NATURE'S CALENDAR 



23.; 



are active, the amphibians awake but si- 

 lent, the turtles sleepily cluster upon dry 

 spots, or climb upon exposed logs and 

 snags to bask in the sun, and occasionally 

 snakes creep out upon the shore to coil 

 sluggishly on the warm rocks until the 

 colder nights of the latter part of the 

 month drive them underground, or force 

 them into rotten stumps and hollow logs, 

 where they will knot themselves mto a 

 torpid tangle until spring. Few serpents 

 are to be seen after Thanksgiving Day. 



In this month the mackerel -fishing 

 ends, and such migrants as the bluefish, 

 sheep'shead, sea-bass, and kingfish dis- 

 appear, so that sea-shore angling is no 

 longer attractiv^e in the North. The cod- 

 fishing, however, is beginning to be at its 

 height, for at this season the cod visits 

 the shallow waters of northern bays to 

 deposit its eggs on the sandy banks and 

 rocky ledges, and remains near them all 

 winter. Inland the trout and its kindred 

 are also on their spawning-beds— at the 

 heads of streams, or beneath the rapidly 

 forming ice of northern lakes. 



Among the mammals, those which hi- 

 bernate have mostly gone to rest, except, 

 perhaps, the bears ; and the squirrels are 

 industriously completing their winter 

 stores, while muskrat and beaver are 

 putting the finishing touches to their 

 houses. Sometimes, however, the musk- 

 rats do not begin to build until now, and 

 then proceed slowly, keeping pace pretty 



November 4 



November 5 



