NATURE'S CALENDAR 



'-^43 



The saying that if we don't get our 

 Indian summer in November we will get 

 it in winter is of the same piece. Other 

 prognostics are : 



" As November 2ist, so the winter." 

 "As November, so the following March." 

 " Thunder in November indicates a fertile 

 year to come." 



" November take flail ; 

 Let ships no more sail." 



The deer wander in family parties, fat- 

 tening upon food to be found in the 

 w^oods, and especially upon what is left 

 of the beech-mast. This is the month 

 when the bucks seek their mates, and 

 during this period their necks become 

 enormously enlarged and their whole de- 

 meanor is changed. " Instead of treading 

 cautiously through the forest," Merriam 

 tells us, "they now rush wildly about, 

 tracking the does by the scent ; and when 

 two or more bucks meet fierce conflicts 

 ensue. In these engagements their ant- 

 lers sometimes become interlocked, so 

 that the combatants cannot free them- 

 selves, and both must inevitably perish. 

 Audubon and Bachman state that they 

 once saw three pairs of horns thus inter- 

 locked. What a wretched trio this must 

 have been, slowly starving in the midst 

 of plenty ! 



"At this season the bucks not only 

 fight among themselves, but occasionally 



November 12 



November 13 



