that comes out of it. The
stamen heads open, the
pollen falls on the scale
below the stamen heads and
lies there waiting. When
a breeze comes clouds of
it fly out from all the
catkins together. Most of
it is wasted, but a few
grains find their billet, for
on the upper part of the
branches are the little bud-
like female

Male (a) and female flowers
(b) of the Walnut. Here the
male catkin is seen to be
already withering ; the female
flowers become two "walnuts."




30



flowers.
These con-
sist of over-
lapping



4*7



THE PAGEANT OF NATURE




them no one but a botanist
would recognize them as
" flowers," as obviously ren-
dered by the photograph.
Each is merely the most minute
of seed-cases surrounded by
bracts, and though, at first,
six seeds start life in it, only
one develops and produces
the acorn. The male flowers
are found on the numerous
and very obvious irregular-
looking catkins that appear in
the early summer on the
branches ; these catkins are
set in groups on the axis
instead of in a continuous
spiral as they are in the hazel.
The flowers of the beautiful
walnut tree are also most
interesting, and after the same
fashion. The male catkins
the biggest and the hand-
somest we see in Great Britain

The little-known female flowers of the Oak. Later they ~ a y e as thick as a fin g er > and
develop into acorns. as long as one s hand. All

down them in a close spiral

scales ; each of the inner ones embraces a winds the long line of male flowers,
seed-case with two long, stiff red threads stamens set under big bracts to keep them
on the top. As there are eight to twelve dry. The female flowers can be seen
seed-cases, it follows that
there are sixteen to two
dozen red threads whose tops
form the red brush that one
sees pushing out to catch stray
grains from the pollen cloud.
The final result of fertilization
is the little group of hazel
nuts that we usually find
together ; the whole represents
the product of that one tiny
bud - like object of whose
existence the majority of
people are not even aware,
though everyone knows the
yellow catkins, " heralds of
the spring."

Again, there are two kinds
of flowers on the oak, male
flowers and female flowers,
though not one person in ten
thousand has seen the latter,
which later develop into the The male flowers of the Oak appear



acorns that are everybody's

mends. Indeed, it one saw stead of in a continuous spiral as in

418




TREES AND THEIR LIFE STORY



in the photograph little urn-like objects
with two horns which are the stigma
opened out to catch such grains of pollen
dust as heaven may send their way on
the wings of the wind. It is extra-
ordinary in how many of the trees there is
this division of the sexes and _
how wasteful a plan it often
seems. In the above three
cases there is a vast amount of
pollen waste, for an enormous
quantity has to be produced
to ensure a few grains ulti-
mately reaching their desti-
nation. One little assistance
the trees give. Their flowers
come either before their
leaves or else before the
leaves are fully formed ; thus
they do not block the rush
of the pollen cloud through
the branches.

In the beech the flowers,
though still of two kinds and
of opposite sexes, are rather
differently planned. Here
we have two sets of balls,
one reddish, set upright on
a short stalk and consisting
of two female flowers with
a projecting tuft of stigmas,
and the other yellow, hanging
below the female on longer
stems and built up of minute
bronze cups covered with
silvery hairs, from which cups
hang eight to twenty stamens.
Here the tree adds to the
precaution of separating the
sexes, the further one of
making the female flowers
on any one tree mature before



like tongues when the right moment comes
and, for two or three days, await pollen from
another tree. In the meanwhile the much
larger and longer male catkins are drooping
from the branches, their stamens still un-
opened. Eventually they, too, are mature,




Male (lower) and female flowers (upper) of the Beech. The

female become Beech nuts, the male fall off after dispersing

their pollen.



the males on that same tree, so that there
is an excellent chance that they will be fer-
tilized by pollen brought by the breeze from
an adjacent tree before the pollen from their
own tree can reach them.

The same plan obtains in the silver birch.
The female flowers are ranged on little thin



and scatter their pollen which, cast to the
wind, may fertilize in its turn female flowers
on another tree or, possibly, also unlucky
ones on its own tree.

