the side of a whole valley and nodding with almost countless yellow flowers. Where it got its name it is hard to see; it resembles a locomotive quite as much as it does a dog's tooth, and it is in no sense a violet. In fact, if you turn back the flower and look into it, you will see that it is a most perfect little lily. The curving yellow petals, the shape and poise of the flower, show at once that it is a cousin of the stately Canada lily, that blossoms in July, and of our garden lilies. The flowers grow singly on slender stems, the plants growing close together, not in separate clumps or patches, but covering the ground as with a carpet. The most striking thing about the plant is its leaf- a large, rather thick leaf, mottled with brown or purplish spots. And now, by the time the dog's-tooth violets are in full blossom, you no longer have to hunt so carefully for your wild flowers. The brown fields where the Mayflowers opened are turning green, the woods are springing with undergrowth, and on every side little buds are fuller opening, white petals spreading to the sun, and richer every day as the spring comes on. THE DOG'S-TOOTH VIOLET. of our floral shrubbery. Very pleasing to the sight are the beautiful flowers when all other shrubs are nearly barren of flowers or even opening buds. Equally attractive to taste and smell is the aromatic spicery of bloom and bark. Down in the little pools of the marsh are peepers, turtles, frogs, and salamanders. In the foreground our artist has represented one of the spring peepers, that has markings on the back somewhat in the outline of an X. Will some of our young folks tell us what is the call of this one, and also of the other spring peeper, the one with a mottled back? Please to do a little sharp-eyed seeing and careful hearing. I think you will find it a greater pleasure to discover this for yourself rather than to read about it. Also note carefully the change in appearance of one of the frogs while making its call. Which one is the best climber, often seen on a withered rush far above the water? One naturalist says that he found this agile climber in a tulip-tree sixty feet from the ground On yonder log is our beautiful painted turtle. Please keep on Just beyond the bloodroots is pictured, as is so often seen on hillside and in the valley, the yellowish bloom of the spice-bush, that gives the the lookout leafless twigs a fuzzy appearance in the dis- for the IN THE MARSHES. THERE ARE ALWAYS MANY PEEPING FROGS, A FEW TURTLES, AND OCCASIONALLY A SALAMANDER MAY ALSO BE SEEN. VOL. XXIX.-70-71. earliest appearance of turtles. Tell us which kind you find first this year, and the place where you saw it. Spotted salamanders (one is shown on the log in the rear of the turtle) are not very plentiful, but you may find one. Some naturalists claim that the red salamander (and perhaps others) has a voice. Watch and listen. That's the for us to decide the question. We all want to know positively, for there are many different opinions. way THE HERALDS OF SPRING. You all are familiar with the story of the "midnight ride of Paul Revere," who was Ready to ride and spread the alarm How those people who heard his calls must have been thrilled with readiness for even war, if necessary, to meet the advance of the British. Almost equally thrilling, from anature-lover'sstandpoint, are the wild cries of the "spring alarm" through midnight and daylight too. Honk, honk, honk, honk, honk! is the "peculiarly metallic, clangorous sound" of the wild geese, and their alarm may truthfully be translated: "Spring is coming! Be up and out, country young folks and city young folks, ready for all the wonderful advances of spring." "I can't tell what emotions these migratory birds awaken in me-the geese especially," says Burroughs. "One seldom sees more than a flock or two in a season, and what a spring token it is! It is like the passage of a victorious army. No longer, inch by inch, does spring come, but these geese advance the standard CLUMP OF DEAD LEAVES ON THE BLACKBERRY BRIERS. Because we "DON'T GO TOO FAST!" a "I wonder why that clump of leaves is still clinging to the blackberry briers?" That's it. The briers held you till "because we want to know' took your attention. A moment's examination shows how the mass is bound together and to the main stalk by the silk-like threads made by some caterpillar last autumn. In a curled leaf with others bound around it we find the cocoon. want to know. THE THORNS ON A WILD ROSE-BUSH. WHAT are briers good for, anyway?" you inquire as we are struggling through a thicket, and you stop to disentangle your clothing from a mesh of smilax (or greenbrier, as it is commonly called). There's a bright side even to the briers! They hold us, and the spirit of "because we want to know causes our knowledge and interest-yes, even entertainment-to grow. Every time we see (and feel, too!) the briers, we will be reminded that we can't know to best advantage if we go too fast. Carefully see From the standpoint of the plant, the botanist things, rather than carefully look at them. would tell us that "the presence of But the briers often MOSS ON NORTH SIDE OF TREES. CLEVELAND, OHIO. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: People say we can find which way north is, in the woods, by the moss which grows on the trees. Why does the moss grow on that side of the tree which is toward the north? JESSE JERICHO. The growth of moss on trees is not confined, in all cases, to the north, but moss is usually most abundant and greenest on that side of the tree, even if there is some on the south side. In order to grow and multiply, mosses need to be supplied with water. Even those growing on the dry soil or THE SMILAX AS IT APPEARS IN EARLY APRIL. on rocks are wet by rains, melting snows, and moist winds. The mosses growing on tree-trunks grow best on the places where they receive the most moisture and can keep it the longest. Of course the north side of a treetrunk, being always shaded, stays moist longer than that part of the tree which is soon dried by the sun after a rain. |