the sunshine of our northern winters is surely wrapped up + in the apple. How could we winter over without it! How is life sweetened + by its mild acids! A cellar well filled with apples is more valuable than + a chamber filled with flax and wool. So much sound ruddy life to draw + upon, to strike one's roots down into, as it were. + </p> + <p> + Especially to those whose soil of life is inclined to be a little clayey + and heavy, is the apple a winter necessity. It is the natural antidote of + most of the ills the flesh is heir to. Full of vegetable acids and + aromatics, qualities which act as refrigerants and antiseptics, what an + enemy it is to jaundice, indigestion, torpidity of liver, etc. It is a + gentle spur and tonic to the whole biliary system. Then I have read that + it has been found by analysis to contain more phosphorus than any other + vegetable. This makes it the proper food of the scholar and the sedentary + man; it feeds his brain and it stimulates his liver. Nor is this all. + Besides its hygienic properties, the apple is full of sugar and mucilage, + which make it highly nutritious. It is said, "The operators of Cornwall, + England, consider ripe apples nearly as nourishing as bread, and far more + so than potatoes. In the year 1801—which was a year of much scarcity—apples, + instead of being converted into cider, were sold to the poor, and the + laborers asserted that they could 'stand their work' on baked apples + without meat; whereas a potato diet required either meat or some other + substantial nutriment. The French and Germans use apples extensively, so + do the inhabitants of all European nations. The laborers depend upon them + as an article of food, and frequently make a dinner of sliced apples and + bread." + </p> + <p> + Yet the English apple is a tame and insipid affair compared with the + intense, sun-colored and sun-steeped fruit our orchards yield. The English + have no sweet apple, I am told, the saccharine element apparently being + less abundant in vegetable nature in that sour and chilly climate than in + our own. It is well known that the European maple yields no sugar, while + both our birch and hickory have sweet in their veins. Perhaps this fact + accounts for our excessive love of sweets, which may be said to be a + national trait. + </p> + <p> + The Russian apple has a lovely complexion, smooth and transparent, but the + Cossack is not yet all eliminated from it. The only one I have seen—the + Duchess of Oldenburg—is as beautiful as a Tartar princess, with a + distracting odor, but it is the least bit puckery to the taste. + </p> + <p> + The best thing I know about Chili is not its guano beds, but this fact + which I learn from Darwin's "Voyage," namely, that the apple thrives well + there. Darwin saw a town there so completely buried in a wood of + apple-trees, that its streets were merely paths in an orchard. The tree + indeed thrives so well, that large branches cut off in the spring and + planted two or three feet deep in the ground send out roots and develop + into fine full-bearing trees by the third year. The people know the value + of the apple too. They make cider and wine of it and then from the refuse + a white and finely flavored spirit; then by another process a sweet + treacle is obtained called honey. The children and the pigs eat little or + no other food. He does not add that the people are healthy and temperate, + but I have no doubt they are. We knew the apple had many virtues, but + these Chilians have really opened a deep beneath a deep. We had found out + the cider and the spirits, but who guessed the wine and the honey, unless + it were the bees? There is a variety in our orchards called the winesap, a + doubly liquid name that suggests what might be done with this fruit. + </p> + <p> + The apple is the commonest and yet the most varied and beautiful of + fruits. A dish of them is as becoming to the centre-table in winter as was + the vase of flowers in the summer,—a bouquet of spitzenbergs and + greenings and northern spies. A rose when it blooms, the apple is a rose + when it ripens. It pleases every sense to which it can be addressed, the + touch, the smell, the sight, the taste; and when it falls in the still + October days it pleases the ear. It is a call to a banquet, it is a signal + that the feast is ready. The bough would fain hold it, but it can now + assert its independence; it can now live a life of its own. + </p> + <p> + Daily the stem relaxes its hold, till finally it lets go completely, and + down comes the painted sphere with a mellow thump to the earth, towards + which it has been nodding so long. It bounds away to seek its bed, to hide + under a leaf, or in a tuft of grass. It will now take time to meditate and + ripen! What delicious thoughts it has there nestled with its fellows under + the fence, turning acid into sugar, and sugar into wine! + </p> + <p> + How pleasing to the touch! I love to stroke its polished rondure with my + hand, to carry it in my pocket on my tramp over the winter hills, or + through the early spring woods. You are company, you red-cheeked spitz, or + you salmon-fleshed greening! I toy with you; press your face to mine, toss + you in the air, roll you on the ground, see you shine out where you lie + amid the moss and dry leaves and sticks. You are so alive! You glow like a + ruddy flower. You look so animated I almost expect to see you move. I + postpone the eating of you, you are so beautiful! How compact; how + exquisitely tinted! Stained by the sun and varnished against the rains. An + independent vegetable existence, alive and vascular as my own flesh; + capable of being wounded, bleeding, wasting away, and almost of repairing + damages! + </p> + <p> + How it resists the cold! holding out almost as long as the red cheeks of + the boys do. A frost that destroys the potatoes and other roots only makes + the apple more crisp and vigorous; it peeps out from the chance November + snows unscathed. When I see the fruit-vender on the street corner stamping + his feet and beating his hands to keep them warm, and his naked apples + lying exposed to the blasts, I wonder if they do not ache too to clap + their hands and enliven their circulation. But they can stand it nearly as + long as the vender can. + </p> + <p> + Noble common fruit, best friend of man and most loved by him, following + him like his dog or his cow, wherever he goes. His homestead is not + planted till you are planted, your roots intertwine with his; thriving + best where he thrives best, loving the limestone and the frost, the plow + and the pruning-knife, you are indeed suggestive of hardy, cheerful + industry, and a healthy life in the open air. Temperate, chaste fruit! you + mean neither luxury nor sloth, neither satiety nor indolence, neither + enervating heats nor the Frigid Zones. Uncloying fruit, fruit whose best + sauce is the open air, whose finest flavors only he whose taste is + sharpened by brisk work or walking knows; winter fruit, when the fire of + life burns brightest; fruit always a little hyperborean, leaning towards + the cold; bracing, sub-acid, active fruit. I think you must come from the + north, you are so frank and honest, so sturdy and appetizing. You are + stocky and homely like the northern races. Your quality is Saxon. Surely + the fiery and impetuous south is not akin to you. Not spices or olives or + the sumptuous liquid fruits, but the grass, the snow, the grains, the + coolness is akin to you. I think if I could subsist on you or the like of + you, I should never have an intemperate or ignoble thought, never be + feverish or despondent. So far as I could absorb or transmute your quality + I should be cheerful, continent, equitable, sweet-blooded, long-lived, and + should shed warmth and contentment around. + </p> + <p> + Is there any other fruit that has so much facial expression as the apple? + What boy does not more than half believe they can see with that single eye + of theirs? Do they not look and nod to him from the bough? The swaar has + one look, the rambo another, the spy another. The youth recognizes the + seek-no-further buried beneath a dozen other varieties, the moment he + catches a glance of its eye, or the bonny-cheeked Newtown pippin, or the + gentle but sharp-nosed gilliflower. He goes to the great bin in the cellar + and sinks his shafts here and there in the garnered wealth of the + orchards, mining for his favorites, sometimes coming plump upon them, + sometimes catching a glimpse of them to the right or left, or uncovering + them as keystones in an arch made up of many varieties. In the dark he can + usually tell them by the sense of touch. There is not only the size and + shape, but there is the texture and polish. Some apples are coarse grained + and some are fine; some are thin-skinned and some are thick. One variety + is quick and vigorous beneath the touch; another gentle and yielding. The + pinnock has a thick skin with a spongy lining, a bruise in it becomes like + a piece of cork. The tallow apple has an unctuous feel, as its name + suggests. It sheds water like a duck. What apple is that with a fat curved + stem that blends so prettily with its own flesh,—the wine-apple? + Some varieties impress me as masculine,—weather-stained, freckled, + lasting and rugged; others are indeed lady apples, fair, delicate, + shining, mild-flavored, white-meated, like the egg-drop and the + lady-finger. The practiced hand knows each kind by the touch. Do you + remember the apple hole in the garden or back of the house, Ben Bolt? In + the fall after the bins in the cellar had been well stocked, we excavated + a circular pit in the warm, mellow earth, and covering the bottom with + clean rye straw, emptied in basketful after basketful of hardy choice + varieties, till there was a tent-shaped mound several feet high of shining + variegated fruit. Then wrapping it about with a thick layer of long rye + straw, and tucking it up snug and warm, the mound was covered, with a thin + coating of earth, a flat stone on the top holding down the straw. As + winter set in, another coating of earth was put upon it, with perhaps an + overcoat of coarse dry stable manure, and the precious pile was left in + silence and darkness till spring. No marmot hibernating under-ground in + his nest of leaves and dry grass, more cosy and warm. No frost, no wet, + but fragrant privacy and quiet. Then how the earth tempers and flavors the + apples! It draws out all the acrid unripe qualities, and infuses into them + a subtle refreshing taste of the soil. Some varieties perish; but the + ranker, hardier kinds, like the northern spy, the greening, or the black + apple, or the russet, or the pinnock, how they ripen and grow in grace, + how the green becomes gold, and the bitter becomes sweet! + </p> + <p> + As the supply in the bins and barrels gets low and spring approaches, the + buried treasures in the garden are remembered. With spade and axe we go + out and penetrate through the snow and frozen earth till the inner + dressing of straw is laid bare. It is not quite as clear and bright as + when we placed it there last fall, but the fruit beneath, which the hand + soon exposes, is just as bright and far more luscious. Then, as day after + day you resort to the hole, and, removing the straw and earth from the + opening, thrust your arm into the fragrant pit, you have a better chance + than ever before to become acquainted with your favorites by the sense of + touch. How you feel for them, reaching to the right and left! Now you have + got a Tolman sweet; you imagine you can feel that single meridian line + that divides it into two hemispheres. Now a greening fills your hand, you + feel its fine quality beneath its rough coat. Now you have hooked a swaar, + you recognize its full face; now a Vandevere or a King rolls down from the + apex above, and you bag it at once. When you were a school-boy you stowed + these away in your pockets and ate them along the road and at recess, and + again at noon time; and they, in a measure, corrected the effects of the + cake and pie with which your indulgent mother filled your lunch-basket. + </p> + <p> + The boy is indeed the true apple-eater, and is not to be questioned how he + came by the fruit with which his pockets are filled. It belongs to + him...His own juicy flesh craves the juicy flesh of the apple. Sap draws + sap. His fruit-eating has little reference to the state of his appetite. + Whether he be full of meat or empty of meat he wants the apple just the + same. Before meal or after meal it never comes amiss. The farm-boy munches + apples all day long. He has nests of them in the hay-mow, mellowing, to + which he makes frequent visits. Sometimes old Brindle, having access + through the open door, smells them out and makes short work of them. + </p> + <p> + In some countries the custom remains of placing a rosy apple in the hand + of the dead that they may find it when they enter paradise. In northern + mythology the giants eat apples to keep off old age. + </p> + <p> + The apple is indeed the fruit of youth. As we grow old we crave apples + less. It is an ominous sign. When you are ashamed to be seen eating them + on the street; when you can carry them in your pocket and your hand not + constantly find its way to them; when your neighbor has apples and you + have none, and you make no nocturnal visits to his orchard; when your + lunch-basket is without them, and you can pass a winter's night by the + fireside with no thought of the fruit at your elbow, then be assured you + are no longer a boy, either in heart or years. + </p> + <p> + The genuine apple-eater comforts himself with an apple in their season as + others with a pipe or cigar. When he has nothing else to do, or is bored, + he eats an apple. While he is waiting for the train he eats an apple, + sometimes several of them. When he takes a walk, he arms himself with + apples. His traveling bag is full of apples. He offers an apple to his + companion, and takes one himself. They are his chief solace when on the + road. He sows their seed all along the route. He tosses the core from the + car-window and from the top of the stage-coach. He would, in time, make + the land one vast orchard. He dispenses with a knife. He prefers that his + teeth shall have the first taste. Then he knows the best flavor is + immediately beneath the skin, and that in a pared apple this is lost. If + you will stew the apple, he says, instead of baking it, by all means leave + the skin on. It improves the color and vastly heightens the flavor of the + dish. + </p> + <p> + The apple is a masculine fruit; hence women are poor apple-eaters. It + belongs to the open air, and requires an open-air taste and relish. + </p> + <p> + I instantly sympathized with that clergyman I read of, who on pulling out + his pocket-handkerchief in the midst of his discourse, pulled out two + bouncing apples with it that went rolling across the pulpit floor and down + the pulpit stairs. These apples were, no doubt, to be eaten after the + sermon on his way home, or to his next appointment. They would take the + taste of it out of his mouth. Then, would a minister be apt to grow + tiresome with two big apples in his coat-tail pockets? Would he not + naturally hasten along to "lastly," and the big apples? If they were the + dominie apples, and it was April or May, he certainly.... + </p> + <p> + How the early settlers prized the apple! When their trees broke down or + were split asunder by the storms, the neighbors turned out, the divided + tree was put together again and fastened with iron bolts. In some of the + oldest orchards one may still occasionally see a large dilapidated tree + with the rusty iron bolt yet visible. Poor, sour fruit, too, but sweet in + those early pioneer days. My grandfather, who was one of these heroes of + the stump, used every fall to make a journey of forty miles for a few + apples, which he brought home in a bag on horseback. He frequently started + from home by two or three o'clock in the morning, and at one time both he + and his horse were much frightened by the screaming of panthers in a + narrow pass in the mountains through which the road led. + </p> + <p> + Emerson, I believe, has spoken of the apple as the social fruit of New + England. Indeed, what a promoter or abettor of social intercourse among + our rural population the apple has been, the company growing more merry + and unrestrained as soon as the basket of apples was passed round! When + the cider followed, the introduction and good understanding were complete. + Then those rural gatherings that enlivened the autumn in the country, + known as "apple cuts," now, alas! nearly obsolete, where so many things + were cut and dried besides apples! The larger and more loaded the orchard, + the more frequently the invitations went round and the higher the social + and convivial spirit ran. Ours is eminently a country of the orchard. + Horace Greeley said he had seen no land in which the orchard formed such a + prominent feature in the rural and agricultural districts. Nearly every + farmhouse in the Eastern and Northern States has its setting or its + background of apple-trees, which generally date back to the first + settlement of the farm. Indeed, the orchard, more than almost any other + thing, tends to soften and humanize the country, and to give the place of + which it is an adjunct, a settled, domestic look. The apple-tree takes the + rawness and wildness off any scene. On the top of a mountain, or in remote + pastures, it sheds the sentiment of home. It never loses its domestic air, + or lapses into a wild state. And in planting a homestead, or in choosing a + building site for the new house, what a help it is to have a few old, + maternal apple-trees near by; regular old grandmothers, who have seen + trouble, who have been sad and glad through so many winters and summers, + who have blossomed till the air about them is sweeter than elsewhere, and + borne fruit till the grass beneath them has become thick and soft from + human contact, and who have nourished robins and finches in their branches + till they have a tender, brooding look. The ground, the turf, the + atmosphere of an old orchard, seem several stages nearer to man than that + of the adjoining field, as if the trees had given back to the soil more + than they had taken from it; as if they had tempered the elements and + attracted all the genial and beneficent influences in the landscape + around. + </p> + <p> + An apple orchard is sure to bear you several crops beside the apple. There + is the crop of sweet and tender reminiscences dating from childhood and + spanning the seasons from May to October, and making the orchard a sort of + outlying part of the household. You have played there as a child, mused + there as a youth or lover, strolled there as a thoughtful, sad-eyed man. + Your father, perhaps, planted the trees, or reared them from the seed, and + you yourself have pruned and grafted them, and worked among them, till + every separate tree has a peculiar history and meaning in your mind. Then + there is the never-failing crop of birds—robins, goldfinches, + king-birds, cedar-birds, hair-birds, orioles, starlings—all nesting + and breeding in its branches, and fitly described by Wilson Flagg as + "Birds of the Garden and Orchard." Whether the pippin and sweetbough bear + or not, the "punctual birds" can always be depended on. Indeed, there are + few better places to study ornithology than in the orchard. Besides its + regular occupants, many of the birds of the deeper forest find occasion to + visit it during the season. The cuckoo comes for the tent-caterpillar, the + jay for frozen apples, the ruffed grouse for buds, the crow foraging for + birds' eggs, the woodpecker and chickadees for their food, and the + high-hole for ants. The red-bird comes too, if only to see what a friendly + covert its branches form; and the wood-thrush now and then comes out of + the grove near by, and nests alongside of its cousin, the robin. The + smaller hawks know that this is a most likely spot for their prey; and in + spring the shy northern warblers may be studied as they pause to feed on + the fine insects amid its branches. The mice love to dwell here also, and + hither comes from the near woods the squirrel and the rabbit. The latter + will put his head through the boy's slipper-noose any time for taste of + the sweet apple, and the red squirrel and chipmunk esteem its seeds a + great rarity. + </p> + <p> + All the domestic animals love the apple, but none so much so as the cow. + The taste of it wakes her up as few other things do, and bars and fences + must be well looked after. No need to assort them or pick out the ripe + ones for her. An apple is an apple, and there is no best about it. I heard + of a quick-witted old cow that learned to shake them down from the tree. + While rubbing herself she had observed that an apple sometimes fell. This + stimulated her to rub a little harder, when more apples fell. She then + took the hint and rubbed her shoulder with such vigor that the farmer had + to check her and keep an eye on her to save his fruit. + </p> + <p> + But the cow is the friend of the apple. How many trees she has planted + about the farm, in the edge of the woods, and in remote fields and + pastures. The wild apples, celebrated by Thoreau, are mostly of her + planting. She browses them down to be sure, but they are hers, and why + should she not? + </p> + <p> + What an individuality the apple-tree has, each variety being nearly as + marked by its form as by its fruit. What a vigorous grower, for instance, + is the Ribston pippin, an English apple. Wide branching like the oak, and + its large ridgy fruit, in late fall or early winter, is one of my + favorites. Or the thick and more pendent top of the belleflower, with its + equally rich, sprightly uncloying fruit. + </p> + <p> + Sweet apples are perhaps the most nutritious, and when baked are a feast + in themselves. With a tree of the Jersey sweet or of Tolman's sweeting in + bearing, no man's table need be devoid of luxuries and one of the most + wholesome of all deserts. Or the red astrachan, an August apple, what a + gap may be filled in the culinary department of a household at this + season, by a single tree of this fruit! And what a feast is its shining + crimson coat to the eye before its snow-white flesh has reached the + tongue. But the apple of apples for the household is the spitzenberg. In + this casket Pomona has put her highest flavors. It can stand the ordeal of + cooking and still remain a spitz. I recently saw a barrel of these apples + from the orchard of a fruit-grower in the northern part of New York, who + has devoted special attention to this variety. They were perfect gems. Not + large, that had not been the aim, but small, fair, uniform, and red to the + core. How intense, how spicy and aromatic! + </p> + <p> + But all the excellences of the apple are not confined to the cultivated + fruit. Occasionally a seedling springs up about the farm that produces + fruit of rare beauty and worth. In sections peculiarly adapted to the + apple, like a certain belt along the Hudson River, I have noticed that + most of the wild unbidden trees bear good, edible fruit. In cold and + ungenial districts, the seedlings are mostly sour and crabbed, but in more + favorable soils they are oftener mild and sweet. I know wild apples that + ripen in August, and that do not need, if it could be had, Thoreau's sauce + of sharp November air to be eaten with. At the foot of a hill near me and + striking its roots deep in the shale, is a giant specimen of native tree + that bears an apple that has about the clearest, waxiest, most transparent + complexion I ever saw. It is good size, and the color of a tea-rose. Its + quality is best appreciated in the kitchen. I know another seedling of + excellent quality and so remarkable for its firmness and density, that it + is known on the farm where it grows as the "heavy apple." + </p> + <p> + I have alluded to Thoreau, to whom all lovers of the apple and its tree + are under obligation. His chapter on Wild Apples is a most delicious piece + of writing. It has a "tang and smack" like the fruit it celebrates, and is + dashed and streaked with color in the same manner. It has the hue and + perfume of the crab, and the richness and raciness of the pippin. But + Thoreau loved other apples than the wild sorts and was obliged to confess + that his favorites could not be eaten in-doors. Late in November he found + a blue-pearmain tree growing within the edge of a swamp, almost as good as + wild. "You would not suppose," he says, "that there was any fruit left + there on the first survey, but you must look according to system. Those + which lie exposed are quite brown and rotten now, or perchance a few still + show one blooming cheek here and there amid the wet leaves. Nevertheless, + with experienced eyes I explore amid the bare alders, and the huckleberry + bushes, and the withered sedge, and in the crevices of the rocks, which + are full of leaves, and pry under the fallen and decayed ferns which, with + apple and alder leaves, thickly strew the ground. For I know that they lie + concealed, fallen into hollows long since, and covered up by the leaves of + the tree itself—a proper kind of packing. From these lurking places, + everywhere within the circumference of the tree, I draw forth the fruit + all wet and glossy, maybe nibbled by rabbits and hollowed out by crickets, + and perhaps a leaf or two cemented to it (as Curzon an old manuscript from + a monastery's mouldy cellar), but still with a rich bloom on it, and at + least as ripe and well kept, if no better than those in barrels, more + crisp and lively than they. If these resources fail to yield anything, I + have learned to look between the leaves of the suckers which spring + thickly from some horizontal limb, for now and then one lodges there, or + in the very midst of an alder-clump, where they are covered by leaves, + safe from cows which may have smelled them out. If I am sharp-set, for I + do not refuse the blue-pearmain, I fill my pockets on each side; and as I + retrace my steps, in the frosty eve being perhaps four or five miles from + home, I eat one first from this side, and then from that, to keep my + balance." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH. + </h2> + <p> + The traveler and camper-out in Maine, unless he penetrates its more + northern portions, has less reason to remember it as a pine-tree State + than a birch-tree State. The white-pine forests have melted away like snow + in the spring and gone down stream, leaving only patches here and there in + the more remote and inaccessible parts. The portion of the State I saw—the + valley of the Kennebec and the woods about Moxie Lake—had been shorn + of its pine timber more than forty years before, and is now covered with a + thick growth of spruce and cedar and various deciduous trees. But the + birch abounds. Indeed, when the pine goes out the birch comes in; the race + of men succeeds the race of giants. This tree has great stay-at-home + virtues. Let the sombre, aspiring, mysterious pine go; the birch has + humble every-day uses. In Maine, the paper or canoe birch is turned to + more account than any other tree. I read in Gibbon that the natives of + ancient Assyria used to celebrate in verse or prose the three hundred and + sixty uses to which the various parts and products of the palm-tree were + applied. The Maine birch is turned to so many accounts that it may well be + called the palm of this region. Uncle Nathan, our guide, said it was made + especially for the camper-out; yes, and for the wood-man and frontiersman + generally. It is a magazine, a furnishing store set up in the wilderness, + whose goods are free to every comer. The whole equipment of the camp lies + folded in it, and comes forth at the beck of the woodman's axe; tent, + waterproof roof, boat, camp utensils, buckets, cups, plates, spoons, + napkins, table cloths, paper for letters or your journal, torches, + candles, kindling-wood, and fuel. The canoe-birch yields you its vestments + with the utmost liberality. Ask for its coat, and it gives you its + waistcoat also. Its bark seems wrapped about it layer upon layer, and + comes off with great ease. We saw many rude structures and cabins shingled + and sided with it, and haystacks capped with it. Near a maple-sugar camp + there was a large pile of birch-bark sap-buckets,—each bucket made + of a piece of bark about a yard square, folded up as the tinman folds up a + sheet of tin to make a square vessel, the corners bent around against the + sides and held by a wooden pin. When, one day, we were overtaken by a + shower in traveling through the woods, our guide quickly stripped large + sheets of the bark from a near tree, and we had each a perfect umbrella as + by magic. When the rain was over, and we moved on, I wrapped mine about me + like a large leather apron, and it shielded my clothes from the wet + bushes. When we came to a spring, Uncle Nathan would have a birch-bark cup + ready before any of us could get a tin one out of his knapsack, and I + think water never tasted so sweet as from one of these bark cups. It is + exactly the thing. It just fits the mouth and it seems to give new virtues + to the water. It makes me thirsty now when I think of it. In our camp at + Moxie we made a large birch-bark box to keep the butter in; and the butter + in this box, covered with some leafy boughs, I think improved in flavor + day by day. Maine butter needs something to mollify and sweeten it a + little, and I think birch bark will do it. In camp Uncle Nathan often + drank his tea and coffee from a bark cup; the china closet in the + birch-tree was always handy, and our vulgar tin ware was generally a good + deal mixed, and the kitchen-maid not at all particular about dish-washing. + We all tried the oatmeal with the maple syrup in one of these dishes, and + the stewed mountain cranberries, using a birch-bark spoon, and never found + service better. Uncle Nathan declared he could boil potatoes in a bark + kettle, and I did not doubt him. Instead of sending our soiled napkins and + table-spreads to the wash, we rolled them up into candles and torches, and + drew daily upon our stores in the forest for new ones. + </p> + <p> + But the great triumph of the birch is of course the bark canoe. When Uncle + Nathan took us out under his little wood-shed, and showed us, or rather + modestly permitted us to see, his nearly finished canoe, it was like a + first glimpse of some new and unknown genius of the woods or streams. It + sat there on the chips and shavings and fragments of bark like some shy + delicate creature just emerged from its hiding-place, or like some wild + flower just opened. It was the first boat of the kind I had ever seen, and + it filled my eye completely. What woodcraft it indicated, and what a wild + free life, sylvan life, it promised! It had such a fresh, aboriginal look + as I had never before seen in any kind of handiwork. Its clear yellow-red + color would have become the cheek of an Indian maiden. Then its supple + curves and swells, its sinewy stays and thwarts, its bow-like contour, its + tomahawk stem and stern rising quickly and sharply from its frame, were + all vividly suggestive of the race from which it came. An old Indian had + taught Uncle Nathan the art, and the soul of the ideal red man looked out + of the boat before us. Uncle Nathan had spent two days ranging the + mountains looking for a suitable tree, and had worked nearly a week on the + craft. It was twelve feet long, and would seat and carry five men nicely. + Three trees contribute to the making of a canoe besides the birch, namely, + the white cedar for ribs and lining, the spruce for roots and fibres to + sew its joints and bind its frame, and the pine for pitch or rosin to stop + its seams and cracks. It is hand-made and home-made, or rather wood-made, + in a sense that no other craft is, except a dug-out, and it suggests a + taste and a refinement that few products of civilization realize. The + design of a savage, it yet looks like the thought of a poet, and its grace + and fitness haunt the imagination. I suppose its production was the + inevitable result of the Indian's wants and surroundings, but that does + not detract from its beauty. It is, indeed, one of the fairest flowers the + thorny plant of necessity ever bore. Our canoe, as I have intimated, was + not yet finished when we first saw it, nor yet when we took it up, with + its architect, upon our metaphorical backs and bore it to the woods. It + lacked part of its cedar lining and the rosin upon its joints, and these + were added after we reached our destination. + </p> + <p> + Though we were not indebted to the birch-tree for our guide, Uncle Nathan, + as he was known in all the country, yet he matched well these woodsy + products and conveniences. The birch-tree had given him a large part of + his tuition, and kneeling in his canoe and making it shoot noiselessly + over the water with that subtle yet indescribably expressive and athletic + play of the muscles of the back and shoulders, the boat and the man seemed + born of the same spirit. He had been a hunter and trapper for over forty + years; he had grown gray in the woods, had ripened and matured there, and + everything about him was as if the spirit of the woods had had the + ordering of it; his whole make-up was in a minor and subdued key, like the + moss and the lichens, or like the protective coloring of the game,—everything + but his quick sense and penetrative glance. He was as gentle and modest as + a girl; his sensibilities were like plants that grow in the shade. The + woods and the solitudes had touched him with their own softening and + refining influence; had indeed shed upon his soil of life a rich deep leaf + mould that was delightful, and that nursed, half concealed, the tenderest + and wildest growths. There was grit enough back of and beneath it all, but + he presented none of the rough and repelling traits of character of the + conventional backwoods-man. In the spring he was a driver of logs on the + Kennebec, usually having charge of a large gang of men; in the winter he + was a solitary trapper and hunter in the forests. + </p> + <p> + Our first glimpse of Maine waters was Pleasant Pond, which we found by + following a white, rapid, musical stream from the Kennebec three miles + back into the mountains. Maine waters are for the most part + dark-complexioned, Indian-colored streams, but Pleasant Pond is a + pale-face among them both in name and nature. It is the only strictly + silver lake I ever saw. Its waters seem almost artificially white and + brilliant, though of remarkable transparency. I think I detected minute + shining motes held in suspension in it. As for the trout they are + veritable bars of silver until you have cut their flesh, when they are the + reddest of gold. They have no crimson or other spots, and the straight + lateral line is but a faint pencil mark. They appeared to be a species of + lake trout peculiar to these waters, uniformly from ten to twelve inches + in length. And these beautiful fish, at the time of our visit (last of + August) at least, were to be taken only in deep water upon a hook baited + with salt pork. And then you needed a letter of introduction to them. They + were not to be tempted or cajoled by strangers. We did not succeed in + raising a fish, although instructed how it was to be done, until one of + the natives, a young and obliging farmer living hard by, came and lent his + countenance to the enterprise. I sat in one end of the boat and he in the + other; my pork was the same as his, and I maneuvered it as directed, and + yet those fish knew his hook from mine in sixty feet of water, and + preferred it four times in five. Evidently they did not bite because they + were hungry, but solely for old acquaintance' sake. + </p> + <p> + Pleasant Pond is an irregular sheet of water, two miles or more in its + greatest diameter, with high, rugged mountains rising up from its western + shore, and low rolling hills sweeping back from its eastern and northern, + covered by a few sterile farms. I was never tired, when the wind was + still, of floating along its margin and gazing down into its marvelously + translucent depths. The boulders and fragments of rocks were seen, at a + depth of twenty-five or thirty feet, strewing its floor, and apparently as + free from any covering of sediment as when they were dropped there by the + old glaciers aeons ago. Our camp was amid a dense grove of second growth + of white pine on the eastern shore, where, for one, I found a most + admirable cradle in a little depression, outside of the tent, carpeted + with pine needles, in which to pass the night. The camper-out is always in + luck if he can find, sheltered by the trees, a soft hole in the ground, + even if he has a stone for a pillow. The earth must open its arms a little + for us even in life, if we are to sleep well upon its bosom. I have often + heard my grand-father, who was a soldier of the Revolution, tell with + great gusto how he once bivouacked in a little hollow made by the + overturning of a tree, and slept so soundly that he did not wake up till + his cradle was half full of water from a passing shower. + </p> + <p> + What bird or other creature might represent the divinity of Pleasant Pond + I do not know, but its demon, as of most northern inland waters, is the + loon, and a very good demon he is too, suggesting something not so much + malevolent, as arch, sardonic, ubiquitous, circumventing, with just a + tinge of something inhuman and uncanny. His fiery red eyes gleaming forth + from that jet-black head are full of meaning. Then his strange horse + laughter by day and his weird, doleful cry at night, like that of a lost + and wandering spirit, recall no other bird or beast. He suggests something + almost supernatural in his alertness and amazing quickness, cheating the + shot and the bullet of the sportsman out of their aim. I know of but one + other bird so quick, and that is the humming-bird, which I have never been + able to kill with a gun. The loon laughs the shot-gun to scorn, and the + obliging young farmer above referred to told me he had shot at them + hundreds of times with his rifle, without effect,—they always dodged + his bullet. We had in our party a breach-loading rifle, which weapon is + perhaps an appreciable moment of time quicker than the ordinary + muzzleloader, and this the poor loon could not or did not dodge. He had + not timed himself to that species of fire-arm, and when, with his fellow, + he swam about within rifle range of our camp, letting off volleys of his + wild ironical ha-ha, he little suspected the dangerous gun that was + matched against him. As the rifle cracked both loons made the gesture of + diving, but only one of them disappeared beneath the water; and when he + came to the surface in a few moments, a hundred or more yards away, and + saw his companion did not follow, but was floating on the water where he + had last seen him, he took the alarm and sped away in the distance. The + bird I had killed was a magnificent specimen, and I looked him over with + great interest. His glossy checkered coat, his banded neck, his snow-white + breast, his powerful lance-shaped beak, his red eyes, his black, thin, + slender, marvelously delicate feet and legs, issuing from his muscular + thighs, and looking as if they had never touched the ground, his strong + wings well forward while his legs were quite at the apex, and the neat, + elegant model of the entire bird, speed and quickness and strength stamped + upon every feature,—all delighted and lingered in the eye. The loon + appears like anything but a silly bird, unless you see him in some + collection, or in the shop of the taxidermist, where he usually looks very + tame and goose-like. Nature never meant the loon to stand up, or to use + his feet and legs for other purposes than swimming. Indeed, he cannot + stand except upon his tail in a perpendicular attitude, but in the + collections he is poised upon his feet like a barn-yard fowl, all the + wildness and grace and alertness goes out of him. My specimen sits upon a + table as upon the surface of the water, his feet trailing behind him, his + body low and trim, his head elevated and slightly turned as if in the act + of bringing that fiery eye to bear upon you, and vigilance and power + stamped upon every lineament. + </p> + <p> + The loon is to the fishes what the hawk is to the birds; he swoops down to + unknown depths upon them, and not even the wary trout can elude him. Uncle + Nathan said he had seen the loon disappear and in a moment come up with a + large trout, which he would cut in two with his strong beak, and swallow + piecemeal. Neither the loon nor the otter can bolt a fish under the water; + he must come to the surface to dispose of it. (I once saw a man eat a cake + under water in London.) Our guide told me he had seen the parent loon + swimming with a single young one upon its back. When closely pressed it + dove, or "div" as he would have it, and left the young bird sitting upon + the water. Then it too disappeared, and when the old one returned and + called, it came out from the shore. On the wing overhead, the loon looks not + unlike a very large duck, but when it alights it ploughs into the water + like a bombshell. It probably cannot take flight from the land, as the one + Gilbert White saw and describes in his letters was picked up in a field, + unable to launch itself into the air. + </p> + <p> + From Pleasant Pond we went seven miles through the woods to Moxie Lake, + following an overgrown lumberman's "tote" road, our canoe and supplies, + etc., hauled on a sled by the young farmer with his three-year-old steers. + I doubt if birch-bark ever made rougher voyage than that. As I watched it + above the bushes, the sled and the luggage being hidden, it appeared as if + tossed in the wildest and most tempestuous sea. When the bushes closed + above it I felt as if it had gone down, or been broken into a hundred + pieces. Billows of rocks and logs, and chasms of creeks and spring runs, + kept it rearing and pitching in the most frightful manner. The steers went + at a spanking pace; indeed, it was a regular bovine gale; but their driver + clung to their side amid the brush and boulders with desperate tenacity, + and seemed to manage them by signs and nudges, for he hardly uttered his + orders aloud. But we got through without any serious mishap, passing + Mosquito Creek and Mosquito Pond, and flanking Mosquito Mountain, but + seeing no mosquitoes, and brought up at dusk at a lumberman's old + hay-barn, standing in the midst of a lonely clearing on the shores of + Moxie Lake. + </p> + <p> + Here we passed the night, and were lucky in having a good roof over our + heads, for it rained heavily. After we were rolled in our blankets and + variously disposed upon the haymow, Uncle Nathan lulled us to sleep by a + long and characteristic yarn. + </p> + <p> + I had asked him, half jocosely, if he believed in "spooks"; but he took my + question seriously, and without answering it directly, proceeded to tell + us what he himself had known and witnessed. It was, by the way, extremely + difficult either to surprise or to steal upon any of Uncle Nathan's + private opinions and beliefs about matters and things. He was as shy of + all debatable subjects as a fox is of a trap. He usually talked in a + circle, just as he hunted moose and caribou, so as not to approach his + point too rudely and suddenly. He would keep on the lee side of his + interlocutor in spite of all one could do. He was thoroughly good and + reliable, but the wild creatures of the woods, in pursuit of which he had + spent so much of his life, had taught him a curious gentleness and + indirection, and to keep himself in the back-ground; he was careful that + you should not scent his opinions upon any subject at all polemic, but he + would tell you what he had seen and known. What he had seen and known + about spooks was briefly this:—In company with a neighbor he was + passing the night with an old recluse who lived somewhere in these woods. + Their host was an Englishman, who had the reputation of having murdered + his wife some years before in another part of the country, and, deserted + by his grown-up children, was eking out his days in poverty amid these + solitudes. The three men were sleeping upon the floor, with Uncle Nathan + next to a rude partition that divided the cabin into two rooms. At his + head there was a door that opened into this other apartment. Late at + night, Uncle Nathan said, he awoke and turned over, and his mind was + occupied with various things, when he heard somebody behind the partition. + He reached over and felt that both of his companions were in their places + beside him, and he was somewhat surprised. The person, or whatever it was, + in the other room moved about heavily, and pulled the table from its place + beside the wall to the middle of the floor. "I was not dreaming," said + Uncle Nathan; "I felt of my eyes twice to make sure, and they were wide + open." Presently the door opened; he was sensible of the draught upon his + head, and a woman's form stepped heavily past him; he felt the "swirl" of + her skirts as she went by. Then there was a loud noise in the room as if + some one had fallen their whole length upon the floor. "It jarred the + house," said he, "and woke everybody up. I asked old Mr. ——— + if he heard that noise. 'Yes,' said he, 'it was thunder.' But it was not + thunder, I know that;" and then added, "I was no more afraid than I am + this minute. I never was the least mite afraid in my life. And my eyes + were wide open," he repeated; "I felt of them twice; but whether that was + the speret of that man's murdered wife or not I cannot tell. They said she + was an uncommon heavy woman." Uncle Nathan was a man of unusually quick + and acute senses, and he did not doubt their evidence on this occasion any + more than he did when they prompted him to level his rifle at a bear or a + moose. + </p> + <p> + Moxie Lake lies much lower than Pleasant Pond, and its waters compared + with those of the latter are as copper compared with silver. It is very + irregular in shape; now narrowing to the dimensions of a slow moving + grassy creek, then expanding into a broad deep basin with rocky shores, + and commanding the noblest mountain scenery. It is rarely that the + pond-lily and the speckled trout are found together,—the fish the + soul of the purest spring water, the flower the transfigured spirit of the + dark mud and slime of sluggish summer streams and ponds; yet in Moxie they + were both found in perfection. Our camp was amid the birches, poplars, and + white cedars near the head of the lake, where the best fishing at this + season was to be had. Moxie has a small oval head, rather shallow, but + bumpy with rocks; a long, deep neck, full of springs, where the trout lie; + and a very broad chest, with two islands tufted with pine-trees for + breasts. We swam in the head, we fished in the neck, or in a small section + of it, a space about the size of the Adam's apple, and we paddled across + and around the broad expanse below. Our birch bark was not finished and + christened till we reached Moxie. The cedar lining was completed at + Pleasant Pond, where we had the use of a bateau, but the rosin was not + applied to the seams till we reached this lake. When I knelt down in it + for the first time and put its slender maple paddle into the water, it + sprang away with such quickness and speed that it disturbed me in my seat. + I had spurred a more restive and spirited steed than I was used to. In + fact, I had never been in a craft that sustained so close a relation to my + will, and was so responsive to my slightest wish. When I caught my first + large trout from it, it sympathized a little too closely, and my + enthusiasm started a leak, which, however, with a live coal and a piece of + rosin, was quickly ended. You cannot perform much of a war-dance in a + birch-bark canoe: better wait till you get on dry land. Yet as a boat it + is not so shy and "ticklish" as I had imagined. One needs to be on the + alert, as becomes a sportsman and an angler, and in his dealings with it + must charge himself with three things,—precision, moderation, and + circumspection. + </p> + <p> + Trout weighing four and five pounds have been taken at Moxie, but none of + that size came to our hand. I realized the fondest hopes I had dared to + indulge in when I hooked the first two-pounder of my life, and my extreme + solicitude lest he get away I trust was pardonable. My friend, in relating + the episode in camp, said I implored him to row me down in the middle of + the lake that I might have room to manoeuver my fish. But the slander has + barely a grain of truth in it. The water near us showed several old stakes + broken off just below the surface, and my fish was determined to wrap my + leader about one of these stakes; it was only for the clear space a few + yards farther out that I prayed. It was not long after that my friend + found himself in an anxious frame of mind. He hooked a large trout, which + came home on him so suddenly that he had not time to reel up his line, and + in his extremity he stretched his tall form into the air and lifted up his + pole to an incredible height. He checked the trout before it got under the + boat, but dared not come down an inch, and then began his amusing further + elongation in reaching for his reel with one hand while he carried it ten + feet into the air with the other. A step-ladder would perhaps have been + more welcome to him just then than at any other moment during his life. + But the trout was saved, though my friend's buttons and suspenders + suffered. + </p> + <p> + We learned a new trick in fly-fishing here, worth disclosing. It was not + one day in four that the trout would take the fly on the surface. When the + south wind was blowing and the clouds threatened rain, they would at + times, notably about three o'clock, rise handsomely. But on all other + occasions it was rarely that we could entice them up through the twelve or + fifteen feet of water. Earlier in the season they are not so lazy and + indifferent, but the August languor and drowsiness were now upon them. So + we learned by a lucky accident to fish deep for them, even weighting our + leaders with a shot, and allowing the flies to sink nearly to the bottom. + After a moment's pause we would draw them slowly up, and when half or two + thirds of the way to the top the trout would strike, when the sport became + lively enough. Most of our fish were taken in this way. There is nothing + like the flash and the strike at the surface, and perhaps only the need of + food will ever tempt the genuine angler into any more prosaic style of + fishing; but if you must go below the surface, a shotted leader is the + best thing to use. + </p> + <p> + Our camp-fire at night served more purposes than one; from its embers and + flickering shadows, Uncle Nathan read us many a tale of his life in the + woods. They were the same old hunter's stories, except that they evidently + had the merit of being strictly true, and hence were not very thrilling or + marvelous. Uncle Nathan's tendency was rather to tone down and belittle + his experiences than to exaggerate them. If he ever bragged at all (and I + suspect he did just a little, when telling us how he outshot one of the + famous riflemen of the American team, whom he was guiding through these + woods), he did it in such a sly, round-about way that it was hard to catch + him at it. His passage with the rifleman referred to shows the difference + between the practical off-hand skill of the hunter in the woods and the + science of the long-range target hitter. Mr. Bull's Eye had heard that his + guide was a capital shot and had seen some proof of it, and hence could + not rest till he had had a trial of skill with him. Uncle Nathan, being + the challenged party, had the right to name the distance and the + conditions. A piece of white paper the size of a silver dollar was put + upon a tree twelve rods off, the contestants to fire three shots each + off-hand. Uncle Nathan's first bullet barely missed the mark, but the + other two were planted well into it. Then the great rifleman took his + turn, and missed every time. + </p> + <p> + "By hemp!" said Uncle Nathan, "I was sorry I shot so well, Mr. ——— + took it so to heart; and I had used his own rifle, too. He did not get + over it for a week." + </p> + <p> + But far more ignominious was the failure of Mr. Bull's Eye when he saw his + first bear. They were paddling slowly and silently down Dead River, when + the guide heard a slight noise in the bushes just behind a little bend. He + whispered to the rifleman, who sat kneeling in the bow of the boat, to + take his rifle. But instead of doing so he picked up his two-barreled + shot-gun. As they turned the point, there stood a bear not twenty yards + away, drinking from the stream. Uncle Nathan held the canoe, while the man + who had come so far in quest of this very game was trying to lay down his + shot-gun and pick up his rifle. "His hand moved like the hand of a clock," + said Uncle Nathan, "and I could hardly keep my seat. I knew the bear would + see us in a moment more, and run." Instead of laying his gun by his side, + where it belonged, he reached it across in front of him and laid it upon + his rifle, and in trying to get the latter from under it a noise was made; + the bear heard it and raised his head. Still there was time, for as the + bear sprang into the woods he stopped and looked back,—"as I knew he + would," said the guide; yet the marksman was not ready. "By hemp! I could + have shot three bears," exclaimed Uncle Nathan, "while he was getting that + rifle to his face!" + </p> + <p> + Poor Mr. Bull's Eye was deeply humiliated. "Just the chance I had been + looking for," he said, "and my wits suddenly left me." + </p> + <p> + As a hunter Uncle Nathan always took the game on its own terms, that of + still-hunting. He even shot foxes in this way, going into the fields in + the fall just at break of day, and watching for them about their mousing + haunts. One morning, by these tactics, he shot a black fox; a fine + specimen, he said, and a wild one, for he stopped and looked and listened + every few yards. + </p> + <p> + He had killed over two hundred moose, a large number of them at night on + the lakes. His method was to go out in his canoe and conceal himself by + some point or island, and wait till he heard the game. In the fall the + moose comes into the water to eat the large fibrous roots of the + pond-lilies. He splashes along till he finds a suitable spot, when he + begins feeding, sometimes thrusting his bead and neck several feet under + water. The hunter listens, and when the moose lifts his head and the rills + of water run from it, and he hears him "swash" the lily roots about to get + off the mud, it is his time to start. Silently as a shadow he creeps up on + the moose, who by the way, it seems, never expects the approach of danger + from the water side. If the hunter accidentally makes a noise the moose + looks toward the shore for it. There is always a slight gleam on the + water, Uncle Nathan says, even in the darkest night, and the dusky form of + the moose can be distinctly seen upon it. When the hunter sees this darker + shadow he lifts his gun to the sky and gets the range of its barrels, then + lowers it till it covers the mark, and fires. + </p> + <p> + The largest moose Uncle Nathan ever killed is mounted in the State House + at Augusta. He shot him while hunting in winter on snow-shoes. The moose + was reposing upon the ground, with his head stretched out in front of him, + as one may sometimes see a cow resting. The position was such that only a + quartering shot through the animal's hip could reach its heart. Studying + the problem carefully, and taking his own time, the hunter fired. The + moose sprang into the air, turned, and came with tremendous strides + straight toward him. "I knew he had not seen or scented me," said Uncle + Nathan, "but, by hemp, I wished myself somewhere else just then; for I was + lying right down in his path." But the noble animal stopped, a few yards + short, and fell dead with a bullet-hole through his heart. + </p> + <p> + When the moose yard in the winter, that is, restrict their wanderings to a + well-defined section of the forest or mountain, trampling down the snow + and beating paths in all directions, they browse off only the most dainty + morsels first; when they go over the ground a second time they crop a + little cleaner; the third time they sort still closer, till by and by + nothing is left. Spruce, hemlock, poplar, the barks of various trees, + everything within reach, is cropped close. When the hunter comes upon one + of these yards the problem for him to settle is, Where are the moose? for + it is absolutely necessary that he keep on the lee side of them. So he + considers the lay of the land, the direction of the wind, the time of day, + the depth of the snow, examines the spoor, the cropped twigs, and studies + every hint and clew like a detective. Uncle Nathan said he could not + explain to another how he did it, but he could usually tell in a few + minutes in what direction to look for the game. His experience had ripened + into a kind of intuition or winged reasoning that was above rules. + </p> + <p> + He said that most large game, deer, caribou, moose, bear, when started by + the hunter and not much scared, were sure to stop and look back before + disappearing from sight: he usually waited for this last and best chance + to fire. He told us of a huge bear he had seen one morning while + still-hunting foxes in the fields; the bear saw him, and got into the + woods before he could get a good shot. In her course some distance up the + mountain was a bald, open spot, and he felt sure when she crossed this + spot she would pause and look behind her; and sure enough, like Lot's + wife, her curiosity got the better of her; she stopped to have a final + look, and her travels ended there and then. + </p> + <p> + Uncle Nathan had trapped and shot a great many bears, and some of his + experiences revealed an unusual degree of sagacity in this animal. One + April, when the weather began to get warm and thawy, an old bear left her + den in the rocks and built a large, warm nest of grass, leaves, and the + bark of the white cedar, under a tall balsam fir that stood in a low, + sunny, open place amid the mountains. Hither she conducted her two cubs, + and the family began life in what might be called their spring residence. + The tree above them was for shelter, and for refuge for the cubs in case + danger approached, as it soon did in the form of Uncle Nathan. He happened + that way soon after the bear had moved. Seeing her track in the snow, he + concluded to follow it. When the bear had passed, the snow had been soft + and sposhy, and she had "slumped," he said, several inches. It was now + hard and slippery. As he neared the tree the track turned and doubled, and + tacked this way and that, and led through the worst brush and brambles to + be found. This was a shrewd thought of the old bear; she could thus hear + her enemy coming a long time before he drew very near. When Uncle Nathan + finally reached the nest, he found it empty, but still warm. Then he began + to circle about and look for the bear's footprints or nail-prints upon the + frozen snow. Not finding them the first time, he took a larger circle, + then a still larger; finally he made a long detour, and spent nearly an + hour searching for some clew to the direction the bear had taken, but all + to no purpose. Then he returned to the tree and scrutinized it. The + foliage was very dense, but presently he made out one of the cubs near the + top, standing up amid the branches, and peering down at him. This he + killed. Further search only revealed a mass of foliage apparently more + dense than usual, but a bullet sent into it was followed by loud + whimpering and crying, and the other baby bear came tumbling down. In + leaving the place, greatly puzzled as to what had become of the mother + bear, Uncle Nathan followed another of her frozen tracks, and after about + a quarter of a mile saw beside it, upon the snow, the fresh trail he had + been in search of. In making her escape the bear had stepped exactly in + her old tracks that were hard and icy, and had thus left no mark till she + took to the snow again. + </p> + <p> + During his trapping expeditions into the woods in midwinter, I was curious + to know how Uncle Nathan passed the nights, as we were twice pinched with + the cold at that season in our tent and blankets. It was no trouble to + keep warm, he said, in the coldest weather. As night approached, he would + select a place for his camp on the side of a hill. With one of his + snow-shoes he would shovel out the snow till the ground was reached, + carrying the snow out in front, as we scrape the earth out of the side of + a hill to level up a place for the house and yard. On this level place, + which, however, was made to incline slightly toward the hill, his bed of + boughs was made. On the ground he had uncovered he built his fire. His bed + was thus on a level with the fire, and the heat could not thaw the snow + under him and let him down, or the burning logs roll upon him. With a + steep ascent behind it the fire burned better, and the wind was not so apt + to drive the smoke and blaze in upon him. Then, with the long, curving + branches of the spruce stuck thickly around three sides of the bed, and + curving over and uniting their tops above it, a shelter was formed that + would keep out the cold and the snow, and that would catch and retain the + warmth of the fire. Rolled in his blanket in such a nest, Uncle Nathan had + passed hundreds of the most frigid winter nights. + </p> + <p> + One day we made an excursion of three miles through the woods to Bald + Mountain, following a dim trail. We saw, as we filed silently along, + plenty of signs of caribou, deer, and bear, but were not blessed with a + sight of either of the animals themselves. I noticed that Uncle Nathan, in + looking through the woods, did not hold his head as we did, but thrust it + slightly forward, and peered under the branches like a deer or other wild + creature. + </p> + <p> + The summit of Bald Mountain was the most impressive mountain-top I had + ever seen, mainly, perhaps, because it was one enormous crown of nearly + naked granite. The rock had that gray, elemental, eternal look which + granite alone has. One seemed to be face to face with the gods of the + fore-world. Like an atom, like a breath of to-day, we were suddenly + confronted by abysmal geologic time,—the eternities past and the + eternities to come. The enormous cleavage of the rocks, the appalling + cracks and fissures, the rent boulders, the smitten granite floors, gave + one a new sense of the power of heat and frost. In one place we noticed + several deep parallel grooves, made by the old glaciers. In the + depressions on the summit there was a hard, black, peaty-like soil that + looked indescribably ancient and unfamiliar. Out of this mould, that might + have come from the moon or the interplanetary spaces, were growing + mountain cranberries and blueberries or huckleberries. We were soon so + absorbed in gathering the latter that we were quite oblivious of the + grandeurs about us. It is these blueberries that attract the bears. In + eating them, Uncle Nathan said, they take the bushes in their mouths, and + by an upward movement strip them clean of both leaves and berries. We were + constantly on the lookout for the bears, but failed to see any. Yet a few + days afterward, when two of our party returned here and encamped upon the + mountain, they saw five during their stay, but failed to get a good shot. + The rifle was in the wrong place each time. The man with the shot-gun saw + an old bear and two cubs lift themselves from behind a rock and twist + their noses around for his scent, and then shrink away. They were too far + off for his buckshot. I must not forget the superb view that lay before + us, a wilderness of woods and waters stretching away to the horizon on + every band. Nearly a dozen lakes and ponds could be seen, and in a clearer + atmosphere the foot of Moosehead Lake would have been visible. The highest + and most striking mountain to be seen was Mount Bigelow, rising above Dead + River, far to the west, and its two sharp peaks notching the horizon like + enormous saw-teeth. We walked around and viewed curiously a huge boulder + on the top of the mountain that had been split in two vertically, and one + of the halves moved a few feet out of its bed. It looked recent and + familiar, but suggested gods instead of men. The force that moved the rock + had plainly come from the north. I thought of a similar boulder I had seen + not long before on the highest point of the Shawangunk Mountains in New + York, one side of which is propped up with a large stone, as wall-builders + prop up a rock to wrap a chain around it. The rock seems poised lightly, + and has but a few points of bearing. In this instance, too, the power had + come from the north. + </p> + <p> + The prettiest botanical specimen my trip yielded was a little plant that + bears the ugly name of horned bladderwort (Utricularia cornuta), and which + I found growing in marshy places along the shores of Moxie Lake. It has a + slender, naked stem nearly a foot high, crowned by two or more large deep + yellow flowers,—flowers the shape of little bonnets or hoods. One + almost expected to see tiny faces looking out of them. This illusion is + heightened by the horn or spur of the flower, which projects from the hood + like a long tapering chin,—some masker's device. Then the cape + behind,—what a smart upward curve it has, as if spurned by the fairy + shoulders it was meant to cover! But perhaps the most notable thing about + the flower was its fragrance,—the richest and strongest perfume I + have ever found in a wild flower. This our botanist, Gray, does not + mention; as if one should describe the lark and forget its song. The + fragrance suggested that of white clover, but was more rank and spicy. + </p> + <p> + The woods about Moxie Lake were literally carpeted with Linnæa. I had + never seen it in such profusion. In early summer, the period of its bloom, + what a charming spectacle the mossy floors of these remote woods must + present! The flowers are purple rose-color, nodding and fragrant. Another + very abundant plant in these woods was the Clintonia borealis. Uncle + Nathan said it was called "bear's corn," though he did not know why. The + only noticeable flower by the Maine roadsides at this season that is not + common in other parts of the country is the harebell. Its bright blue, + bell-shaped corolla shone out from amid the dry grass and weeds all along + the route. It was one of the most delicate roadside flowers I had ever + seen. + </p> + <p> + The only new bird I saw in Maine was the pileated woodpecker, or black + "log cock," called by Uncle Nathan "wood cock." I had never before seen or + heard this bird, and its loud cackle in the woods about Moxie was a new + sound to me. It is the wildest and largest of our northern woodpeckers, + and the rarest. Its voice and the sound of its hammer are heard only in + the depths of the northern woods. It is about as large as a crow, and + nearly as black. + </p> + <p> + We stayed a week at Moxie, or until we became surfeited with its trout, + and had killed the last Merganser duck that lingered about our end of the + lake. The trout that had accumulated on our hands we had kept alive in a + large champagne basket submerged in the lake, and the morning we broke + camp the basket was towed to the shore and opened; and after we had + feasted our eyes upon the superb spectacle, every trout, twelve or fifteen + in number, some of them two-pounders, was allowed to swim back into the + lake. They went leisurely, in couples and in trios, and were soon kicking + up their heels in their old haunts. I expect that the divinity who + presides over Moxie will see to it that every one of those trout, doubled + in weight, comes to our basket in the future. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WINTER NEIGHBORS. + </h2> + <p> + The country is more of a wilderness, more of a wild solitude, in the + winter than in the summer. The wild comes out. The urban, the cultivated, + is hidden or negatived. You shall hardly know a good field from a poor, a + meadow from a pasture, a park from a forest. Lines and boundaries are + disregarded; gates and bar-ways are unclosed; man lets go his hold upon + the earth; title-deeds are deep buried beneath the snow; the best-kept + grounds relapse to a state of nature; under the pressure of the cold all + the wild creatures become outlaws, and roam abroad beyond their usual + haunts. The partridge comes to the orchard for buds; the rabbit comes to + the garden and lawn; the crows and jays come to the ash-heap and + corn-crib, the snow-buntings to the stack and to the barn-yard; the + sparrows pilfer from the domestic fowls; the pine grosbeak comes down from + the north and shears your maples of their buds; the fox prowls about your + premises at night, and the red squirrels find your grain in the barn or + steal the butternuts from your attic. In fact, winter, like some great + calamity, changes the status of most creatures and sets them adrift. + Winter, like poverty, makes us acquainted with strange bedfellows. + </p> + <p> + For my part, my nearest approach to a strange bedfellow is the little gray + rabbit that has taken up her abode under my study floor. As she spends the + day here and is out larking at night, she is not much of a bedfellow after + all. It is probable that I disturb her slumbers more than she does mine. I + think she is some support to me under there-a silent wild-eyed witness and + backer; a type of the gentle and harmless in savage nature. She has no + sagacity to give me or lend me, but that soft, nimble foot of hers, and + that touch as of cotton wherever she goes, are worthy of emulation. I + think I can feel her good-will through the floor, and I hope she can mine. + When I have a happy thought I imagine her ears twitch, especially when I + think of the sweet apple I will place by her doorway at night. I wonder if + that fox chanced to catch a glimpse of her the other night when he + stealthily leaped over the fence near by and walked along between the + study and the house? How clearly one could read that it was not a little + dog that had passed there. There was something furtive in the track; it + shied off away from the house and around it, as if eying it suspiciously; + and then it had the caution and deliberation of the fox—bold, bold, + but not too bold; wariness was in every footprint. If it had been a little + dog that had chanced to wander that way, when he crossed my path he would + have followed it up to the barn and have gone smelling around for a bone; + but this sharp, cautious track held straight across all others, keeping + five or six rods from the house, up the hill, across the highway towards a + neighboring farmstead, with its nose in the air and its eye and ear alert, + so to speak. + </p> + <p> + A winter neighbor of mine in whom I am interested, and who perhaps lends + me his support after his kind, is a little red owl, whose retreat is in + the heart of an old apple-tree just over the fence. Where he keeps himself + in spring and summer I do not know, but late every fall, and at intervals + all winter, his hiding-place is discovered by the jays and nut-hatches, + and proclaimed from the tree-tops for the space of half an hour or so, + with all the powers of voice they can command. Four times during one + winter they called me out to behold this little ogre feigning sleep in his + den, sometimes in one apple-tree, sometimes in another. Whenever I heard + their cries, I knew my neighbor was being berated. The birds would take + turns at looking in upon him and uttering their alarm-notes. Every jay + within hearing would come to the spot and at once approach the hole in the + trunk or limb, and with a kind of breathless eagerness and excitement take + a peep at the owl, and then join the outcry. When I approached they would + hastily take a final look and then withdraw and regard my movements + intently. After accustoming my eye to the faint light of the cavity for a + few moments, I could usually make out the owl at the bottom feigning + sleep. Feigning, I say, because this is what he really did, as I first + discovered one day when I cut into his retreat with the axe. The loud + blows and the falling chips did not disturb him at all. When I reached in + a stick and pulled him over on his side, leaving one of his wings spread + out, he made no attempt to recover himself, but lay among the chips and + fragments of decayed wood, like a part of themselves. Indeed, it took a + sharp eye to distinguish him. Nor till I had pulled him forth by one wing, + rather rudely, did he abandon his trick of simulated sleep or death. Then, + like a detected pickpocket, he was suddenly transformed into another + creature. His eyes flew wide open, his talons clutched my finger, his ears + were depressed, and every motion and look said, "Hands off, at your + peril." Finding this game did not work, he soon began to "play 'possum" + again. I put a cover over my study wood-box and kept him captive for a + week. Look in upon him any time, night or day, and he was apparently + wrapped in the profoundest slumber; but the live mice which I put into his + box from time to time found his sleep was easily broken; there would be a + sudden rustle in the box, a faint squeak, and then silence. After a week + of captivity I gave him his freedom in the full sunshine: no trouble for + him to see which way and where to go. + </p> + <p> + Just at dusk in the winter nights, I often hear his soft bur-r-r-r, very + pleasing and bell-like. What a furtive, woody sound it is in the winter + stillness, so unlike the harsh scream of the hawk. But all the ways of the + owl are ways of softness and duskiness. His wings are shod with silence, + his plumage is edged with down. + </p> + <p> + Another owl neighbor of mine, with whom I pass the time of day more + frequently than with the last, lives farther away. I pass his castle every + night on my way to the post-office, and in winter, if the hour is late + enough, am pretty sure to see him standing in his doorway, surveying the + passers-by and the landscape through narrow slits in his eyes. For four + successive winters now have I observed him. As the twilight begins to + deepen he rises out of his cavity in the apple-tree, scarcely faster than + the moon rises from behind the hill, and sits in the opening, completely + framed by its outlines of gray bark and dead wood, and by his protective + coloring virtually invisible to every eye that does not know he is there. + Probably my own is the only eye that has ever penetrated his secret, and + mine never would have done so had I not chanced on one occasion to see him + leave his retreat and make a raid upon a shrike that was impaling a + shrew-mouse upon a thorn in a neighboring tree and which I was watching. + Failing to get the mouse, the owl returned swiftly to his cavity, and ever + since, while going that way, I have been on the lookout for him. Dozens of + teams and foot-passengers pass him late in the day, but he regards them + not, nor they him. When I come alone and pause to salute him, he opens his + eyes a little wider, and, appearing to recognize me, quickly shrinks and + fades into the background of his door in a very weird and curious manner. + When he is not at his outlook, or when he is, it requires the best powers + of the eye to decide the point, as the empty cavity itself is almost an + exact image of him. If the whole thing had been carefully studied it could + not have answered its purpose better. The owl stands quite perpendicular, + presenting a front of light mottled gray; the eyes are closed to a mere + slit, the ear-feathers depressed, the beak buried in the plumage, and the + whole attitude is one of silent, motionless waiting and observation. If a + mouse should be seen crossing the highway, or scudding over any exposed + part of the snowy surface in the twilight, the owl would doubtless swoop + down upon it. I think the owl has learned to distinguish me from the rest + of the passers-by; at least, when I stop before him, and he sees himself + observed, he backs down into his den, as I have said, in a very amusing + manner. Whether bluebirds, nut-hatches, and chickadees—birds that + pass the night in cavities of trees—ever run into the clutches of + the dozing owl, I should be glad to know. My impression is, however, that + they seek out smaller cavities. An old willow by the roadside blew down + one summer, and a decayed branch broke open, revealing a brood of + half-fledged owls, and many feathers and quills of bluebirds, orioles, and + other songsters, showing plainly enough why all birds fear and berate the + owl. + </p> + <p> + The English house sparrows, that are so rapidly increasing among us, and + that must add greatly to the food supply of the owls and other birds of + prey, seek to baffle their enemies by roosting in the densest evergreens + they can find, in the arbor-vitæ, and in hemlock hedges. Soft-winged as + the owl is, he cannot steal in upon such a retreat without giving them + warning. + </p> + <p> + These sparrows are becoming about the most noticeable of my winter + neighbors, and a troop of them every morning watch me put out the hens' + feed, and soon claim their share. I rather encouraged them in their + neighborliness, till one day I discovered the snow under a favorite + plum-tree where they most frequently perched covered with the scales of + the fruit-buds. On investigating I found that the tree had been nearly + stripped of its buds—a very unneighborly act on the part of the + sparrows, considering, too, all the cracked corn I had scattered for them. + So I at once served notice on them that our good understanding was at an + end. And a hint is as good as a kick with this bird. The stone I hurled + among them, and the one with which I followed them up, may have been taken + as a kick; but they were only a hint of the shot-gun that stood ready in + the corner. The sparrows left in high dungeon, and were not back again in + some days, and were then very shy. No doubt the time is near at hand when + we shall have to wage serious war upon these sparrows, as they long have + had to do on the continent of Europe. And yet it will be hard to kill the + little wretches, the only Old World bird we have. When I take down my gun + to shoot them I shall probably remember that the Psalmist said, "I watch, + and am as a sparrow alone upon the house-top," and maybe the recollection + will cause me to stay my hand. The sparrows have the Old World hardiness + and prolificness; they are wise and tenacious of life, and we shall find + it by and by no small matter to keep them in check. Our native birds are + much different, less prolific, less shrewd, less aggressive and + persistent, less quick-witted and able to read the note of danger or + hostility—in short, less sophisticated. Most of our birds are yet + essentially wild, that is, little changed by civilization. In winter, + especially, they sweep by me and around me in flocks,—the Canada + sparrow, the snow-bunting, the shore-lark, the pine grosbeak, the + red-poll, the cedar-bird,—feeding upon frozen apples in the orchard, + upon cedar-berries, upon maple-buds, and the berries of the mountain ash, + and the celtis, and upon the seeds of the weeds that rise above the snow + in the field, or upon the hay-seed dropped where the cattle have been + foddered in the barn-yard or about the distant stack; but yet taking no + heed of man, in no way changing their habits so as to take advantage of + his presence in nature. The pine grosbeak will come in numbers upon your + porch, to get the black drupes of the honeysuckle or the woodbine, or + within reach of your windows to get the berries of the mountain-ash, but + they know you not; they look at you as innocently and unconcernedly as at + a bear or moose in their native north, and your house is no more to them + than a ledge of rocks. + </p> + <p> + The only ones of my winter neighbors that actually rap at my door are the + nut-hatches and woodpeckers, and these do not know that it is my door. My + retreat is covered with the bark of young chestnut-trees, and the birds, I + suspect, mistake it for a huge stump that ought to hold fat grubs (there + is not even a bookworm inside of it), and their loud rapping often makes + me think I have a caller indeed. I place fragments of hickory-nuts in the + interstices of the bark, and thus attract the nut-hatches; a bone upon my + window-sill attracts both nut-hatches and the downy woodpecker. They peep + in curiously through the window upon me, pecking away at my bone, too + often a very poor one. A bone nailed to a tree a few feet in front of the + window attracts crows as well as lesser birds. Even the slate-colored + snow-bird, a seed-eater, comes and nibbles it occasionally. + </p> + <p> + The bird that seems to consider he has the best right to the bone both + upon the tree and upon the sill is the downy woodpecker, my favorite + neighbor among the winter birds, to whom I will mainly devote the + remainder of this chapter. His retreat is but a few paces from my own, in + the decayed limb of an apple-tree which he excavated several autumns ago. + I say "he" because the red plume on the top of his head proclaims the sex. + It seems not to be generally known to our writers upon ornithology that + certain of our woodpeckers—probably all the winter residents—each + fall excavate a limb or the trunk of a tree in which to pass the winter, + and that the cavity is abandoned in the spring, probably for a new one in + which nidification takes place. So far as I have observed, these cavities + are drilled out only by the males. Where the females take up their + quarters I am not so well informed, though I suspect that they use the + abandoned holes of the males of the previous year. + </p> + <p> + The particular woodpecker to which I refer drilled his first hole in my + apple-tree one fall four or five years ago. This he occupied till the + following spring when he abandoned it. The next fall he began a hole in an + adjoining limb, later than before, and when it was about half completed a + female took possession of his old quarters. I am sorry to say that this + seemed to enrage the male, very much, and he persecuted the poor bird + whenever she appeared upon the scene. He would fly at her spitefully and + drive her off. One chilly November morning, as I passed under the tree, I + heard the hammer of the little architect in his cavity, and at the same + time saw the persecuted female sitting at the entrance of the other hole + as if she would fain come out. She was actually shivering, probably from + both fear and cold. I understood the situation at a glance; the bird was + afraid to come forth and brave the anger of the male. Not till I had + rapped smartly upon the limb with my stick did she come out and attempt to + escape; but she had not gone ten feet from the tree before the male was in + hot pursuit, and in a few moments had driven her back to the same tree, + where she tried to avoid him among the branches. A few days after, he rid + himself of his unwelcome neighbor in the following ingenious manner: he + fairly scuttled the other cavity; he drilled a hole into the bottom of it + that let in the light and the cold, and I saw the female there no more. I + did not see him in the act of rendering this tenement uninhabitable; but + one morning, behold it was punctured at the bottom, and the circumstances + all seemed to point to him as the author of it. There is probably no + gallantry among the birds except at the mating season. I have frequently + seen the male woodpecker drive the female away from the bone upon the + tree. When she hopped around to the other end and timidly nibbled it, he + would presently dart spitefully at her. She would then take up her + position in his rear and wait till he had finished his meal. The position + of the female among the birds is very much the same as that of woman among + savage tribes. Most of the drudgery of life falls upon her, and the + leavings of the males are often her lot. + </p> + <p> + My bird is a genuine little savage, doubtless, but I value him as a + neighbor. It is a satisfaction during the cold or stormy winter nights to + know he is warm and cosy there in his retreat. When the day is bad and + unfit to be abroad in; he is there too. When I wish to know if he is at + home, I go and rap upon his tree, and, if he is not too lazy or + indifferent, after some delay he shows his head in his round doorway about + ten feet above, and looks down inquiringly upon me—sometimes + latterly I think half resentfully, as much as to say, "I would thank you + not to disturb me so often." After sundown, he will not put his head out + any more when I call, but as I step away I can get a glimpse of him inside + looking cold and reserved. He is a late riser, especially if it is a cold + or disagreeable morning, in this respect being like the fowls; it is + sometimes near nine o'clock before I see him leave his tree. On the other + hand, he comes home early, being in if the day is unpleasant by four P. M. + He lives all alone; in this respect I do not commend his example. Where + his mate is I should like to know. + </p> + <p> + I have discovered several other woodpeckers in adjoining orchards, each of + which has a like home and leads a like solitary life. One of them has + excavated a dry limb within easy reach of my hand, doing the work also in + September. But the choice of tree was not a good one; the limb was too + much decayed, and the workman had made the cavity too large; a chip had + come out, making a hole in the outer wall. Then he went a few inches down + the limb and began again, and excavated a large, commodious chamber, but + had again come too near the surface; scarcely more than the bark protected + him in one place, and the limb was very much weakened. Then he made + another attempt still farther down the limb, and drilled in an inch or + two, but seemed to change his mind; the work stopped, and I concluded the + bird had wisely abandoned the tree. Passing there one cold, rainy November + day, I thrust in my two fingers and was surprised to feel something soft + and warm: as I drew away my hand the bird came out, apparently no more + surprised than I was. It had decided, then, to make its home in the old + limb; a decision it had occasion to regret, for not long after, on a + stormy night, the branch gave way and fell to the ground. