262 NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



Again, in an apple tree, I have just witnessed the mother 

 robin standing over her nest brooding the tiny newly hatched 

 young. The nest is so situated on an outstretched bough that 

 it is in full exposure to the direct rays of the sun. Unless this 

 wise precaution of brooding were taken by the parent birds, 

 the young would undoubtedly perish. But this hot spell is 

 the delight of the Ajax butterfly. He comes down near the 

 ground in the openings in the woods to imbibe the heated 

 exhalations from the earth, and also to dip into the sweets of 

 the white clover. Among the recesses of the forest trees, the 

 Turnus butterfly is engaged in spasmodic flights, darting here 

 and there, but rarely satisfied to alight. His exit from the 

 wood is as rapid as his coming, and in the next instant he is 

 lost to view. He flies too high now for any one but an expert 

 lepidopterist to identify him with certainty, from the instan- 

 taneous impression one gains of his wing stripes. 



The behavior of the indigo bird and insect life show the 

 effect of solar heat on animal life. Little do we realize the 

 great influence the heat exercises during the short period of 

 tropical heat in our mid-summer, yet it doubtless is one of 

 the greatest factors in stimulating changes in the various forms 

 of life. To view the eff'ects of the weather, one's time may be 

 profitably spent in the woods and waysides of nature, where 

 these lessons are readilv al hand. 



