300 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



A SN V KT. AND \ TOAD. 



While Irrigating one night by aid 

 of light from a lantern and the moon, 

 I heard a peculiar noise, not unlike the 

 squeal of a rabbit when injured, or if 

 a rat were to give quick sharp squeaks 

 I think it would parallel the sound 1 

 heard. Taking the lantern we investi- 

 gated and found a small garter snake 

 attempting to swallow a toad. I le had 

 made away with one of his hind legs 

 and the poor toad was begging- hard 

 for its life, needless to say we tempo- 

 rarily, at least, rescued it. I have seen 

 a number of attempts of snakes to 

 swallow toads but never before have I 

 heard the toad utter a remonstrance 

 with that penetrating sound. Is it 

 usual or unusual? Since writing this 

 I have talked with a man who was 

 helping us to irrigate and he says he 

 has heard toads squeal on other occa- 

 sions when snakes were trying to 

 swallow them. 



Earl Lynd Tohnson. 



Two Interesting Tree Studies. 



Princeton, Massachusetts. 

 To The Editor: 



I enclose two photographs of nat- 

 ural curiosities in tree growths of 

 great interest to me ; one a chest- 

 nut about thirty feet nigh lean- 

 ing over a stone wall on the edge of a 

 thicket. The main stem has been bro- 



A LARGE BIRCH TREK GROWING OUT OF A 

 CHESTNUT STUMP. 



ken down some years ago by an ice 

 storm (frequent here) and then started 

 up again as shown. The lad is my 

 nephew, an interested companion on 

 many of my nature walks. 



The other photograph shows the re- 

 mains of an immense chestnut stump, 

 where years ago a seed of a yellow 

 birch took root in its decaying heart 

 and has grown into a large tree show- 

 ing four main stems and about a doz- 

 en perpendicular roots laid bare by 

 the falling away of the decayed wood 

 of the stump. These two trees grow 

 near each other in the same woods, 

 and the photographs I made this last 

 spring. 



Sincerely yours, 



J. Harry Aij.en. 



A CURIOUS CURVE IN A TREE. 



Further Observations of Red-Winged 

 Blackbird. 



Black River, New York. 

 To the Editor: — 



In the September number of The 

 Guide to Nature is a note by Edwin 

 W. Humphreys on the actions of a cer- 

 tain red-winged blackbird, which seems 

 to call for comment. Evidently this 

 species is not a familiar acquaintance to 

 the writer in question, though his guess 

 was undoubtedly correct as to the ex- 

 planation of what he saw. 



The redwing has a characteristic 

 habit of hovering over an intruder or 



