The snow-shoe rabbit, or Northern varying hare, changes its color twice a year. In winter it is snow white, but at this season it is turning reddish-brown. In the far Northwest these hares are so abundant that they make deep trails through the snow, and the Indians and white trappers and traders shoot and snare large numbers of them for food. February Twenty-seventh It makes no difference to the "chickaree," or red squirrel, how much snow falls or how cold it gets. He has laid by a stock of provisions and he is not dependent on the food the season furnishes. He is as spry and happy during the coldest blizzard as he is on a midsummer day, for he knows well where the hollow limb or tree-trunk is that contains his store of nuts or grain. Notes February Twenty-eighth The Carolina wren is the largest member of the wren family in the Eastern United States. It breeds sparingly in Southern New York and New England, but is common about Washington, D. C., where it is a resident. It is found in the forests, thickets, and undergrowth along streams and lakes. Mr. Hoffman says that its song "is so loud and clear that it can be heard easily a quarter of a mile." Notes =March= March First A lady once asked me how to destroy the "insect eggs" on the under side of fern leaves. The ferns are flowerless plants, and they produce spores instead of seeds. Usually the spores are arranged in dotted lines, on the underside of the leaves (or fronds as they are called), and these are the "insect eggs" the lady referred to. March Second Even at this early date the female great-horned owl or hoot owl, in some sections of the country, is searching for a place to build her nest. She usually selects an abandoned hawk's or a crow's nest, and after laying her four chalky-white eggs, she is often compelled to sit on them most of the night to prevent them from freezing. March Third A question that is often asked is, what do the early migrating birds eat, when the ground is frozen and insect life is still slumbering. If you knew where to look, you would find many of the fruit-trees and vines filled with dried, or frozen fruit. Frozen apples and mountain-ash berries constitute a large part of the robin's and the cedar-bird's food early in the spring, and the bluebirds and cedar-birds eat the shriveled barberry fruit. Notes March Fourth In Florida, the black bear can get food throughout the entire year, but in the North he is compelled to hibernate during the winter. He is now beginning to think of leaving his den (in a cave, crevice of the rocks, or under the roots of a partially upturned tree) to begin his summer vacation. We are apt to think that bears are poor when they leave the den, but this is not always true, although their pelage does get very much worn from coming in contact with protuberances in their winter quarters. March Fifth