THE FUN OF SEEING THINGS 



47 



Blue Jay and Luna Moth. 



BY BESSIE I.. PUTNAM, CONNEAUT LAKE, 

 PENNSYLVANIA. 



The article on "Frail Wanderers of the 

 Night" in the June number of The 

 Guide to Nature has an added interest 

 to the writer because of a near tragedy 

 recently witnessed. 



A member of the family standing at 

 the window was surprised by seeing a 

 blue jay dash suddenly against the sill 

 and as suddenly retreat to a near-by 

 apple tree. Almost instantly its mate 

 repeated the performance and was driv- 

 en back in the same way. Then the 

 source of the attraction was discover- 

 ed — a Luna moth clinging to the win- 

 dow ledge. 



The girl went out to rescue the moth, 

 but before she could reach it one or 

 two other attempts had been made by 

 the birds, which were thwarted by 

 others in the room. After the Luna 

 had been removed to a safe place, the 

 jays made other dashes to the window 

 and then retired to express their dis- 

 approval in the loud tones peculiar to 

 their race. It is evident that this beau- 

 tiful moth has its perils, increased 

 when it alights on a white surface in- 

 stead of upon the green foliage among 

 which its green plumage is less con- 

 spicuous. 



of to-day is not preparing more natur- 

 alists in this natural way! The farm 

 child of this age sems to us to be al- 

 ways facing the road made smooth for 

 the whirring wheels of 'the Ford,' and 

 has turned his back to the woods and 

 fields, but maybe this is undue pessi- 

 mism." 



Expansive Power of Tree Growth. 



BY H- E. ZIMMERMAN, MT. MORRIS, ILL. 



Accurate experiments have been 

 made by scientific investigators to show 

 the remarkable power of growing 

 plants. It has been found that corn- 



Child Life on the Farm at the Present 

 Time. 



Is child life on the farm at present 

 different from that life in the past? 

 Yes, it is. It is vastly different from 

 what it was fifty years ago ; but wait a 

 minute. Is child life on the farm less 

 valuable in the training for a future 

 enjoyment of nature? An interesting 

 editorial in the "Nature-Study Re- 

 view," congratulating John Burroughs 

 on his eightieth birthday, raises an in- 

 teresting question. Let us think about 

 the following from that editorial : 



"His child life on the farm gave Mr. 

 Burroughs his background as a natur- 

 alist ; he writes 'When I began in my 

 twenty-fifth or twenty-sixth year, to 

 write about birds, I found that I had 

 only to unpack the memories of the 

 farm boy within me to get at the main 

 things about the common ones. I had 

 unconsciously absorbed the knowledge 

 that gave the life and warmth to my 



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A TREE SPLITS A ROCK. 



paratively delicate plants have, in their 

 growth, lifted weights totaling hun- 

 dreds of pounds. Some years ago a 

 picture was published in Strand maga- 

 zine, showing how a plant had pushed 

 itself up through a hard pavement, con- 

 structed of asphalt, gravel, etc. The 

 growing power of a tree, especially af- 

 ter it has ^attained considerable size, 

 is correspondingly greater. A good 

 illustration of this is shown in the pic- 

 ture accompanying this article. 



Contrary to what many people think 

 most rocks have seems or cracks of 

 varying definiteness, or they eventually 

 develope them through the action of 

 rain, frost, and sunshine. Into these 

 cracks, however minute, the rootlets 

 of small plants penetrate, carrying with 

 them a little humus, to decay and to be 

 followed bv other roots. Moisture fol- 



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