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "When the bough breaks the cradle will fall, + and down will come baby, cradle and all." +</pre> + <p> + Such a cavity makes a snug, warm home, and when the entrance is on the + under side if the limb, as is usual, the wind and snow cannot reach the + occupant. Late in December, while crossing a high, wooded mountain, lured + by the music of fox-hounds, I discovered fresh yellow chips strewing the + new-fallen snow, and at once thought of my woodpeckers. On looking around + I saw where one had been at work excavating a lodge in a small yellow + birch. The orifice was about fifteen feet from the ground, and appeared as + round as if struck with a compass. It was on the east side of the tree, so + as to avoid the prevailing west and northeast winds. As it was nearly two + inches in diameter, it could not have been the work of the downy, but must + have been that of the hairy, or else the yellow-bellied woodpecker. His + home had probably been wrecked by some violent wind, and he was thus + providing himself another. In digging out these retreats the woodpeckers + prefer a dry, brittle, trunk, not too soft. They go in horizontally to the + centre and then turn downward, enlarging the tunnel as they go, till when + finished it is the shape of a long, deep pear. + </p> + <p> + Another trait our woodpeckers have that endears them to me, and that has + never been pointedly noticed by our ornithologists, is their habit of + drumming in the spring. They are songless birds, and yet all are + musicians; they make the dry limbs eloquent of the coming change. Did you + think that loud, sonorous hammering which proceeded from the orchard or + from the near woods on that still March or April morning was only some + bird getting its breakfast? It is downy, but he is not rapping at the door + of a grub; he is rapping at the door of spring, and the dry limb thrills + beneath the ardor of his blows. Or, later in the season, in the dense + forest or by some remote mountain lake, does that measured rhythmic beat + that breaks upon the silence, first three strokes following each other + rapidly, succeeded by two louder ones with longer intervals between them, + and that has an effect upon the alert ear as if the solitude itself had at + last found a voice—does that suggest anything less than a deliberate + musical performance? In fact, our woodpeckers are just as + characteristically drummers as is the ruffed grouse, and they have their + particular limbs and stubs to which they resort for that purpose. Their + need of expression is apparently just as great as that of the song-birds, + and it is not surprising that they should have found out that there is + music in a dry, seasoned limb which can be evoked beneath their beaks. + </p> + <p> + A few seasons ago a downy woodpecker, probably the individual one who is + now my winter neighbor, began to drum early in March in a partly decayed + apple-tree that stands in the edge of a narrow strip of woodland near me. + When the morning was still and mild I would often hear him through my + window before I was up, or by half-past six o'clock, and he would keep it + up pretty briskly till nine or ten o'clock, in this respect resembling the + grouse, which do most of their drumming in the forenoon. His drum was the + stub of a dry limb about the size of one's wrist. The heart was decayed + and gone, but the outer shell was hard and resonant. The bird would keep + his position there for an hour at a time. Between his drummings he would + preen his plumage and listen as if for the response of the female, or for + the drum of some rival. How swift his head would go when he was delivering + his blows upon the limb! His beak wore the surface perceptibly. When he + wished to change the key, which was quite often, he would shift his + position an inch or two to a knot which gave out a higher, shriller note. + When I climbed up to examine his drum he was much disturbed. I did not + know he was in the vicinity, but it seems he saw me from a near tree, and + came in haste to the neighboring branches, and with spread plumage and a + sharp note demanded plainly enough what my business was with his drum. I + was invading his privacy, desecrating his shrine, and the bird was much + put out. After some weeks the female appeared; he had literally drummed up + a mate; his urgent and oft-repeated advertisement was answered. Still the + drumming did not cease, but was quite as fervent as before. If a mate + could be won by drumming she could be kept and entertained by more + drumming; courtship should not end with marriage. If the bird felt musical + before, of course he felt much more so now. Besides that, the gentle + deities needed propitiating in behalf of the nest and young as well as in + behalf of the mate. After a time a second female came, when there was war + between the two. I did not see them come to blows, but I saw one female + pursuing the other about the place, and giving her no rest for several + days. She was evidently trying to run her out of the neighborhood. Now and + then she, too, would drum briefly as if sending a triumphant message to + her mate. + </p> + <p> + The woodpeckers do not each have a particular dry limb to which they + resort at all times to drum, like the one I have described. The woods are + full of suitable branches, and they drum more or less here and there as + they are in quest of food; yet I am convinced each one has its favorite + spot, like the grouse, to which it resorts, especially in the morning. The + sugar-maker in the maple-woods may notice that their sound proceeds from + the same tree or trees about his camp with great regularity. A woodpecker + in my vicinity has drummed for two seasons on a telegraph pole, and he + makes the wires and glass insulators ring. Another drums on a thin board + on the end of a long grape-arbor, and on still mornings can be heard a + long distance. + </p> + <p> + A friend of mine in a Southern city tells me of a red-headed woodpecker + that drums upon a lightning-rod on his neighbor's house. Nearly every + clear, still morning at certain seasons, he says, this musical rapping may + be heard. "He alternates his tapping with his stridulous call, and the + effect on a cool, autumn-like morning is very pleasing." + </p> + <p> + The high-hole appears to drum more promiscuously than does the downy. He + utters his long, loud spring call, whick—whick—whick—whick, + and then begins to rap with his beak upon his perch before the last note + has reached your ear. I have seen him drum sitting upon the ridge of the + barn. The log cock, or pileated woodpecker, the largest and wildest of our + Northern species, I have never heard drum. His blows should wake the + echoes. + </p> + <p> + When the woodpecker is searching for food, or laying siege to some hidden + grub, the sound of his hammer is dead or muffled, and is heard but a few + yards. It is only upon dry, seasoned timber, freed of its bark, that he + beats his reveille to spring and wooes his mate. + </p> + <p> + Wilson was evidently familiar with this vernal drumming of the + woodpeckers, but quite misinterprets it. Speaking of the red-bellied + species, he says: "It rattles like the rest of the tribe on the dead + limbs, and with such violence as to be heard in still weather more than + half a mile off; and listens to hear the insect it has alarmed." He + listens rather to hear the drum of his rival or the brief and coy response + of the female; for there are no insects in these dry limbs. + </p> + <p> + On one occasion I saw downy at his drum when a female flew quickly through + the tree and alighted a few yards beyond him. He paused instantly, and + kept his place, apparently without moving a muscle. The female, I took it, + had answered his advertisement. She flitted about from limb to limb (the + female may be known by the absence of the crimson spot on the back of the + head), apparently full of business of her own, and now and then would drum + in a shy, tentative manner. The male watched her a few moments and, + convinced perhaps that she meant business, struck up his liveliest tune, + then listened for her response. As it came back timidly but promptly, he + left his perch and sought a nearer acquaintance with the prudent female. + Whether or not a match grew out of this little flirtation I cannot say. + </p> + <p> + Our smaller woodpeckers are sometimes accused of injuring the apple and + other fruit trees, but the depredator is probably the larger and rarer + yellow-bellied species. One autumn I caught one of these fellows in the + act of sinking long rows of his little wells in the limb of an apple-tree. + There were series of rings of them, one above another, quite around the + stem, some of them the third of an inch across. They are evidently made to + get at the tender, juicy bark, or cambium layer, next to the hard wood of + the tree. The health and vitality of the branch are so seriously impaired + by them that it often dies. + </p> + <p> + In the following winter the same bird (probably) tapped a maple-tree in + front of my window in fifty-six places; and when the day was sunny, and + the sap oozed out, he spent most of his time there. He knew the good + sap-days, and was on hand promptly for his tipple; cold and cloudy days he + did not appear. He knew which side of the tree to tap, too, and avoided + the sunless northern exposure. When one series of well-holes failed to + supply him, he would sink another, drilling through the bark with great + ease and quickness. Then, when the day was warm, and the sap ran freely, + he would have a regular sugar-maple debauch, sitting there by his wells + hour after hour, and as fast as they became filled sipping out the sap. + This he did in a gentle, caressing manner that was very suggestive. He + made a row of wells near the foot of the tree, and other rows higher up, + and he would hop up and down the trunk as these became filled. He would + hop down the tree backward with the utmost ease, throwing his tail outward + and his head inward at each hop. When the wells would freeze or his thirst + become slaked, he would ruffle his feathers, draw himself together, and + sit and doze in the sun on the side of the tree. He passed the night in a + hole in an apple-tree not far off. He was evidently a young bird not yet + having the plumage of the mature male or female, and yet he knew which + tree to tap and where to tap it. I saw where he had bored several maples + in the vicinity, but no oaks or chestnuts. I nailed up a fat bone near his + sap-works: the downy woodpecker came there several times a day to dine; + the nut-hatch came, and even the snow-bird took a taste occasionally; but + this sap-sucker never touched it; the sweet of the tree sufficed for him. + This woodpecker does not breed or abound in my vicinity; only stray + specimens are now and then to be met with in the colder months. As spring + approached, the one I refer to took his departure. + </p> + <p> + I must bring my account of my neighbor in the tree down to the latest + date; so after the lapse of a year I add the following notes. The last day + of February was bright and springlike. I heard the first sparrow sing that + morning and the first screaming of the circling hawks, and about seven + o'clock the first drumming of my little friend. His first notes were + uncertain and at long intervals, but by and by he warmed up and beat a + lively tattoo. As the season advanced he ceased to lodge in his old + quarters. I would rap and find nobody at home. Was he out on a lark, I + said, the spring fever working in his blood? After a time his drumming + grew less frequent, and finally, in the middle of April, ceased entirely. + Had some accident befallen him, or had he wandered away to fresh fields, + following some siren of his species? Probably the latter. Another bird + that I had under observation also left his winter-quarters in the spring. + This, then, appears to be the usual custom. The wrens and the nut-hatches + and chickadees succeed to these abandoned cavities, and often have amusing + disputes over them. The nut-hatches frequently pass the night in them, and + the wrens and chickadees nest in them. I have further observed that in + excavating a cavity for a nest the downy woodpecker makes the entrance + smaller than when he is excavating his winter-quarters. This is doubtless + for the greater safety of the young birds. + </p> + <p> + The next fall, the downy excavated another limb in the old apple-tree, but + had not got his retreat quite finished, when the large hairy woodpecker + appeared upon the scene. I heard his loud click, click, early one frosty + November morning. There was something impatient and angry in the tone that + arrested my attention. I saw the bird fly to the tree where downy had been + at work, and fall with great violence upon the entrance to his cavity. The + bark and the chips flew beneath his vigorous blows, and before I fairly + woke up to what he was doing, he had completely demolished the neat, round + doorway of downy. He had made a large ragged opening large enough for + himself to enter. I drove him away and my favorite came back, but only to + survey the ruins of his castle for a moment and then go away. He lingered + about for a day or two and then disappeared. The big hairy usurper passed + a night in the cavity, but on being hustled out of it the next night by + me, he also left, but not till he had demolished the entrance to a cavity + in a neighboring tree where downy and his mate had reared their brood that + summer, and where I had hoped the female would pass the winter. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_NOTE" id="link2H_NOTE_"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + NOTES BY THE WAY. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I. THE WEATHER-WISE MUSKRAT + </h2> + <p> + I am more than half persuaded that the muskrat is a wise little animal, + and that on the subject of the weather, especially, he possesses some + secret that I should be glad to know. In the fall of 1878 I noticed that + he built unusually high and massive nests. I noticed them in several + different localities. In a shallow, sluggish pond by the roadside, which I + used to pass daily in my walk, two nests were in process of construction + throughout the month of November. The builders worked only at night, and I + could see each day that the work had visibly advanced. When there was a + slight skim of ice over the pond, this was broken up about the nests, with + trails through it in different directions where the material had been + brought. The houses were placed a little to one side of the main channel, + and were constructed entirely of a species of coarse wild grass that grew + all about. So far as I could see, from first to last they were solid + masses of grass, as if the interior cavity or nest was to be excavated + afterward, as doubtless it was. As they emerged from the pond they + gradually assumed the shape of a miniature mountain, very bold and steep + on the south side, and running down a long gentle grade to the surface of + the water on the north. One could see that the little architect hauled all + his material up this easy slope, and thrust it out boldly around the other + side. Every mouthful was distinctly defined. After they were two feet or + more above the water, I expected each day to see that the finishing stroke + had been given and the work brought to a close. But higher yet, said the + builder. December drew near, the cold became threatening, and I was + apprehensive that winter would suddenly shut down upon those unfinished + nests. But the wise rats knew better than I did; they had received private + advices from headquarters that I knew not of. Finally, about the 6th of + December, the nests assumed completion; the northern incline was absorbed + or carried up, and each structure became a strong massive cone, three or + four feet high, the largest nest of the kind I had ever seen. Does it mean + a severe winter? I inquired. An old farmer said it meant "high water," and + he was right once, at least, for in a few days afterward we had the + heaviest rainfall known in this section for half a century. The creeks + rose to an almost unprecedented height. The sluggish pond became a + seething, turbulent watercourse; gradually the angry element crept up the + sides of these lake dwellings, till, when the rain ceased, about four + o'clock they showed above the flood no larger than a man's hat. During the + night the channel shifted till the main current swept over them, and next + day not a vestige of the nests was to be seen; they had gone down-stream, + as had many other dwellings of a less temporary character. The rats had + built wisely, and would have been perfectly secure against any ordinary + high water, but who can foresee a flood? The oldest traditions of their + race did not run back to the time of such a visitation. + </p> + <p> + Nearly a week afterward another dwelling was begun, well away from the + treacherous channel, but the architects did not work at it with much + heart; the material was very scarce, the ice hindered, and before the + basement-story was fairly finished, winter had the pond under his lock and + key. + </p> + <p> + In other localities I noticed that where the nests were placed on the + banks of streams, they were made secure against the floods by being built + amid a small clump of bushes. When the fall of 1879 came, the muskrats + were very tardy about beginning their house, laying the corner-stone—or + the corner-sod-about December 1st, and continuing the work slowly and + indifferently. On the 15th of the month the nest was not yet finished. + This, I said, indicates a mild winter; and, sure enough, the season was + one of the mildest known for many years. The rats had little use for their + house. + </p> + <p> + Again, in the fall of 1880, while the weather-wise were wagging their + heads, some forecasting a mild, some a severe winter, I watched with + interest for a sign from my muskrats. About November 1st, a month earlier + than the previous year, they began their nest, and worked at it with a + will. They appeared to have just got tidings of what was coming. If I had + taken the hint so palpably given, my celery would not have been frozen in + the ground, and my apples caught in unprotected places. When the cold wave + struck us, about November 20th, my four-legged "I-told-you-so's" had + nearly completed their dwelling; it lacked only the ridge-board, so to + speak; it needed a little "topping out," to give it a finished look. But + this it never got. The winter had come to stay, and it waxed more and more + severe, till the unprecedented cold of the last days of December must have + astonished even the wise muskrats in their snug retreat. I approached + their nest at this time, a white mound upon the white, deeply frozen + surface of the pond, and wondered if there was any life in that apparent + sepulchre. I thrust my walking-stick sharply into it, when there was a + rustle and a splash into the water, as the occupant made his escape. What + a damp basement that house has, I thought, and what a pity to rout out a + peaceful neighbor out of his bed in this weather and into such a state of + things as this! But water does not wet the muskrat; his fur is charmed, + and not a drop penetrates it. Where the ground is favorable, the muskrats + do not build these mound-like nests, but burrow into the bank a long + distance, and establish their winter-quarters there. + </p> + <p> + Shall we not say, then, in view of the above facts, that this little + creature is weather-wise? The hitting of the mark twice might be mere good + luck; but three bull's-eyes in succession is not a mere coincidence; it is + a proof of skill. The muskrat is not found in the Old World, which is a + little singular, as other rats so abound there, and as those slow-going + English streams especially, with their grassy banks, are so well suited to + him. The water-rat of Europe is smaller, but of similar nature and habits. + The muskrat does not hibernate like some rodents, but is pretty active all + winter. In December I noticed in my walk where they had made excursions of + a few yards to an orchard for frozen apples. One day, along a little + stream, I saw a mink track amid those of the muskrat; following it up, I + presently came to blood and other marks of strife upon the snow beside a + stone wall. Looking in between the stones, I found the carcass of the + luckless rat, with its head and neck eaten away. The mink had made a meal + of him. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. CHEATING THE SQUIRRELS. + </h2> + <p> + FOR the largest and finest chestnuts I had last fall I was indebted to the + gray squirrels. Walking through the early October woods one day, I came + upon a place where the ground was thickly strewn with very large unopened + chestnut burs. On examination I found that every bur had been cut square + off with about an inch of the stem adhering, and not one had been left on + the tree. It was not accident, then, but design. Whose design? The + squirrels'. The fruit was the finest I had ever seen in the woods, and + some wise squirrel had marked it for his own. The burs were ripe, and had + just begun to divide, not "threefold," but fourfold, "to show the fruit + within." The squirrel that had taken all this pains had evidently reasoned + with himself thus: "Now, these are extremely fine chestnuts, and I want + them; if I wait till the burs open on the tree the crows and jays will be + sure to carry off a great many of the nuts before they fall; then, after + the wind has rattled out what remain, there are the mice, the chipmunks, + the red squirrels, the raccoons, the grouse, to say nothing of the boys + and the pigs, to come in for their share; so I will forestall events a + little; I will cut off the burs when they have matured, and a few days of + this dry October weather will cause everyone of them to open on the + ground; I shall be on hand in the nick of time to gather up my nuts." The + squirrel, of course, had to take the chances of a prowler like myself + coming along, but he had fairly stolen a march on his neighbors. As I + proceeded to collect and open the burs, I was half prepared to hear an + audible protest from the trees about, for I constantly fancied myself + watched by shy but jealous eyes. It is an interesting inquiry how the + squirrel knew the burs would open if left to know, but thought the + experiment worth trying. + </p> + <p> + The gray squirrel is peculiarly an American product, and might serve very + well as a national emblem. The Old World can beat us on rats and mice, but + we are far ahead on squirrels, having five or six species to Europe's one. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. FOX AND HOUND. + </h2> + <p> + I STOOD on a high hill or ridge one autumn day and saw a hound run a fox + through the fields far beneath me. What odors that fox must have shaken + out of himself, I thought, to be traced thus easily, and how great their + specific gravity not to have been blown away like smoke by the breeze! The + fox ran a long distance down the hill, keeping within a few feet of a + stone wall; then turned a right angle and led off for the mountain, across + a plowed field and a succession of pasture lands. In about fifteen minutes + the hound came in full blast with her nose in the air, and never once did + she put it to the ground while in my sight. When she came to the stone + wall she took the other side from that taken by the fox, and kept about + the same distance from it, being thus separated several yards from his + track, with the fence between her and it. At the point where the fox + turned sharply to the left, the hound overshot a few yards, then wheeled, + and feeling the air a moment with her nose, took up the scent again and + was off on his trail as unerringly as fate. It seemed as if the fox must + have sowed himself broadcast as he went along, and that his scent was so + rank and heavy that it settled in the hollows and clung tenaciously to the + bushes and crevices in the fence. I thought I ought to have caught a + remnant of it as I passed that way some minutes later, but I did not. But + I suppose it was not that the light-footed fox so impressed himself upon + the ground he ran over, but that the sense of the hound was so keen. To + her sensitive nose these tracks steamed like hot cakes, and they would not + have cooled off so as to be undistinguishable for several hours. For the + time being she had but one sense: her whole soul was concentrated in her + nose. + </p> + <p> + It is amusing when the hunter starts out of a winter morning to see his + hound probe the old tracks to determine how recent they are. He sinks his + nose down deep in the snow so as to exclude the air from above, then draws + a long full breath, giving sometimes an audible snort. If there remains + the least effluvium of the fox the hound will detect it. If it be very + slight it only sets his tail wagging; if it be strong it unloosens his + tongue. + </p> + <p> + Such things remind one of the waste, the friction that is going on all + about us, even when the wheels of life run the most smoothly. A fox cannot + trip along the top of a stone wall so lightly but that he will leave + enough of himself to betray his course to the hound for hours afterward. + When the boys play "hare and hounds" the hare scatters bits of paper to + give a clew to the pursuers, but he scatters himself much more freely if + only our sight and scent were sharp enough to detect the fragments. Even + the fish leave a trail in the water, and it is said the otter will pursue + them by it. The birds make a track in the air, only their enemies hunt by + sight rather than by scent. The fox baffles the hound most upon a hard + crust of frozen snow; the scent will not hold to the smooth, bead-like + granules. + </p> + <p> + Judged by the eye alone, the fox is the lightest and most buoyant creature + that runs. His soft wrapping of fur conceals the muscular play and effort + that is so obvious in the hound that pursues him, and he comes bounding + along precisely as if blown by a gentle wind. His massive tail is carried + as if it floated upon the air by its own lightness. + </p> + <p> + The hound is not remarkable for his fleetness, but how he will hang!—often + running late into the night and sometimes till morning, from ridge to + ridge, from peak to peak; now on the mountain, now crossing the valley, + now playing about a large slope of uplying pasture fields. At times the + fox has a pretty well-defined orbit, and the hunter knows where to + intercept him. Again he leads off like a comet, quite beyond the system of + hills and ridges upon which he was started, and his return is entirely a + matter of conjecture; but if the day be not more than half spent, the + chances are that the fox will be back before night, though the sportsman's + patience seldom holds out that long. + </p> + <p> + The hound is a most interesting dog. How solemn and long-visaged he is—how + peaceful and well-disposed! He is the Quaker among dogs. All the + viciousness and currishness seem to have been weeded out of him; he seldom + quarrels, or fights, or plays, like other dogs. Two strange hounds, + meeting for the first time, behave as civilly toward each other as if two + men. I know a hound that has an ancient, wrinkled, human, far-away look + that reminds one of the bust of Homer among the Elgin marbles. He looks + like the mountains toward which his heart yearns so much. + </p> + <p> + The hound is a great puzzle to the farm dog; the latter, attracted by his + baying, comes barking and snarling up through the fields bent on picking a + quarrel; he intercepts the hound, snubs and insults and annoys him in + every way possible, but the hound heeds him not; if the dog attacks him he + gets away as best he can, and goes on with the trail; the cur bristles and + barks and struts about for a while, then goes back to the house, evidently + thinking the hound a lunatic, which he is for the time being—a + monomaniac, the slave and victim of one idea. I saw the master of a hound + one day arrest him in full course to give one of the hunters time to get + to a certain runaway; the dog cried and struggled to free himself and + would listen neither to threats nor caresses. Knowing he must be hungry, I + offered him my lunch, but he would not touch it. I put it in his mouth, + but he threw it contemptuously from him. We coaxed and petted and + reassured him, but he was under a spell; he was bereft of all thought or + desire but the one passion to pursue that trail. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV. THE WOODCHUCK + </h2> + <p> + Writers upon rural England and her familiar natural history make no + mention of the marmot or woodchuck. In Europe this animal seems to be + confined to high mountainous districts, as on our Pacific slope, burrowing + near the snow line. It is more social or gregarious than the American + species, living in large families like our prairie-dog. In the Middle and + Eastern States our woodchuck takes the place, in some respects, of the + English rabbit, burrowing in every hillside and under every stone wall and + jutting ledge and large bowlder, from whence it makes raids upon the grass + and clover and sometimes upon the garden vegetables. It is quite solitary + in its habits, seldom more than one inhabiting the same den, unless it be + a mother and her young. It is not now so much a wood chuck as a field + chuck. Occasionally, however, one seems to prefer the woods, and is not + seduced by the sunny slopes and the succulent grass, but feeds, as did his + fathers before him, upon roots and twigs, the bark of young trees, and + upon various wood plants. + </p> + <p> + One summer day, as I was swimming across a broad, deep pool in the creek + in a secluded place in the woods, I saw one of these sylvan chucks amid + the rocks but a few feet from the edge of the water where I proposed to + touch. He saw my approach, but doubtless took me for some water-fowl, or + for some cousin of his of the muskrat tribe; for he went on with his + feeding, and regarded me not till I paused within ten feet of him and + lifted myself up. Then he did not know me; having, perhaps, never seen + Adam in his simplicity, but he twisted his nose around to catch my scent; + and the moment he had done so he sprang like a jumping-jack and rushed + into his den with the utmost precipitation. + </p> + <p> + The woodchuck is the true serf among our animals; he belongs to the soil, + and savors of it. He is of the earth, earthy. There is generally a decided + odor about his dens and lurking-places, but it is not at all disagreeable + in the clover-scented air, and his shrill whistle, as he takes to his hole + or defies the farm dog from the interior of the stone wall, is a pleasant + summer sound. In form and movement the woodchuck is not captivating. His + body is heavy and flabby. Indeed, such a flaccid, fluid, pouchy carcass, I + have never before seen. It has absolutely no muscular tension or rigidity, + but is as baggy and shaky as a skin filled with water. Let the rifleman + shoot one while it lies basking on a sidelong rock, and its body slumps + off, and rolls and spills down the hill, as if it were a mass of bowels + only. The legs of the woodchuck are short and stout, and made for digging + rather than running. The latter operation he performs by short leaps, his + belly scarcely clearing the ground. For a short distance he can make very + good time, but he seldom trusts himself far from his hole, and when + surprised in that predicament, makes little effort to escape, but, grating + his teeth, looks the danger squarely in the face. + </p> + <p> + I knew a farmer in New York who had a very large bob-tailed churn-dog by + the name of Cuff. The farmer kept a large dairy and made a great deal of + butter, and it was the business of Cuff to spend nearly the half of each + summer day treading the endless round of the churning-machine. During the + remainder of the day he had plenty of time to sleep, and rest, and sit on + his hips and survey the landscape. One day, sitting thus, he discovered a + woodchuck about forty rods from the house, on a steep side-hill, feeding + about near his hole, which was beneath a large rock. The old dog, + forgetting his stiffness, and remembering the fun he had had with + woodchucks in his earlier days, started off at his highest speed, vainly + hoping to catch this one before he could get to his hole. But the + woodchuck, seeing the dog come laboring up the hill, sprang to the mouth + of his den, and, when his pursuer was only a few rods off, whistled + tauntingly and went in. This occurred several times, the old dog marching + up the hill, and then marching down again, having had his labor for his + pains. I suspect that he revolved the subject in his mind while he + revolved the great wheel of the churning-machine, and that some turn or + other brought him a happy thought, for next time he showed himself a + strategist. Instead of giving chase to the woodchuck when first + discovered, he crouched down to the ground, and, resting his head on his + paws, watched him. The woodchuck kept working away from the hole, lured by + the tender clover, but, not unmindful of his safety, lifted himself up on + his haunches every few moments and surveyed the approaches. Presently, + after the woodchuck had let himself down from one of these attitudes of + observation, and resumed his feeding, Cuff started swiftly but stealthily + up the hill, precisely in the attitude of a cat when she is stalking a + bird. When the woodchuck rose up again, Cuff was perfectly motionless and + half hid by the grass. When he again resumed his clover, Cuff sped up the + hill as before, this time crossing a fence, but in a low place, and so + nimbly that he was not discovered. Again the wood chuck was on the + outlook, again Cuff was motionless and hugging the ground. As the dog + nears his victim he is partially hidden by a swell in the earth, but still + the woodchuck from his outlook reports "all right," when Cuff, having not + twice as far to run as the 'chuck, throws all stealthiness aside and + rushes directly for the hole. At that moment the woodchuck discovers his + danger, and, seeing that it is a race for life, leaps as I never saw + marmot leap before. But he is two seconds too late, his retreat is cut + off, and the powerful jaws of the old dog close upon him. + </p> + <p> + The next season Cuff tried the same tactics again with like success; but + when the third woodchuck had taken up his abode at the fatal hole, the old + churner's wits and strength had begun to fail him, and he was baffled in + each attempt to capture the animal. + </p> + <p> + The woodchuck always burrows on a side-hill. This enables him to guard + against being drowned out, by making the termination of the hole higher + than the entrance. He digs in slantingly for about two or three feet, then + makes a sharp upward turn and keeps nearly parallel with the surface of + the ground for a distance of eight or ten feet farther, according to the + grade. Here he makes his nest and passes the winter, holing up in October + or November and coming out again in April. This is a long sleep, and is + rendered possible only by the amount of fat with which the system has + become stored during the summer. The fire of life still burns, but very + faintly and slowly, as with the draughts all closed and the ashes heaped + up. Respiration is continued, but at longer intervals, and all the vital + processes are nearly at a standstill. Dig one out during hibernation + (Audubon did so), and you find it a mere inanimate ball, that suffers + itself to be moved and rolled about without showing signs of awakening. + But bring it in by the fire, and it presently unrolls and opens its eyes, + and crawls feebly about, and if left to itself will seek some dark hole or + corner, roll itself up again, and resume its former condition. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes and, Other +Papers, by John Burroughs + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS AND BEES *** + +***** This file should be named 3163-h.htm or 3163-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/6/3163/ + +Produced by Patricia C. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes and, Other Papers + +Author: John Burroughs + +Commentator: Mary E. Burt + +Posting Date: January 17, 2009 [EBook #3163] +Release Date: April, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS AND BEES *** + + + + +Produced by Patricia C. Franks, Lisa Carter, Danette Dulny, +Charles Duvall, Cheri Ripley, and Cheryl Sullivan + + + + + + +BIRDS AND BEES + +SHARP EYES + +AND OTHER PAPERS + + +By John Burroughs + + +With An Introduction + +By Mary E. Burt + + +And A Biographical Sketch + + +CONTENTS + + +Biographical Sketch + +Introduction By Mary E. Burt + +Birds + + Bird Enemies + + The Tragedies of the Nests + +Bees + + An Idyl of the Honey-Bee + + The Pastoral Bees + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. + + +Nature chose the spring of the year for the time of John Burroughs's +birth. A little before the day when the wake-robin shows itself, that +the observer might be on hand for the sight, he was born in Roxbury, +Delaware County, New York, on the western borders of the Catskill +Mountains; the precise date was April 3, 1837. Until 1863 he remained +in the country about his native place, working on his father's farm, +getting his schooling in the district school and neighboring academies, +and taking his turn also as teacher. As he himself has hinted, the +originality, freshness, and wholesomeness of his writings are probably +due in great measure to the unliterary surroundings of his early life, +which allowed his mind to form itself on unconventional lines, and to +the later companionships with unlettered men, which kept him in touch +with the sturdy simplicities of life. + +From the very beginnings of his taste for literature, the essay was his +favorite form. Dr. Johnson was the prophet of his youth, but he soon +transferred his allegiance to Emerson, who for many years remained his +"master enchanter." To cure himself of too close an imitation of +the Concord seer, which showed itself in his first magazine article, +Expression, he took to writing his sketches of nature, and about this +time he fell in with the writings of Thoreau, which doubtless confirmed +and encouraged him in this direction. But of all authors and of all men, +Walt Whitman, in his personality and as a literary force, seems to have +made the profoundest impression upon Mr. Burroughs, though doubtless +Emerson had a greater influence on his style of writing. + +Expression appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in 1860, and most of his +contributions to literature have been in the form of papers first +published in the magazines, and afterwards collected into books. He more +than once paid tribute to his teachers in literature. His first book, +now out of print, was Notes on Walt Whitman, as Poet and Person, +published in 1867; and Whitman: A Study, which appeared in 1896, is a +more extended treatment of the man and his poetry and philosophy. Birds +and Poets, too, contains a paper on Whitman, entitled The Flight of the +Eagle, besides an essay on Emerson, whom he also treated incidentally in +his paper, Matthew Arnold on Emerson and Carlyle, in Indoor Studies; and +the latter volume contains his essay on Thoreau. + +In the autumn of 1863 he went to Washington, and in the following +January entered the Treasury Department. He was for some years an +assistant in the office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and later +chief of the organization division of that Bureau. For some time he was +keeper of one of the vaults, and for a great part of the day his only +duty was to be at his desk. In these leisure hours his mind traveled off +into the country, where his previous life had been spent, and with the +help of his pen, always a faithful friend and magician, he lived over +again those happy days, now happier still with the glamour of all +past pleasures. In this way he wrote Wake-Robin and a part of Winter +Sunshine. It must not be supposed, however, that he was deprived of +outdoor pleasures while at Washington. On the contrary, he enjoyed many +walks in the suburbs of the capital, and in those days the real country +came up to the very edges of the city. His Spring at the Capital, Winter +Sunshine, A March Chronicle, and other papers bear the fruit of his life +on the Potomac. He went to England in 1871 on business for the Treasury +Department, and again on his own account a dozen years later. The record +of the two visits is to be found mainly in his chapters on An October +Abroad, contained in the volume Winter Sunshine, and in the papers +gathered into the volume Fresh Fields. + +He resigned his place in the Treasury in 1873, and was appointed +receiver of a broken national bank. Later, until 1885, his business +occupation was that of a National Bank Examiner. An article contributed +by him to The Century Magazine for March, 1881, on Broken Banks and Lax +Directors, is perhaps the only literary outcome of this occupation, but +the keen powers of observation, trained in the field of nature, could +not fail to disclose themselves in analyzing columns of figures. After +leaving Washington Mr. Burroughs bought a fruit farm at West Park, near +Esopus, on the Hudson, and there building his house from the stones +found in his fields, has given himself the best conditions for that +humanizing of nature which constitutes the charm of his books. He was +married in 1857 to a lady living in the New York village where he was +at the time teaching. He keeps his country home the year round, only +occasionally visiting New York. The cultivation of grapes absorbs the +greater part of his time; but he has by no means given over letters. His +work, which has long found ready acceptance both at home and abroad, +is now passing into that security of fame which comes from its entrance +into the school-life of American children. + +Besides his outdoor sketches and the other papers already mentioned, +Mr. Burroughs has written a number of critical essays on life and +literature, published in Indoor Studies, and other volumes. He has also +taken his readers into his confidence in An Egotistical Chapter, +the final one of his Indoor Studies; and in the Introduction to the +Riverside Edition of his writings he has given us further glimpses of +his private intellectual life. + +Probably no other American writer has a greater sympathy with, and a +keener enjoyment of, country life in all its phases--farming, camping, +fishing, walking--than has John Burroughs. His books are redolent of the +soil, and have such "freshness and primal sweetness," that we need not +be told that the pleasure he gets from his walks and excursions is by no +means over when he steps inside his doors again. As he tells us on more +than one occasion, he finds he can get much more out of his outdoor +experiences by thinking them over, and writing them out afterwards. + +Numbers 28, 36, and 92 of the Riverside Literature Series consist of +selections from Mr. Burroughs's books. No. 28, which is entitled Birds +and Bees, is made up of Bird Enemies and The Tragedies of the Nests from +the volume Signs and Seasons, An Idyl of the Honey-Bee from Pepacton, +and The Pastoral Bees from Locusts and Wild Honey. The Introduction, +by Miss Mary E. Burt, gives an account of the use of Mr. Burroughs's +writings in Chicago schools. + +In No. 36, Sharp Eyes, and Other Papers, the initial paper, Sharp +Eyes, is drawn from Locusts and Wild Honey, The Apple comes from Winter +Sunshine, A Taste of Maine Birch and Winter Neighbors from Signs and +Seasons, and Notes by the Way (on muskrats, squirrels, foxes, and +woodchucks) from Pepacton. + +The collection called A Bunch of Herbs, and Other Papers, forming No. +92 of the Series, was designed with special reference to what the author +has to say of trees and flowers, and contains A Bunch of Herbs from +Pepacton, Strawberries from Locusts and Wild Honey, A March Chronicle +and Autumn Tides from Winter Sunshine, A Spray of Pine and A Spring +Relish from Signs and Seasons, and English Woods: A Contrast from Fresh +Fields. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + + +It is seldom that I find a book so far above children that I cannot +share its best thought with them. So when I first took up one of John +Burroughs's essays, I at once foresaw many a ramble with my pupils +through the enchanted country that is found within its breezy pages. To +read John Burroughs is to live in the woods and fields, and to associate +intimately with all their little timid inhabitants; to learn that-- + + "God made all the creatures and gave them our love and our fear, + To give sign, we and they are his children, one family here." + +When I came to use Pepacton in my class of the sixth grade, I soon +found, not only that the children read better but that they came rapidly +to a better appreciation of the finer bits of literature in their +regular readers, while their interest in their new author grew quickly +to an enthusiasm. Never was a little brother or sister more real to +them than was "Peggy Mel" as she rushed into the hive laden with stolen +honey, while her neighbors gossiped about it, or the stately elm that +played sly tricks, or the log which proved to be a good bedfellow +because it did not grumble. Burroughs's way of investing beasts, birds, +insects, and inanimate things with human motives is very pleasing +to children. They like to trace analogies between the human and the +irrational, to think of a weed as a tramp stealing rides, of Nature as a +tell-tale when taken by surprise. + +The quiet enthusiasm of John Burroughs's essays is much healthier +than the over-wrought dramatic action which sets all the nerves +a-quiver,--nerves already stimulated to excess by the comedies and +tragedies forced upon the daily lives of children. It is especially +true of children living in crowded cities, shut away from the woods and +hills, constant witnesses of the effects of human passion, that they +need the tonic of a quiet literature rather than the stimulant of a +stormy or dramatic one,--a literature which develops gentle feelings, +deep thought, and a relish for what is homely and homespun, rather than +a literature which calls forth excited feelings. + +The essays in this volume are those in which my pupils have expressed an +enthusiastic interest, or which, after careful reading, I have selected +for future use. I have found in them few pages so hard as to require +over much study, or a too frequent use of the dictionary. John +Burroughs, more than almost any other writer of the time, has a +prevailing taste for simple words and simple constructions. "He that +runs may read" him. I have found many children under eleven years of age +who could read a whole page without hesitating. If I discover some words +which I foresee will cause difficulty, I place such on the blackboard +and rapidly pronounce and explain them before the reading. Generally, +however, I find the text the best interpreter of its words. What follows +explains what goes before, if the child is led to read on to the end of +the sentence. It is a mistake to allow children to be frightened away +from choice reading by an occasional hard word. There is no better time +than his reading lesson in which to teach a child that the hard things +of life are to be grappled with and overcome. A mistake also, I think, +is that toilsome process of explanation which I sometimes find teachers +following, under the impression that it will be "parrot work" (as the +stock phrase of the "institutes" has it) for the pupils to read anything +which they do not clearly and fully comprehend. Teachers' definitions, +in such cases, I have often noticed, are no better than dictionary +definitions, and surely everybody knows that few more fruitless things +than dictionary definitions are ever crammed into the memory of a child. +Better far give free play to the native intelligence of the child, and +trust it to apprehend, though it may not yet comprehend nor be able to +express its apprehension in definition. On this subject I am glad to +quote so high an authority as Sir Walter Scott: "Indeed I rather suspect +that children derive impulses of a powerful and important kind from +reading things which they do not comprehend, and therefore that to write +down to children's understanding is a mistake. Set them on the scent and +let them puzzle it out." + +From time to time I have allowed my pupils to give me written +reports from memory of these essays, and have often found these little +compositions sparkling with pleasing information, or full of that +childlike fun which is characteristic of the author. I have marked the +errors in these exercises, and have given them back to the children +to rewrite. Sometimes the second papers show careful correction-and +sometimes the mistakes are partially neglected. Very often the child +wishes to improve on the first composition, and so adds new blunders as +well as creates new interest. + +There is a law of self-preservation in Nature, which takes care of +mistakes. Every human soul reaches toward the light in the most direct +path open to it, and will correct its own errors as soon as it is +developed far enough. There is no use in trying to force maturity; +teachers who trouble children beyond all reason, and worry over their +mistakes, are fumbling at the roots of young plants that will grow if +they are let alone long enough. + +The average mechanical work (spelling, construction of sentences, +writing, etc.) is better under this method than when more time is +devoted to the mechanics and less to the thought of composition. I have +seen many reports of Burroughs's essays from the pens of children more +pleasing and reliable than the essays of some professional reviewers; +in these papers I often find the children adding little suggestions of +their own; as, "Do birds dream?" One of the girls says her bird "jumps +in its sleep." A little ten year old writes, "Weeds are unuseful +flowers," and, "I like this book because there are real things in it." +Another thinks she "will look more carefully" if she ever gets out into +the country again. For the development of close observation and good +feeling toward the common things of life, I know of no writings better +than those of John Burroughs. + + +MARY E. BURT + +JONES SCHOOL, CHICAGO, Sept. 1, 1887. + + + + +BIRDS. + + + + +BIRD ENEMIES. + + +How surely the birds know their enemies! See how the wrens and robins +and bluebirds pursue and scold the cat, while they take little or no +notice of the dog! Even the swallow will fight the cat, and, relying too +confidently upon its powers of flight, sometimes swoops down so near +to its enemy that it is caught by a sudden stroke of the cat's paw. The +only case I know of in which our small birds fail to recognize their +enemy is furnished by the shrike; apparently the little birds do not +know that this modest-colored bird is an assassin. At least, I have +never seen them scold or molest him, or utter any outcries at his +presence, as they usually do at birds of prey. Probably it is because +the shrike is a rare visitant, and is not found in this part of the +country during the nesting season of our songsters. + +But the birds have nearly all found out the trick the jay, and when he +comes sneaking through the trees in May and June in quest of eggs, he +is quickly exposed and roundly abused. It is amusing to see the robins +hustle him out of the tree which holds their nest. They cry "Thief, +thief!" to the top of their voices as they charge upon him, and the jay +retorts in a voice scarcely less complimentary as he makes off. + +The jays have their enemies also, and need to keep an eye on their own +eggs. It would be interesting to know if jays ever rob jays, or crows +plunder crows; or is there honor among thieves even in the feathered +tribes? I suspect the jay is often punished by birds which are otherwise +innocent of nest-robbing. One season I found a jay's nest in a small +cedar on the side of a wooded ridge. It held five eggs, every one of +which had been punctured. Apparently some bird had driven its sharp beak +through their shells, with the sole intention of destroying them, for no +part of the contents of the eggs had been removed. It looked like a case +of revenge; as if some thrush or warbler, whose nest had suffered at +the hands of the jays, had watched its opportunity, and had in this way +retaliated upon its enemies. An egg for an egg. The jays were lingering +near, very demure and silent, and probably ready to join a crusade +against nest-robbers. + +The great bugaboo of the birds is the owl. The owl snatches them from +off their roosts at night, and gobbles up their eggs and young in their +nests. He is a veritable ogre to them, and his presence fills them with +consternation and alarm. + +One season, to protect my early cherries I placed a large stuffed owl +amid the branches of the tree. Such a racket as there instantly began +about my grounds is not pleasant to think upon! The orioles and robins +fairly "shrieked out their affright." The news instantly spread in every +direction, and apparently every bird in town came to see that owl in +the cherry-tree, and every bird took a cherry, so that I lost more fruit +than if I had left the owl in-doors. With craning necks and horrified +looks the birds alighted upon the branches, and between their screams +would snatch off a cherry, as if the act was some relief to their +outraged feelings. + +The chirp and chatter of the young of birds which build in concealed or +inclosed places, like the woodpeckers, the house wren, the high-hole, +the oriole, is in marked contrast to the silence of the fledglings +of most birds that build open and exposed nests. The young of the +sparrows,--unless the social sparrow be an exception,--warblers, +fly-catchers, thrushes, never allow a sound to escape them; and on +the alarm note of their parents being heard, sit especially close +and motionless, while the young of chimney swallows, woodpeckers, and +orioles are very noisy. The latter, in its deep pouch, is quite safe +from birds of prey, except perhaps the owl. The owl, I suspect, thrusts +its leg into the cavities of woodpeckers and into the pocket-like nest +of the oriole, and clutches and brings forth the birds in its talons. +In one case which I heard of, a screech-owl had thrust its claw into a +cavity in a tree, and grasped the head of a red-headed woodpecker; being +apparently unable to draw its prey forth, it had thrust its own round +head into the hole, and in some way became fixed there, and had thus +died with the woodpecker in its talons. + +The life of birds is beset with dangers and mishaps of which we know +little. One day, in my walk, I came upon a goldfinch with the tip of one +wing securely fastened to the feathers of its rump, by what appeared +to be the silk of some caterpillar. The bird, though uninjured, was +completely crippled, and could not fly a stroke. Its little body was hot +and panting in my hands, as I carefully broke the fetter. Then it +darted swiftly away with a happy cry. A record of all the accidents +and tragedies of bird life for a single season would show many curious +incidents. A friend of mine opened his box-stove one fall to kindle a +fire in it, when he beheld in the black interior the desiccated forms of +two bluebirds. The birds had probably taken refuge in the chimney during +some cold spring storm, and had come down the pipe to the stove, from +whence they were unable to ascend. A peculiarly touching little incident +of bird life occurred to a caged female canary. Though unmated, it laid +some eggs, and the happy bird was so carried away by her feelings that +she would offer food to the eggs, and chatter and twitter, trying, as it +seemed, to encourage them to eat! The incident is hardly tragic, neither +is it comic. + +Certain birds nest in the vicinity of our houses and outbuildings, or +even in and upon them, for protection from their enemies, but they often +thus expose themselves to a plague of the most deadly character. + +I refer to the vermin with which their nests often swarm, and which kill +the young before they are fledged. In a state of nature this probably +never happens; at least I have never seen or heard of it happening to +nests placed in trees or under rocks. It is the curse of civilization +falling upon the birds which come too near man. The vermin, or the germ +of the vermin, is probably conveyed to the nest in hen's feathers, or in +straws and hairs picked up about the barn or hen-house. A robin's nest +upon your porch or in your summer-house will occasionally become an +intolerable nuisance from the swarms upon swarms of minute vermin with +which it is filled. The parent birds stem the tide as long as they can, +but are often compelled to leave the young to their terrible fate. + +One season a phoebe-bird built on a projecting stone under the eaves +of the house, and all appeared to go well till the young were nearly +fledged, when the nest suddenly became a bit of purgatory. The birds +kept their places in their burning bed till they could hold no longer, +when they leaped forth and fell dead upon the ground. + +After a delay of a week or more, during which I imagine the parent +birds purified themselves by every means known to them, the couple built +another nest a few yards from the first, and proceeded to rear a second +brood; but the new nest developed into the same bed of torment that the +first did, and the three young birds, nearly ready to fly, perished as +they sat within it. The parent birds then left the place as if it had +been accursed. + +I imagine the smaller birds have an enemy in our native white-footed +mouse, though I have not proof enough to convict him. But one season the +nest of a chickadee which I was observing was broken up in a position +where nothing but a mouse could have reached it. The bird had chosen a +cavity in the limb of an apple-tree which stood but a few yards from the +house. The cavity was deep, and the entrance to it, which was ten feet +from the ground, was small. Barely light enough was admitted, when the +sun was in the most favorable position, to enable one to make out the +number of eggs, which was six, at the bottom of the dim interior. While +one was peering in and trying to get his head out of his own light, the +bird would startle him by a queer kind of puffing sound. She would not +leave her nest like most birds, but really tried to blow or scare the +intruder away; and after repeated experiments I could hardly refrain +from jerking my head back when that little explosion of sound came +up from the dark interior. One night, when incubation was about half +finished, the nest was harried. A slight trace of hair or fur at the +entrance led me to infer that some small animal was the robber. A weasel +might have done it, as they sometimes climb trees, but I doubt if either +a squirrel or a rat could have passed the entrance. + +Probably few persons have ever suspected the cat-bird of being an +egg-sucker; I do not know that she has ever been accused of such a +thing, but there is something uncanny and disagreeable about her, which +I at once understood, when I one day caught her in the very act of going +through a nest of eggs. + +A pair of the least fly-catchers, the bird which says chebec, chebec, +and is a small edition of the pewee, one season built their nest where +I had them for many hours each day under my observation. The nest was +a very snug and compact structure placed in the forks of a small maple +about twelve feet from the ground. The season before, a red squirrel +had harried the nest of a wood-thrush in this same tree, and I was +apprehensive that he would serve the fly-catchers the same trick; so, +as I sat with my book in a summer-house near by, I kept my loaded gun +within easy reach. One egg was laid, and the next morning, as I made my +daily inspection of the nest, only a fragment of its empty shell was +to be found. This I removed, mentally imprecating the rogue of a red +squirrel. The birds were much disturbed by the event, but did not desert +the nest, as I had feared they would, but after much inspection of it +and many consultations together, concluded, it seems, to try again. Two +more eggs were laid, when one day I heard the birds utter a sharp cry, +and on looking up I saw a cat-bird perched upon the rim of the nest, +hastily devouring the eggs. I soon regretted my precipitation in killing +her, because such interference is generally unwise. It turned out +that she had a nest of her own with five eggs in a spruce-tree near my +window. + +Then this pair of little fly-catchers did what I had never seen birds +do before; they pulled the nest to pieces and rebuilt it in a peach-tree +not many rods away, where a brood was successfully reared. The nest was +here exposed to the direct rays of the noon-day sun, and to shield her +young when the heat was greatest, the mother-bird would stand above them +with wings slightly spread, as other birds have been know to do under +like circumstances. + +To what extent the cat-bird is a nest-robber I have no evidence, but +that feline mew of hers, and that flirting, flexible tail, suggest +something not entirely bird-like. + +Probably the darkest tragedy of the nest is enacted when a snake +plunders it. All birds and animals, so far I have observed, behave in +a peculiar manner toward a snake. They seem to feel something of the +loathing toward it that the human species experiences. The bark of a dog +when he encounters a snake is different from that which he gives out on +any other occasion; it is a mingled note of alarm, inquiry, and disgust. + +One day a tragedy was enacted a few yards from where I was sitting with +a book; two song-sparrows trying to defend their nest against a black +snake. The curious, interrogating note of a chicken who had suddenly +come upon the scene in his walk caused me to look up from my reading. +There were the sparrows, with wings raised in a way peculiarly +expressive of horror and dismay, rushing about a low clump of grass and +bushes. Then, looking more closely, I saw the glistening form of the +black snake and the quick movement of his head as he tried to seize the +birds. The sparrows darted about and through the grass and weeds, trying +to beat the snake off. Their tails and wings were spread, and, panting +with the heat and the desperate struggle, they presented a most singular +spectacle. They uttered no cry, not a sound escaped them; they were +plainly speechless with horror and dismay. Not once did they drop their +wings, and the peculiar expression of those uplifted palms, as it were, +I shall never forget. It occurred to me that perhaps here was a case of +attempted bird-charming on the part of the snake, so I looked on from +behind the fence. The birds charged the snake and harassed him from +every side, but were evidently under no spell save that of courage in +defending their nest. Every moment or two I could see the head and neck +of the serpent make a sweep at the birds, when the one struck at would +fall back, and the other would renew the assault from the rear. There +appeared to be little danger that the snake could strike and hold one of +the birds, though I trembled for them, they were so bold and approached +so near to the snake's head. Time and again he sprang at them, but +without success. How the poor things panted, and held up their wings +appealingly! Then the snake glided off to the near fence, barely +escaping the stone which I hurled at him. I found the nest rifled and +deranged; whether it had contained eggs or young I know not. The male +sparrow had cheered me many a day with his song, and I blamed myself for +not having rushed at once to the rescue, when the arch enemy was upon +him. There is probably little truth in the popular notion that snakes +charm birds. The black snake is the most subtle, alert, and devilish of +our snakes, and I have never seen him have any but young, helpless birds +in his mouth. + +We have one parasitical bird, the cow-bird, so-called because it walks +about amid the grazing cattle and seizes the insects which their heavy +tread sets going, which is an enemy of most of the smaller birds. It +drops its egg in the nest of the song-sparrow, the social sparrow, the +snow-bird, the vireos, and the wood-warblers, and as a rule it is the +only egg in the nest that issues successfully. Either the eggs of +the rightful owner of the nest are not hatched, or else the young are +overridden and overreached by the parasite and perish prematurely. + +Among the worst enemies of our birds are the so-called "collectors," men +who plunder nests and murder their owners in the name of science. Not +the genuine ornithologist, for no one is more careful of squandering +bird life than he; but the sham ornithologist, the man whose vanity or +affectation happens to take an ornithological turn. He is seized with an +itching for a collection of eggs and birds because it happens to be the +fashion, or because it gives him the air of a man of science. But in the +majority of cases the motive is a mercenary one; the collector expects +to sell these spoils of the groves and orchards. Robbing the nests +and killing birds becomes a business with him. He goes about it +systematically, and becomes expert in circumventing and slaying our +songsters. Every town of any considerable size is infested with one or +more of these bird highwaymen, and every nest in the country round about +that the wretches can lay hands on is harried. Their professional term +for a nest of eggs is "a clutch," a word that well expresses the work of +their grasping, murderous fingers. They clutch and destroy in the germ +the life and music of the woodlands. Certain of our natural history +journals are mainly organs of communication between these human weasels. +They record their exploits at nest-robbing and bird-slaying in their +columns. One collector tells with gusto how he "worked his way" through +an orchard, ransacking every tree, and leaving, as he believed, not one +nest behind him. He had better not be caught working his way through my +orchard. Another gloats over the number of Connecticut warblers--a rare +bird--he killed in one season in Massachusetts. Another tells how a +mocking-bird appeared in southern New England and was hunted down by +himself and friend, its eggs "clutched," and the bird killed. Who knows +how much the bird lovers of New England lost by that foul deed? The +progeny of the birds would probably have returned to Connecticut to +breed, and their progeny, or a part of them, the same, till in time the +famous songster would have become a regular visitant to New England. +In the same journal still another collector describes minutely how he +outwitted three humming birds and captured their nests and eggs,--a +clutch he was very proud of. A Massachusetts bird harrier boasts of his +clutch of the egg's of that dainty little warbler, the blue yellow-back. +One season he took two sets, the next five sets, the next four sets, +besides some single eggs, and the next season four sets, and says he +might have found more had he had more time. One season he took, in +about twenty days, three from one tree. I have heard of a collector who +boasted of having taken one hundred sets of the eggs of the marsh wren, +in a single day; of another, who took in the same time, thirty nests +of the yellow-breasted chat; and of still another, who claimed to have +taken one thousand sets of eggs of different birds in one season. A +large business has grown up under the influence of this collecting +craze. One dealer in eggs has those of over five hundred species. He +says that his business in 1883 was twice that of 1882; in 1884 it was +twice that of 1883, and so on. Collectors vie with each other in the +extent and variety of their cabinets. They not only obtain eggs in sets, +but aim to have a number of sets of the same bird so as to show all +possible variations. I hear of a private collection that contains twelve +sets of kingbirds' eggs, eight sets of house-wrens' eggs, four sets +mocking-birds' eggs, etc.; sets of eggs taken in low trees, high trees, +medium trees; spotted sets, dark sets, plain sets, and light sets of the +same species of bird. Many collections are made on this latter plan. + +Thus are our birds hunted and cut off and all in the name of science; as +if science had not long ago finished with these birds. She has weighed +and measured, and dissected, and described them, and their nests, and +eggs, and placed them in her cabinet; and the interest of science and +of humanity now demands that this wholesale nest-robbing cease. These +incidents I have given above, it is true, are but drops in the bucket, +but the bucket would be more than full if we could get all the facts. +Where one man publishes his notes, hundreds, perhaps thousands, say +nothing, but go as silently about their nest-robbing as weasels. + +It is true that the student of ornithology often feels compelled to take +bird-life. It is not an easy matter to "name all the birds without a +gun," though an opera-glass will often render identification entirely +certain, and leave the songster unharmed; but once having mastered the +birds, the true ornithologist leaves his gun at home. This view of the +case may not be agreeable to that desiccated mortal called the "closet +naturalist," but for my own part the closet naturalist is a person with +whom I have very little sympathy. He is about the most wearisome and +profitless creature in existence. With his piles of skins, his cases of +eggs, his laborious feather-splitting, and his outlandish nomenclature, +he is not only the enemy of the birds but the enemy of all those who +would know them rightly. + +Not the collectors alone are to blame for the diminishing numbers of our +wild birds, but a large share of the responsibility rests upon quite a +different class of persons, namely, the milliners. False taste in dress +is as destructive to our feathered friends as are false aims in science. +It is said that the traffic in the skins of our brighter plumaged +birds, arising from their use by the milliners, reaches to hundreds of +thousands annually. I am told of one middleman who collected from the +shooters in one district, in four months, seventy thousand skins. It +is a barbarous taste that craves this kind of ornamentation. Think of a +woman or girl of real refinement appearing upon the street with her head +gear adorned with the scalps of our songsters! + +It is probably true that the number of our birds destroyed by man is but +a small percentage of the number cut off by their natural enemies; but +it is to be remembered that those he destroys are in addition to those +thus cut off, and that it is this extra or artificial destruction that +disturbs the balance of nature. The operation of natural causes keeps +the birds in check, but the greed of the collectors and milliners tends +to their extinction. + +I can pardon a man who wishes to make a collection of eggs and birds +for his own private use, if he will content himself with one or two +specimens of a kind, though he will find any collection much less +satisfactory and less valuable than he imagines, but the professional +nest-robber and skin collector should be put down, either by legislation +or with dogs and shotguns. + +I have remarked above that there is probably very little truth in +the popular notion that snakes can "charm" birds. But two of my +correspondents have each furnished me with an incident from his own +experience, which seems to confirm the popular belief. One of them +writes from Georgia as follows:-- + +"Some twenty-eight years ago I was in Calaveras County, California, +engaged in cutting lumber. One day in coming out of the camp or cabin, +my attention was attracted to the curious action of a quail in the air, +which, instead of flying low and straight ahead as usual, was some fifty +feet high, flying in a circle, and uttering cries of distress. I watched +the bird and saw it gradually descend, and following with my eye in a +line from the bird to the ground saw a large snake with head erect and +some ten or twelve inches above the ground, and mouth wide open, and +as far as I could see, gazing intently on the quail (I was about thirty +feet from the snake). The quail gradually descended, its circles growing +smaller and smaller and all the time uttering cries of distress, until +its feet were within two or three inches of the mouth of the snake; when +I threw a stone, and though not hitting the snake, yet struck the ground +so near as to frighten him, and he gradually started off. The quail, +however, fell to the ground, apparently lifeless. I went forward and +picked it up and found it was thoroughly overcome with fright, its +little heart beating as if it would burst through the skin. After +holding it in my hand a few moments it flew away. I then tried to find +the snake, but could not. I am unable to say whether the snake was +venomous or belonged to the constricting family, like the black snake. +I can well recollect it was large and moved off rather slow. As I had +never seen anything of the kind before, it made a great impression on +my mind, and after the lapse of so long a time, the incident appears as +vivid to me as though it had occurred yesterday." + +It is not probable that the snake had its mouth open; its darting tongue +may have given that impression. + +The other incident comes to me from Vermont. "While returning from +church in 1876," says the writer, "as I was crossing a bridge... I +noticed a striped snake in the act of charming a song-sparrow. They were +both upon the sand beneath the bridge. The snake kept his head swaying +slowly from side to side, and darted his tongue out continually. The +bird, not over a foot away, was facing the snake, hopping from one foot +to the other, and uttering a dissatisfied little chirp. I watched them +till the snake seized the bird, having gradually drawn nearer. As he +seized it, I leaped over the side of the bridge; the snake glided away +and I took up the bird, which he had dropped. It was too frightened to +try to fly and I carried it nearly a mile before it flew from my open +hand." + +If these observers are quite sure of what they saw, then undoubtedly +snakes have the power to draw birds within their grasp. I remember that +my mother told me that while gathering wild strawberries she had on one +occasion come upon a bird fluttering about the head of a snake as if +held there by a spell. On her appearance, the snake lowered its head and +made off, and the panting bird flew away. A neighbor of mine killed +a black snake which had swallowed a full-grown red squirrel, probably +captured by the same power of fascination. + + + + +THE TRAGEDIES OF THE NESTS + + +The life of the birds, especially of our migratory song-birds, is a +series of adventures and of hair-breadth escapes by flood and field. +Very few of them probably die a natural death, or even live out half +their appointed days. The home instinct is strong in birds as it is in +most creatures; and I am convinced that every spring a large number +of those which have survived the Southern campaign return to their old +haunts to breed. A Connecticut farmer took me out under his porch, one +April day, and showed me a phoebe bird's nest six stories high. The same +bird had no doubt returned year after year; and as there was room for +only one nest upon her favorite shelf, she had each season reared a new +superstructure upon the old as a foundation. I have heard of a white +robin--an albino--that nested several years in succession in the suburbs +of a Maryland city. A sparrow with a very marked peculiarity of song I +have heard several seasons in my own locality. But the birds do not all +live to return to their old haunts: the bobolinks and starlings run a +gauntlet of fire from the Hudson to the Savannah, and the robins and +meadow-larks and other song-birds are shot by boys and pot-hunters in +great numbers,--to say nothing of their danger from hawks and owls. But +of those that do return, what perils beset their nests, even in the most +favored localities! The cabins of the early settlers, when the country +was swarming with hostile Indians, were not surrounded by such dangers. +The tender households of the birds are not only exposed to hostile +Indians in the shape of cats and collectors, but to numerous murderous +and bloodthirsty animals, against whom they have no defense but +concealment. They lead the darkest kind of pioneer life, even in our +gardens and orchards, and under the walls of our houses. Not a day or a +night passes, from the time the eggs are laid till the young are flown, +when the chances are not greatly in favor of the nest being rifled and +its contents devoured,--by owls, skunks, minks, and coons at night, and +by crows, jays, squirrels, weasels, snakes, and rats during the day. +Infancy, we say, is hedged about by many perils; but the infancy of +birds is cradled and pillowed in peril. An old Michigan settler told +me that the first six children that were born to him died; malaria and +teething invariably carried them off when they had reached a certain +age; but other children were born, the country improved, and by and by +the babies weathered the critical period and the next six lived and grew +up. The birds, too, would no doubt persevere six times and twice six +times, if the season were long enough, and finally rear their family, +but the waning summer cuts them short, and but a few species have the +heart and strength to make even the third trial. + +The first nest-builders in spring, like the first settlers near hostile +tribes, suffer the most casualties. A large portion of the nests of +April and May are destroyed; their enemies have been many months without +eggs and their appetites are keen for them. It is a time, too, when +other food is scarce, and the crows and squirrels are hard put. But the +second nests of June, and still more the nests of July and August, are +seldom molested. It is rarely that the nest of the goldfinch or the +cedar-bird is harried. + +My neighborhood on the Hudson is perhaps exceptionally unfavorable as +a breeding haunt for birds, owing to the abundance of fish-crows and +of red squirrels; and the season of which this chapter is mainly a +chronicle, the season of 1881, seems to have been a black-letter one +even for this place, for at least nine nests out of every ten that I +observed during that spring and summer failed of their proper issue. +From the first nest I noted, which was that of a bluebird,--built +(very imprudently I thought at the time) in a squirrel-hole in a decayed +apple-tree, about the last of April, and which came to naught, even +the mother-bird, I suspect, perishing by a violent death,--to the last, +which was that of a snow-bird, observed in August, among the Catskills, +deftly concealed in a mossy bank by the side of a road that skirted a +wood, where the tall thimble blackberries grew in abundance, from which +the last young one was taken, when it was about half grown, by some +nocturnal walker or daylight prowler, some untoward fate seemed hovering +about them. It was a season of calamities, of violent deaths, of pillage +and massacre, among our feathered neighbors. For the first time I +noticed that the orioles were not safe in their strong, pendent nests. +Three broods were started in the apple-trees, only a few yards from +the house, where, for previous seasons, the birds had nested without +molestation; but this time the young were all destroyed when about half +grown. Their chirping and chattering, which was so noticeable one day, +suddenly ceased the next. The nests were probably plundered at night, +and doubtless by the little red screech-owl, which I know is a denizen +of these old orchards, living in the deeper cavities of the trees. The +owl could alight on the top of the nest, and easily thrust his murderous +claw down into its long pocket and seize the young and draw them forth. +The tragedy of one of the nests was heightened, or at least made more +palpable, by one of the half-fledged birds, either in its attempt to +escape or while in the clutches of the enemy, being caught and entangled +in one of the horse-hairs by which the nest was stayed and held to the +limb above. There it hung bruised and dead, gibbeted to its own cradle. +This nest was the theatre of another little tragedy later in the season. +Some time in August a bluebird, indulging its propensity to peep and +pry into holes and crevices, alighted upon it and probably inspected the +interior; but by some unlucky move it got its wings entangled in this +same fatal horse-hair. Its efforts to free itself appeared only to +result in its being more securely and hopelessly bound; and there it +perished; and there its form, dried and embalmed by the summer heats, +was yet hanging in September, the outspread wings and plumage showing +nearly as bright as in life. + +A correspondent writes me that one of his orioles got entangled in a +cord while building her nest, and that though by the aid of a ladder +he reached and liberated her, she died soon afterward. He also found +a "chippie" (called also "hair bird") suspended from a branch by a +horse-hair, beneath a partly constructed nest. I heard of a cedar-bird +caught and destroyed in the same way, and of two young bluebirds, +around whose legs a horse-hair had become so tightly wound that the legs +withered up and dropped off. The birds became fledged, and left the nest +with the others. Such tragedies are probably quite common. + +Before the advent of civilization in this country, the oriole probably +built a much deeper nest than it usually does at present. When now it +builds in remote trees and along the borders of the woods, its nest, +I have noticed, is long and gourd-shaped; but in orchards and near +dwellings it is only a deep cup or pouch. It shortens it up in +proportion as the danger lessens. Probably a succession of disastrous +years, like the one under review, would cause it to lengthen it again +beyond the reach of owl's talons or jay-bird's beak. + +The first song-sparrow's nest I observed in the spring of 1881 was in +the field under a fragment of a board, the board being raised from the +ground a couple of inches by two poles. It had its full complement of +eggs, and probably sent forth a brood of young birds, though as to this +I cannot speak positively, as I neglected to observe it further. It was +well sheltered and concealed, and was not easily come at by any of its +natural enemies, save snakes and weasels. But concealment often avails +little. In May, a song-sparrow, that had evidently met with disaster +earlier in the season, built its nest in a thick mass of woodbine +against the side of my house, about fifteen feet from the ground. +Perhaps it took the hint from its cousin, the English sparrow. The nest +was admirably placed, protected from the storms by the overhanging +eaves and from all eyes by the thick screen of leaves. Only by patiently +watching the suspicious bird, as she lingered near with food in her +beak, did I discover its whereabouts. That brood is safe, I thought, +beyond doubt. But it was not; the nest was pillaged one night, either +by an owl, or else by a rat that had climbed into the vine, seeking +an entrance to the house. The mother-bird, after reflecting upon her +ill-luck about a week, seemed to resolve to try a different system of +tactics and to throw all appearances of concealment aside. She built a +nest few yards from the house beside the drive, upon a smooth piece +of greensward. There was not a weed or a shrub or anything whatever to +conceal it or mark its site. The structure was completed and incubation +had begun before I discovered what was going on. "Well, well," I said, +looking down upon the bird almost at my feet, "this is going to the +other extreme indeed; now, the cats will have you." The desperate little +bird sat there day after day, looking like a brown leaf pressed down in +the short green grass. As the weather grew hot, her position became very +trying. It was no longer a question of keeping the eggs warm, but of +keeping them from roasting. The sun had no mercy on her, and she fairly +panted in the middle of the day. In such an emergency the male robin +has been known to perch above the sitting female and shade her with his +outstretched wings. But in this case there was no perch for the male +bird, had he been disposed to make a sunshade of himself. I thought to +lend a hand in this direction myself, and so stuck a leafy twig beside +the nest. This was probably an unwise interference; it guided disaster +to the spot; the nest was broken up, and the mother-bird was probably +caught, as I never saw her afterward. + +For several previous summers a pair of kingbirds had reared, unmolested, +a brood of young in an apple-tree, only a few yards from the house; but +during this season disaster overtook them also. The nest was completed, +the eggs laid, and incubation had begun, when, one morning about +sunrise, I heard cries of distress and alarm proceed from the old +apple-tree. Looking out of the window I saw a crow, which I knew to be a +fish-crow, perched upon the edge of the nest, hastily bolting the eggs. +The parent birds, usually so ready for the attack, seemed over-come +with grief and alarm. They fluttered about in the most helpless and +bewildered manner, and it was not till the robber fled on my approach +that they recovered themselves and charged upon him. The crow scurried +away with upturned, threatening head, the furious kingbirds fairly upon +his back. The pair lingered around their desecrated nest for several +days, almost silent, and saddened by their loss, and then disappeared. +They probably made another trial elsewhere. + +The fish-crow only fishes when it has destroyed all the eggs and young +birds it can find. It is the most despicable thief and robber among +our feathered creatures. From May to August, it is gorged with the +fledglings of the nest. It is fortunate that its range is so limited. +In size it is smaller than the common crow, and is a much less noble +and dignified bird. Its caw is weak and feminine--a sort of split and +abortive caw, that stamps it the sneak-thief it is. This crow is +common farther south, but is not found in this State, so far as I have +observed, except in the valley of the Hudson. + +One season a pair of them built a nest in a Norway Spruce that stood +amid a dense growth of other ornamental trees near a large unoccupied +house. They sat down amid plenty. The wolf established himself in the +fold. The many birds--robins, thrushes, finches, vireos, pewees--that +seek the vicinity of dwellings (especially of these large country +residences with their many trees and park-like grounds), for the greater +safety of their eggs and young, were the easy and convenient victims +of these robbers. They plundered right and left, and were not disturbed +till their young were nearly fledged, when some boys, who had long +before marked them as their prize, rifled the nest. + +The song-birds nearly all build low; their cradle is not upon the +tree-top. It is only birds of prey that fear danger from below more than +from above, and that seek the higher branches for their nests. A line +five feet from the ground would run above more than half the nests, and +one ten feet would bound more than three fourths of them. It is only +the oriole and the wood pewee that, as a rule, go higher than this. The +crows and jays and other enemies of the birds have learned to explore +this belt pretty thoroughly. But the leaves and the protective coloring +of most nests baffle them as effectually, no doubt as they do the +professional ooelogist. The nest of the red-eyed vireo is one of the most +artfully placed in the wood. It is just beyond the point where the eye +naturally pauses in its search; namely, on the extreme end of the lowest +branch of the tree, usually four or five feet from the ground. One looks +up and down through the tree,--shoots his eye-beams into it as he might +discharge his gun at some game hidden there, but the drooping tip of +that low horizontal branch--who would think of pointing his piece just +there? If a crow or other marauder were to alight upon the branch or +upon those above it, the nest would be screened from him by the large +leaf that usually forms a canopy immediately above it. The nest-hunter +standing at the foot of the tree and looking straight before him, might +discover it easily, were it not for its soft, neutral gray tint which +blends so thoroughly with the trunks and branches of trees. Indeed, +I think there is no nest in the woods--no arboreal nest--so well +concealed. The last one I saw was a pendent from the end of a low branch +of a maple, that nearly grazed the clapboards of an unused hay-barn in +a remote backwoods clearing. I peeped through a crack and saw the old +birds feed the nearly fledged young within a few inches of my face. And +yet the cow-bird finds this nest and drops her parasitical egg in +it. Her tactics in this as in other cases are probably to watch the +movements of the parent bird. She may often be seen searching anxiously +through the trees or bushes for a suitable nest, yet she may still +oftener be seen perched upon some good point of observation watching +the birds as they come and go about her. There is no doubt that, in many +cases, the cow-bird makes room for her own illegitimate egg in the nest +by removing one of the bird's own. When the cow-bird finds two or more +eggs in a nest in which she wishes to deposit her own, she will remove +one of them. I found a sparrow's nest with two sparrow's eggs and one +cow-bird's egg, another egg lying a foot or so below it on the ground. +I replaced the ejected egg, and the next day found it again removed, and +another cow-bird's egg in its place; I put it back the second time, when +it was again ejected, or destroyed, for I failed to find it anywhere. +Very alert and sensitive birds like the warblers often bury the strange +egg beneath a second nest built on top of the old. A lady, living in the +suburbs of an eastern city, one morning heard cries of distress from a +pair of house-wrens that had a nest in a honeysuckle on her front porch. +On looking out of the window, she beheld this little comedy--comedy from +her point of view, but no doubt grim-tragedy from the point of view +of the wrens; a cow-bird with a wren's egg in its beak running rapidly +along the walk with the outraged wrens forming a procession behind it, +screaming, scolding, and gesticulating as only these voluble little +birds can. The cow-bird had probably been surprised in the act of +violating the nest, and the wrens were giving her a piece of theirs +minds. + +Every cow-bird is reared at the expense of two or more song-birds. +For every one of these dusky little pedestrians there amid the grazing +cattle there are two more sparrows, or vireos, or warblers, the less. +It is a big price to pay--two larks for a bunting-two sovereigns for +a shilling; but Nature does not hesitate occasionally to +contradict herself in just this way. The young of the cow-bird is +disproportionately large and aggressive, one might say hoggish. +When disturbed it will clasp the nest and scream, and snap its beak +threateningly. One hatched out in a song-sparrow's nest which was under +my observation, and would soon have overridden and overborne the young +sparrow, which came out of the shell a few hours later, had I not +interfered from time to time and lent the young sparrow a helping hand. +Every day I would visit the nest and take the sparrow out from under the +pot-bellied interloper and place it on top so that presently it was able +to hold its own against its enemy. Both birds became fledged and left +the nest about the same time. Whether the race was an even one after +that, I know not. + +I noted but two warblers' nests during that season, one of the +black-throated blue-back and one of the redstart,--the latter built in +an apple-tree but a few yards from a little rustic summer-house where +I idle away many summer days. The lively little birds, darting and +flashing about, attracted my attention for a week before I discovered +their nest. They probably built it by working early in the morning, +before I appeared upon the scene, as I never saw them with material in +their beaks. Guessing from their movements that the nest was in a large +maple that stood near by, I climbed the tree and explored it thoroughly, +looking especially in the forks of the branches, as the authorities say +these birds build in a fork. But no nest could I find. Indeed, how can +one by searching find a bird's nest? I overshot the mark; the nest was +much nearer me, almost under my very nose, and I discovered it, not by +searching but by a casual glance of the eye, while thinking of other +matters. The bird was just settling upon it as I looked up from my book +and caught her in the act. The nest was built near the end of a long, +knotty, horizontal branch of an apple-tree, but effectually hidden by +the grouping of the leaves; it had three eggs, one of which proved to be +barren. The two young birds grew apace, and were out of the nest early +in the second week; but something caught one of them the first night. +The other probably grew to maturity, as it disappeared from the vicinity +with its parents after some days. + +The blue-back's nest was scarcely a foot from the ground, in a little +bush situated in a low, dense wood of hemlock and beech and maple, +amid the Catskills,--a deep, massive, elaborate structure, in which the +sitting bird sank till her beak and tail alone were visible above the +brim. It was a misty, chilly day when I chanced to find the nest, and +the mother-bird knew instinctively that it was not prudent to leave her +four half incubated eggs uncovered and exposed for a moment. When I sat +down near the nest she grew very uneasy, and after trying in vain +to decoy me away by suddenly dropping from the branches and dragging +herself over the ground as if mortally wounded, she approached and +timidly and half doubtingly covered her eggs within two yards of where +I sat. I disturbed her several times to note her ways. There came to be +something almost appealing in her looks and manner, and she would keep +her place on her precious eggs till my outstretched hand was within a +few feet of her. Finally, I covered the cavity of the nest with a dry +leaf. This she did not remove with her beak, but thrust her head deftly +beneath it and shook it off upon the ground. Many of her sympathizing +neighbors, attracted by her alarm note, came and had a peep at the +intruder and then flew away, but the male bird did not appear upon the +scene. The final history of this nest I am unable to give, as I did not +again visit it till late in the season, when, of course, it was empty. + +Years pass without my finding a brown-thrasher's nest; it is not a nest +you are likely to stumble upon in your walk; it is hidden as a miser +hides his gold, and watched as jealously. The male pours out his rich +and triumphant song from the tallest tree he can find, and fairly +challenges you to come and look for his treasures in his vicinity. But +you will not find them if you go. The nest is somewhere on the outer +circle of his song; he is never so imprudent as to take up his stand +very near it. The artists who draw those cosy little pictures of a +brooding mother-bird with the male perched but a yard away in full song, +do not copy from nature. The thrasher's nest I found thirty or forty +rods from the point where the male was wont to indulge in his brilliant +recitative. It was in an open field under a low ground-juniper. My dog +disturbed the sitting bird as I was passing near. The nest could be +seen only by lifting up and parting away the branches. All the arts of +concealment had been carefully studied. It was the last place you would +think of looking, and, if you did look, nothing was visible but the +dense green circle of the low-spreading juniper. When you approached, +the bird would keep her place till you had begun to stir the branches, +when she would start out, and, just skimming the ground, make a bright +brown line to the near fence and bushes. I confidently expected that +this nest would escape molestation, but it did not. Its discovery by +myself and dog probably opened the door for ill luck, as one day, not +long afterward, when I peeped in upon it, it was empty. The proud song +of the male had ceased from his accustomed tree, and the pair were seen +no more in that vicinity. + +The phoebe-bird is a wise architect, and perhaps enjoys as great an +immunity from danger, both in its person and its nest, as any other +bird. Its modest, ashen-gray suit is the color of the rocks where it +builds, and the moss of which it makes such free use gives to its nest +the look of a natural growth or accretion. But when it comes into the +barn or under the shed to build, as it so frequently does, the moss is +rather out of place. Doubtless in time the bird will take the hint, and +when she builds in such places will leave the moss out. I noted but two +nests, the summer I am speaking of: one, in a barn, failed of issue, on +account of the rats, I suspect, though the little owl may have been the +depredator; the other, in the woods, sent forth three young. This latter +nest was most charmingly and ingeniously placed. I discovered it while +in quest of pond-lilies, in a long, deep level stretch of water in the +woods. A large tree had blown over at the edge of the water, and its +dense mass of up-turned roots, with the black, peaty soil filling the +interstices, was like the fragment of a wall several feet high, rising +from the edge of the languid current. In a niche in this earthy wall, +and visible and accessible only from the water, a phoebe had built her +nest, and reared her brood. I paddled my boat up and came alongside +prepared to take the family aboard. The young, nearly ready to fly, were +quite undisturbed by my presence, having probably been assured that no +danger need be apprehended from that side. It was not a likely place for +minks, or they would not have been so secure. + +I noted but one nest of the wood pewee, and that, too, like so many +other nests, failed of issue. It was saddled upon a small dry limb of a +plane-tree that stood by the