CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION 



119 



and nature study. Science thinks of 

 the thing; nature study of the pupil or 

 the thinker. This magazine and the 

 association that publishes it, so long 

 as it is under the present management, 

 will keep its eye steadily fixed on 

 humanity rather than on the natural 

 object. The Word of God means noth- 

 ing except when exemplified in the 

 lives of men. The same is true of the 

 Works of God. 



We are local only in our examples. 

 Our examples exemplify the principles 

 of our labors. We hope always to be 

 The Guide to Nature, not the Guide 

 Post, to Nature, but we desire more 

 than this to be not alone a guide in a 

 wilderness where we may be in com- 

 munion with nature, but enthusiastic- 

 ally to lead people to live a better life 

 1)y introducing them to nature. 



If the teacher from Illinois, who 

 lias asked that there be more regarding 

 "birds and flowers in The Guide To 



Nature and less about human beings, 

 will pause for a moment after telling 

 how Mr. and Mrs. Robin brought a 

 wriggling angleworm to the young 

 robins in the nest, and if she will take 

 a few minutes from her time of telling 

 them that the daisy is not a single 

 flower but a composite bouquet, or that 

 the Jack-in-the-pulpit, though of 

 strange form, is not an orchid, and will, 

 in lieu of these instructions, take up 

 The Guide to Nature for May and 

 read to them the story of Laddin's 

 Rock Farm, perhaps she may have be- 

 fore her some rich man's son who, 

 when he grows up, will not do as I 

 saw done at Oak Park, in her own 

 state, and put around his property a 

 wire fence with savage instructions on 

 every hand, "Keep out of here." If 

 she induces only one boy to avoid that 

 example she will do more good than 

 if she had counted the segments in 

 the antennae of forty butterflies. 



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( ORRESPONDENCE 



Information 



AND 



A Rattlesnake without Rattles. 



Galena, Illinois. 

 To the Editor : 



My brother just the other day shot 

 a large snake about six feet long. It 

 looked very much like a rattlesnake 

 but had no rattles. His attention was 

 drawn by two robins which had a 

 nest about twelve feet up and out on 

 a limb of a cedar tree. They were 

 making all the fuss they could. He 

 went out and found the big snake out 

 on the limb and coiled about the nest. 

 The snake had eaten three of the 

 robins before my brother shot it. The 

 weight of the snake bent the limb 

 down some distance from its natural 

 position. 



This may be of some interest to 

 some of your readers. 



B. L. Birkbeck. 



The snake in question is one of the 

 Colubers, probably the fox snake, 

 Coluber vulpinus. This serpent is 

 colored much like a rattler and might 

 be mistaken for the same. It is, how- 

 ever, perfectly harmless. — Raymond L. 

 Ditmars, New York Zoological Park, 

 New York City. 



Water Wears Away A Stone. 



Manchester, England. 

 To The Editor: 



I should like to say a few words in 

 regard to the short article that ap- 

 peared in The Guide to Nature on 

 page 481, March number. The title 

 was, "Water Wears Away a Stone." 

 As far as I understand it, that is true. 

 I have some knowledge of geology, 

 and will state a mere outline of the 

 coast of England, which in most parts 



