Notes
September Seventh
Muskrats, like children, make "collections." A muskrat's "playhouse" is usually placed on a partly submerged stump, log, boulder, or the float of a boat-house. In some such place is piled all sorts of rubbish,—sticks, stones, bones, iron, glass, clam shells, and what not. Near by one may find a thick mat of aquatic grass, used by the owner as a resting-place. When camped in the vicinity of a playhouse, you will hear the clink of touching stones at night, and the splash of water.
September Eighth
Damp, shaded flats along streams or spring-holes, are where the jewel-weed, or touch-me-not, clusters. The orange-colored blossoms have gone to seed and hang in tiny pods upon the stems. Touch one, and if it is ripe, it will burst with a suddenness that startles you.
September Ninth
You must be unfamiliar with the country if you have never felt the sting of the nettle. The rib of the nettle leaf is armed with tiny, hollow spines, each of which is connected with a microscopic sack or bulb filled with poison, called formic acid. When the skin is pierced by the spines, the bulb is pressed, and the poison injected into the wound. Every boy of outdoor life knows that mud will relieve the irritation.