roadside, about forty feet from the ground. +Every day for nearly a week, as I passed by I saw the sitting bird upon +the nest. Then one morning she was not in her place, and on examination +the nest proved to be empty--robbed, I had no doubt, by the red +squirrels, as they were very abundant in its vicinity, and appeared to +make a clean sweep of every nest. The wood pewee builds an exquisite +nest, shaped and finished as if cast in a mould. It is modeled +without and within with equal neatness and art, like the nest of the +humming-bird and the little gray gnat-catcher. The material is much +more refractory than that used by either of these birds, being, in the +present case, dry, fine cedar twigs; but these were bound into a shape +as rounded and compact as could be moulded out of the most plastic +material. Indeed, the nest of this bird looks precisely like a large, +lichen-covered, cup-shaped excrescence of the limb upon which it is +placed. And the bird, while sitting, seems entirely at ease. Most birds +seem to make very hard work of incubation. It is a kind of martyrdom +which appears to tax all their powers of endurance. They have such a +fixed, rigid, predetermined look, pressed down into the nest and as +motionless as if made of cast-iron. But the wood pewee is an exception. +She is largely visible above the rim of the nest. Her attitude is easy +and graceful; she moves her head this way and that, and seems to take +note of whatever goes on about her; and if her neighbor were to drop in +for a little social chat, she could doubtless do her part. In fact, +she makes light and easy work of what, to most other birds, is such a +serious and engrossing matter. If it does not look like play with her, +it at least looks like leisure and quiet contemplation. + +There is no nest-builder that suffers more from crows and squirrels +and other enemies than the wood-thrush. It builds as openly and +unsuspiciously as if it thought the whole world as honest as itself. +Its favorite place is the fork of a sapling, eight or ten feet from +the ground, where it falls an easy prey to every nest-robber that comes +prowling through the woods and groves. It is not a bird that skulks and +hides, like the cat-bird, the brown-thrasher, the chat, or the cheewink, +and its nest is not concealed with the same art as theirs. Our thrushes +are all frank, open-mannered birds; but the veery and the hermit build +upon the ground, where they at least escape the crows, owls, and jays, +and stand a better chance to be overlooked, by the red squirrel and +weasel also; while the robin seeks the protection of dwellings and +out-buildings. For years I have not known the nest of a wood-thrush +to succeed. During the season referred to I observed but two, both +apparently a second attempt, as the season was well advanced, and both +failures. In one case, the nest was placed in a branch that an apple +tree, standing near a dwelling, held out over the highway. The structure +was barely ten feet above the middle of the road, and would just escape +a passing load of hay. It was made conspicuous by the use of a large +fragment of newspaper in its foundation--an unsafe material to build +upon in most cases. Whatever else the press may guard, this particular +newspaper did not guard this nest from harm. It saw the egg and probably +the chick, but not the fledgeling. A murderous deed was committed +above the public highway, but whether in the open day or under cover +of darkness I have no means of knowing. The frisky red squirrel was +doubtless the culprit. The other nest was in a maple sapling, within +a few yards of the little rustic summer-house already referred to. The +first attempt of the season, I suspect, had failed in a more secluded +place under the hill; so the pair had come up nearer the house for +protection. The male sang in the trees near by for several days before +I chanced to see the nest. The very morning, I think, it was finished, +I saw a red squirrel exploring a tree but a few yards away; he probably +knew what the singing meant as well as I did. I did not see the inside +of the nest, for it was almost instantly deserted, the female having +probably laid a single egg, which the squirrel had devoured. + +If I were a bird, in building my nest I should follow the example of the +bobolink, placing it in the midst of a broad meadow, where there was no +spear of grass, or flower or growth unlike another to mark its site. I +judge that the bobolink escapes the dangers to which I have adverted +as few or no other birds do. Unless the mowers come along at an earlier +date than she has anticipated, that is, before July lst, or a skunk goes +nosing through the grass, which is unusual, she is as safe as bird well +can be in the great open of nature. She selects the most monotonous and +uniform place she can find amid the daisies or the timothy and clover, +and places her simple structure upon the ground in the midst of it. +There is no concealment, except as the great conceals the little, as +the desert conceals the pebble, as the myriad conceals the unit. You +may find the nest once, if your course chances to lead you across it +and your eye is quick enough to note the silent brown bird as she darts +quickly away; but step three paces in the wrong direction, and your +search will probably be fruitless. My friend and I found a nest by +accident one day, and then lost it again one minute afterward. I moved +away a few yards to be sure of the mother-bird, charging my friend not +to stir from his tracks. When I returned, he had moved two paces, he +said (he had really moved four), and we spent a half hour stooping +over the daisies and the buttercups, looking for the lost clew. We +grew desperate, and fairly felt the ground all over with our hands, but +without avail. I marked the spot with a bush, and came the next day, and +with the bush as a centre, moved about it in slowly increasing circles, +covering, I thought, nearly every inch of ground with my feet, and +laying hold of it with all the visual power that I could command, till +my patience was exhausted, and I gave up, baffled. I began to doubt +the ability of the parent birds themselves to find it, and so secreted +myself and watched. After much delay, the male bird appeared with food +in his beak, and satisfying himself that the coast was clear, dropped +into the grass which I had trodden down in my search. Fastening my eye +upon a particular meadow-lily, I walked straight to the spot, bent down, +and gazed long and intently into the grass. Finally my eye separated the +nest and its young from its surroundings. My foot had barely missed them +in my search, but by how much they had escaped my eye I could not tell. +Probably not by distance at all, but simply by unrecognition. They were +virtually invisible. The dark gray and yellowish brown dry grass and +stubble of the meadow-bottom were exactly copied in the color of the +half-fledged young. More than that, they hugged the nest so closely and +formed such a compact mass, that though there were five of them, they +preserved the unit of expression,--no single head or form was defined; +they were one, and that one was without shape or color, and +not separable, except by closest scrutiny, from the one of the +meadow-bottom. That nest prospered, as bobolinks' nests doubtless +generally do; for, notwithstanding the enormous slaughter of the birds +during their fall migrations by Southern sportsmen, the bobolink +appears to hold its own, and its music does not diminish in our Northern +meadows. + +Birds with whom the struggle for life is the sharpest seem to be more +prolific than those whose nest and young are exposed to fewer dangers. +The robin, the sparrow, the pewee, etc., will rear, or make the attempt +to rear, two and sometimes three broods in a season; but the bobolink, +the oriole, the kingbird, the goldfinch, the cedar-bird, the birds of +prey, and the woodpeckers, that build in safe retreats, in the trunks +of trees, have usually but a single brood. If the boblink reared two +broods, our meadows would swarm with them. + +I noted three nests of the cedar-bird in August in a single orchard, +all productive, but all with one or more unfruitful eggs in them. The +cedar-bird is the most silent of our birds having but a single fine +note, so far as I have observed, but its manners are very expressive at +times. No bird known to me is capable of expressing so much silent alarm +while on the nest as this bird. As you ascend the tree and draw near it, +it depresses its plumage and crest, stretches up its neck, and becomes +the very picture of fear. Other birds, under like circumstances, hardly +change their expression at all till they launch into the air, when by +their voice they express anger rather than alarm. + +I have referred to the red squirrel as a destroyer of the eggs and young +of birds. I think the mischief it does in this respect can hardly be +over estimated. Nearly all birds look upon it as their enemy, and attack +and annoy it when it appears near their breeding haunts. Thus, I have +seen the pewee, the cuckoo, the robin, and the wood-thrush pursuing it +with angry voice and gestures. A friend of mine saw a pair of robins +attack one in the top of a tall tree so vigorously that they caused it +to lose its hold, when it fell to the ground, and was so stunned by the +blow as to allow him to pick it up. If you wish the birds to breed and +thrive in your orchard and groves, kill every red squirrel that infests +the place; kill every weasel also. The weasel is a subtle and arch enemy +of the birds. It climbs trees and explores them with great ease and +nimbleness. I have seen it do so on several occasions. One day my +attention was arrested by the angry notes of a pair of brown-thrashers +that were flitting from bush to bush along an old stone row in a remote +field. Presently I saw what it was that excited them--three large red +weasels, or ermines coming along the stone wall, and leisurely and half +playfully exploring every tree that stood near it. They had probably +robbed the thrashers. They would go up the trees with great ease, and +glide serpent-like out upon the main branches. When they descended the +tree they were unable to come straight down, like a squirrel, but went +around it spirally. How boldly they thrust their heads out of the wall, +and eyed me and sniffed me, as I drew near,--their round, thin ears, +their prominent, glistening, bead-like eyes, and the curving, snake-like +motions of the head and neck being very noticeable. They looked like +blood-suckers and egg-suckers. They suggested something extremely +remorseless and cruel. One could understand the alarm of the rats when +they discover one of these fearless, subtle, and circumventing creatures +threading their holes. To flee must be like trying to escape death +itself. I was one day standing in the woods upon a flat stone, in what +at certain seasons was the bed of a stream, when one of these weasels +came undulating along and ran under the stone upon which I was standing. +As I remained motionless, he thrust his wedge-shaped head, and turned it +back above the stone as if half in mind to seize my foot; then he drew +back, and presently went his way. These weasels often hunt in packs like +the British stoat. When I was a boy, my father one day armed me with +an old musket and sent me to shoot chipmunks around the corn. While +watching the squirrels, a troop of weasels tried to cross a bar-way +where I sat, and were so bent on doing it that I fired at them, +boy-like, simply to thwart their purpose. One of the weasels was +disabled by my shot, but the troop was not discouraged, and, after +making several feints to cross, one of them seized the wounded one and +bore it over, and the pack disappeared in the wall on the other side. + +Let me conclude this chapter with two or three notes about this alert +enemy of the birds and the lesser animals, the weasel. + +A farmer one day heard a queer growling sound in the grass; on +approaching the spot he saw two weasels contending over a mouse; each +had hold of the mouse pulling in opposite directions, and were so +absorbed in the struggle that the farmer cautiously put his hands down +and grabbed them both by the back of the neck. He put them in a cage, +and offered them bread and other food. This they refused to eat, but in +a few days one of them had eaten the other up, picking his bones clean +and leaving nothing but the skeleton. + +The same farmer was one day in his cellar when two rats came out of a +hole near him in great haste, and ran up the cellar wall and along its +top till they came to a floor timber that stopped their progress, when +they turned at bay, and looked excitedly back along the course they had +come. In a moment a weasel, evidently in hot pursuit of them, came out +of the hole, and seeing the farmer, checked his course and darted back. +The rats had doubtless turned to give him fight, and would probably have +been a match for him. + +The weasel seems to track its game by scent. A hunter of my acquaintance +was one day sitting in the woods, when he saw a red squirrel run with +great speed up a tree near him, and out upon a long branch, from which +he leaped to some rocks, and disappeared beneath them. In a moment a +weasel came in full course upon his trail, ran up the tree, then out +along the branch, from the end of which he leaped to the rocks as the +squirrel did, and plunged beneath them. + +Doubtless the squirrel fell a prey to him. The squirrel's best game +would have been to have kept to the higher tree-tops, where he could +easily have distanced the weasel. But beneath the rocks he stood a very +poor chance. I have often wondered what keeps such an animal as the +weasel in check, for weasels are quite rare. They never need go hungry, +for rats and squirrels and mice and birds are everywhere. They probably +do not fall a prey to any other animal, and very rarely to man. But +the circumstances or agencies that check the increase of any species of +animal are, as Darwin says, very obscure and but little known. + + + + +BEES. + + + + +AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE. + + +There is no creature with which man has surrounded himself that seems +so much like a product of civilization, so much like the result of +development on special lines and in special fields, as the honey-bee. +Indeed, a colony of bees, with their neatness and love of order, their +division of labor, their public spiritedness, their thrift, their +complex economies and their inordinate love of gain, seems as far +removed from a condition of rude nature as does a walled city or a +cathedral town. Our native bee, on the other hand, "the burly, dozing +humble-bee," affects one more like the rude, untutored savage. He +has learned nothing from experience. He lives from hand to mouth. He +luxuriates in time of plenty, and he starves in times of scarcity. +He lives in a rude nest or in a hole in the ground, and in small +communities; he builds a few deep cells or sacks in which he stores a +little honey and bee-bread for his young, but as a worker in wax he is +of the most primitive and awkward. The Indian regarded the honey-bee as +an ill-omen. She was the white man's fly. In fact she was the epitome of +the white man himself. She has the white man's craftiness, his industry, +his architectural skill, his neatness and love of system, his foresight; +and above all his eager, miserly habits. The honeybee's great ambition +is to be rich, to lay up great stores, to possess the sweet of every +flower that blooms. She is more than provident. Enough will not satisfy +her, she must have all she can get by hook or by crook. She comes from +the oldest country, Asia, and thrives best in the most fertile and +long-settled lands. + +Yet the fact remains that the honey-bee is essentially a wild creature, +and never has been and cannot be thoroughly domesticated. Its proper +home is the woods, and thither every new swarm counts on going; +and thither many do go in spite of the care and watchfulness of the +bee-keeper. If the woods in any given locality are deficient in trees +with suitable cavities, the bees resort to all sorts of makeshifts; they +go into chimneys, into barns and outhouses, under stones, into rocks, +and so forth. Several chimneys in my locality with disused flues are +taken possession of by colonies of bees nearly every season. One day, +while bee-hunting, I developed a line that went toward a farm-house +where I had reason to believe no bees were kept. I followed it up and +questioned the farmer about his bees. He said he kept no bees, but that +a swarm had taken possession of his chimney, and another had gone under +the clapboards in the gable end of his house. He had taken a large lot +of honey out of both places the year before. Another farmer told me that +one day his family had seen a number of bees examining a knot-hole in +the side of his house; the next day as they were sitting down to +dinner their attention was attracted by a loud humming noise, when +they discovered a swarm of bees settling upon the side of the house and +pouring into the knot-hole. In subsequent years other swarms came to the +same place. + +Apparently, every swarm of bees before it leaves the parent hive sends +out exploring parties to look up the future home. The woods and groves +are searched through and through, and no doubt the privacy of many a +squirrel and many a wood mouse is intruded upon. What cozy nooks and +retreats they do spy out, so much more attractive than the painted hive +in the garden, so much cooler in summer and so much warmer in winter! + +The bee is in the main an honest citizen; she prefers legitimate to +illegitimate business; she is never an outlaw until her proper sources +of supply fail; she will not touch honey as long as honey-yielding +flowers can be found; she always prefers to go to the fountain-head, and +dislikes to take her sweets at second hand. But in the fall, after the +flowers have failed, she can be tempted. The bee-hunter takes advantage +of this fact; he betrays her with a little honey. He wants to steal her +stores, and he first encourages her to steal his, then follows the thief +home with her booty. This is the whole trick of the bee-hunter. The bees +never suspect his game, else by taking a circuitous route they could +easily baffle him. But the honey-bee has absolutely no wit or cunning +outside of her special gifts as a gatherer and storer of honey. She is a +simple-minded creature, and can be imposed upon by any novice. Yet it is +not every novice that can find a bee-tree. The sportsman may track his +game to its retreat by the aid of his dog, but in hunting the honey-bee +one must be his own dog, and track his game through an element in which +it leaves no trail. It is a task for a sharp, quick eye, and may test +the resources of the best wood-craft. One autumn when I devoted much +time to this pursuit, as the best means of getting at nature and the +open-air exhilaration, my eye became so trained that bees were nearly +as easy to it as birds. I saw and heard bees wherever I went. One day, +standing on a street corner in a great city, I saw above the trucks +and the traffic a line of bees carrying off sweets from some grocery or +confectionery shop. + +One looks upon the woods with a new interest when he suspects they hold +a colony of bees. What a pleasing secret it is; a tree with a heart +of comb-honey, a decayed oak or maple with a bit of Sicily or Mount +Hymettus stowed away in its trunk or branches; secret chambers where +lies hidden the wealth of ten thousand little freebooters, great nuggets +and wedges of precious ore gathered with risk and labor from every field +and wood about. + +But if you would know the delights of bee-hunting, and how many sweets +such a trip yields beside honey, come with me some bright, warm, late +September or early October day. It is the golden season of the year, +and any errand or pursuit that takes us abroad upon the hills or by +the painted woods and along the amber colored streams at such a time is +enough. So, with haversacks filled with grapes and peaches and apples +and a bottle of milk,--for we shall not be home to dinner,--and armed +with a compass, a hatchet, a pail, and a box with a piece of comb-honey +neatly fitted into it--any box the size of your hand with a lid will do +nearly as well as the elaborate and ingenious contrivance of the regular +bee-hunter--we sally forth. Our course at first lies along the highway, +under great chestnut-trees whose nuts are just dropping, then through an +orchard and across a little creek, thence gently rising through a long +series of cultivated fields toward some high, uplying land, behind which +rises a rugged wooded ridge or mountain, the most sightly point in all +this section. Behind this ridge for several miles the country is wild, +wooded, and rocky, and is no doubt the home of many wild swarms of +bees. What a gleeful uproar the robins, cedar-birds, high-holes, and +cow black-birds make amid the black cherry-trees as we pass along. The +raccoons, too, have been here after black cherries, and we see their +marks at various points. Several crows are walking about a newly +sowed wheat field we pass through, and we pause to note their graceful +movements and glossy coats. I have seen no bird walk the ground with +just the same air the crow does. It is not exactly pride; there is no +strut or swagger in it, though perhaps just a little condescension; it +is the contented, complaisant, and self-possessed gait of a lord over +his domains. All these acres are mine, he says, and all these crops; men +plow and sow for me, and I stay here or go there, and find life sweet +and good wherever I am. The hawk looks awkward and out of place on the +ground; the game birds hurry and skulk, but the crow is at home and +treads the earth as if there were none to molest him or make him afraid. + +The crows we have always with us, but it is not every day or every +season that one sees an eagle. Hence I must preserve the memory of one I +saw the last day I went bee-hunting. As I was laboring up the side of a +mountain at the head of a valley, the noble bird sprang from the top of +a dry tree above me and came sailing directly over my head. I saw him +bend his eye down upon me, and I could hear the low hum of his plumage, +as if the web off every quill in his great wings vibrated in his strong, +level flight. I watched him as long as my eye could hold him. When he +was fairly clear of the mountain he began that sweeping spiral movement +in which he climbs the sky. Up and up he went without once breaking his +majestic poise till he appeared to sight some far-off alien geography, +when he bent his course thitherward and gradually vanished in the blue +depths. The eagle is a bird of large ideas, he embraces long distances; +the continent is his home. I never look upon one without emotion; I +follow him with my eye as long as I can. I think of Canada, of the Great +Lakes, of the Rocky Mountains, of the wild and sounding sea-coast. The +waters are his, and the woods and the inaccessible cliffs. He pierces +behind the veil of the storm, and his joy is height and depth and vast +spaces. + +We go out of our way to touch at a spring run in the edge of the woods, +and are lucky to find a single scarlet lobelia lingering there. It seems +almost to light up the gloom with its intense bit of color. Beside +a ditch in a field beyond we find the great blue lobelia (Lobelia +syphilitica), and near it amid the weeds and wild grasses and purple +asters the most beautiful of our fall flowers, the fringed gentian. What +a rare and delicate, almost aristocratic look the gentian has amid its +coarse, unkempt surroundings. It does not lure the bee, but it lures and +holds every passing human eye. If we strike through the corner of yonder +woods, where the ground is moistened by hidden springs and where there +is a little opening amid the trees, we shall find the closed gentian, a +rare flower in this locality. I had walked this way many times before +I chanced upon its retreat; and then I was following a line of bees. I +lost the bees but I got the gentians. How curiously this flower looks, +with its deep blue petals folded together so tightly--a bud and yet a +blossom. It is the nun among our wild flowers, a form closely veiled +and cloaked. The buccaneer bumble-bee sometimes tries to rifle it of +its sweets. I have seen the blossom with the bee entombed in it. He +had forced his way into the virgin corolla as if determined to know its +secret, but he had never returned with the knowledge he had gained. + +After a refreshing walk of a couple of miles we reach a point where we +will make our first trial--a high stone wall that runs parallel with the +wooded ridge referred to, and separated from it by a broad field. There +are bees at work there on that goldenrod, and it requires but little +maneuvering to sweep one into our box. Almost any other creature rudely +and suddenly arrested in its career and clapped into a cage in this way +would show great confusion and alarm. The bee is alarmed for a moment, +but the bee has a passion stronger than its love of life or fear of +death, namely, desire for honey, not simply to eat, but to carry home +as booty. "Such rage of honey in their bosom beats," says Virgil. It is +quick to catch the scent of honey in the box, and as quick to fall to +filling itself. We now set the box down upon the wall and gently remove +the cover. The bee is head and shoulders in one of the half-filled +cells, and is oblivious to everything else about it. Come rack, come +ruin, it will die at work. We step back a few paces, and sit down upon +the ground so as to bring the box against the blue sky as a background. +In two or three minutes the bee is seen rising slowly and heavily from +the box. It seems loath to leave so much honey behind and it marks the +place well. It mounts aloft in a rapidly increasing spiral, surveying +the near and minute objects first, then the larger and more distant, +till having circled about the spot five or six times and taken all its +bearings it darts away for home. It is a good eye that holds fast to the +bee till it is fairly off. Sometimes one's head will swim following it, +and often one's eyes are put out by the sun. This bee gradually drifts +down the hill, then strikes away toward a farm-house half a mile away, +where I know bees are kept. Then we try another and another, and the +third bee, much to our satisfaction, goes straight toward the woods. We +could see the brown speck against the darker background for many yards. +The regular bee-hunter professes to be able to tell a wild bee from a +tame one by the color, the former, he says, being lighter. But there is +no difference; they are both alike in color and in manner. Young bees +are lighter than old, and that is all there is of it. If a bee +lived many years in the woods it would doubtless come to have some +distinguishing marks, but the life of a bee is only a few months at the +farthest, and no change is wrought in this brief time. + +Our bees are all soon back, and more with them, for we have touched +the box here and there with the cork of a bottle of anise oil, and this +fragrant and pungent oil will attract bees half a mile or more. When no +flowers can be found, this is the quickest way to obtain a bee. + +It is a singular fact that when the bee first finds the hunter's box +its first feeling is one of anger; it is as mad as a hornet; its tone +changes, it sounds its shrill war trumpet and darts to and fro, and +gives vent to its rage and indignation in no uncertain manner. It seems +to scent foul play at once. It says, "Here is robbery; here is the +spoil of some hive, may be my own," and its blood is up. But its ruling +passion soon comes to the surface, its avarice gets the better of its +indignation, and it seems to say, "Well, I had better take possession +of this and carry it home." So after many feints and approaches and +dartings off with a loud angry hum as if it would none of it, the bee +settles down and fills itself. + +It does not entirely cool off and get soberly to work till it has made +two or three trips home with its booty. When other bees come, even if +all from the same swarm, they quarrel and dispute over the box, and clip +and dart at each other like bantam cocks. Apparently the ill feeling +which the sight of the honey awakens is not one of jealousy or rivalry, +but wrath. + +A bee will usually make three or four trips from the hunter's box before +it brings back a companion. I suspect the bee does not tell its fellows +what it has found, but that they smell out the secret; it doubtless +bears some evidence with it upon its feet or proboscis that it has been +upon honey-comb and not upon flowers, and its companions take the hint +and follow, arriving always many seconds behind. Then the quantity and +quality of the booty would also betray it. No doubt, also, there are +plenty of gossips about a hive that note and tell everything. "Oh, did +you see that? Peggy Mel came in a few moments ago in great haste, and +one of the up-stairs packers says she was loaded till she groaned with +apple-blossom honey which she deposited, and then rushed off again +like mad. Apple-blossom honey in October! Fee, fi, fo, fum! I smell +something! Let's after." + +In about half an hour we have three well-defined lines of bees +established--two to farm-houses and one to the woods, and our box is +being rapidly depleted of its honey. About every fourth bee goes to the +woods, and now that they have learned the way thoroughly they do not +make the long preliminary whirl above the box, but start directly from +it. The woods are rough and dense and the hill steep, and we do not like +to follow the line of bees until we have tried at least to settle the +problem as to the distance they go into the woods-whether the tree is on +this side of the ridge or in the depth of the forest on the other side. +So we shut up the box when it is full of bees and carry it about +three hundred yards along the wall from which we are operating. When +liberated, the bees, as they always will in such cases, go off in the +same directions they have been going; they do not seem to know that they +have been moved. But other bees have followed our scent, and it is not +many minutes before a second line to the woods is established. This is +called cross-lining the bees. The new line makes a sharp angle with the +other line, and we know at once that the tree is only a few rods +into the woods. The two lines we have established form two sides of a +triangle of which the wall is the base; at the apex of the triangle, or +where the two lines meet in the woods, we are sure to find the tree. We +quickly follow up these lines, and where they cross each other on the +side of the hill we scan every tree closely. I pause at the foot of an +oak and examine a hole near the root; now the bees are in this tree and +their entrance is on the upper side near the ground, not two feet from +the hole I peer into, and yet so quiet and secret is their going and +coming that I fail to discover them and pass on up the hill. Failing in +this direction, I return to the oak again, and then perceive the bees +going out in a small crack in the tree. The bees do not know they are +found out and that the game is in our hands, and are as oblivious of our +presence as if we were ants or crickets. The indications are that the +swarm is a small one, and the store of honey trifling. In "taking up" a +bee-tree it is usual first to kill or stupefy the bees with the fumes of +burning sulfur or with tobacco smoke. But this course is impracticable +on the present occasion, so we boldly and ruthlessly assault the tree +with an ax we have procured. At the first blow the bees set up a loud +buzzing, but we have no mercy, and the side of the cavity is soon +cut away and the interior with its white-yellow mass of comb-honey is +exposed, and not a bee strikes a blow in defense of its all. This may +seem singular, but it has nearly always been my experience. When a swarm +of bees are thus rudely assaulted with an ax, they evidently think the +end of the world has come, and, like true misers as they are, each one +seizes as much of the treasure as it can hold; in other words they all +fall to and gorge themselves with honey, and calmly await the issue. +When in this condition they make no defense and will not sting unless +taken hold of. In fact they are as harmless as flies. Bees are always to +be managed with boldness and decision. + +Any half-way measures, any timid poking about, any feeble attempts to +reach their honey, are sure to be quickly resented. The popular notion +that bees have a special antipathy toward certain persons and a liking +for certain others has only this fact at the bottom of it; they will +sting a person who is afraid of them and goes skulking and dodging +about, and they will not sting a person who faces them boldly and has no +dread of them. They are like dogs. The way to disarm a vicious dog is to +show him you do not fear him; it is his turn to be afraid then. I never +had any dread of bees and am seldom stung by them. I have climbed up +into a large chestnut that contained a swarm in one of its cavities and +chopped them out with an ax, being obliged at times to pause and brush +the bewildered bees from my hands and face, and not been stung once. +I have chopped a swarm out of an apple-tree in June and taken out the +cards of honey and arranged them in a hive, and then dipped out the +bees with a dipper, and taken the whole home with me in pretty good +condition, with scarcely any opposition on the part of the bees. In +reaching your hand into the cavity to detach and remove the comb you +are pretty sure to get stung, for when you touch the "business end" of a +bee, it will sting even though its head be off. But the bee carries the +antidote to its own poison. The best remedy for bee sting is honey, and +when your hands are besmeared with honey, as they are sure to be on such +occasions, the wound is scarcely more painful than the prick of a pin. +Assault your bee-tree, then, boldly with your ax, and you will find that +when the honey is exposed every bee has surrendered and the whole swarm +is cowering in helpless bewilderment and terror. Our tree yields only a +few pounds of honey, not enough to have lasted the swarm till January, +but no matter; we have the less burden to carry. + +In the afternoon we go nearly half a mile farther along the ridge to +a cornfield that lies immediately in front of the highest point of the +mountain. The view is superb; the ripe autumn landscape rolls away to +the east, cut through by the great placid river; in the extreme north +the wall of the Catskills stands out clear and strong, while in the +south the mountains of the Highlands bound the view. The day is warm and +the bees are very busy there in that neglected corner of the field, rich +in asters, flea-bane, and golden-rod. The corn has been cut, and upon a +stout, but a few rods from the woods, which here drop quickly down from +the precipitous heights, we set up our bee-box, touched again with +the pungent oil. In a few moments a bee has found it; she comes up +to leeward, following the scent. On leaving the box she goes straight +toward the woods. More bees quickly come, and it is not long before the +line is well established. Now we have recourse to the same tactics we +employed before, and move along the ridge to another field to get our +cross line. But the bees still go in almost the same direction they did +from the corn stout. The tree is then either on the top of the mountain +or on the other or west side of it. We hesitate to make the plunge into +the woods and seek to scale those precipices, for the eye can plainly +see what is before us. As the afternoon sun gets lower the bees are seen +with wonderful distinctness. They fly toward and under the sun and are +in a strong light, while the near woods which form the background are +in deep shadow. They look like large luminous motes. Their swiftly +vibrating, transparent wings surround their bodies with a shining nimbus +that makes them visible for a long distance. They seem magnified many +times. We see them bridge the little gulf between us and the woods, then +rise up over the tree-tops with their burdens, swerving neither to the +right hand nor to the left. It is almost pathetic to see them labor so, +climbing the mountain and unwittingly guiding us to their treasures. +When the sun gets down so that his direction corresponds exactly with +the course of the bees, we make the plunge. It proves even harder +climbing than we had anticipated; the mountain is faced by a broken and +irregular wall of rock, up which we pull ourselves slowly and cautiously +by main strength. In half an hour, the perspiration streaming from +every pore, we reach the summit. The trees here are all small, a second +growth, and we are soon convinced the bees are not here. Then down we +go on the other side, clambering down the rocky stairways till we reach +quite a broad plateau that forms something like the shoulder of the +mountain. On the brink of this there are many large hemlocks, and we +scan them closely and rap upon them with our ax. But not a bee is seen +or heard; we do not seem as near the tree as we were in the fields +below; yet if some divinity would only whisper the fact to us we are +within a few rods of the coveted prize, which is not in one of the large +hemlocks or oaks that absorb our attention, but in an old stub or stump +not six feet high, and which we have seen and passed several times +without giving it a thought. We go farther down the mountain and beat +about to the right and left and get entangled in brush and arrested by +precipices, and finally as the day is nearly spent, give up the search +and leave the woods quite baffled, but resolved to return on the morrow. +The next day we come back and commence operations in an opening in +the woods well down on the side of the mountain, where we gave up the +search. Our box is soon swarming with the eager bees, and they go back +toward the summit we have passed. We follow back and establish a new +line where the ground will permit; then another and another, and yet the +riddle is not solved. One time we are south of them, then north, then +the bees get up through the trees and we cannot tell where they go. But +after much searching, and after the mystery seems rather to deepen than +to clear up, we chance to pause beside the old stump. A bee comes out of +a small opening, like that made by ants in decayed wood, rubs its eyes +and examines its antennae as bees always do before leaving their hive, +then takes flight. At the same instant several bees come by us loaded +with our honey and settle home with that peculiar low complacent buzz +of the well-filled insect. Here then is our idyl, our bit of Virgil and +Theocritus, in a decayed stump of a hemlock tree. We could tear it open +with our hands, and a bear would find it an easy prize, and a rich one +too, for we take from it fifty pounds of excellent honey. The bees have +been here many years, and have of course sent out swarm after swarm +into the wilds. They have protected themselves against the weather and +strengthened their shaky habitation by a copious use of wax. + +When a bee-tree is thus "taken up" in the middle of the day, of course a +good many bees are away from home and have not heard the news. When they +return and find the ground flowing with honey, and piles of bleeding +combs lying about, they apparently do not recognize the place, and their +first instinct is to fall to and fill themselves; this done, their next +thought is to carry it home, so they rise up slowly through the branches +of the trees till they have attained an altitude that enables them to +survey the scene, when they seem to say, "Why, this is home," and down +they come again; beholding the wreck and ruins once more they still +think there is some mistake, and get up a second or a third time and +then drop back pitifully as before. It is the most pathetic sight of +all, the surviving and bewildered bees struggling to save a few drops of +their wasted treasures. + +Presently, if there is another swarm in the woods, robber-bees appear. +You may know them by their saucy, chiding, devil-may-care hum. It is +an ill wind that blows nobody good, and they make the most of the +misfortune of their neighbors; and thereby pave the way for their own +ruin. The hunter marks their course and the next day looks them up. On +this occasion the day was hot and the honey very fragrant, and a line of +bees was soon established S. S. W. Though there was much refuse honey in +the old stub, and though little golden rills trickled down the hill from +it, and the near branches and saplings were besmeared with it where we +wiped our murderous hands, yet not a drop was wasted. It was a feast to +which not only honey-bees came, but bumble-bees, wasps, hornets, flies, +ants. The bumble-bees, which at this season are hungry vagrants with +no fixed place of abode, would gorge themselves, then creep beneath the +bits of empty comb or fragments of bark and pass the night, and renew +the feast next day. The bumble-bee is an insect of which the bee-hunter +sees much. There are all sorts and sizes of them. They are dull and +clumsy compared with the honey-bee. Attracted in the fields by the +bee-hunter's box, they will come up the wind on the scent and blunder +into it in the most stupid, lubberly fashion. + +The honey-bee that licked up our leavings on the old stub belonged to a +swarm, as it proved, about half a mile farther down the ridge, and a few +days afterward fate overtook them, and their stores in turn became the +prey of another swarm in the vicinity, which also tempted Providence +and were overwhelmed. The first mentioned swarm I had lined from several +points, and was following up the clew over rocks and through gulleys, +when I came to where a large hemlock had been felled a few years before +and a swarm taken from a cavity near the top of it; fragments of the old +comb were yet to be seen. A few yards away stood another short, squatty +hemlock, and I said my bees ought to be there. As I paused near it I +noticed where the tree had been wounded with an ax a couple of feet from +the ground many years before. The wound had partially grown over, but +there was an opening there that I did not see at the first glance. I +was about to pass on when a bee passed me making that peculiar shrill, +discordant hum that a bee makes when besmeared with honey. I saw it +alight in the partially closed wound and crawl home; then came others +and others, little bands and squads of them heavily freighted with honey +from the box. The tree was about twenty inches through and hollow at +the butt, or from the ax mark down. This space the bees had completely +filled with honey. With an ax we cut away the outer ring of live wood +and exposed the treasure. Despite the utmost care, we wounded the comb +so that little rills of the golden liquid issued from the root of the +tree and trickled down the hill. + +The other bee-tree in the vicinity, to which I have referred, we found +one warm November day in less than half an hour after entering the +woods. It also was a hemlock, that stood in a niche in a wall of hoary, +moss-covered rocks thirty feet high. The tree hardly reached to the top +of the precipice. The bees entered a small hole at the root, which was +seven or eight feet from the ground. The position was a striking one. +Never did apiary have a finer outlook or more rugged surroundings. A +black, wood-embraced lake lay at our feet; the long panorama of the +Catskills filled the far distance, and the more broken outlines of the +Shawangunk range filled the rear. On every hand were precipices and a +wild confusion of rocks and trees. + +The cavity occupied by the bees was about three feet and a half long and +eight or ten inches in diameter. With an ax we cut away one side of the +tree and laid bare its curiously wrought heart of honey. It was a most +pleasing sight. What winding and devious ways the bees had through their +palace! What great masses and blocks of snow-white comb there were! +Where it was sealed up, presenting that slightly dented, uneven surface, +it looked like some precious ore. When we carried a large pail full of +it out of the woods, it seemed still more like ore. + +Your native bee-hunter predicates the distance of the tree by the time +the bee occupies in making its first trip. But this is no certain guide. +You are always safe in calculating that the tree is inside of a mile, +and you need not as a rule look for your bee's return under ten minutes. +One day I picked up a bee in an opening in the woods and gave it honey, +and it made three trips to my box with an interval of about twelve +minutes between them; it returned alone each time; the tree, which I +afterward found, was about half a mile distant. + +In lining bees through the woods, the tactics of the hunter are to +pause every twenty or thirty rods, lop away the branches or cut down the +trees, and set the bees to work again. If they still go forward, he goes +forward also and repeats his observations till the tree is found or till +the bees turn and come back upon the trail. Then he knows he has passed +the tree, and he retraces his steps to a convenient distance and tries +again, and thus quickly reduces the space to be looked over till the +swarm is traced home. On one occasion, in a wild rocky wood, where the +surface alternated between deep gulfs and chasms filled with thick, +heavy growths of timber and sharp, precipitous, rocky ridges like a +tempest tossed sea, I carried my bees directly under their tree, and +set them to work from a high, exposed ledge of rocks not thirty feet +distant. One would have expected them under such circumstances to have +gone straight home, as there were but few branches intervening, but +they did not; they labored up through the trees and attained an altitude +above the woods as if they had miles to travel, and thus baffled me for +hours. Bees will always do this. They are acquainted with the woods only +from the top side, and from the air above they recognize home only by +land-marks here, and in every instance they rise aloft to take their +bearings. Think how familiar to them the topography of the forest +summits must be-an umbrageous sea or plain where every mask and point is +known. + +Another curious fact is that generally you will get track of a bee-tree +sooner when you are half a mile from it than when you are only a few +yards. Bees, like us human insects, have little faith in the near at +hand; they expect to make their fortune in a distant field, they are +lured by the remote and the difficult, and hence overlook the flower and +the sweet at their very door. On several occasions I have unwittingly +set my box within a few paces of a bee-tree and waited long for bees +without getting them, when, on removing to a distant field or opening in +the woods I have got a clew at once. + +I have a theory that when bees leave the hive, unless there is some +special attraction in some other direction, they generally go against +the wind. They would thus have the wind with them when they returned +home heavily laden, and with these little navigators the difference +is an important one. With a full cargo, a stiff head-wind is a great +hindrance, but fresh and empty-handed they can face it with more ease. +Virgil says bees bear gravel stones as ballast, but their only ballast +is their honey bag. Hence, when I go bee-hunting, I prefer to get to +windward of the woods in which the swarm is supposed to have taken +refuge. + +Bees, like the milkman, like to be near a spring. They do water their +honey, especially in a dry time. The liquid is then of course thicker +and sweeter, and will bear diluting. Hence, old bee-hunters look for +bee-trees along creeks and near spring runs in the woods. I once found a +tree a long distance from any water, and the honey had a peculiar bitter +flavor imparted to it, I was convinced, by rainwater sucked from the +decayed and spongy hemlock tree, in which the swarm was found. In +cutting into the tree, the north side of it was found to be saturated +with water like a spring, which ran out in big drops, and had a bitter +flavor. The bees had thus found a spring or a cistern in their own +house. + +Bees are exposed to many hardships and many dangers. Winds and storms +prove as disastrous to them as to other navigators. Black spiders lie in +wait for them as do brigands for travelers. One day as I was looking for +a bee amid some golden-rod, I spied one partly concealed under a leaf. +Its baskets were full of pollen, and it did not move. On lifting up the +leaf I discovered that a hairy spider was ambushed there and had the bee +by the throat. The vampire was evidently afraid of the bee's sting, and +was holding it by the throat till quite sure of its death. Virgil speaks +of the painted lizard, perhaps a species of salamander, as an enemy +of the honey-bee. We have no lizard that destroys the bee; but our +tree-toad, ambushed among the apple and cherry blossoms, snaps them up +wholesale. Quick as lightning that subtle but clammy tongue darts forth, +and the unsuspecting bee is gone. Virgil also accuses the titmouse +and the woodpecker of preying upon the bees, and our kingbird has been +charged with the like crime, but the latter devours only the drones. The +workers are either too small and quick for it, or else it dreads their +sting. + +Virgil, by the way, had little more than a child's knowledge of the +honey-bee. There is little fact and much fable in his fourth Georgic. If +he had ever kept bees himself, or even visited an apiary, it is hard to +see how he could have believed that the bee in its flight abroad carried +a gravel stone for ballast:-- + + "And as when empty barks on billows float, + With Sandy ballast sailors trim the boat; + So bees bear gravel stones, whose poising weight + Steers through the whistling winds their steady flight;" + +or that when two colonies made war upon each other they issued forth +from their hives led by their kings and fought in the air, strewing the +ground with the dead and dying:-- + + "Hard hailstones lie not thicker on the plain, + Nor shaken oaks such show'rs of acorns rain." + +It is quite certain he had never been bee-hunting. If he had, we should +have had a fifth Georgic. Yet he seems to have known that bees sometimes +escaped to the woods:-- + + "Nor bees are lodged in hives alone, but found + In chambers of their own beneath the ground: + Their vaulted roofs are hung in pumices, + And in the rotten trunks of hollow trees." + +Wild honey is as near like tame as wild bees are like their brothers +in hive. The only difference is that wild honey is flavored with your +adventure, which makes it a little more delectable than the domestic +article. + + + + +THE PASTORAL BEES + + +The honey-bee goes forth from the hive in spring like the dove from +Noah's ark, and it is not till after many days that she brings back the +olive leaf, which in this case is a pellet of golden pollen upon each +hip, usually obtained from the alder or the swamp willow. In a country +where maple sugar is made, the bees get their first taste of sweet from +the sap as it flows from the spiles, or as it dries and is condensed +upon the sides of the buckets. They will sometimes, in their eagerness, +come about the boiling place and be overwhelmed by the steam and the +smoke. But bees appear to be more eager for bread in the spring than for +honey; their supply of this article, perhaps, does not keep as well +as their stores of the latter, hence fresh bread, in the shape of new +pollen, is diligently sought for. My bees get their first supplies from +the catkins of the willows. How quickly they find them out. If but one +catkin opens anywhere within range, a bee is on hand that very hour to +rifle it, and it is a most pleasing experience to stand near the hive +some mild April day and see them come pouring in with their little +baskets packed with this first fruitage of the spring. They will have +new bread now; they have been to mill in good earnest; see their dusty +coats, and the golden grist they bring home with them. + +When a bee brings pollen into the hive, he advances to the cell in which +it is to be deposited and kicks it off as one might his overalls or +rubber boots, making one foot help the other; then he walks off without +ever looking behind him; another bee, one of the indoor hands, comes +along and rams it down with his head and packs it into the cell as the +dairymaid packs butter into a firkin. + +The first spring wild-flowers, whose shy faces among the dry leaves and +rocks are so welcome, yield no honey. The anemone, the hepatica, the +bloodroot, the arbutus, the numerous violets, the spring beauty, the +corydalis, etc., woo lovers of nature, but do not woo the honey-loving +bee. It requires more sun and warmth to develop the saccharine element, +and the beauty of these pale striplings of the woods and groves is their +sole and sufficient excuse for being. The arbutus, lying low and keeping +green all winter, attains to perfume, but not to honey. + +The first honey is perhaps obtained from the flowers of the red maple +and the golden willow. The latter sends forth a wild, delicious perfume. +The sugar maple blooms a little later, and from its silken tassels +a rich nectar is gathered. My bees will not label these different +varieties for me as I really wish they would. Honey from the maples, a +tree so clean and wholesome, and full of such virtues every way, would +be something to put one's tongue to. Or that from the blossoms of the +apple, the peach, the cherry, the quince, the currant,--one would like +a card of each of these varieties to note their peculiar qualities. The +apple-blossom is very important to the bees. A single swarm has been +known to gain twenty pounds in weight during its continuance. Bees love +the ripened fruit, too, and in August and September will suck themselves +tipsy upon varieties such as the sops-of-wine. + +The interval between the blooming of the fruit-trees and that of the +clover and the raspberry is bridged over in many localities by the honey +locust. What a delightful summer murmur these trees send forth at this +season. I know nothing about the quality of the honey, but it ought to +keep well. But when the red raspberry blooms, the fountains of plenty +are unsealed indeed; what a commotion about the hives then, especially +in localities where it is extensively cultivated, as in places along the +Hudson. The delicate white clover, which begins to bloom about the +same time, is neglected; even honey itself is passed by for this modest +colorless, all but odorless flower. A field of these berries in June +sends forth a continuous murmur like that of an enormous hive. The honey +is not so white as that obtained from clover but it is easier gathered; +it is in shallow cups while that of the clover is in deep tubes. The +bees are up and at it before sunrise, and it takes a brisk shower to +drive them in. But the clover blooms later and blooms everywhere, and +is the staple source of supply of the finest quality of honey. The +red clover yields up its stores only to the longer proboscis of the +bumble-bee, else the bee pasturage of our agricultural districts would +be unequaled. I do not know from what the famous honey of Chamouni +in the Alps is made, but it can hardly surpass our best products. The +snow-white honey of Anatolia in Asiatic Turkey, which is regularly sent +to Constantinople for the use of the grand seignior and the ladies of +his seraglio, is obtained from the cotton plant, which makes me think +that the white clover does not flourish these. The white clover is +indigenous with us; its seeds seem latent in the ground, and the +application of certain stimulants to the soil, such as wood ashes, +causes them to germinate and spring up. + +The rose, with all its beauty and perfume, yields no honey to the bee, +unless the wild species be sought by the bumble-bee. + +Among the humbler plants, let me not forget the dandelion that so +early dots the sunny slopes, and upon which the bee languidly grazes, +wallowing to his knees in the golden but not over-succulent pasturage. +From the blooming rye and wheat the bee gathers pollen, also from +the obscure blossoms of Indian corn. Among weeds, catnip is the great +favorite. It lasts nearly the whole season and yields richly. It could +no doubt be profitably cultivated in some localities, and catnip honey +would be a novelty in the market. It would probably partake of the +aromatic properties of the plant from which it was derived. + +Among your stores of honey gathered before midsummer, you may chance +upon a card, or mayhap only a square inch or two of comb, in which the +liquid is as transparent as water, of a delicious quality, with a slight +flavor of mint. This is the product of the linden or basswood, of all +the trees in our forest the one most beloved by the bees. Melissa, the +goddess of honey, has placed her seal upon this tree. The wild swarms +in the woods frequently reap a choice harvest from it. I have seen +a mountain side thickly studded with it, its straight, tall, smooth, +light-gray shaft carrying its deep-green crown far aloft, like the +tulip-tree or the maple. + +In some of the Northwestern States there are large forests of it, and +the amount of honey reported stored by strong swarms in this section +during the time the tree is in bloom is quite incredible. As a shade and +ornamental tree the linden is fully equal to the maple, and if it were +as extensively planted and cared for, our supplies of virgin honey would +be greatly increased. The famous honey of Lithuania in Russia is the +product of the linden. + +It is a homely old stanza current among bee folk that-- + + "A swarm of bees in May + Is worth a load of hay; + A swarm of bees in June + Is worth a silver spoon; + But a swarm in July + Is not worth a fly." + +A swarm in May is indeed a treasure; it is, like an April baby, sure +to thrive, and will very likely itself send out a swarm a month or +two later; but a swarm in July is not to be despised; it will store no +clover or linden honey for the "grand seignior and the ladies of his +seraglio," but plenty of the rank and wholesome poor man's nectar, the +sun-tanned product of the plebeian buckwheat. Buckwheat honey is the +black sheep in this white flock, but there is spirit and character in +it. It lays hold of the taste in no equivocal manner, especially when at +a winter breakfast it meets its fellow, the russet buckwheat cake. Bread +with honey to cover it from the same stalk is double good fortune. It is +not black, either, but nut-brown, and belongs to the same class of goods +as Herrick's + + "Nut-brown mirth and russet wit." + +How the bees love it, and they bring the delicious odor of the blooming +plant to the hive with them, so that in the moist warm twilight the +apiary is redolent with the perfume of buckwheat. + +Yet evidently it is not the perfume of any flower that attracts +the bees; they pay no attention to the sweet-scented lilac, or to +heliotrope, but work upon sumach, silkweed, and the hateful snapdragon. +In September they are hard pressed, and do well if they pick up enough +sweet to pay the running expenses of their establishment. The purple +asters and the golden-rod are about all that remain to them. + +Bees will go three or four miles in quest of honey, but it is a great +advantage to move the hive near the good pasturage, as has been the +custom from the earliest times in the Old World. Some enterprising +person, taking a hint perhaps from the ancient Egyptians, who had +floating apiaries on the Nile, has tried the experiment of floating +several hundred colonies north on the Mississippi, starting from New +Orleans and following the opening season up, thus realizing a sort of +perpetual May or June, the chief attraction being the blossoms of the +river willow, which yield honey of rare excellence. Some of the bees +were no doubt left behind, but the amount of virgin honey secured must +have been very great. In September they should have begun the return +trip, following the retreating summer South. + +It is the making of the wax that costs with the bee. As with the poet, +the form, the receptacle, gives him more trouble than the sweet that +fills it, though, to be sure, there is always more or less empty comb in +both cases. The honey he can have for the gathering, but the wax he must +make himself--must evolve from his own inner consciousness. When wax +is to be made the wax-makers fill themselves with honey and retire into +their chamber for private meditation; it is like some solemn religious +rite; they take hold of hands, or hook themselves together in long lines +that hang in festoons from the top of the hive, and wait for the miracle +to transpire. After about twenty-four hours their patience is rewarded, +the honey is turned into wax, minute scales of which are secreted from +between the rings of the abdomen of each bee; this is taken off and from +it the comb is built up. It is calculated that about twenty-five pounds +of honey are used in elaborating one pound of comb, to say nothing of +the time that is lost. Hence the importance in an economical point of +view, of a recent device by which the honey is extracted and the comb +returned intact to the bees. But honey without the comb is the perfume +without the rose,--it is sweet merely, and soon degenerates into candy. +Half the delectableness is in breaking down these frail and exquisite +walls yourself, and tasting the nectar before it has lost its freshness +by the contact with the air. Then the comb is a sort of shield or foil +that prevents the tongue from being overwhelmed by the shock of the +sweet. + +The drones have the least enviable time of it. Their foothold in the +hive is very precarious. They look like the giants, the lords of the +swarm, but they are really the tools. Their loud, threatening hum has +no sting to back it up, and their size and noise make them only the more +conspicuous marks for the birds. + +Toward the close of the season, say in July or August, the fiat goes +forth that the drones must die; there is no further use for them. Then +the poor creatures, how they are huddled and hustled about, trying to +hide in corners and by-ways. There is no loud, defiant humming now, but +abject fear seizes them. They cower like hunted criminals. I have seen +a dozen or more of them wedge themselves into a small space between the +glass and the comb, where the bees could not get hold of them or where +they seemed to be overlooked in the general slaughter. They will also +crawl outside and hide under the edges of the hive. But sooner or later +they are all killed or kicked out. The drone makes no resistance, except +to pull back and try to get away; but (putting yourself in his place) +with one bee a-hold of your collar or the hair of your head, and another +a-hold of each arm or leg, and still another feeling for your waistbands +with his sting, the odds are greatly against you. + +It is a singular fact, also, that the queen is made, not born. If the +entire population of Spain or Great Britain were the offspring of one +mother, it might be found necessary to hit upon some device by which a +royal baby could be manufactured out of an ordinary one, or else give +up the fashion of royalty. All the bees in the hive have a common +parentage, and the queen and the worker are the same in the egg and in +the chick; the patent of royalty is in the cell and in the food; the +cell being much larger, and the food a peculiar stimulating kind of +jelly. In certain contingencies, such as the loss of the queen with no +eggs in the royal cells, the workers take the larva of an ordinary bee, +enlarge the cell by taking in the two adjoining ones, and nurse it and +stuff it and coddle it, till at the end of sixteen days it comes out a +queen. But ordinarily, in the natural course of events, the young queen +is kept a prisoner in her cell till the old queen has left with the +swarm. Later on, the unhatched queen is guarded against the reigning +queen, who only wants an opportunity to murder every royal scion in the +hive. At this time both the queens, the one a prisoner and the other at +large, pipe defiance at each other, a shrill, fine, trumpet-like note +that any ear will at once recognize. This challenge, not being allowed +to be accepted by either party, is followed, in a day or two by the +abdication of the reigning queen; she leads out the swarm, and her +successor is liberated by her keepers, who, in her time, abdicates +in favor of the next younger. When the bees have decided that no more +swarms can issue, the reigning queen is allowed to use her stiletto upon +her unhatched sisters. Cases have been known where two queens issued at +the same time, when a mortal combat ensued, encouraged by the workers, +who formed a ring about them, but showed no preference, and recognized +the victor as the lawful sovereign. For these and many other curious +facts we are indebted to the blind Huber. + +It is worthy of note that the position of the queen cells is always +vertical, while that of the drones and workers is horizontal; majesty +stands on its head, which fact may be a part of the secret. + +The notion has always very generally prevailed that the queen of the +bees is an absolute ruler, and issues her royal orders to willing +subjects. Hence Napoleon the First sprinkled the symbolic bees over the +imperial mantle that bore the arms of his dynasty; and in the country +of the Pharaohs the bee was used as the emblem of a people sweetly +submissive to the orders of its king. But the fact is, a swarm of bees +is an absolute democracy, and kings and despots can find no warrant in +their example. The power and authority are entirely vested in the great +mass, the workers. They furnish all the brains and foresight of the +colony, and administer its affairs. Their word is law, and both king and +queen must obey. They regulate the swarming, and give the signal for the +swarm to issue from the hive; they select and make ready the tree in the +woods and conduct the queen to it. + +The peculiar office and sacredness of the queen consists in the fact +that she is the mother of the swarm, and the bees love and cherish her +as a mother and not as a sovereign. She is the sole female bee in the +hive, and the swarm clings to her because she is their life. Deprived +of their queen, and of all brood from which to rear one, the swarm loses +all heart and soon dies, though there be an abundance of honey in the +hive. + +The common bees will never use their sting upon the queen; if she is +to be disposed of they starve her to death; and the queen herself will +sting nothing but royalty--nothing but a rival queen. + +The queen, I say, is the mother bee; it is undoubtedly complimenting her +to call her a queen and invest her with regal authority, yet she is +a superb creature, and looks every inch a queen. It is an event to +distinguish her amid the mass of bees when the swarm alights; it awakens +a thrill. Before you have seen a queen you wonder if this or that bee, +which seems a little larger than its fellows, is not she, but when you +once really set eyes upon her you do not doubt for a moment. You +know that is the queen. That long, elegant, shining, feminine-looking +creature can be none less than royalty. How beautifully her body tapers, +how distinguished she looks, how deliberate her movements! The bees +do not fall down before her, but caress her and touch her person. +The drones or males, are large bees too, but coarse, blunt, +broad-shouldered, masculine-looking. There is but one fact or incident +in the life of the queen that looks imperial and authoritative: Huber +relates that when the old queen is restrained in her movements by the +workers, and prevented from destroying the young queens in their cells, +she assumes a peculiar attitude and utters a note that strikes every bee +motionless, and makes every head bow; while this sound lasts not a bee +stirs, but all look abashed and humbled, yet whether the emotion is one +of fear, or reverence, or of sympathy with the distress of the queen +mother, is hard to determine. The moment it ceases and she advances +again toward the royal cells, the bees bite and pull and insult her as +before. + +I always feel that I have missed some good fortune if I am away from +home when my bees swarm. What a delightful summer sound it is; how +they come pouring out of the hive, twenty or thirty thousand bees each +striving to get out first; it is as when the dam gives way and lets the +waters loose; it is a flood of bees which breaks upward into the air, +and becomes a maze of whirling black lines to the eye and a soft chorus +of myriad musical sounds to the ear. This way and that way they drift, +now contracting, now expanding, rising, sinking, growing thick about +some branch or bush, then dispersing and massing at some other point, +till finally they begin to alight in earnest, when in a few moments the +whole swarm is collected upon the branch, forming a bunch perhaps as +large as a two-gallon measure. Here they will hang from one to three or +four hours, or until a suitable tree in the woods is looked up, when, if +they have not been offered a hive in the mean time, they are up and +off. In hiving them, if any accident happens to the queen the enterprise +miscarries at once. One day I shook a swarm from a small pear-tree into +a tin pan, set the pan down on a shawl spread beneath the tree, and put +the hive over it. The bees presently all crawled up into it, and all +seemed to go well for ten or fifteen minutes, when I observed that +something was wrong; the bees began to buzz excitedly and to rush about +in a bewildered manner, then they took to the wing and all returned to +the parent stock. On lifting up the pan, I found beneath it the queen +with three or four other bees. She had been one of the first to fall, +had missed the pan in her descent, and I had set it upon her. I conveyed +her tenderly back to the hive, but either the accident terminated +fatally with her or else the young queen had been liberated in the +interim, and one of them had fallen in combat, for it was ten days +before the swarm issued a second time. + +No one, to my knowledge, has ever seen the bees house-hunting in the +woods. Yet there can be no doubt that they look up new quarters either +before or on the day the swarm issues. For all bees are wild bees and +incapable of domestication; that is, the instinct to go back to nature +and take up again their wild abodes in the trees is never eradicated. +Years upon years of life in the apiary seems to have no appreciable +effect towards their final, permanent domestication. That every new +swarm contemplates migrating to the woods, seems confirmed by the fact +that they will only come out when the weather is favorable to such an +enterprise, and that a passing cloud or a sudden wind, after the bees +are in the air, will usually drive them back into the parent hive. Or +an attack upon them with sand or gravel, or loose earth or water, will +quickly cause them to change their plans. I would not even say but +that, when the bees are going off, the apparently absurd practice, now +entirely discredited by regular bee-keepers but still resorted to by +unscientific folk, of beating upon tin pans, blowing horns, and creating +an uproar generally, might not be without good results. Certainly not by +drowning the "orders" of the queen, but by impressing the bees as +with some unusual commotion in nature. Bees are easily alarmed and +disconcerted, and I have known runaway swarms to be brought down by a +farmer ploughing in the field who showered them with handfuls of loose +soil. + +I love to see a swarm go off--if it is not mine, and if mine must go I +want to be on hand to see the fun. It is a return to first principles +again by a very direct route. The past season I witnessed two such +escapes. One swarm had come out the day before, and, without alighting, +had returned to the parent hive--some hitch in the plan, perhaps, or may +be the queen had found her wings too weak. The next day they came out +again, and were hived. But something offended them, or else the tree in +the woods--perhaps some royal old maple or birch holding its head +high above all others, with snug, spacious, irregular chambers and +galleries--had too many attractions; for they were presently discovered +filling the air over the garden, and whirling excitedly around. +Gradually they began to drift over the street; a moment more, and they +had become separated from the other bees, and, drawing together in a +more compact mass or cloud, away they went, a humming, flying vortex of +bees, the queen in the centre, and the swarm revolving around her as a +pivot,--over meadows, across creeks and swamps, straight for the heart +of the mountain, about a mile distant,--slow at first, so that the youth +who gave chase kept up with them, but increasing their speed till only a +fox hound could have kept them in sight. I saw their pursuer laboring +up the side of the mountain; saw his white shirt-sleeves gleam as he +entered the woods; but he returned a few hours afterward without any +clew as to the particular tree in which they had taken refuge out of the +ten thousand that covered the side of the mountain. + +The other swarm came out about one o'clock of a hot July day, and +at once showed symptoms that alarmed the keeper, who, however, threw +neither dirt nor water. The house was situated on a steep side-hill. +Behind it the ground rose, for a hundred rods or so, at an angle of +nearly forty-five degrees, and the prospect of having to chase them up +this hill, if chase them we should, promised a good trial of wind +at least; for it soon became evident that their course lay in this +direction. Determined to have a hand, or rather a foot, in the chase, +I threw off my coat and hurried on, before the swarm was yet fairly +organized and under way. The route soon led me into a field of +standing rye, every spear of which held its head above my own. Plunging +recklessly forward, my course marked to those watching from below by the +agitated and wriggling grain, I emerged from the miniature forest just +in time to see the runaways disappearing over the top of the hill, some +fifty rods in advance of me. Lining them as well as I could, I soon +reached the hill-top, my breath utterly gone and the perspiration +streaming from every pore of my skin. On the other side the country +opened deep and wide. A large valley swept around to the north, heavily +wooded at its head and on its sides. It became evident at once that the +bees had made good their escape, and that whether they had stopped on +one side of the valley or the other, or had indeed cleared the opposite +mountain and gone into some unknown forest beyond, was entirely +problematical. I turned back, therefore, thinking of the honey-laden +tree that some of these forests would hold before the falling of the +leaf. + +I heard of a youth in the neighborhood, more lucky than myself on a like +occasion. It seems that he had got well in advance of the swarm, whose +route lay over a hill, as in my case, and as he neared the summit, hat +in hand, the bees had just come up and were all about him. Presently he +noticed them hovering about his straw hat, and alighting on his arm; and +in almost as brief a time as it takes to relate it, the whole swarm +had followed the queen into his hat. Being near a stone wall, he +coolly deposited his prize upon it, quickly disengaged himself from the +accommodating bees, and returned for a hive. The explanation of this +singular circumstance no doubt is, that the queen, unused to such long +and heavy flights, was obliged to alight from very exhaustion. It is +not very unusual for swarms to be thus found in remote fields, collected +upon a bush or branch of a tree. + +When a swarm migrates to the woods in this manner, the individual bees, +as I have intimated, do not move in right lines or straight forward, +like a flock of birds, but round and round, like chaff in a whirlwind. +Unitedly they form a humming, revolving, nebulous mass, ten or fifteen +feet across, which keeps just high enough to clear all obstacles, except +in crossing deep valleys, when, of course, it may be very high. The +swarm seems to be guided by a line of couriers, which may be seen (at +least at the outset) constantly going and coming. As they take a direct +course, there is always some chance of following them to the tree, +unless they go a long distance, and some obstruction, like a wood, or +a swamp, or a high hill, intervenes--enough chance, at any rate, to +stimulate the lookers-on to give vigorous chase as long as their wind +holds out. If the bees are successfully followed to their retreat, two +plans are feasible: either to fell the tree at once, and seek to hive +them, perhaps bring them home in the section of the tree that contains +the cavity; or to leave the tree till fall, then invite your neighbors, +and go and cut it, and see the ground flow with honey. The former course +is more business-like; but the latter is the one usually recommended by +one's friends and neighbors. + +Perhaps nearly one third of all the runaway swarms leave when no one +is about, and hence are unseen and unheard, save, perchance, by some +distant laborers in the field, or by some youth ploughing on the side +of the mountain, who hears an unusual humming noise, and sees the swarm +dimly whirling by overhead, and, may be, gives chase; or he may simply +catch the sound, when he pauses, looks quickly around, but sees nothing. +When he comes in at night he tells how he heard or saw a swarm of bees +go over; and, perhaps from beneath one of the hives in the garden a +black mass of bees has disappeared during the day. + +They are not partial as to the kind of tree,--pine, hemlock, elm, birch, +maple, hickory,--any tree with a good cavity high up or low down. A +swarm of mine ran away from the new patent hive I gave them, and took +up their quarters in the hollow trunk of an old apple-tree across an +adjoining field. The entrance was a mouse-hole near the ground. + +Another swarm in the neighborhood deserted their keeper and went into +the cornice of an out-house that stood amid evergreens in the rear of +a large mansion. But there is no accounting for the taste of bees, +as Samson found when he discovered the swarm in the carcass, or more +probably the skeleton, of the lion he had slain. + +In any given locality, especially in the more wooded and mountainous +districts, the number of swarms that thus assert their independence +forms quite a large per cent. In the Northern States these swarms very +often perish before spring; but in such a country as Florida they seem +to multiply, till bee-trees are very common. In the West, also, wild +honey is often gathered in large quantities. I noticed not long since, +that some wood-choppers on the west slope of the Coast Range felled a +tree that had several pailfuls in it. + +One night on the Potomac a party of us unwittingly made our camp near +the foot of a bee-tree, which next day the winds of heaven blew down, +for our special delectation, at least so we read the sign. Another time +while sitting by a waterfall in the leafless April woods I discovered +a swarm in the top of a large hickory. I had the season before remarked +the tree as a likely place for bees, but the screen of leaves concealed +them from me. This time my former presentiment occurred to me, and, +looking sharply, sure enough there were the bees, going out and in a +large, irregular opening. In June a violent tempest of wind and rain +demolished the tree, and the honey was all lost in the creek into which +it fell. I happened along that way two or three days after the tornado, +when I saw a remnant of the swarm, those, doubtless, that escaped the +flood and those that were away when the disaster came, hanging in a +small black mass to a branch high up near where their home used to be. +They looked forlorn enough. If the queen was saved the remnant probably +sought another tree; otherwise the bees have soon died. + +I have seen bees desert their hive in the spring when it was infested +with worms, or when the honey was exhausted; at such times the swarm +seems to wander aimlessly, alighting here and there, and perhaps in the +end uniting with some other colony. In case of such union, it would be +curious to know if negotiations were first opened between the parties, +and if the houseless bees are admitted at once to all the rights and +franchises of their benefactors. It would be very like the bees to have +some preliminary plan and understanding about the matter on both sides. + +Bees will accommodate themselves to almost any quarters, yet no hive +seems to please them so well as a section of a hollow tree--"gums" as +they are called in the South and West where the sweet gum grows. In some +European countries the hive is always made from the trunk of a tree, a +suitable cavity being formed by boring. The old-fashioned straw hive is +picturesque, and a great favorite with the bees also. + +The life of a swarm of bees is like an active and hazardous campaign +of an army; the ranks are being continually depleted, and continually +recruited. What adventures they have by flood and field, and what +hair-breadth escapes! A strong swarm during the honey season loses, on +an average, about four or five thousand per month, or one hundred and +fifty per day. They are overwhelmed by wind and rain, caught by spiders, +benumbed by cold, crushed by cattle, drowned in rivers and ponds, and +in many nameless ways cut off or disabled. In the spring the principal +mortality is from the cold. As the sun declines they get chilled before +they can reach home. Many fall down outside the hive, unable to get +in with their burden. One may see them come utterly spent and drop +hopelessly into the grass in front of their very doors. Before they can +rest the cold has stiffened them. I go out in April and May and pick +them up by the handfuls, their baskets loaded with pollen, and warm them +in the sun or in the house, or by the simple warmth of my hand, until +they can crawl into the hive. Heat is their life, and an apparently +lifeless bee may be revived by warming him. I have also picked them up +while rowing on the river and seen them safely to shore. It is amusing +to see them come hurrying home when there is a thunderstorm approaching. +They come piling in till the rain is upon them. Those that are overtaken +by the storm doubtless weather it as best they can in the sheltering +trees or grass. It is not probable that a bee ever gets lost by +wandering into strange and unknown parts. With their myriad eyes they +see everything; and then, their sense of locality is very acute, is, +indeed, one of their ruling traits. When a bee marks the place of his +hive, or of a bit of good pasturage in the fields or swamps, or of the +bee-hunter's box of honey on the hills or in the woods, he returns to it +as unerringly as fate. + +Honey was a much more important article of food with the ancients than +it is with us. As they appear to have been unacquainted with sugar, +honey, no doubt, stood them instead. It is too rank and pungent for the +modern taste; it soon cloys upon the palate. It demands the appetite of +youth, and the strong, robust digestion of people who live much in +the open air. It is a more wholesome food than sugar, and modern +confectionery is poison beside it. Beside grape sugar, honey contains +manna, mucilage, pollen, acid, and other vegetable odoriferous +substances and juices. It is a sugar with a kind of wild natural bread +added. The manna of itself is both food and medicine, and the pungent +vegetable extracts have rare virtues. Honey promotes the excretions and +dissolves the glutinous and starchy impedimenta of the system. + +Hence it is not without reason that with the ancients a land flowing +with milk and honey should mean a land abounding in all good things; +and the queen in the nursery rhyme, who lingered in the kitchen to eat +"bread and honey" while the "king was in the parlor counting out his +money," was doing a very sensible thing. Epaminondas is said to have +rarely eaten anything but bread and honey. The Emperor Augustus one day +inquired of a centenarian how he had kept his vigor of mind and body so +long; to which the veteran replied that it was by "oil without and honey +within." Cicero, in his "Old Age," classes honey with meat and milk and +cheese as among the staple articles with which a well-kept farm-house +will be supplied. + +Italy and Greece, in fact all the Mediterranean countries, appear to +have been famous lands for honey. Mount Hymettus, Mount Hybla, and +Mount Ida produced what may be called the classic honey of antiquity, an +article doubtless in nowise superior to our best products. Leigh Hunt's +"Jar of Honey" is mainly distilled from Sicilian history and literature, +Theocritus furnishing the best yield. Sicily has always been rich in +bees. Swinburne (the traveler of a hundred years ago) says the woods on +this island abounded in wild honey, and that the people also had many +hives near their houses. The idyls of Theocritus are native to the +island in this respect, and abound in bees--"Flat-nosed bees" as he +calls them in the Seventh Idyl--and comparisons in which comb-honey is +the standard of the most delectable of this world's goods. His goatherds +can think of no greater bliss than that the mouth be filled with +honey-combs, or to be inclosed in a chest like Daphnis and fed on the +combs of bees; and among the delectables with which Arsinoe cherishes +Adonis are "honey-cakes," and other tid-bits made of "sweet honey." In +the country of Theocritus this custom is said still to prevail: when a +couple are married the attendants place honey in their mouths, by which +they would symbolize the hope that their love may be as sweet to their +souls as honey to the palate. + +It was fabled that Homer was suckled by a priestess whose breasts +distilled honey; and that once when Pindar lay asleep the bees dropped +honey upon his lips. In the Old Testament the food of the promised +Immanuel was to be butter and honey (there is much doubt about the +butter in the original), that he might know good from evil; and +Jonathan's eyes were enlightened, by partaking of some wood or wild +honey: "See, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because +I tasted a little of this honey." So far as this part of his diet +was concerned, therefore, John the Baptist, during his sojourn in the +wilderness, his divinity school-days in the mountains and plains of +Judea, fared extremely well. About the other part, the locusts, or, not +to put too fine a point on it, the grasshoppers, as much cannot be said, +though they were among the creeping and leaping things the children +of Israel were permitted to eat. They were probably not eaten raw, but +roasted in that most primitive of ovens, a hole in the ground made hot +by building a fire in it. The locusts and honey may have been served +together, as the Bedas of Ceylon are said to season their meat with +honey. At any rate, as the locust is often a great plague in Palestine, +the prophet in eating them found his account in the general weal, and +in the profit of the pastoral bees; the fewer locusts, the more flowers. +Owing to its numerous wild-flowers and flowering shrubs, Palestine +has always been a famous country for bees. They deposit their honey in +hollow trees as our bees do when they escape from the hive, and in holes +in the rocks as ours do not. In a tropical or semi-tropical climate +bees are quite apt to take refuge in the rocks, but where ice and snow +prevail, as with us, they are much safer high up in the trunk of a +forest tree. + +The best honey is the product of the milder parts of the temperate zone. +There are too many rank and poisonous plants in the tropics. Honey from +certain districts of Turkey produces headache and vomiting, and that +from Brazil is used chiefly as medicine. The honey of Mount Hymettus +owes its fine quality to wild thyme. The best honey in Persia and in +Florida is collected from the orange blossom. The celebrated honey of +Narbonne in the south of France is obtained from a species of rosemary. +In Scotland good honey is made from the blossoming heather. + +California honey is white and delicate and highly perfumed, and now +takes the lead in the market. But honey is honey the world over; and the +bee is the bee still. "Men may degenerate," says an old traveler, "may +forget the arts by which they acquired renown; manufactories may fail, +and commodities be debased, but the sweets of the wild-flowers of the +wilderness, the industry and natural mechanics of the bee, will continue +without change or derogation." + + + + +II. SHARP EYES AND OTHER PAPERS + + + +CONTENTS + +SHARP EYES + +THE APPLE + +A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH + +WINTER NEIGHBORS + +NOTES BY THE WAY. + + I. The Weather-wise Muskrat + II. Cheating the Squirrels + III. Fox and Hound + IV. The Woodchuck + + + + +SHARP EYES. + + +Noting how one eye seconds and reinforces the other, I have often amused +myself by wondering what the effect would be if one could go on opening +eye after eye to the number say of a dozen or more. What would he see? +Perhaps not the invisible--not the odors of flowers nor the fever +germs in the air--not the infinitely small of the microscope nor the +infinitely distant of the telescope. This would require, not more eyes +so much as an eye constructed with more and different lenses; but would +he not see with augmented power within the natural limits of vision? At +any rate some persons seem to have opened more eyes than others, they +see with such force and distinctness; their vision penetrates the +tangle and obscurity where that of others fails like a spent or impotent +bullet. How many eyes did Gilbert White open? how many did Henry +Thoreau? how many did Audubon? how many does the hunter, matching his +sight against the keen and alert sense of a deer or a moose, or a fox +or a wolf? Not outward eyes, but inward. We open another eye whenever we +see beyond the first general features or outlines of things--whenever +we grasp the special details and characteristic markings that this mask +covers. Science confers new powers of vision. + +Whenever you have learned to discriminate the birds, or the plants, or +the geological features of a country, it is as if new and keener eyes +were added. + +Of course one must not only see sharply, but read aright what he sees. +The facts in the life of Nature that are transpiring about us are like +written words that the observer is to arrange into sentences. Or the +writing is in cipher and he must furnish the key. A female oriole was +one day observed very much preoccupied under a shed where the refuse +from the horse stable was thrown. She hopped about among the barn fowls, +scolding them sharply when they came too near her. The stable, dark +and cavernous, was just beyond. The bird, not finding what she wanted +outside, boldly ventured into the stable, and was presently captured by +the farmer. What did she want? was the query. What, but a horsehair +for her nest which was in an apple-tree near by; and she was so bent on +having one that I have no doubt she would have tweaked one out of the +horse's tail had he been in the stable. Later in the season I examined +her nest and found it sewed through and through with several long horse +hairs, so that the bird persisted in her search till the hair was found. + +Little dramas and tragedies and comedies, little characteristic scenes, +are always being enacted in the lives of the birds, if our eyes are +sharp enough to see them. Some clever observer saw this little comedy +played among some English sparrows and wrote an account of it in his +newspaper; it is too good not to be true: A male bird brought to his +box a large, fine goose feather, which is a great find for a sparrow +and much coveted. After he had deposited his prize and chattered his +gratulations over it he went away in quest of his mate. His next-door +neighbor, a female bird, seeing her chance, quickly slipped in and +seized the feather,--and here the wit of the bird came out, for instead +of carrying it into her own box she flew with it to a near tree and +hid it in a fork of the branches, then went home, and when her neighbor +returned with his mate was innocently employed about her own affairs. +The proud male, finding his feather gone, came out of his box in a high +state of excitement, and, with wrath in his manner and accusation on +his tongue, rushed into the cot of the female. Not finding his goods and +chattels there as he had expected, he stormed around a while, abusing +everybody