a round hole which he makes in the 

 side of the chrysalis. 



Each variety of worm and caterpillar 

 will reward you with a different chrys 

 alis or cocoon. If you are not sure of 

 your worm place a box of dirt in your 

 box, for some worms go into the dirt to 



make the great change. After watch 

 ing these changes you, too, will say: 

 "Don't crush the worms! For are they 

 not a symbol of our own death and res 

 urrection when we shall awake in His 

 glorious likeness?" 



BIRD LORE OF THE ANCIENT FINNS. 



IN the Bulletin of the Michigan Orni 

 thological Club H. S. Warren says 

 that nature and nature worship 

 form the center of all the life of 

 the ancient Finns, and he quotes freely 

 from Crawford's translation of "The 

 Kalevala," the national epic of Fin 

 land. He says that, "as the English 

 language is not strong in diminutives, 

 and therefore lacks some of the most 

 effective means for the expression of 

 affectionate, tender, and familiar rela 

 tions, in this respect all translations 

 from the Finnish into English must 

 fall short of the original, the former 

 being the language of a people who 

 live pre-eminently close to nature, and 

 are at home among the animals of the 

 wilderness, beasts and birds, winds and 

 woods and waters, falling snows and 

 flying sands." The metre is like that 

 of "Hiawatha," and is the characteris 

 tic verse of the Finns. 



As to birds, the duck lays the mun 

 dane egg. "Then the water-mother 

 finds a place upon her own knees for 

 the duck to rest, where it lays an egg 

 which rolls into the sea. There it 

 breaks and is transformed into the 

 earth." 



From one half the egg", the lower, 



Grows the nether vault of Terra; 



From the upper half remaining 



Grows the upper vault of heaven; 



Prom the white part come the moonbeams, 



From the yellow part the sunshine. 



****** 



Wainamoinen, wise and ancient, 



Made himself an ax for chopping-, 



Then beg-an to clear the forest, 



Then began the trees to level, 



Felled the trees of all descriptions, 



Only left the birch tree standing 



For the birds a place of resting-, 



Where mig-ht sin? the sweet-voiced cuckoo, 



Sacred bird in sacred branches. 



Down from heaven came the eagle, 



Throug-h the air he came a- fly ing, 



That he might this thing- consider 

 And he spake the words that follow: 



The eagle inquires of the ancient 

 singer, Wainamoinen, why he has left 

 the birch tree only standing; and upon 

 being assured it was left solely for the 

 use of the birds, he commends Waina- 

 moinen's "hero-judgment." There is 

 a lesson in forestry for the modern 

 day. 



Wainamoinen, old and trusty, 

 Turned his face and looked about him; 

 L/o! there comes a spring-time cuckoo, 

 Spying- out the slender birch tree 

 Rests upon it, sweetly singing: 

 "Wherefore is the slender birch tree 

 Jl/eft unharmed of all the forest?" 

 Spake the ancient Wainamoinen: 

 "Therefore I have left the birch tree, 

 L,eft the birch tree only growing, 

 Home for thee for joyous singing; 

 Call thou here, O sweet-voiced cuckoo, 

 Sing thou here from throat of velvet, 

 Sing thou here with voice of silver, 

 Sing the cuckoo's golden flute-notes; 

 Call at morning, call at evening, 

 Call within the hour of noontide, 

 For the better growth of forests, 

 For the ripening of the barley, 

 For the richness of the Northland, 

 For the joy of Kalevala." 



Thus is the cuckoo looked upon as a 

 prophetic bird, or perhaps a mediator 

 between the man and his gods. 



The woodpecker is another sacred 

 bird of "The Kalevala." In that epic 

 he is not directly named, perhaps, be 

 cause he was so very sacred, but the 

 minor wood god, Nyyrikki, upon 

 whom Lemminkainen calls in his dis 

 tress to help him track the elk, is, 

 like his father, Tapio, evidently a sur 

 vival of Pikker, the woodpecker. 



O Nyyrikki, mountain hero, 



Son of Tapio of forests, 



Hero with the scarlet headgear, 



Notches make along the pathway, 



Landmarks upward on the mountain, 



That the hunter may not wander. 



186 



