. Sharp eyes; a rambler's calendar of fifty-two weeks among insects, birds and flowers; . for the winter. Asuitable leaf is first selected, generally upona wild cherry, sassafras, spicewood, or button-bush ; the stem of the leaf is then completelyincased in silk, and carefully secured to thetwig for several inches by the same means; uli*^after which the leaf is contracted about thecaterpillar, and forms the mould for its win-ter hammock. The wind and weather atlength loosen the withered leaf, but nothingshort of a vigorous pull will dislodge the co-coon, which often suffers the branch to break
. Sharp eyes; a rambler's calendar of fifty-two weeks among insects, birds and flowers; . for the winter. Asuitable leaf is first selected, generally upona wild cherry, sassafras, spicewood, or button-bush ; the stem of the leaf is then completelyincased in silk, and carefully secured to thetwig for several inches by the same means; uli*^after which the leaf is contracted about thecaterpillar, and forms the mould for its win-ter hammock. The wind and weather atlength loosen the withered leaf, but nothingshort of a vigorous pull will dislodge the co-coon, which often suffers the branch to break,or calls the pocket-knife into use before itwill release its hold. Among the most pleasant winter memo-ries of my boyhood was the quest for thesecocoons. Whether on foot through thewoods, or on frozen lake or river, skatingaround among the flaky ice of the sedgy border swampsand coves among the button-bushes and alders, sub-rnerged in summer, but now revealing those empty nestsof the conkaree, which so tantalized me a few monthsbefore — here I filled my pockets with a daily harvest. 256 SHARP EYES of cocoons that was the envy of my less-favored entomological companions. Nor has the fever left me; even to-day Icannot pass a cocoon and leav^e it alone. Ifind my steps turning involuntarily towardsevery thicket I meet in my winter walk. Only last week, from one small copse inthe suburbs of the city, I brought home abouquet of twigs bearing one hundred andforty odd of the cocoons of these twomoths, mostly of the Cecropia; also onesmall branch with a dangling accom-paniment of twenty-three cocoons ofthe beautiful ailantus moth, which,added to the stock gathered in pre-vious recent walks, ran the totalnumber up to nearly four hun-dred. What will I do with them?I shall take the greatest pleas-ure in dividing them aroundamong my friends, to most ofwhom they will prove a realcuriosity and rarity, and who,when June comes again, willthank me most earnestly, as somany have done already,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