in general and his neighbor in particular, and then went away +as if to repair the loss. As soon as he was out of sight, the shrewd +thief went and brought the feather home and lined her own domicile with +it. + +I was much amused one summer day in seeing a bluebird feeding her young +one in the shaded street of a large town. She had captured a cicada or +harvest-fly, and after bruising it a while on the ground flew with it +to a tree and placed it in the beak of the young bird. It was a large +morsel, and the mother seemed to have doubts of her chick's ability to +dispose of it, for she stood near and watched its efforts with great +solicitude. The young bird struggled valiantly with the cicada, but made +no head way in swallowing it, when the mother took it from him and flew +to the sidewalk, and proceeded to break and bruise it more thoroughly. +Then she again placed it in his beak, and seemed to say, "There, try it +now," and sympathized so thoroughly with his efforts that she repeated +many of his motions and contortions. But the great fly was unyielding, +and, indeed, seemed ridiculously disproportioned to the beak that held +it. The young bird fluttered and fluttered and screamed, "I'm stuck, I'm +stuck," till the anxious parent again seized the morsel and carried +it to an iron railing, where she came down upon it for the space of a +minute with all the force and momentum her beak could command. Then +she offered it to her young a third time, but with the same result as +before, except that this time the bird dropped it; but she was at the +ground as soon as the cicada was, and taking it in her beak flew +some distance to a high board fence where she sat motionless for some +moments. While pondering the problem how that fly should be broken, +the male bluebird approached her, and said very plainly, and I thought +rather curtly, "Give me that bug," but she quickly resented his +interference and flew farther away, where she sat apparently quite +discouraged when I last saw her. + +The bluebird is a home bird, and I am never tired of recurring to him. +His coming or reappearance in the spring marks a new chapter in the +progress of the season; things are never quite the same after one has +heard that note. The past spring the males came about a week in advance +of the females. A fine male lingered about my grounds and orchard all +the time, apparently waiting the arrival of his mate. He called and +warbled every day, as if he felt sure she was within ear-shot, and +could be hurried up. Now he warbled half-angrily or upbraidingly, +then coaxingly, then cheerily and confidently, the next moment in a +plaintive, far-away manner. He would half open his wings, and twinkle +them caressingly, as if beckoning his mate to his heart. One morning she +had come, but was shy and reserved. The fond male flew to a knot-hole +in an old apple-tree, and coaxed her to his side. I heard a fine +confidential warble,--the old, old story. But the female flew to a near +tree, and uttered her plaintive, homesick note. The male went and got +some dry grass or bark in his beak, and flew again to the hole in the +old tree, and promised unremitting devotion, but the other said "nay," +and flew away in the distance. When he saw her going, or rather heard +her distant note, he dropped his stuff, and cried out in a tone that +said plainly enough, "Wait a minute. One word, please," and flew swiftly +in pursuit. He won her before long, however, and early in April the pair +were established in one of the four or five boxes I had put up for them, +but not until they had changed their minds several times. As soon as +the first brood had flown, and while they were yet under their parents' +care, they began another nest in one of the other boxes, the female, as +usual, doing all the work, and the male all the complimenting. + +A source of occasional great distress to the mother-bird was a white cat +that sometimes followed me about. The cat had never been known to catch +a bird, but she had a way of watching them that was very embarrassing to +the bird. Whenever she appeared, the mother bluebird would set up that +pitiful melodious plaint. One morning the cat was standing by me, when +the bird came with her beak loaded with building material, and alighted +above me to survey the place before going into the box. When she saw the +cat, she was greatly disturbed, and in her agitation could not keep her +hold upon all her material. Straw after straw came eddying down, till +not half her original burden remained. After the cat had gone away, the +bird's alarm subsided, till, presently seeing the coast clear, she flew +quickly to the box and pitched in her remaining straws with the greatest +precipitation, and, without going in to arrange them, as was her wont, +flew away in evident relief. + +In the cavity of an apple-tree but a few yards off, and much nearer the +house than they usually build, a pair of high-holes, or golden-shafted +woodpeckers, took up their abode. A knot-hole which led to the decayed +interior was enlarged, the live wood being cut away as clean as a +squirrel would have done it. The inside preparations I could not +witness, but day after day, as I passed near, I heard the bird hammering +away, evidently beating down obstructions and shaping and enlarging the +cavity. The chips were not brought out, but were used rather to +floor the interior. The woodpeckers are not nest-builders, but rather +nest-carvers. + +The time seemed very short before the voices of the young were heard in +the heart of the old tree,--at first feebly, but waxing stronger day by +day until they could be heard many rods distant. When I put my hand upon +the trunk of the tree, they would set up an eager, expectant chattering; +but if I climbed up it toward the opening, they soon detected the +unusual sound and would hush quickly, only now and then uttering a +warning note. Long before they were fully fledged they clambered up to +the orifice to receive their food. As but one could stand in the opening +at a time, there was a good deal of elbowing and struggling for this +position. It was a very desirable one aside from the advantages it had +when food was served; it looked out upon the great shining world, into +which the young birds seemed never tired of gazing. The fresh air +must have been a consideration also, for the interior of a high-hole's +dwelling is not sweet. When the parent birds came with food the young +one in the opening did not get it all, but after he had received a +portion, either on his own motion or on a hint from the old one, he +would give place to the one behind him. Still, one bird evidently +outstripped his fellows, and in the race of life, was two or three days +in advance of them. His voice was loudest and his head oftenest at the +window. But I noticed that when he had kept the position too long, +the others evidently made it uncomfortable in his rear, and, after +"fidgeting" about a while, he would be compelled to "back down." But +retaliation was then easy, and I fear his mates spent few easy moments +at that lookout. They would close their eyes and slide back into the +cavity as if the world had suddenly lost all its charms for them. + +This bird was, of course, the first to leave the nest. For two days +before that event he kept his position in the opening most of the time +and sent forth his strong voice incessantly. The old ones abstained from +feeding him almost entirely, no doubt to encourage his exit. As I +stood looking at him one afternoon and noting his progress, he suddenly +reached a resolution,--seconded, I have no doubt, from the rear,--and +launched forth upon his untried wings. They served him well and carried +him about fifty yards up-hill the first heat. The second day after, the +next in size and spirit left in the same manner; then another, till only +one remained. The parent birds ceased their visits to him, and for one +day he called and called till our ears were tired of the sound. His +was the faintest heart of all. Then he had none to encourage him from +behind. He left the nest and clung to the outer bowl of the tree, and +yelped and piped for an hour longer; then he committed himself to his +wings and went his way like the rest. + +A young farmer in the western part of New York, who has a sharp, +discriminating eye, sends me some interesting notes about a tame +high-hole he once had. + +"Did you ever notice," says he, "that the high-hole never eats anything +that he cannot pick up with his tongue? At least this was the case with +a young one I took from the nest and tamed. He could thrust out his +tongue two or three inches, and it was amusing to see his efforts to eat +currants from the hand. He would run out his tongue and try to stick it +to the currant; failing in that, he would bend his tongue around it like +a hook and try to raise it by a sudden jerk. But he never succeeded, +the round fruit would roll and slip away every time. He never seemed to +think of taking it in his beak. His tongue was in constant use to find +out the nature of everything he saw; a nail-hole in a board or any +similar hole was carefully explored. If he was held near the face he +would soon be attracted by the eye and thrust his tongue into it. In +this way he gained the respect of a number of half-grown cats that were +around the house. I wished to make them familiar to each other, so there +would be less danger of their killing him. So I would take them both on +my knee, when the bird would soon notice the kitten's eyes, and leveling +his bill as carefully as a marksman levels his rifle, he would remain so +a minute when he would dart his tongue into the cat's eye. This was held +by the cats to be very mysterious: being struck in the eye by something +invisible to them. They soon acquired such a terror of him that they +would avoid him and run away whenever they saw his bill turned in their +direction. He never would swallow a grasshopper even when it was placed +in his throat; he would shake himself until he had thrown it out of his +mouth. His 'best hold' was ants. He never was surprised at anything, and +never was afraid of anything. He would drive the turkey gobbler and +the rooster. He would advance upon them holding one wing up as high as +possible, as if to strike with it, and shuffle along the ground toward +them, scolding all the while in a harsh voice. I feared at first that +they might kill him, but I soon found that he was able to take care of +himself. I would turn over stones and dig into ant-hills for him, and he +would lick up the ants so fast that a stream of them seemed going +into his mouth unceasingly. I kept him till late in the fall, when he +disappeared, probably going south, and I never saw him again." + +My correspondent also sends me some interesting observations about the +cuckoo. He says a large gooseberry bush standing in the border of an old +hedgerow, in the midst of open fields, and not far from his house, was +occupied by a pair of cuckoos for two seasons in succession, and, after +an interval of a year, for two seasons more. This gave him a good chance +to observe them. He says the mother-bird lays a single egg, and sits +upon it a number of days before laying the second, so that he has seen +one young bird nearly grown, a second just hatched, and a whole egg +all in the nest at once. "So far as I have seen, this is the settled +practice,--the young leaving the nest one at a time to the number of six +or eight. The young have quite the look of the young of the dove in many +respects. When nearly grown they are covered with long blue pin-feathers +as long as darning-needles, without a bit of plumage on them. They part +on the back and hang down on each side by their own weight. With its +curious feathers and misshapen body the young bird is anything but +handsome. They never open their mouths when approached, as many young +birds do, but sit perfectly still, hardly moving when touched." He also +notes the unnatural indifference of the mother-bird when her nest and +young are approached. She makes no sound, but sits quietly on a near +branch in apparent perfect unconcern. + +These observations, together with the fact that the egg of the cuckoo +is occasionally found in the nests of other birds, raise the inquiry +whether our bird is slowly relapsing into the habit of the European +species, which always foists its egg upon other birds; or whether, on +the other hand, it is not mending its manners in this respect. It has +but little to unlearn or to forget in the one case, but great progress +to make in the other. How far is its rudimentary nest--a mere platform +of coarse twigs and dry stalks of weeds--from the deep, compact, finely +woven and finely modeled nest of the goldfinch or king-bird, and what a +gulf between its indifference toward its young and their solicitude! Its +irregular manner of laying also seems better suited to a parasite like +our cow-bird, or the European cuckoo, than to a regular nest-builder. + +This observer, like most sharp-eyed persons, sees plenty of interesting +things as he goes about his work. He one day saw a white swallow, which +is of rare occurrence. He saw a bird, a sparrow he thinks, fly against +the side of a horse and fill his beak with hair from the loosened coat +of the animal. He saw a shrike pursue a chickadee, when the latter +escaped by taking refuge in a small hole in a tree. One day in early +spring he saw two hen-hawks that were circling and screaming high in +air, approach each other, extend a claw, and, clasping them together, +fall toward the earth flapping and struggling as if they were tied +together; on nearing the ground they separated and soared aloft again. +He supposed that it was not a passage of war but of love, and that the +hawks were toying fondly with each other. + +He further relates a curious circumstance of finding a humming-bird in +the upper part of a barn with its bill stuck fast in a crack of one of +the large timbers, dead, of course, with wings extended, and as dry as a +chip. The bird seems to have died as it had lived, on the wing, and its +last act was indeed a ghastly parody of its living career. Fancy this +nimble, flashing sprite, whose life was passed probing the honeyed +depths of flowers, at last thrusting its bill into a crack in a dry +timber in a hayloft, and, with spread wings, ending its existence. + +When the air is damp and heavy, swallows frequently hawk for insects +about cattle and moving herds in the field. My farmer describes how +they attended him one foggy day, as he was mowing in the meadow with a +mowing-machine. It had been foggy for two days, and the swallows were +very hungry, and the insects stupid and inert. When the sound of his +machine was heard, the swallows appeared and attended him like a brood +of hungry chickens. He says there was a continued rush of purple wings +over the "cut-bar," and just where it was causing the grass to tremble +and fall. Without his assistance the swallows would doubtless have gone +hungry yet another day. + +Of the hen-hawk, he has observed that both male and female take part in +incubation. "I was rather surprised," he says, "on one occasion, to +see how quickly they change places on the nest. The nest was in a tall +beech, and the leaves were not yet fully out. I could see the head and +neck of the hawk over the edge of the nest, when I saw the other hawk +coming down through the air at full speed. I expected he would alight +near by, but instead of that he struck directly upon the nest, his mate +getting out of the way barely in time to avoid being hit; it seemed +almost as if he had knocked her off the nest. I hardly see how they can +make such a rush on the nest without danger to the eggs." + +The king-bird will worry the hawk as a whiffet dog will worry a bear. It +is by his persistence and audacity, not by any injury he is capable of +dealing his great antagonist. The king-bird seldom more than dogs the +hawk, keeping above and between his wings, and making a great ado; but +my correspondent says he once "saw a king-bird riding on a hawk's +back. The hawk flew as fast as possible, and the king-bird sat upon his +shoulders in triumph until they had passed out of sight,"--tweaking his +feathers, no doubt, and threatening to scalp him the next moment. + +That near relative of the king-bird, the great crested fly-catcher, +has one well known peculiarity: he appears never to consider his nest +finished until it contains a cast-off snake-skin. My alert correspondent +one day saw him eagerly catch up an onion skin and make off with it, +either deceived by it or else thinking it a good substitute for the +coveted material. + +One day in May, walking in the woods, I came upon the nest of a +whippoorwill, or rather its eggs, for it builds no nest,--two elliptical +whitish spotted eggs lying upon the dry leaves. My foot was within a +yard of the mother-bird before she flew. I wondered what a sharp eye +would detect curious or characteristic in the ways of the bird, so I +came to the place many times and had a look. It was always a task to +separate the bird from her surroundings though I stood within a few feet +of her, and knew exactly where to look. One had to bear on with his eye, +as it were, and refuse to be baffled. The sticks and leaves, and bits of +black or dark-brown bark, were all exactly copied in the bird's plumage. +And then she did sit so close, and simulate so well a shapeless decaying +piece of wood or bark! Twice I brought a companion, and guiding his eye +to the spot, noted how difficult it was for him to make out there, in +full view upon the dry leaves, any semblance to a bird. When the bird +returned after being disturbed, she would alight within a few inches of +her eggs, and then, after a moment's pause, hobble awkwardly upon them. + +After the young had appeared, all the wit of the bird came into play. I +was on hand the next day, I think. The mother-bird sprang up when I was +within a pace of her, and in doing so fanned the leaves with her wings +till they sprang up too; as the leaves started the young started, and, +being of the same color, to tell which was the leaf and which the bird +was a trying task to any eye. I came the next day, when the same tactics +were repeated. Once a leaf fell upon one of the young birds and +nearly hid it. The young are covered with a reddish down like a young +partridge, and soon follow their mother about. When disturbed, they gave +but one leap, then settled down, perfectly motionless and stupid, with +eyes closed. The parent bird, on these occasions made frantic efforts +to decoy me away from her young. She would fly a few paces and fall +upon her breast, and a spasm, like that of death, would run through her +tremulous outstretched wings and prostrate body. She kept a sharp eye +out the meanwhile to see if the ruse took, and if it did not, she was +quickly cured, and moving about to some other point tried to draw my +attention as before. When followed she always alighted upon the ground, +dropping down in a sudden peculiar way. The second or third day both old +and young had disappeared. + +The whippoorwill walks as awkwardly as a swallow, which is as awkward as +a man in a bag, and yet she manages to lead her young about the woods. +The latter, I think, move by leaps and sudden spurts, their protective +coloring shielding them most effectively. Wilson once came upon the +mother-bird and her brood in the woods, and, though they were at his +very feet, was so baffled by the concealment of the young that he +was about to give up the search, much disappointed, when he perceived +something "like a slight moldiness among the withered leaves, and, +on stooping down, discovered it to be a young whippoorwill seemingly +asleep." Wilson's description of the young is very accurate, as its +downy covering does look precisely like a "slight moldiness." Returning +a few moments afterward to the spot to get a pencil he had forgotten, he +could find neither old nor young. + +It takes an eye to see a partridge in the woods motionless upon the +leaves; this sense needs to be as sharp as that of smell in hounds and +pointers; and yet I know an unkempt youth that seldom fails to see the +bird and shoot it before it takes wing. I think he sees it as soon as it +sees him and before it suspects itself seen. What a training to the eye +is hunting! To pick out the game from its surroundings, the grouse +from the leaves, the gray squirrel from the mossy oak limb it hugs so +closely, the red fox from the ruddy or brown or gray field, the rabbit +from the stubble, or the white hare from the snow requires the best +powers of this sense. A woodchuck, motionless in the fields or upon +a rock, looks very much like a large stone or bowlder, yet a keen eye +knows the difference at a glance, a quarter of a mile away. + +A man has a sharper eye than a dog, or a fox, or than any of the wild +creatures, but not so sharp an ear or nose. But in the birds he finds +his match. How quickly the old turkey discovers the hawk, a mere speck +against the sky, and how quickly the hawk discovers you if you happen to +be secreted in the bushes or behind the fence near which he alights! +One advantage the bird surely has, and that is, owing to the form, +structure, and position of the eye, it has a much larger field of +vision--indeed, can probably see in nearly every direction at the same +instant, behind as well as before. Man's field of vision embraces less +than half a circle horizontally, and still less vertically; his brow and +brain prevent him from seeing within many degrees of the zenith without +a movement of the head; the bird on the other hand, takes in nearly the +whole sphere at a glance. + +I find I see almost without effort nearly every bird within sight in the +field or wood I pass through (a flit of the wing, a flirt of the tail +are enough, though the flickering leaves do all conspire to hide them), +and that with like ease the birds see me, though, unquestionably, the +chances are immensely in their favor. The eye sees what it has the means +of seeing, truly. You must have the bird in your heart before you can +find it in the bush. The eye must have purpose and aim. No one ever yet +found the walking fern who did not have the walking fern in his mind. A +person whose eye is full of Indian relics picks them up in every field +he walks through. + +One season I was interested in the tree-frogs; especially the tiny piper +that one hears about the woods and brushy fields--the hyla of the swamps +become a denizen of the trees; I had never seen him in this new role. +But this season, having hylas in mind, or rather being ripe for them, I +several times came across them. One Sunday, walking amid some bushes, +I captured two. They leaped before me as doubtless they had done many +times before; but though I was not looking for or thinking of them, yet +they were quickly recognized, because the eye had been commissioned +to find them. On another occasion, not long afterward, I was hurriedly +loading my gun in the October woods in hopes of overtaking a gray +squirrel that was fast escaping through the tree-tops, when one of these +lilliput frogs, the color of the fast-yellowing leaves, leaped near me. +I saw him only out of the corner of my eye and yet bagged him, because I +had already made him my own. + +Nevertheless, the habit of observation is the habit of clear and +decisive gazing. Not by a first casual glance, but by a steady +deliberate aim of the eye are the rare and characteristic things +discovered. You must look intently and hold your eye firmly to the spot, +to see more than do the rank and file of mankind. The sharp-shooter +picks out his man and knows him with fatal certainty from a stump, or a +rock, or a cap on a pole. The phrenologists do well to locate, not only +form, color, and weight, in the region of the eye, but also a faculty +which they call individuality--that which separates, discriminates, and +sees in every object its essential character. This is just as necessary +to the naturalist as to the artist or the poet. The sharp eye notes +specific points and differences,--it seizes upon and preserves the +individuality of the thing. Persons frequently describe to me some bird +they have seen or heard and ask me to name it, but in most cases the +bird might be any one of a dozen, or else it is totally unlike any bird +found in this continent. They have either seen falsely or else vaguely. +Not so the farm youth who wrote me one winter day that he had seen a +single pair of strange birds, which he describes as follows: "They were +about the size of the 'chippie,' the tops of their heads were red, and +the breast of the male was of the same color, while that of the female +was much lighter; their rumps were also faintly tinged with red. If I +have described them so that you would know them, please write me their +names." There can be little doubt but the young observer had seen a pair +of red-polls,--a bird related to the goldfinch, and that occasionally +comes down to us in the winter from the far north. Another time, +the same youth wrote that he had seen a strange bird, the color of +a sparrow, that alighted on fences and buildings as well as upon +the ground, and that walked. This last fact shoved the youth's +discriminating eye and settled the case. I knew it to be a species of +the lark, and from the size, color, season, etc., the tit-lark. But how +many persons would have observed that the bird walked instead of hopped? + +Some friends of mine who lived in the country tried to describe to me a +bird that built a nest in a tree within a few feet of the house. As it +was a brown bird, I should have taken it for a wood-thrush, had not +the nest been described as so thin and loose that from beneath the eggs +could be distinctly seen. The most pronounced feature in the description +was the barred appearance of the under side of the bird's tail. I was +quite at sea, until one day, when we were driving out, a cuckoo flew +across the road in front of us, when my friends exclaimed, "There is our +bird!" I had never known a cuckoo to build near a house, and I had never +noted the appearance the tail presents when viewed from beneath; but if +the bird had been described in its most obvious features, as slender, +with a long tail, cinnamon brown above and white beneath, with a curved +bill, anyone who knew the bird would have recognized the portrait. + +We think we have looked at a thing sharply until we are asked for its +specific features. I thought I knew exactly the form of the leaf of the +tulip-tree, until one day a lady asked me to draw the outline of one. A +good observer is quick to take a hint and to follow it up. Most of the +facts of nature, especially in the life of the birds and animals, are +well screened. We do not see the play because we do not look intently +enough. The other day I was sitting with a friend upon a high rock +in the woods, near a small stream, when we saw a water-snake swimming +across a pool toward the opposite bank. Any eye would have noted it, +perhaps nothing more. A little closer and sharper gaze revealed the fact +that the snake bore something in its mouth, which, as we went down to +investigate, proved to be a small cat-fish, three or four inches long. +The snake had captured it in the pool, and, like any other fisherman, +wanted to get its prey to dry land, although itself lived mostly in the +water. Here, we said, is being enacted a little tragedy, that would have +escaped any but sharp eyes. The snake, which was itself small, had the +fish by the throat, the hold of vantage among all creatures, and clung +to it with great tenacity. The snake knew that its best tactics was to +get upon dry land as soon as possible. It could not swallow its victim +alive, and it could not strangle it in the water. For a while it tried +to kill its game by holding it up out of the water, but the fish grew +heavy, and every few moments its struggles brought down the snake's +head. This would not do. Compressing the fish's throat would not shut +off its breath under such circumstances, so the wily serpent tried to +get ashore with it, and after several attempts succeeded in effecting a +landing on a flat rock. But the fish died hard. Cat-fish do not give up +the ghost in a hurry. Its throat was becoming congested, but the snake's +distended jaws must have ached. It was like a petrified gape. Then the +spectators became very curious and close in their scrutiny, and the +snake determined to withdraw from the public gaze and finish the +business in hand to its own notions. But, when gently but firmly +remonstrated with by my friend with his walking-stick, it dropped the +fish and retreated in high dudgeon beneath a stone in the bed of the +creek. The fish, with a swollen and angry throat, went its way also. + +Birds, I say, have wonderfully keen eyes. Throw a fresh bone or a +piece of meat upon the snow in winter, and see how soon the crows will +discover it and be on hand. If it be near the house or barn, the crow +that first discovers it will alight near it, to make sure he is not +deceived; then he will go away, and soon return with a companion. The +two alight a few yards from the bone, and after some delay, during which +the vicinity is sharply scrutinized, one of the crows advances boldly to +within a few feet of the coveted prize. Here he pauses, and if no trick +is discovered, and the meat be indeed meat, he seizes it and makes off. + +One midwinter I cleared away the snow under an apple-tree near the house +and scattered some corn there. I had not seen a blue-jay for weeks, yet +that very day one found my corn, and after that several came daily and +partook of it, holding the kernels under their feet upon the limbs of +the trees and pecking them vigorously. + +Of course the woodpecker and his kind have sharp eyes; still I was +surprised to see how quickly Downy found out some bones that were placed +in a convenient place under the shed to be pounded up for the hens. In +going out to the barn I often disturbed him making a meal off the bite +of meat that still adhered to them. + +"Look intently enough at anything," said a poet to me one day, "and you +will see something that would otherwise escape you." I thought of the +remark as I sat on a stump in an opening of the woods one spring day. I +saw a small hawk approaching; he flew to a tall tulip-tree and alighted +on a large limb near the top. He eyed me and I eyed him. Then the bird +disclosed a trait that was new to me: he hopped along the limb to a +small cavity near the trunk, when he thrust in his head and pulled out +some small object and fell to eating it. After he had partaken of it for +some minutes he put the remainder back in his larder and flew away. I +had seen something like feathers eddying slowly down as the hawk ate, +and on approaching the spot found the feathers of a sparrow here and +there clinging to the bushes beneath the tree. The hawk then--commonly +called the chicken hawk--is as provident as a mouse or a squirrel, and +lays by a store against a time of need, but I should not have discovered +the fact had I not held my eye on him. + +An observer of the birds is attracted by any unusual sound or commotion +among them. In May or June, when other birds are most vocal, the jay +is a silent bird; he goes sneaking about the orchards and the groves +as silent as a pickpocket; he is robbing bird's-nests and he is very +anxious that nothing should be said about it; but in the fall none so +quick and loud to cry "Thief, thief!" as he. One December morning a +troop of jays discovered a little screech-owl secreted in the hollow +trunk of an old apple-tree near my house. How they found the owl out is +a mystery, since it never ventures forth in the light of day; but +they did, and proclaimed the fact with great emphasis. I suspect the +bluebirds first told them, for these birds are constantly peeping into +holes and crannies, both spring and fall. Some unsuspecting bird had +probably entered the cavity prospecting for a place for next year's +nest, or else looking out a likely place to pass a cold night, and then +had rushed out with important news. A boy who should unwittingly venture +into a bear's den when Bruin was at home could not be more astonished +and alarmed than a bluebird would be on finding itself in the cavity of +a decayed tree with an owl. At any rate the bluebirds joined the jays +in calling the attention of all whom it might concern to the fact that +a culprit of some sort was hiding from the light of day in the old +apple-tree. I heard the notes of warning and alarm and approached to +within eye-shot. The bluebirds were cautious and hovered about uttering +their peculiar twittering calls; but the jays were bolder and took turns +looking in at the cavity, and deriding the poor shrinking owl. A +jay would alight in the entrance of the hole and flirt and peer and +attitudinize, and then flyaway crying "Thief, thief, thief!" at the top +of his voice. + +I climbed up and peered into the opening, and could just descry the +owl clinging to the inside of the tree. I reached in and took him out, +giving little heed to the threatening snapping of his beak. He was as +red as a fox and as yellow-eyed as a cat. He made no effort to escape, +but planted his claws in my forefinger and clung there with a grip that +soon grew uncomfortable. I placed him in the loft of an out-house +in hopes of getting better acquainted with him. By day he was a very +willing prisoner, scarcely moving at all, even when approached and +touched with the hand, but looking out upon the world with half-closed, +sleepy eyes. But at night what a change; how alert, how wild, how +active! He was like another bird; he darted about with wide, fearful +eyes, and regarded me like a cornered cat. I opened the window, and +swiftly, but as silent as a shadow, he glided out into the congenial +darkness, and perhaps, ere this, has revenged himself upon the sleeping +jay or bluebird that first betrayed his hiding-place. + + + + +THE APPLE. + + + Lo! sweetened with the summer light, + The full-juiced apple, waxing over-mellow, + Drops in a silent autumn night.--TENNYSON. + + +Not a little of the sunshine of our northern winters is surely wrapped +up in the apple. How could we winter over without it! How is life +sweetened by its mild acids! A cellar well filled with apples is more +valuable than a chamber filled with flax and wool. So much sound ruddy +life to draw upon, to strike one's roots down into, as it were. + +Especially to those whose soil of life is inclined to be a little clayey +and heavy, is the apple a winter necessity. It is the natural antidote +of most of the ills the flesh is heir to. Full of vegetable acids and +aromatics, qualities which act as refrigerants and antiseptics, what an +enemy it is to jaundice, indigestion, torpidity of liver, etc. It is a +gentle spur and tonic to the whole biliary system. Then I have read that +it has been found by analysis to contain more phosphorus than any +other vegetable. This makes it the proper food of the scholar and the +sedentary man; it feeds his brain and it stimulates his liver. Nor is +this all. Besides its hygienic properties, the apple is full of +sugar and mucilage, which make it highly nutritious. It is said, +"The operators of Cornwall, England, consider ripe apples nearly +as nourishing as bread, and far more so than potatoes. In the year +1801--which was a year of much scarcity--apples, instead of being +converted into cider, were sold to the poor, and the laborers asserted +that they could 'stand their work' on baked apples without meat; whereas +a potato diet required either meat or some other substantial nutriment. +The French and Germans use apples extensively, so do the inhabitants +of all European nations. The laborers depend upon them as an article of +food, and frequently make a dinner of sliced apples and bread." + +Yet the English apple is a tame and insipid affair compared with the +intense, sun-colored and sun-steeped fruit our orchards yield. +The English have no sweet apple, I am told, the saccharine element +apparently being less abundant in vegetable nature in that sour and +chilly climate than in our own. It is well known that the European maple +yields no sugar, while both our birch and hickory have sweet in their +veins. Perhaps this fact accounts for our excessive love of sweets, +which may be said to be a national trait. + +The Russian apple has a lovely complexion, smooth and transparent, +but the Cossack is not yet all eliminated from it. The only one I have +seen--the Duchess of Oldenburg--is as beautiful as a Tartar princess, +with a distracting odor, but it is the least bit puckery to the taste. + +The best thing I know about Chili is not its guano beds, but this fact +which I learn from Darwin's "Voyage," namely, that the apple thrives +well there. Darwin saw a town there so completely buried in a wood of +apple-trees, that its streets were merely paths in an orchard. The tree +indeed thrives so well, that large branches cut off in the spring and +planted two or three feet deep in the ground send out roots and develop +into fine full-bearing trees by the third year. The people know the +value of the apple too. They make cider and wine of it and then from +the refuse a white and finely flavored spirit; then by another process +a sweet treacle is obtained called honey. The children and the pigs eat +little or no other food. He does not add that the people are healthy +and temperate, but I have no doubt they are. We knew the apple had many +virtues, but these Chilians have really opened a deep beneath a deep. +We had found out the cider and the spirits, but who guessed the wine and +the honey, unless it were the bees? There is a variety in our orchards +called the winesap, a doubly liquid name that suggests what might be +done with this fruit. + +The apple is the commonest and yet the most varied and beautiful of +fruits. A dish of them is as becoming to the centre-table in winter as +was the vase of flowers in the summer,--a bouquet of spitzenbergs and +greenings and northern spies. A rose when it blooms, the apple is a rose +when it ripens. It pleases every sense to which it can be addressed, the +touch, the smell, the sight, the taste; and when it falls in the still +October days it pleases the ear. It is a call to a banquet, it is a +signal that the feast is ready. The bough would fain hold it, but it can +now assert its independence; it can now live a life of its own. + +Daily the stem relaxes its hold, till finally it lets go completely, and +down comes the painted sphere with a mellow thump to the earth, towards +which it has been nodding so long. It bounds away to seek its bed, +to hide under a leaf, or in a tuft of grass. It will now take time to +meditate and ripen! What delicious thoughts it has there nestled with +its fellows under the fence, turning acid into sugar, and sugar into +wine! + +How pleasing to the touch! I love to stroke its polished rondure with +my hand, to carry it in my pocket on my tramp over the winter hills, or +through the early spring woods. You are company, you red-cheeked spitz, +or you salmon-fleshed greening! I toy with you; press your face to mine, +toss you in the air, roll you on the ground, see you shine out where you +lie amid the moss and dry leaves and sticks. You are so alive! You glow +like a ruddy flower. You look so animated I almost expect to see you +move. I postpone the eating of you, you are so beautiful! How compact; +how exquisitely tinted! Stained by the sun and varnished against the +rains. An independent vegetable existence, alive and vascular as my own +flesh; capable of being wounded, bleeding, wasting away, and almost of +repairing damages! + +How it resists the cold! holding out almost as long as the red cheeks +of the boys do. A frost that destroys the potatoes and other roots only +makes the apple more crisp and vigorous; it peeps out from the chance +November snows unscathed. When I see the fruit-vender on the street +corner stamping his feet and beating his hands to keep them warm, and +his naked apples lying exposed to the blasts, I wonder if they do not +ache too to clap their hands and enliven their circulation. But they can +stand it nearly as long as the vender can. + +Noble common fruit, best friend of man and most loved by him, following +him like his dog or his cow, wherever he goes. His homestead is not +planted till you are planted, your roots intertwine with his; thriving +best where he thrives best, loving the limestone and the frost, the +plow and the pruning-knife, you are indeed suggestive of hardy, cheerful +industry, and a healthy life in the open air. Temperate, chaste fruit! +you mean neither luxury nor sloth, neither satiety nor indolence, +neither enervating heats nor the Frigid Zones. Uncloying fruit, fruit +whose best sauce is the open air, whose finest flavors only he whose +taste is sharpened by brisk work or walking knows; winter fruit, when +the fire of life burns brightest; fruit always a little hyperborean, +leaning towards the cold; bracing, sub-acid, active fruit. I think you +must come from the north, you are so frank and honest, so sturdy and +appetizing. You are stocky and homely like the northern races. Your +quality is Saxon. Surely the fiery and impetuous south is not akin to +you. Not spices or olives or the sumptuous liquid fruits, but the grass, +the snow, the grains, the coolness is akin to you. I think if I could +subsist on you or the like of you, I should never have an intemperate +or ignoble thought, never be feverish or despondent. So far as I could +absorb or transmute your quality I should be cheerful, continent, +equitable, sweet-blooded, long-lived, and should shed warmth and +contentment around. + +Is there any other fruit that has so much facial expression as the +apple? What boy does not more than half believe they can see with that +single eye of theirs? Do they not look and nod to him from the bough? +The swaar has one look, the rambo another, the spy another. The youth +recognizes the seek-no-further buried beneath a dozen other varieties, +the moment he catches a glance of its eye, or the bonny-cheeked Newtown +pippin, or the gentle but sharp-nosed gilliflower. He goes to the great +bin in the cellar and sinks his shafts here and there in the garnered +wealth of the orchards, mining for his favorites, sometimes coming plump +upon them, sometimes catching a glimpse of them to the right or left, +or uncovering them as keystones in an arch made up of many varieties. +In the dark he can usually tell them by the sense of touch. There is +not only the size and shape, but there is the texture and polish. Some +apples are coarse grained and some are fine; some are thin-skinned and +some are thick. One variety is quick and vigorous beneath the touch; +another gentle and yielding. The pinnock has a thick skin with a spongy +lining, a bruise in it becomes like a piece of cork. The tallow apple +has an unctuous feel, as its name suggests. It sheds water like a duck. +What apple is that with a fat curved stem that blends so prettily +with its own flesh,--the wine-apple? Some varieties impress me as +masculine,--weather-stained, freckled, lasting and rugged; others +are indeed lady apples, fair, delicate, shining, mild-flavored, +white-meated, like the egg-drop and the lady-finger. The practiced hand +knows each kind by the touch. Do you remember the apple hole in the +garden or back of the house, Ben Bolt? In the fall after the bins in the +cellar had been well stocked, we excavated a circular pit in the warm, +mellow earth, and covering the bottom with clean rye straw, emptied in +basketful after basketful of hardy choice varieties, till there was a +tent-shaped mound several feet high of shining variegated fruit. Then +wrapping it about with a thick layer of long rye straw, and tucking it +up snug and warm, the mound was covered, with a thin coating of earth, a +flat stone on the top holding down the straw. As winter set in, another +coating of earth was put upon it, with perhaps an overcoat of coarse dry +stable manure, and the precious pile was left in silence and darkness +till spring. No marmot hibernating under-ground in his nest of leaves +and dry grass, more cosy and warm. No frost, no wet, but fragrant +privacy and quiet. Then how the earth tempers and flavors the apples! It +draws out all the acrid unripe qualities, and infuses into them a subtle +refreshing taste of the soil. Some varieties perish; but the ranker, +hardier kinds, like the northern spy, the greening, or the black apple, +or the russet, or the pinnock, how they ripen and grow in grace, how the +green becomes gold, and the bitter becomes sweet! + +As the supply in the bins and barrels gets low and spring approaches, +the buried treasures in the garden are remembered. With spade and axe +we go out and penetrate through the snow and frozen earth till the inner +dressing of straw is laid bare. It is not quite as clear and bright as +when we placed it there last fall, but the fruit beneath, which the +hand soon exposes, is just as bright and far more luscious. Then, as day +after day you resort to the hole, and, removing the straw and earth from +the opening, thrust your arm into the fragrant pit, you have a better +chance than ever before to become acquainted with your favorites by the +sense of touch. How you feel for them, reaching to the right and left! +Now you have got a Tolman sweet; you imagine you can feel that single +meridian line that divides it into two hemispheres. Now a greening fills +your hand, you feel its fine quality beneath its rough coat. Now you +have hooked a swaar, you recognize its full face; now a Vandevere or a +King rolls down from the apex above, and you bag it at once. When you +were a school-boy you stowed these away in your pockets and ate them +along the road and at recess, and again at noon time; and they, in +a measure, corrected the effects of the cake and pie with which your +indulgent mother filled your lunch-basket. + +The boy is indeed the true apple-eater, and is not to be questioned how +he came by the fruit with which his pockets are filled. It belongs to +him...His own juicy flesh craves the juicy flesh of the apple. Sap draws +sap. His fruit-eating has little reference to the state of his appetite. +Whether he be full of meat or empty of meat he wants the apple just +the same. Before meal or after meal it never comes amiss. The farm-boy +munches apples all day long. He has nests of them in the hay-mow, +mellowing, to which he makes frequent visits. Sometimes old Brindle, +having access through the open door, smells them out and makes short +work of them. + +In some countries the custom remains of placing a rosy apple in the hand +of the dead that they may find it when they enter paradise. In northern +mythology the giants eat apples to keep off old age. + +The apple is indeed the fruit of youth. As we grow old we crave apples +less. It is an ominous sign. When you are ashamed to be seen eating them +on the street; when you can carry them in your pocket and your hand not +constantly find its way to them; when your neighbor has apples and you +have none, and you make no nocturnal visits to his orchard; when your +lunch-basket is without them, and you can pass a winter's night by the +fireside with no thought of the fruit at your elbow, then be assured you +are no longer a boy, either in heart or years. + +The genuine apple-eater comforts himself with an apple in their season +as others with a pipe or cigar. When he has nothing else to do, or is +bored, he eats an apple. While he is waiting for the train he eats an +apple, sometimes several of them. When he takes a walk, he arms himself +with apples. His traveling bag is full of apples. He offers an apple to +his companion, and takes one himself. They are his chief solace when +on the road. He sows their seed all along the route. He tosses the core +from the car-window and from the top of the stage-coach. He would, in +time, make the land one vast orchard. He dispenses with a knife. He +prefers that his teeth shall have the first taste. Then he knows the +best flavor is immediately beneath the skin, and that in a pared apple +this is lost. If you will stew the apple, he says, instead of baking +it, by all means leave the skin on. It improves the color and vastly +heightens the flavor of the dish. + +The apple is a masculine fruit; hence women are poor apple-eaters. It +belongs to the open air, and requires an open-air taste and relish. + +I instantly sympathized with that clergyman I read of, who on pulling +out his pocket-handkerchief in the midst of his discourse, pulled out +two bouncing apples with it that went rolling across the pulpit floor +and down the pulpit stairs. These apples were, no doubt, to be eaten +after the sermon on his way home, or to his next appointment. They would +take the taste of it out of his mouth. Then, would a minister be apt to +grow tiresome with two big apples in his coat-tail pockets? Would he not +naturally hasten along to "lastly," and the big apples? If they were the +dominie apples, and it was April or May, he certainly.... + +How the early settlers prized the apple! When their trees broke down or +were split asunder by the storms, the neighbors turned out, the divided +tree was put together again and fastened with iron bolts. In some of the +oldest orchards one may still occasionally see a large dilapidated tree +with the rusty iron bolt yet visible. Poor, sour fruit, too, but sweet +in those early pioneer days. My grandfather, who was one of these heroes +of the stump, used every fall to make a journey of forty miles for a +few apples, which he brought home in a bag on horseback. He frequently +started from home by two or three o'clock in the morning, and at one +time both he and his horse were much frightened by the screaming of +panthers in a narrow pass in the mountains through which the road led. + +Emerson, I believe, has spoken of the apple as the social fruit of New +England. Indeed, what a promoter or abettor of social intercourse among +our rural population the apple has been, the company growing more merry +and unrestrained as soon as the basket of apples was passed round! +When the cider followed, the introduction and good understanding were +complete. Then those rural gatherings that enlivened the autumn in the +country, known as "apple cuts," now, alas! nearly obsolete, where so +many things were cut and dried besides apples! The larger and more +loaded the orchard, the more frequently the invitations went round and +the higher the social and convivial spirit ran. Ours is eminently a +country of the orchard. Horace Greeley said he had seen no land in +which the orchard formed such a prominent feature in the rural and +agricultural districts. Nearly every farmhouse in the Eastern and +Northern States has its setting or its background of apple-trees, which +generally date back to the first settlement of the farm. Indeed, the +orchard, more than almost any other thing, tends to soften and humanize +the country, and to give the place of which it is an adjunct, a settled, +domestic look. The apple-tree takes the rawness and wildness off any +scene. On the top of a mountain, or in remote pastures, it sheds the +sentiment of home. It never loses its domestic air, or lapses into a +wild state. And in planting a homestead, or in choosing a building +site for the new house, what a help it is to have a few old, maternal +apple-trees near by; regular old grandmothers, who have seen trouble, +who have been sad and glad through so many winters and summers, who have +blossomed till the air about them is sweeter than elsewhere, and borne +fruit till the grass beneath them has become thick and soft from human +contact, and who have nourished robins and finches in their branches +till they have a tender, brooding look. The ground, the turf, the +atmosphere of an old orchard, seem several stages nearer to man than +that of the adjoining field, as if the trees had given back to the soil +more than they had taken from it; as if they had tempered the elements +and attracted all the genial and beneficent influences in the landscape +around. + +An apple orchard is sure to bear you several crops beside the apple. +There is the crop of sweet and tender reminiscences dating from +childhood and spanning the seasons from May to October, and making the +orchard a sort of outlying part of the household. You have played +there as a child, mused there as a youth or lover, strolled there as a +thoughtful, sad-eyed man. Your father, perhaps, planted the trees, or +reared them from the seed, and you yourself have pruned and grafted +them, and worked among them, till every separate tree has a peculiar +history and meaning in your mind. Then there is the never-failing crop +of birds--robins, goldfinches, king-birds, cedar-birds, hair-birds, +orioles, starlings--all nesting and breeding in its branches, and fitly +described by Wilson Flagg as "Birds of the Garden and Orchard." Whether +the pippin and sweetbough bear or not, the "punctual birds" can always +be depended on. Indeed, there are few better places to study ornithology +than in the orchard. Besides its regular occupants, many of the birds +of the deeper forest find occasion to visit it during the season. The +cuckoo comes for the tent-caterpillar, the jay for frozen apples, +the ruffed grouse for buds, the crow foraging for birds' eggs, the +woodpecker and chickadees for their food, and the high-hole for ants. +The red-bird comes too, if only to see what a friendly covert its +branches form; and the wood-thrush now and then comes out of the grove +near by, and nests alongside of its cousin, the robin. The smaller hawks +know that this is a most likely spot for their prey; and in spring the +shy northern warblers may be studied as they pause to feed on the fine +insects amid its branches. The mice love to dwell here also, and hither +comes from the near woods the squirrel and the rabbit. The latter will +put his head through the boy's slipper-noose any time for taste of the +sweet apple, and the red squirrel and chipmunk esteem its seeds a great +rarity. + +All the domestic animals love the apple, but none so much so as the cow. +The taste of it wakes her up as few other things do, and bars and fences +must be well looked after. No need to assort them or pick out the ripe +ones for her. An apple is an apple, and there is no best about it. I +heard of a quick-witted old cow that learned to shake them down from +the tree. While rubbing herself she had observed that an apple sometimes +fell. This stimulated her to rub a little harder, when more apples fell. +She then took the hint and rubbed her shoulder with such vigor that the +farmer had to check her and keep an eye on her to save his fruit. + +But the cow is the friend of the apple. How many trees she has planted +about the farm, in the edge of the woods, and in remote fields and +pastures. The wild apples, celebrated by Thoreau, are mostly of her +planting. She browses them down to be sure, but they are hers, and why +should she not? + +What an individuality the apple-tree has, each variety being nearly +as marked by its form as by its fruit. What a vigorous grower, for +instance, is the Ribston pippin, an English apple. Wide branching like +the oak, and its large ridgy fruit, in late fall or early winter, is one +of my favorites. Or the thick and more pendent top of the belleflower, +with its equally rich, sprightly uncloying fruit. + +Sweet apples are perhaps the most nutritious, and when baked are a feast +in themselves. With a tree of the Jersey sweet or of Tolman's sweeting +in bearing, no man's table need be devoid of luxuries and one of the +most wholesome of all deserts. Or the red astrachan, an August apple, +what a gap may be filled in the culinary department of a household at +this season, by a single tree of this fruit! And what a feast is its +shining crimson coat to the eye before its snow-white flesh has +reached the tongue. But the apple of apples for the household is the +spitzenberg. In this casket Pomona has put her highest flavors. It can +stand the ordeal of cooking and still remain a spitz. I recently saw +a barrel of these apples from the orchard of a fruit-grower in the +northern part of New York, who has devoted special attention to this +variety. They were perfect gems. Not large, that had not been the aim, +but small, fair, uniform, and red to the core. How intense, how spicy +and aromatic! + +But all the excellences of the apple are not confined to the cultivated +fruit. Occasionally a seedling springs up about the farm that produces +fruit of rare beauty and worth. In sections peculiarly adapted to the +apple, like a certain belt along the Hudson River, I have noticed that +most of the wild unbidden trees bear good, edible fruit. In cold and +ungenial districts, the seedlings are mostly sour and crabbed, but in +more favorable soils they are oftener mild and sweet. I know wild +apples that ripen in August, and that do not need, if it could be had, +Thoreau's sauce of sharp November air to be eaten with. At the foot of +a hill near me and striking its roots deep in the shale, is a giant +specimen of native tree that bears an apple that has about the clearest, +waxiest, most transparent complexion I ever saw. It is good size, and +the color of a tea-rose. Its quality is best appreciated in the kitchen. +I know another seedling of excellent quality and so remarkable for its +firmness and density, that it is known on the farm where it grows as the +"heavy apple." + +I have alluded to Thoreau, to whom all lovers of the apple and its tree +are under obligation. His chapter on Wild Apples is a most delicious +piece of writing. It has a "tang and smack" like the fruit it +celebrates, and is dashed and streaked with color in the same manner. +It has the hue and perfume of the crab, and the richness and raciness of +the pippin. But Thoreau loved other apples than the wild sorts and was +obliged to confess that his favorites could not be eaten in-doors. Late +in November he found a blue-pearmain tree growing within the edge of a +swamp, almost as good as wild. "You would not suppose," he says, "that +there was any fruit left there on the first survey, but you must look +according to system. Those which lie exposed are quite brown and rotten +now, or perchance a few still show one blooming cheek here and there +amid the wet leaves. Nevertheless, with experienced eyes I explore amid +the bare alders, and the huckleberry bushes, and the withered sedge, and +in the crevices of the rocks, which are full of leaves, and pry under +the fallen and decayed ferns which, with apple and alder leaves, thickly +strew the ground. For I know that they lie concealed, fallen into +hollows long since, and covered up by the leaves of the tree itself--a +proper kind of packing. From these lurking places, everywhere within the +circumference of the tree, I draw forth the fruit all wet and glossy, +maybe nibbled by rabbits and hollowed out by crickets, and perhaps +a leaf or two cemented to it (as Curzon an old manuscript from a +monastery's mouldy cellar), but still with a rich bloom on it, and at +least as ripe and well kept, if no better than those in barrels, more +crisp and lively than they. If these resources fail to yield anything, +I have learned to look between the leaves of the suckers which spring +thickly from some horizontal limb, for now and then one lodges there, or +in the very midst of an alder-clump, where they are covered by leaves, +safe from cows which may have smelled them out. If I am sharp-set, for I +do not refuse the blue-pearmain, I fill my pockets on each side; and as +I retrace my steps, in the frosty eve being perhaps four or five miles +from home, I eat one first from this side, and then from that, to keep +my balance." + + + + +A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH. + + +The traveler and camper-out in Maine, unless he penetrates its more +northern portions, has less reason to remember it as a pine-tree State +than a birch-tree State. The white-pine forests have melted away like +snow in the spring and gone down stream, leaving only patches here and +there in the more remote and inaccessible parts. The portion of the +State I saw--the valley of the Kennebec and the woods about Moxie +Lake--had been shorn of its pine timber more than forty years before, +and is now covered with a thick growth of spruce and cedar and various +deciduous trees. But the birch abounds. Indeed, when the pine goes out +the birch comes in; the race of men succeeds the race of giants. +This tree has great stay-at-home virtues. Let the sombre, aspiring, +mysterious pine go; the birch has humble every-day uses. In Maine, the +paper or canoe birch is turned to more account than any other tree. I +read in Gibbon that the natives of ancient Assyria used to celebrate +in verse or prose the three hundred and sixty uses to which the various +parts and products of the palm-tree were applied. The Maine birch is +turned to so many accounts that it may well be called the palm of this +region. Uncle Nathan, our guide, said it was made especially for the +camper-out; yes, and for the wood-man and frontiersman generally. It is +a magazine, a furnishing store set up in the wilderness, whose goods are +free to every comer. The whole equipment of the camp lies folded in it, +and comes forth at the beck of the woodman's axe; tent, waterproof +roof, boat, camp utensils, buckets, cups, plates, spoons, napkins, +table cloths, paper for letters or your journal, torches, candles, +kindling-wood, and fuel. The canoe-birch yields you its vestments with +the utmost liberality. Ask for its coat, and it gives you its waistcoat +also. Its bark seems wrapped about it layer upon layer, and comes off +with great ease. We saw many rude structures and cabins shingled and +sided with it, and haystacks capped with it. Near a maple-sugar camp +there was a large pile of birch-bark sap-buckets,--each bucket made of +a piece of bark about a yard square, folded up as the tinman folds up +a sheet of tin to make a square vessel, the corners bent around against +the sides and held by a wooden pin. When, one day, we were overtaken +by a shower in traveling through the woods, our guide quickly stripped +large sheets of the bark from a near tree, and we had each a perfect +umbrella as by magic. When the rain was over, and we moved on, I wrapped +mine about me like a large leather apron, and it shielded my clothes +from the wet bushes. When we came to a spring, Uncle Nathan would have +a birch-bark cup ready before any of us could get a tin one out of his +knapsack, and I think water never tasted so sweet as from one of these +bark cups. It is exactly the thing. It just fits the mouth and it seems +to give new virtues to the water. It makes me thirsty now when I think +of it. In our camp at Moxie we made a large birch-bark box to keep the +butter in; and the butter in this box, covered with some leafy boughs, +I think improved in flavor day by day. Maine butter needs something to +mollify and sweeten it a little, and I think birch bark will do it. In +camp Uncle Nathan often drank his tea and coffee from a bark cup; the +china closet in the birch-tree was always handy, and our vulgar tin +ware was generally a good deal mixed, and the kitchen-maid not at all +particular about dish-washing. We all tried the oatmeal with the maple +syrup in one of these dishes, and the stewed mountain cranberries, +using a birch-bark spoon, and never found service better. Uncle Nathan +declared he could boil potatoes in a bark kettle, and I did not doubt +him. Instead of sending our soiled napkins and table-spreads to the +wash, we rolled them up into candles and torches, and drew daily upon +our stores in the forest for new ones. + +But the great triumph of the birch is of course the bark canoe. When +Uncle Nathan took us out under his little wood-shed, and showed us, or +rather modestly permitted us to see, his nearly finished canoe, it was +like a first glimpse of some new and unknown genius of the woods or +streams. It sat there on the chips and shavings and fragments of bark +like some shy delicate creature just emerged from its hiding-place, or +like some wild flower just opened. It was the first boat of the kind +I had ever seen, and it filled my eye completely. What woodcraft it +indicated, and what a wild free life, sylvan life, it promised! It had +such a fresh, aboriginal look as I had never before seen in any kind of +handiwork. Its clear yellow-red color would have become the cheek of an +Indian maiden. Then its supple curves and swells, its sinewy stays +and thwarts, its bow-like contour, its tomahawk stem and stern rising +quickly and sharply from its frame, were all vividly suggestive of the +race from which it came. An old Indian had taught Uncle Nathan the art, +and the soul of the ideal red man looked out of the boat before us. +Uncle Nathan had spent two days ranging the mountains looking for a +suitable tree, and had worked nearly a week on the craft. It was +twelve feet long, and would seat and carry five men nicely. Three trees +contribute to the making of a canoe besides the birch, namely, the white +cedar for ribs and lining, the spruce for roots and fibres to sew its +joints and bind its frame, and the pine for pitch or rosin to stop its +seams and cracks. It is hand-made and home-made, or rather wood-made, +in a sense that no other craft is, except a dug-out, and it suggests a +taste and a refinement that few products of civilization realize. The +design of a savage, it yet looks like the thought of a poet, and its +grace and fitness haunt the imagination. I suppose its production was +the inevitable result of the Indian's wants and surroundings, but that +does not detract from its beauty. It is, indeed, one of the fairest +flowers the thorny plant of necessity ever bore. Our canoe, as I have +intimated, was not yet finished when we first saw it, nor yet when we +took it up, with its architect, upon our metaphorical backs and bore it +to the woods. It lacked part of its cedar lining and the rosin upon its +joints, and these were added after we reached our destination. + +Though we were not indebted to the birch-tree for our guide, Uncle +Nathan, as he was known in all the country, yet he matched well these +woodsy products and conveniences. The birch-tree had given him a large +part of his tuition, and kneeling in his canoe and making it shoot +noiselessly over the water with that subtle yet indescribably expressive +and athletic play of the muscles of the back and shoulders, the boat and +the man seemed born of the same spirit. He had been a hunter and trapper +for over forty years; he had grown gray in the woods, had ripened and +matured there, and everything about him was as if the spirit of the +woods had had the ordering of it; his whole make-up was in a minor +and subdued key, like the moss and the lichens, or like the protective +coloring of the game,--everything but his quick sense and penetrative +glance. He was as gentle and modest as a girl; his sensibilities were +like plants that grow in the shade. The woods and the solitudes had +touched him with their own softening and refining influence; had indeed +shed upon his soil of life a rich deep leaf mould that was delightful, +and that nursed, half concealed, the tenderest and wildest growths. +There was grit enough back of and beneath it all, but he presented +none of the rough and repelling traits of character of the conventional +backwoods-man. In the spring he was a driver of logs on the Kennebec, +usually having charge of a large gang of men; in the winter he was a +solitary trapper and hunter in the forests. + +Our first glimpse of Maine waters was Pleasant Pond, which we found by +following a white, rapid, musical stream from the Kennebec three +miles back into the mountains. Maine waters are for the most part +dark-complexioned, Indian-colored streams, but Pleasant Pond is a +pale-face among them both in name and nature. It is the only strictly +silver lake I ever saw. Its waters seem almost artificially white and +brilliant, though of remarkable transparency. I think I detected minute +shining motes held in suspension in it. As for the trout they are +veritable bars of silver until you have cut their flesh, when they +are the reddest of gold. They have no crimson or other spots, and the +straight lateral line is but a faint pencil mark. They appeared to be +a species of lake trout peculiar to these waters, uniformly from ten to +twelve inches in length. And these beautiful fish, at the time of our +visit (last of August) at least, were to be taken only in deep water +upon a hook baited with salt pork. And then you needed a letter +of introduction to them. They were not to be tempted or cajoled by +strangers. We did not succeed in raising a fish, although instructed how +it was to be done, until one of the natives, a young and obliging farmer +living hard by, came and lent his countenance to the enterprise. I sat +in one end of the boat and he in the other; my pork was the same as his, +and I maneuvered it as directed, and yet those fish knew his hook +from mine in sixty feet of water, and preferred it four times in five. +Evidently they did not bite because they were hungry, but solely for old +acquaintance' sake. + +Pleasant Pond is an irregular sheet of water, two miles or more in +its greatest diameter, with high, rugged mountains rising up from its +western shore, and low rolling hills sweeping back from its eastern and +northern, covered by a few sterile farms. I was never tired, when the +wind was still, of floating along its margin and gazing down into its +marvelously translucent depths. The boulders and fragments of rocks were +seen, at a depth of twenty-five or thirty feet, strewing its floor, +and apparently as free from any covering of sediment as when they were +dropped there by the old glaciers aeons ago. Our camp was amid a dense +grove of second growth of white pine on the eastern shore, where, for +one, I found a most admirable cradle in a little depression, outside of +the tent, carpeted with pine needles, in which to pass the night. The +camper-out is always in luck if he can find, sheltered by the trees, a +soft hole in the ground, even if he has a stone for a pillow. The earth +must open its arms a little for us even in life, if we are to sleep well +upon its bosom. I have often heard my grand-father, who was a soldier of +the Revolution, tell with great gusto how he once bivouacked in a little +hollow made by the overturning of a tree, and slept so soundly that he +did not wake up till his cradle was half full of water from a passing +shower. + +What bird or other creature might represent the divinity of Pleasant +Pond I do not know, but its demon, as of most northern inland waters, is +the loon, and a very good demon he is too, suggesting something not so +much malevolent, as arch, sardonic, ubiquitous, circumventing, with just +a tinge of something inhuman and uncanny. His fiery red eyes gleaming +forth from that jet-black head are full of meaning. Then his strange +horse laughter by day and his weird, doleful cry at night, like that of +a lost and wandering spirit, recall no other bird or beast. He suggests +something almost supernatural in his alertness and amazing quickness, +cheating the shot and the bullet of the sportsman out of their aim. I +know of but one other bird so quick, and that is the humming-bird, which +I have never been able to kill with a gun. The loon laughs the shot-gun +to scorn, and the obliging young farmer above referred to told me he +had shot at them hundreds of times with his rifle, without effect,--they +always dodged his bullet. We had in our party a breach-loading rifle, +which weapon is perhaps an appreciable moment of time quicker than +the ordinary muzzleloader, and this the poor loon could not or did not +dodge. He had not timed himself to that species of fire-arm, and when, +with his fellow, he swam about within rifle range of our camp, letting +off volleys of his wild ironical ha-ha, he little suspected the +dangerous gun that was matched against him. As the rifle cracked both +loons made the gesture of diving, but only one of them disappeared +beneath the water; and when he came to the surface in a few moments, a +hundred or more yards away, and saw his companion did not follow, but +was floating on the water where he had last seen him, he took the alarm +and sped away in the distance. The bird I had killed was a magnificent +specimen, and I looked him over with great interest. His glossy +checkered coat, his banded neck, his snow-white breast, his powerful +lance-shaped beak, his red eyes, his black, thin, slender, marvelously +delicate feet and legs, issuing from his muscular thighs, and looking +as if they had never touched the ground, his strong wings well forward +while his legs were quite at the apex, and the neat, elegant model of +the entire bird, speed and quickness and strength stamped upon every +feature,--all delighted and lingered in the eye. The loon appears like +anything but a silly bird, unless you see him in some collection, or +in the shop of the taxidermist, where he usually looks very tame and +goose-like. Nature never meant the loon to stand up, or to use his +feet and legs for other purposes than swimming. Indeed, he cannot stand +except upon his tail in a perpendicular attitude, but in the collections +he is poised upon his feet like a barn-yard fowl, all the wildness and +grace and alertness goes out of him. My specimen sits upon a table as +upon the surface of the water, his feet trailing behind him, his body +low and trim, his head elevated and slightly turned as if in the act +of bringing that fiery eye to bear upon you, and vigilance and power +stamped upon every lineament. + +The loon is to the fishes what the hawk is to the birds; he swoops down +to unknown depths upon them, and not even the wary trout can elude him. +Uncle Nathan said he had seen the loon disappear and in a moment come up +with a large trout, which he would cut in two with his strong beak, and +swallow piecemeal. Neither the loon nor the otter can bolt a fish under +the water; he must come to the surface to dispose of it. (I once saw a +man eat a cake under water in London.) Our guide told me he had seen the +parent loon swimming with a single young one upon its back. When closely +pressed it dove, or "div" as he would have it, and left the young bird +sitting upon the water. Then it too disappeared, and when the old one +returned and called, it came out from the shore. On the wing overhead, +the loon looks not unlike a very large duck, but when it alights it +ploughs into the water like a bombshell. It probably cannot take flight +from the land, as the one Gilbert White saw and describes in his letters +was picked up in a field, unable to launch itself into the air. + +From Pleasant Pond we went seven miles through the woods to Moxie Lake, +following an overgrown lumberman's "tote" road, our canoe and supplies, +etc., hauled on a sled by the young farmer with his three-year-old +steers. I doubt if birch-bark ever made rougher voyage than that. As I +watched it above the bushes, the sled and the luggage being hidden, it +appeared as if tossed in the wildest and most tempestuous sea. When the +bushes closed above it I felt as if it had gone down, or been broken +into a hundred pieces. Billows of rocks and logs, and chasms of creeks +and spring runs, kept it rearing and pitching in the most frightful +manner. The steers went at a spanking pace; indeed, it was a regular +bovine gale; but their driver clung to their side amid the brush and +boulders with desperate tenacity, and seemed to manage them by signs +and nudges, for he hardly uttered his orders aloud. But we got through +without any serious mishap, passing Mosquito Creek and Mosquito Pond, +and flanking Mosquito Mountain, but seeing no mosquitoes, and brought up +at dusk at a lumberman's old hay-barn, standing in the midst of a lonely +clearing on the shores of Moxie Lake. + +Here we passed the night, and were lucky in having a good roof over our +heads, for it rained heavily. After we were rolled in our blankets and +variously disposed upon the haymow, Uncle Nathan lulled us to sleep by a +long and characteristic yarn. + +I had asked him, half jocosely, if he believed in "spooks"; but he took +my question seriously, and without answering it directly, proceeded to +tell us what he himself had known and witnessed. It was, by the way, +extremely difficult either to surprise or to steal upon any of Uncle +Nathan's private opinions and beliefs about matters and things. He +was as shy of all debatable subjects as a fox is of a trap. He usually +talked in a circle, just as he hunted moose and caribou, so as not to +approach his point too rudely and suddenly. He would keep on the lee +side of his interlocutor in spite of all one could do. He was thoroughly +good and reliable, but the wild creatures of the woods, in pursuit +of which he had spent so much of his life, had taught him a curious +gentleness and indirection, and to keep himself in the back-ground; he +was careful that you should not scent his opinions upon any subject at +all polemic, but he would tell you what he had seen and known. What he +had seen and known about spooks was briefly this:--In company with +a neighbor he was passing the night with an old recluse who lived +somewhere in these woods. Their host was an Englishman, who had the +reputation of having murdered his wife some years before in another part +of the country, and, deserted by his grown-up children, was eking out +his days in poverty amid these solitudes. The three men were sleeping +upon the floor, with Uncle Nathan next to a rude partition that divided +the cabin into two rooms. At his head there was a door that opened into +this other apartment. Late at night, Uncle Nathan said, he awoke and +turned over, and his mind was occupied with various things, when he +heard somebody behind the partition. He reached over and felt that both +of his companions were in their places beside him, and he was somewhat +surprised. The person, or whatever it was, in the other room moved about +heavily, and pulled the table from its place beside the wall to the +middle of the floor. "I was not dreaming," said Uncle Nathan; "I felt of +my eyes twice to make sure, and they were wide open." Presently the door +opened; he was sensible of the draught upon his head, and a woman's form +stepped heavily past him; he felt the "swirl" of her skirts as she went +by. Then there was a loud noise in the room as if some one had fallen +their whole length upon the floor. "It jarred the house," said he, "and +woke everybody up. I asked old Mr. ------ if he heard that noise. 'Yes,' +said he, 'it was thunder.' But it was not thunder, I know that;" and +then added, "I was no more afraid than I am this minute. I never was the +least mite afraid in my life. And my eyes were wide open," he repeated; +"I felt of them twice; but whether that was the speret of that man's +murdered wife or not I cannot tell. They said she was an uncommon heavy +woman." Uncle Nathan was a man of unusually quick and acute senses, and +he did not doubt their evidence on this occasion any more than he did +when they prompted him to level his rifle at a bear or a moose. + +Moxie Lake lies much lower than Pleasant Pond, and its waters compared +with those of the latter are as copper compared with silver. It is very +irregular in shape; now narrowing to the dimensions of a slow moving +grassy creek, then expanding into a broad deep basin with rocky shores, +and commanding the noblest mountain scenery. It is rarely that the +pond-lily and the speckled trout are found together,--the fish the soul +of the purest spring water, the flower the transfigured spirit of the +dark mud and slime of sluggish summer streams and ponds; yet in Moxie +they were both found in perfection. Our camp was amid the birches, +poplars, and white cedars near the head of the lake, where the best +fishing at this season was to be had. Moxie has a small oval head, +rather shallow, but bumpy with rocks; a long, deep neck, full of +springs, where the trout lie; and a very broad chest, with two islands +tufted with pine-trees for breasts. We swam in the head, we fished in +the neck, or in a small section of it, a space about the size of the +Adam's apple, and we paddled across and around the broad expanse below. +Our birch bark was not finished and christened till we reached Moxie. +The cedar lining was completed at Pleasant Pond, where we had the use +of a bateau, but the rosin was not applied to the seams till we reached +this lake. When I knelt down in it for the first time and put its +slender maple paddle into the water, it sprang away with such quickness +and speed that it disturbed me in my seat. I had spurred a more restive +and spirited steed than I was used to. In fact, I had never been in +a craft that sustained so close a relation to my will, and was so +responsive to my slightest wish. When I caught my first large trout from +it, it sympathized a little too closely, and my enthusiasm started a +leak, which, however, with a live coal and a piece of rosin, was quickly +ended. You cannot perform much of a war-dance in a birch-bark canoe: +better wait till you get on dry land. Yet as a boat it is not so shy and +"ticklish" as I had imagined. One needs to be on the alert, as becomes a +sportsman and an angler, and in his dealings with it must charge himself +with three things,--precision, moderation, and circumspection. + +Trout weighing four and five pounds have been taken at Moxie, but none +of that size came to our hand. I realized the fondest hopes I had dared +to indulge in when I hooked the first two-pounder of my life, and my +extreme solicitude lest he get away I trust was pardonable. My friend, +in relating the episode in camp, said I implored him to row me down in +the middle of the lake that I might have room to manoeuver my fish. But +the slander has barely a grain of truth in it. The water near us showed +several old stakes broken off just below the surface, and my fish was +determined to wrap my leader about one of these stakes; it was only for +the clear space a few yards farther out that I prayed. It was not long +after that my friend found himself in an anxious frame of mind. He +hooked a large trout, which came home on him so suddenly that he had +not time to reel up his line, and in his extremity he stretched his tall +form into the air and lifted up his pole to an incredible height. He +checked the trout before it got under the boat, but dared not come down +an inch, and then began his amusing further elongation in reaching for +his reel with one hand while he carried it ten feet into the air with +the other. A step-ladder would perhaps have been more welcome to him +just then than at any other moment during his life. But the trout was +saved, though my friend's buttons and suspenders suffered. + +We learned a new trick in fly-fishing here, worth disclosing. It was not +one day in four that the trout would take the fly on the surface. When +the south wind was blowing and the clouds threatened rain, they would +at times, notably about three o'clock, rise handsomely. But on all other +occasions it was rarely that we could entice them up through the twelve +or fifteen feet of water. Earlier in the season they are not so lazy and +indifferent, but the August languor and drowsiness were now upon them. +So we learned by a lucky accident to fish deep for them, even weighting +our leaders with a shot, and allowing the flies to sink nearly to the +bottom. After a moment's pause we would draw them slowly up, and when +half or two thirds of the way to the top the trout would strike, when +the sport became lively enough. Most of our fish were taken in this +way. There is nothing like the flash and the strike at the surface, and +perhaps only the need of food will ever tempt the genuine angler into +any more prosaic style of fishing; but if you must go below the surface, +a shotted leader is the best thing to use. + +Our camp-fire at night served more purposes than one; from its embers +and flickering shadows, Uncle Nathan read us many a tale of his life +in the woods. They were the same old hunter's stories, except that they +evidently had the merit of being strictly true, and hence were not very +thrilling or marvelous. Uncle Nathan's tendency was rather to tone down +and belittle his experiences than to exaggerate them. If he ever bragged +at all (and I suspect he did just a little, when telling us how he +outshot one of the famous riflemen of the American team, whom he was +guiding through these woods), he did it in such a sly, round-about +way that it was hard to catch him at it. His passage with the rifleman +referred to shows the difference between the practical off-hand skill of +the hunter in the woods and the science of the long-range target hitter. +Mr. Bull's Eye had heard that his guide was a capital shot and had seen +some proof of it, and hence could not rest till he had had a trial of +skill with him. Uncle Nathan, being the challenged party, had the right +to name the distance and the conditions. A piece of white paper the size +of a silver dollar was put upon a tree twelve rods off, the contestants +to fire three shots each off-hand. Uncle Nathan's first bullet barely +missed the mark, but the other two were planted well into it. Then the +great rifleman took his turn, and missed every time. + +"By hemp!" said Uncle Nathan, "I was sorry I shot so well, Mr. ------ +took it so to heart; and I had used his own rifle, too. He did not get +over it for a week." + +But far more ignominious was the failure of Mr. Bull's Eye when he saw +his first bear. They were paddling slowly and silently down Dead River, +when the guide heard a slight noise in the bushes just behind a little +bend. He whispered to the rifleman, who sat kneeling in the bow of +the boat, to take his rifle. But instead of doing so he picked up his +two-barreled shot-gun. As they turned the point, there stood a bear +not twenty yards away, drinking from the stream. Uncle Nathan held the +canoe, while the man who had come so far in quest of this very game was +trying to lay down his shot-gun and pick up his rifle. "His hand moved +like the hand of a clock," said Uncle Nathan, "and I could hardly keep +my seat. I knew the bear would see us in a moment more, and run." Instead +of laying his gun by his side, where it belonged, he reached it across +in front of him and laid it upon his rifle, and in trying to get the +latter from under it a noise was made; the bear heard it and raised his +head. Still there was time, for as the bear sprang into the woods he +stopped and looked back,--"as I knew he would," said the guide; yet +the marksman was not ready. "By hemp! I could have shot three bears," +exclaimed Uncle Nathan, "while he was getting that rifle to his face!" + +Poor Mr. Bull's Eye was deeply humiliated. "Just the chance I had been +looking for," he said, "and my wits suddenly left me." + +As a hunter Uncle Nathan always took the game on its own terms, that of +still-hunting. He even shot foxes in this way, going into the fields in +the fall just at break of day, and watching for them about their mousing +haunts. One morning, by these tactics, he shot a black fox; a fine +specimen, he said, and a wild one, for he stopped and looked and +listened every few yards. + +He had killed over two hundred moose, a large number of them at night on +the lakes. His method was to go out in his canoe and conceal himself by +some point or island, and wait till he heard the game. In the fall +the moose comes into the water to eat the large fibrous roots of the +pond-lilies. He splashes along till he finds a suitable spot, when he +begins feeding, sometimes thrusting his bead and neck several feet under +water. The hunter listens, and when the moose lifts his head and the +rills of water run from it, and he hears him "swash" the lily roots +about to get off the mud, it is his time to start. Silently as a shadow +he creeps up on the moose, who by the way, it seems, never expects the +approach of danger from the water side. If the hunter accidentally +makes a noise the moose looks toward the shore for it. There is always a +slight gleam on the water, Uncle Nathan says, even in the darkest night, +and the dusky form of the moose can be distinctly seen upon it. When the +hunter sees this darker shadow he lifts his gun to the sky and gets the +range of its barrels, then lowers it till it covers the mark, and fires. + +The largest moose Uncle Nathan ever killed is mounted in the State House +at Augusta. He shot him while hunting in winter on snow-shoes. The moose +was reposing upon the ground, with his head stretched out in front of +him, as one may sometimes see a cow resting. The position was such that +only a quartering shot through the animal's hip could reach its heart. +Studying the problem carefully, and taking his own time, the hunter +fired. The moose sprang into the air, turned, and came with tremendous +strides straight toward him. "I knew he had not seen or scented me," +said Uncle Nathan, "but, by hemp, I wished myself somewhere else just +then; for I was lying right down in his path." But the noble animal +stopped, a few yards short, and fell dead with a bullet-hole through his +heart. + +When the moose yard in the winter, that is, restrict their wanderings +to a well-defined section of the forest or mountain, trampling down the +snow and beating paths in all directions, they browse off only the most +dainty morsels first; when they go over the ground a second time they +crop a little cleaner; the third time they sort still closer, till by +and by nothing is left. Spruce, hemlock, poplar, the barks of various +trees, everything within reach, is cropped close. When the hunter comes +upon one of these yards the problem for him to settle is, Where are the +moose? for it is absolutely necessary that he keep on the lee side of +them. So he considers the lay of the land, the direction of the wind, +the time of day, the depth of the snow, examines the spoor, the cropped +twigs, and studies every hint and clew like a detective. Uncle Nathan +said he could not explain to another how he did it, but he could usually +tell in a few minutes in what direction to look for the game. His +experience had ripened into a kind of intuition or winged reasoning that +was above rules. + +He said that most large game, deer, caribou, moose, bear, when started +by the hunter and not much scared, were sure to stop and look back +before disappearing from sight: he usually waited for this last and best +chance to fire. He told us of a huge bear he had seen one morning while +still-hunting foxes in the fields; the bear saw him, and got into the +woods before he could get a good shot. In her course some distance up +the mountain was a bald, open spot, and he felt sure when she crossed +this spot she would pause and look behind her; and sure enough, like +Lot's wife, her curiosity got the better of her; she stopped to have a +final look, and her travels ended there and then. + +Uncle Nathan had trapped and shot a great many bears, and some of his +experiences revealed an unusual degree of sagacity in this animal. One +April, when the weather began to get warm and thawy, an old bear left +her den in the rocks and built a large, warm nest of grass, leaves, and +the bark of the white cedar, under a tall balsam fir that stood in a +low, sunny, open place amid the mountains. Hither she conducted her two +cubs, and the family began life in what might be called their spring +residence. The tree above them was for shelter, and for refuge for the +cubs in case danger approached, as it soon did in the form of Uncle +Nathan. He happened that way soon after the bear had moved. Seeing her +track in the snow, he concluded to follow it. When the bear had passed, +the snow had been soft and sposhy, and she had "slumped," he said, +several inches. It was now hard and slippery. As he neared the tree the +track turned and doubled, and tacked this way and that, and led through +the worst brush and brambles to be found. This was a shrewd thought of +the old bear; she could thus hear her enemy coming a long time before he +drew very near. When Uncle Nathan finally reached the nest, he found it +empty, but still warm. Then he began to circle about and look for the +bear's footprints or nail-prints upon the frozen snow. Not finding them +the first time, he took a larger circle, then a still larger; finally he +made a long detour, and spent nearly an hour searching for some clew +to the direction the bear had taken, but all to no purpose. Then he +returned to the tree and scrutinized it. The foliage was very dense, but +presently he made out one of the cubs near the top, standing up amid the +branches, and peering down at him. This he killed. Further search only +revealed a mass of foliage