19^^41 Nature Study — No. g. i{^-, 



habits of birds. On their arrival in spring" their son*,'- delights 

 him; then there is the mating- and building- of the nest to observe; 

 the laying- of the eg:g-s and the habits ot the birds when brooding-; 

 the hatching-, feeding- and rearing of the young- ; the vacating of 

 the nest ; and finally the flig^ht of the fledg-Iings. What more 

 delightful nature studies can we have than these ? And these are 

 what will draw us to the woods, where hundreds of such bird 

 studies await us. 



The smaller animals, also, receive a share of the amateur 

 gardener's interest and observation. A certain gardener found 

 one morning this autumn that something had been digging holes 

 in various places in his garden. He thought, at first, that some 

 cat had done this, but when night after night new holes were 

 made, he decided to investigate the matter further. He looked 

 about carefully for footprints and found some which did not look 

 like those of a cat. He made a still closer examination, and in 

 one hole a faint skunk-like odor was detected. But what could 

 a skunk be making so many holes for ? It was known that he 

 fed on chickens and sucked eggs, but there were none of these 

 here. Did he feed on the roots of plants ? What could he be 

 after? It was decided to ask someone who knew, and then the 



gardener learned that the skunk — which chis turned out to be 



which occasionally kills chickens and eats eggs, and sometimes 

 annoys by his penetrating odor, is really a friend of gardeners 

 and destroys many injurious insects among which are cutworms. 

 And, if this skunk had been killed and examined, un- 

 doubtedly some of these insects would have been found inside it. 

 On again looking at the holes, it was found that they were much 

 more numerous in places where the soil was sandy and warm; and 

 all gardeners know that in sandy soil cutworms are, as a rule, most 

 numerous. Here was a nature study which would never be for- 

 gotten, and would lead to further studies of the habits of animals 

 in the fields and woods. 



The amateur gardener's joys, which are perennial, receive an 

 annual revival when the New Year's seed and plant catalogues 

 come in. What pleasant hours are spent in studying the names 

 and descriptions of plants from Abronia to Zinnia, only the lover 

 of plants knows. And then those glorious days in spring-tim? 



