NATURE'S CALENDAR ,73 



AUGUST 



August is the month when most per- Aujrust i 



sons who can go to the sea-shore do so ; 



and it is in this month that inlanders 

 make such studies as they can of mari- 

 time natural history, to which this chap- 

 ter will be particularly devoted. 



In the human practice noted above, 

 men, after all, are only imitating their 

 lowlier cousins. In midsummer all the 

 mammals go down to the sea-shore more 

 or. less, especially at night, attracted by 

 the salt and in search of food, and none 

 more commonly than the small carniv- 

 ora. Down South the wild oysters that 

 grow upon the eel-grass, or even attach 

 themselves to bushes whose roots or 

 branches trail in the tidal creeks, are 

 called 'coon oysters, because that sly 

 mammal is so fond of feeding upon them ; 



and no creature is more fond of " sea - 



food " than the opossum, which hunts 

 about the holes left at low tide for crabs 

 and other delicacies. 



Certain large inland birds, as the crows, 

 constantly visit the beaches in midsum- 

 mer to pick up scraps in the surf, while 

 the fish-hawk and marsh-harrier are reg- 

 ular residents there, the nests of the 