apparently more dense than usual, but a +bullet sent into it was followed by loud whimpering and crying, and +the other baby bear came tumbling down. In leaving the place, greatly +puzzled as to what had become of the mother bear, Uncle Nathan followed +another of her frozen tracks, and after about a quarter of a mile saw +beside it, upon the snow, the fresh trail he had been in search of. In +making her escape the bear had stepped exactly in her old tracks that +were hard and icy, and had thus left no mark till she took to the snow +again. + +During his trapping expeditions into the woods in midwinter, I was +curious to know how Uncle Nathan passed the nights, as we were twice +pinched with the cold at that season in our tent and blankets. It was +no trouble to keep warm, he said, in the coldest weather. As night +approached, he would select a place for his camp on the side of a hill. +With one of his snow-shoes he would shovel out the snow till the ground +was reached, carrying the snow out in front, as we scrape the earth out +of the side of a hill to level up a place for the house and yard. On +this level place, which, however, was made to incline slightly toward +the hill, his bed of boughs was made. On the ground he had uncovered he +built his fire. His bed was thus on a level with the fire, and the heat +could not thaw the snow under him and let him down, or the burning logs +roll upon him. With a steep ascent behind it the fire burned better, and +the wind was not so apt to drive the smoke and blaze in upon him. Then, +with the long, curving branches of the spruce stuck thickly around three +sides of the bed, and curving over and uniting their tops above it, a +shelter was formed that would keep out the cold and the snow, and that +would catch and retain the warmth of the fire. Rolled in his blanket in +such a nest, Uncle Nathan had passed hundreds of the most frigid winter +nights. + +One day we made an excursion of three miles through the woods to Bald +Mountain, following a dim trail. We saw, as we filed silently along, +plenty of signs of caribou, deer, and bear, but were not blessed with a +sight of either of the animals themselves. I noticed that Uncle Nathan, +in looking through the woods, did not hold his head as we did, but +thrust it slightly forward, and peered under the branches like a deer or +other wild creature. + +The summit of Bald Mountain was the most impressive mountain-top I had +ever seen, mainly, perhaps, because it was one enormous crown of nearly +naked granite. The rock had that gray, elemental, eternal look which +granite alone has. One seemed to be face to face with the gods of the +fore-world. Like an atom, like a breath of to-day, we were suddenly +confronted by abysmal geologic time,--the eternities past and the +eternities to come. The enormous cleavage of the rocks, the appalling +cracks and fissures, the rent boulders, the smitten granite floors, gave +one a new sense of the power of heat and frost. In one place we +noticed several deep parallel grooves, made by the old glaciers. In the +depressions on the summit there was a hard, black, peaty-like soil that +looked indescribably ancient and unfamiliar. Out of this mould, that +might have come from the moon or the interplanetary spaces, were growing +mountain cranberries and blueberries or huckleberries. We were soon so +absorbed in gathering the latter that we were quite oblivious of the +grandeurs about us. It is these blueberries that attract the bears. In +eating them, Uncle Nathan said, they take the bushes in their mouths, +and by an upward movement strip them clean of both leaves and berries. +We were constantly on the lookout for the bears, but failed to see +any. Yet a few days afterward, when two of our party returned here and +encamped upon the mountain, they saw five during their stay, but failed +to get a good shot. The rifle was in the wrong place each time. The +man with the shot-gun saw an old bear and two cubs lift themselves +from behind a rock and twist their noses around for his scent, and then +shrink away. They were too far off for his buckshot. I must not forget +the superb view that lay before us, a wilderness of woods and waters +stretching away to the horizon on every band. Nearly a dozen lakes and +ponds could be seen, and in a clearer atmosphere the foot of Moosehead +Lake would have been visible. The highest and most striking mountain to +be seen was Mount Bigelow, rising above Dead River, far to the west, +and its two sharp peaks notching the horizon like enormous saw-teeth. +We walked around and viewed curiously a huge boulder on the top of the +mountain that had been split in two vertically, and one of the halves +moved a few feet out of its bed. It looked recent and familiar, but +suggested gods instead of men. The force that moved the rock had plainly +come from the north. I thought of a similar boulder I had seen not long +before on the highest point of the Shawangunk Mountains in New York, one +side of which is propped up with a large stone, as wall-builders prop up +a rock to wrap a chain around it. The rock seems poised lightly, and has +but a few points of bearing. In this instance, too, the power had come +from the north. + +The prettiest botanical specimen my trip yielded was a little plant that +bears the ugly name of horned bladderwort (Utricularia cornuta), and +which I found growing in marshy places along the shores of Moxie Lake. +It has a slender, naked stem nearly a foot high, crowned by two or +more large deep yellow flowers,--flowers the shape of little bonnets or +hoods. One almost expected to see tiny faces looking out of them. This +illusion is heightened by the horn or spur of the flower, which projects +from the hood like a long tapering chin,--some masker's device. Then +the cape behind,--what a smart upward curve it has, as if spurned by +the fairy shoulders it was meant to cover! But perhaps the most notable +thing about the flower was its fragrance,--the richest and strongest +perfume I have ever found in a wild flower. This our botanist, Gray, +does not mention; as if one should describe the lark and forget its +song. The fragrance suggested that of white clover, but was more rank +and spicy. + +The woods about Moxie Lake were literally carpeted with Linnaea. I had +never seen it in such profusion. In early summer, the period of its +bloom, what a charming spectacle the mossy floors of these remote woods +must present! The flowers are purple rose-color, nodding and fragrant. +Another very abundant plant in these woods was the Clintonia borealis. +Uncle Nathan said it was called "bear's corn," though he did not know +why. The only noticeable flower by the Maine roadsides at this season +that is not common in other parts of the country is the harebell. Its +bright blue, bell-shaped corolla shone out from amid the dry grass and +weeds all along the route. It was one of the most delicate roadside +flowers I had ever seen. + +The only new bird I saw in Maine was the pileated woodpecker, or black +"log cock," called by Uncle Nathan "wood cock." I had never before seen +or heard this bird, and its loud cackle in the woods about Moxie was +a new sound to me. It is the wildest and largest of our northern +woodpeckers, and the rarest. Its voice and the sound of its hammer are +heard only in the depths of the northern woods. It is about as large as +a crow, and nearly as black. + +We stayed a week at Moxie, or until we became surfeited with its trout, +and had killed the last Merganser duck that lingered about our end of +the lake. The trout that had accumulated on our hands we had kept alive +in a large champagne basket submerged in the lake, and the morning we +broke camp the basket was towed to the shore and opened; and after we +had feasted our eyes upon the superb spectacle, every trout, twelve or +fifteen in number, some of them two-pounders, was allowed to swim back +into the lake. They went leisurely, in couples and in trios, and were +soon kicking up their heels in their old haunts. I expect that the +divinity who presides over Moxie will see to it that every one of those +trout, doubled in weight, comes to our basket in the future. + + + + +WINTER NEIGHBORS. + + +The country is more of a wilderness, more of a wild solitude, in +the winter than in the summer. The wild comes out. The urban, the +cultivated, is hidden or negatived. You shall hardly know a good field +from a poor, a meadow from a pasture, a park from a forest. Lines and +boundaries are disregarded; gates and bar-ways are unclosed; man lets go +his hold upon the earth; title-deeds are deep buried beneath the snow; +the best-kept grounds relapse to a state of nature; under the pressure +of the cold all the wild creatures become outlaws, and roam abroad +beyond their usual haunts. The partridge comes to the orchard for buds; +the rabbit comes to the garden and lawn; the crows and jays come to +the ash-heap and corn-crib, the snow-buntings to the stack and to +the barn-yard; the sparrows pilfer from the domestic fowls; the pine +grosbeak comes down from the north and shears your maples of their buds; +the fox prowls about your premises at night, and the red squirrels find +your grain in the barn or steal the butternuts from your attic. In fact, +winter, like some great calamity, changes the status of most creatures +and sets them adrift. Winter, like poverty, makes us acquainted with +strange bedfellows. + +For my part, my nearest approach to a strange bedfellow is the little +gray rabbit that has taken up her abode under my study floor. As she +spends the day here and is out larking at night, she is not much of a +bedfellow after all. It is probable that I disturb her slumbers more +than she does mine. I think she is some support to me under there-a +silent wild-eyed witness and backer; a type of the gentle and harmless +in savage nature. She has no sagacity to give me or lend me, but that +soft, nimble foot of hers, and that touch as of cotton wherever she +goes, are worthy of emulation. I think I can feel her good-will through +the floor, and I hope she can mine. When I have a happy thought I +imagine her ears twitch, especially when I think of the sweet apple +I will place by her doorway at night. I wonder if that fox chanced to +catch a glimpse of her the other night when he stealthily leaped over +the fence near by and walked along between the study and the house? +How clearly one could read that it was not a little dog that had passed +there. There was something furtive in the track; it shied off away from +the house and around it, as if eying it suspiciously; and then it had +the caution and deliberation of the fox--bold, bold, but not too bold; +wariness was in every footprint. If it had been a little dog that +had chanced to wander that way, when he crossed my path he would have +followed it up to the barn and have gone smelling around for a bone; but +this sharp, cautious track held straight across all others, keeping five +or six rods from the house, up the hill, across the highway towards +a neighboring farmstead, with its nose in the air and its eye and ear +alert, so to speak. + +A winter neighbor of mine in whom I am interested, and who perhaps lends +me his support after his kind, is a little red owl, whose retreat is +in the heart of an old apple-tree just over the fence. Where he keeps +himself in spring and summer I do not know, but late every fall, and +at intervals all winter, his hiding-place is discovered by the jays and +nut-hatches, and proclaimed from the tree-tops for the space of half an +hour or so, with all the powers of voice they can command. Four times +during one winter they called me out to behold this little ogre feigning +sleep in his den, sometimes in one apple-tree, sometimes in another. +Whenever I heard their cries, I knew my neighbor was being berated. +The birds would take turns at looking in upon him and uttering their +alarm-notes. Every jay within hearing would come to the spot and at once +approach the hole in the trunk or limb, and with a kind of breathless +eagerness and excitement take a peep at the owl, and then join the +outcry. When I approached they would hastily take a final look and then +withdraw and regard my movements intently. After accustoming my eye to +the faint light of the cavity for a few moments, I could usually make +out the owl at the bottom feigning sleep. Feigning, I say, because this +is what he really did, as I first discovered one day when I cut into +his retreat with the axe. The loud blows and the falling chips did not +disturb him at all. When I reached in a stick and pulled him over on his +side, leaving one of his wings spread out, he made no attempt to recover +himself, but lay among the chips and fragments of decayed wood, like a +part of themselves. Indeed, it took a sharp eye to distinguish him. Nor +till I had pulled him forth by one wing, rather rudely, did he abandon +his trick of simulated sleep or death. Then, like a detected pickpocket, +he was suddenly transformed into another creature. His eyes flew wide +open, his talons clutched my finger, his ears were depressed, and every +motion and look said, "Hands off, at your peril." Finding this game did +not work, he soon began to "play 'possum" again. I put a cover over my +study wood-box and kept him captive for a week. Look in upon him any +time, night or day, and he was apparently wrapped in the profoundest +slumber; but the live mice which I put into his box from time to time +found his sleep was easily broken; there would be a sudden rustle in the +box, a faint squeak, and then silence. After a week of captivity I gave +him his freedom in the full sunshine: no trouble for him to see which +way and where to go. + +Just at dusk in the winter nights, I often hear his soft bur-r-r-r, very +pleasing and bell-like. What a furtive, woody sound it is in the winter +stillness, so unlike the harsh scream of the hawk. But all the ways +of the owl are ways of softness and duskiness. His wings are shod with +silence, his plumage is edged with down. + +Another owl neighbor of mine, with whom I pass the time of day more +frequently than with the last, lives farther away. I pass his castle +every night on my way to the post-office, and in winter, if the hour +is late enough, am pretty sure to see him standing in his doorway, +surveying the passers-by and the landscape through narrow slits in +his eyes. For four successive winters now have I observed him. As the +twilight begins to deepen he rises out of his cavity in the apple-tree, +scarcely faster than the moon rises from behind the hill, and sits in +the opening, completely framed by its outlines of gray bark and dead +wood, and by his protective coloring virtually invisible to every eye +that does not know he is there. Probably my own is the only eye that has +ever penetrated his secret, and mine never would have done so had I not +chanced on one occasion to see him leave his retreat and make a +raid upon a shrike that was impaling a shrew-mouse upon a thorn in a +neighboring tree and which I was watching. Failing to get the mouse, +the owl returned swiftly to his cavity, and ever since, while going +that way, I have been on the lookout for him. Dozens of teams and +foot-passengers pass him late in the day, but he regards them not, nor +they him. When I come alone and pause to salute him, he opens his eyes a +little wider, and, appearing to recognize me, quickly shrinks and fades +into the background of his door in a very weird and curious manner. When +he is not at his outlook, or when he is, it requires the best powers +of the eye to decide the point, as the empty cavity itself is almost +an exact image of him. If the whole thing had been carefully studied +it could not have answered its purpose better. The owl stands quite +perpendicular, presenting a front of light mottled gray; the eyes are +closed to a mere slit, the ear-feathers depressed, the beak buried in +the plumage, and the whole attitude is one of silent, motionless waiting +and observation. If a mouse should be seen crossing the highway, or +scudding over any exposed part of the snowy surface in the twilight, the +owl would doubtless swoop down upon it. I think the owl has learned to +distinguish me from the rest of the passers-by; at least, when I stop +before him, and he sees himself observed, he backs down into his den, as +I have said, in a very amusing manner. Whether bluebirds, nut-hatches, +and chickadees--birds that pass the night in cavities of trees--ever +run into the clutches of the dozing owl, I should be glad to know. My +impression is, however, that they seek out smaller cavities. An old +willow by the roadside blew down one summer, and a decayed branch broke +open, revealing a brood of half-fledged owls, and many feathers and +quills of bluebirds, orioles, and other songsters, showing plainly +enough why all birds fear and berate the owl. + +The English house sparrows, that are so rapidly increasing among us, and +that must add greatly to the food supply of the owls and other birds of +prey, seek to baffle their enemies by roosting in the densest evergreens +they can find, in the arbor-vitae, and in hemlock hedges. Soft-winged as +the owl is, he cannot steal in upon such a retreat without giving them +warning. + +These sparrows are becoming about the most noticeable of my winter +neighbors, and a troop of them every morning watch me put out the hens' +feed, and soon claim their share. I rather encouraged them in their +neighborliness, till one day I discovered the snow under a favorite +plum-tree where they most frequently perched covered with the scales of +the fruit-buds. On investigating I found that the tree had been nearly +stripped of its buds--a very unneighborly act on the part of the +sparrows, considering, too, all the cracked corn I had scattered for +them. So I at once served notice on them that our good understanding was +at an end. And a hint is as good as a kick with this bird. The stone I +hurled among them, and the one with which I followed them up, may have +been taken as a kick; but they were only a hint of the shot-gun that +stood ready in the corner. The sparrows left in high dungeon, and were +not back again in some days, and were then very shy. No doubt the +time is near at hand when we shall have to wage serious war upon these +sparrows, as they long have had to do on the continent of Europe. And +yet it will be hard to kill the little wretches, the only Old World bird +we have. When I take down my gun to shoot them I shall probably remember +that the Psalmist said, "I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the +house-top," and maybe the recollection will cause me to stay my hand. +The sparrows have the Old World hardiness and prolificness; they are +wise and tenacious of life, and we shall find it by and by no small +matter to keep them in check. Our native birds are much different, less +prolific, less shrewd, less aggressive and persistent, less quick-witted +and able to read the note of danger or hostility--in short, less +sophisticated. Most of our birds are yet essentially wild, that is, +little changed by civilization. In winter, especially, they sweep by +me and around me in flocks,--the Canada sparrow, the snow-bunting, the +shore-lark, the pine grosbeak, the red-poll, the cedar-bird,--feeding +upon frozen apples in the orchard, upon cedar-berries, upon maple-buds, +and the berries of the mountain ash, and the celtis, and upon the seeds +of the weeds that rise above the snow in the field, or upon the hay-seed +dropped where the cattle have been foddered in the barn-yard or about +the distant stack; but yet taking no heed of man, in no way changing +their habits so as to take advantage of his presence in nature. The pine +grosbeak will come in numbers upon your porch, to get the black drupes +of the honeysuckle or the woodbine, or within reach of your windows to +get the berries of the mountain-ash, but they know you not; they look +at you as innocently and unconcernedly as at a bear or moose in their +native north, and your house is no more to them than a ledge of rocks. + +The only ones of my winter neighbors that actually rap at my door are +the nut-hatches and woodpeckers, and these do not know that it is my +door. My retreat is covered with the bark of young chestnut-trees, and +the birds, I suspect, mistake it for a huge stump that ought to hold +fat grubs (there is not even a bookworm inside of it), and their loud +rapping often makes me think I have a caller indeed. I place fragments +of hickory-nuts in the interstices of the bark, and thus attract the +nut-hatches; a bone upon my window-sill attracts both nut-hatches and +the downy woodpecker. They peep in curiously through the window upon me, +pecking away at my bone, too often a very poor one. A bone nailed to a +tree a few feet in front of the window attracts crows as well as lesser +birds. Even the slate-colored snow-bird, a seed-eater, comes and nibbles +it occasionally. + +The bird that seems to consider he has the best right to the bone both +upon the tree and upon the sill is the downy woodpecker, my favorite +neighbor among the winter birds, to whom I will mainly devote the +remainder of this chapter. His retreat is but a few paces from my own, +in the decayed limb of an apple-tree which he excavated several autumns +ago. I say "he" because the red plume on the top of his head proclaims +the sex. It seems not to be generally known to our writers upon +ornithology that certain of our woodpeckers--probably all the winter +residents--each fall excavate a limb or the trunk of a tree in which +to pass the winter, and that the cavity is abandoned in the spring, +probably for a new one in which nidification takes place. So far as I +have observed, these cavities are drilled out only by the males. Where +the females take up their quarters I am not so well informed, though I +suspect that they use the abandoned holes of the males of the previous +year. + +The particular woodpecker to which I refer drilled his first hole in my +apple-tree one fall four or five years ago. This he occupied till the +following spring when he abandoned it. The next fall he began a hole +in an adjoining limb, later than before, and when it was about half +completed a female took possession of his old quarters. I am sorry to +say that this seemed to enrage the male, very much, and he persecuted +the poor bird whenever she appeared upon the scene. He would fly at her +spitefully and drive her off. One chilly November morning, as I passed +under the tree, I heard the hammer of the little architect in his +cavity, and at the same time saw the persecuted female sitting at +the entrance of the other hole as if she would fain come out. She was +actually shivering, probably from both fear and cold. I understood the +situation at a glance; the bird was afraid to come forth and brave the +anger of the male. Not till I had rapped smartly upon the limb with my +stick did she come out and attempt to escape; but she had not gone ten +feet from the tree before the male was in hot pursuit, and in a few +moments had driven her back to the same tree, where she tried to +avoid him among the branches. A few days after, he rid himself of his +unwelcome neighbor in the following ingenious manner: he fairly scuttled +the other cavity; he drilled a hole into the bottom of it that let in +the light and the cold, and I saw the female there no more. I did not +see him in the act of rendering this tenement uninhabitable; but one +morning, behold it was punctured at the bottom, and the circumstances +all seemed to point to him as the author of it. There is probably no +gallantry among the birds except at the mating season. I have frequently +seen the male woodpecker drive the female away from the bone upon the +tree. When she hopped around to the other end and timidly nibbled it, +he would presently dart spitefully at her. She would then take up +her position in his rear and wait till he had finished his meal. The +position of the female among the birds is very much the same as that of +woman among savage tribes. Most of the drudgery of life falls upon her, +and the leavings of the males are often her lot. + +My bird is a genuine little savage, doubtless, but I value him as a +neighbor. It is a satisfaction during the cold or stormy winter nights +to know he is warm and cosy there in his retreat. When the day is bad +and unfit to be abroad in; he is there too. When I wish to know if he +is at home, I go and rap upon his tree, and, if he is not too lazy or +indifferent, after some delay he shows his head in his round doorway +about ten feet above, and looks down inquiringly upon me--sometimes +latterly I think half resentfully, as much as to say, "I would thank you +not to disturb me so often." After sundown, he will not put his head +out any more when I call, but as I step away I can get a glimpse of him +inside looking cold and reserved. He is a late riser, especially if it +is a cold or disagreeable morning, in this respect being like the fowls; +it is sometimes near nine o'clock before I see him leave his tree. On +the other hand, he comes home early, being in if the day is unpleasant +by four P. M. He lives all alone; in this respect I do not commend his +example. Where his mate is I should like to know. + +I have discovered several other woodpeckers in adjoining orchards, each +of which has a like home and leads a like solitary life. One of them has +excavated a dry limb within easy reach of my hand, doing the work also +in September. But the choice of tree was not a good one; the limb was +too much decayed, and the workman had made the cavity too large; a chip +had come out, making a hole in the outer wall. Then he went a few +inches down the limb and began again, and excavated a large, commodious +chamber, but had again come too near the surface; scarcely more than the +bark protected him in one place, and the limb was very much weakened. +Then he made another attempt still farther down the limb, and drilled in +an inch or two, but seemed to change his mind; the work stopped, and +I concluded the bird had wisely abandoned the tree. Passing there one +cold, rainy November day, I thrust in my two fingers and was surprised +to feel something soft and warm: as I drew away my hand the bird came +out, apparently no more surprised than I was. It had decided, then, to +make its home in the old limb; a decision it had occasion to regret, for +not long after, on a stormy night, the branch gave way and fell to the +ground. + + "When the bough breaks the cradle will fall, + and down will come baby, cradle and all." + +Such a cavity makes a snug, warm home, and when the entrance is on the +under side if the limb, as is usual, the wind and snow cannot reach +the occupant. Late in December, while crossing a high, wooded mountain, +lured by the music of fox-hounds, I discovered fresh yellow chips +strewing the new-fallen snow, and at once thought of my woodpeckers. On +looking around I saw where one had been at work excavating a lodge in a +small yellow birch. The orifice was about fifteen feet from the ground, +and appeared as round as if struck with a compass. It was on the east +side of the tree, so as to avoid the prevailing west and northeast +winds. As it was nearly two inches in diameter, it could not have been +the work of the downy, but must have been that of the hairy, or else the +yellow-bellied woodpecker. His home had probably been wrecked by some +violent wind, and he was thus providing himself another. In digging out +these retreats the woodpeckers prefer a dry, brittle, trunk, not too +soft. They go in horizontally to the centre and then turn downward, +enlarging the tunnel as they go, till when finished it is the shape of a +long, deep pear. + +Another trait our woodpeckers have that endears them to me, and that has +never been pointedly noticed by our ornithologists, is their habit +of drumming in the spring. They are songless birds, and yet all are +musicians; they make the dry limbs eloquent of the coming change. Did +you think that loud, sonorous hammering which proceeded from the orchard +or from the near woods on that still March or April morning was only +some bird getting its breakfast? It is downy, but he is not rapping at +the door of a grub; he is rapping at the door of spring, and the dry +limb thrills beneath the ardor of his blows. Or, later in the season, +in the dense forest or by some remote mountain lake, does that measured +rhythmic beat that breaks upon the silence, first three strokes +following each other rapidly, succeeded by two louder ones with longer +intervals between them, and that has an effect upon the alert ear as +if the solitude itself had at last found a voice--does that suggest +anything less than a deliberate musical performance? In fact, our +woodpeckers are just as characteristically drummers as is the ruffed +grouse, and they have their particular limbs and stubs to which they +resort for that purpose. Their need of expression is apparently just +as great as that of the song-birds, and it is not surprising that they +should have found out that there is music in a dry, seasoned limb which +can be evoked beneath their beaks. + +A few seasons ago a downy woodpecker, probably the individual one who is +now my winter neighbor, began to drum early in March in a partly decayed +apple-tree that stands in the edge of a narrow strip of woodland near +me. When the morning was still and mild I would often hear him through +my window before I was up, or by half-past six o'clock, and he would +keep it up pretty briskly till nine or ten o'clock, in this respect +resembling the grouse, which do most of their drumming in the forenoon. +His drum was the stub of a dry limb about the size of one's wrist. The +heart was decayed and gone, but the outer shell was hard and resonant. +The bird would keep his position there for an hour at a time. Between +his drummings he would preen his plumage and listen as if for the +response of the female, or for the drum of some rival. How swift his +head would go when he was delivering his blows upon the limb! His beak +wore the surface perceptibly. When he wished to change the key, which +was quite often, he would shift his position an inch or two to a knot +which gave out a higher, shriller note. When I climbed up to examine his +drum he was much disturbed. I did not know he was in the vicinity, +but it seems he saw me from a near tree, and came in haste to the +neighboring branches, and with spread plumage and a sharp note demanded +plainly enough what my business was with his drum. I was invading his +privacy, desecrating his shrine, and the bird was much put out. After +some weeks the female appeared; he had literally drummed up a mate; his +urgent and oft-repeated advertisement was answered. Still the drumming +did not cease, but was quite as fervent as before. If a mate could be +won by drumming she could be kept and entertained by more drumming; +courtship should not end with marriage. If the bird felt musical before, +of course he felt much more so now. Besides that, the gentle deities +needed propitiating in behalf of the nest and young as well as in behalf +of the mate. After a time a second female came, when there was war +between the two. I did not see them come to blows, but I saw one female +pursuing the other about the place, and giving her no rest for several +days. She was evidently trying to run her out of the neighborhood. Now +and then she, too, would drum briefly as if sending a triumphant message +to her mate. + +The woodpeckers do not each have a particular dry limb to which they +resort at all times to drum, like the one I have described. The woods +are full of suitable branches, and they drum more or less here and +there as they are in quest of food; yet I am convinced each one has its +favorite spot, like the grouse, to which it resorts, especially in the +morning. The sugar-maker in the maple-woods may notice that their +sound proceeds from the same tree or trees about his camp with great +regularity. A woodpecker in my vicinity has drummed for two seasons on +a telegraph pole, and he makes the wires and glass insulators ring. +Another drums on a thin board on the end of a long grape-arbor, and on +still mornings can be heard a long distance. + +A friend of mine in a Southern city tells me of a red-headed woodpecker +that drums upon a lightning-rod on his neighbor's house. Nearly every +clear, still morning at certain seasons, he says, this musical rapping +may be heard. "He alternates his tapping with his stridulous call, and +the effect on a cool, autumn-like morning is very pleasing." + +The high-hole appears to drum more promiscuously than does the downy. He +utters his long, loud spring call, whick--whick--whick--whick, and then +begins to rap with his beak upon his perch before the last note has +reached your ear. I have seen him drum sitting upon the ridge of the +barn. The log cock, or pileated woodpecker, the largest and wildest of +our Northern species, I have never heard drum. His blows should wake the +echoes. + +When the woodpecker is searching for food, or laying siege to some +hidden grub, the sound of his hammer is dead or muffled, and is heard +but a few yards. It is only upon dry, seasoned timber, freed of its +bark, that he beats his reveille to spring and wooes his mate. + +Wilson was evidently familiar with this vernal drumming of the +woodpeckers, but quite misinterprets it. Speaking of the red-bellied +species, he says: "It rattles like the rest of the tribe on the dead +limbs, and with such violence as to be heard in still weather more than +half a mile off; and listens to hear the insect it has alarmed." He +listens rather to hear the drum of his rival or the brief and coy +response of the female; for there are no insects in these dry limbs. + +On one occasion I saw downy at his drum when a female flew quickly +through the tree and alighted a few yards beyond him. He paused +instantly, and kept his place, apparently without moving a muscle. The +female, I took it, had answered his advertisement. She flitted about +from limb to limb (the female may be known by the absence of the crimson +spot on the back of the head), apparently full of business of her own, +and now and then would drum in a shy, tentative manner. The male watched +her a few moments and, convinced perhaps that she meant business, struck +up his liveliest tune, then listened for her response. As it came back +timidly but promptly, he left his perch and sought a nearer acquaintance +with the prudent female. Whether or not a match grew out of this little +flirtation I cannot say. + +Our smaller woodpeckers are sometimes accused of injuring the apple and +other fruit trees, but the depredator is probably the larger and rarer +yellow-bellied species. One autumn I caught one of these fellows in +the act of sinking long rows of his little wells in the limb of an +apple-tree. There were series of rings of them, one above another, quite +around the stem, some of them the third of an inch across. They are +evidently made to get at the tender, juicy bark, or cambium layer, next +to the hard wood of the tree. The health and vitality of the branch are +so seriously impaired by them that it often dies. + +In the following winter the same bird (probably) tapped a maple-tree in +front of my window in fifty-six places; and when the day was sunny, and +the sap oozed out, he spent most of his time there. He knew the good +sap-days, and was on hand promptly for his tipple; cold and cloudy +days he did not appear. He knew which side of the tree to tap, too, and +avoided the sunless northern exposure. When one series of well-holes +failed to supply him, he would sink another, drilling through the bark +with great ease and quickness. Then, when the day was warm, and the sap +ran freely, he would have a regular sugar-maple debauch, sitting there +by his wells hour after hour, and as fast as they became filled sipping +out the sap. This he did in a gentle, caressing manner that was very +suggestive. He made a row of wells near the foot of the tree, and other +rows higher up, and he would hop up and down the trunk as these became +filled. He would hop down the tree backward with the utmost ease, +throwing his tail outward and his head inward at each hop. When the +wells would freeze or his thirst become slaked, he would ruffle his +feathers, draw himself together, and sit and doze in the sun on the side +of the tree. He passed the night in a hole in an apple-tree not far off. +He was evidently a young bird not yet having the plumage of the mature +male or female, and yet he knew which tree to tap and where to tap it. +I saw where he had bored several maples in the vicinity, but no oaks +or chestnuts. I nailed up a fat bone near his sap-works: the downy +woodpecker came there several times a day to dine; the nut-hatch came, +and even the snow-bird took a taste occasionally; but this sap-sucker +never touched it; the sweet of the tree sufficed for him. This +woodpecker does not breed or abound in my vicinity; only stray specimens +are now and then to be met with in the colder months. As spring +approached, the one I refer to took his departure. + +I must bring my account of my neighbor in the tree down to the latest +date; so after the lapse of a year I add the following notes. The last +day of February was bright and springlike. I heard the first sparrow +sing that morning and the first screaming of the circling hawks, and +about seven o'clock the first drumming of my little friend. His first +notes were uncertain and at long intervals, but by and by he warmed up +and beat a lively tattoo. As the season advanced he ceased to lodge in +his old quarters. I would rap and find nobody at home. Was he out on a +lark, I said, the spring fever working in his blood? After a time his +drumming grew less frequent, and finally, in the middle of April, ceased +entirely. Had some accident befallen him, or had he wandered away to +fresh fields, following some siren of his species? Probably the latter. +Another bird that I had under observation also left his winter-quarters +in the spring. This, then, appears to be the usual custom. The wrens and +the nut-hatches and chickadees succeed to these abandoned cavities, and +often have amusing disputes over them. The nut-hatches frequently pass +the night in them, and the wrens and chickadees nest in them. I have +further observed that in excavating a cavity for a nest the downy +woodpecker makes the entrance smaller than when he is excavating his +winter-quarters. This is doubtless for the greater safety of the young +birds. + +The next fall, the downy excavated another limb in the old apple-tree, +but had not got his retreat quite finished, when the large hairy +woodpecker appeared upon the scene. I heard his loud click, click, early +one frosty November morning. There was something impatient and angry +in the tone that arrested my attention. I saw the bird fly to the tree +where downy had been at work, and fall with great violence upon the +entrance to his cavity. The bark and the chips flew beneath his +vigorous blows, and before I fairly woke up to what he was doing, he had +completely demolished the neat, round doorway of downy. He had made a +large ragged opening large enough for himself to enter. I drove him away +and my favorite came back, but only to survey the ruins of his castle +for a moment and then go away. He lingered about for a day or two and +then disappeared. The big hairy usurper passed a night in the cavity, +but on being hustled out of it the next night by me, he also left, but +not till he had demolished the entrance to a cavity in a neighboring +tree where downy and his mate had reared their brood that summer, and +where I had hoped the female would pass the winter. + + + + +NOTES BY THE WAY. + + + + +I. THE WEATHER-WISE MUSKRAT + + +I am more than half persuaded that the muskrat is a wise little animal, +and that on the subject of the weather, especially, he possesses some +secret that I should be glad to know. In the fall of 1878 I noticed that +he built unusually high and massive nests. I noticed them in several +different localities. In a shallow, sluggish pond by the roadside, +which I used to pass daily in my walk, two nests were in process of +construction throughout the month of November. The builders worked only +at night, and I could see each day that the work had visibly advanced. +When there was a slight skim of ice over the pond, this was broken up +about the nests, with trails through it in different directions where +the material had been brought. The houses were placed a little to one +side of the main channel, and were constructed entirely of a species of +coarse wild grass that grew all about. So far as I could see, from first +to last they were solid masses of grass, as if the interior cavity or +nest was to be excavated afterward, as doubtless it was. As they emerged +from the pond they gradually assumed the shape of a miniature mountain, +very bold and steep on the south side, and running down a long gentle +grade to the surface of the water on the north. One could see that the +little architect hauled all his material up this easy slope, and thrust +it out boldly around the other side. Every mouthful was distinctly +defined. After they were two feet or more above the water, I expected +each day to see that the finishing stroke had been given and the work +brought to a close. But higher yet, said the builder. December drew +near, the cold became threatening, and I was apprehensive that winter +would suddenly shut down upon those unfinished nests. But the wise +rats knew better than I did; they had received private advices from +headquarters that I knew not of. Finally, about the 6th of December, the +nests assumed completion; the northern incline was absorbed or carried +up, and each structure became a strong massive cone, three or four +feet high, the largest nest of the kind I had ever seen. Does it mean a +severe winter? I inquired. An old farmer said it meant "high water," +and he was right once, at least, for in a few days afterward we had the +heaviest rainfall known in this section for half a century. The creeks +rose to an almost unprecedented height. The sluggish pond became a +seething, turbulent watercourse; gradually the angry element crept up +the sides of these lake dwellings, till, when the rain ceased, about +four o'clock they showed above the flood no larger than a man's hat. +During the night the channel shifted till the main current swept over +them, and next day not a vestige of the nests was to be seen; they +had gone down-stream, as had many other dwellings of a less temporary +character. The rats had built wisely, and would have been perfectly +secure against any ordinary high water, but who can foresee a flood? The +oldest traditions of their race did not run back to the time of such a +visitation. + +Nearly a week afterward another dwelling was begun, well away from the +treacherous channel, but the architects did not work at it with much +heart; the material was very scarce, the ice hindered, and before the +basement-story was fairly finished, winter had the pond under his lock +and key. + +In other localities I noticed that where the nests were placed on the +banks of streams, they were made secure against the floods by being +built amid a small clump of bushes. When the fall of 1879 came, the +muskrats were very tardy about beginning their house, laying the +corner-stone--or the corner-sod-about December 1st, and continuing the +work slowly and indifferently. On the 15th of the month the nest was not +yet finished. This, I said, indicates a mild winter; and, sure enough, +the season was one of the mildest known for many years. The rats had +little use for their house. + +Again, in the fall of 1880, while the weather-wise were wagging their +heads, some forecasting a mild, some a severe winter, I watched with +interest for a sign from my muskrats. About November 1st, a month +earlier than the previous year, they began their nest, and worked at it +with a will. They appeared to have just got tidings of what was coming. +If I had taken the hint so palpably given, my celery would not have been +frozen in the ground, and my apples caught in unprotected places. +When the cold wave struck us, about November 20th, my four-legged +"I-told-you-so's" had nearly completed their dwelling; it lacked only +the ridge-board, so to speak; it needed a little "topping out," to give +it a finished look. But this it never got. The winter had come to stay, +and it waxed more and more severe, till the unprecedented cold of the +last days of December must have astonished even the wise muskrats in +their snug retreat. I approached their nest at this time, a white mound +upon the white, deeply frozen surface of the pond, and wondered if +there was any life in that apparent sepulchre. I thrust my walking-stick +sharply into it, when there was a rustle and a splash into the water, +as the occupant made his escape. What a damp basement that house has, I +thought, and what a pity to rout out a peaceful neighbor out of his bed +in this weather and into such a state of things as this! But water does +not wet the muskrat; his fur is charmed, and not a drop penetrates +it. Where the ground is favorable, the muskrats do not build these +mound-like nests, but burrow into the bank a long distance, and +establish their winter-quarters there. + +Shall we not say, then, in view of the above facts, that this little +creature is weather-wise? The hitting of the mark twice might be +mere good luck; but three bull's-eyes in succession is not a mere +coincidence; it is a proof of skill. The muskrat is not found in the Old +World, which is a little singular, as other rats so abound there, and +as those slow-going English streams especially, with their grassy banks, +are so well suited to him. The water-rat of Europe is smaller, but of +similar nature and habits. The muskrat does not hibernate like some +rodents, but is pretty active all winter. In December I noticed in my +walk where they had made excursions of a few yards to an orchard for +frozen apples. One day, along a little stream, I saw a mink track amid +those of the muskrat; following it up, I presently came to blood and +other marks of strife upon the snow beside a stone wall. Looking in +between the stones, I found the carcass of the luckless rat, with its +head and neck eaten away. The mink had made a meal of him. + + + + +II. CHEATING THE SQUIRRELS. + + +FOR the largest and finest chestnuts I had last fall I was indebted to +the gray squirrels. Walking through the early October woods one day, I +came upon a place where the ground was thickly strewn with very large +unopened chestnut burs. On examination I found that every bur had been +cut square off with about an inch of the stem adhering, and not one +had been left on the tree. It was not accident, then, but design. Whose +design? The squirrels'. The fruit was the finest I had ever seen in the +woods, and some wise squirrel had marked it for his own. The burs were +ripe, and had just begun to divide, not "threefold," but fourfold, "to +show the fruit within." The squirrel that had taken all this pains had +evidently reasoned with himself thus: "Now, these are extremely fine +chestnuts, and I want them; if I wait till the burs open on the tree the +crows and jays will be sure to carry off a great many of the nuts before +they fall; then, after the wind has rattled out what remain, there are +the mice, the chipmunks, the red squirrels, the raccoons, the grouse, to +say nothing of the boys and the pigs, to come in for their share; so I +will forestall events a little; I will cut off the burs when they have +matured, and a few days of this dry October weather will cause everyone +of them to open on the ground; I shall be on hand in the nick of time to +gather up my nuts." The squirrel, of course, had to take the chances of +a prowler like myself coming along, but he had fairly stolen a march on +his neighbors. As I proceeded to collect and open the burs, I was +half prepared to hear an audible protest from the trees about, for I +constantly fancied myself watched by shy but jealous eyes. It is an +interesting inquiry how the squirrel knew the burs would open if left to +know, but thought the experiment worth trying. + +The gray squirrel is peculiarly an American product, and might serve +very well as a national emblem. The Old World can beat us on rats and +mice, but we are far ahead on squirrels, having five or six species to +Europe's one. + + + + +III. FOX AND HOUND. + + +I STOOD on a high hill or ridge one autumn day and saw a hound run a fox +through the fields far beneath me. What odors that fox must have shaken +out of himself, I thought, to be traced thus easily, and how great their +specific gravity not to have been blown away like smoke by the breeze! +The fox ran a long distance down the hill, keeping within a few feet of +a stone wall; then turned a right angle and led off for the mountain, +across a plowed field and a succession of pasture lands. In about +fifteen minutes the hound came in full blast with her nose in the air, +and never once did she put it to the ground while in my sight. When she +came to the stone wall she took the other side from that taken by the +fox, and kept about the same distance from it, being thus separated +several yards from his track, with the fence between her and it. At the +point where the fox turned sharply to the left, the hound overshot a few +yards, then wheeled, and feeling the air a moment with her nose, took +up the scent again and was off on his trail as unerringly as fate. It +seemed as if the fox must have sowed himself broadcast as he went along, +and that his scent was so rank and heavy that it settled in the hollows +and clung tenaciously to the bushes and crevices in the fence. I thought +I ought to have caught a remnant of it as I passed that way some minutes +later, but I did not. But I suppose it was not that the light-footed fox +so impressed himself upon the ground he ran over, but that the sense of +the hound was so keen. To her sensitive nose these tracks steamed +like hot cakes, and they would not have cooled off so as to be +undistinguishable for several hours. For the time being she had but one +sense: her whole soul was concentrated in her nose. + +It is amusing when the hunter starts out of a winter morning to see his +hound probe the old tracks to determine how recent they are. He sinks +his nose down deep in the snow so as to exclude the air from above, then +draws a long full breath, giving sometimes an audible snort. If there +remains the least effluvium of the fox the hound will detect it. If +it be very slight it only sets his tail wagging; if it be strong it +unloosens his tongue. + +Such things remind one of the waste, the friction that is going on all +about us, even when the wheels of life run the most smoothly. A fox +cannot trip along the top of a stone wall so lightly but that he will +leave enough of himself to betray his course to the hound for hours +afterward. When the boys play "hare and hounds" the hare scatters bits +of paper to give a clew to the pursuers, but he scatters himself much +more freely if only our sight and scent were sharp enough to detect the +fragments. Even the fish leave a trail in the water, and it is said the +otter will pursue them by it. The birds make a track in the air, only +their enemies hunt by sight rather than by scent. The fox baffles the +hound most upon a hard crust of frozen snow; the scent will not hold to +the smooth, bead-like granules. + +Judged by the eye alone, the fox is the lightest and most buoyant +creature that runs. His soft wrapping of fur conceals the muscular play +and effort that is so obvious in the hound that pursues him, and he +comes bounding along precisely as if blown by a gentle wind. His massive +tail is carried as if it floated upon the air by its own lightness. + +The hound is not remarkable for his fleetness, but how he will +hang!--often running late into the night and sometimes till morning, +from ridge to ridge, from peak to peak; now on the mountain, now +crossing the valley, now playing about a large slope of uplying pasture +fields. At times the fox has a pretty well-defined orbit, and the hunter +knows where to intercept him. Again he leads off like a comet, quite +beyond the system of hills and ridges upon which he was started, and his +return is entirely a matter of conjecture; but if the day be not more +than half spent, the chances are that the fox will be back before night, +though the sportsman's patience seldom holds out that long. + +The hound is a most interesting dog. How solemn and long-visaged he +is--how peaceful and well-disposed! He is the Quaker among dogs. All +the viciousness and currishness seem to have been weeded out of him; +he seldom quarrels, or fights, or plays, like other dogs. Two strange +hounds, meeting for the first time, behave as civilly toward each other +as if two men. I know a hound that has an ancient, wrinkled, human, +far-away look that reminds one of the bust of Homer among the Elgin +marbles. He looks like the mountains toward which his heart yearns so +much. + +The hound is a great puzzle to the farm dog; the latter, attracted by +his baying, comes barking and snarling up through the fields bent on +picking a quarrel; he intercepts the hound, snubs and insults and annoys +him in every way possible, but the hound heeds him not; if the dog +attacks him he gets away as best he can, and goes on with the trail; the +cur bristles and barks and struts about for a while, then goes back to +the house, evidently thinking the hound a lunatic, which he is for the +time being--a monomaniac, the slave and victim of one idea. I saw the +master of a hound one day arrest him in full course to give one of the +hunters time to get to a certain runaway; the dog cried and struggled to +free himself and would listen neither to threats nor caresses. Knowing +he must be hungry, I offered him my lunch, but he would not touch it. I +put it in his mouth, but he threw it contemptuously from him. We coaxed +and petted and reassured him, but he was under a spell; he was bereft of +all thought or desire but the one passion to pursue that trail. + + + + +IV. THE WOODCHUCK + + +Writers upon rural England and her familiar natural history make no +mention of the marmot or woodchuck. In Europe this animal seems to +be confined to high mountainous districts, as on our Pacific slope, +burrowing near the snow line. It is more social or gregarious than the +American species, living in large families like our prairie-dog. In +the Middle and Eastern States our woodchuck takes the place, in some +respects, of the English rabbit, burrowing in every hillside and under +every stone wall and jutting ledge and large bowlder, from whence it +makes raids upon the grass and clover and sometimes upon the garden +vegetables. It is quite solitary in its habits, seldom more than one +inhabiting the same den, unless it be a mother and her young. It is not +now so much a wood chuck as a field chuck. Occasionally, however, one +seems to prefer the woods, and is not seduced by the sunny slopes and +the succulent grass, but feeds, as did his fathers before him, upon +roots and twigs, the bark of young trees, and upon various wood plants. + +One summer day, as I was swimming across a broad, deep pool in the creek +in a secluded place in the woods, I saw one of these sylvan chucks amid +the rocks but a few feet from the edge of the water where I proposed to +touch. He saw my approach, but doubtless took me for some water-fowl, +or for some cousin of his of the muskrat tribe; for he went on with his +feeding, and regarded me not till I paused within ten feet of him and +lifted myself up. Then he did not know me; having, perhaps, never seen +Adam in his simplicity, but he twisted his nose around to catch my +scent; and the moment he had done so he sprang like a jumping-jack and +rushed into his den with the utmost precipitation. + +The woodchuck is the true serf among our animals; he belongs to the +soil, and savors of it. He is of the earth, earthy. There is generally +a decided odor about his dens and lurking-places, but it is not at all +disagreeable in the clover-scented air, and his shrill whistle, as he +takes to his hole or defies the farm dog from the interior of the stone +wall, is a pleasant summer sound. In form and movement the woodchuck is +not captivating. His body is heavy and flabby. Indeed, such a flaccid, +fluid, pouchy carcass, I have never before seen. It has absolutely no +muscular tension or rigidity, but is as baggy and shaky as a skin +filled with water. Let the rifleman shoot one while it lies basking on +a sidelong rock, and its body slumps off, and rolls and spills down the +hill, as if it were a mass of bowels only. The legs of the woodchuck are +short and stout, and made for digging rather than running. The latter +operation he performs by short leaps, his belly scarcely clearing the +ground. For a short distance he can make very good time, but he +seldom trusts himself far from his hole, and when surprised in that +predicament, makes little effort to escape, but, grating his teeth, +looks the danger squarely in the face. + +I knew a farmer in New York who had a very large bob-tailed churn-dog by +the name of Cuff. The farmer kept a large dairy and made a great deal of +butter, and it was the business of Cuff to spend nearly the half of each +summer day treading the endless round of the churning-machine. During +the remainder of the day he had plenty of time to sleep, and rest, and +sit on his hips and survey the landscape. One day, sitting thus, he +discovered a woodchuck about forty rods from the house, on a steep +side-hill, feeding about near his hole, which was beneath a large rock. +The old dog, forgetting his stiffness, and remembering the fun he had +had with woodchucks in his earlier days, started off at his highest +speed, vainly hoping to catch this one before he could get to his hole. +But the woodchuck, seeing the dog come laboring up the hill, sprang to +the mouth of his den, and, when his pursuer was only a few rods off, +whistled tauntingly and went in. This occurred several times, the old +dog marching up the hill, and then marching down again, having had his +labor for his pains. I suspect that he revolved the subject in his mind +while he revolved the great wheel of the churning-machine, and that +some turn or other brought him a happy thought, for next time he showed +himself a strategist. Instead of giving chase to the woodchuck when +first discovered, he crouched down to the ground, and, resting his head +on his paws, watched him. The woodchuck kept working away from the hole, +lured by the tender clover, but, not unmindful of his safety, +lifted himself up on his haunches every few moments and surveyed the +approaches. Presently, after the woodchuck had let himself down from one +of these attitudes of observation, and resumed his feeding, Cuff started +swiftly but stealthily up the hill, precisely in the attitude of a cat +when she is stalking a bird. When the woodchuck rose up again, Cuff was +perfectly motionless and half hid by the grass. When he again resumed +his clover, Cuff sped up the hill as before, this time crossing a fence, +but in a low place, and so nimbly that he was not discovered. Again the +wood chuck was on the outlook, again Cuff was motionless and hugging the +ground. As the dog nears his victim he is partially hidden by a swell in +the earth, but still the woodchuck from his outlook reports "all right," +when Cuff, having not twice as far to run as the 'chuck, throws all +stealthiness aside and rushes directly for the hole. At that moment the +woodchuck discovers his danger, and, seeing that it is a race for life, +leaps as I never saw marmot leap before. But he is two seconds too late, +his retreat is cut off, and the powerful jaws of the old dog close upon +him. + +The next season Cuff tried the same tactics again with like success; but +when the third woodchuck had taken up his abode at the fatal hole, +the old churner's wits and strength had begun to fail him, and he was +baffled in each attempt to capture the animal. + +The woodchuck always burrows on a side-hill. This enables him to guard +against being drowned out, by making the termination of the hole higher +than the entrance. He digs in slantingly for about two or three feet, +then makes a sharp upward turn and keeps nearly parallel with the +surface of the ground for a distance of eight or ten feet farther, +according to the grade. Here he makes his nest and passes the winter, +holing up in October or November and coming out again in April. This is +a long sleep, and is rendered possible only by the amount of fat with +which the system has become stored during the summer. The fire of life +still burns, but very faintly and slowly, as with the draughts all +closed and the ashes heaped up. Respiration is continued, but at longer +intervals, and all the vital processes are nearly at a standstill. Dig +one out during hibernation (Audubon did so), and you find it a mere +inanimate ball, that suffers itself to be moved and rolled about +without showing signs of awakening. But bring it in by the fire, and it +presently unrolls and opens its eyes, and crawls feebly about, and if +left to itself will seek some dark hole or corner, roll itself up again, +and resume its former condition. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes and, Other +Papers, by John Burroughs + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS AND BEES *** + +***** This file should be named 3163.txt or 3163.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/6/3163/ + +Produced by Patricia C. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +This Project Gutenberg Etext was prepared by: +Prof. Patricia C. Franks, Chairperson +Business Information Technologies Department +Lisa Carter, BIT Student +Danette Dulny, BIT Student +Charles Duvall, BIT Student +Cheri Ripley, BIT Student +Cheryl Sullivan, BIT Student +Broome Community College +Front Street +Binghamton, NY 13902 +franks_p@mail.sunybroome.edu + + + + + +Birds and Bees + +Sharp Eyes + +And Other Papers + + + + +By John Burroughs + + + + +With An Introduction + +By Mary E. Burt + + +And A Biographical Sketch + + + + +CONTENTS + + + +Biographical Sketch + +Introduction By Mary E. Burt + +Birds + + Bird Enemies + + The Tragedies of the Nests + +Bees + + An Idyl of the Honey-Bee + + The Pastoral Bees + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. + + + +Nature chose the spring of the year for the time of John Burroughs's +birth. A little before the day when the wake-robin shows itself, +that the observer might be on hand for the sight, he was born in +Roxbury, Delaware County, New York, on the western borders of the +Catskill Mountains; the precise date was April 3, 1837. Until 1863 +he remained in the country about his native place, working on his +father's farm, getting his schooling in the district school and +neighboring academies, and taking his turn also as teacher. As he +himself has hinted, the originality, freshness, and wholesomeness of +his writings are probably due in great measure to the unliterary +surroundings of his early life, which allowed his mind to form itself +on unconventional lines, and to the later companionships with +unlettered men, which kept him in touch with the sturdy simplicities +of life. + +>From the very beginnings of his taste for literature, the essay was his +favorite form. Dr. Johnson was the prophet of his youth, but he soon +transferred his allegiance to Emerson, who for many years remained his +"master enchanter." To cure himself of too close an imitation of the +Concord seer, which showed itself in his first magazine article, +Expression, he took to writing his sketches of nature, and about this +time he fell in with the writings of Thoreau, which doubtless confirmed +and encouraged him in this direction. But of all authors and of all +men, Walt Whitman, in his personality and as a literary force, seems to +have made the profoundest impression upon Mr. Burroughs, though +doubtless Emerson had a greater influence on his style of writing. + +Expression appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in 1860, and most of his +contributions to literature have been in the form of papers first +published in the magazines, and afterwards collected into books. +He more than once paid tribute to his teachers in literature. His +first book, now out of print, was Notes on Walt Whitman, as Poet and +Person, published in 1867; and Whitman: A Study, which appeared in +1896, is a more extended treatment of the man and his poetry and +philosophy. Birds and Poets, too, contains a paper on Whitman, +entitled The Flight of the Eagle, besides an essay on Emerson, whom he +also treated incidentally in his paper, Matthew Arnold on Emerson and +Carlyle, in Indoor Studies; and the latter volume contains his essay +on Thoreau. + +In the autumn of 1863 he went to Washington, and in the following +January entered the Treasury Department. He was for some years an +assistant in the office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and later +chief of the organization division of that Bureau. For some time he +was keeper of one of the vaults, and for a great part of the day his +only duty was to be at his desk. In these leisure hours his mind +traveled off into the country, where his previous life had been spent, +and with the help of his pen, always a faithful friend and magician, +he lived over again those happy days, now happier still with the +glamour of all past pleasures. In this way he wrote Wake-Robin and +a part of Winter Sunshine. It must not be supposed, however, that he +was deprived of outdoor pleasures while at Washington. On the +contrary, he enjoyed many walks in the suburbs of the capital, and in +those days the real country came up to the very edges of the city. +His Spring at the Capital, Winter Sunshine, A March Chronicle, and +other papers bear the fruit of his life on the Potomac. He went to +England in 1871 on business for the Treasury Department, and again on +his own account a dozen years later. The record of the two visits is +to be found mainly in his chapters on An October Abroad, contained in +the volume Winter Sunshine, and in the papers gathered into the volume +Fresh Fields. + +He resigned his place in the Treasury in 1873, and was appointed +receiver of a broken national bank. Later, until 1885, his business +occupation was that of a National Bank Examiner. An article +contributed by him to The Century Magazine for March, 1881, on Broken +Banks and Lax Directors, is perhaps the only literary outcome of this +occupation, but the keen powers of observation, trained in the field of +nature, could not fail to disclose themselves in analyzing columns of +figures. After leaving Washington Mr. Burroughs bought a fruit farm at +West Park, near Esopus, on the Hudson, and there building his house +from the stones found in his fields, has given himself the best +conditions for that humanizing of nature which constitutes the charm +of his books. He was married in 1857 to a lady living in the New York +village where he was at the time teaching. He keeps his country home +the year round, only occasionally visiting New York. The cultivation +of grapes absorbs the greater part of his time; but he has by no means +given over letters. His work, which has long found ready acceptance +both at home and abroad, is now passing into that security of fame +which comes from its entrance into the school-life of American +children. + +Besides his outdoor sketches and the other papers already mentioned, +Mr. Burroughs has written a number of critical essays on life and +literature, published in Indoor Studies, and other volumes. He has +a1so taken his readers into his confidence in An Egotistical Chapter, +the final one of his Indoor Studies; and in the Introduction to the +Riverside Edition of his writings he has given us further glimpses of +his private intellectual life. + +Probably no other American writer has a greater sympathy with, and a +keener enjoyment of, country life in all its phases--farming, camping, +fishing, walking--than has John Burroughs. His books are redolent of +the soil, and have such "freshness and primal sweetness," that we need +not be told that the pleasure he gets from his walks and excursions is +by no means over when he steps inside his doors again. As he tells us +on more than one occasion, he finds he can get much more out of his +outdoor experiences by thinking them over, and writing them out +afterwards. + +Numbers 28, 36, and 92 of the Riverside Literature Series consist of +selections from Mr. Burroughs's books. No. 28, which is entitled +Birds and Bees, is made up of Bird Enemies and The Tragedies of the +Nests from the volume Signs and Seasons, An Idyl of the Honey-Bee from +Pepacton, and The Pastoral Bees from Locusts and Wild Honey. +The Introduction, by Miss Mary E. Burt, gives an account of the use of +Mr. Burroughs's writings in Chicago schools. + +In No. 36, Sharp Eyes, and Other Papers, the initial paper, Sharp Eyes, +is drawn from Locusts and Wild Honey, The Apple comes from Winter +Sunshine, A Taste of Maine Birch and Winter Neighbors from Signs and +Seasons, and Notes by the Way (on muskrats, squirrels, foxes, and +woodchucks) from Pepacton. + +The collection called A Bunch of Herbs, and Other Papers, forming +No. 92 of the Series, was designed with special reference to what the +author has to say of trees and flowers, and contains A Bunch of Herbs +from Pepacton, Strawberries from Locusts and Wild Honey, A March +Chronicle and Autumn Tides from Winter Sunshine, A Spray of Pine and +A Spring Relish from Signs and Seasons, and English Woods: A Contrast +from Fresh Fields. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + + +It is seldom that I find a book so far above children that I cannot +share its best thought with them. So when I first took up one of +John Burroughs's essays, I at once foresaw many a ramble with my pupils +through the enchanted country that is found within its breezy pages. +To read John Burroughs is to live in the woods and fields, and to +associate intimately with all their little timid inhabitants; to learn +that-- + + "God made all the creatures and gave them our love and our fear, + To give sign, we and they are his children, one family here." + +When I came to use Pepacton in my class of the sixth grade, I soon +found, not only that the children read better but that they came +rapidly to a better appreciation of the finer bits of literature in +their regular readers, while their interest in their new author grew +quickly to an enthusiasm. Never was a little brother or sister more +real to them than was "Peggy Mel" as she rushed into the hive laden +with stolen honey, while her neighbors gossiped about it, or the +stately elm that played sly tricks, or the log which proved to be +a good bedfellow because it did not grumble. Burroughs's way of +investing beasts, birds, insects, and inanimate things with human +motives is very pleasing to children. They like to trace analogies +between the human and the irrational, to think of a weed as a tramp +stealing rides, of Nature as a tell-tale when taken by surprise. + +The quiet enthusiasm of John Burroughs's essays is much healthier than +the over-wrought dramatic action which sets all the nerves a-quiver, +--nerves already stimulated to excess by the comedies and tragedies +forced upon the daily lives of children. It is especially true of +children living in crowded cities, shut away from the woods and hills, +constant witnesses of the effects of human passion, that they need the +tonic of a quiet literature rather than the stimulant of a stormy or +dramatic one,--a literature which develops gentle feelings, deep +thought, and a relish for what is homely and homespun, rather than +a literature which calls forth excited feelings. + +The essays in this volume are those in which my pupils have expressed +an enthusiastic interest, or which, after careful reading, I have +selected for future use. I have found in them few pages so hard as to +require over much study, or a too frequent use of the dictionary. +John Burroughs, more than almost any other writer of the time, has a +prevailing taste for simple words and simple constructions. "He that +runs may read" him. I have found many children under eleven years +of age who could read a whole page without hesitating. If I discover +some words which I foresee will cause difficulty, I place such on the +blackboard and rapidly pronounce and explain them before the reading. +Generally, however, I find the text the best interpreter of its words. +What follows explains what goes before, if the child is led to read on +to the end of the sentence. It is a mistake to allow children to be +frightened away from choice reading by an occasional hard word. There +is no better time than his reading lesson in which to teach a child +that the hard things of life are to be grappled with and overcome. +A mistake also, I think, is that toilsome process of explanation which +I sometimes find teachers following, under the impression that it will +be "parrot work" (as the stock phrase of the "institutes" has it) for +the pupils to read anything which they do not clearly and fully +comprehend. Teachers' definitions, in such cases, I have often +noticed, are no better than dictionary definitions, and surely +everybody knows that few more fruitless things than dictionary +definitions are ever crammed into the memory of a child. Better far +give free play to the native intelligence of the child, and trust it to +apprehend, though it may not yet comprehend nor be able to express its +apprehension in definition. On this subject I am glad to quote so high +an authority as Sir Walter Scott: "Indeed I rather suspect that +children derive impulses of a powerful and important kind from reading +things which they do not comprehend, and therefore that to write down +to children's understanding is a mistake. Set them on the scent and +let them puzzle it out." + +>From time to time I have allowed my pupils to give me written reports +from memory of these essays, and have often found these little +compositions sparkling with pleasing information, or full of that +childlike fun which is characteristic of the author. I have marked +the errors in these exercises, and have given them back to the children +to rewrite. Sometimes the second papers show careful correction-and +sometimes the mistakes are partially neglected. Very often the child +wishes to improve on the first composition, and so adds new blunders +as well as creates new interest. + +There is a law of self-preservation in Nature, which takes care of +mistakes. Every human soul reaches toward the light in the most direct +path open to it, and will correct its own errors as soon as it is +developed far enough. There is no use in trying to force maturity; +teachers who trouble children beyond all reason, and worry over their +mistakes, are fumbling at the roots of young plants that will grow +if they are let alone long enough. + +The average mechanical work (spelling, construction of sentences, +writing, etc.) is better under this method than when more time is +devoted to the mechanics and less to the thought of composition. +I have seen many reports of Burroughs's essays from the pens of +children more pleasing and reliable than the essays of some +professional reviewers; in these papers I often find the children +adding little suggestions of their own; as, "Do birds dream?" +One of the girls says her bird "jumps in its sleep." A little ten year +old writes, "Weeds are unuseful flowers," and, "I like this book +because there are real things in it." Another thinks she "will look +more carefully " if she ever gets out into the country again. For the +development of close observation and good feeling toward the common +things of life, I know of no writings better than those of +John Burroughs. + + +MARY E. BURT + +JONES SCHOOL, CHICAGO, Sept. 1, 1887. + + + + +BIRDS. + + +BIRD ENEMIES. + + +How surely the birds know their enemies! See how the wrens and robins +and bluebirds pursue and scold the cat, while they take little or no +notice of the dog! Even the swallow will fight the cat, and, relying +too confidently upon its powers of flight, sometimes swoops down so +near to its enemy that it is caught by a sudden stroke of the cat's +paw. The only case I know of in which our small birds fail to +recognize their enemy is furnished by the shrike; apparently the little +birds do not know that this modest-colored bird is an assassin. +At least, I have never seen them scold or molest him, or utter any +outcries at his presence, as they usually do at birds of prey. +Probably it is because the shrike is a rare visitant, and is not found +in this part of the country during the nesting season of our songsters. + +But the birds have nearly all found out the trick the jay, and when he +comes sneaking through the trees in May and June in quest of eggs, +he is quickly exposed and roundly abused. It is amusing to see the +robins hustle him out of the tree which holds their nest. They cry +"Thief, thief!" to the top of their voices as they charge upon him, +and the jay retorts in a voice scarcely less complimentary as he +makes off. + +The jays have their enemies also, and need to keep an eye on their own +eggs. It would be interesting to know if jays ever rob jays, or crows +plunder crows; or is there honor among thieves even in the feathered +tribes? I suspect the jay is often punished by birds which are +otherwise innocent of nest-robbing. One season I found a jay's nest in +a small cedar on the side of a wooded ridge. It held five eggs, every +one of which had been punctured. Apparently some bird had driven its +sharp beak through their shells, with the sole intention of destroying +them, for no part of the contents of the eggs had been removed. +It looked like a case of revenge; as if some thrush or warbler, +whose nest had suffered at the hands of the jays, had watched its +opportunity, and had in this way retaliated upon its enemies. An egg +for an egg. The jays were lingering near, very demure and silent, and +probably ready to join a crusade against nest-robbers. + +The great bugaboo of the birds is the owl. The owl snatches them from +off their roosts at night, and gobbles up the1r eggs and young in their +nests. He is a veritable ogre to them, and his presence fills them +with consternation and alarm. + +One season, to protect my early cherries I placed a large stuffed owl +amid the branches of the tree. Such a racket as there instantly began +about my grounds is not pleasant to think upon! The orioles and robins +fairly "shrieked out their affright." The news instantly spread in +every direction, and apparently every bird in town came to see that +owl in the cherry-tree, and every bird took a cherry, so that I +lost more fruit than if I had left the owl in-doors. With craning +necks and horrified looks the birds alighted upon the branches, and +between their screams would snatch off a cherry, as if the act was some +relief to their outraged feelings. + +The chirp and chatter of the young of birds which build in concealed or +inclosed places, like the woodpeckers, the house wren, the high-hole, +the oriole, is in marked contrast to the silence of the fledglings of +most birds that build open and exposed nests. The young of the +sparrows,--unless the social sparrow be an exception,--warblers, +fly-catchers, thrushes, never allow a sound to escape them; and on the +alarm note of their parents being heard, sit especially close and +motionless, while the young of chimney swallows, woodpeckers, and +orioles are very noisy. The latter, in its deep pouch, is quite safe +from birds of prey, except perhaps the owl. The owl, I suspect, +thrusts its leg into the cavities of woodpeckers and into the +pocket-like nest of the oriole, and clutches and brings forth the birds +in its talons. In one case which I heard of, a screech-owl had thrust +its claw into a cavity in a tree, and grasped the head of a red-headed +woodpecker; being apparently unable to draw its prey forth, it had +thrust its own round head into the hole, and in some way became fixed +there, and had thus died with the woodpecker in its talons. + +The life of birds is beset with dangers and mishaps of which we know +little. One day, in my walk, I came upon a goldfinch with the tip of +one wing securely fastened to the feathers of its rump, by what +appeared to be the silk of some caterpillar. The bird, though +uninjured, was completely crippled, and could not fly a stroke. +Its little body was hot and panting in my hands, as I carefully broke +the fetter. Then it darted swiftly away with a happy cry. A record of +all the accidents and tragedies of bird life for a single season would +show many curious incidents. A friend of mine opened his box-stove one +fall to kindle a fire in it, when he beheld in the black interior the +desiccated forms of two bluebirds. The birds had probably taken refuge +in the chimney during some cold spring storm, and had come down the +pipe to the stove, from whence they were unable to ascend. +A peculiarly touching little incident of bird life occurred to a caged +female canary. Though unmated, it laid some eggs, and the happy bird +was so carried away by her feelings that she would offer food to the +eggs, and chatter and twitter, trying, as it seemed, to encourage them +to eat! The incident is hardly tragic, neither is it comic. + +Certain birds nest in the vicinity of our houses and outbuildings, +or even in and upon them, for protection from their enemies, but they +often thus expose themselves to a plague of the most deadly character. + +I refer to the vermin with which their nests often swarm, and which +kill the young before they are fledged. In a state of nature this +probably never happens; at least I have never seen or heard of it +happening to nests placed in trees or under rocks. It is the curse +of civilization falling upon the birds which come too near man. +The vermin, or the germ of the vermin, is probably conveyed to the nest +in hen's feathers, or in straws and hairs picked up about the barn or +hen-house. A robin's nest upon your porch or in your summer-house will +occasionally become an intolerable nuisance from the swarms upon swarms +of minute vermin with which it is filled. The parent birds stem the +tide as long as they can, but are often compelled to leave the young to +their terrible fate. + +One season a phoebe-bird built on a projecting stone under the eaves of +the house, and all appeared to go well till the young were nearly +fledged, when the nest suddenly became a bit of purgatory. The birds +kept their places in their burning bed till they could hold no longer, +when they leaped forth and fell dead upon the ground. + +After a delay of a week or more, during which I imagine the parent +birds purified themselves by every means known to them, the couple +built another nest a few yards from the first, and proceeded to rear +a second brood; but the new nest developed into the same bed of torment +that the first did, and the three young birds, nearly ready to fly, +perished as they sat within it. The parent birds then left the place +as if it had been accursed. + +I imagine the smaller birds have an enemy in our native white-footed +mouse, though I have not proof enough to convict him. But one season +the nest of a chickadee which I was observing was broken up in a +position where nothing but a mouse could have reached it. The bird had +chosen a cavity in the limb of an apple-tree which stood but a few +yards from the house. The cavity was deep, and the entrance to it, +which was ten feet from the ground, was small. Barely light enough was +admitted, when the sun was in the most favorable position, to enable +one to make out the number of eggs, which was six, at the bottom of +the dim interior. While one was peering in and trying to get his head +out of his own light, the bird would startle him by a queer kind of +puffing sound. She would not leave her nest like most birds, but +really tried to blow or scare the intruder away; and after repeated +experiments I could hardly refrain from jerking my head back when that +little explosion of sound came up from the dark interior. One night, +when incubation was about half finished, the nest was harried. +A slight trace of hair or fur at the entrance led me to infer that some +small animal was the robber. A weasel might have done it, as they +sometimes climb trees, but I doubt if either a squirrel or a rat could +have passed the entrance. + +Probably few persons have ever suspected the cat-bird of being an +egg-sucker; I do not know that she has ever been accused of such +a thing, but there is something uncanny and disagreeable about her, +which I at once understood, when I one day caught her in the very act +of going through a nest of eggs. + +A pair of the least fly-catchers, the bird which says chebec, chebec, +and is a small edition of the pewee, one season built their nest where +I had them for many hours each day under my observation. The nest was +a very snug and compact structure placed in the forks of a small maple +about twelve feet from the ground. The season before, a red squirrel +had harried the nest of a wood-thrush in this same tree, and I was +apprehensive that he would serve the fly-catchers the same trick; +so, as I sat with my book in a summer-house near by, I kept my loaded +gun within easy reach. One egg was laid, and the next morning, as I +made my daily inspection of the nest, only a fragment of its empty +shell was to be found. This I removed, mentally imprecating the rogue +of a red squirrel. The birds were much disturbed by the event, but did +not desert the nest, as I had feared they would, but after much +inspection of it and many consultations together, concluded, it seems, +to try again. Two more eggs were laid, when one day I heard the birds +utter a sharp cry, and on looking up I saw a cat-bird perched upon the +rim of the nest, hastily devouring the eggs. I soon regretted my +precipitation in killing her, because such interference is generally +unwise. It turned out that she had a nest of her own with five eggs in +a spruce-tree near my window. + +Then this pair of little fly-catchers did what I had never seen birds +do before; they pulled the nest to pieces and rebuilt it in a +peach-tree not many rods away, where a brood was successfully reared. +The nest was here exposed to the direct rays of the noon-day sun, and +to shield her young when the heat was greatest, the mother-bird would +stand above them with wings slightly spread, as other birds have been +know to do under like circumstances. + +To what extent the cat-bird is a nest-robber I have no evidence, +but that feline mew of hers, and that flirting, flexible tail, suggest +something not entirely bird-like. + +Probably the darkest tragedy of the nest is enacted when a snake +plunders it. All birds and animals, so far I have observed, behave +in a peculiar manner toward a snake. They seem to feel something of +the loathing toward it that the human species experiences. The bark of +a dog when he encounters a snake is different from that which he gives +out on any other occasion; it is a mingled note of alarm, inquiry, +and disgust. + +One day a tragedy was enacted a few yards from where I was sitting with +a book; two song-sparrows trying to defend their nest against a black +snake. The curious, interrogating note of a chicken who had suddenly +come upon the scene in his walk caused me to look up from my reading. +There were the sparrows, with wings raised in a way peculiarly +expressive of horror and dismay, rushing about a low clump of grass +and bushes. Then, looking more closely, I saw the glistening form of +the black snake and the quick movement of his head as he tried to seize +the birds. The sparrows darted about and through the grass and weeds, +trying to beat the snake off. Their tails and wings were spread, +and, panting with the heat and the desperate struggle, they presented +a most singular spectacle. They uttered no cry, not a sound escaped +them; they were plainly speechless with horror and dismay. Not once +did they drop their wings, and the peculiar expression of those +uplifted palms, as it were, I shall never forget. It occurred to me +that perhaps here was a case of attempted bird-charming on the part of +the snake, so I looked on from behind the fence. The birds charged the +snake and harassed him from every side, but were evidently under no +spell save that of courage in defending their nest. Every moment or +two I could see the head and neck of the serpent make a sweep at the +birds, when the one struck at would fall back, and the other would +renew the assault from the rear. There appeared to be little danger +that the snake could strike and hold one of the birds, though I +rembled for them, they were so bold and approached so near to the +snake's head. Time and again he sprang at them, but without success. +How the poor things panted, and held up their wings appealingly! +Then the snake glided off to the near fence, barely escaping the stone +which I hurled at him. I found the nest rifled and deranged; whether +it had contained eggs or young I know not. The male sparrow had +cheered me many a day with his song, and I blamed myself for not having +rushed at once to the rescue, when the arch enemy was upon him. +There is probably little truth in the popular notion that snakes charm +birds. The black snake is the most subtle, alert, and devilish of our +snakes, and I have never seen him have any but young, helpless birds +in his mouth. + +We have one parasitical bird, the cow-bird, so-called because it walks +about amid the grazing cattle and seizes the insects which their heavy +tread sets going, which is an enemy of most of the smaller birds. +It drops its egg in the nest of the song-sparrow, the social sparrow, +the snow-bird, the vireos, and the wood-warblers, and as a rule it is +the only egg in the nest that issues successfully. Either the eggs of +the rightful owner of the nest are not hatched, or else the young are +overridden and overreached by the parasite and perish prematurely. + +Among the worst enemies of our birds are the so-called "collectors," +men who plunder nests and murder their owners in the name of science. +Not the genuine ornithologist, for no one is more careful of +squandering bird life than he; but the sham ornithologist, the man +whose vanity or affectation happens to take an ornithological turn. +He is seized with an itching for a collection of eggs and birds because +it happens to be the fashion, or because it gives him the air of a man +of science. But in the majority of cases the motive is a mercenary +one; the collector expects to sell these spoils of the groves and +orchards. Robbing the nests and killing birds becomes a business with +him. He goes about it systematically, and becomes expert in +circumventing and slaying our songsters. Every town of any +considerable size is infested with one or more of these bird +highwaymen, and every nest in the country round about that the wretches +can lay hands on is harried. Their professional term for a nest of +eggs is "a clutch," a word that well expresses the work of their +grasping, murderous fingers. They clutch and destroy in the germ the +life and music of the woodlands. Certain of our natural history +journals are mainly organs of communication between these human +weasels. They record their exploits at nest-robbing and bird-slaying +in their columns. One collector tells with gusto how he "worked +his way" through an orchard, ransacking every tree, and leaving, as he +believed, not one nest behind him. He had better not be caught working +his way through my orchard. Another gloats over the number of +Connecticut warblers--a rare bird--he killed in one season in +Massachusetts. Another tells how a mocking-bird appeared in southern +New England and was hunted down by himself and friend, its eggs +"clutched," and the bird killed. Who knows how much the bird lovers of +New England lost by that foul deed? The progeny of the birds would +probably have returned to Connecticut to breed, and their progeny, +or a part of them, the same, till in time the famous songster would +have become a regular visitant to New England. In the same journal +still another collector describes minutely how he outwitted three +humming birds and captured their nests and eggs,--a clutch he was very +proud of. A Massachusetts bird harrier boasts of his clutch of the +egg's of that dainty little warbler, the blue yellow-back. One season +he took two sets, the next five sets, the next four sets, besides some +single eggs, and the next season four sets, and says he might have +found more had he had more time. One season he took, in about twenty +days, three from one tree. I