Notes
January Twenty-eighth
The following are common tenants of bird-houses: Purple martin, bluebird, house wren, chickadee, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, and tree or white-breasted swallow. These birds are great insect destroyers, and most of them are sweet songsters, so they should be encouraged to take up their abode about our grounds.
January Twenty-ninth
After a deep fall of snow, the Northern shrike, or butcher-bird, is forced into the villages and towns for his food. Dashing into a flock of English sparrows, he snatches one and carries it back to the country to be eaten at his leisure. He is the bird that impales small birds, mice, and large insects on barbed-wire fences, or thorn bushes, after his stomach has been filled, and hence his name.
January Thirtieth
Next to the beaver, the porcupine is the largest rodent in the United States; the largest porcupines live in Alaska. When on the ground, his short, thick tail drags in the snow, leaving a zigzag trail. When the snow is deep and the weather stormy, he spends much of his time in pine, spruce, and hemlock trees, feeding on the bark and twigs.