CONTENTS XV 



Vagabond seeds. Gypsy weeds : the beggar-ticks, clot-burrs, and stick-seeds 

 of the woods and road-side. A "rogue's gallery" on one's coat-sleeve. A few 

 tramps identified. A veritable caltrop. Remarkable "spider's nest" in an 

 old dress. ' ' Dead " spiders in a wasp-nest. The mud-dauber and her ways. 

 The lump of mud on the rafters, and its singular contents. A hypodermic in- 

 jection and a merciful sleep. The talking fly; his conversation and practice. 

 Another underground flower and its little hairy peanut. Flowers for show 

 and flowers for use ; a singular freak of a common wild vine. A bower- 

 building caterpillar. A petal-tent among the everlasting flowers, and what it 

 may contain: a testimony from the immortelles. Ballooning seeds. Buoyant 

 winged fruits with all sorts of wings and parachutes. Milk-weed and thistle 

 pompons for little girls. A botany lesson in a cobweb. The brownie dust- 

 brushes of the silky groundsel-tree Pages 89-174 



T 



autumn 



HE "fairy ring" mushroom and its compass. Fastidious growth of fungi. A 

 queer "bumblebee" and a queer letter. A Bombus that catches "horse- 

 flies." " Caught in the act." A test for sharp eyes. Some entomological 

 dissertations on flies and bees for the benefit of a rustic naturalist. A carnivo- 

 rous fly in masquerade. How to handle a wasp: the secret exposed. Wasps 

 rolled in the fingers without danger. Popular traditions disposed of. A re- 

 pentant experimentalist. An important "spell" which must at least be mem- 

 orized. Wasps and wasps. A valuable and suggestive postscript. Wonders 

 of the fungus. Spore dust. Appalling potential possibilities in a single puff- 

 ball. Whimsical choice in toadstools and mushrooms. Moulds and mildews. 

 Fairy parasols and mimic birds' nests. A chrysalis and a caterpillar changed into 

 fungus plants, and a queer bundle from the Chinese apothecaries' shop. Au- 

 tumn pipers : whistling tree-frogs, toads, and salamanders. The spring peep- 

 ers among the trees. The brown dead leaves and their own frog. A "lizard" 

 with the voice of a bird. A murderous burdock and its pinioned chickadee. 

 Puzzling cocoon clusters on grass stems. Nature's "Jack-in-the-box." The 

 "Jack" abroad, and its victim. The cocoon mystery revealed: a resurrec- 

 tion not planned by the caterpillar, and an episode referred to pulpit philoso- 

 phers. Witch-hazel witchery. A fusillade from ten thousand double-barrelled 

 guns in the October copse. The gun described. The salute from the violet. 

 Seed-showers shot from violet pods. Violet blossoms for the world in April, and 

 others for mother earth in October. A violet freak. A bewitched willow bud: 

 a cone which is not honestly come by. Why the willow has no right to a cone. 

 A magician with a wonder-working sharp-pointed wand. What the chickadee 

 knows about willow-cones. Other witchery among the twigs. A big family 

 housed on a blackberry stem. The frost-flower. Flowers of three kinds on a 

 common plant, only one of which is generally seen : a showy flower with petals, 

 a flower with no petals, and a flower of ice crystal prettier than either. Birds 

 of November. November bird songs and birds of passage. Snow-birds and 

 buntings and "kinglets." The ash-tree and its rustling seeds. The remarkable 

 "paddle," a prehistoric hint of the "oar" in model and timber. Association 

 of the ash and the birch in nature and art. The Indian canoe and the arrow- 

 head model. Among the birds' nests. Whimsical choice of building mate- 

 rials. The vireo's "sampler" fabric; cobwebs, seeds, caterpillar- skins, hor- 