have heard of a collector who boasted of +having taken one hundred sets of the eggs of the marsh wren, in a +single day; of another, who took in the same time, thirty nests of the +yellow-breasted chat; and of still another, who claimed to have taken +one thousand sets of eggs of different birds in one season. A large +business has grown up under the influence of this collecting craze. +One dealer in eggs has those of over five hundred species. He says +that his business in 1883 was twice that of 1882; in 1884 it was twice +that of 1883, and so on. Collectors vie with each other in the extent +and variety of their cabinets. They not only obtain eggs in sets, +but aim to have a number of sets of the same bird so as to show all +possible variations. I hear of a private collection that contains +twelve sets of kingbirds' eggs, eight sets of house-wrens' eggs, +four sets mocking-birds' eggs, etc.; sets of eggs taken in low trees, +high trees, medium trees; spotted sets, dark sets, plain sets, and +light sets of the same species of bird. Many collections are made on +this latter plan. + +Thus are our birds hunted and cut off and all in the name of science; +as if science had not long ago finished with these birds. She has +weighed and measured, and dissected, and described them, and their +nests, and eggs, and placed them in her cabinet; and the interest of +science and of humanity now demands that this wholesale nest-robbing +cease. These incidents I have given above, it is true, are but drops +in the bucket, but the bucket would be more than full if we could get +all the facts. Where one man publishes his notes, hundreds, perhaps +thousands, say nothing, but go as silently about their nest-robbing +as weasels. + +It is true that the student of ornithology often feels compelled to +take bird-life. It is not an easy matter to "name all the birds +without a gun," though an opera-glass will often render identification +entirely certain, and leave the songster unharmed; but once having +mastered the birds, the true ornithologist leaves his gun at home. +This view of the case may not be agreeable to that desiccated mortal +called the "closet naturalist," but for my own part the closet +naturalist is a person with whom I have very little sympathy. +He is about the most wearisome and profitless creature in existence. +With his piles of skins, his cases of eggs, his laborious +feather-splitting, and his outlandish nomenclature, he is not only +the enemy of the birds but the enemy of all those who would know +them rightly. + +Not the collectors alone are to blame for the diminishing numbers of +our wild birds, but a large share of the responsibility rests upon +quite a different class of persons, namely, the milliners. False taste +in dress is as destructive to our feathered friends as are false aims +in science. It is said that the traffic in the skins of our brighter +plumaged birds, arising from their use by the milliners, reaches to +hundreds of thousands annually. I am told of one middleman who +collected from the shooters in one district, in four months, seventy +thousand skins. It is a barbarous taste that craves this kind of +ornamentation. Think of a woman or girl of real refinement appearing +upon the street with her head gear adorned with the scalps of +our songsters! + +It is probably true that the number of our birds destroyed by man is +but a small percentage of the number cut off by their natural enemies; +but it is to be remembered that those he destroys are in addition to +those thus cut off, and that it is this extra or artificial destruction +that disturbs the balance of nature. The operation of natural causes +keeps the birds in check, but the greed of the collectors and milliners +tends to their extinction. + +I can pardon a man who wishes to make a collection of eggs and birds +for his own private use, if he will content himself with one or two +specimens of a kind, though he will find any collection much less +satisfactory and less valuable than he imagines, but the professional +nest-robber and skin collector should be put down, either by +legis1ation or with dogs and shotguns. + +I have remarked above that there is probably very little truth in the +popular notion that snakes can "charm" birds. But two of my +correspondents have each furnished me with an incident from his own +experience, which seems to confirm the popular belief. One of them +writes from Georgia as follows:-- + +"Some twenty-eight years ago I was in Calaveras County, California, +engaged in cutting lumber. One day in coming out of the camp or cabin, +my attention was attracted to the curious action of a quail in the air, +which, instead of flying low and straight ahead as usual, was some +fifty feet high, flying in a circle, and uttering cries of distress. +I watched the bird and saw it gradually descend, and following with my +eye in a line from the bird to the ground saw a large snake with head +erect and some ten or twelve inches above the ground, and mouth wide +open, and as far as I could see, gazing intently on the quail (I was +about thirty feet from the snake). The quail gradually descended, its +circles growing smaller and smaller and all the time uttering cries of +distress, until its feet were within two or three inches of the mouth +of the snake; when I threw a stone, and though not hitting the snake, +yet struck the ground so near as to frighten him, and he gradually +started off. The quail, however, fell to the ground, apparently +lifeless. I went forward and picked it up and found it was thoroughly +overcome with fright, its little heart beating as if it would burst +through the skin. After holding it in my hand a few moments it flew +away. I then tried to find the snake, but could not. I am unable to +say whether the snake was venomous or belonged to the constricting +family, like the black snake. I can well recollect it was large and +moved off rather slow. As I had never seen anything of the kind +before, it made a great impression on my mind, and after the lapse of +so long a time, the incident appears as vivid to me as though it had +occurred yesterday." + +It is not probable that the snake had its mouth open; its darting +tongue may have given that impression. + +The other incident comes to me from Vermont. "While returning from +church in 1876," says the writer, "as I was crossing a bridge... +I noticed a striped snake in the act of charming a song-sparrow. +They were both upon the sand beneath the bridge. The snake kept his +head swaying slowly from side to side, and darted his tongue out +continually. The bird, not over a foot away, was facing the snake, +hopping from one foot to the other, and uttering a dissatisfied little +chirp. I watched them till the snake seized the bird, having gradually +drawn nearer. As he seized it, I leaped over the side of the bridge; +the snake glided away and I took up the bird, which he had dropped. +It was too frightened to try to fly and I carried it nearly a mile +before it flew from my open hand." + +If these observers are quite sure of what they saw, then undoubtedly +snakes have the power to draw birds within their grasp. I remember +that my mother told me that while gathering wild strawberries she +had on one occasion come upon a bird fluttering about the head of a +snake as if held there by a spell. On her appearance, the snake +lowered its head and made off, and the panting bird flew away. +A neighbor of mine killed a black snake which had swallowed a +full-grown red squirrel, probably captured by the same power of +fascination. + + + + +THE TRAGEDIES OF THE NESTS + + + +The life of the birds, especially of our migratory song-birds, is a +series of adventures and of hair-breadth escapes by flood and field. +Very few of them probably die a natural death, or even live out half +their appointed days. The home instinct is strong in birds as it is in +most creatures; and I am convinced that every spring a large number of +those which have survived the Southern campaign return to their old +haunts to breed. A Connecticut farmer took me out under his porch, +one April day, and showed me a phoebe bird's nest six stories high. +The same bird had no doubt returned year after year; and as there was +room for only one nest upon her favorite shelf, she had each season +reared a new superstructure upon the old as a foundation. I have heard +of a white robin--an albino--that nested several years in succession in +the suburbs of a Maryland city. A sparrow with a very marked +peculiarity of song I have heard several seasons in my own locality. +But the birds do not all live to return to their old haunts: +the bobolinks and starlings run a gauntlet of fire from the Hudson to +the Savannah, and the robins and meadow-larks and other song-birds are +shot by boys and pot-hunters in great numbers,--to say nothing of their +danger from hawks and owls. But of those that do return, what perils +beset their nests, even in the most favored localities! The cabins of +the early settlers, when the country was swarming with hostile Indians, +were not surrounded by such dangers. The tender households of the +birds are not only exposed to hostile Indians in the shape of cats and +collectors, but to numerous murderous and bloodthirsty animals, against +whom they have no defense but concealment. They lead the darkest kind +of pioneer life, even in our gardens and orchards, and under the walls +of our houses. Not a day or a night passes, from the time the eggs are +laid till the young are flown, when the chances are not greatly in +favor of the nest being rifled and its contents devoured,--by owls, +skunks, minks, and coons at night, and by crows, jays, squirrels, +weasels, snakes, and rats during the day. Infancy, we say, is hedged +about by many perils; but the infancy of birds is cradled and pillowed +in peril. An old Michigan settler told me that the first six children +that were born to him died; malaria and teething invariably carried +them off when they had reached a certain age; but other children were +born, the country improved, and by and by the babies weathered the +critical period and the next six lived and grew up. The birds, too, +would no doubt persevere six times and twice six times, if the season +were long enough, and finally rear their family, but the waning summer +cuts them short, and but a few species have the heart and strength to +make even the third trial. + +The first nest-builders in spring, like the first settlers near hostile +tribes, suffer the most casualties. A large portion of the nests of +April and May are destroyed; their enemies have been many months +without eggs and their appetites are keen for them. It is a time, +too, when other food is scarce, and the crows and squirrels are hard +put. But the second nests of June, and still more the nests of July +and August, are seldom molested. It is rarely that the nest of the +goldfinch or the cedar-bird is harried. + +My neighborhood on the Hudson is perhaps exceptionally unfavorable as +a breeding haunt for birds, owing to the abundance of fish-crows and +of red squirrels; and the season of which this chapter is mainly a +chronicle, the season of 1881, seems to have been a black-letter one +even for this place, for at least nine nests out of every ten that I +observed during that spring and summer failed of their proper issue. +>From the first nest I noted, which was that of a bluebird,--built +(very imprudently I thought at the time) in a squirrel-hole in a +decayed apple-tree, about the last of April, and which came to naught, +even the mother-bird, I suspect, perishing by a violent death,--to the +last, which was that of a snow-bird, observed in August, among the +Catskills, deftly concealed in a mossy bank by the side of a road that +skirted a wood, where the tall thimble blackberries grew in abundance, +from which the last young one was taken, when it was about half grown, +by some nocturnal walker or daylight prowler, some untoward fate seemed +hovering about them. It was a season of calamities, of violent deaths, +of pillage and massacre, among our feathered neighbors. For the first +time I noticed that the orioles were not safe in their strong, pendent +nests. Three broods were started in the apple-trees, only a few yards +from the house, where, for previous seasons, the birds had nested +without molestation; but this time the young were all destroyed when +about half grown. Their chirping and chattering, which was so +noticeable one day, suddenly ceased the next. The nests were probably +plundered at night, and doubtless by the little red screech-owl, which +I know is a denizen of these old orchards, living in the deeper +cavities of the trees. The owl could alight on the top of the nest, +and easily thrust his murderous claw down into its long pocket and +seize the young and draw them forth. The tragedy of one of the nests +was heightened, or at least made more palpable, by one of the +half-fledged birds, either in its attempt to escape or while in the +clutches of the enemy, being caught and entangled in one of the +horse-hairs by which the nest was stayed and held to the limb above. +There it hung bruised and dead, gibbeted to its own cradle. This nest +was the theatre of another little tragedy later in the season. +Some time in August a bluebird, indulging its propensity to peep and +pry into holes and crevices, alighted upon it and probably inspected +the interior; but by some unlucky move it got its wings entangled in +this same fatal horse-hair. Its efforts to free itself appeared only +to result in its being more securely and hopelessly bound; and there it +perished; and there its form, dried and embalmed by the summer heats, +was yet hanging in September, the outspread wings and plumage showing +nearly as bright as in life. + +A correspondent writes me that one of his orioles got entangled in a +cord while building her nest, and that though by the aid of a ladder +he reached and liberated her, she died soon afterward. He also found +a "chippie" (called also "hair bird") suspended from a branch by a +horse-hair, beneath a partly constructed nest. I heard of a +cedar-bird caught and destroyed in the same way, and of two young +bluebirds, around whose legs a horse-hair had become so tightly wound +that the legs withered up and dropped off. The birds became fledged, +and left the nest with the others. Such tragedies are probably +quite common. + +Before the advent of civilization in this country, the oriole probably +built a much deeper nest than it usually does at present. When now it +builds in remote trees and along the borders of the woods, its nest, +I have noticed, is long and gourd-shaped; but in orchards and near +dwellings it is only a deep cup or pouch. It shortens it up in +proportion as the danger lessens. Probably a succession of disastrous +years, like the one under review, would cause it to lengthen it again +beyond the reach of owl's talons or jay-bird's beak. + +The first song-sparrow's nest I observed in the spring of 1881 was in +the field under a fragment of a board, the board being raised from the +ground a couple of inches by two poles. It had its full complement +of eggs, and probably sent forth a brood of young birds, though as to +this I cannot speak positively, as I neglected to observe it further. +It was well sheltered and concealed, and was not easily come at by any +of its natural enemies, save snakes and weasels. But concealment often +avails little. In May, a song-sparrow, that had evidently met with +disaster earlier in the season, built its nest in a thick mass of +woodbine against the side of my house, about fifteen feet from the +ground. Perhaps it took the hint from its cousin, the English sparrow. +The nest was admirably placed, protected from the storms by the +overhanging eaves and from all eyes by the thick screen of leaves. +Only by patiently watching the suspicious bird, as she lingered near +with food in her beak, did I discover its whereabouts. That brood is +safe, I thought, beyond doubt. But it was not; the nest was pillaged +one night, either by an owl, or else by a rat that had climbed into the +vine, seeking an entrance to the house. The mother-bird, after +reflecting upon her ill-luck about a week, seemed to resolve to +try a different system of tactics and to throw all appearances of +concealment aside. She built a nest few yards from the house beside +the drive, upon a smooth piece of greensward. There was not a weed or +a shrub or anything whatever to conceal it or mark its site. +The structure was completed and incubation had begun before I +discovered what was going on. "Well, well," I said, looking down upon +the bird almost at my feet, "this is going to the other extreme indeed; +now, the cats will have you." The desperate little bird sat there day +after day, looking like a brown leaf pressed down in the short green +grass. As the weather grew hot, her position became very trying. +It was no longer a question of keeping the eggs warm, but of keeping +them from roasting. The sun had no mercy on her, and she fairly panted +in the middle of the day. In such an emergency the male robin has been +known to perch above the sitting female and shade her with his +outstretched wings. But in this case there was no perch for the male +bird, had he been disposed to make a sunshade of himself. I thought to +lend a hand in this direction myself, and so stuck a leafy twig beside +the nest. This was probably an unwise interference; it guided disaster +to the spot; the nest was broken up, and the mother-bird was probably +caught, as I never saw her afterward. + +For several previous summers a pair of kingbirds had reared, +unmolested, a brood of young in an apple-tree, only a few yards from +the house; but during this season disaster overtook them also. +The nest was completed, the eggs laid, and incubation had begun, +when, one morning about sunrise, I heard cries of distress and alarm +proceed from the old apple-tree. Looking out of the window I saw a +crow, which I knew to be a fish-crow, perched upon the edge of the +nest, hastily bolting the eggs. The parent birds, usually so ready for +the attack, seemed over-come with grief and alarm. They fluttered +about in the most helpless and bewildered manner, and it was not till +the robber fled on my approach that they recovered themselves and +charged upon him. The crow scurried away with upturned, threatening +head, the furious kingbirds fairly upon his back. The pair lingered +around their desecrated nest for several days, almost silent, +and saddened by their loss, and then disappeared. They probably made +another trial elsewhere. + +The fish-crow only fishes when it has destroyed all the eggs and young +birds it can find. It is the most despicable thief and robber among +our feathered creatures. From May to August, it is gorged with the +fledglings of the nest. It is fortunate that its range is so limited. +In size it is smaller than the common crow, and is a much less noble +and dignified bird. Its caw is weak and feminine--a sort of split and +abortive caw, that stamps it the sneak-thief it is. This crow is +common farther south, but is not found in this State, so far as I have +observed, except in the valley of the Hudson. + +One season a pair of them built a nest in a Norway Spruce that stood +amid a dense growth of other ornamental trees near a large unoccupied +house. They sat down amid plenty. The wolf established himself in +the fold. The many birds--robins, thrushes, finches, vireos, pewees-- +that seek the vicinity of dwellings (especially of these large country +residences with their many trees and park-like grounds), for the +greater safety of their eggs and young, were the easy and convenient +victims of these robbers. They plundered right and left, and were not +disturbed till their young were nearly fledged, when some boys, who had +long before marked them as their prize, rifled the nest. + +The song-birds nearly all build low; their cradle is not upon the +tree-top. It is only birds of prey that fear danger from below more +than from above, and that seek the higher branches for their nests. +A line five feet from the ground would run above more than half the +nests, and one ten feet would bound more than three fourths of them. +It is only the oriole and the wood pewee that, as a rule, go higher +than this. The crows and jays and other enemies of the birds have +learned to explore this belt pretty thoroughly. But the leaves and +the protective coloring of most nests baffle them as effectually, +no doubt as they do the professional oölogist. The nest of the +red-eyed vireo is one of the most artfully placed in the wood. It is +just beyond the point where the eye naturally pauses in its search; +namely, on the extreme end of the lowest branch of the tree, usually +four or five feet from the ground. One looks up and down through the +tree,--shoots his eye-beams into it as he might discharge his gun at +some game hidden there, but the drooping tip of that low horizontal +branch--who would think of pointing his piece just there? If a crow or +other marauder were to alight upon the branch or upon those above it, +the nest would be screened from him by the large leaf that usually +forms a canopy immediately above it. The nest-hunter standing at the +foot of the tree and looking straight before him, might discover it +easily, were it not for its soft, neutral gray tint which blends so +thoroughly with the trunks and branches of trees. Indeed, I think +there is no nest in the woods--no arboreal nest--so well concealed. +The last one I saw was a pendent from the end of a low branch of a +maple, that nearly grazed the clapboards of an unused hay-barn in a +remote backwoods clearing. I peeped through a crack and saw the old +birds feed the nearly fledged young within a few inches of my face. +And yet the cow-bird finds this nest and drops her parasitical egg in +it. Her tactics in this as in other cases are probably to watch the +movements of the parent bird. She may often be seen searching +anxiously through the trees or bushes for a suitable nest, yet she may +still oftener be seen perched upon some good point of observation +watching the birds as they come and go about her. There is no doubt +that, in many cases, the cow-bird makes room for her own illegitimate +egg in the nest by removing one of the bird's own. When the cow-bird +finds two or more eggs in a nest in which she wishes to deposit her +own, she will remove one of them. I found a sparrow's nest with two +sparrow's eggs and one cow-bird's egg, another egg lying a foot or so +below it on the ground. I replaced the ejected egg, and the next day +found it again removed, and another cow-bird's egg in its place; +I put it back the second time, when it was again ejected, or destroyed, +for I failed to find it anywhere. Very alert and sensitive birds like +the warblers often bury the strange egg beneath a second nest built on +top of the old. A lady, living in the suburbs of an eastern city, +one morning heard cries of distress from a pair of house-wrens that had +a nest in a honeysuckle on her front porch. On looking out of the +window, she beheld this little comedy--comedy from her point of view, +but no doubt grim-tragedy from the point of view of the wrens; +a cow-bird with a wren's egg in its beak running rapidly along the walk +with the outraged wrens forming a procession behind it, screaming, +scolding, and gesticulating as only these voluble little birds can. +The cow-bird had probably been surprised in the act of violating the +nest, and the wrens were giving her a piece of theirs minds. + +Every cow-bird is reared at the expense of two or more song-birds. +For every one of these dusky little pedestrians there amid the grazing +cattle there are two more sparrows, or vireos, or warblers, the less. +It is a big price to pay--two larks for a bunting-two sovereigns for +a shilling; but Nature does not hesitate occasionally to contradict +herself in just this way. The young of the cow-bird is +disproportionately large and aggressive, one might say hoggish. +When disturbed it will clasp the nest and scream, and snap its beak +threateningly. One hatched out in a song-sparrow's nest which was +under my observation, and would soon have overridden and overborne the +young sparrow, which came out of the shell a few hours later, had I not +interfered from time to time and lent the young sparrow a helping hand. +Every day I would visit the nest and take the sparrow out from under +the pot-bellied interloper and place it on top so that presently it was +able to hold its own against its enemy. Both birds became fledged and +left the nest about the same time. Whether the race was an even one +after that, I know not. + +I noted but two warblers' nests during that season, one of the +black-throated blue-back and one of the redstart,--the latter built +in an apple-tree but a few yards from a little rustic summer-house +where I idle away many summer days. The lively little birds, darting +and flashing about, attracted my attention for a week before I +discovered their nest. They probably built it by working early in the +morning, before I appeared upon the scene, as I never saw them with +material in their beaks. Guessing from their movements that the nest +was in a large maple that stood near by, I climbed the tree and +explored it thoroughly, looking especially in the forks of the +branches, as the authorities say these birds build in a fork. +But no nest could I find. Indeed, how can one by searching find a +bird's nest? I overshot the mark; the nest was much nearer me, almost +under my very nose, and I discovered it, not by searching but by a +casual glance of the eye, while thinking of other matters. The bird +was just settling upon it as I looked up from my book and caught her in +the act. The nest was built near the end of a long, knotty, horizontal +branch of an apple-tree, but effectually hidden by the grouping of the +leaves; it had three eggs, one of which proved to be barren. The two +young birds grew apace, and were out of the nest early in the second +week; but something caught one of them the first night. The other +probably grew to maturity, as it disappeared from the vicinity with +its parents after some days. + +The blue-back's nest was scarcely a foot from the ground, in a little +bush situated in a low, dense wood of hemlock and beech and maple, +amid the Catskills,--a deep, massive, elaborate structure, in which the +sitting bird sank till her beak and tail alone were visible above +the brim. It was a misty, chilly day when I chanced to find the nest, +and the mother-bird knew instinctively that it was not prudent to leave +her four half incubated eggs uncovered and exposed for a moment. +When I sat down near the nest she grew very uneasy, and after trying in +vain to decoy me away by suddenly dropping from the branches and +dragging herself over the ground as if mortally wounded, she approached +and timidly and half doubtingly covered her eggs within two yards of +where I sat. I disturbed her several times to note her ways. +There came to be something almost appealing in her looks and manner, +and she would keep her place on her precious eggs till my outstretched +hand was within a few feet of her. Finally, I covered the cavity of +the nest with a dry leaf. This she did not remove with her beak, +but thrust her head deftly beneath it and shook it off upon the ground. +Many of her sympathizing neighbors, attracted by her alarm note, +came and had a peep at the intruder and then flew away, but the male +bird did not appear upon the scene. The final history of this nest I +am unable to give, as I did not again visit it till late in the season, +when, of course, it was empty. + +Years pass without my finding a brown-thrasher's nest; it is not a nest +you are likely to stumble upon in your walk; it is hidden as a miser +hides his gold, and watched as jealously. The male pours out his rich +and triumphant song from the tallest tree he can find, and fairly +challenges you to come and look for his treasures in his vicinity. +But you will not find them if you go. The nest is somewhere on the +outer circle of his song; he is never so imprudent as to take up his +stand very near it. The artists who draw those cosy little pictures of +a brooding mother-bird with the male perched but a yard away in full +song, do not copy from nature. The thrasher's nest I found thirty or +forty rods from the point where the male was wont to indulge in his +brilliant recitative. It was in an open field under a low +ground-juniper. My dog disturbed the sitting bird as I was passing +near. The nest could be seen only by lifting up and parting away +the branches. All the arts of concealment had been carefully studied. +It was the last place you would think of looking, and, if you did look, +nothing was visible but the dense green circle of the low-spreading +juniper. When you approached, the bird would keep her place till you +had begun to stir the branches, when she would start out, and, +just skimming the ground, make a bright brown line to the near fence +and bushes. I confidently expected that this nest would escape +molestation, but it did not. Its discovery by myself and dog probably +opened the door for ill luck, as one day, not long afterward, when I +peeped in upon it, it was empty. The proud song of the male had ceased +from his accustomed tree, and the pair were seen no more in that +vicinity. + +The phoebe-bird is a wise architect, and perhaps enjoys as great an +immunity from danger, both in its person and its nest, as any other +bird. Its modest, ashen-gray suit is the color of the rocks where it +builds, and the moss of which it makes such free use gives to its nest +the look of a natural growth or accretion. But when it comes into the +barn or under the shed to build, as it so frequently does, the moss is +rather out of place. Doubtless in time the bird will take the hint, +and when she builds in such places will leave the moss out. I noted +but two nests, the summer I am speaking of: one, in a barn, failed of +issue, on account of the rats, I suspect, though the little owl may +have been the depredator; the other, in the woods, sent forth three +young. This latter nest was most charmingly and ingeniously placed. +I discovered it while in quest of pond-lilies, in a long, deep level +stretch of water in the woods. A large tree had blown over at the edge +of the water, and its dense mass of up-turned roots, with the black, +peaty soil filling the interstices, was like the fragment of a wall +several feet high, rising from the edge of the languid current. In a +niche in this earthy wall, and visible and accessible only from the +water, a phoebe had built her nest, and reared her brood. I paddled my +boat up and came alongside prepared to take the family aboard. +The young, nearly ready to fly, were quite undisturbed by my presence, +having probably been assured that no danger need be apprehended from +that side. It was not a likely place for minks, or they would not have +been so secure. + +I noted but one nest of the wood pewee, and that, too, like so many +other nests, failed of issue. It was saddled upon a small dry limb of +a plane-tree that stood by the roadside, about forty feet from the +ground. Every day for nearly a week, as I passed by I saw the sitting +bird upon the nest. Then one morning she was not in her place, and on +examination the nest proved to be empty--robbed, I had no doubt, by the +red squirrels, as they were very abundant in its vicinity, and appeared +to make a clean sweep of every nest. The wood pewee builds an +exquisite nest, shaped and finished as if cast in a mould. It is +modeled without and within with equal neatness and art, like the nest +of the humming-bird and the little gray gnat-catcher. The material is +much more refractory than that used by either of these birds, being, +in the present case, dry, fine cedar twigs; but these were bound into +a shape as rounded and compact as could be moulded out of the most +plastic material. Indeed, the nest of this bird looks precisely like +a large, lichen-covered, cup-shaped excrescence of the limb upon which +it is placed. And the bird, while sitting, seems entirely at ease. +Most birds seem to make very hard work of incubation. It is a kind of +martyrdom which appears to tax all their powers of endurance. +They have such a fixed, rigid, predetermined look, pressed down into +the nest and as motionless as if made of cast-iron. But the wood pewee +is an exception. She is largely visible above the rim of the nest. +Her attitude is easy and graceful; she moves her head this way and +that, and seems to take note of whatever goes on about her; and if her +neighbor were to drop in for a little social chat, she could doubtless +do her part. In fact, she makes light and easy work of what, to most +other birds, is such a serious and engrossing matter. If it does not +look like play with her, it at least looks like leisure and quiet +contemplation. + +There is no nest-builder that suffers more from crows and squirrels and +other enemies than the wood-thrush. It builds as openly and +unsuspiciously as if it thought the whole world as honest as itself. +Its favorite place is the fork of a sapling, eight or ten feet from the +ground, where it falls an easy prey to every nest-robber that comes +prowling through the woods and groves. It is not a bird that skulks +and hides, like the cat-bird, the brown-thrasher, the chat, or the +cheewink, and its nest is not concealed with the same art as theirs. +Our thrushes are all frank, open-mannered birds; but the veery and the +hermit build upon the ground, where they at least escape the crows, +owls, and jays, and stand a better chance to be overlooked, by the +red squirrel and weasel also; while the robin seeks the protection of +dwellings and out-buildings. For years I have not known the nest of a +wood-thrush to succeed. During the season referred to I observed but +two, both apparently a second attempt, as the season was well advanced, +and both failures. In one case, the nest was placed in a branch that +an apple tree, standing near a dwelling, held out over the highway. +The structure was barely ten feet above the middle of the road, +and would just escape a passing load of hay. It was made conspicuous +by the use of a large fragment of newspaper in its foundation--an +unsafe material to build upon in most cases. Whatever else the press +may guard, this particular newspaper did not guard this nest from harm. +It saw the egg and probably the chick, but not the fledgeling. +A murderous deed was committed above the public highway, but whether in +the open day or under cover of darkness I have no means of knowing. +The frisky red squirrel was doubtless the culprit. The other nest was +in a maple sapling, within a few yards of the little rustic +summer-house already referred to. The first attempt of the season, +I suspect, had failed in a more secluded place under the hill; so the +pair had come up nearer the house for protection. The male sang in the +trees near by for several days before I chanced to see the nest. +The very morning, I think, it was finished, I saw a red squirrel +exploring a tree but a few yards away; he probably knew what the +singing meant as well as I did. I did not see the inside of the nest, +for it was almost instantly deserted, the female having probably laid +a single egg, which the squirrel had devoured. + +If I were a bird, in building my nest I should follow the example of +the bobolink, placing it in the midst of a broad meadow, where there +was no spear of grass, or flower or growth unlike another to mark its +site. I judge that the bobolink escapes the dangers to which I have +adverted as few or no other birds do. Unless the mowers come along at +an earlier date than she has anticipated, that is, before July lst, +or a skunk goes nosing through the grass, which is unusual, she is as +safe as bird well can be in the great open of nature. She selects the +most monotonous and uniform place she can find amid the daisies or the +timothy and clover, and places her simple structure upon the ground in +the midst of it. There is no concealment, except as the great conceals +the little, as the desert conceals the pebble, as the myriad conceals +the unit. You may find the nest once, if your course chances to lead +you across it and your eye is quick enough to note the silent brown +bird as she darts quickly away; but step three paces in the wrong +direction, and your search will probably be fruitless. My friend and I +found a nest by accident one day, and then lost it again one minute +afterward. I moved away a few yards to be sure of the mother-bird, +charging my friend not to stir from his tracks. When I returned, +he had moved two paces, he said (he had really moved four), and we +spent a half hour stooping over the daisies and the buttercups, looking +for the lost clew. We grew desperate, and fairly felt the ground all +over with our hands, but without avail. I marked the spot with a bush, +and came the next day, and with the bush as a centre, moved about it in +slowly increasing circles, covering, I thought, nearly every inch of +ground with my feet, and laying hold of it with all the visual power +that I could command, till my patience was exhausted, and I gave up, +baffled. I began to doubt the ability of the parent birds themselves +to find it, and so secreted myself and watched. After much delay, +the male bird appeared with food in his beak, and satisfying himself +that the coast was clear, dropped into the grass which I had trodden +down in my search. Fastening my eye upon a particular meadow-lily, +I walked straight to the spot, bent down, and gazed long and intently +into the grass. Finally my eye separated the nest and its young from +its surroundings. My foot had barely missed them in my search, but by +how much they had escaped my eye I could not tell. Probably not by +distance at all, but simply by unrecognition. They were virtually +invisible. The dark gray and yellowish brown dry grass and stubble of +the meadow-bottom were exactly copied in the color of the half-fledged +young. More than that, they hugged the nest so closely and formed such +a compact mass, that though there were five of them, they preserved the +unit of expression,--no single head or form was defined; they were one, +and that one was without shape or color, and not separable, except by +closest scrutiny, from the one of the meadow-bottom. That nest +prospered, as bobolinks' nests doubtless generally do; +for, notwithstanding the enormous slaughter of the birds during their +fall migrations by Southern sportsmen, the bobolink appears to hold its +own, and its music does not diminish in our Northern meadows. + +Birds with whom the struggle for life is the sharpest seem to be more +prolific than those whose nest and young are exposed to fewer dangers. +The robin, the sparrow, the pewee, etc., will rear, or make the attempt +to rear, two and sometimes three broods in a season; but the bobolink, +the oriole, the kingbird, the goldfinch, the cedar-bird, the birds of +prey, and the woodpeckers, that build in safe retreats, in the trunks +of trees, have usually but a single brood. If the boblink reared two +broods, our meadows would swarm with them. + +I noted three nests of the cedar-bird in August in a single orchard, +all productive, but all with one or more unfruitful eggs in them. +The cedar-bird is the most silent of our birds having but a single fine +note, so far as I have observed, but its manners are very expressive +at times. No bird known to me is capable of expressing so much silent +alarm while on the nest as this bird. As you ascend the tree and draw +near it, it depresses its plumage and crest, stretches up its neck, +and becomes the very picture of fear. Other birds, under like +circumstances, hardly change their expression at all till they launch +into the air, when by their voice they express anger rather than alarm. + +I have referred to the red squirrel as a destroyer of the eggs and +young of birds. I think the mischief it does in this respect can +hardly be over estimated. Nearly all birds look upon it as their +enemy, and attack and annoy it when it appears near their breeding +haunts. Thus, I have seen the pewee, the cuckoo, the robin, and +the wood-thrush pursuing it with angry voice and gestures. A friend of +mine saw a pair of robins attack one in the top of a tall tree so +vigorously that they caused it to lose its hold, when it fell to the +ground, and was so stunned by the blow as to allow him to pick it up. +If you wish the birds to breed and thrive in your orchard and groves, +kill every red squirrel that infests the place; kill every weasel also. +The weasel is a subtle and arch enemy of the birds. It climbs trees +and explores them with great ease and nimbleness. I have seen it do so +on several occasions. One day my attention was arrested by the angry +notes of a pair of brown-thrashers that were flitting from bush to bush +along an old stone row in a remote field. Presently I saw what it was +that excited them--three large red weasels, or ermines coming along the +stone wall, and leisurely and half playfully exploring every tree that +stood near it. They had probably robbed the thrashers. They would go +up the trees with great ease, and glide serpent-like out upon the main +branches. When they descended the tree they were unable to come +straight down, like a squirrel, but went around it spirally. +How boldly they thrust their heads out of the wall, and eyed me and +sniffed me, as I drew near,--their round, thin ears, their prominent, +glistening, bead-like eyes, and the curving, snake-like motions of the +head and neck being very noticeable. They looked like blood-suckers +and egg-suckers. They suggested something extremely remorseless and +cruel. One could understand the alarm of the rats when they discover +one of these fearless, subtle, and circumventing creatures threading +their holes. To flee must be like trying to escape death itself. +I was one day standing in the woods upon a flat stone, in what at +certain seasons was the bed of a stream, when one of these weasels came +undulating along and ran under the stone upon which I was standing. +As I remained motionless, he thrust his wedge-shaped head, and turned +it back above the stone as if half in mind to seize my foot; then he +drew back, and presently went his way. These weasels often hunt in +packs like the British stoat. When I was a boy, my father one day +armed me with an old musket and sent me to shoot chipmunks around the +corn. While watching the squirrels, a troop of weasels tried to cross +a bar-way where I sat, and were so bent on doing it that I fired at +them, boy-like, simply to thwart their purpose. One of the weasels was +disabled by my shot, but the troop was not discouraged, and, after +making several feints to cross, one of them seized the wounded one and +bore it over, and the pack disappeared in the wall on the other side. + +Let me conclude this chapter with two or three notes about this alert +enemy of the birds and the lesser animals, the weasel. + +A farmer one day heard a queer growling sound in the grass; +on approaching the spot he saw two weasels contending over a mouse; +each had hold of the mouse pulling in opposite directions, and were so +absorbed in the struggle that the farmer cautiously put his hands down +and grabbed them both by the back of the neck. He put them in a cage, +and offered them bread and other food. This they refused to eat, +but in a few days one of them had eaten the other up, picking his bones +clean and leaving nothing but the skeleton. + +The same farmer was one day in his cellar when two rats came out of a +hole near him in great haste, and ran up the cellar wall and along its +top till they came to a floor timber that stopped their progress, +when they turned at bay, and looked excitedly back along the course +they had come. In a moment a weasel, evidently in hot pursuit of them, +came out of the hole, and seeing the farmer, checked his course and +darted back. The rats had doubtless turned to give him fight, +and would probably have been a match for him. + +The weasel seems to track its game by scent. A hunter of my +acquaintance was one day sitting in the woods, when he saw +a red squirrel run with great speed up a tree near him, and out +upon a long branch, from which he leaped to some rocks, and disappeared +beneath them. In a moment a weasel came in fu1l course upon his trail, +ran up the tree, then out along the branch, from the end of which he +leaped to the rocks as the squirrel did, and plunged beneath them. + +Doubtless the squirrel fell a prey to him. The squirrel's best game +would have been to have kept to the higher tree-tops, where he could +easily have distanced the weasel. But beneath the rocks he stood a +very poor chance. I have often wondered what keeps such an animal as +the weasel in check, for weasels are quite rare. They never need go +hungry, for rats and squirrels and mice and birds are everywhere. +They probably do not fall a prey to any other animal, and very rarely +to man. But the circumstances or agencies that check the increase of +any species of animal are, as Darwin says, very obscure and but little +known. + + + + +BEES. + + + +AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE. + + + +There is no creature with which man has surrounded himself that seems +so much like a product of civilization, so much like the result of +development on special lines and in special fields, as the honey-bee. +Indeed, a colony of bees, with their neatness and love of order, their +division of labor, their public spiritedness, their thrift, their +complex economies and their inordinate love of gain, seems as far +removed from a condition of rude nature as does a walled city or a +cathedral town. Our native bee, on the other hand, "the burly, dozing +humble-bee," affects one more like the rude, untutored savage. He has +learned nothing from experience. He lives from hand to mouth. +He luxuriates in time of plenty, and he starves in times of scarcity. +He lives in a rude nest or in a hole in the ground, and in small +communities; he builds a few deep cells or sacks in which he stores +a little honey and bee-bread for his young, but as a worker in wax he +is of the most primitive and awkward. The Indian regarded the +honey-bee as an ill-omen. She was the white man's fly. In fact she +was the epitome of the white man himself. She has the white man's +craftiness, his industry, his architectural skill, his neatness and +love of system, his foresight; and above all his eager, miserly habits. +The honeybee's great ambition is to be rich, to lay up great stores, +to possess the sweet of every flower that blooms. She is more than +provident. Enough will not satisfy her, she must have all she can get +by hook or by crook. She comes from the oldest country, Asia, +and thrives best in the most fertile and long-settled lands. + +Yet the fact remains that the honey-bee is essentially a wild creature, +and never has been and cannot be thoroughly domesticated. Its proper +home is the woods, and thither every new swarm counts on going; +and thither many do go in spite of the care and watchfulness of the +bee-keeper. If the woods in any given locality are deficient in trees +with suitable cavities, the bees resort to all sorts of makeshifts; +they go into chimneys, into barns and outhouses, under stones, into +rocks, and so forth. Several chimneys in my locality with disused +flues are taken possession of by colonies of bees nearly every season. +One day, while bee-hunting, I developed a line that went toward a +farm-house where I had reason to believe no bees were kept. I followed +it up and questioned the farmer about his bees. He said he kept no +bees, but that a swarm had taken possession of his chimney, and another +had gone under the clapboards in the gable end of his house. He had +taken a large lot of honey out of both places the year before. Another +farmer told me that one day his family had seen a number of bees +examining a knot-hole in the side of his house; the next day as they +were sitting down to dinner their attention was attracted by a loud +humming noise, when they discovered a swarm of bees settling upon the +side of the house and pouring into the knot-hole. In subsequent years +other swarms came to the same place. + +Apparently, every swarm of bees before it leaves the parent hive sends +out exploring parties to look up the future home. The woods and groves +are searched through and through, and no doubt the privacy of many a +squirrel and many a wood mouse is intruded upon. What cozy nooks and +retreats they do spy out, so much more attractive than the painted hive +in the garden, so much cooler in summer and so much warmer in winter! + +The bee is in the main an honest citizen; she prefers legitimate to +illegitimate business; she is never an outlaw until her proper sources +of supply fail; she will not touch honey as long as honey-yielding +flowers can be found; she always prefers to go to the fountain-head, +and dislikes to take her sweets at second hand. But in the fall, after +the flowers have failed, she can be tempted. The bee-hunter takes +advantage of this fact; he betrays her with a little honey. He +wants to steal her stores, and he first encourages her to steal his, +then follows the thief home with her booty. This is the whole trick of +the bee-hunter. The bees never suspect his game, else by taking a +circuitous route they could easily baffle him. But the honey-bee has +absolutely no wit or cunning outside of her special gifts as a gatherer +and storer of honey. She is a simple-minded creature, and can be +imposed upon by any novice. Yet it is not every novice that can find +a bee-tree. The sportsman may track his game to its retreat by the aid +of his dog, but in hunting the honey-bee one must be his own dog, and +track his game through an element in which it leaves no trail. It is +a task for a sharp, quick eye, and may test the resources of the best +wood-craft. One autumn when I devoted much time to this pursuit, as +the best means of getting at nature and the open-air exhilaration, +my eye became so trained that bees were nearly as easy to it as birds. +I saw and heard bees wherever I went. One day, standing on a street +corner in a great city, I saw above the trucks and the traffic a line +of bees carrying off sweets from some grocery or confectionery shop. + +One looks upon the woods with a new interest when he suspects they hold +a colony of bees. What a pleasing secret it is; a tree with a heart of +comb-honey, a decayed oak or maple with a bit of Sicily or Mount +Hymettus stowed away in its trunk or branches; secret chambers where +lies hidden the wealth of ten thousand little freebooters, great +nuggets and wedges of precious ore gathered with risk and labor from +every field and wood about. + +But if you would know the delights of bee-hunting, and how many sweets +such a trip yields beside honey, come with me some bright, warm, late +September or early October day. It is the golden season of the year, +and any errand or pursuit that takes us abroad upon the hills or by the +painted woods and along the amber colored streams at such a time is +enough. So, with haversacks filled with grapes and peaches and apples +and a bottle of milk,--for we shall not be home to dinner,--and armed +with a compass, a hatchet, a pail, and a box with a piece of comb-honey +neatly fitted into it--any box the size of your hand with a lid will do +nearly as well as the elaborate and ingenious contrivance of the +regular bee-hunter--we sally forth. Our course at first lies along the +highway, under great chestnut-trees whose nuts are just dropping, then +through an orchard and across a little creek, thence gently rising +through a long series of cultivated fields toward some high, uplying +land, behind which rises a rugged wooded ridge or mountain, the most +sightly point in all this section. Behind this ridge for several miles +the country is wild, wooded, and rocky, and is no doubt the home of +many wild swarms of bees. What a gleeful uproar the robins, +cedar-birds, high-holes, and cow black-birds make amid the black +cherry-trees as we pass along. The raccoons, too, have been here after +black cherries, and we see their marks at various points. Several +crows are walking about a newly sowed wheat field we pass through, +and we pause to note their graceful movements and glossy coats. I have +seen no bird walk the ground with just the same air the crow does. +It is not exactly pride; there is no strut or swagger in it, though +perhaps just a little condescension; it is the contented, complaisant, +and self-possessed gait of a lord over his domains. All these acres +are mine, he says, and all these crops; men plow and sow for me, and I +stay here or go there, and find life sweet and good wherever I am. +The hawk looks awkward and out of place on the ground; the game birds +hurry and skulk, but the crow is at home and treads the earth as if +there were none to molest him or make him afraid. + +The crows we have always with us, but it is not every day or every +season that one sees an eagle. Hence I must preserve the memory of one +I saw the last day I went bee-hunting. As I was laboring up the side +of a mountain at the head of a valley, the noble bird sprang from the +top of a dry tree above me and came sailing directly over my head. +I saw him bend his eye down upon me, and I could hear the low hum of +his plumage, as if the web off every quill in his great wings vibrated +in his strong, level flight. I watched him as long as my eye could +hold him. When he was fairly clear of the mountain he began that +sweeping spiral movement in which he climbs the sky. Up and up he went +without once breaking his majestic poise till be appeared to sight some +far-off alien geography, when he bent his course thitherward and +gradually vanished in the blue depths. The eagle is a bird of large +ideas, he embraces long distances; the continent is his home. I never +look upon one without emotion; I follow him with my eye as long as +I can. I think of Canada, of the Great Lakes, of the Rocky Mountains, +of the wild and sounding sea-coast. The waters are his, and the woods +and the inaccessible cliffs. He pierces behind the veil of the storm, +and his joy is height and depth and vast spaces. + +We go out of our way to touch at a spring run in the edge of the woods, +and are lucky to find a single scarlet lobelia lingering there. +It seems almost to light up the gloom with its intense bit of color. +Beside a ditch in a field beyond we find the great blue lobelia +(Lobelia syphilitica), and near it amid the weeds and wild grasses and +purple asters the most beautiful of our fall flowers, the fringed +gentian. What a rare and delicate, almost aristocratic look the +gentian has amid its coarse, unkempt surroundings. It does not lure +the bee, but it lures and holds every passing human eye. If we strike +through the corner of yonder woods, where the ground is moistened by +hidden springs and where there is a little opening amid the trees, +we shall find the closed gentian, a rare flower in this locality. +I had walked this way many times before I chanced upon its retreat; +and then I was following a line of bees. I lost the bees but I got the +gentians. How curiously this flower looks, with its deep blue petals +folded together so tightly--a bud and yet a blossom. It is the nun +among our wild flowers, a form closely veiled and cloaked. +The buccaneer bumble-bee sometimes tries to rifle it of its sweets. +I have seen the blossom with the bee entombed in it. He had forced his +way into the virgin corolla as if determined to know its secret, but he +had never returned with the knowledge he had gained. + +After a refreshing walk of a couple of miles we reach a point where we +will make our first trial--a high stone wall that runs parallel with +the wooded ridge referred to, and separated from it by a broad field. +There are bees at work there on that goldenrod, and it requires but +little maneuvering to sweep one into our box. Almost any other +creature rudely and suddenly arrested in its career and clapped into +a cage in this way would show great confusion and alarm. The bee is +alarmed for a moment, but the bee has a passion stronger than its love +of life or fear of death, namely, desire for honey, not simply to eat, +but to carry home as booty. "Such rage of honey in their bosom beats," +says Virgil. It is quick to catch the scent of honey in the box, and +as quick to fall to filling itself. We now set the box down upon the +wall and gently remove the cover. The bee is head and shoulders in one +of the half-filled cells, and is oblivious to everything else about it. +Come rack, come ruin, it will die at work. We step back a few paces, +and sit down upon the ground so as to bring the box against the blue +sky as a background. In two or three minutes the bee is seen rising +slowly and heavily from the box. It seems loath to leave so much honey +behind and it marks the place well. It mounts aloft in a rapidly +increasing spiral, surveying the near and minute objects first, +then the larger and more distant, till having circled about the spot +five or six times and taken all its bearings it darts away for home. +It is a good eye that holds fast to the bee till it is fairly off. +Sometimes one's head will swim following it, and often one's eyes are +put out by the sun. This bee gradually drifts down the hill, then +strikes away toward a farm-house half a mile away, where I know bees +are kept. Then we try another and another, and the third bee, much to +our satisfaction, goes straight toward the woods. We could see the +brown speck against the darker background for many yards. The regular +bee-hunter professes to be able to tell a wild bee from a tame one by +the color, the former, he says, being lighter. But there is no +difference; they are both alike in color and in manner. Young bees are +lighter than old, and that is all there is of it. If a bee lived many +years in the woods it would doubtless come to have some distinguishing +marks, but the life of a bee is only a few months at the farthest, +and no change is wrought in this brief time. + +Our bees are all soon back, and more with them, for we have touched +the box here and there with the cork of a bottle of anise oil, and this +fragrant and pungent oil will attract bees half a mile or more. When +no flowers can be found, this is the quickest way to obtain a bee. + +It is a singular fact that when the bee first finds the hunter's box +its first feeling is one of anger; it is as mad as a hornet; its tone +changes, it sounds its shrill war trumpet and darts to and fro, +and gives vent to its rage and indignation in no uncertain manner. +It seems to scent foul play at once. It says, "Here is robbery; +here is the spoil of some hive, may be my own," and its blood is up. +But its ruling passion soon comes to the surface, its avarice gets the +better of its indignation, and it seems to say, "Well, I had better +take possession of this and carry it home." So after many feints and +approaches and dartings off with a loud angry hum as if it would none +of it, the bee settles down and fills itself. + +It does not entirely cool off and get soberly to work till it has made +two or three trips home with its booty. When other bees come, even if +all from the same swarm, they quarrel and dispute over the box, +and clip and dart at each other like bantam cocks. Apparently the ill +feeling which the sight of the honey awakens is not one of jealousy or +rivalry, but wrath. + +A bee will usually make three or four trips from the hunter's box +before it brings back a companion. I suspect the bee does not tell +its fellows what it has found, but that they smell out the secret; +it doubtless bears some evidence with it upon its feet or proboscis +that it has been upon honey-comb and not upon flowers, and its +companions take the hint and follow, arriving always many seconds +behind. Then the quantity and quality of the booty would also betray +it. No doubt, also, there are plenty of gossips about a hive that +note and tell everything. "Oh, did you see that? Peggy Mel came in +a few moments ago in great haste, and one of the up-stairs packers says +she was loaded till she groaned with apple-blossom honey which she +deposited, and then rushed off again like mad. Apple-blossom honey +in October! Fee, fi, fo, fum! I smell something! Let's after." + +In about half an hour we have three well-defined lines of bees +established --two to farm-houses and one to the woods, and our box is +being rapidly depleted of its honey. About every fourth bee goes to +the woods, and now that they have learned the way thoroughly they do +not make the long preliminary whirl above the box, but start directly +from it. The woods are rough and dense and the hill steep, and we do +not like to follow the line of bees until we have tried at least to +settle the problem as to the distance they go into the woods-whether +the tree is on this side of the ridge or in the depth of the forest on +the other side. So we shut up the box when it is full of bees and +carry it about three hundred yards along the wall from which we are +operating. When liberated, the bees, as they always will in such +cases, go off in the same directions they have been going; they do not +seem to know that they have been moved. But other bees have followed +our scent, and it is not many minutes before a second line to the woods +is established. This is called cross-lining the bees. The new line +makes a sharp angle with the other line, and we know at once that the +tree is only a few rods into the woods. The two lines we have +established form two sides of a triangle of which the wall is the base; +at the apex of the triangle, or where the two lines meet in the woods, +we are sure to find the tree. We quickly follow up these lines, +and where they cross each other on the side of the hill we scan every +tree closely. I pause at the foot of an oak and examine a hole near +the root; now the bees are in this tree and their entrance is on the +upper side near the ground, not two feet from the hole I peer into, +and yet so quiet and secret is their going and coming that I fail to +discover them and pass on up the hill. Failing in this direction, +I return to the oak again, and then perceive the bees going out in +a small crack in the tree. The bees do not know they are found out +and that the game is in our hands, and are as oblivious of our presence +as if we were ants or crickets. The indications are that the swarm is +a small one, and the store of honey trifling. In "taking up" a +bee-tree it is usual first to kill or stupefy the bees with the fumes +of burning sulfur or with tobacco smoke. But this course is +impracticable on the present occasion, so we boldly and ruthlessly +assault the tree with an ax we have procured. At the first blow +the bees set up a loud buzzing, but we have no mercy, and the side of +the cavity is soon cut away and the interior with its white-yellow mass +of comb-honey is exposed, and not a bee strikes a blow in defense of +its all. This may seem singular, but it has nearly always been my +experience. When a swarm of bees are thus rudely assaulted with an +ax, they evidently think the end of the world has come, and, like true +misers as they are, each one seizes as much of the treasure as it can +hold; in other words they all fall to and gorge themselves with honey, +and calmly await the issue. When in this condition they make no +defense and will not sting unless taken hold of. In fact they are as +harmless as flies. Bees are always to be managed with boldness and +decision. + +Any half-way measures, any timid poking about, any feeble attempts to +reach their honey, are sure to be quickly resented. The popular notion +that bees have a special antipathy toward certain persons and a liking +for certain others has only this fact at the bottom of it; they will +sting a person who is afraid of them and goes skulking and dodging +about, and they will not sting a person who faces them boldly and has +no dread of them. They are like dogs. The way to disarm a vicious dog +is to show him you do not fear him; it is his turn to be afraid then. +I never had any dread of bees and am seldom stung by them. I have +climbed up into a large chestnut that contained a swarm in one of its +cavities and chopped them out with an ax, being obliged at times to +pause and brush the bewildered bees from my hands and face, and not +been stung once. I have chopped a swarm out of an apple-tree in June +and taken out the cards of honey and arranged them in a hive, and then +dipped out the bees with a dipper, and taken the whole home with me in +pretty good condition, with scarcely any opposition on the part of the +bees. In reaching your hand into the cavity to detach and remove the +comb you are pretty sure to get stung, for when you touch the +"business end" of a bee, it will sting even though its head be off. +But the bee carries the antidote to its own poison. The best remedy +for bee sting is honey, and when your hands are besmeared with honey, +as they are sure to be on such occasions, the wound is scarcely more +painful than the prick of a pin. Assault your bee-tree, then, boldly +with your ax, and you will find that when the honey is exposed every +bee has surrendered and the whole swarm is cowering in helpless +bewilderment and terror. Our tree yields only a few pounds of honey, +not enough to have lasted the swarm till January, but no matter; +we have the less burden to carry. + +In the afternoon we go nearly half a mile farther along the ridge to a +cornfield that lies immediately in front of the highest point of the +mountain. The view is superb; the ripe autumn landscape rolls away to +the east, cut through by the great placid river; in the extreme north +the wall of the Catskills stands out clear and strong, while in the +south the mountains of the Highlands bound the view. The day is warm +and the bees are very busy there in that neglected corner of the field, +rich in asters, flea-bane, and golden-rod. The corn has been cut, +and upon a stout, but a few rods from the woods, which here drop +quickly down from the precipitous heights, we set up our bee-box, +touched again with the pungent oil. In a few moments a bee has found +it; she comes up to leeward, following the scent. On leaving the box +she goes straight toward the woods. More bees quickly come, and it is +not long before the line is well established. Now we have recourse to +the same tactics we employed before, and move along the ridge to +another field to get our cross line. But the bees still go in almost +the same direction they did from the corn stout. The tree is then +either on the top of the mountain or on the other or west side of it. +We hesitate to make the plunge into the woods and seek to scale those +precipices, for the eye can plainly see what is before us. As the +afternoon sun gets lower the bees are seen with wonderful distinctness. +They fly toward and under the sun and are in a strong light, while the +near woods which form the background are in deep shadow. They look +like large luminous motes. Their swiftly vibrating, transparent wings +surround their bodies with a shining nimbus that makes them visible for +a long distance. They seem magnified many times. We see them bridge +the little gulf between us and the woods, then rise up over the +tree-tops with their burdens, swerving neither to the right hand nor to +the left. It is almost pathetic to see them labor so, climbing the +mountain and unwittingly guiding us to their treasures. When the sun +gets down so that his direction corresponds exactly with the course of +the bees, we make the plunge. It proves even harder climbing than we +had anticipated; the mountain is faced by a broken and irregular wall +of rock, up which we pull ourselves slowly and cautiously by main +strength. In half an hour, the perspiration streaming from every pore, +we reach the summit. The trees here are all small, a second growth, +and we are soon convinced the bees are not here. Then down we go on +the other side, clambering down the rocky stairways till we reach quite +a broad plateau that forms something like the shoulder of the mountain. +On the brink of this there are many large hemlocks, and we scan them +closely and rap upon them with our ax. But not a bee is seen or heard; +we do not seem as near the tree as we were in the fields below; yet if +some divinity would only whisper the fact to us we are within a few +rods of the coveted prize, which is not in one of the large hemlocks or +oaks that absorb our attention, but in an old stub or stump not six +feet high, and which we have seen and passed several times without +giving it a thought. We go farther down the mountain and beat about to +the right and left and get entangled in brush and arrested by +precipices, and finally as the day is nearly spent, give up the search +and leave the woods quite baffled, but resolved to return on the +morrow. The next day we come back and commence operations in an +opening in the woods well down on the side of the mountain, where we +gave up the search. Our box is soon swarming with the eager bees, +and they go back toward the summit we have passed. We follow back and +establish a new line where the ground will permit; then another and +another, and yet the riddle is not solved. One time we are south of +them, then north, then the bees get up through the trees and we cannot +tell where they go. But after much searching, and after the mystery +seems rather to deepen than to clear up, we chance to pause beside the +old stump. A bee comes out of a small opening, like that made by ants +in decayed wood, rubs its eyes and examines its antennae as bees always +do before leaving their hive, then takes flight. At the same instant +several bees come by us loaded with our honey and settle home with that +peculiar low complacent buzz of the well-filled insect. Here then is +our idyl, our bit of Virgil and Theocritus, in a decayed stump of a +hemlock tree. We could tear it open with our hands, and a bear would +find it an easy prize, and a rich one too, for we take from it fifty +pounds of excellent honey. The bees have been here many years, +and have of course sent out swarm after swarm into the wilds. They +have protected themselves against the weather and strengthened their +shaky habitation by a copious use of wax. + +When a bee-tree is thus "taken up" in the middle of the day, of course +a good many bees are away from home and have not heard the news. +When they return and find the ground flowing with honey, and piles of +bleeding combs lying about, they apparently do not recognize the place, +and their first instinct is to fall to and fill themselves; this done, +their next thought is to carry it home, so they rise up slowly through +the branches of the trees till they have attained an altitude that +enables them to survey the scene, when they seem to say, "Why, this is +home," and down they come again; beholding the wreck and ruins once +more they still think there is some mistake, and get up a second or +a third time and then drop back pitifully as before. It is the most +pathetic sight of all, the surviving and bewildered bees struggling +to save a few drops of their wasted treasures. + +Presently, if there is another swarm in the woods, robber-bees appear. +You may know them by their saucy, chiding, devil-may-care hum. It is +an ill wind that blows nobody good, and they make the most of the +misfortune of their neighbors; and thereby pave the way for their own +ruin. The hunter marks their course and the next day looks them up. +On this occasion the day was hot and the honey very fragrant, and a +line of bees was soon established S. S. W. Though there was much +refuse honey in the old stub, and though little golden rills trickled +down the hill from it, and the near branches and saplings were +besmeared with it where we wiped our murderous hands, yet not a drop +was wasted. It was a feast to which not only honey-bees came, but +bumble-bees, wasps, hornets, flies, ants. The bumble-bees, which at +this season are hungry vagrants with no fixed place of abode, would +gorge themselves, then creep beneath the bits of empty comb or +fragments of bark and pass the night, and renew the feast next day. +The bumble-bee is an insect of which the bee-hunter sees much. +There are all sorts and sizes of them. They are dull and clumsy +compared with the honey-bee. Attracted in the fields by the +bee-hunter's box, they will come up the wind on the scent and blunder +into it in the most stupid, lubberly fashion. + +The honey-bee that licked up our leavings on the old stub belonged to +a swarm, as it proved, about half a mile farther down the ridge, +and a few days afterward fate overtook them, and their stores in turn +became the prey of another swarm in the vicinity, which also tempted +Providence and were overwhelmed. The first mentioned swarm I had lined +from several points, and was following up the clew over rocks and +through gulleys, when I came to where a large hemlock had been felled +a few years before and a swarm taken from a cavity near the top of it; +fragments of the old comb were yet to be seen. A few yards away stood +another short, squatty hemlock, and I said my bees ought to be there. +As I paused near it I noticed where the tree had been wounded with an +ax a couple of feet from the ground many years before. The wound had +partially grown over, but there was an opening there that I did not see +at the first glance. I was about to pass on when a bee passed me +making that peculiar shrill, discordant hum that a bee makes when +besmeared with honey. I saw it alight in the partially closed wound +and crawl home; then came others and others, little bands and squads of +them heavily freighted with honey from the box. The tree was about +twenty inches through and hollow at the butt, or from the ax mark down. +This space the bees had completely filled with honey. With an ax we +cut away the outer ring of live wood and exposed the treasure. Despite +the utmost care, we wounded the comb so that little rills of the golden +liquid issued from the root of the tree and trickled down the hill. + +The other bee-tree in the vicinity, to which I have referred, we found +one warm November day in less than half an hour after entering the +woods. It also was a hemlock, that stood in a niche in a wall of +hoary, moss-covered rocks thirty feet high. The tree hardly reached to +the top of the precipice. The bees entered a small hole at the root, +which was seven or eight feet from the ground. The position was a +striking one. Never did apiary have a finer outlook or more rugged +surroundings. A black, wood-embraced lake lay at our feet; the long +panorama of the Catskills filled the far distance, and the more broken +outlines of the Shawangunk range filled the rear. On every hand were +precipices and a wild confusion of rocks and trees. + +The cavity occupied by the bees was about three feet and a half long +and eight or ten inches in diameter. With an ax we cut away one side +of the tree and laid bare its curiously wrought heart of honey. It was +a most pleasing sight. What winding and devious ways the bees had +through their palace! What great masses and blocks of snow-white comb +there were! Where it was sealed up, presenting that slightly dented, +uneven surface, it looked like some precious ore. When we carried +a large pail full of it out of the woods, it seemed still more like +ore. + +Your native bee-hunter predicates the distance of the tree by the time +the bee occupies in making its first trip. But this is no certain +guide. You are always safe in calculating that the tree is inside of a +mile, and you need not as a rule look for your bee's return under ten +minutes. One day I picked up a bee in an opening in the woods and gave +it honey, and it made three trips to my box with an interval of about +twelve minutes between them; it returned alone each time; the tree, +which I afterward found, was about half a mile distant. + +In lining bees through the woods, the tactics of the hunter are to +pause every twenty or thirty rods, lop away the branches or cut down +the trees, and set the bees to work again. If they still go forward, +he goes forward also and repeats his observations till the tree is +found or till the bees turn and come back upon the trail. Then he +knows be has passed the tree, and he retraces his steps to a convenient +distance and tries again, and thus quickly reduces the space to be +looked over till the swarm is traced home. On one occasion, in a wild +rocky wood, where the surface alternated between deep gulfs and chasms +filled with thick, heavy growths of timber and sharp, precipitous, +rocky ridges like a tempest tossed sea, I carried my bees directly +under their tree, and set them to work from a high, exposed ledge of +rocks not thirty feet distant. One would have expected them under such +circumstances to have gone straight home, as there were but few +branches intervening, but they did not; they labored up through the +trees and attained an altitude above the woods as if they had miles to +travel, and thus baffled me for hours. Bees will always do this. +They are acquainted with the woods only from the top side, and from the +air above they recognize home only by land-marks here, and in every +instance they rise aloft to take their bearings. Think how familiar to +them the topography of the forest summits must be-an umbrageous sea or +plain where every mask and point is known. + +Another curious fact is that generally you will get track of a bee-tree +sooner when you are half a mile from it than when you are only a few +yards. Bees, like us human insects, have little faith in the near at +hand; they expect to make their fortune in a distant field, they are +lured by the remote and the difficult, and hence overlook the flower +and the sweet at their very door. On several occasions I have +unwittingly set my box within a few paces of a bee-tree and waited long +for bees without getting them, when, on removing to a distant field or +opening in the woods I have got a clew at once. + +I have a theory that when bees leave the hive, unless there is some +special attraction in some other direction, they generally go against +the wind. They would thus have the wind with them when they returned +home heavily laden, and with these little navigators the difference is +an important one. With a full cargo, a stiff head-wind is a great +hindrance, but fresh and empty-handed they can face it with more ease. +Virgil says bees bear gravel stones as ballast, but their only ballast +is their honey bag. Hence, when I go bee-hunting, I prefer to get to +windward of the woods in which the swarm is supposed to have taken +refuge. + +Bees, like the milkman, like to be near a spring. They do water their +honey, especially in a dry time. The liquid is then of course thicker +and sweeter, and will bear diluting. Hence, old bee-hunters look for +bee-trees along creeks and near spring runs in the woods. I once found +a tree a long distance from any water, and the honey had a peculiar +bitter flavor imparted to it, I was convinced, by rainwater sucked from +the decayed and spongy hemlock tree, in which the swarm was found. +In cutting into the tree, the north side of it was found to be +saturated with water like a spring, which ran out in big drops, and had +a bitter flavor. The bees had thus found a spring or a cistern in +their own house. + +Bees are exposed to many hardships and many dangers. Winds and storms +prove as disastrous to them as to other navigators. Black spiders lie +in wait for them as do brigands for travelers. One day as I was +looking for a bee amid some golden-rod, I spied one partly concealed +under a leaf. Its baskets were full of pollen, and it did not move. +On lifting up the leaf I discovered that a hairy spider was ambushed +there and had the bee by the throat. The vampire was evidently afraid +of the bee's sting, and was holding it by the throat till quite sure of +its death. Virgil speaks of the painted lizard, perhaps a species of +salamander, as an enemy of the honey-bee. We have no lizard that +destroys the bee; but our tree-toad, ambushed among the apple and +cherry blossoms, snaps them up wholesale. Quick as lightning that +subtle but clammy tongue darts forth, and the unsuspecting bee is gone. +Virgil also accuses the titmouse and the woodpecker of preying upon the +bees, and our kingbird has been charged with the like crime, but the +latter devours only the drones. The workers are either too small and +quick for it, or else it dreads their sting. + +Virgil, by the way, had little more than a child's knowledge of the +honey-bee. There is little fact and much fable in his fourth Georgic. +If he had ever kept bees himself, or even visited an apiary, it is hard +to see how he could have believed that the bee in its flight abroad +carried a gravel stone for ballast:-- + + "And as when empty barks on billows float, + With Sandy ballast sailors trim the boat; + So bees bear gravel stones, whose poising weight + Steers through the whistling winds their steady flight;" + +or that when two colonies made war upon each other they issued forth +from their hives led by their kings and fought in the air, strewing the +ground with the dead and dying:-- + + "Hard hailstones lie not thicker on the plain, + Nor shaken oaks such show'rs of acorns rain." + +It is quite certain he had never been bee-hunting. If he had, we +should have had a fifth Georgic. Yet he seems to have known that bees +sometimes escaped to the woods:-- + + "Nor bees are lodged in hives alone, but found + In chambers of their own beneath the ground: + Their vaulted roofs are hung in pumices, + And in the rotten trunks of hollow trees." + +Wild honey is as near like tame as wild bees are like their brothers in +hive. The only difference is that wild honey is flavored with your +adventure, which makes it a little more delectable than the domestic +article. + + + + +THE PASTORAL BEES + + + +The honey-bee goes forth from the hive in spring like the dove from +Noah's ark, and it is not till after many days that she brings back the +olive leaf, which in this case is a pellet of golden pollen upon each +hip, usually obtained from the alder or the swamp willow. In a country +where maple sugar is made, the bees get their first taste of sweet from +the sap as it flows from the spiles, or as it dries and is condensed +upon the sides of the buckets. They will sometimes, in their +eagerness, come about the boiling place and be overwhelmed by the steam +and the smoke. But bees appear to be more eager for bread in the +spring than for honey; their supply of this article, perhaps, does not +keep as well as their stores of the latter, hence fresh bread, in the +shape of new pollen, is diligently sought for. My bees get their first +supplies from the catkins of the willows. How quickly they find them +out. If but one catkin opens anywhere within range, a bee is on hand +that very hour to rifle it, and it is a most pleasing experience to +stand near the hive some mild April day and see them come pouring in +with their little baskets packed with this first fruitage of the +spring. They will have new bread now; they have been to mill in good +earnest; see their dusty coats, and the golden grist they bring home +with them. + +When a bee brings pollen into the hive, he advances to the cell in +which it is to be deposited and kicks it off as one might his overalls +or rubber boots, making one foot help the other; then he walks off +without ever looking behind him; another bee, one of the indoor hands, +comes along and rams it down with his head and packs it into the cell +as the dairymaid packs butter into a firkin. + +The first spring wild-flowers, whose shy faces among the dry leaves and +rocks are so welcome, yield no honey. The anemone, the hepatica, +the bloodroot, the arbutus, the numerous violets, the spring beauty, +the corydalis, etc., woo lovers of nature, but do not woo the +honey-loving bee. It requires more sun and warmth to develop the +saccharine element, and the beauty of these pale striplings of the +woods and groves is their sole and sufficient excuse for being. +The arbutus, lying low and keeping green all winter, attains to +perfume, but not to honey. + +The first honey is perhaps obtained from the flowers of the red maple +and the golden willow. The latter sends forth a wild, delicious +perfume. The sugar maple blooms a little later, and from its silken +tassels a rich nectar is gathered. My bees will not label these +different varieties for me as I really wish they would. Honey from the +maples, a tree so clean and wholesome, and full of such virtues every +way, would be something to put one's tongue to. Or that from the +blossoms of the apple, the peach, the cherry, the quince, the currant, +--one would like a card of each of these varieties to note their +peculiar qualities. The apple-blossom is very important to the bees. +A single swarm has been known to gain twenty pounds in weight during +its continuance. Bees love the ripened fruit, too, and in August and +September will suck themselves tipsy upon varieties such as +the sops-of-wine. + +The interval between the blooming of the fruit-trees and that of the +clover and the raspberry is bridged over in many localities by the +honey locust. What a delightful summer murmur these trees send forth +at this season. I know nothing about the quality of the honey, but it +ought to keep well. But when the red raspberry blooms, the fountains +of plenty are unsealed indeed; what a commotion about the hives then, +especially in localities where it is extensively cultivated, as in +places along the Hudson. The delicate white clover, which begins to +bloom about the same time, is neglected; even honey itself is passed by +for this modest colorless, all but odorless flower. A field of these +berries in June sends forth a continuous murmur like that of an +enormous hive. The honey is not so white as that obtained from clover +but it is easier gathered; it is in shallow cups while that of the +clover is in deep tubes. The bees are up and at it before sunrise, +and it takes a brisk shower to drive them in. But the clover blooms +later and blooms everywhere, and is the staple source of supply of the +finest quality of honey. The red clover yields up its stores only to +the longer proboscis of the bumble-bee, else the bee pasturage of our +agricultural districts would be unequaled. I do not know from what the +famous honey of Chamouni in the Alps is made, but it can hardly surpass +our best products. The snow-white honey of Anatolia in Asiatic Turkey, +which is regularly sent to Constantinople for the use of the grand +seignior and the ladies of his seraglio, is obtained from the cotton +plant, which makes me think that the white clover does not flourish +these. The white clover is indigenous with us; its seeds seem latent +in the ground, and the application of certain stimulants to the soil, +such as wood ashes, causes them to germinate and spring up. + +The rose, with all its beauty and perfume, yields no honey to the bee, +unless the wild species be sought by the bumble-bee. + +Among the humbler plants, let me not forget the dandelion that so early +dots the sunny slopes, and upon which the bee languidly grazes, +wallowing to his knees in the golden but not over-succulent pasturage. +>From the blooming rye and wheat the bee gathers pollen, also from the +obscure blossoms of Indian corn. Among weeds, catnip is the great +favorite. It lasts nearly the whole season and yields richly. +It could no doubt be profitably cultivated in some localities, +and catnip honey would be a novelty in the market. It would probably +partake of the aromatic properties of the plant from which it was +derived. + +Among your stores of honey gathered before midsummer, you may chance +upon a card, or mayhap only a square inch or two of comb, in which the +liquid is as transparent as water, of a delicious quality, with a +slight flavor of mint. This is the product of the linden or basswood, +of all the trees in our forest the one most beloved by the bees. +Melissa, the goddess of honey, has placed her seal upon this tree. +The wild swarms in the woods frequently reap a choice harvest from it. +I have seen a mountain side thickly studded with it, its straight, +tall, smooth, light-gray shaft carrying its deep-green crown far aloft, +like the tulip-tree or the maple. + +In some of the Northwestern States there are large forests of it, and +the amount of honey reported stored by strong swarms in this section +during the time the tree is in bloom is quite incredible. As a shade +and ornamental tree the linden is fully equal to the maple, and if it +were as extensively planted and cared for, our supplies of virgin honey +would be greatly increased. The famous honey of Lithuania in Russia is +the product of the linden. + +It is a homely old stanza current among bee folk that-- + + "A swarm of bees in May + Is worth a load of hay; + A swarm of bees in June + Is worth a silver spoon; + But a swarm in July + Is not worth a fly." + +A swarm in May is indeed a treasure; it is, like an April baby, sure +to thrive, and will very likely itself send out a swarm a month or two +later; but a swarm in July is not to be despised; it will store no +clover or linden honey for the "grand seignior and the ladies of his +seraglio," but plenty of the rank and wholesome poor man's nectar, the +sun-tanned product of the plebeian buckwheat. Buckwheat honey is the +black sheep in this white flock, but there is spirit and character in +it. It lays hold of the taste in no equivocal manner, especially when +at a winter breakfast it meets its fellow, the russet buckwheat cake. +Bread with honey to cover it from the same stalk is double good +fortune. It is not black, either, but nut-brown, and belongs to the +same class of goods as Herrick's + + "Nut-brown mirth and russet wit." + +How the bees love it, and they bring the delicious odor of the blooming +plant to the hive with them, so that in the moist warm twilight the +apiary is redolent with the perfume of buckwheat. + +Yet evidently it is not the perfume of any flower that attracts the +bees; they pay no attention to the sweet-scented lilac, or to +heliotrope, but work upon sumach, silkweed, and the hateful snapdragon. +In September they are hard pressed, and do well if they pick up enough +sweet to pay the running expenses of their establishment. The purple +asters and the golden-rod are about all that remain to them. + +Bees will go three or four miles in quest of honey, but it is a great +advantage to move the hive near the good pasturage, as has been the +custom from the earliest times in the 0ld World. Some enterprising +person, taking a hint perhaps from the ancient Egyptians, who had +floating apiaries on the Nile, has tried the experiment of floating +several hundred colonies north on the Mississippi, starting from +New Orleans and following the opening season up, thus realizing a sort +of perpetual May or June, the chief attraction being the blossoms of +the river willow, which yield honey of rare excellence. Some of the +bees were no doubt left behind, but the amount of virgin honey secured +must have been very great. In September they should have begun the +return trip, following the retreating summer South. + +It is the making of the wax that costs with the bee. As with the poet, +the form, the receptacle, gives him more trouble than the sweet that +fills it, though, to be sure, there is always more or less empty comb +in both cases. The honey he can have for the gathering, but the wax +he must make himself--must evolve from his own inner consciousness. +When wax is to be made the wax-makers fill themselves with honey and +retire into their chamber for private meditation; it is like some +solemn religious rite; they take hold of hands, or hook themselves +together in long lines that hang in festoons from the top of the hive, +and wait for the miracle to transpire. After about twenty-four hours +their patience is rewarded, the honey is turned into wax, minute scales +of which are secreted from between the rings of the abdomen of each +bee; this is taken off and from it the comb is built up. It is +calculated that about twenty-five pounds of honey are used in +elaborating one pound of comb, to say nothing of the time that is lost. +Hence the importance in an economical point of view, of a recent device +by which the honey is extracted and the comb returned intact to the +bees. But honey without the comb is the perfume without the rose,--it +is sweet merely, and soon degenerates into candy. Half the +delectableness is in breaking down these frail and exquisite walls +yourself, and tasting the nectar before it has lost its freshness by +the