December Eighth
Snakes are not slimy and clammy; they do not cover their food with saliva before swallowing it, and the forked flexible member which darts in and out of their mouth is not a "stinger," but the tongue. They do not swallow their young in cases of danger, and they have no power to "charm," or hypnotize.
December Ninth
The bald-faced hornet attaches his large, cone-shaped, paper nests under the eaves of houses, in garrets, or to the limbs of trees. Collecting the minute fibres that adhere to the weather-beaten fences and buildings, the hornets mix it with saliva and make a crude quality of paper. To enlarge a nest, the inside walls are torn away and the material is used to add to the outside layer. Like bumblebees, the workers and drones die in the fall, the queen hibernating.
Notes
December Tenth
Beautiful as the deer are and innocent as they seem, they cannot be trusted, as attendants in zoological parks can testify. A bear will seldom attack a keeper without provocation, and when he does he will usually give warning before he charges. Not so with a buck of the deer family. Greeting his best friend in the most cordial manner, he may, without warning, charge when the man's back is turned, and gore or trample him to death.