BIRDS AND NATURE. | ||
| ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vol. IX. | FEBRUARY, 1901. | No. 2 |
CONTENTS.
- FEBRUARY. 49
- FROST-WORK. 49
- THE HAWKS. 50
- INTERESTING STONE HOUSES. 55
- THE ALASKAN SPARROW. 56
- THE DOWITCHER. (Macrorhamphus griseus.) 59
- All the beautiful stars of the sky 59
- SOME THINGS WE MIGHT LEARN FROM THE LOWER ANIMALS. 60
- THE GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE. (Quiscalus macrourus.) 62
- THE EAGLE. 62
- THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS. 65
- THE HOODED WARBLER (Sylvania mitrata.) 71
- MRS. JANE’S EXPERIMENT. 72
- A STROLL IN THE FROST KING’S REALM. 73
- SNAILS OF THE FOREST AND FIELD. 74
- THE GILA MONSTER. (Heloderma suspectum.) 80
- BIRD NOTES. 85
- THE POMEGRANATE. (Punica granatum.) 86
- FISHES AND FISH-CULTURE AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS. 89
- CINNAMON. (Cinnamomum cassia blume.) 95
- AT DUSK. 96
FEBRUARY.
Still lie the sheltering snows, undimmed and white;
And reigns the winter’s pregnant silence still;
No sign of spring, save that the catkins fill,
And willow stems grow daily red and bright.
These are the days when ancients held a rite
Of expiation for the old year’s ill,
And prayer to purify the new year’s will;
Fit days, ere yet the spring rains blur the sight,
Ere yet the bounding blood grows hot with haste,
And dreaming thoughts grow heavy with a greed
The ardent summer’s joy to have and taste;
Fit days, to give to last year’s losses heed,
To reckon clear the new life’s sterner need;
Fit days, for Feast of Expiation placed!
—Helen Hunt Jackson.
FROST-WORK.
These winter nights, against my window-pane
Nature with busy pencil draws designs
Of ferns and blossoms and fine spray of pines,
Oak-leaf and acorn and fantastic vines,
Which she will make when summer comes again—
Quaint arabesques in argent, flat and cold,