contact with the air. Then the comb is a sort of shield or foil +that prevents the tongue from being overwhelmed by the shock of +the sweet. + +The drones have the least enviable time of it. Their foothold in the +hive is very precarious. They look like the giants, the lords of the +swarm, but they are really the tools. Their loud, threatening hum has +no sting to back it up, and their size and noise make them only the +more conspicuous marks for the birds. + +Toward the close of the season, say in July or August, the fiat goes +forth that the drones must die; there is no further use for them. +Then the poor creatures, how they are huddled and hustled about, trying +to hide in corners and by-ways. There is no loud, defiant humming now, +but abject fear seizes them. They cower like hunted criminals. I have +seen a dozen or more of them wedge themselves into a small space +between the glass and the comb, where the bees could not get hold of +them or where they seemed to be overlooked in the general slaughter. +They will also crawl outside and hide under the edges of the hive. +But sooner or later they are all killed or kicked out. The drone makes +no resistance, except to pull back and try to get away; but +(putting yourself in his place) with one bee a-hold of your collar or +the hair of your head, and another a-hold of each arm or leg, and still +another feeling for your waistbands with his sting, the odds are +greatly against you. + +It is a singular fact, also, that the queen is made, not born. If the +entire population of Spain or Great Britain were the offspring of one +mother, it might be found necessary to hit upon some device by which a +royal baby could be manufactured out of an ordinary one, or else give +up the fashion of royalty. All the bees in the hive have a common +parentage, and the queen and the worker are the same in the egg and in +the chick; the patent of royalty is in the cell and in the food; the +cell being much larger, and the food a peculiar stimulating kind of +jelly. In certain contingencies, such as the loss of the queen with no +eggs in the royal cells, the workers take the larva of an ordinary bee, +enlarge the cell by taking in the two adjoining ones, and nurse it and +stuff it and coddle it, till at the end of sixteen days it comes out a +queen. But ordinarily, in the natural course of events, the young +queen is kept a prisoner in her cell till the old queen has left with +the swarm. Later on, the unhatched queen is guarded against the +reigning queen, who only wants an opportunity to murder every royal +scion in the hive. At this time both the queens, the one a prisoner +and the other at large, pipe defiance at each other, a shrill, fine, +trumpet-like note that any ear will at once recognize. This challenge, +not being allowed to be accepted by either party, is followed, in a day +or two by the abdication of the reigning queen; she leads out the +swarm, and her successor is liberated by her keepers, who, in her time, +abdicates in favor of the next younger. When the bees have decided +that no more swarms can issue, the reigning queen is allowed to use her +stiletto upon her unhatched sisters. Cases have been known where two +queens issued at the same time, when a mortal combat ensued, encouraged +by the workers, who formed a ring about them, but showed no preference, +and recognized the victor as the lawful sovereign. For these and many +other curious facts we are indebted to the blind Huber. + +It is worthy of note that the position of the queen cells is always +vertical, while that of the drones and workers is horizontal; majesty +stands on its head, which fact may be a part of the secret. + +The notion has always very generally prevailed that the queen of the +bees is an absolute ruler, and issues her royal orders to willing +subjects. Hence Napoleon the First sprinkled the symbolic bees over +the imperial mantle that bore the arms of his dynasty; and in the +country of the Pharaohs the bee was used as the emblem of a people +sweetly submissive to the orders of its king. But the fact is, a swarm +of bees is an absolute democracy, and kings and despots can find no +warrant in their example. The power and authority are entirely vested +in the great mass, the workers. They furnish all the brains +and foresight of the colony, and administer its affairs. Their word is +law, and both king and queen must obey. They regulate the swarming, +and give the signal for the swarm to issue from the hive; they select +and make ready the tree in the woods and conduct the queen to it. + +The peculiar office and sacredness of the queen consists in the fact +that she is the mother of the swarm, and the bees love and cherish her +as a mother and not as a sovereign. She is the sole female bee in the +hive, and the swarm clings to her because she is their life. Deprived +of their queen, and of all brood from which to rear one, the swarm +loses all heart and soon dies, though there be an abundance of honey in +the hive. + +The common bees will never use their sting upon the queen; if she is to +be disposed of they starve her to death; and the queen herself will +sting nothing but royalty--nothing but a rival queen. + +The queen, I say, is the mother bee; it is undoubtedly complimenting +her to call her a queen and invest her with regal authority, yet she is +a superb creature, and looks every inch a queen. It is an event to +distinguish her amid the mass of bees when the swarm alights; it +awakens a thrill. Before you have seen a queen you wonder if this or +that bee, which seems a little larger than its fellows, is not she, but +when you once really set eyes upon her you do not doubt for a moment. +You know that is the queen. That long, elegant, shining, +feminine-looking creature can be none less than royalty. How +beautifully her body tapers, how distinguished she looks, how +deliberate her movements! The bees do not fall down before her, but +caress her and touch her person. The drones or males, are large bees +too, but coarse, blunt, broad-shouldered, masculine-looking. There is +but one fact or incident in the life of the queen that looks imperial +and authoritative: Huber relates that when the old queen is restrained +in her movements by the workers, and prevented from destroying the +young queens in their cells, she assumes a peculiar attitude and utters +a note that strikes every bee motionless, and makes every head bow; +while this sound lasts not a bee stirs, but all look abashed and +humbled, yet whether the emotion is one of fear, or reverence, or of +sympathy with the distress of the queen mother, is hard to determine. +The moment it ceases and she advances again toward the royal cells, +the bees bite and pull and insult her as before. + +I always feel that I have missed some good fortune if I am away from +home when my bees swarm. What a delightful summer sound it is; how +they come pouring out of the hive, twenty or thirty thousand bees each +striving to get out first; it is as when the dam gives way and lets the +waters loose; it is a flood of bees which breaks upward into the air, +and becomes a maze of whirling black lines to the eye and a soft chorus +of myriad musical sounds to the ear. This way and that way they drift, +now contracting, now expanding, rising, sinking, growing thick about +some branch or bush, then dispersing and massing at some other point, +till finally they begin to alight in earnest, when in a few moments the +whole swarm is collected upon the branch, forming a bunch perhaps as +large as a two-gallon measure. Here they will hang from one to three +or four hours, or until a suitable tree in the woods is looked up, +when, if they have not been offered a hive in the mean time, they are +up and off. In hiving them, if any accident happens to the queen the +enterprise miscarries at once. One day I shook a swarm from a small +pear-tree into a tin pan, set the pan down on a shawl spread beneath +the tree, and put the hive over it. The bees presently all crawled up +into it, and all seemed to go well for ten or fifteen minutes, when I +observed that something was wrong; the bees began to buzz excitedly and +to rush about in a bewildered manner, then they took to the wing and +all returned to the parent stock. On lifting up the pan, I found +beneath it the queen with three or four other bees. She had been one +of the first to fall, had missed the pan in her descent, and I had set +it upon her. I conveyed her tenderly back to the hive, but either the +accident terminated fatally with her or else the young queen had been +liberated in the interim, and one of them had fallen in combat, for it +was ten days before the swarm issued a second time. + +No one, to my knowledge, has ever seen the bees house-hunting in the +woods. Yet there can be no doubt that they look up new quarters either +before or on the day the swarm issues. For all bees are wild bees and +incapable of domestication; that is, the instinct to go back to nature +and take up again their wild abodes in the trees is never eradicated. +Years upon years of life in the apiary seems to have no appreciable +effect towards their final, permanent domestication. That every new +swarm contemplates migrating to the woods, seems confirmed by the fact +that they will only come out when the weather is favorable to such an +enterprise, and that a passing cloud or a sudden wind, after the bees +are in the air, will usually drive them back into the parent hive. +Or an attack upon them with sand or gravel, or loose earth or water, +will quickly cause them to change their plans. I would not even say +but that, when the bees are going off, the apparently absurd practice, +now entirely discredited by regular bee-keepers but still resorted to +by unscientific folk, of beating upon tin pans, blowing horns, and +creating an uproar generally, might not be without good results. +Certainly not by drowning the "orders" of the queen, but by impressing +the bees as with some unusual commotion in nature. Bees are easily +alarmed and disconcerted, and I have known runaway swarms to be brought +down by a farmer ploughing in the field who showered them with handfuls +of loose soil. + +I love to see a swarm go off--if it is not mine, and if mine must go I +want to be on hand to see the fun. It is a return to first principles +again by a very direct route. The past season I witnessed two such +escapes. One swarm had come out the day before, and, without +alighting, had returned to the parent hive--some hitch in the plan, +perhaps, or may be the queen had found her wings too weak. The next +day they came out again, and were hived. But something offended them, +or else the tree in the woods--perhaps some royal old maple or birch +holding its head high above all others, with snug, spacious, irregular +chambers and galleries--had too many attractions; for they were +presently discovered filling the air over the garden, and whirling +excitedly around. Gradually they began to drift over the street; +a moment more, and they had become separated from the other bees, +and, drawing together in a more compact mass or cloud, away they went, +a humming, flying vortex of bees, the queen in the centre, and the +swarm revolving around her as a pivot,--over meadows, across creeks and +swamps, straight for the heart of the mountain, about a mile distant, +--slow at first, so that the youth who gave chase kept up with them, +but increasing their speed till only a fox hound could have kept them +in sight. I saw their pursuer laboring up the side of the mountain; +saw his white shirt-sleeves gleam as he entered the woods; but he +returned a few hours afterward without any clew as to the particular +tree in which they had taken refuge out of the ten thousand that +covered the side of the mountain. + +The other swarm came out about one o'clock of a hot July day, and at +once showed symptoms that alarmed the keeper, who, however, threw +neither dirt nor water. The house was situated on a steep side-hill. +Behind it the ground rose, for a hundred rods or so, at an angle of +nearly forty-five degrees, and the prospect of having to chase them up +this hill, if chase them we should, promised a good trial of wind at +least; for it soon became evident that their course lay in this +direction. Determined to have a hand, or rather a foot, in the chase, +I threw off my coat and hurried on, before the swarm was yet fairly +organized and under way. The route soon led me into a field of +standing rye, every spear of which held its head above my own. +Plunging recklessly forward, my course marked to those watching from +below by the agitated and wriggling grain, I emerged from the miniature +forest just in time to see the runaways disappearing over the top of +the hill, some fifty rods in advance of me. Lining them as well as I +could, I soon reached the hill-top, my breath utterly gone and the +perspiration streaming from every pore of my skin. On the other side +the country opened deep and wide. A large valley swept around to the +north, heavily wooded at its head and on its sides. It became evident +at once that the bees had made good their escape, and that whether they +had stopped on one side of the valley or the other, or had indeed +cleared the opposite mountain and gone into some unknown forest beyond, +was entirely problematical. I turned back, therefore, thinking of the +honey-laden tree that some of these forests would hold before the +falling of the leaf. + +I heard of a youth in the neighborhood, more lucky than myself on a +like occasion. It seems that he had got well in advance of the swarm, +whose route lay over a hill, as in my case, and as he neared the +summit, hat in hand, the bees had just come up and were all about him. +Presently he noticed them hovering about his straw hat, and alighting +on his arm; and in almost as brief a time as it takes to relate it, the +whole swarm had followed the queen into his hat. Being near a stone +wall, he coolly deposited his prize upon it, quickly disengaged himself +from the accommodating bees, and returned for a hive. The explanation +of this singular circumstance no doubt is, that the queen, unused to +such long and heavy flights, was obliged to alight from very +exhaustion. It is not very unusual for swarms to be thus found in +remote fields, collected upon a bush or branch of a tree. + +When a swarm migrates to the woods in this manner, the individual bees, +as I have intimated, do not move in right lines or straight forward, +like a flock of birds, but round and round, like chaff in a whirlwind. +Unitedly they form a humming, revolving, nebulous mass, ten or fifteen +feet across, which keeps just high enough to clear all obstacles, +except in crossing deep valleys, when, of course, it may be very high. +The swarm seems to be guided by a line of couriers, which may be seen +(at least at the outset) constantly going and coming. As they take a +direct course, there is always some chance of following them to the +tree, unless they go a long distance, and some obstruction, like a +wood, or a swamp, or a high hill, intervenes--enough chance, at any +rate, to stimulate the lookers-on to give vigorous chase as long as +their wind holds out. If the bees are successfully followed to their +retreat, two plans are feasible: either to fell the tree at once, and +seek to hive them, perhaps bring them home in the section of the tree +that contains the cavity; or to leave the tree till fall, then invite +your neighbors, and go and cut it, and see the ground flow with honey. +The former course is more business-like; but the latter is the one +usually recommended by one's friends and neighbors. + +Perhaps nearly one third of all the runaway swarms leave when no one is +about, and hence are unseen and unheard, save, perchance, by some +distant laborers in the field, or by some youth ploughing on the side +of the mountain, who hears an unusual humming noise, and sees the swarm +dimly whirling by overhead, and, may be, gives chase; or he may simply +catch the sound, when he pauses, looks quickly around, but sees +nothing. When he comes in at night he tells how he heard or saw a +swarm of bees go over; and, perhaps from beneath one of the hives in +the garden a black mass of bees has disappeared during the day. + +They are not partial as to the kind of tree,--pine, hemlock, elm, +birch, maple, hickory,--any tree with a good cavity high up or low +down. A swarm of mine ran away from the new patent hive I gave them, +and took up their quarters in the hollow trunk of an old apple-tree +across an adjoining field. The entrance was a mouse-hole near the +ground. + +Another swarm in the neighborhood deserted their keeper and went into +the cornice of an out-house that stood amid evergreens in the rear of a +large mansion. But there is no accounting for the taste of bees, as +Samson found when he discovered the swarm in the carcass, or more +probably the skeleton, of the lion he had slain. + +In any given locality, especially in the more wooded and mountainous +districts, the number of swarms that thus assert their independence +forms quite a large per cent. In the Northern States these swarms very +often perish before spring; but in such a country as Florida they seem +to multiply, till bee-trees are very common. In the West, also, wild +honey is often gathered in large quantities. I noticed not long since, +that some wood-choppers on the west slope of the Coast Range felled a +tree that had several pailfuls in it. + +One night on the Potomac a party of us unwittingly made our camp near +the foot of a bee-tree, which next day the winds of heaven blew down, +for our special delectation, at least so we read the sign. Another +time while sitting by a waterfall in the leafless April woods I +discovered a swarm in the top of a large hickory. I had the season +before remarked the tree as a likely place for bees, but the screen of +leaves concealed them from me. This time my former presentiment +occurred to me, and, looking sharply, sure enough there were the bees, +going out and in a large, irregular opening. In June a violent tempest +of wind and rain demolished the tree, and the honey was all lost in the +creek into which it fell. I happened along that way two or three days +after the tornado, when I saw a remnant of the swarm, those, doubtless, +that escaped the flood and those that were away when the disaster came, +hanging in a small black mass to a branch high up near where their home +used to be. They looked forlorn enough. If the queen was saved the +remnant probably sought another tree; otherwise the bees have soon +died. + +I have seen bees desert their hive in the spring when it was infested +with worms, or when the honey was exhausted; at such times the swarm +seems to wander aimlessly, alighting here and there, and perhaps in the +end uniting with some other colony. In case of such union, it would +be curious to know if negotiations were first opened between the +parties, and if the houseless bees are admitted at once to all the +rights and franchises of their benefactors. It would be very like the +bees to have some preliminary plan and understanding about the matter +on both sides. + +Bees will accommodate themselves to almost any quarters, yet no hive +seems to please them so well as a section of a hollow tree--"gums" as +they are called in the South and West where the sweet gum grows. In +some European countries the hive is always made from the trunk of a +tree, a suitable cavity being formed by boring. The old-fashioned +straw hive is picturesque, and a great favorite with the bees also. + +The life of a swarm of bees is like an active and hazardous campaign of +an army; the ranks are being continually depleted, and continually +recruited. What adventures they have by flood and field, and what +hair-breadth escapes! A strong swarm during the honey season loses, on +an average, about four or five thousand per month, or one hundred and +fifty per day. They are overwhelmed by wind and rain, caught by +spiders, benumbed by cold, crushed by cattle, drowned in rivers and +ponds, and in many nameless ways cut off or disabled. In the spring +the principal mortality is from the cold. As the sun declines they get +chilled before they can reach home. Many fall down outside the hive, +unable to get in with their burden. One may see them come utterly +spent and drop hopelessly into the grass in front of their very doors. +Before they can rest the cold has stiffened them. I go out in April +and May and pick them up by the handfuls, their baskets loaded with +pollen, and warm them in the sun or in the house, or by the simple +warmth of my hand, until they can crawl into the hive. Heat is their +life, and an apparently lifeless bee may be revived by warming him. +I have also picked them up while rowing on the river and seen them +safely to shore. It is amusing to see them come hurrying home when +there is a thunderstorm approaching. They come piling in till the rain +is upon them. Those that are overtaken by the storm doubtless weather +it as best they can in the sheltering trees or grass. It is not +probable that a bee ever gets lost by wandering into strange and +unknown parts. With their myriad eyes they see everything; and then, +their sense of locality is very acute, is, indeed, one of their ruling +traits. When a bee marks the place of his hive, or of a bit of good +pasturage in the fields or swamps, or of the bee-hunter's box of honey +on the hills or in the woods, he returns to it as unerringly as fate. + +Honey was a much more important article of food with the ancients than +it is with us. As they appear to have been unacquainted with sugar, +honey, no doubt, stood them instead. It is too rank and pungent for +the modern taste; it soon cloys upon the palate. It demands the +appetite of youth, and the strong, robust digestion of people who live +much in the open air. It is a more wholesome food than sugar, and +modern confectionery is poison beside it. Beside grape sugar, honey +contains manna, mucilage, pollen, acid, and other vegetable odoriferous +substances and juices. It is a sugar with a kind of wild natural bread +added. The manna of itself is both food and medicine, and the pungent +vegetable extracts have rare virtues. Honey promotes the excretions +and dissolves the glutinous and starchy impedimenta of the system. + +Hence it is not without reason that with the ancients a land flowing +with milk and honey should mean a land abounding in all good things; +and the queen in the nursery rhyme, who lingered in the kitchen to eat +"bread and honey" while the "king was in the parlor counting out his +money," was doing a very sensible thing. Epaminondas is said to have +rarely eaten anything but bread and honey. The Emperor Augustus one +day inquired of a centenarian how he had kept his vigor of mind and +body so long; to which the veteran replied that it was by "oil without +and honey within." Cicero, in his "Old Age," classes honey with meat +and milk and cheese as among the staple articles with which a well-kept +farm-house will be supplied. + +Italy and Greece, in fact all the Mediterranean countries, appear to +have been famous lands for honey. Mount Hymettus, Mount Hybla, and +Mount Ida produced what may be called the classic honey of antiquity, +an article doubtless in nowise superior to our best products. +Leigh Hunt's "Jar of Honey" is mainly distilled from Sicilian history +and literature, Theocritus furnishing the best yield. Sicily has +always been rich in bees. Swinburne (the traveler of a hundred years +ago) says the woods on this island abounded in wild honey, and that the +people also had many hives near their houses. The idyls of Theocritus +are native to the island in this respect, and abound in bees-- +"Flat-nosed bees" as he calls them in the Seventh Idyl--and comparisons +in which comb-honey is the standard of the most delectable of this +world's goods. His goatherds can think of no greater bliss than that +the mouth be filled with honey-combs, or to be inclosed in a chest like +Daphnis and fed on the combs of bees; and among the delectables with +which Arsinoe cherishes Adonis are "honey-cakes," and other tid-bits +made of "sweet honey." In the country of Theocritus this custom is +said still to prevail: when a couple are married the attendants place +honey in their mouths, by which they would symbolize the hope that +their love may be as sweet to their souls as honey to the palate. + +It was fabled that Homer was suckled by a priestess whose breasts +distilled honey; and that once when Pindar lay asleep the bees dropped +honey upon his lips. In the Old Testament the food of the promised +Immanuel was to be butter and honey (there is much doubt about the +butter in the original), that he might know good from evil; and +Jonathan's eyes were enlightened, by partaking of some wood or wild +honey: "See, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I +tasted a little of this honey." So far as this part of his diet was +concerned, therefore, John the Baptist, during his sojourn in the +wilderness, his divinity school-days in the mountains and plains of +Judea, fared extremely well. About the other part, the locusts, +or, not to put too fine a point on it, the grasshoppers, as much cannot +be said, though they were among the creeping and leaping things the +children of Israel were permitted to eat. They were probably not eaten +raw, but roasted in that most primitive of ovens, a hole in the ground +made hot by building a fire in it. The locusts and honey may have been +served together, as the Bedas of Ceylon are said to season their meat +with honey. At any rate, as the locust is often a great plague in +Palestine, the prophet in eating them found his account in the general +weal, and in the profit of the pastoral bees; the fewer locusts, +the more flowers. Owing to its numerous wild-flowers and flowering +shrubs, Palestine has always been a famous country for bees. They +deposit their honey in hollow trees as our bees do when they escape +from the hive, and in holes in the rocks as ours do not. In a tropical +or semi-tropical climate bees are quite apt to take refuge in the +rocks, but where ice and snow prevail, as with us, they are much safer +high up in the trunk of a forest tree. + +The best honey is the product of the milder parts of the temperate +zone. There are too many rank and poisonous plants in the tropics. +Honey from certain districts of Turkey produces headache and vomiting, +and that from Brazil is used chiefly as medicine. The honey of Mount +Hymettus owes its fine quality to wild thyme. The best honey in Persia +and in Florida is collected from the orange blossom. The celebrated +honey of Narbonne in the south of France is obtained from a species of +rosemary. In Scotland good honey is made from the blossoming heather. + +California honey is white and delicate and highly perfumed, and now +takes the lead in the market. But honey is honey the world over; and +the bee is the bee still. "Men may degenerate," says an old traveler, +"may forget the arts by which they acquired renown; manufactories may +fail, and commodities be debased, but the sweets of the wild-flowers of +the wilderness, the industry and natural mechanics of the bee, will +continue without change or derogation." + + + + +II + +SHARP EYES + +AND OTHER PAPERS + + + +CONTENTS + + +SHARP EYES + +THE APPLE + +A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH + +WINTER NEIGHBORS + +NOTES BY THE WAY. + + I. The Weather-wise Muskrat + II. Cheating the Squirrels + III. Fox and Hound + IV. The Woodchuck + + + +SHARP EYES AND OTHER PAPERS. + + + +SHARP EYES. + + + +Noting how one eye seconds and reinforces the other, I have often +amused myself by wondering what the effect would be if one could go +on opening eye after eye to the number say of a dozen or more. What +would he see? Perhaps not the invisible--not the odors of flowers nor +the fever germs in the air--not the infinitely small of the microscope +nor the infinitely distant of the telescope. This would require, not +more eyes so much as an eye constructed with more and different lenses; +but would he not see with augmented power within the natural limits of +vision? At any rate some persons seem to have opened more eyes than +others, they see with such force and distinctness; their vision +penetrates the tangle and obscurity where that of others fails like a +spent or impotent bullet. How many eyes did Gilbert White open? +how many did Henry Thoreau? how many did Audubon? how many does the +hunter, matching his sight against the keen and alert sense of a deer +or a moose, or a fox or a wolf? Not outward eyes, but inward. We open +another eye whenever we see beyond the first general features or +outlines of things--whenever we grasp the special details and +characteristic markings that this mask covers. Science confers new +powers of vision. + +Whenever you have learned to discriminate the birds, or the plants, +or the geological features of a country, it is as if new and keener +eyes were added. + +Of course one must not only see sharply, but read aright what he sees. +The facts in the life of Nature that are transpiring about us are like +written words that the observer is to arrange into sentences. Or the +writing is in cipher and he must furnish the key. A female oriole was +one day observed very much preoccupied under a shed where the refuse +from the horse stable was thrown. She hopped about among the barn +fowls, scolding them sharply when they came too near her. The stable, +dark and cavernous, was just beyond. The bird, not finding what she +wanted outside, boldly ventured into the stable, and was presently +captured by the farmer. What did she want? was the query. What, +but a horsehair for her nest which was in an apple-tree near by; +and she was so bent on having one that I have no doubt she would have +tweaked one out of the horse's tail had he been in the stable. Later +in the season I examined her nest and found it sewed through and +through with several long horse hairs, so that the bird persisted in +her search till the hair was found. + +Little dramas and tragedies and comedies, little characteristic scenes, +are always being enacted in the lives of the birds, if our eyes are +sharp enough to see them. Some clever observer saw this little comedy +played among some English sparrows and wrote an account of it in his +newspaper; it is too good not to be true: A male bird brought to his +box a large, fine goose feather, which is a great find for a sparrow +and much coveted. After he had deposited his prize and chattered his +gratulations over it he went away in quest of his mate. His next-door +neighbor, a female bird, seeing her chance, quickly slipped in and +seized the feather,--and here the wit of the bird came out, for instead +of carrying it into her own box she flew with it to a near tree and hid +it in a fork of the branches, then went home, and when her neighbor +returned with his mate was innocently employed about her own affairs. +The proud male, finding his feather gone, came out of his box in a high +state of excitement, and, with wrath in his manner and accusation on +his tongue, rushed into the cot of the female. Not finding his goods +and chattels there as he had expected, he stormed around a while, +abusing everybody in general and his neighbor in particular, and then +went away as if to repair the loss. As soon as he was out of sight, +the shrewd thief went and brought the feather home and lined her own +domicile with it. + +I was much amused one summer day in seeing a bluebird feeding her young +one in the shaded street of a large town. She had captured a cicada or +harvest-fly, and after bruising it a while on the ground flew with it +to a tree and placed it in the beak of the young bird. It was a large +morsel, and the mother seemed to have doubts of her chick's ability to +dispose of it, for she stood near and watched its efforts with great +solicitude. The young bird struggled valiantly with the cicada, but +made no head way in swallowing it, when the mother took it from him and +flew to the sidewalk, and proceeded to break and bruise it more +thoroughly. Then she again placed it in his beak, and seemed to say, +"There, try it now," and sympathized so thoroughly with his efforts +that she repeated many of his motions and contortions. But the great +fly was unyielding, and, indeed, seemed ridiculously disproportioned to +the beak that held it. The young bird fluttered and fluttered and +screamed, "I'm stuck, I'm stuck," till the anxious parent again seized +the morsel and carried it to an iron railing, where she came down upon +it for the space of a minute with all the force and momentum her beak +could command. Then she offered it to her young a third time, but with +the same result as before, except that this time the bird dropped it; +but she was at the ground as soon as the cicada was, and taking it in +her beak flew some distance to a high board fence where she sat +motionless for some moments. While pondering the problem how that fly +should be broken, the male bluebird approached her, and said very +plainly, and I thought rather curtly, "Give me that bug," but she +quickly resented his interference and flew farther away, where she sat +apparently quite discouraged when I last saw her. + +The bluebird is a home bird, and I am never tired of recurring to him. +His coming or reappearance in the spring marks a new chapter in the +progress of the season; things are never quite the same after one has +heard that note. The past spring the males came about a week in +advance of the females. A fine male lingered about my grounds and +orchard all the time, apparently waiting the arrival of his mate. +He called and warbled every day, as if he felt sure she was within +ear-shot, and could be hurried up. Now he warbled half-angrily or +upbraidingly, then coaxingly, then cheerily and confidently, the next +moment in a plaintive, far-away manner. He would half open his wings, +and twinkle them caressingly, as if beckoning his mate to his heart. +One morning she had come, but was shy and reserved. The fond male flew +to a knot-hole in an old apple-tree, and coaxed her to his side. +I heard a fine confidential warble, --the old, old story. But the +female flew to a near tree, and uttered her plaintive, homesick note. +The male went and got some dry grass or bark in his beak, and flew +again to the hole in the old tree, and promised unremitting devotion, +but the other said "nay," and flew away in the distance. When he saw +her going, or rather heard her distant note, he dropped his stuff, and +cried out in a tone that said plainly enough, "Wait a minute. One word, +please," and flew swiftly in pursuit. He won her before long, however, +and early in April the pair were established in one of the four or five +boxes I had put up for them, but not until they had changed their minds +several times. As soon as the first brood had flown, and while they +were yet under their parents' care, they began another nest in one of +the other boxes, the female, as usual, doing all the work, and the male +all the complimenting. + +A source of occasional great distress to the mother-bird was a white +cat that sometimes followed me about. The cat had never been known to +catch a bird, but she had a way of watching them that was very +embarrassing to the bird. Whenever she appeared, the mother bluebird +would set up that pitiful melodious plaint. One morning the cat was +standing by me, when the bird came with her beak loaded with building +material, and alighted above me to survey the place before going into +the box. When she saw the cat, she was greatly disturbed, and in her +agitation could not keep her hold upon all her material. Straw after +straw came eddying down, till not half her original burden remained. +After the cat had gone away, the bird's alarm subsided, till, presently +seeing the coast clear, she flew quickly to the box and pitched in her +remaining straws with the greatest precipitation, and, without going in +to arrange them, as was her wont, flew away in evident relief. + +In the cavity of an apple-tree but a few yards off, and much nearer the +house than they usually build, a pair of high-holes, or golden-shafted +woodpeckers, took up their abode. A knot-hole which led to the decayed +interior was enlarged, the live wood being cut away as clean as a +squirrel would have done it. The inside preparations I could not +witness, but day after day, as I passed near, I heard the bird +hammering away, evidently beating down obstructions and shaping and +enlarging the cavity. The chips were not brought out, but were used +rather to floor the interior. The woodpeckers are not nest-builders, +but rather nest-carvers. + +The time seemed very short before the voices of the young were heard in +the heart of the old tree,--at first feebly, but waxing stronger day by +day until they could be heard many rods distant. When I put my hand +upon the trunk of the tree, they would set up an eager, expectant +chattering; but if I climbed up it toward the opening, they soon +detected the unusual sound and would hush quickly, only now and then +uttering a warning note. Long before they were fully fledged they +clambered up to the orifice to receive their food. As but one could +stand in the opening at a time, there was a good deal of elbowing and +struggling for this position. It was a very desirable one aside from +the advantages it had when food was served; it looked out upon the +great shining world, into which the young birds seemed never tired of +gazing. The fresh air must have been a consideration also, for the +interior of a high-hole's dwelling is not sweet. When the parent birds +came with food the young one in the opening did not get it all, but +after he had received a portion, either on his own motion or on a hint +from the old one, he would give place to the one behind him. Still, +one bird evidently outstripped his fellows, and in the race of life, +was two or three days in advance of them. His voice was loudest and +his head oftenest at the window. But I noticed that when he had kept +the position too long, the others evidently made it uncomfortable in +his rear, and, after "fidgeting" about a while, he would be compelled +to "back down." But retaliation was then easy, and I fear his mates +spent few easy moments at that lookout. They would close their eyes +and slide back into the cavity as if the world had suddenly lost all +its charms for them. + +This bird was, of course, the first to leave the nest. For two days +before that event he kept his position in the opening most of the time +and sent forth his strong voice incessantly. The old ones abstained +from feeding him almost entirely, no doubt to encourage his exit. As I +stood looking at him one afternoon and noting his progress, he suddenly +reached a resolution,--seconded, I have no doubt, from the rear,--and +launched forth upon his untried wings. They served him well and +carried him about fifty yards up-hill the first heat. The second day +after, the next in size and spirit left in the same manner; then +another, till only one remained. The parent birds ceased their visits +to him, and for one day he called and called till our ears were tired +of the sound. His was the faintest heart of all. Then he had none to +encourage him from behind. He left the nest and clung to the outer +bowl of the tree, and yelped and piped for an hour longer; then he +committed himself to his wings and went his way like the rest. + +A young farmer in the western part of New York, who has a sharp, +discriminating eye, sends me some interesting notes about a tame +high-hole he once had. + +"Did you ever notice," says he, "that the high-hole never eats anything +that he cannot pick up with his tongue? At least this was the case +with a young one I took from the nest and tamed. He could thrust out +his tongue two or three inches, and it was amusing to see his efforts +to eat currants from the hand. He would run out his tongue and try to +stick it to the currant; failing in that, he would bend his tongue +around it like a hook and try to raise it by a sudden jerk. But he +never succeeded, the round fruit would roll and slip away every time. +He never seemed to think of taking it in his beak. His tongue was in +constant use to find out the nature of everything he saw; a nail-hole +in a board or any similar hole was carefully explored. If he was held +near the face he would soon be attracted by the eye and thrust his +tongue into it. In this way he gained the respect of a number of +half-grown cats that were around the house. I wished to make them +familiar to each other, so there would be less danger of their killing +him. So I would take them both on my knee, when the bird would soon +notice the kitten's eyes, and leveling his bill as carefully as a +marksman levels his rifle, he would remain so a minute when he would +dart his tongue into the cat's eye. This was held by the cats to be +very mysterious: being struck in the eye by something invisible to +them. They soon acquired such a terror of him that they would avoid +him and run away whenever they saw his bill turned in their direction. +He never would swallow a grasshopper even when it was placed in his +throat; he would shake himself until he had thrown it out of his mouth. +His 'best hold' was ants. He never was surprised at anything, and +never was afraid of anything. He would drive the turkey gobbler and +the rooster. He would advance upon them holding one wing up as high as +possible, as if to strike with it, and shuffle along the ground toward +them, scolding all the while in a harsh voice. I feared at first that +they might kill him, but I soon found that he was able to take care of +himself. I would turn over stones and dig into ant-hills for him, and +he would lick up the ants so fast that a stream of them seemed going +into his mouth unceasingly. I kept him till late in the fall, when he +disappeared, probably going south, and I never saw him again." + +My correspondent also sends me some interesting observations about the +cuckoo. He says a large gooseberry bush standing in the border of an +old hedgerow, in the midst of open fields, and not far from his house, +was occupied by a pair of cuckoos for two seasons in succession, and, +after an interval of a year, for two seasons more. This gave him a +good chance to observe them. He says the mother-bird lays a single +egg, and sits upon it a number of days before laying the second, so +that he has seen one young bird nearly grown, a second just hatched, +and a whole egg all in the nest at once. "So far as I have seen, this +is the settled practice,--the young leaving the nest one at a time to +the number of six or eight. The young have quite the look of the young +of the dove in many respects. When nearly grown they are covered with +long blue pin-feathers as long as darning-needles, without a bit of +plumage on them. They part on the back and hang down on each side by +their own weight. With its curious feathers and misshapen body the +young bird is anything but handsome. They never open their mouths when +approached, as many young birds do, but sit perfectly still, hardly +moving when touched." He also notes the unnatural indifference of the +mother-bird when her nest and young are approached. She makes no +sound, but sits quietly on a near branch in apparent perfect unconcern. + +These observations, together with the fact that the egg of the cuckoo +is occasionally found in the nests of other birds, raise the inquiry +whether our bird is slowly relapsing into the habit of the European +species, which always foists its egg upon other birds; or whether, +on the other hand, it is not mending its manners in this respect. +It has but little to unlearn or to forget in the one case, but great +progress to make in the other. How far is its rudimentary nest--a mere +platform of coarse twigs and dry stalks of weeds--from the deep, +compact, finely woven and finely modeled nest of the goldfinch or +king-bird, and what a gulf between its indifference toward its young +and their solicitude! Its irregular manner of laying also seems better +suited to a parasite like our cow-bird, or the European cuckoo, than to +a regular nest-builder. + +This observer, like most sharp-eyed persons, sees plenty of interesting +things as he goes about his work. He one day saw a white swallow, +which is of rare occurrence. He saw a bird, a sparrow he thinks, fly +against the side of a horse and fill his beak with hair from the +loosened coat of the animal. He saw a shrike pursue a chickadee, when +the latter escaped by taking refuge in a small hole in a tree. One day +in early spring he saw two hen-hawks that were circling and screaming +high in air, approach each other, extend a claw, and, clasping them +together, fall toward the earth flapping and struggling as if they were +tied together; on nearing the ground they separated and soared aloft +again. He supposed that it was not a passage of war but of love, +and that the hawks were toying fondly with each other. + +He further relates a curious circumstance of finding a humming-bird in +the upper part of a barn with its bill stuck fast in a crack of one of +the large timbers, dead, of course, with wings extended, and as dry as +a chip. The bird seems to have died as it had lived, on the wing, and +its last act was indeed a ghastly parody of its living career. Fancy +this nimble, flashing sprite, whose life was passed probing the honeyed +depths of flowers, at last thrusting its bill into a crack in a dry +timber in a hayloft, and, with spread wings, ending its existence. + +When the air is damp and heavy, swallows frequently hawk for insects +about cattle and moving herds in the field. My farmer describes how +they attended him one foggy day, as he was mowing in the meadow with a +mowing-machine. It had been foggy for two days, and the swallows were +very hungry, and the insects stupid and inert. When the sound of his +machine was heard, the swallows appeared and attended him like a brood +of hungry chickens. He says there was a continued rush of purple wings +over the "cut-bar," and just where it was causing the grass to tremble +and fall. Without his assistance the swallows would doubtless have +gone hungry yet another day. + +Of the hen-hawk, he has observed that both male and female take part in +incubation. "I was rather surprised," he says, "on one occasion, to +see how quickly they change places on the nest. The nest was in a tall +beech, and the leaves were not yet fully out. I could see the head and +neck of the hawk over the edge of the nest, when I saw the other hawk +coming down through the air at full speed. I expected he would alight +near by, but instead of that he struck directly upon the nest, his mate +getting out of the way barely in time to avoid being hit; it seemed +almost as if he had knocked her off the nest. I hardly see how they +can make such a rush on the nest without danger to the eggs." + +The king-bird will worry the hawk as a whiffet dog will worry a bear. +It is by his persistence and audacity, not by any injury he is capable +of dealing his great antagonist. The king-bird seldom more than dogs +the hawk, keeping above and between his wings, and making a great ado; +but my correspondent says he once "saw a king-bird riding on a hawk's +back. The hawk flew as fast as possible, and the king-bird sat upon +his shoulders in triumph until they had passed out of sight,"--tweaking +his feathers, no doubt, and threatening to scalp him the next moment. + +That near relative of the king-bird, the great crested fly-catcher, +has one well known peculiarity: he appears never to consider his nest +finished until it contains a cast-off snake-skin. My alert +correspondent one day saw him eagerly catch up an onion skin and make +off with it, either deceived by it or else thinking it a good +substitute for the coveted material. + +One day in May, walking in the woods, I came upon the nest of a +whippoorwill, or rather its eggs, for it builds no nest,--two +elliptical whitish spotted eggs lying upon the dry leaves. My foot +was within a yard of the mother-bird before she flew. I wondered what +a sharp eye would detect curious or characteristic in the ways of the +bird, so I came to the place many times and had a look. It was always +a task to separate the bird from her surroundings though I stood within +a few feet of her, and knew exactly where to look. One had to bear on +with his eye, as it were, and refuse to be baffled. The sticks and +leaves, and bits of black or dark-brown bark, were all exactly copied +in the bird's plumage. And then she did sit so close, and simulate so +well a shapeless decaying piece of wood or bark! Twice I brought a +companion, and guiding his eye to the spot, noted how difficult it was +for him to make out there, in full view upon the dry leaves, any +semblance to a bird. When the bird returned after being disturbed, +she would alight within a few inches of her eggs, and then, after a +moment's pause, hobble awkwardly upon them. + +After the young had appeared, all the wit of the bird came into play. +I was on hand the next day, I think. The mother-bird sprang up when I +was within a pace of her, and in doing so fanned the leaves with her +wings till they sprang up too; as the leaves started the young started, +and, being of the same color, to tell which was the leaf and which the +bird was a trying task to any eye. I came the next day, when the same +tactics were repeated. Once a leaf fell upon one of the young birds +and nearly hid it. The young are covered with a reddish down like a +young partridge, and soon follow their mother about. When disturbed, +they gave but one leap, then settled down, perfectly motionless and +stupid, with eyes closed. The parent bird, on these occasions made +frantic efforts to decoy me away from her young. She would fly a few +paces and fall upon her breast, and a spasm, like that of death, would +run through her tremulous outstretched wings and prostrate body. She +kept a sharp eye out the meanwhile to see if the ruse took, and if it +did not, she was quickly cured, and moving about to some other point +tried to draw my attention as before. When followed she always +alighted upon the ground, dropping down in a sudden peculiar way. +The second or third day both old and young had disappeared. + +The whippoorwill walks as awkwardly as a swallow, which is as awkward +as a man in a bag, and yet she manages to lead her young about the +woods. The latter, I think, move by leaps and sudden spurts, their +protective coloring shielding them most effectively. Wilson once came +upon the mother-bird and her brood in the woods, and, though they were +at his very feet, was so baffled by the concealment of the young that +he was about to give up the search, much disappointed, when he +perceived something "like a slight moldiness among the withered leaves, +and, on stooping down, discovered it to be a young whippoorwill +seemingly asleep." Wilson's description of the young is very accurate, +as its downy covering does look precisely like a "slight moldiness." +Returning a few moments afterward to the spot to get a pencil he had +forgotten, he could find neither old nor young. + +It takes an eye to see a partridge in the woods motionless upon the +leaves; this sense needs to be as sharp as that of smell in hounds and +pointers; and yet I know an unkempt youth that seldom fails to see the +bird and shoot it before it takes wing. I think he sees it as soon as +it sees him and before it suspects itself seen. What a training to the +eye is hunting! To pick out the game from its surroundings, the grouse +from the leaves, the gray squirrel from the mossy oak limb it hugs so +closely, the red fox from the ruddy or brown or gray field, the rabbit +from the stubble, or the white hare from the snow requires the best +powers of this sense. A woodchuck, motionless in the fields or upon a +rock, looks very much like a large stone or bowlder, yet a keen eye +knows the difference at a glance, a quarter of a mile away. + +A man has a sharper eye than a dog, or a fox, or than any of the wild +creatures, but not so sharp an ear or nose. But in the birds he finds +his match. How quickly the old turkey discovers the hawk, a mere speck +against the sky, and how quickly the hawk discovers you if you happen +to be secreted in the bushes or behind the fence near which he alights! +One advantage the bird surely has, and that is, owing to the form, +structure, and position of the eye, it has a much larger field of +vision--indeed, can probably see in nearly every direction at the same +instant, behind as well as before. Man's field of vision embraces less +than half a circle horizontally, and still less vertically; his brow +and brain prevent him from seeing within many degrees of the zenith +without a movement of the head; the bird on the other hand, takes in +nearly the whole sphere at a glance. + +I find I see almost without effort nearly every bird within sight in +the field or wood I pass through (a flit of the wing, a flirt of the +tail are enough, though the flickering leaves do all conspire to hide +them), and that with like ease the birds see me, though, +unquestionably, the chances are immensely in their favor. The eye sees +what it has the means of seeing, truly. You must have the bird in your +heart before you can find it in the bush. The eye must have purpose +and aim. No one ever yet found the walking fern who did not have the +walking fern in his mind. A person whose eye is full of Indian relics +picks them up in every field he walks through. + +One season I was interested in the tree-frogs; especially the tiny +piper that one hears about the woods and brushy fields--the hyla of the +swamps become a denizen of the trees; I had never seen him in this new +role. But this season, having hylas in mind, or rather being ripe for +them, I several times came across them. One Sunday, walking amid some +bushes, I captured two. They leaped before me as doubtless they had +done many times before; but though I was not looking for or thinking of +them, yet they were quickly recognized, because the eye had been +commissioned to find them. On another occasion, not long afterward, +I was hurriedly loading my gun in the October woods in hopes of +overtaking a gray squirrel that was fast escaping through the +tree-tops, when one of these lilliput frogs, the color of the +fast-yellowing leaves, leaped near me. I saw him only out of the +corner of my eye and yet bagged him, because I had already made him +my own. + +Nevertheless, the habit of observation is the habit of clear and +decisive gazing. Not by a first casual glance, but by a steady +deliberate aim of the eye are the rare and characteristic things +discovered. You must look intently and hold your eye firmly to the +spot, to see more than do the rank and file of mankind. +The sharp-shooter picks out his man and knows him with fatal certainty +from a stump, or a rock, or a cap on a pole. The phrenologists do well +to locate, not only form, color, and weight, in the region of the eye, +but also a faculty which they call individuality--that which separates, +discriminates, and sees in every object its essential character. +This is just as necessary to the naturalist as to the artist or the +poet. The sharp eye notes specific points and differences,--it seizes +upon and preserves the individuality of the thing. Persons frequently +describe to me some bird they have seen or heard and ask me to name it, +but in most cases the bird might be any one of a dozen, or else it is +totally unlike any bird found in this continent. They have either seen +falsely or else vaguely. Not so the farm youth who wrote me one winter +day that he had seen a single pair of strange birds, which he describes +as follows: "They were about the size of the 'chippie,' the tops of +their heads were red, and the breast of the male was of the same color, +while that of the female was much lighter; their rumps were also +faintly tinged with red. If I have described them so that you would +know them, please write me their names." There can be little doubt but +the young observer had seen a pair of red-polls,--a bird related to the +goldfinch, and that occasionally comes down to us in the winter from +the far north. Another time, the same youth wrote that he had seen a +strange bird, the color of a sparrow, that alighted on fences and +buildings as well as upon the ground, and that walked. This last fact +shoved the youth's discriminating eye and settled the case. I knew it +to be a species of the lark, and from the size, color, season, etc., +the tit-lark. But how many persons would have observed that the bird +walked instead of hopped? + +Some friends of mine who lived in the country tried to describe to me a +bird that built a nest in a tree within a few feet of the house. As it +was a brown bird, I should have taken it for a wood-thrush, had not the +nest been described as so thin and loose that from beneath the eggs +could be distinctly seen. The most pronounced feature in the +description was the barred appearance of the under side of the bird's +tail. I was quite at sea, until one day, when we were driving out, +a cuckoo flew across the road in front of us, when my friends +exclaimed, "There is our bird!" I had never known a cuckoo to build +near a house, and I had never noted the appearance the tail presents +when viewed from beneath; but if the bird had been described in its +most obvious features, as slender, with a long tail, cinnamon brown +above and white beneath, with a curved bill, anyone who knew the bird +would have recognized the portrait. + +We think we have looked at a thing sharply until we are asked for its +specific features. I thought I knew exactly the form of the leaf of +the tulip-tree, until one day a lady asked me to draw the outline of +one. A good observer is quick to take a hint and to follow it up. +Most of the facts of nature, especially in the life of the birds and +animals, are well screened. We do not see the play because we do not +look intently enough. The other day I was sitting with a friend upon a +high rock in the woods, near a small stream, when we saw a water-snake +swimming across a pool toward the opposite bank. Any eye would have +noted it, perhaps nothing more. A little closer and sharper gaze +revealed the fact that the snake bore something in its mouth, which, +as we went down to investigate, proved to be a small cat-fish, three or +four inches long. The snake had captured it in the pool, and, like any +other fisherman, wanted to get its prey to dry land, although itself +lived mostly in the water. Here, we said, is being enacted a little +tragedy, that would have escaped any but sharp eyes. The snake, which +was itself small, had the fish by the throat, the hold of vantage among +all creatures, and clung to it with great tenacity. The snake knew +that its best tactics was to get upon dry land as soon as possible. +It could not swallow its victim alive, and it could not strangle it in +the water. For a while it tried to kill its game by holding it up out +of the water, but the fish grew heavy, and every few moments its +struggles brought down the snake's head. This would not do. +Compressing the fish's throat would not shut off its breath under such +circumstances, so the wily serpent tried to get ashore with it, and +after several attempts succeeded in effecting a landing on a flat rock. +But the fish died hard. Cat-fish do not give up the ghost in a hurry. +Its throat was becoming congested, but the snake's distended jaws must +have ached. It was like a petrified gape. Then the spectators became +very curious and close in their scrutiny, and the snake determined to +withdraw from the public gaze and finish the business in hand to its +own notions. But, when gently but firmly remonstrated with by my +friend with his walking-stick, it dropped the fish and retreated in +high dudgeon beneath a stone in the bed of the creek. The fish, with +a swollen and angry throat, went its way also. + +Birds, I say, have wonderfully keen eyes. Throw a fresh bone or a +piece of meat upon the snow in winter, and see how soon the crows will +discover it and be on hand. If it be near the house or barn, the crow +that first discovers it will alight near it, to make sure he is not +deceived; then he will go away, and soon return with a companion. +The two alight a few yards from the bone, and after some delay, during +which the vicinity is sharply scrutinized, one of the crows advances +boldly to within a few feet of the coveted prize. Here he pauses, and +if no trick is discovered, and the meat be indeed meat, he seizes it +and makes off. + +One midwinter I cleared away the snow under an apple-tree near the +house and scattered some corn there. I had not seen a blue-jay for +weeks, yet that very day one found my corn, and after that several came +daily and partook of it, holding the kernels under their feet upon the +limbs of the trees and pecking them vigorously. + +Of course the woodpecker and his kind have sharp eyes; still I was +surprised to see how quickly Downy found out some bones that were +placed in a convenient place under the shed to be pounded up for the +hens. In going out to the barn I often disturbed him making a meal off +the bite of meat that still adhered to them. + +"Look intently enough at anything," said a poet to me one day, "and you +will see something that would otherwise escape you." I thought of the +remark as I sat on a stump in an opening of the woods one spring day. +I saw a small hawk approaching; he flew to a tall tulip-tree and +alighted on a large limb near the top. He eyed me and I eyed him. +Then the bird disclosed a trait that was new to me: he hopped along the +limb to a small cavity near the trunk, when he thrust in his head and +pulled out some small object and fell to eating it. After he had +partaken of it for some minutes he put the remainder back in his larder +and flew away. I had seen something like feathers eddying slowly down +as the hawk ate, and on approaching the spot found the feathers of a +sparrow here and there clinging to the bushes beneath the tree. +The hawk then--commonly called the chicken hawk--is as provident as +a mouse or a squirrel, and lays by a store against a time of need, +but I should not have discovered the fact had I not held my eye on him. + +An observer of the birds is attracted by any unusual sound or commotion +among them. In May or June, when other birds are most vocal, the jay +is a silent bird; he goes sneaking about the orchards and the groves as +silent as a pickpocket; he is robbing bird's-nests and he is very +anxious that nothing should be said about it; but in the fall none so +quick and loud to cry "Thief, thief!" as he. One December morning a +troop of jays discovered a little screech-owl secreted in the hollow +trunk of an old apple-tree near my house. How they found the owl out +is a mystery, since it never ventures forth in the light of day; +but they did, and proclaimed the fact with great emphasis. I suspect +the bluebirds first told them, for these birds are constantly peeping +into holes and crannies, both spring and fall. Some unsuspecting bird +had probably entered the cavity prospecting for a place for next year's +nest, or else looking out a likely place to pass a cold night, and then +had rushed out with important news. A boy who should unwittingly +venture into a bear's den when Bruin was at home could not be more +astonished and alarmed than a bluebird would be on finding itself in +the cavity of a decayed tree with an owl. At any rate the bluebirds +joined the jays in calling the attention of all whom it might concern +to the fact that a culprit of some sort was hiding from the light of +day in the old apple-tree. I heard the notes of warning and alarm and +approached to within eye-shot. The bluebirds were cautious and hovered +about uttering their peculiar twittering calls; but the jays were +bolder and took turns looking in at the cavity, and deriding the poor +shrinking owl. A jay would alight in the entrance of the hole and +flirt and peer and attitudinize, and then flyaway crying "Thief, thief, +thief!" at the top of his voice. + +I climbed up and peered into the opening, and could just descry the owl +clinging to the inside of the tree. I reached in and took him out, +giving little heed to the threatening snapping of his beak. He was as +red as a fox and as yellow-eyed as a cat. He made no effort to escape, +but planted his claws in my forefinger and clung there with a grip that +soon grew uncomfortable. I placed him in the loft of an out-house in +hopes of getting better acquainted with him. By day he was a very +willing prisoner, scarcely moving at all, even when approached and +touched with the hand, but looking out upon the world with half-closed, +sleepy eyes. But at night what a change; how alert, how wild, how +active! He was like another bird; he darted about with wide, fearful +eyes, and regarded me like a cornered cat. I opened the window, and +swiftly, but as silent as a shadow, he glided out into the congenial +darkness, and perhaps, ere this, has revenged himself upon the sleeping +jay or bluebird that first betrayed his hiding-place. + + + + +THE APPLE. + + + + Lo! sweetened with the summer light, + The full-juiced apple, waxing over-mellow, + Drops in a silent autumn night. --TENNYSON. + + +Not a little of the sunshine of our northern winters is surely wrapped +up in the apple. How could we winter over without it! How is life +sweetened by its mild acids! A cellar well filled with apples is more +valuable than a chamber filled with flax and wool. So much sound ruddy +life to draw upon, to strike one's roots down into, as it were. + +Especially to those whose soil of life is inclined to be a little +clayey and heavy, is the apple a winter necessity. It is the natural +antidote of most of the ills the flesh is heir to. Full of vegetable +acids and aromatics, qualities which act as refrigerants and +antiseptics, what an enemy it is to jaundice, indigestion, torpidity of +liver, etc. It is a gentle spur and tonic to the whole biliary system. +Then I have read that it has been found by analysis to contain more +phosphorus than any other vegetable. This makes it the proper food of +the scholar and the sedentary man; it feeds his brain and it stimulates +his liver. Nor is this all. Besides its hygienic properties, +the apple is full of sugar and mucilage, which make it highly +nutritious. It is said, "The operators of Cornwall, England, consider +ripe apples nearly as nourishing as bread, and far more so than +potatoes. In the year 1801--which was a year of much scarcity--apples, +instead of being converted into cider, were sold to the poor, and the +laborers asserted that they could 'stand their work' on baked apples +without meat; whereas a potato diet required either meat or some other +substantial nutriment. The French and Germans use apples extensively, +so do the inhabitants of all European nations. The laborers depend +upon them as an article of food, and frequently make a dinner of sliced +apples and bread." + +Yet the English apple is a tame and insipid affair compared with the +intense, sun-colored and sun-steeped fruit our orchards yield. +The English have no sweet apple, I am told, the saccharine element +apparently being less abundant in vegetable nature in that sour and +chilly climate than in our own. It is well known that the European +maple yields no sugar, while both our birch and hickory have sweet in +their veins. Perhaps this fact accounts for our excessive love of +sweets, which may be said to be a national trait. + +The Russian apple has a lovely complexion, smooth and transparent, but +the Cossack is not yet all eliminated from it. The only one I have +seen--the Duchess of Oldenburg--is as beautiful as a Tartar princess, +with a distracting odor, but it is the least bit puckery to the taste. + +The best thing I know about Chili is not its guano beds, but this fact +which I learn from Darwin's "Voyage," namely, that the apple thrives +well there. Darwin saw a town there so completely buried in a wood of +apple-trees, that its streets were merely paths in an orchard. +The tree indeed thrives so well, that large branches cut off in the +spring and planted two or three feet deep in the ground send out roots +and develop into fine full-bearing trees by the third year. The people +know the value of the apple too. They make cider and wine of it and +then from the refuse a white and finely flavored spirit; then by +another process a sweet treacle is obtained called honey. The children +and the pigs eat little or no other food. He does not add that the +people are healthy and temperate, but I have no doubt they are. +We knew the apple had many virtues, but these Chilians have really +opened a deep beneath a deep. We had found out the cider and the +spirits, but who guessed the wine and the honey, unless it were the +bees? There is a variety in our orchards called the winesap, a doubly +liquid name that suggests what might be done with this fruit. + +The apple is the commonest and yet the most varied and beautiful of +fruits. A dish of them is as becoming to the centre-table in winter as +was the vase of flowers in the summer,--a bouquet of spitzenbergs and +greenings and northern spies. A rose when it blooms, the apple is a +rose when it ripens. It pleases every sense to which it can be +addressed, the touch, the smell, the sight, the taste; and when it +falls in the still October days it pleases the ear. It is a call to a +banquet, it is a signal that the feast is ready. The bough would fain +hold it, but it can now assert its independence; it can now live a life +of its own. + +Daily the stem relaxes its hold, till finally it lets go completely, +and down comes the painted sphere with a mellow thump to the earth, +towards which it has been nodding so long. It bounds away to seek its +bed, to hide under a leaf, or in a tuft of grass. It will now take +time to meditate and ripen! What delicious thoughts it has there +nestled with its fellows under the fence, turning acid into sugar, +and sugar into wine! + +How pleasing to the touch! I love to stroke its polished rondure with +my hand, to carry it in my pocket on my tramp over the winter hills, or +through the early spring woods. You are company, you red-cheeked +spitz, or you salmon-fleshed greening! I toy with you; press your face +to mine, toss you in the air, roll you on the ground, see you shine out +where you lie amid the moss and dry leaves and sticks. You are so +alive! You glow like a ruddy flower. You look so animated I almost +expect to see you move. I postpone the eating of you, you are so +beautiful! How compact; how exquisitely tinted! Stained by the sun +and varnished against the rains. An independent vegetable existence, +alive and vascular as my own flesh; capable of being wounded, bleeding, +wasting away, and almost of repairing damages! + +How it resists the cold! holding out almost as long as the red cheeks +of the boys do. A frost that destroys the potatoes and other roots +only makes the apple more crisp and vigorous; it peeps out from the +chance November snows unscathed. When I see the fruit-vender on the +street corner stamping his feet and beating his hands to keep them +warm, and his naked apples lying exposed to the blasts, I wonder if +they do not ache too to clap their hands and enliven their circulation. +But they can stand it nearly as long as the vender can. + +Noble common fruit, best friend of man and most loved by him, following +him like his dog or his cow, wherever he goes. His homestead is not +planted till you are planted, your roots intertwine with his; thriving +best where he thrives best, loving the limestone and the frost, +the plow and the pruning-knife, you are indeed suggestive of hardy, +cheerful industry, and a healthy life in the open air. Temperate, +chaste fruit! you mean neither luxury nor sloth, neither satiety nor +indolence, neither enervating heats nor the Frigid Zones. Uncloying +fruit, fruit whose best sauce is the open air, whose finest flavors +only he whose taste is sharpened by brisk work or walking knows; +winter fruit, when the fire of life burns brightest; fruit always a +little hyperborean, leaning towards the cold; bracing, sub-acid, active +fruit. I think you must come from the north, you are so frank and +honest, so sturdy and appetizing. You are stocky and homely like the +northern races. Your quality is Saxon. Surely the fiery and impetuous +south is not akin to you. Not spices or olives or the sumptuous liquid +fruits, but the grass, the snow, the grains, the coolness is akin to +you. I think if I could subsist on you or the like of you, I should +never have an intemperate or ignoble thought, never be feverish or +despondent. So far as I could absorb or transmute your quality I +should be cheerful, continent, equitable, sweet-blooded, long-lived, +and should shed warmth and contentment around. + +Is there any other fruit that has so much facial expression as the +apple? What boy does not more than half believe they can see with that +single eye of theirs? Do they not look and nod to him from the bough? +The swaar has one look, the rambo another, the spy another. The youth +recognizes the seek-no-further buried beneath a dozen other varieties, +the moment he catches a glance of its eye, or the bonny-cheeked Newtown +pippin, or the gentle but sharp-nosed gilliflower. He goes to the +great bin in the cellar and sinks his shafts here and there in the +garnered wealth of the orchards, mining for his favorites, sometimes +coming plump upon them, sometimes catching a glimpse of them to the +right or left, or uncovering them as keystones in an arch made up of +many varieties. In the dark he can usually tell them by the sense of +touch. There is not only the size and shape, but there is the texture +and polish. Some apples are coarse grained and some are fine; some are +thin-skinned and some are thick. One variety is quick and vigorous +beneath the touch; another gentle and yielding. The pinnock has a +thick skin with a spongy lining, a bruise in it becomes like a piece of +cork. The tallow apple has an unctuous feel, as its name suggests. +It sheds water like a duck. What apple is that with a fat curved stem +that blends so prettily with its own flesh,--the wine-apple? Some +varieties impress me as masculine,--weather-stained, freckled, lasting +and rugged; others are indeed lady apples, fair, delicate, shining, +mild-flavored, white-meated, like the egg-drop and the lady-finger. +The practiced hand knows each kind by the touch. Do you remember the +apple hole in the garden or back of the house, Ben Bolt? In the fall +after the bins in the cellar had been well stocked, we excavated a +circular pit in the warm, mellow earth, and covering the bottom with +clean rye straw, emptied in basketful after basketful of hardy choice +varieties, till there was a tent-shaped mound several feet high of +shining variegated fruit. Then wrapping it about with a thick layer of +long rye straw, and tucking it up snug and warm, the mound was covered, +with a thin coating of earth, a flat stone on the top holding down the +straw. As winter set in, another coating of earth was put upon it, +with perhaps an overcoat of coarse dry stable manure, and the precious +pile was left in silence and darkness till spring. No marmot +hibernating under-ground in his nest of leaves and dry grass, more cosy +and warm. No frost, no wet, but fragrant privacy and quiet. Then how +the earth tempers and flavors the apples! It draws out all the acrid +unripe qualities, and infuses into them a subtle refreshing taste of +the soil. Some varieties perish; but the ranker, hardier kinds, like +the northern spy, the greening, or the black apple, or the russet, +or the pinnock, how they ripen and grow in grace, how the green becomes +gold, and the bitter becomes sweet! + +As the supply in the bins and barrels gets low and spring approaches, +the buried treasures in the garden are remembered. With spade and axe +we go out and penetrate through the snow and frozen earth till the +inner dressing of straw is laid bare. It is not quite as clear and +bright as when we placed it there last fall, but the fruit beneath, +which the hand soon exposes, is just as bright and far more luscious. +Then, as day after day you resort to the hole, and, removing the straw +and earth from the opening, thrust your arm into the fragrant pit, you +have a better chance than ever before to become acquainted with your +favorites by the sense of touch. How you feel for them, reaching to +the right and left! Now you have got a Tolman sweet; you imagine you +can feel that single meridian line that divides it into two +hemispheres. Now a greening fills your hand, you feel its fine quality +beneath its rough coat. Now you have hooked a swaar, you recognize +its full face; now a Vandevere or a King rolls down from the apex +above, and you bag it at once. When you were a school-boy you stowed +these away in your pockets and ate them along the road and at recess, +and again at noon time; and they, in a measure, corrected the effects +of the cake and pie with which your indulgent mother filled your +lunch-basket. + +The boy is indeed the true apple-eater, and is not to be questioned how +he came by the fruit with which his pockets are filled. It belongs to +him. . .His own juicy flesh craves the juicy flesh of the apple. Sap +draws sap. His fruit-eating has little reference to the state of his +appetite. Whether he be full of meat or empty of meat he wants the +apple just the same. Before meal or after meal it never comes amiss. +The farm-boy munches apples all day long. He has nests of them in the +hay-mow, mellowing, to which he makes frequent visits. Sometimes old +Brindle, having access through the open door, smells them out and makes +short work of them. + +In some countries the custom remains of placing a rosy apple in the +hand of the dead that they may find it when they enter paradise. +In northern mythology the giants eat apples to keep off old age. + +The apple is indeed the fruit of youth. As we grow old we crave apples +less. It is an ominous sign. When you are ashamed to be seen eating +them on the street; when you can carry them in your pocket and your +hand not constantly find its way to them; when your neighbor has apples +and you have none, and you make no nocturnal visits to his orchard; +when your lunch-basket is without them, and you can pass a winter's +night by the fireside with no thought of the fruit at your elbow, then +be assured you are no longer a boy, either in heart or years. + +The genuine apple-eater comforts himself with an apple in their season +as others with a pipe or cigar. When he has nothing else to do, or is +bored, he eats an apple. While he is waiting for the train he eats an +apple, sometimes several of them. When he takes a walk, he arms +himself with apples. His traveling bag is full of apples. He offers +an apple to his companion, and takes one himself. They are his chief +solace when on the road. He sows their seed all along the route. +He tosses the core from the car-window and from the top of the +stage-coach. He would, in time, make the land one vast orchard. +He dispenses with a knife. He prefers that his teeth shall have the +first taste. Then he knows the best flavor is immediately beneath the +skin, and that in a pared apple this is lost. If you will stew the +apple, he says, instead of baking it, by all means leave the skin on. +It improves the color and vastly heightens the flavor of the dish. + +The apple is a masculine fruit; hence women are poor apple-eaters. +It belongs to the open air, and requires an open-air taste and relish. + +I instantly sympathized with that clergyman I read of, who on pulling +out his pocket-handkerchief in the midst of his discourse, pulled out +two bouncing apples with it that went rolling across the pulpit floor +and down the pulpit stairs. These apples were, no doubt, to be eaten +after the sermon on his way home, or to his next appointment. They +would take the taste of it out of his mouth. Then, would a minister +be apt to grow tiresome with two big apples in his coat-tail pockets? +Would he not naturally hasten along to "lastly," and the big apples? +If they were the dominie apples, and it was April or May, he certainly + +How the early settlers prized the apple! When their trees broke down +or were split asunder by the storms, the neighbors turned out, +the divided tree was put together again and fastened with iron bolts. +In some of the oldest orchards one may still occasionally see a large +dilapidated tree with the rusty iron bolt yet visible. Poor, sour +fruit, too, but sweet in those early pioneer days. My grandfather, +who was one of these heroes of the stump, used every fall to make a +journey of forty miles for a few apples, which he brought home in a bag +on horseback. He frequently started from home by two or three o'clock +in the morning, and at one time both he and his horse were much +frightened by the screaming of panthers in a narrow pass in the +mountains through which the road led. + +Emerson, I believe, has spoken of the apple as the social fruit of +New England. Indeed, what a promoter or abettor of social intercourse +among our rural population the apple has been, the company growing more +merry and unrestrained as soon as the basket of apples was passed +round! When the cider followed, the introduction and good +understanding were complete. Then those rural gatherings that +enlivened the autumn in the country, known as " apple cuts," now, alas! +nearly obsolete, where so many things were cut and dried besides +apples! The larger and more loaded the orchard, the more frequently +the invitations went round and the higher the social and convivial +spirit ran. Ours is eminently a country of the orchard. +Horace Greeley said he had seen no land in which the orchard formed +such a prominent feature in the rural and agricultural districts. +Nearly every farmhouse in the Eastern and Northern States has its +setting or its background of apple-trees, which generally date back to +the first settlement of the farm. Indeed, the orchard, more than +almost any other thing, tends to soften and humanize the country, +and to give the place of which it is an adjunct, a settled, domestic +look. The apple-tree takes the rawness and wildness off any scene. +On the top of a mountain, or in remote pastures, it sheds the sentiment +of home. It never loses its domestic air, or lapses into a wild state. +And in planting a homestead, or in choosing a building site for the new +house, what a help it is to have a few old, maternal apple-trees near +by; regular old grandmothers, who have seen trouble, who have been sad +and glad through so many winters and summers, who have blossomed till +the air about them is sweeter than elsewhere, and borne fruit till the +grass beneath them has become thick and soft from human contact, and +who have nourished robins and finches in their branches till they have +a tender, brooding look. The ground, the turf, the atmosphere of an +old orchard, seem several stages nearer to man than that of the +adjoining field, as if the trees had given back to the soil more than +they had taken from it; as if they had tempered the elements and +attracted all the genial and beneficent influences in the landscape +around. + +An apple orchard is sure to bear you several crops beside the apple. +There is the crop of sweet and tender reminiscences dating from +childhood and spanning the seasons from May to October, and making the +orchard a sort of outlying part of the household. You have played +there as a child, mused there as a youth or lover, strolled there as a +thoughtful, sad-eyed man. Your father, perhaps, planted the trees, +or reared them from the seed, and you yourself have pruned and grafted +them, and worked among them, till every separate tree has a peculiar +history and meaning in your mind. Then there is the never-failing crop +of birds--robins, goldfinches, king-birds, cedar-birds, hair-birds, +orioles, starlings--all nesting and breeding in its branches, and fitly +described by Wilson Flagg as "Birds of the Garden and Orchard." +Whether the pippin and sweetbough bear or not, the "punctual birds" can +always be depended on. Indeed, there are few better places to study +ornithology than in the orchard. Besides its regular occupants, many +of the birds of the deeper forest find occasion to visit it during the +season. The cuckoo comes for the tent-caterpillar, the jay for frozen +apples, the ruffed grouse for buds, the crow foraging for birds' eggs, +the woodpecker and chickadees for their food, and the high-hole for +ants. The red-bird comes too, if only to see what a friendly covert +its branches form; and the wood-thrush now and then comes out of the +grove near by, and nests alongside of its cousin, the robin. +The smaller hawks know that this is a most likely spot for their prey; +and in spring the shy northern warblers may be studied as they pause to +feed on the fine insects amid its branches. The mice love to dwell +here also, and hither comes from the near woods the squirrel and the +rabbit. The latter will put his head through the boy's slipper-noose +any time for taste of the sweet apple, and the red squirrel and +chipmunk esteem its seeds a great rarity. + +All the domestic animals love the apple, but none so much so as the +cow. The taste of it wakes her up as few other things do, and bars and +fences must be well looked after. No need to assort them or pick out +the ripe ones for her. An apple is an apple, and there is no best +about it. I heard of a quick-witted old cow that learned to shake them +down from the tree. While rubbing herself she had observed that an +apple sometimes fell. This stimulated her to rub a little harder, when +more apples fell. She then took the hint and rubbed her shoulder with +such vigor that the farmer had to check her and keep an eye on her to +save his fruit. + +But the cow is the friend of the apple. How many trees she has planted +about the farm, in the edge of the woods, and in remote fields and +pastures. The wild apples, celebrated by Thoreau, are mostly of her +planting. She browses them down to be sure, but they are hers, and why +should she not? + +What an individuality the apple-tree has, each variety being nearly as +marked by its form as by its fruit. What a vigorous grower, for +instance, is the Ribston pippin, an English apple. Wide branching like +the oak, and its large ridgy fruit, in late fall or early winter, +is one of my favorites. Or the thick and more pendent top of the +belleflower, with its equally rich, sprightly uncloying fruit. + +Sweet apples are perhaps the most nutritious, and when baked are a +feast in themselves. With a tree of the Jersey sweet or of Tolman's +sweeting in bearing, no man's table need be devoid of luxuries and one +of the most wholesome of all deserts. Or the red astrachan, an August +apple, what a gap may be filled in the culinary department of a +household at this season, by a single tree of this fruit! And what a +feast is its shining crimson coat to the eye before its snow-white +flesh has reached the tongue. But the apple of apples for the +household is the spitzenberg. In this casket Pomona has put her +highest flavors. It can stand the ordeal of cooking and still remain a +spitz. I recently saw a barrel of these apples from the orchard of a +fruit-grower in the northern part of New York, who has devoted special +attention to this variety. They were perfect gems. Not large, that +had not been the aim, but small, fair, uniform, and red to the core. +How intense, how spicy and aromatic! + +But all the excellences of the apple are not confined to the cultivated +fruit. Occasionally a seedling springs up about the farm that produces +fruit of rare beauty and worth. In sections peculiarly adapted to the +apple, like a certain belt along the Hudson River, I have noticed that +most of the wild unbidden trees bear good, edible fruit. In cold and +ungenial districts, the seedlings are mostly sour and crabbed, but in +more favorable soils they are oftener mild and sweet. I know wild +apples that ripen in August, and that do not need, if it could be had, +Thoreau's sauce of sharp November air to be eaten with. At the foot of +a hill near me and striking its roots deep in the shale, is a giant +specimen of native tree that bears an apple that has about the +clearest, waxiest, most transparent complexion I ever saw. It is good +size, and the color of a tea-rose. Its quality is best appreciated in +the kitchen. I know another seedling of excellent quality and so +remarkable for its firmness and density, that it is known on the farm +where it grows as the "heavy apple." + +I have alluded to Thoreau, to whom all lovers of the apple and its tree +are under obligation. His chapter on Wild Apples is a most delicious +piece of writing. It has a "tang and smack " like the fruit it +celebrates, and is dashed and streaked with color in the same manner. +It has the hue and perfume of the crab, and the richness and raciness +of the pippin. But Thoreau loved other apples than the wild sorts and +was obliged to confess that his favorites could not be eaten in-doors. +Late in November he found a blue-pearmain tree growing within the edge +of a swamp, almost as good as wild. "You would not suppose," he says, +"that there was any fruit left there on the first survey, but you must +look according to system. Those which lie exposed are quite brown and +rotten now, or perchance a few still show one blooming cheek here and +there amid the wet leaves. Nevertheless, with experienced eyes I +explore amid the bare alders, and the huckleberry bushes, and the +withered sedge, and in the crevices of the rocks, which are full of +leaves, and pry under the fallen and decayed ferns which, with apple +and alder leaves, thickly strew the ground. For I know that they lie +concealed, fallen into hollows long since, and covered up by the leaves +of the tree itself--a proper kind of packing. From these lurking +places, everywhere within the circumference of the tree, I draw forth +the fruit all wet and glossy, maybe nibbled by rabbits and hollowed out +by crickets, and perhaps a leaf or two cemented to it (as Curzon an old +manuscript from a monastery's mouldy cellar), but still with a rich +bloom on it, and at least as ripe and well kept, if no better than +those in barrels, more crisp and lively than they. If these resources +fail to yield anything, I have learned to look between the leaves of +the suckers which spring thickly from some horizontal limb, for now and +then one lodges there, or in the very midst of an alder-clump, where +they are covered by leaves, safe from cows which may have smelled them +out. If I am sharp-set, for I do not refuse the blue-pearmain, I fill +my pockets on each side; and as I retrace my steps, in the frosty eve +being perhaps four or five miles from home, I eat one first from this +side, and then from that, to keep my balance." + + + + +A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH. + + + +The traveler and camper-out in Maine, unless he penetrates its more +northern portions, has less reason to remember it as a pine-tree State +than a birch-tree State. The white-pine forests have melted away like +snow in the spring and gone down stream, leaving only patches here and +there in the more remote and inaccessible parts. The portion of the +State I saw--the valley of the Kennebec and the woods about Moxie Lake +--had been shorn of its pine timber more than forty years before, and +is now covered with a thick growth of spruce and cedar and various +deciduous trees. But the birch abounds. Indeed, when the pine goes +out the birch comes in; the race of men succeeds the race of giants. +This tree has great stay-at-home virtues. Let the sombre, aspiring, +mysterious pine go; the birch has humble every-day uses. In Maine, +the paper or canoe birch is turned to more account than any other tree. +I read in Gibbon that the natives of ancient Assyria used to celebrate +in verse or prose the three hundred and sixty uses to which the various +parts and products of the palm-tree were applied. The Maine birch is +turned to so many accounts that it may well be called the palm of this +region. Uncle Nathan, our guide, said it was made especially for the +camper-out; yes, and for the wood-man and frontiersman generally. +It is a magazine, a furnishing store set up in the wilderness, whose +goods are free to every comer. The whole equipment of the camp lies +folded in it, and comes forth at the beck of the woodman's axe; tent, +waterproof roof, boat, camp utensils, buckets, cups, plates, spoons, +napkins, table cloths, paper for letters or your journal, torches, +candles, kindling-wood, and fuel. The canoe-birch yields you its +vestments with the utmost liberality. Ask for its coat, and it gives +you its