BIRDS AND FLOWERS OF EARLY SUMMER 



289 



as "Catchfly," although minute winged insects are by no 

 means its sole class of victims, for the trap is equally 

 dangerous to exploring ants. Indeed, the plant is fatal to 

 more ants than to any of the winged forms, for the lat- 

 ter can alight direct on the harmless parts of the flower 

 and thus avoid the danger, which the ant can not do. 

 Neltje Blanchan, in commenting on this fact, says "An 

 ant catching its feet on the miniature lime-twig, at first 

 raises one foot after another and draws it through its 

 mouth, hoping to rid it of the sticky stuff, but only with 

 the result of gluing up its head and other parts of its 

 body. In ten minutes all the pathetic struggles are ended. 

 Let no one guilty of torturing flies to death on sticky 

 paper condemn the Silenes !" Silenes for the reason that 

 the scientific name for the Starry Campion is Silene stel- 

 lata it being a member of the Pink family; and it is 

 not difficult to see a simple form of an average pink in 

 its flower. 



One of the first flowers to greet us in the spring and 

 one that blooms along into early summer, is the dainty 

 Giant or Great Chickweed a fine example of which is 

 shown in Figure 9. I collected this particular specimen 

 in the environs of Washington, and it was flourishing 

 in a shady angle formed by a big tree on one side and 

 the trunk of a fallen beech on the other an ideal spot 

 for this species of plant, which we so frequently meet 

 with in the recesses found next to the ground in nearly 

 all of our forest trees. The soil is usually rich in such 

 places, and the plant gets plenty of water from that 

 which runs down the trunk during a heavy rainfall. One 

 can not pass this species of Chickweed without noticing 

 its pretty white flowers, so well shown in the accompany- 

 ing illustration, set off by its dark green leaves and 

 curiously branching stems. Sometimes the seeds of this 

 plant find their way into some crotch of a tree, or into 

 a hole formed by the loss of a limb either being several 

 feet above the ground. Then we have the pleasure ot 

 seeing a fine specimen of this species flourishing quite 

 a distance up from terra firma, and often doing better 

 than those on the ground. Once, in southern Maryland, 

 I was passing through what was formerly a beautiful bit 

 of forest, some twenty or more acres in extent. It had 

 ijeen burned over a few months before through the care- 

 lessness of a negro, who had set a pile of leaves on fire 

 near a spring to "drive dem copperhead snakes away " 

 It was a black and charred scene, but one little corner of 

 it was brightened by a magnificent Giant Chickweed 

 plant that was growing in the hollow of a broken-oft' 

 tree-trunk some six feet above the ground. Its white 

 flowers were made all the more conspicuous in the setting 

 of the coal-black stump. These Chickweeds are also 

 arrayed in the Pink family, along with the Starry Cam- 

 pion shown in Figure 9; and in this family we find, too, 

 P.ouncing Bet or Soapwort ; the true Pinks ; the Spurries ; 

 Pearl-wort ; Corn-cockle, together with the wild species 

 of Pinks. 



This early summer season is a fine time for boys anrt 

 girls to practice the taking of nature pictures with their 

 cameras not aimless snapshots, however, but well-con- 

 sidered subjects, properly timed and viewed from proper 

 points. A good 5x7 view camera, armed with the best 

 brand of films in use, is a serviceable instrument; but 

 while I advise this kind of camera, it is only with the 



CAMPION OR CATCHFLY 



Fig. 10. The sticky material on various parts of the flowers of 

 this plant, which is classed with the pinks and their allies, causes 

 the death of many visiting insects especially ants. 



thought that it probably is the best one for a beginner. 

 Personally, I never use anything like it; on the other 

 hand, I employ cameras of three different sizes, and arm 

 them with instantaneous "dry plates." More than halt 

 the success in work of this kind is to select the correct 

 point of view ; to include all the desirable features on yoiir 

 ground-glass, and to use as small a stop as your subject 

 will permit. 



