Front matter
Reading edition
Frontispiece
FRONTISPIECE BY
WALTER KING STONE
THE LOG
OF THE SUN
A Chronicle of Nature’s Year
By WILLIAM BEEBE
GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING CO., INC.
GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1906,
BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
PRINTED IN THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TO MY
Mother and Father
WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT AND SYMPATHY
GAVE IMPETUS AND PURPOSE TO
A BOY’S LOVE OF NATURE
PREFACE
In the fifty-two short essays of this volume I have presented familiar objects from unusual points of view. Bird’s-eye glances and insect’s-eye glances, at the nature of our woods and fields, will reveal beauties which are wholly invisible from the usual human view-point, five feet or more above the ground.
Who follows the lines must expect to find moods as varying as the seasons; to face storm and night and cold, and all other delights of what wildness still remains to us upon the earth.
Emphasis has been laid upon the weak points in our knowledge of things about us, and the principal desire of the author is to inspire enthusiasm in those whose eyes are just opening to the wild beauties of God’s out-of-doors, to gather up and follow to the end some of these frayed-out threads of mystery.
Portions of the text have been published at various times in the pages of “Outing,” “Recreation,” “The Golden Age,” “The New York Evening Post,” and “The New York Tribune.”
C. W. B.
Contents
PAGE
JANUARY
Birds of the Snow 3
Winter Marvels 10
Cedar Birds and Berries 16
The Dark Days of Insect Life 20
Chameleons in Fur and Feather 25
FEBRUARY
February Feathers 31
Fish Life 37
Tenants of Winter Birds’ Nests 44
Winter Holes 48
MARCH
Feathered Pioneers 55
The Ways of Meadow Mice 61
Problems of Bird Life 65
Dwellers in the Dust 71
APRIL
Spring Songsters 75
The Simple Art of Sapsucking 81
Wild Wings 85
The Birds in the Moon 88
MAY
The High Tide of Bird Life 91
Animal Fashions 97
Polliwog Problems 102
Insect Pirates And Submarines 105
The Victory Of The Nighthawk 109
JUNE
The Gala Days Of Birds 113
Turtle Traits 118
A Half-Hour In A Marsh 124
Secrets Of The Ocean 129
JULY
Birds In A City 153
Night Music Of The Swamp 160
The Coming Of Man 167
The Silent Language Of Animals 170
Insect Music 176
AUGUST
The Gray Days Of Birds 181
Lives Of The Lantern Bearers 188
A Starfish And A Daisy 191
The Dream Of The Yellow-Throat 195
SEPTEMBER
The Passing Of The Flocks 199
Ghosts Of The Earth 204
Muskrats 207
Nature’s Geometricians 210
OCTOBER
Autumn Hunting With A Field Glass 217
A Woodchuck And A Grebe 223
The Voice of Animals 227
The Names Of Animals, Frogs, and Fish 234
The Dying Year 246
NOVEMBER
November’s Birds of the Heavens 249
A Plea for the Skunk 255
The Lesson Of The Wave 258
We Go A-Sponging 262
DECEMBER
New Thoughts About Nests 269
Lessons From An English Sparrow 275
The Personality Of Trees 281
An Owl Of The North 297
A fiery mist and a planet, A crystal and a cell; A jelly fish and a saurian, And the caves where the cave men dwell; Then a sense of law and beauty And a face turned from the clod, Some call it evolution, And others call it God. W. H. Carruth.
JANUARY