waistcoat also. Its bark seems wrapped about it layer upon +layer, and comes off with great ease. We saw many rude structures and +cabins shingled and sided with it, and haystacks capped with it. +Near a maple-sugar camp there was a large pile of birch-bark +sap-buckets,--each bucket made of a piece of bark about a yard square, +folded up as the tinman folds up a sheet of tin to make a square +vessel, the corners bent around against the sides and held by a wooden +pin. When, one day, we were overtaken by a shower in traveling through +the woods, our guide quickly stripped large sheets of the bark from a +near tree, and we had each a perfect umbrella as by magic. When the +rain was over, and we moved on, I wrapped mine about me like a large +leather apron, and it shielded my clothes from the wet bushes. When we +came to a spring, Uncle Nathan would have a birch-bark cup ready before +any of us could get a tin one out of his knapsack, and I think water +never tasted so sweet as from one of these bark cups. It is exactly +the thing. It just fits the mouth and it seems to give new virtues to +the water. It makes me thirsty now when I think of it. In our camp at +Moxie we made a large birch-bark box to keep the butter in; and the +butter in this box, covered with some leafy boughs, I think improved in +flavor day by day. Maine butter needs something to mollify and sweeten +it a little, and I think birch bark will do it. In camp Uncle Nathan +often drank his tea and coffee from a bark cup; the china closet in the +birch-tree was always handy, and our vulgar tin ware was generally a +good deal mixed, and the kitchen-maid not at all particular about +dish-washing. We all tried the oatmeal with the maple syrup in one of +these dishes, and the stewed mountain cranberries, using a birch-bark +spoon, and never found service better. Uncle Nathan declared he could +boil potatoes in a bark kettle, and I did not doubt him. Instead of +sending our soiled napkins and table-spreads to the wash, we rolled +them up into candles and torches, and drew daily upon our stores in the +forest for new ones. + +But the great triumph of the birch is of course the bark canoe. When +Uncle Nathan took us out under his little wood-shed, and showed us, +or rather modestly permitted us to see, his nearly finished canoe, +it was like a first glimpse of some new and unknown genius of the woods +or streams. It sat there on the chips and shavings and fragments of +bark like some shy delicate creature just emerged from its +hiding-place, or like some wild flower just opened. It was the first +boat of the kind I had ever seen, and it filled my eye completely. +What woodcraft it indicated, and what a, wild free life, sylvan life, +it promised! It had such a fresh, aboriginal look as I had never +before seen in any kind of handiwork. Its clear yellow-red color +would have become the cheek of an Indian maiden. Then its supple +curves and swells, its sinewy stays and thwarts, its bow-like contour, +its tomahawk stem and stern rising quickly and sharply from its frame, +were all vividly suggestive of the race from which it came. An old +Indian had taught Uncle Nathan the art, and the soul of the ideal +red man looked out of the boat before us. Uncle Nathan had spent two +days ranging the mountains looking for a suitable tree, and had worked +nearly a week on the craft. It was twelve feet long, and would seat +and carry five men nicely. Three trees contribute to the making of a +canoe besides the birch, namely, the white cedar for ribs and lining, +the spruce for roots and fibres to sew its joints and bind its frame, +and the pine for pitch or rosin to stop its seams and cracks. It is +hand-made and home-made, or rather wood-made, in a sense that no other +craft is, except a dug-out, and it suggests a taste and a refinement +that few products of civilization realize. The design of a savage, +it yet looks like the thought of a poet, and its grace and fitness +haunt the imagination. I suppose its production was the inevitable +result of the Indian's wants and surroundings, but that does not +detract from its beauty. It is, indeed, one of the fairest flowers the +thorny plant of necessity ever bore. Our canoe, as I have intimated, +was not yet finished when we first saw it, nor yet when we took it up, +with its architect, upon our metaphorical backs and bore it to the +woods. It lacked part of its cedar lining and the rosin upon its +joints, and these were added after we reached our destination. + +Though we were not indebted to the birch-tree for our guide, +Uncle Nathan, as he was known in all the country, yet he matched well +these woodsy products and conveniences. The birch-tree had given him a +large part of his tuition, and kneeling in his canoe and making it +shoot noiselessly over the water with that subtle yet indescribably +expressive and athletic play of the muscles of the back and shoulders, +the boat and the man seemed born of the same spirit. He had been a +hunter and trapper for over forty years; he had grown gray in the +woods, had ripened and matured there, and everything about him was as +if the spirit of the woods had had the ordering of it; his whole +make-up was in a minor and subdued key, like the moss and the lichens, +or like the protective coloring of the game,--everything but his quick +sense and penetrative glance. He was as gentle and modest as a girl; +his sensibilities were like plants that grow in the shade. The woods +and the solitudes had touched him with their own softening and refining +influence; had indeed shed upon his soil of life a rich deep leaf mould +that was delightful, and that nursed, half concealed, the tenderest and +wildest growths. There was grit enough back of and beneath it all, but +he presented none of the rough and repelling traits of character of the +conventional backwoods-man. In the spring he was a driver of logs on +the Kennebec, usually having charge of a large gang of men; in the +winter he was a solitary trapper and hunter in the forests. + +Our first glimpse of Maine waters was Pleasant Pond, which we found by +following a white, rapid, musical stream from the Kennebec three miles +back into the mountains. Maine waters are for the most part +dark-complexioned, Indian-colored streams, but Pleasant Pond is a +pale-face among them both in name and nature. It is the only strictly +silver lake I ever saw. Its waters seem almost artificially white and +brilliant, though of remarkable transparency. I think I detected +minute shining motes held in suspension in it. As for the trout they +are veritable bars of silver until you have cut their flesh, when they +are the reddest of gold. They have no crimson or other spots, and the +straight lateral line is but a faint pencil mark. They appeared to be +a species of lake trout peculiar to these waters, uniformly from ten to +twelve inches in length. And these beautiful fish, at the time of our +visit (last of August) at least, were to be taken only in deep water +upon a hook baited with salt pork. And then you needed a letter of +introduction to them. They were not to be tempted or cajoled by +strangers. We did not succeed in raising a fish, although instructed +how it was to be done, until one of the natives, a young and obliging +farmer living hard by, came and lent his countenance to the enterprise. +I sat in one end of the boat and he in the other; my pork was the same +as his, and I maneuvered it as directed, and yet those fish knew his +hook from mine in sixty feet of water, and preferred it four times in +five. Evidently they did not bite because they were hungry, but solely +for old acquaintance' sake. + +Pleasant Pond is an irregular sheet of water, two miles or more in its +greatest diameter, with high, rugged mountains rising up from its +western shore, and low rolling hills sweeping back from its eastern and +northern, covered by a few sterile farms. I was never tired, when the +wind was still, of floating along its margin and gazing down into its +marvelously translucent depths. The boulders and fragments of rocks +were seen, at a depth of twenty-five or thirty feet, strewing its +floor, and apparently as free from any covering of sediment as when +they were dropped there by the old glaciers aeons ago. Our camp was +amid a dense grove of second growth of white pine on the eastern shore, +where, for one, I found a most admirable cradle in a little depression, +outside of the tent, carpeted with pine needles, in which to pass the +night. The camper-out is always in luck if he can find, sheltered by +the trees, a soft hole in the ground, even if he has a stone for a +pillow. The earth must open its arms a little for us even in life, if +we are to sleep well upon its bosom. I have often heard my +grand-father, who was a soldier of the Revolution, tell with great +gusto how he once bivouacked in a little hollow made by the overturning +of a tree, and slept so soundly that he did not wake up till his cradle +was half full of water from a passing shower. + +What bird or other creature might represent the divinity of Pleasant +Pond I do not know, but its demon, as of most northern inland waters, +is the loon, and a very good demon he is too, suggesting something not +so much malevolent, as arch, sardonic, ubiquitous, circumventing, with +just a tinge of something inhuman and uncanny. His fiery red eyes +gleaming forth from that jet-black head are full of meaning. Then his +strange horse laughter by day and his weird, doleful cry at night, like +that of a lost and wandering spirit, recall no other bird or beast. +He suggests something almost supernatural in his alertness and amazing +quickness, cheating the shot and the bullet of the sportsman out of +their aim. I know of but one other bird so quick, and that is the +humming-bird, which I have never been able to kill with a gun. +The loon laughs the shot-gun to scorn, and the obliging young farmer +above referred to told me he had shot at them hundreds of times with +his rifle, without effect,--they always dodged his bullet. We had in +our party a breach-loading rifle, which weapon is perhaps an +appreciable moment of time quicker than the ordinary muzzleloader, +and this the poor loon could not or did not dodge. He had not timed +himself to that species of fire-arm, and when, with his fellow, he swam +about within rifle range of our camp, letting off volleys of his wild +ironical ha-ha, he little suspected the dangerous gun that was matched +against him. As the rifle cracked both loons made the gesture of +diving, but only one of them disappeared beneath the water; and when he +came to the surface in a few moments, a hundred or more yards away, +and saw his companion did not follow, but was floating on the water +where he had last seen him, he took the alarm and sped away in the +distance. The bird I had killed was a magnificent specimen, and I +looked him over with great interest. His glossy checkered coat, +his banded neck, his snow-white breast, his powerful lance- shaped +beak, his red eyes, his black, thin, slender, marvelously delicate feet +and legs, issuing from his muscular thighs, and looking as if they had +never touched the ground, his strong wings well forward while his legs +were quite at the apex, and the neat, elegant model of the entire bird, +speed and quickness and strength stamped upon every feature,--all +delighted and lingered in the eye. The loon appears like anything but +a silly bird, unless you see him in some collection, or in the shop of +the taxidermist, where he usually looks very tame and goose-like. +Nature never meant the loon to stand up, or to use his feet and legs +for other purposes than swimming. Indeed, he cannot stand except upon +his tail in a perpendicular attitude, but in the collections he is +poised upon his feet like a barn-yard fowl, all the wildness and grace +and alertness goes out of him. My specimen sits upon a table as upon +the surface of the water, his feet trailing behind him, his body low +and trim, his head elevated and slightly turned as if in the act of +bringing that fiery eye to bear upon you, and vigilance and power +stamped upon every lineament. + +The loon is to the fishes what the hawk is to the birds; he swoops down +to unknown depths upon them, and not even the wary trout can elude him. +Uncle Nathan said he had seen the loon disappear and in a moment come +up with a large trout, which he would cut in two with his strong beak, +and swallow piecemeal. Neither the loon nor the otter can bolt a fish +under the water; he must come to the surface to dispose of it. (I once +saw a man eat a cake under water in London.) Our guide told me he had +seen the parent loon swimming with a single young one upon its back. +When closely pressed it dove, or "div" as he would have it, and left +the young bird sitting upon the water. Then it too disappeared, and +when the old one returned and called, it came out from the shore. +On the wing overhead, the loon looks not unlike a very large duck, but +when it alights it ploughs into the water like a bombshell. +It probably cannot take flight from the land, as the one Gilbert White +saw and describes in his letters was picked up in a field, unable to +launch itself into the air. + +>From Pleasant Pond we went seven miles through the woods to Moxie Lake, +following an overgrown lumberman's "tote" road, our canoe and supplies, +etc., hauled on a sled by the young farmer with his three-year-old +steers. I doubt if birch-bark ever made rougher voyage than that. +As I watched it above the bushes, the sled and the luggage being +hidden, it appeared as if tossed in the wildest and most tempestuous +sea. When the bushes closed above it I felt as if it had gone down, +or been broken into a hundred pieces. Billows of rocks and logs, and +chasms of creeks and spring runs, kept it rearing and pitching in the +most frightful manner. The steers went at a spanking pace; indeed, it +was a regular bovine gale; but their driver clung to their side amid +the brush and boulders with desperate tenacity, and seemed to manage +them by signs and nudges, for he hardly uttered his orders aloud. +But we got through without any serious mishap, passing Mosquito Creek +and Mosquito Pond, and flanking Mosquito Mountain, but seeing no +mosquitoes, and brought up at dusk at a lumberman's old hay-barn, +standing in the midst of a lonely clearing on the shores of Moxie Lake. + +Here we passed the night, and were lucky in having a good roof over our +heads, for it rained heavily. After we were rolled in our blankets and +variously disposed upon the haymow, Uncle Nathan lulled us to sleep by +a long and characteristic yarn. + +I had asked him, half jocosely, if he believed in "spooks"; but he took +my question seriously, and without answering it directly, proceeded to +tell us what he himself had known and witnessed. It was, by the way, +extremely difficult either to surprise or to steal upon any of +Uncle Nathan's private opinions and beliefs about matters and things. +He was as shy of all debatable subjects as a fox is of a trap. +He usually talked in a circle, just as he hunted moose and caribou, +so as not to approach his point too rudely and suddenly. He would keep +on the lee side of his interlocutor in spite of all one could do. +He was thoroughly good and reliable, but the wild creatures of the +woods, in pursuit of which he had spent so much of his life, had taught +him a curious gentleness and indirection, and to keep himself in the +back-ground; he was careful that you should not scent his opinions upon +any subject at all polemic, but he would tell you what he had seen and +known. What he had seen and known about spooks was briefly this:--In +company with a neighbor he was passing the night with an old recluse +who lived somewhere in these woods. Their host was an Englishman, who +had the reputation of having murdered his wife some years before in +another part of the country, and, deserted by his grown-up children, +was eking out his days in poverty amid these solitudes. The three men +were sleeping upon the floor, with Uncle Nathan next to a rude +partition that divided the cabin into two rooms. At his head there was +a door that opened into this other apartment. Late at night, +Uncle Nathan said, he awoke and turned over, and his mind was occupied +with various things, when he heard somebody behind the partition. +He reached over and felt that both of his companions were in their +places beside him, and he was somewhat surprised. The person, or +whatever it was, in the other room moved about heavily, and pulled the +table from its place beside the wall to the middle of the floor. +"I was not dreaming," said Uncle Nathan;" I felt of my eyes twice to +make sure, and they were wide open." Presently the door opened; he was +sensible of the draught upon his head, and a woman's form stepped +heavily past him; he felt the "swirl" of her skirts as she went by. +Then there was a loud noise in the room as if some one had fallen their +whole length upon the floor. "It jarred the house," said he, "and woke +everybody up. I asked old Mr.----- if he heard that noise. 'Yes,' +said he, 'it was thunder.' But it was not thunder, I know that;" +and then added, "I was no more afraid than I am this minute. I never +was the least mite afraid in my life. And my eyes were wide open," he +repeated; "I felt of them twice; but whether that was the speret of +that man's murdered wife or not I cannot tell. They said she was an +uncommon heavy woman." Uncle Nathan was a man of unusually quick and +acute senses, and he did not doubt their evidence on this occasion any +more than he did when they prompted him to level his rifle at a bear or +a moose. + +Moxie Lake lies much lower than Pleasant Pond, and its waters compared +with those of the latter are as copper compared with silver. It is +very irregular in shape; now narrowing to the dimensions of a slow +moving grassy creek, then expanding into a broad deep basin with rocky +shores, and commanding the noblest mountain scenery. It is rarely that +the pond-lily and the speckled trout are found together,--the fish the +soul of the purest spring water, the flower the transfigured spirit of +the dark mud and slime of sluggish summer streams and ponds; yet in +Moxie they were both found in perfection. Our camp was amid the +birches, poplars, and white cedars near the head of the lake, where the +best fishing at this season was to be had. Moxie has a small oval +head, rather shallow, but bumpy with rocks; a long, deep neck, full of +springs, where the trout lie; and a very broad chest, with two islands +tufted with pine-trees for breasts. We swam in the head, we fished in +the neck, or in a + small section of it, a space about the size of the +Adam's apple, and we paddled across and around the broad expanse below. +Our birch bark was not finished and christened till we reached Moxie. +The cedar lining was completed at Pleasant Pond, where we had the use +of a bateau, but the rosin was not applied to the seams till we reached +this lake. When I knelt down in it for the first time and put its +slender maple paddle into the water, it sprang away with such quickness +and speed that it disturbed me in my seat. I had spurred a more +restive and spirited steed than I was used to. In fact, I had never +been in a craft that sustained so close a relation to my will, and was +so responsive to my slightest wish. When I caught my first large trout +from it, it sympathized a little too closely, and my enthusiasm started +a leak, which, however, with a live coal and a piece of rosin, was +quickly ended. You cannot perform much of a war-dance in a birch-bark +canoe: better wait till you get on dry land. Yet as a boat it is not +so shy and "ticklish" as I had imagined. One needs to be on the alert, +as becomes a sportsman and an angler, and in his dealings with it must +charge himself with three things,--precision, moderation, and +circumspection. + +Trout weighing four and five pounds have been taken at Moxie, but none +of that size came to our hand. I realized the fondest hopes I had +dared to indulge in when I hooked the first two-pounder of my life, and +my extreme solicitude lest he get away I trust was pardonable. My +friend, in relating the episode in camp, said I implored him to row me +down in the middle of the lake that I might have room to manœuver my +fish. But the slander has barely a grain of truth in it. The water +near us showed several old stakes broken off just below the surface, +and my fish was determined to wrap my leader about one of these stakes; +it was only for the clear space a few yards farther out that I prayed. +It was not long after that my friend found himself in an anxious frame +of mind. He hooked a large trout, which came home on him so suddenly +that he had not time to reel up his line, and in his extremity he +stretched his tall form into the air and lifted up his pole to an +incredible height. He checked the trout before it got under the boat, +but dared not come down an inch, and then began his amusing further +elongation in reaching for his reel with one hand while he carried it +ten feet into the air with the other. A step-ladder would perhaps have +been more welcome to him just then than at any other moment during his +life. But the trout was saved, though my friend's buttons and +suspenders suffered. + +We learned a new trick in fly-fishing here, worth disclosing. It was +not one day in four that the trout would take the fly on the surface. +When the south wind was blowing and the clouds threatened rain, they +would at times, notably about three o'clock, rise handsomely. But on +all other occasions it was rarely that we could entice them up through +the twelve or fifteen feet of water. Earlier in the season they are +not so lazy and indifferent, but the August languor and drowsiness were +now upon them. So we learned by a lucky accident to fish deep for +them, even weighting our leaders with a shot, and allowing the flies to +sink nearly to the bottom. After a moment's pause we would draw them +slowly up, and when half or two thirds of the way to the top the trout +would strike, when the sport became lively enough. Most of our fish +were taken in this way. There is nothing like the flash and the strike +at the surface, and perhaps only the need of food will ever tempt the +genuine angler into any more prosaic style of fishing; but if you must +go below the surface, a shotted leader is the best thing to use. + +Our camp-fire at night served more purposes than one; from its embers +and flickering shadows, Uncle Nathan read us many a tale of his life in +the woods. They were the same old hunter's stories, except that they +evidently had the merit of being strictly true, and hence were not very +thrilling or marvelous. Uncle Nathan's tendency was rather to tone +down and belittle his experiences than to exaggerate them. If he ever +bragged at all (and I suspect he did just a little, when telling us how +he outshot one of the famous riflemen of the American team, whom he was +guiding through these woods), he did it in such a sly, round-about way +that it was hard to catch him at it. His passage with the rifleman +referred to shows the difference between the practical off-hand skill +of the hunter in the woods and the science of the long-range target +hitter. Mr. Bull's Eye had heard that his guide was a capital shot and +had seen some proof of it, and hence could not rest till he had had a +trial of skill with him. Uncle Nathan, being the challenged party, had +the right to name the distance and the conditions. A piece of white +paper the size of a silver dollar was put upon a tree twelve rods off, +the contestants to fire three shots each off-hand. Uncle Nathan's +first bullet barely missed the mark, but the other two were planted +well into it. Then the great rifleman took his turn, and missed every +time. + +"By hemp!" said Uncle Nathan," I was sorry I shot so well, Mr.----- +took it so to heart; and I had used his own rifle, too. He did not get +over it for a week." + +But far more ignominious was the failure of Mr. Bull's Eye when he saw +his first bear. They were paddling slowly and silently down Dead +River, when the guide heard a slight noise in the bushes just behind a +little bend. He whispered to the rifleman, who sat kneeling in the bow +of the boat, to take his rifle. But instead of doing so he picked up +his two-barreled shot-gun. As they turned the point, there stood a +bear not twenty yards away, drinking from the stream. Uncle Nathan +held the canoe, while the man who had come so far in quest of this very +game was trying to lay down his shot-gun and pick up his rifle. "His +hand moved like the hand of a clock," said Uncle Nathan, "and I could +hardly keep my seat. I knew the bear would see us in a moment more, +and run. Instead of laying his gun by his side, where it belonged, he +reached it across in front of him and laid it upon his rifle, and in +trying to get the latter from under it a noise was made; the bear heard +it and raised his head. Still there was time, for as the bear sprang +into the woods he stopped and looked back,--"as I knew he would," said +the guide; yet the marksman was not ready. "By hemp! I could have shot +three bears," exclaimed Uncle Nathan, "while he was getting that rifle +to his face!" + +Poor Mr. Bull's Eye was deeply humiliated. "Just the chance I had been +looking for," he said, "and my wits suddenly left me." + +As a hunter Uncle Nathan always took the game on its own terms, that of +still-hunting. He even shot foxes in this way, going into the fields +in the fall just at break of day, and watching for them about their +mousing haunts. One morning, by these tactics, he shot a black fox; +a fine specimen, he said, and a wild one, for he stopped and looked and +listened every few yards. + +He had killed over two hundred moose, a large number of them at night +on the lakes. His method was to go out in his canoe and conceal +himself by some point or island, and wait till he heard the game. +In the fall the moose comes into the water to eat the large fibrous +roots of the pond-lilies. He splashes along till he finds a suitable +spot, when he begins feeding, sometimes thrusting his bead and neck +several feet under water. The hunter listens, and when the moose lifts +his head and the rills of water run from it, and he hears him "swash" +the lily roots about to get off the mud, it is his time to start. +Silently as a shadow he creeps up on the moose, who by the way, +it seems, never expects the approach of danger from the water side. +If the hunter accidentally makes a noise the moose looks toward the +shore for it. There is always a slight gleam on the water, +Uncle Nathan says, even in the darkest night, and the dusky form of the +moose can be distinctly seen upon it. When the hunter sees this darker +shadow he lifts his gun to the sky and gets the range of its barrels, +then lowers it till it covers the mark, and fires. + +The largest moose Uncle Nathan ever killed is mounted in the State +House at Augusta. He shot him while hunting in winter on snow-shoes. +The moose was reposing upon the ground, with his head stretched out in +front of him, as one may sometimes see a cow resting. The position was +such that only a quartering shot through the animal's hip could reach +its heart. Studying the problem carefully, and taking his own time, +the hunter fired. The moose sprang into the air, turned, and came with +tremendous strides straight toward him. "I knew he had not seen or +scented me," said Uncle Nathan, "but, by hemp, I wished myself +somewhere else just then; for I was lying right down in his path." +But the noble animal stopped, a few yards short, and fell dead with a +bullet-hole through his heart. + +When the moose yard in the winter, that is, restrict their wanderings +to a well-defined section of the forest or mountain, trampling down the +snow and beating paths in all directions, they browse off only the most +dainty morsels first; when they go over the ground a second time they +crop a little cleaner; the third time they sort still closer, till by +and by nothing is left. Spruce, hemlock, poplar, the barks of various +trees, everything within reach, is cropped close. When the hunter +comes upon one of these yards the problem for him to settle is, Where +are the moose? for it is absolutely necessary that he keep on the lee +side of them. So he considers the lay of the land, the direction of +the wind, the time of day, the depth of the snow, examines the spoor, +the cropped twigs, and studies every hint and clew like a detective. +Uncle Nathan said he could not explain to another how he did it, but +he could usually tell in a few minutes in what direction to look for +the game. His experience had ripened into a kind of intuition or +winged reasoning that was above rules. + +He said that most large game, deer, caribou, moose, bear, when started +by the hunter and not much scared, were sure to stop and look back +before disappearing from sight: he usually waited for this last and +best chance to fire. He told us of a huge bear he had seen one morning +while still-hunting foxes in the fields; the bear saw him, and got into +the woods before he could get a good shot. In her course some distance +up the mountain was a bald, open spot, and he felt sure when she +crossed this spot she would pause and look behind her; and sure enough, +like Lot's wife, her curiosity got the better of her; she stopped to +have a final look, and her travels ended there and then. + +Uncle Nathan had trapped and shot a great many bears, and some of his +experiences revealed an unusual degree of sagacity in this animal. +One April, when the weather began to get warm and thawy, an old bear +left her den in the rocks and built a large, warm nest of grass, +leaves, and the bark of the white cedar, under a tall balsam fir that +stood in a low, sunny, open place amid the mountains. Hither she +conducted her two cubs, and the family began life in what might be +called their spring residence. The tree above them was for shelter, +and for refuge for the cubs in case danger approached, as it soon did +in the form of Uncle Nathan. He happened that way soon after the bear +had moved. Seeing her track in the snow, he concluded to follow it. +When the bear had passed, the snow had been soft and sposhy, and she +had "slumped," he said, several inches. It was now hard and slippery. +As he neared the tree the track turned and doubled, and tacked this way +and that, and led through the worst brush and brambles to be found. +This was a shrewd thought of the old bear; she could thus hear her +enemy coming a long time before he drew very near. When Uncle Nathan +finally reached the nest, he found it empty, but still warm. Then he +began to circle about and look for the bear's footprints or nail-prints +upon the frozen snow. Not finding them the first time, he took a +larger circle, then a still larger; finally he made a long detour, +and spent nearly an hour searching for some clew to the direction the +bear had taken, but all to no purpose. Then he returned to the tree +and scrutinized it. The foliage was very dense, but presently he made +out one of the cubs near the top, standing up amid the branches, and +peering down at him. This he killed. Further search only revealed a +mass of foliage apparently more dense than usual, but a bullet sent +into it was followed by loud whimpering and crying, and the other baby +bear came tumbling down. In leaving the place, greatly puzzled as to +what had become of the mother bear, Uncle Nathan followed another of +her frozen tracks, and after about a quarter of a mile saw beside it, +upon the snow, the fresh trail he had been in search of. In making her +escape the bear had stepped exactly in her old tracks that were hard +and icy, and had thus left no mark till she took to the snow again. + +During his trapping expeditions into the woods in midwinter, I was +curious to know how Uncle Nathan passed the nights, as we were twice +pinched with the cold at that season in our tent and blankets. It was +no trouble to keep warm, he said, in the coldest weather. As night +approached, he would select a place for his camp on the side of a hill. +With one of his snow-shoes he would shovel out the snow till the ground +was reached, carrying the snow out in front, as we scrape the earth out +of the side of a hill to level up a place for the house and yard. +On this level place, which, however, was made to incline slightly +toward the hill, his bed of boughs was made. On the ground he had +uncovered he built his fire. His bed was thus on a level with the +fire, and the heat could not thaw the snow under him and let him down, +or the burning logs roll upon him. With a steep ascent behind it the +fire burned better, and the wind was not so apt to drive the smoke and +blaze in upon him. Then, with the long, curving branches of the spruce +stuck thickly around three sides of the bed, and curving over and +uniting their tops above it, a shelter was formed that would keep out +the cold and the snow, and that would catch and retain the warmth of +the fire. Rolled in his blanket in such a nest, Uncle Nathan +had passed hundreds of the most frigid winter nights. + +One day we made an excursion of three miles through the woods to Bald +Mountain, following a dim trail. We saw, as we filed silently along, +plenty of signs of caribou, deer, and bear, but were not blessed with a +sight of either of the animals themselves. I noticed that +Uncle Nathan, in looking through the woods, did not hold his head as we +did, but thrust it slightly forward, and peered under the branches like +a deer or other wild creature. + +The summit of Bald Mountain was the most impressive mountain-top I had +ever seen, mainly, perhaps, because it was one enormous crown of nearly +naked granite. The rock had that gray, elemental, eternal look which +granite alone has. One seemed to be face to face with the gods of the +fore-world. Like an atom, like a breath of to-day, we were suddenly +confronted by abysmal geologic time,--the eternities past and the +eternities to come. The enormous cleavage of the rocks, the appalling +cracks and fissures, the rent boulders, the smitten granite floors, +gave one a new sense of the power of heat and frost. In one place we +noticed several deep parallel grooves, made by the old glaciers. +In the depressions on the summit there was a hard, black, peaty-like +soil that looked indescribably ancient and unfamiliar. Out of this +mould, that might have come from the moon or the interplanetary spaces, +were growing mountain cranberries and blueberries or huckleberries. +We were soon so absorbed in gathering the latter that we were quite +oblivious of the grandeurs about us. It is these blueberries that +attract the bears. In eating them, Uncle Nathan said, they take the +bushes in their mouths, and by an upward movement strip them clean of +both leaves and berries. We were constantly on the lookout for the +bears, but failed to see any. Yet a few days afterward, when two of +our party returned here and encamped upon the mountain, they saw five +during their stay, but failed to get a good shot. The rifle was in the +wrong place each time. The man with the shot-gun saw an old bear and +two cubs lift themselves from behind a rock and twist their noses +around for his scent, and then shrink away. They were too far off for +his buckshot. I must not forget the superb view that lay before us, +a wilderness of woods and waters stretching away to the horizon on +every band. Nearly a dozen lakes and ponds could be seen, and in a +clearer atmosphere the foot of Moosehead Lake would have been visible. +The highest and most striking mountain to be seen was Mount Bigelow, +rising above Dead River, far to the west, and its two sharp peaks +notching the horizon like enormous saw-teeth. We walked around and +viewed curiously a huge boulder on the top of the mountain that had +been split in two vertically, and one of the halves moved a few feet +out of its bed. It looked recent and familiar, but suggested gods +instead of men. The force that moved the rock had plainly come from +the north. I thought of a similar boulder I had seen not long before +on the highest point of the Shawangunk Mountains in New York, one side +of which is propped up with a large stone, as wall-builders prop up a +rock to wrap a chain around it. The rock seems poised lightly, and has +but a few points of bearing. In this instance, too, the power had come +from the north. + +The prettiest botanical specimen my trip yielded was a little plant +that bears the ugly name of horned bladderwort (Utricularia cornuta), +and which I found growing in marshy places along the shores of Moxie +Lake. It has a slender, naked stem nearly a foot high, crowned by two +or more large deep yellow flowers,--flowers the shape of little bonnets +or hoods. One almost expected to see tiny faces looking out of them. +This illusion is heightened by the horn or spur of the flower, which +projects from the hood like a long tapering chin,--some masker's +device. Then the cape behind,--what a smart upward curve it has, as if +spurned by the fairy shoulders it was meant to cover! But perhaps the +most notable thing about the flower was its fragrance,--the richest and +strongest perfume I have ever found in a wild flower. This our +botanist, Gray, does not mention; as if one should describe the lark +and forget its song. The fragrance suggested that of white clover, but +was more rank and spicy. + +The woods about Moxie Lake were literally carpeted with Linnæa. I had +never seen it in such profusion. In early summer, the period of its +bloom, what a charming spectacle the mossy floors of these remote woods +must present! The flowers are purple rose-color, nodding and fragrant. +Another very abundant plant in these woods was the Clintonia borealis. +Uncle Nathan said it was called "bear's corn," though he did not know +why. The only noticeable flower by the Maine roadsides at this season +that is not common in other parts of the country is the harebell. Its +bright blue, bell-shaped corolla shone out from amid the dry grass and +weeds all along the route. It was one of the most delicate roadside +flowers I had ever seen. + +The only new bird I saw in Maine was the pileated woodpecker, or black +"log cock," called by Uncle Nathan "wood cock." I had never before +seen or heard this bird, and its loud cackle in the woods about Moxie +was a new sound to me. It is the wildest and largest of our northern +woodpeckers, and the rarest. Its voice and the sound of its hammer are +heard only in the depths of the northern woods. It is about as large +as a crow, and nearly as black. + +We stayed a week at Moxie, or until we became surfeited with its trout, +and had killed the last Merganser duck that lingered about our end of +the lake. The trout that had accumulated on our hands we had kept +alive in a large champagne basket submerged in the lake, and the +morning we broke camp the basket was towed to the shore and opened; +and after we had feasted our eyes upon the superb spectacle, every +trout, twelve or fifteen in number, some of them two-pounders, was +allowed to swim back into the lake. They went leisurely, in couples +and in trios, and were soon kicking up their heels in their old haunts. +I expect that the divinity who presides over Moxie will see to it that +every one of those trout, doubled in weight, comes to our basket in the +future. + + + + +WINTER NEIGHBORS. + + + +The country is more of a wilderness, more of a wild solitude, in the +winter than in the summer. The wild comes out. The urban, the +cultivated, is hidden or negatived. You shall hardly know a good field +from a poor, a meadow from a pasture, a park from a forest. Lines and +boundaries are disregarded; gates and bar-ways are unclosed; man lets +go his hold upon the earth; title-deeds are deep buried beneath the +snow; the best-kept grounds relapse to a state of nature; under the +pressure of the cold all the wild creatures become outlaws, and roam +abroad beyond their usual haunts. The partridge comes to the orchard +for buds; the rabbit comes to the garden and lawn; the crows and jays +come to the ash-heap and corn-crib, the snow-buntings to the stack and +to the barn-yard; the sparrows pilfer from the domestic fowls; the pine +grosbeak comes down from the north and shears your maples of their +buds; the fox prowls about your premises at night, and the red +squirrels find your grain in the barn or steal the butternuts from your +attic. In fact, winter, 1ike some great calamity, changes the status +of most creatures and sets them adrift. Winter, like poverty, makes us +acquainted with strange bedfellows. + +For my part, my nearest approach to a strange bedfellow is the little +gray rabbit that has taken up her abode under my study floor. As she +spends the day here and is out larking at night, she is not much of a +bedfellow after all. It is probable that I disturb her slumbers more +than she does mine. I think she is some support to me under there-a +silent wild-eyed witness and backer; a type of the gentle and harmless +in savage nature. She has no sagacity to give me or lend me, but that +soft, nimble foot of hers, and that touch as of cotton wherever she +goes, are worthy of emulation. I think I can feel her good-will +through the floor, and I hope she can mine. When I have a happy +thought I imagine her ears twitch, especially when I think of the sweet +apple I will place by her doorway at night. I wonder if that fox +chanced to catch a glimpse of her the other night when he stealthily +leaped over the fence near by and walked along between the study and +the house? How clearly one could read that it was not a little dog +that had passed there. There was something furtive in the track; +it shied off away from the house and around it, as if eying it +suspiciously; and then it had the caution and deliberation of the fox +--bold, bold, but not too bold; wariness was in every footprint. If it +had been a little dog that had chanced to wander that way, when he +crossed my path he would have followed it up to the barn and have gone +smelling around for a bone; but this sharp, cautious track held +straight across all others, keeping five or six rods from the house, up +the hill, across the highway towards a neighboring farmstead, with its +nose in the air and its eye and ear alert, so to speak. + +A winter neighbor of mine in whom I am interested, and who perhaps +lends me his support after his kind, is a little red owl, whose retreat +is in the heart of an old apple-tree just over the fence. Where he +keeps himself in spring and summer I do not know, but late every fall, +and at intervals all winter, his hiding-place is discovered by the jays +and nut-hatches, and proclaimed from the tree-tops for the space of +half an hour or so, with all the powers of voice they can command. +Four times during one winter they called me out to behold this little +ogre feigning sleep in his den, sometimes in one apple-tree, sometimes +in another. Whenever I heard their cries, I knew my neighbor was being +berated. The birds would take turns at looking in upon him and +uttering their alarm-notes. Every jay within hearing would come to the +spot and at once approach the hole in the trunk or limb, and with a +kind of breathless eagerness and excitement take a peep at the owl, and +then join the outcry. When I approached they would hastily take a +final look and then withdraw and regard my movements intently. After +accustoming my eye to the faint light of the cavity for a few moments, +I could usually make out the owl at the bottom feigning sleep. +Feigning, I say, because this is what he really did, as I first +discovered one day when I cut into his retreat with the axe. The loud +blows and the falling chips did not disturb him at all. When I reached +in a stick and pulled him over on his side, leaving one of his wings +spread out, he made no attempt to recover himself, but lay among the +chips and fragments of decayed wood, like a part of themselves. +Indeed, it took a sharp eye to distinguish him. Nor till I had pulled +him forth by one wing, rather rudely, did he abandon his trick of +simulated sleep or death. Then, like a detected pickpocket, he was +suddenly transformed into another creature. His eyes flew wide open, +his talons clutched my finger, his ears were depressed, and every +motion and look said, "Hands off, at your peril." Finding this game +did not work, he soon began to "play 'possum " again. I put a cover +over my study wood-box and kept him captive for a week. Look in upon +him any time, night or day, and he was apparently wrapped in the +profoundest slumber; but the live mice which I put into his box from +time to time found his sleep was easily broken; there would be a sudden +rustle in the box, a faint squeak, and then silence. After a week of +captivity I gave him his freedom in the full sunshine: no trouble for +him to see which way and where to go. + +Just at dusk in the winter nights, I often hear his soft bur-r-r-r, +very pleasing and bell-like. What a furtive, woody sound it is in the +winter stillness, so unlike the harsh scream of the hawk. But all the +ways of the owl are ways of softness and duskiness. His wings are shod +with silence, his plumage is edged with down. + +Another owl neighbor of mine, with whom I pass the time of day more +frequently than with the last, lives farther away. I pass his castle +every night on my way to the post-office, and in winter, if the hour is +late enough, am pretty sure to see him standing in his doorway, +surveying the passers-by and the landscape through narrow slits in his +eyes. For four successive winters now have I observed him. As the +twilight begins to deepen he rises out of his cavity in the apple-tree, +scarcely faster than the moon rises from behind the hill, and sits in +the opening, completely framed by its outlines of gray bark and dead +wood, and by his protective coloring virtually invisible to every eye +that does not know he is there. Probably my own is the only eye that +has ever penetrated his secret, and mine never would have done so had I +not chanced on one occasion to see him leave his retreat and make a +raid upon a shrike that was impaling a shrew-mouse upon a thorn in a +neighboring tree and which I was watching. Failing to get the mouse, +the owl returned swiftly to his cavity, and ever since, while going +that way, I have been on the lookout for him. Dozens of teams and +foot-passengers pass him late in the day, but he regards them not, nor +they him. When I come alone and pause to salute him, he opens his eyes +a little wider, and, appearing to recognize me, quickly shrinks and +fades into the background of his door in a very weird and curious +manner. When he is not at his outlook, or when he is, it requires the +best powers of the eye to decide the point, as the empty cavity itself +is almost an exact image of him. If the whole thing had been carefully +studied it could not have answered its purpose better. The owl stands +quite perpendicular, presenting a front of light mottled gray; the eyes +are closed to a mere slit, the ear-feathers depressed, the beak buried +in the plumage, and the whole attitude is one of silent, motionless +waiting and observation. If a mouse should be seen crossing the +highway, or scudding over any exposed part of the snowy surface in the +twilight, the owl would doubtless swoop down upon it. I think the owl +has learned to distinguish me from the rest of the passers-by; +at least, when I stop before him, and he sees himself observed, +he backs down into his den, as I have said, in a very amusing manner. +Whether bluebirds, nut-hatches, and chickadees --birds that pass the +night in cavities of trees--ever run into the clutches of the dozing +owl, I should be glad to know. My impression is, however, that they +seek out smaller cavities. An old willow by the roadside blew down one +summer, and a decayed branch broke open, revealing a brood of +half-fledged owls, and many feathers and quills of bluebirds, orioles, +and other songsters, showing plainly enough why all birds fear and +berate the owl. + +The English house sparrows, that are so rapidly increasing among us, +and that must add greatly to the food supply of the owls and other +birds of prey, seek to baffle their enemies by roosting in the densest +evergreens they can find, in the arbor-vitæ, and in hemlock hedges. +Soft-winged as the owl is, he cannot steal in upon such a retreat +without giving them warning. + +These sparrows are becoming about the most noticeable of my winter +neighbors, and a troop of them every morning watch me put out the hens' +feed, and soon claim their share. I rather encouraged them in their +neighborliness, till one day I discovered the snow under a favorite +plum-tree where they most frequently perched covered with the scales of +the fruit-buds. On investigating I found that the tree had been nearly +stripped of its buds--a very unneighborly act on the part of the +sparrows, considering, too, all the cracked corn I had scattered for +them. So I at once served notice on them that our good understanding +was at an end. And a hint is as good as a kick with this bird. +The stone I hurled among them, and the one with which I followed them +up, may have been taken as a kick; but they were only a hint of the +shot-gun that stood ready in the corner. The sparrows left in high +dungeon, and were not back again in some days, and were then very shy. +No doubt the time is near at hand when we shall have to wage serious +war upon these sparrows, as they long have had to do on the continent +of Europe. And yet it will be hard to kill the little wretches, the +only Old World bird we have. When I take down my gun to shoot them I +shall probably remember that the Psalmist said, "I watch, and am as a +sparrow alone upon the house-top," and maybe the recollection will +cause me to stay my hand. The sparrows have the Old World hardiness +and prolificness; they are wise and tenacious of life, and we shall +find it by and by no small matter to keep them in check. Our native +birds are much different, less prolific, less shrewd, less aggressive +and persistent, less quick-witted and able to read the note of danger +or hostility--in short, less sophisticated. Most of our birds are yet +essentially wild, that is, little changed by civilization. In winter, +especially, they sweep by me and around me in flocks,--the Canada +sparrow, the snow-bunting, the shore-lark, the pine grosbeak, +the red-poll, the cedar-bird,--feeding upon frozen apples in the +orchard, upon cedar-berries, upon maple-buds, and the berries of the +mountain ash, and the celtis, and upon the seeds of the weeds that rise +above the snow in the field, or upon the hay-seed dropped where the +cattle have been foddered in the barn-yard or about the distant stack; +but yet taking no heed of man, in no way changing their habits so as to +take advantage of his presence in nature. The pine grosbeak will come +in numbers upon your porch, to get the black drupes of the honeysuckle +or the woodbine, or within reach of your windows to get the berries of +the mountain-ash, but they know you not; they look at you as innocently +and unconcernedly as at a bear or moose in their native north, and your +house is no more to them than a ledge of rocks. + +The only ones of my winter neighbors that actua1ly rap at my door are +the nut-hatches and woodpeckers, and these do not know that it is my +door. My retreat is covered with the bark of young chestnut-trees, and +the birds, I suspect, mistake it for a huge stump that ought to hold +fat grubs (there is not even a bookworm inside of it), and their loud +rapping often makes me think I have a caller indeed. I place fragments +of hickory-nuts in the interstices of the bark, and thus attract the +nut-hatches; a bone upon my window-sill attracts both nut-hatches and +the downy woodpecker. They peep in curiously through the window upon +me, pecking away at my bone, too often a very poor one. A bone nailed +to a tree a few feet in front of the window attracts crows as well as +lesser birds. Even the slate-colored snow-bird, a seed-eater, comes +and nibbles it occasionally. + +The bird that seems to consider he has the best right to the bone both +upon the tree and upon the sill is the downy woodpecker, my favorite +neighbor among the winter birds, to whom I will mainly devote the +remainder of this chapter. His retreat is but a few paces from my own, +in the decayed limb of an apple-tree which he excavated several autumns +ago. I say "he" because the red plume on the top of his head proclaims +the sex. It seems not to be generally known to our writers upon +ornithology that certain of our woodpeckers--probably all the winter +residents--each fall excavate a limb or the trunk of a tree in which to +pass the winter, and that the cavity is abandoned in the spring, +probably for a new one in which nidification takes place. So far as I +have observed, these cavities are drilled out only by the males. Where +the females take up their quarters I am not so well informed, though I +suspect that they use the abandoned holes of the males of the previous +year. + +The particular woodpecker to which I refer drilled his first hole in my +apple-tree one fall four or five years ago. This he occupied till the +following spring when he abandoned it. The next fall he began a hole +in an adjoining limb, later than before, and when it was about half +completed a female took possession of his old quarters. I am sorry to +say that this seemed to enrage the male, very much, and he persecuted +the poor bird whenever she appeared upon the scene. He would fly at +her spitefully and drive her off. One chilly November morning, as I +passed under the tree, I heard the hammer of the little architect in +his cavity, and at the same time saw the persecuted female sitting at +the entrance of the other hole as if she would fain come out. She was +actually shivering, probably from both fear and cold. I understood +the situation at a glance; the bird was afraid to come forth and brave +the anger of the male. Not till I had rapped smartly upon the limb +with my stick did she come out and attempt to escape; but she had not +gone ten feet from the tree before the male was in hot pursuit, and in +a few moments had driven her back to the same tree, where she tried to +avoid him among the branches. A few days after, he rid himself of his +unwelcome neighbor in the following ingenious manner: he fairly +scuttled the other cavity; he drilled a hole into the bottom of it that +let in the light and the cold, and I saw the female there no more. +I did not see him in the act of rendering this tenement uninhabitable; +but one morning, behold it was punctured at the bottom, and the +circumstances all seemed to point to him as the author of it. There is +probably no gallantry among the birds except at the mating season. +I have frequently seen the male woodpecker drive the female away from +the bone upon the tree. When she hopped around to the other end and +timidly nibbled it, he would presently dart spitefully at her. +She would then take up her position in his rear and wait till he had +finished his meal. The position of the female among the birds is very +much the same as that of woman among savage tribes. Most of the +drudgery of life falls upon her, and the leavings of the males are +often her lot. + +My bird is a genuine little savage, doubtless, but I value him as a +neighbor. It is a satisfaction during the cold or stormy winter nights +to know he is warm and cosy there in his retreat. When the day is bad +and unfit to be abroad in; he is there too. When I wish to know if he +is at home, I go and rap upon his tree, and, if he is not too lazy or +indifferent, after some delay he shows his head in his round doorway +about ten feet above, and looks down inquiringly upon me--sometimes +latterly I think half resentfully, as much as to say, "I would thank +you not to disturb me so often." After sundown, he will not put his +head out any more when I call, but as I step away I can get a glimpse +of him inside looking cold and reserved. He is a late riser, +especially if it is a cold or disagreeable morning, in this respect +being like the fowls; it is sometimes near nine o'clock before I see +him leave his tree. On the other hand, he comes home early, being in +if the day is unpleasant by four P. M. He lives all alone; in this +respect I do not commend his example. Where his mate is I should like +to know. + +I have discovered several other woodpeckers in adjoining orchards, each +of which has a like home and leads a like solitary life. One of them +has excavated a dry limb within easy reach of my hand, doing the work +also in September. But the choice of tree was not a good one; the limb +was too much decayed, and the workman had made the cavity too large; +a chip had come out, making a hole in the outer wall. Then he went a +few inches down the limb and began again, and excavated a large, +commodious chamber, but had again come too near the surface; scarcely +more than the bark protected him in one place, and the limb was very +much weakened. Then he made another attempt still farther down the +limb, and drilled in an inch or two, but seemed to change his mind; +the work stopped, and I concluded the bird had wisely abandoned +the tree. Passing there one cold, rainy November day, I thrust in my +two fingers and was surprised to feel something soft and warm: as I +drew away my hand the bird came out, apparently no more surprised than +I was. It had decided, then, to make its home in the old limb; +a decision it had occasion to regret, for not long after, on a stormy +night, the branch gave way and fell to the ground. + + "When the bough breaks the cradle will fall, + and down will come baby, cradle and all." + +Such a cavity makes a snug, warm home, and when the entrance is on the +under side if the limb, as is usual, the wind and snow cannot reach the +occupant. Late in December, while crossing a high, wooded mountain, +lured by the music of fox-hounds, I discovered fresh yellow chips +strewing the new-fallen snow, and at once thought of my woodpeckers. +On looking around I saw where one had been at work excavating a lodge +in a small yellow birch. The orifice was about fifteen feet from the +ground, and appeared as round as if struck with a compass. It was on +the east side of the tree, so as to avoid the prevailing west and +northeast winds. As it was nearly two inches in diameter, it could not +have been the work of the downy, but must have been that of the hairy, +or else the yellow-bellied woodpecker. His home had probably been +wrecked by some violent wind, and he was thus providing himself +another. In digging out these retreats the woodpeckers prefer a dry, +brittle, trunk, not too soft. They go in horizontally to the centre +and then turn downward, enlarging the tunnel as they go, till when +finished it is the shape of a long, deep pear. + +Another trait our woodpeckers have that endears them to me, and that +has never been pointedly noticed by our ornithologists, is their habit +of drumming in the spring. They are songless birds, and yet all are +musicians; they make the dry limbs eloquent of the coming change. Did +you think that loud, sonorous hammering which proceeded from the +orchard or from the near woods on that still March or April morning +was only some bird getting its breakfast? It is downy, but he is not +rapping at the door of a grub; he is rapping at the door of spring, +and the dry limb thrills beneath the ardor of his blows. Or, later in +the season, in the dense forest or by some remote mountain lake, does +that measured rhythmic beat that breaks upon the silence, first three +strokes following each other rapidly, succeeded by two louder ones with +longer intervals between them, and that has an effect upon the alert +ear as if the solitude itself had at last found a voice--does that +suggest anything less than a deliberate musical performance? In fact, +our woodpeckers are just as characteristically drummers as is the +ruffed grouse, and they have their particular limbs and stubs to which +they resort for that purpose. Their need of expression is apparently +just as great as that of the song-birds, and it is not surprising that +they should have found out that there is music in a dry, seasoned limb +which can be evoked beneath their beaks. + +A few seasons ago a downy woodpecker, probably the individual one who +is now my winter neighbor, began to drum early in March in a partly +decayed apple-tree that stands in the edge of a narrow strip of +woodland near me. When the morning was still and mild I would often +hear him through my window before I was up, or by half-past six +o'clock, and he would keep it up pretty briskly till nine or ten +o'clock, in this respect resembling the grouse, which do most of their +drumming in the forenoon. His drum was the stub of a dry limb about +the size of one's wrist. The heart was decayed and gone, but the outer +shell was hard and resonant. The bird would keep his position there +for an hour at a time. Between his drummings he would preen his +plumage and listen as if for the response of the female, or for the +drum of some rival. How swift his head would go when he was delivering +his blows upon the limb! His beak wore the surface perceptibly. When +he wished to change the key, which was quite often, he would shift his +position an inch or two to a knot which gave out a higher, shriller +note. When I climbed up to examine his drum he was much disturbed. +I did not know he was in the vicinity, but it seems he saw me from a +near tree, and came in haste to the neighboring branches, and with +spread plumage and a sharp note demanded plainly enough what my +business was with his drum. I was invading his privacy, desecrating +his shrine, and the bird was much put out. After some weeks the female +appeared; he had literally drummed up a mate; his urgent and +oft-repeated advertisement was answered. Still the drumming did not +cease, but was quite as fervent as before. If a mate could be won by +drumming she could be kept and entertained by more drumming; courtship +should not end with marriage. If the bird felt musical before, +of course he felt much more so now. Besides that, the gentle deities +needed propitiating in behalf of the nest and young as well as in +behalf of the mate. After a time a second female came, when there was +war between the two. I did not see them come to blows, but I saw one +female pursuing the other about the place, and giving her no rest for +several days. She was evidently trying to run her out of the +neighborhood. Now and then she, too, would drum briefly as if sending +a triumphant message to her mate. + +The woodpeckers do not each have a particular dry limb to which they +resort at all times to drum, like the one I have described. The woods +are full of suitable branches, and they drum more or less here and +there as they are in quest of food; yet I am convinced each one has its +favorite spot, like the grouse, to which it resorts, especially in the +morning. The sugar-maker in the maple-woods may notice that their +sound proceeds from the same tree or trees about his camp with great +regularity. A woodpecker in my vicinity has drummed for two seasons on +a telegraph pole, and he makes the wires and glass insulators ring. +Another drums on a thin board on the end of a long grape-arbor, and on +still mornings can be heard a long distance. + +A friend of mine in a Southern city tells me of a red-headed woodpecker +that drums upon a lightning-rod on his neighbor's house. Nearly every +clear, still morning at certain seasons, he says, this musical rapping +may be heard. "He alternates his tapping with his stridulous call, and +the effect on a cool, autumn-like morning is very pleasing." + +The high-hole appears to drum more promiscuously than does the downy. +He utters his long, loud spring call, whick--whick--whick--whick, and +then begins to rap with his beak upon his perch before the last note +has reached your ear. I have seen him drum sitting upon the ridge of +the barn. The log cock, or pileated woodpecker, the largest and +wildest of our Northern species, I have never heard drum. His blows +should wake the echoes. + +When the woodpecker is searching for food, or laying siege to some +hidden grub, the sound of his hammer is dead or muffled, and is heard +but a few yards. It is only upon dry, seasoned timber, freed of its +bark, that he beats his reveille to spring and wooes his mate. + +Wilson was evidently familiar with this vernal drumming of the +woodpeckers, but quite misinterprets it. Speaking of the red-bellied +species, he says: "It rattles like the rest of the tribe on the dead +limbs, and with such violence as to be heard in still weather more than +half a mile off; and listens to hear the insect it has alarmed." +He listens rather to hear the drum of his rival or the brief and coy +response of the female; for there are no insects in these dry limbs. + +On one occasion I saw downy at his drum when a female flew quickly +through the tree and alighted a few yards beyond him. He paused +instantly, and kept his place, apparently without moving a muscle. +The female, I took it, had answered his advertisement. She flitted +about from limb to limb (the female may be known by the absence of the +crimson spot on the back of the head), apparently full of business of +her own, and now and then would drum in a shy, tentative manner. +The male watched her a few moments and, convinced perhaps that she +meant business, struck up his liveliest tune, then listened for her +response. As it came back timidly but promptly, he left his perch and +sought a nearer acquaintance with the prudent female. Whether or not a +match grew out of this little flirtation I cannot say. + +Our smaller woodpeckers are sometimes accused of injuring the apple and +other fruit trees, but the depredator is probably the larger and rarer +yellow-bellied species. One autumn I caught one of these fellows in +the act of sinking long rows of his little wells in the limb of an +apple-tree. There were series of rings of them, one above another, +quite around the stem, some of them the third of an inch across. +They are evidently made to get at the tender, juicy bark, or cambium +layer, next to the hard wood of the tree. The health and vitality of +the branch are so seriously impaired by them that it often dies. + +In the following winter the same bird (probably) tapped a maple-tree in +front of my window in fifty-six places; and when the day was sunny, +and the sap oozed out, he spent most of his time there. He knew the +good sap-days, and was on hand promptly for his tipple; cold and cloudy +days he did not appear. He knew which side of the tree to tap, too, +and avoided the sunless northern exposure. When one series of +well-holes failed to supply him, he would sink another, drilling +through the bark with great ease and quickness. Then, when the day was +warm, and the sap ran freely, he would have a regular sugar-maple +debauch, sitting there by his wells hour after hour, and as fast as +they became filled sipping out the sap. This he did in a gentle, +caressing manner that was very suggestive. He made a row of wells near +the foot of the tree, and other rows higher up, and he would hop up and +down the trunk as these became filled. He would hop down the tree +backward with the utmost ease, throwing his tail outward and his head +inward at each hop. When the wells would freeze or his thirst become +slaked, he would ruffle his feathers, draw himself together, and sit +and doze in the sun on the side of the tree. He passed the night in a +hole in an apple-tree not far off. He was evidently a young bird not +yet having the plumage of the mature male or female, and yet he knew +which tree to tap and where to tap it. I saw where he had bored +several maples in the vicinity, but no oaks or chestnuts. I nailed up +a fat bone near his sap-works: the downy woodpecker came there several +times a day to dine; the nut-hatch came, and even the snow-bird took a +taste occasionally; but this sap-sucker never touched it; the sweet of +the tree sufficed for him. This woodpecker does not breed or abound in +my vicinity; only stray specimens are now and then to be met with in +the colder months. As spring approached, the one I refer to took his +departure. + +I must bring my account of my neighbor in the tree down to the latest +date; so after the lapse of a year I add the following notes. The last +day of February was bright and springlike. I heard the first sparrow +sing that morning and the first screaming of the circling hawks, +and about seven o'clock the first drumming of my little friend. +His first notes were uncertain and at long intervals, but by and by he +warmed up and beat a lively tattoo. As the season advanced he ceased +to lodge in his old quarters. I would rap and find nobody at home. +Was he out on a lark, I said, the spring fever working in his blood? +After a time his drumming grew less frequent, and finally, in the +middle of April, ceased entirely. Had some accident befallen him, +or had he wandered away to fresh fields, following some siren of his +species? Probably the latter. Another bird that I had under +observation also left his winter-quarters in the spring. This, then, +appears to be the usual custom. The wrens and the nut-hatches and +chickadees succeed to these abandoned cavities, and often have amusing +disputes over them. The nut-hatches frequently pass the night in them, +and the wrens and chickadees nest in them. I have further observed +that in excavating a cavity for a nest the downy woodpecker makes the +entrance smaller than when he is excavating his winter-quarters. +This is doubtless for the greater safety of the young birds. + +The next fall, the downy excavated another limb in the old apple-tree, +but had not got his retreat quite finished, when the large hairy +woodpecker appeared upon the scene. I heard his loud click, click, +early one frosty November morning. There was something impatient and +angry in the tone that arrested my attention. I saw the bird fly to +the tree where downy had been at work, and fall with great violence +upon the entrance to his cavity. The bark and the chips flew beneath +his vigorous blows, and before I fairly woke up to what he was doing, +he had completely demolished the neat, round doorway of downy. He had +made a large ragged opening large enough for himself to enter. I drove +him away and my favorite came back, but only to survey the ruins of his +castle for a moment and then go away. He lingered about for a day or +two and then disappeared. The big hairy usurper passed a night in the +cavity, but on being hustled out of it the next night by me, he also +left, but not till he had demolished the entrance to a cavity in a +neighboring tree where downy and his mate had reared their brood that +summer, and where I had hoped the female would pass the winter. + + + + +NOTES BY THE WAY. + + + +I. THE WEATHER-WISE MUSKRAT + + + +I am more than half persuaded that the muskrat is a wise little animal, +and that on the subject of the weather, especially, he possesses some +secret that I should be glad to know. In the fall of 1878 I noticed +that he built unusually high and massive nests. I noticed them in +several different localities. In a shallow, sluggish pond by the +roadside, which I used to pass daily in my walk, two nests were in +process of construction throughout the month of November. The builders +worked only at night, and I could see each day that the work had +visibly advanced. When there was a slight skim of ice over the pond, +this was broken up about the nests, with trails through it in different +directions where the material had been brought. The houses were placed +a little to one side of the main channel, and were constructed entirely +of a species of coarse wild grass that grew all about. So far as I +could see, from first to last they were solid masses of grass, as if +the interior cavity or nest was to be excavated afterward, as doubtless +it was. As they emerged from the pond they gradually assumed the shape +of a miniature mountain, very bold and steep on the south side, +and running down a long gentle grade to the surface of the water on the +north. One could see that the little architect hauled all his material +up this easy slope, and thrust it out boldly around the other side. +Every mouthful was distinctly defined. After they were two feet or +more above the water, I expected each day to see that the finishing +stroke had been given and the work brought to a close. But higher yet, +said the builder. December drew near, the cold became threatening, +and I was apprehensive that winter would suddenly shut down upon those +unfinished nests. But the wise rats knew better than I did; they had +received private advices from headquarters that I knew not of. +Finally. about the 6th of December, the nests assumed completion; the +northern incline was absorbed or carried up, and each structure became +a strong massive cone, three or four feet high, the largest nest of the +kind I had ever seen. Does it mean a severe winter? I inquired. An +old farmer said it meant "high water," and he was right once, at least, +for in a few days afterward we had the heaviest rainfall known in this +section for half a century. The creeks rose to an almost unprecedented +height. The sluggish pond became a seething, turbulent watercourse; +gradually the angry element crept up the sides of these lake dwellings, +till, when the rain ceased, about four o'clock they showed above the +flood no larger than a man's hat. During the night the channel shifted +till the main current swept over them, and next day not a vestige of +the nests was to be seen; they had gone down-stream, as had many other +dwellings of a less temporary character. The rats had built wisely, +and would have been perfectly secure against any ordinary high water, +but who can foresee a flood? The oldest traditions of their race did +not run back to the time of such a visitation. + +Nearly a week afterward another dwelling was begun, well away from the +treacherous channel, but the architects did not work at it with much +heart; the material was very scarce, the ice hindered, and before the +basement-story was fairly finished, winter had the pond under his lock +and key. + +In other localities I noticed that where the nests were placed on the +banks of streams, they were made secure against the floods by being +built amid a small clump of bushes. When the fall of 1879 came, the +muskrats were very tardy about beginning their house, laying the +corner-stone--or the corner-sod-about December 1st, and continuing the +work slowly and indifferently. On the 15th of the month the nest was +not yet finished. This, I said, indicates a mild winter; and, sure +enough, the season was one of the mildest known for many years. The +rats had little use for their house. + +Again, in the fall of 1880, while the weather-wise were wagging their +heads, some forecasting a mild, some a severe winter, I watched with +interest for a sign from my muskrats. About November 1st, a month +earlier than the previous year, they began their nest, and worked at it +with a will. They appeared to have just got tidings of what was +coming. If I had taken the hint so palpably given, my celery would not +have been frozen in the ground, and my apples caught in unprotected +places. When the cold wave struck us, about November 20th, my +four-legged "I-told-you-so's" had nearly completed their dwelling; +it lacked only the ridge-board, so to speak; it needed a little +"topping out," to give it a finished look. But this it never got. +The winter had come to stay, and it waxed more and more severe, till +the unprecedented cold of the last days of December must have +astonished even the wise muskrats in their snug retreat. I approached +their nest at this time, a white mound upon the white, deeply frozen +surface of the pond, and wondered if there was any life in that +apparent sepulchre. I thrust my walking-stick sharply into it, when +there was a rustle and a splash into the water, as the occupant made +his escape. What a damp basement that house has, I thought, and what a +pity to rout out a peaceful neighbor out of his bed in this weather and +into such a state of things as this! But water does not wet the +muskrat; his fur is charmed, and not a drop penetrates it. Where the +ground is favorable, the muskrats do not build these mound-like nests, +but burrow into the bank a long distance, and establish their +winter-quarters there. + +Shall we not say, then, in view of the above facts, that this little +creature is weather-wise? The hitting of the mark twice might be mere +good luck; but three bull's-eyes in succession is not a mere +coincidence; it is a proof of skill. The muskrat is not found in the +Old World, which is a little singular, as other rats so abound there, +and as those slow-going English streams especially, with their grassy +banks, are so well suited to him. The water-rat of Europe is smaller, +but of similar nature and habits. The muskrat does not hibernate like +some rodents, but is pretty active all winter. In December I noticed +in my walk where they had made excursions of a few yards to an orchard +for frozen apples. One day, along a little stream, I saw a mink track +amid those of the muskrat; following it up, I presently came to blood +and other marks of strife upon the snow beside a stone wall. Looking +in between the stones, I found the carcass of the luckless rat, with +its head and neck eaten away. The mink had made a meal of him. + + + + +II. CHEATING THE SQUIRRELS. + + + +FOR the largest and finest chestnuts I had last fall I was indebted to +the gray squirrels. Wa1king through the early October woods one day, +I came upon a place where the ground was thickly strewn with very large +unopened chestnut burs. On examination I found that every bur had been +cut square off with about an inch of the stem adhering, and not one had +been left on the tree. It was not accident, then, but design. Whose +design? The squirrels'. The fruit was the finest I had ever seen in +the woods, and some wise squirrel had marked it for his own. The burs +were ripe, and had just begun to divide, not "threefold," but fourfold, +"to show the fruit within." The squirrel that had taken all this pains +had evidently reasoned with himself thus: "Now , these are extremely +fine chestnuts, and I want them; if I wait till the burs open on the +tree the crows and jays will be sure to carry off a great many of the +nuts before they fall; then, after the wind has rattled out what +remain, there are the mice, the chipmunks, the red squirrels, the +raccoons, the grouse, to say nothing of the boys and the pigs, to come +in for their share; so I will forestall events a little; I will cut off +the burs when they have matured, and a few days of this dry October +weather will cause everyone of them to open on the ground; I shall be +on hand in the nick of time to gather up my nuts." The squirrel, of +course, had to take the chances of a prowler like myself coming along, +but he had fairly stolen a march on his neighbors. As I proceeded to +collect and open the burs, I was half prepared to hear an audible +protest from the trees about, for I constantly fancied myself watched +by shy but jealous eyes. It is an interesting inquiry how the squirrel +knew the burs would open if left to know, but thought the experiment +worth trying. + +The gray squirrel is peculiarly an American product, and might serve +very well as a national emblem. The Old World can beat us on rats and +mice, but we are far ahead on squirrels, having five or six species +to Europe's one. + + + + +III. FOX AND HOUND. + + + +I STOOD on a high hill or ridge one autumn day and saw a hound run a +fox through the fields far beneath me. What odors that fox must have +shaken out of himself, I thought, to be traced thus easily, and how +great their specific gravity not to have been blown away like smoke by +the breeze! The fox ran a long distance down the hill, keeping within +a few feet of a stone wall; then turned a right angle and led off for +the mountain, across a plowed field and a succession of pasture lands. +In about fifteen minutes the hound came in full blast with her nose in +the air, and never once did she put it to the ground while in my sight. +When she came to the stone wall she took the other side from that taken +by the fox, and kept about the same distance from it, being thus +separated several yards from his track, with the fence between her and +it. At the point where the fox turned sharply to the left, the hound +overshot a few yards, then wheeled, and feeling the air a moment with +her nose, took up the scent again and was off on his trail as +unerringly as fate. It seemed as if the fox must have sowed himself +broadcast as he went along, and that his scent was so rank and heavy +that it settled in the hollows and clung tenaciously to the bushes and +crevices in the fence. I thought I ought to have caught a remnant of +it as I passed that way some minutes later, but I did not. But I +suppose it was not that the light-footed fox so impressed himself upon +the ground he ran over, but that the sense of the hound was so keen. +To her sensitive nose these tracks steamed like hot cakes, and they +would not have cooled off so as to be undistinguishable for several +hours. For the time being she had but one sense: her whole soul was +concentrated in her nose. + +It is amusing when the hunter starts out of a winter morning to see his +hound probe the old tracks to determine how recent they are. He sinks +his nose down deep in the snow so as to exclude the air from above, +then draws a long full breath, giving sometimes an audible snort. If +there remains the least effluvium of the fox the hound will detect it. +If it be very slight it only sets his tail wagging; if it be strong it +unloosens his tongue. + +Such things remind one of the waste, the friction that is going on all +about us, even when the wheels of life run the most smoothly. A fox +cannot trip along the top of a stone wall so lightly but that he will +leave enough of himself to betray his course to the hound for hours +afterward. When the boys play "hare and hounds" the hare scatters bits +of paper to give a clew to the pursuers, but he scatters himself much +more freely if only our sight and scent were sharp enough to detect the +fragments. Even the fish leave a trail in the water, and it is said +the otter will pursue them by it. The birds make a track in the air, +only their enemies hunt by sight rather than by scent. The fox baffles +the hound most upon a hard crust of frozen snow; the scent will not +hold to the smooth, bead-like granules. + +Judged by the eye alone, the fox is the lightest and most buoyant +creature that runs. His soft wrapping of fur conceals the muscular +play and effort that is so obvious in the hound that pursues him, and +he comes bounding along precisely as if blown by a gentle wind. His +massive tail is carried as if it floated upon the air by its own +lightness. + +The hound is not remarkable for his fleetness, but how he will hang! +--often running late into the night and sometimes till morning, from +ridge to ridge, from peak to peak; now on the mountain, now crossing +the valley, now playing about a large slope of uplying pasture fields. +At times the fox has a pretty well-defined orbit, and the hunter knows +where to intercept him. Again he leads off like a comet, quite beyond +the system of hills and ridges upon which he was started, and his +return is entirely a matter of conjecture; but if the day be not more +than half spent, the chances are that the fox will be back before +night, though the sportsman's patience seldom holds out that long. + +The hound is a most interesting dog. How solemn and long-visaged he is--how peaceful and well-disposed! He is the Quaker among dogs. All +the viciousness and currishness seem to have been weeded out of him; +he seldom quarrels, or fights, or plays, like other dogs. Two strange +hounds, meeting for the first time, behave as civilly toward each other +as if two men. I know a hound that has an ancient, wrinkled, human, +far-away look that reminds one of the bust of Homer among the Elgin +marbles. He looks like the mountains toward which his heart yearns so +much. + +The hound is a great puzzle to the farm dog; the latter, attracted by +his baying, comes barking and snarling up through the fields bent on +picking a quarrel; he intercepts the hound, snubs and insults and +annoys him in every way possible, but the hound heeds him not; if the +dog attacks him he gets away as best he can, and goes on with the +trail; the cur bristles and barks and struts about for a while, then +goes back to the house, evidently thinking the hound a lunatic, which +he is for the time being--a monomaniac, the slave and victim of one +idea. I saw the master of a hound one day arrest him in full course to +give one of the hunters time to get to a certain runaway; the dog cried +and struggled to free himself and would listen neither to threats nor +caresses. Knowing he must be hungry, I offered him my lunch, but he +would not touch it. I put it in his mouth, but he threw it +contemptuously from him. We coaxed and petted and reassured him, but +he was under a spell; he was bereft of all thought or desire but the +one passion to pursue that trail. + + + + +IV. THE WOODCHUCK + + + +Writers upon rural England and her familiar natural history make no +mention of the marmot or woodchuck. In Europe this animal seems to be +confined to high mountainous districts, as on our Pacific slope, +burrowing near the snow line. It is more social or gregarious than the +American species, living in large families like our prairie-dog. +In the Middle and Eastern States our woodchuck takes the place, in some +respects, of the English rabbit, burrowing in every hillside and under +every stone wall and jutting ledge and large bowlder, from whence it +makes raids upon the grass and clover and sometimes upon the garden +vegetables. It is quite solitary in its habits, seldom more than one +inhabiting the same den, unless it be a mother and her young. It is +not now so much a wood chuck as a field chuck. Occasionally, however, +one seems to prefer the woods, and is not seduced by the sunny slopes +and the succulent grass, but feeds, as did his fathers before him, upon +roots and twigs, the bark of young trees, and upon various wood plants. + +One summer day, as I was swimming across a broad, deep pool in the +creek in a secluded place in the woods, I saw one of these sylvan +chucks amid the rocks but a few feet from the edge of the water where I +proposed to touch. He saw my approach, but doubtless took me for some +water-fowl, or for some cousin of his of the muskrat tribe; for he went +on with his feeding, and regarded me not till I paused within ten feet +of him and lifted myself up. Then he did not know me; having, perhaps, +never seen Adam in his simplicity, but he twisted his nose around to +catch my scent; and the moment he had done so he sprang like a +jumping-jack and rushed into his den with the utmost precipitation. + +The woodchuck is the true serf among our animals; he belongs to the +soil, and savors of it. He is of the earth, earthy. There is +generally a decided odor about his dens and lurking-places, but it is +not at all disagreeable in the clover-scented air, and his shrill +whistle, as he takes to his hole or defies the farm dog from the +interior of the stone wall, is a pleasant summer sound. In form and +movement the woodchuck is not captivating. His body is heavy and +flabby. Indeed, such a flaccid, fluid, pouchy carcass, I have never +before seen. It has absolutely no muscular tension or rigidity, but is +as baggy and shaky as a skin filled with water. Let the rifleman shoot +one while it lies basking on a sidelong rock, and its body slumps off, +and rolls and spills down the hill, as if it were a mass of bowels +only. The legs of the woodchuck are short and stout, and made for +digging rather than running. The latter operation he performs by short +leaps, his belly scarcely clearing the ground. For a short distance he +can make very good time, but he seldom trusts himself far from his +hole, and when surprised in that predicament, makes little effort to +escape, but, grating his teeth, looks the danger squarely in the face. + +I knew a farmer in New York who had a very large bob-tailed churn-dog +by the name of Cuff. The farmer kept a large dairy and made a great +deal of butter, and it was the business of Cuff to spend nearly the +half of each summer day treading the endless round of the +churning-machine. During the remainder of the day he had plenty of +time to sleep, and rest, and sit on his hips and survey the landscape. +One day, sitting thus, he discovered a woodchuck about forty rods from +the house, on a steep side-hill, feeding about near his hole, which was +beneath a large rock. The old dog, forgetting his stiffness, and +remembering the fun he had had with woodchucks in his earlier days, +started off at his highest speed, vainly hoping to catch this one +before he could get to his hole. But the woodchuck, seeing the dog +come laboring up the hill, sprang to the mouth of his den, and, when +his pursuer was only a few rods off, whistled tauntingly and went in. +This occurred several times, the old dog marching up the hill, and then +marching down again, having had his labor for his pains. I suspect +that he revolved the subject in his mind while he revolved the great +wheel of the churning-machine, and that some turn or other brought him +a happy thought, for next time he showed himself a strategist. Instead +of giving chase to the woodchuck when first discovered, he crouched +down to the ground, and, resting his head on his paws, watched him. +The woodchuck kept working away from the hole, lured by the tender +clover, but, not unmindful of his safety, lifted himself up on his +haunches every few moments and surveyed the approaches. Presently, +after the woodchuck had let himself down from one of these attitudes of +observation, and resumed his feeding, Cuff started swiftly but +stealthily up the hill, precisely in the attitude of +a cat when she is stalking a bird. When the woodchuck rose up again, +Cuff was perfectly motionless and half hid by the grass. When he again +resumed his clover, Cuff sped up the hill as before, this time crossing +a fence, but in a low place, and so nimbly that he was not discovered. +Again the wood chuck was on the outlook, again Cuff was motionless and +hugging the ground. As the dog nears his victim he is partially hidden +by a swell in the earth, but still the woodchuck from his outlook +reports "all right," when Cuff, having not twice as far to run as the +'chuck, throws all stealthiness aside and rushes directly for the hole. +At that moment the woodchuck discovers his danger, and, seeing that it +is a race for life, leaps as I never saw marmot leap before. But he is +two seconds too late, his retreat is cut off, and the powerful jaws of +the old dog close upon him. + +The next season Cuff tried the same tactics again with like success; +but when the third woodchuck had taken up his abode at the fatal hole, +the old churner's wits and strength had begun to fail him, and he was +baffled in each attempt to capture the animal. + +The woodchuck always burrows on a side-hill. This enables him to guard +against being drowned out, by making the termination of the hole higher +than the entrance. He digs in slantingly for about two or three feet, +then makes a sharp upward turn and keeps nearly parallel with the +surface of the ground for a distance of eight or ten feet farther, +according to the grade. Here he makes his nest and passes the winter, +holing up in October or November and coming out again in April. This +is a long sleep, and is rendered possible only by the amount of fat +with which the system has become stored during the summer. The fire of +life still burns, but very faintly and slowly, as with the draughts all +closed and the ashes heaped up. Respiration is continued, but at +longer intervals, and all the vital processes are nearly at a +standstill. Dig one out during hibernation (Audubon did so), and you +find it a mere inanimate ball, that suffers itself to be moved and +rolled about without showing signs of awakening. But bring it in by +the fire, and it presently unrolls and opens its eyes, and crawls +feebly about, and if left to itself will seek some dark hole or corner, +roll itself up again, and resume its former condition. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes, Etc, by Burroughs + diff --git a/old/babse10.zip b/old/babse10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f3f8223 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/babse10.zip |