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IN THE OPEN

INTIMATE STUDIES
AND APPRECIATIONS OF
NATURE BY

STANTON DAVIS KIRKHAM

AUTHOR OF

"WHERE DWELLS THE SOUL SERENE"
"THE MINISTRY OF BEAUTY"

"_Over and above a healthy
curiosity, or any scientific
acquaintance, it is the
companionship of the woods
and fields which counts--
a real friendship for birds
and bees and flowers._"

PAUL ELDER & COMPANY

SAN FRANCISCO AND NEW YORK




_Copyright, 1908
by_ PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY




TO MY WIFE
MARY WILLIAMS KIRKHAM
THIS BOOK IS
AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED




PREFACE


_There is an estate on which we pay no tax and which is not susceptible
of improvement. It is of indefinite extent and is to be reached by
taking the road to the nearest woods and fields. While this is quite as
valuable as any property we may possess, as a matter of fact few assert
their title to it._

_Nature is in herself a perpetual invitation to come into the open. The
woods are an unfailing resource; the mountains and the sea,
companionable. To count among one's friends, the birds and flowers and
trees is surely worth while; for to come upon a new flower is then in
the nature of an agreeable event, and a chance meeting with a bird may
lend a pleasant flavor to the day._




CONTENTS


PREFACE                   v

THE POINT OF VIEW         1

SIGNS OF SPRING          11

BIRD LIFE                22

SONGS OF THE WOODS       40

WILD GARDENS             56

WEEDS                    69

INSECT LORE              78

THE WAYS OF THE ANT      94

AUTUMN STUDIES          113

PASTURE STONES          127

NEIGHBORS               136

THE WINTER WOODS        153

LAUGHING WATERS         164

THE MOUNTAINS           173

THE FOREST              185

THE SEA                 196

INDEX                   209


     _A flock of wild geese on the wing is no less than an
     inspiration. When that strong-voiced, stout-hearted company
     of pioneers pass overhead, our thoughts ascend and sail with
     them over the roofs of the world. As band after band come
     into the field of vision--minute glittering specks in the
     distant blue--to cross the golden sea of the sunset and
     disappear in the northern twilight, their faint melodious
     honk is an Orphean strain drawing irresistibly._

     AFTER THE PAINTING BY
     LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES

[Illustration]




THE POINT OF VIEW


Nature is in herself a perpetual invitation: the birds call, the trees
beckon and the winds whisper to us. After the unfeeling pavements, the
yielding springy turf of the fields has a sympathy with the feet and
invites us to walk. It is good to hear again the fine long-drawn note
of the meadow-lark--voice of the early year,--the first bluebird's
warble, the field-sparrow's trill, the untamed melody of the kinglet--a
magic flute in the wilderness--and to see the ruby crown of the beloved
sprite. It is good to inhale the mint crushed underfoot and to roll
between the fingers the new leaves of the sweetbrier; to see again the
first anemones--the wind-children,--the mandrake's canopies, the
nestling erythronium and the spring beauty, like a delicate carpet; or
to seek the clintonia in its secluded haunts, and to feel the old
childlike joy at sight of lady's-slippers.

It is worth while to be out-of-doors all of one day, now and then, and
to really _know_ what is morning and what evening; to observe the
progress of the day as one might attend a spectacle, though this
requires leisure and a free mind. The spirit of the woods will not lend
itself to a mere fair-weather devotion. You must cast in your lot with
the wild and take such weather as befalls. If you do not now and then
spend a day in the snow, you miss some impressions that no fair weather
can give. When you have walked for a time in the spring shower, you
have a new and larger sympathy with the fields. The shining leaves,
glistening twigs, jeweled cobwebs and the gentle cadence of the falling
rain all tell you it is no time to stay indoors.

Life in the woods sharpens the nose, the eyes, the ears. There are
nose-feasts, eye-feasts, ear-feasts. What if the frost-grapes are
sour--they are fair to look at. Some things are for the palate and some
for the eye. The fragrance of blackberries is as delicate as the
flavor, a spicy aroma, a woodsy bouquet, and to eat without seeing or
smelling is to lose much. Clustered cherries, so lustrous