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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



lengthy, I will have to refer you for 

 the" details to Volume IX of the New 

 International Encyclopaedia which is 

 prohably the most convenient refer- 

 ence. Prof. Willis L. Moore's Descrip- 

 tive Meteorology, New York, 191 1, has 

 a clear explanation accompanied by 

 three diagrams. Pernter and Exner's 

 Meteorologische Optik, Leipzig und 

 AYein 1910, treats the subject fully and 

 contains numerous drawings, one of 

 which is similar to the inclosed. It 

 was drawn by Hevelious after the 

 phenomenon had been observed by him 

 on December 17, 1660. — J. L. Jayne, 

 Captain, U. S. X., Superintendent Xaval 

 Observatory. 



Robins in Winter. 



Galena, 111. 

 To the Editor : 



Yesterday, while on a trip in the 

 country, I came across a flock of ten 

 robins on the south side of a rocky hill 

 busily engaged scratching among the 

 leaves and dead grass which had be- 

 come uncovered by the melting away 

 of the snow. The day before I heard 

 one chirruping at a distance but could 

 hardly believe my ears even of such a 

 familiar note. Upon inquiry among the 

 farmers, I was told that robins have 

 been seen during the entire month of 

 January. The robin redbreast has been 

 an unheard of visitor in this section of 

 the country during this month. 



There has never been such extreme 

 and continued cold weather within the 

 recollections of the oldest settlers as 

 has been experienced this winter. It 

 is a wonderful fact that these summer 

 birds could endure and live through 

 such frigid weather. These friendly 

 and much loved birds were hindered 

 in their migration last fall by the con- 

 tinued rainy weather. This inclement 

 condition continued until in December. 

 Food of every kind was plentiful. Then 

 there came two weeks of warm spring 

 like weather followed by a sudden drop 

 in the temperature of 60 degrees within 

 twenty-four hours. Real winter set in 

 and continued extremely cold since. 

 The birds had no chance to get away. 

 There is an abundance of dried wild 

 grapes and other food which these 

 birds may find to eat. One farmer re- 



ports that a flock of robins came in and 

 fed with his chickens. 



Yours very sincerely, 



B- L. Birkbeck. 



Some Teachers Need Educating! 



Grantsville, Maryland. 

 To the Editor : 



A few years ago I raised thousands 

 of silkworms as an experiment for a 

 study in school, and curiosity and some 

 special interests brought for my silk a 

 first-class price on a small scale in 

 "Washington, D. C. But I have learned 

 from experience that not all teachers 

 are interested in nature study. A point 

 in case: A man with a box of mounted 

 insects and clover roots once gave a 

 lecture at our annual County Institute. 

 At the hotel a rough spoken fellow, in- 

 cluded among the ranks of teachers, in- 

 quired of me, 'AVhat did that damn fool 

 want with the box of bugs in Institute 

 this afternoon?" 



Yours truly, 



Leo. J. Beachy. 



A Fool May Be the Wisest of Men. 



I gladly give my influence to such 

 movements but find it necessary to sup- 

 port my family as I go along. I have 

 no endowment in the form of bank 

 stock or some other income producing 

 property and have to keep busy in 

 order to keep the pot boiling. A man 

 is a fool, however, who takes up this 

 line of work expecting to make money 

 out of it. I could make many times 

 the money in commercial pursuits, yet 

 I am living a larger life and putting 

 more into it, as well as getting more 

 out of it, as it is. — Frank C. Pellctt, At- 

 lantic, Iozva. 



A New Kind of Mosquito Larvae. 



The pupils of the Sound Beach school 

 recently visited Arcadia and saw the 

 trout eggs hatching. The eggs are 

 placed on a wire tray and as the fish 

 hatch they fall through and then wrig- 

 gle around in the water. One of the 

 younger boys exclaimed at once as 

 soon as he saw these : "Oh, I am so 

 glad to know what these things are 

 because I have often seen them wrig- 

 gling around in the rain barrel and 

 never before knew what they were !" 



