A question that is often asked is, what do the early migrating birds eat, when the ground is frozen and insect life is still slumbering. If you knew where to look, you would find many of the fruit-trees and vines filled with dried, or frozen fruit. Frozen apples and mountain-ash berries constitute a large part of the robin's and the cedar-bird's food early in the spring, and the bluebirds and cedar-birds eat the shriveled barberry fruit.
Notes
March Fourth
In Florida, the black bear can get food throughout the entire year, but in the North he is compelled to hibernate during the winter. He is now beginning to think of leaving his den (in a cave, crevice of the rocks, or under the roots of a partially upturned tree) to begin his summer vacation. We are apt to think that bears are poor when they leave the den, but this is not always true, although their pelage does get very much worn from coming in contact with protuberances in their winter quarters.
March Fifth
The first plant to thrust its head above ground and proclaim the coming of spring is the skunk cabbage, or swamp cabbage. Even before the snow has entirely left, the plant will melt a hole and by its own warmth keep itself from freezing. In many localities at this date the leathery hoods are several inches above the ground.
March Sixth
In America the cowbird, like the European cuckoo, lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. All of our American cuckoos build their nests and raise their young in a manner creditable to parents.