NATURE'S CALENDAR 



coats and putting on winter wear, and all 

 the pelts of the fur-bearers are ragged, 

 uncertain in color, and comparatively 

 worthless to the trapper, who pays little 

 attention to them until later. The birds 

 are molting also, exchanging their bright 

 tints for the duller hues of the travelling 

 and winter dress; and the nuptial glow 

 that distinguishes many fishes in the early 

 part of the summer has faded. Serpents, 

 however, are gayer in color than usual, 

 having recently sloughed off last year's 

 scaly coat. 



September is the fattening time for the 

 four-footed folk. Insects are plentiful, 

 and seeds of the flowering herbs and of 

 many wild grains have ripened, so that 

 before the end of the month mice, squir- 

 rels, chipmunks, gophers, and the rest are 

 at work filling their granaries; the musk- 

 rats are planning their houses, and where 

 any beavers are left to us they are busily 

 cutting the first of their winter store and 

 repairing or extending their dams and 

 lodges. Even the bear is practically do- 

 ing the same, for the berries and nuts 

 upon which he gorges himself in the hill 

 thickets at this time are turned into the 

 thick layers of fat beneath his loose hide 

 that shall nourish him during the long 

 period of sleepy famine ahead. 



But the most interesting feature of the 

 month in the animal world is the south- 

 ward migration of the birds, now at its 

 height. 



September 8 



September 9 



