From the depths of the forest and thick underbrush, you will hear the "_teacher_, teacher, TEACHER, _TEACHER_" (in a swift crescendo) of the golden-crowned thrush, ovenbird, or teacher-bird. It is a note of such volume that, instead of a bird the size of a robin, you are surprised to find that the songster is no larger than a song sparrow. He is called ovenbird because his nest is covered over and resembles somewhat an old-fashion bake oven. July Eleventh Some "glow-worms" are female fire-flies or lightning-bugs. There are at least a score of common insects that are luminous, besides some rare ones. With some species of fire-flies (our common fire-fly included) both sexes are winged, while with others the females lack wings and are known as "glow-worms." July Twelfth With most birds, the female only builds the nest and incubates the eggs, after which both birds usually assist in bringing up the young. Some of the exceptions to this rule are the male Bob-white, house wren, catbird, blue-headed, yellow-throated, and warbling vireos, and the barn and eave swallows, each of which does his share of the domestic duties and takes care of the young birds. Notes July Thirteenth Through ignorance we often persecute our best friends. The ichneumon fly is a parasitic insect that all should know. It lays its eggs in the larvæ of many injurious insects, and its larvæ feeds upon them. A great enemy to the horned-tails, it is invariably misjudged and killed, when discovered with its ovipositor inserted in one of the borings of the horned-tail fly. July Fourteenth How beautiful is the awakening of the evening primrose. No sooner is the sun beneath the horizon, than the calyx begins to swell and out springs a yellow petal. Then another and another appear before your very eyes, until the petals look like the blades of a screw propeller. The blossom is often less then five minutes in opening, and is immediately surrounded by tiny black insects. July Fifteenth Young spotted sandpipers, or "tip-ups," are able to leave their nest (in a slight depression in the ground) soon after the eggs hatch. It is indeed interesting to watch a family of these animated woolly balls on stilts, running along the shore with their parents. When pursued they sometimes will take to the water and cling to the vegetation on the bottom. Notes July Sixteenth The perfectly round white heads of the button bush are now conspicuous along the streams, bogs, and lakes. The long slender styles project from all sides like the quills on the back of a frightened hedgehog. Although this shrub is a lover of water and damp soil, "it is sometimes found on elevated ground, where it serves, it is claimed, as a good sign of the presence of a hidden spring. The inner bark is sometimes used as a cough medicine." (Newhall.) July Seventeenth