charles] CALENDAR FORMS 73 



Insects 

 General 



(Plants and animals, outdoor games and sports, home activi- 

 ties, etc.) 

 Most Prominent Features of the Week 



Second Week 

 (etc.) 



As indicative of what may come from such phenological stud- 

 ies, constituting as they do an important element in the organ- 

 ization of the course of study, we may quote the following in- 

 formal characterization of the four weeks of the month of 

 March, as based upon actual records of several years. The state- 

 ment applies to northern Illinois, but will be of interest to any lo- 

 cality. 



MARCH 



March is the teething time of the calendar, the fretful days,, 

 of varying mood, smile and frown, cheering sun and dishearten- 

 ing chill, the robin's call from among the swelling maple buds, and 

 then the creak of wheels in unexpected snow. Sun, rain, calm, 

 wind, snow, bird notes, silence, promise, peeping flower-buds, 

 frost, disappointment, poetry, mud, March ! 



Out from this chaotic sequence, we may select certain charac- 

 teristics that mark the procession of the weeks. Although the seas- 

 ons are not so well established, and the outdoor schedule conse- 

 quently not so reliable as in the later months of spring, we may 

 venture (in northern Illinois) some such prediction as the follow- 

 ing: 



First Week — 



Warm days, with still the possibility of the heaviest snowfall 

 of the winter. The storekeeper places his stock of marbles in the 

 show window. 



Buds reported swelling on the elm and soft maple ; pussy 

 willows claim the attention even of the unobserving. 



Flocks of wild ducks and geese announce their pilgrimage 

 to the north ; we see our first robin and bluebird, although we 

 have heard rumors of their presence here for a week or more; 

 meadowlark frequently seen or heard; English sparrow greatly 

 in evidence, gathering material for nest. Horned larks abundant ;. 

 an occasional redheaded woodpecker appears ; here and there a 

 nuthatch, noticed only by the initiated ; crows numerous ; blue- 



