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02 February 17, 1963 - Grey SquirrelGrey Squirrel Exclusive Sunday Review sketch by Dennis Puleston of Brookhaven Listed in Order of Occurance in Article Peterson, R T "Field Guide To The B' ' Houghton Mifflin, $4.95. Peterson, R_ T, "Field Guide to the Western Birds ", H o u g h t on Mifflin, $4.96. Peterson, R T, "Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Eur- ope", Houghton Mifflin, $4.95. Burt and Grossenhelder, "Field Guide to the Mammals ", Hough- ton Mifflin, $4.50. Cobb, "Field Guide to t h e Ferns ", Houghton Mitlflin, $4.50. Conant, Roger, "Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians, Houghton Mifflin,_ $4.50. Morris, Percy, "Field Guide to the Shells of our Atlantic a n d Gulf Coasts ", 'Houghton Mifflin, $4.50. Pough, Richard, "Audubon Land Bird Guide, Doubleday, $3.95. Pough, Richard, "Audubon Wa- ter Bird Guide ", Doubleday, $3.95. Finding West of the Mississippi , Oxford, $8.00. H o u s e, Hamer D, "Wildflow- ers", MacMillan, $17.95. Wherry, Edgar T, "Wildflower Guide ", Doubleday. $3.95. Thomas, William S, "Fieldbook of Common Mushrooms ", Put- nam, $5.00. Miner, Ray Waldo,: "Fieldbook of Seashore Life ", Putnam, $7.00. Abbott, Tucker, "American Sea- shells", VanNostratid, $13.75. Holland, W J, "The Butterfly Book ", (out of print) Holand, W ' J, "The Moth Book ", (out of print) Zim and Cottam, "Insects ", Golden Press, $1.00 paper. Zim and Ingle, "Seashores ", Golden Press, $1.00 paper. Tinbergen, "Herring Gulls World ", Basic Books, $5.00. Fisher and Lockley, "Seabirds," Houghton Mifflin, $6.00. Bent, Arthur C, "Life Histo ie of North American Birds of Prey", 2 vols, Dover, $2.35 ea. Bent, Arthur C, "Life Histories of North American Wildfowl," 2 vols, Dover, $2.35 ea. Bent, Arthur C, "Life Histories of North American Shorebirds ", 2 vols, Dover, $2.35 ea. Pettingill, Olin, "Guide to Bird Finding East of the Mississippi" Oxford, $8.00. Pettingill, Olin, "guide to Bird Focus on Nature', by Paul Stoutenburgh, Cutchogue It is the purpose of this column to bring to our readers as many writers on different phases of Natural History. Martha Meihke is a true example of a wonder. fully talented person who I feel should be presented to you. After reading her excellent article this week you will agree with me that we should hear moire of her tal- ents. P.S. GUEST WRITER: MARTHA MEINKE Until 1752 February was the last month in the English calen- dar, which 'seems most suitable to a student of nature, for it is indeed the lowest ebb of the living year. Seeds and berries become scarce, with snow very often covering-what food there is available to foraging wildlife. Alternate thawing .and freezing presents hazards also. One won - ders how .the squirrels, rabbits, birds and all the wild creatures who stay' at through the winter here manage to pull through. I never cease to marvel at how the manyforms of insect, animal and bird life continue to survive winter after winter through the ages. ­Of course, individuals of the various species do not all live through Cfie bitter cold and snow. In fact,';the mortality is high, especially among the insects. It is the contiguity of the specials that nature safeguards. Few of the crickets we heard chirping in late summer a n d autumn will live to see the spring. Most of them perished with the first frost. Butte the eggs laid _ un- derground by the females will winter over, and next summer we shall again hear crickets chirping — a new generation. So it will be with the katydids and grasshoppers. The f e r t i l i zed queens of the bumblebees and papermaking w a s p s carry on their s p e c i e s by hibernating through the winter and starting new colonies in the spring. As I skated over the f r o z e n surface of Lake Maratooka this January I thought of how the lake had been last summer when I had visited it with my grandson to catch frogs and turtles. The lake had teemed with life then, as it will again next summer — and the next — and the next. Now all was still and frozen. The dragon flies that had darted a b o u t on gossamer wings had died of cold. However, while we had watched them skimming the surface of the water last sum- mer, the females had been de- positing innumerable eggs. Dra- gonfly life was now in the form of acquatic nymphs below t be ice. The frogs that had slipped off the lilypads just out of reach were now asleep in the m u d, drawing in minute quantities of oxygen through the skin to sus- tain life. Turtles in the water do not always sleep all winter. I have seen them swimming be- neath thick clear ice. Below the ice were the fish and m a n y smaller forms of aequatic life. Around the snores of the lake box turtles, snakes, toads, spiders and other creatures had all found some sort of shelter. Wood, earth, mud, leaves — all serve as in- sulation against the cold. Carpenter bees sleep in t he galleries which they or t h e i r parents made in sound wood last summer. The eggs were placed in these :tunnels and the bees that developed from the larvae lie in a closely. formed line. Carpenter ants crowd into the corridors they have made in the trunks' and branches of trees. Other kinds of ants can with- stand some freezing and submer- sion while hibernating. T h e y rlaacatl their hncv aMivitiac wt�n together in deep sleep in their underground passages. The monarch butterflies we had seen on the milkweed had flown southward. Other butterflies and moths pass the winter in t h e chrysalis or cocoon stage. Mourn- ing cloaks get through the win- ter sheltered in a tree hole or crevice. At any time now we might see one sunning itself. Although outwardly February has all the marks of too 1 on g lingering winter, secretly the sap is rising and unseen forces are generating the new life of another spring. Animals, b i r d s and insects, having surmounted the hazards of winter, will soon plunge into the business of pro- creation and rearing their young. (Gray squirrels start mating in January.) Spring is a season of seething activiityiogach creature striving to get enough food to develop fully, while at the same time to keep from being eaten. Nature keeps the balance well. Rarely does a species become extinct- and then generally beacuse man has interfed.