The Log of the Sun: A Chronicle of Nature's Year - 1

Frontispiece

FRONTISPIECE BY

WALTER KING STONE

THE LOG

OF THE SUN

A Chronicle of Nature’s Year

By WILLIAM BEEBE

GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING CO., INC.

GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

PRINTED IN THE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TO MY

Mother and Father

WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT AND SYMPATHY

GAVE IMPETUS AND PURPOSE TO

A BOY’S LOVE OF NATURE

PREFACE

In the fifty-two short essays of this volume I have presented familiar objects from unusual points of view. Bird’s-eye glances and insect’s-eye glances, at the nature of our woods and fields, will reveal beauties which are wholly invisible from the usual human view-point, five feet or more above the ground.

Who follows the lines must expect to find moods as varying as the seasons; to face storm and night and cold, and all other delights of what wildness still remains to us upon the earth.

Emphasis has been laid upon the weak points in our knowledge of things about us, and the principal desire of the author is to inspire enthusiasm in those whose eyes are just opening to the wild beauties of God’s out-of-doors, to gather up and follow to the end some of these frayed-out threads of mystery.

Portions of the text have been published at various times in the pages of “Outing,” “Recreation,” “The Golden Age,” “The New York Evening Post,” and “The New York Tribune.”

C. W. B.

Contents

	PAGE
JANUARY
Birds of the Snow	[3]
Winter Marvels	[10]
Cedar Birds and Berries	[16]
The Dark Days of Insect Life	[20]
Chameleons in Fur and Feather	[25]
FEBRUARY
February Feathers	[31]
Fish Life	[37]
Tenants of Winter Birds’ Nests	[44]
Winter Holes	[48]
MARCH
Feathered Pioneers	[55]
The Ways of Meadow Mice	[61]
Problems of Bird Life	[65]
Dwellers in the Dust	[71]
APRIL
Spring Songsters	[75]
The Simple Art of Sapsucking	[81]
Wild Wings	[85]
The Birds in the Moon	[88]
MAY
The High Tide of Bird Life	[91]
Animal Fashions	[97]
Polliwog Problems	[102]
Insect Pirates And Submarines	[105]
The Victory Of The Nighthawk	[109]
JUNE
The Gala Days Of Birds	[113]
Turtle Traits	[118]
A Half-Hour In A Marsh	[124]
Secrets Of The Ocean	[129]
JULY
Birds In A City	[153]
Night Music Of The Swamp	[160]
The Coming Of Man	[167]
The Silent Language Of Animals	[170]
Insect Music	[176]
AUGUST
The Gray Days Of Birds	[181]
Lives Of The Lantern Bearers	[188]
A Starfish And A Daisy	[191]
The Dream Of The Yellow-Throat	[195]
SEPTEMBER
The Passing Of The Flocks	[199]
Ghosts Of The Earth	[204]
Muskrats	[207]
Nature’s Geometricians	[210]
OCTOBER
Autumn Hunting With A Field Glass	[217]
A Woodchuck And A Grebe	[223]
The Voice of Animals	[227]
The Names Of Animals, Frogs, and Fish	[234]
The Dying Year	[246]
NOVEMBER
November’s Birds of the Heavens	[249]
A Plea for the Skunk	[255]
The Lesson Of The Wave	[258]
We Go A-Sponging	[262]
DECEMBER
New Thoughts About Nests	[269]
Lessons From An English Sparrow	[275]
The Personality Of Trees	[281]
An Owl Of The North	[297]

A fiery mist and a planet, A crystal and a cell; A jelly fish and a saurian, And the caves where the cave men dwell; Then a sense of law and beauty And a face turned from the clod, Some call it evolution, And others call it God. W. H. Carruth.

JANUARY