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[Illustration: Frontispiece]

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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

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COPYRIGHT, 1906,

BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

PRINTED IN THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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TO MY
Mother and Father
WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT AND SYMPATHY
GAVE IMPETUS AND PURPOSE TO
A BOY'S LOVE OF NATURE

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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.

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TABLE OF 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

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               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.

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JANUARY

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BIRDS OF THE SNOW


No fact of natural history is more interesting, or more significant of the
poetry of evolution, than the distribution of birds over the entire
surface of the world. They have overcome countless obstacles, and adapted
themselves to all conditions. The last faltering glance which the Arctic
explorer sends toward his coveted goal, ere he admits defeat, shows flocks
of snow buntings active with warm life; the storm-tossed mariner in the
midst of the sea, is followed, encircled, by the steady, tireless flight
of the albatross; the fever-stricken wanderer in tropical jungles listens
to the sweet notes of birds amid the stagnant pools; while the thirsty
trav