7o 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



up from the horizon in the northeast. 

 They are visible from the ist to the 

 6th of the month. They move swiftly, 

 making streaks in the sky, which 

 usually vanish almost instantly. 

 Bolides, or fire-balls, not belonging to 



any meteor shower may make their 

 appearance at any time. A most 

 wonderful one was seen in England 

 on the evening of February 22nd last. 

 It left a glowing trail which remained 

 visible more than two hours. 



DOMESTICATED, 



v'i */•* 



NATURE 



,JQ_ 



A Cat Mothers Squirrels. 



BY GEO. W. IRVING, PHOTOGRAPHER, 



WATERVILEE, N. Y. 



(For remarkable illustration, see frontispiece.) 



On the farm of Albert Fisher in 

 Waterville, N. Y., in June, 1908, a cat 

 was the happy mother of several kit- 

 tens. As there were too many cats 

 already on the farm it was necessary 

 to kill the playful little ones, and after 

 that the grief of the mother cat was 

 most pathetic to see. She refused to 

 eat and took absolutely no interest 

 in anything but her ceaseless search 

 for the missing offspring. One day 

 a young squirrel was taken from its 

 nest in a tree some distance from the 

 house and offered to the cat as a tempt- 

 ing morsel. Instead of toying with 

 and torturing the baby squirrel and 

 eventually eating it, as is the nature 

 of a cat, she promptly transferred the 

 love and affection she had for her kit- 

 tens to the young squirrel. She gave 

 it all the attention and kindness that 

 her warm mother heart could suggest, 

 and the young squirrel was happy. 

 The next day the mother cat sought 

 out the squirrel nest in the tree and 

 took all the young squirrels to the 

 box where her kittens had been. There 

 she reared her odd family, giving them 

 the same nourishment and in the same 

 manner that she would her own kittens. 

 The squirrels grew up and when big 

 enough returned to their native haunts 

 in the trees. 



The Last of the Purple Martins in 

 Stamford. 



BY ELIZABETH E. SMITH, STAMFORD, CONN, 



The beginning of our martins was 

 that they came to our pigeon houses. 

 After boxes were put up for them, they 

 came to us regularly so that in the 

 course of a year or two, when getting 

 ready to migrate south (which they al- 

 ways did on the eighth of August), 

 they would number a hundred or more. 



They would arrive on or near the 

 ninth of April, and, in proof that birds 

 return to their old haunts, one ninth 

 of April our man looked abroad in the 

 sky many times, being finally rewarded 

 by seeing one come at five o'clock in 

 the afternoon and make a tour of three 

 boxes (which, however, were closed to 

 prevent the English sparrows from tak- 

 ing possession). The fourth box was 

 on the barn floor, ready to go up. The 

 ladder being in place, the house was 

 immediately raised and while it was be- 

 ing fastened the bird came in at the 

 rear and remained for the night. After 

 being rested, apparently, the bird left 

 to return again in a day or two with 

 several others. 



All went well for several years until 

 the cold, wet June of 1903 or 1904 

 when there were no insects in the air 

 for them to feed upon, either for them- 

 selves or their young and the old ones 

 dropped dead around the place (the 

 taxidermist saying they were only 

 skin and bone), starved to death, and 

 of course the little ones in the nests 