Again, in those two comparatively little
recognized trees, the hornbeam and the
alder, there are also flowers of opposite sex



green columns, nearly an inch high, stand- growing side by side and quite distinct in

appearance one from the other. In the
hornbeam there are green female catkins
at the ends of the branches looking rather
as though they were buds that had been
pulled out like a concertina. Each flower



ing up stiffly on the branches. There are
a number of overlapping scales, each of
which encloses three female flowers
seed-cases topped with a couple of reddish
thread-like stigmas which are thrust out



419



THE PAGEANT OF NATURE



upon them has a tiny scale at its base, which The sweet chestnut in flower looks as
later grows into a sail, by means of which though it were covered with big yellow
the ripe seed starts on its voyage of life, star-fish, for its male flowers are long plumes,
The male catkins, quaint and airy looking, eight or ten inches in length, which stand
since the flowers are not set very closely erect or radiate stiffly, and are feathery be-
together, arise lower down the branches, cause the stamen heads all show. The female
The photograph gives a better idea than any flowers are bunched into little round groups,
verbal description of these two sets of flowers, often at the base of the male plumes, and



and female flowers of the

the thin upstanding eat-

the long drooping




In the alder the male catkins are very much
in evidence as they delicately dangle and
sway on the branches. The spirally ar-
ranged scales perhaps fifty or sixty in
number have a dozen or so stamens hang-
ing beneath every one, representing, botanists
say, three male flowers. The female cat-
kins are minute things putting out still
smaller tongues eager for pollen. As to
their relative times of maturity the alder
offers a puzzle. One eminent botanist gives
the males priority of ripening, a second
accords it to the females, while a third,
equally eminent, asserts that both mature
together ; probably the alder itself knows no
rule whatever in the matter,



Birch. The female
kins ; the male are
ones.

each has a several-chambered
seed-case with a tuft of cream
styles. Apparently at some re-
mote time these flowers were
perfect (hermaphrodite), for in
each kind there may still be
found rudiments of the sex in
which they are now deficient.

The willows and poplars go a stage
further in the differentiation of sex. So
far, all the instances we have considered
have both male and female flowers on the
same tree. In the willows and poplars, as
also in the yew among conifers, a tree is
either wholly male or wholly female and
bears either male or female flowers, but



420




Bpanch of Alder showing male (a) and female (b} flowers; also (c) the
old fruits from the past year with their seed scattered.




Male (a) and female (b} flowers of the Hornbeam. The female green catkins which occur

at the ends of the branches look rather as though they were buds that had been pulled

out like a concertina; the male, quaint and airy-looking, since their flowers are not set

very closely together, arise lower down the branches.



THE PAGEANT OF NATURE



never both. It is as if the quality of dull and green, and only beautiful when they
sex had sunk more deeply into its nature, turn into a mass of seeds crowned with
In this case, of course, it is impossible for silvery hairs. In fact, all the willows seem
immature seeds to be fertilized by any pollen to tend this way, as they all produce honey

which is no bait to the wind.

In the poplars there is no
question of insects, they are
entirely wind - fertilized, though
some of the catkins show up
very attractively. Both male and
female catkins, when fully grown,
consist of a long drooping axis
round which, arranged in spirals,
are endless minute flowers more
densely set together in the male
than in the female. The male
catkin of the common black
poplar is really beautiful, for it
becomes a brilliant crimson as
it matures. And for this reason.
Each of the tiny male flowers
consists of a narrow scale which




Female catkins (left) of
the Black Poplar; red
male catkins (right).
These are always on dif-
ferent trees ; hence one
tree is male and another
female invariably.

except that from another
individual, and the
strain of these trees
must necessarily be the
product of continuous
cross-fertilizations. Whether or no they are
pre-eminently superior on this account is a
matter for question. The palm (or goat)
willow, whose male catkins are the beautiful
" palm " of Eastertide, seems to bid for the
aid of insects bees and moths for choice
as it provides both honey and colour. The
female catkins are much less attractive, being




projects like an awning and is fringed
at the edge ; under this is a pale green
scale to which are attached a number of
stamens with bright red heads. At first
they are hidden beneath the scale, but, as
they grow, they push out their red heads
beyond the awning, and as this happens
in all the endless little flowers at the same



422



TREES miD THEIR LIFE STORY



open



course

, the wind



i



time, the whole catkin blushes a vivid red.
On the female catkin each flower is just
a sheathed green seed-case topped with a
thick forked column so that the whole
catkin looks greenish. In due course the
red heads of the stamens
blows out their pollen in
thick clouds, and, if the
fates are kind, some of it
reaches the female flowers
on a female tree, but the
odds are immensely
against it. After fertiliza-
tion the seed-cases dry
and split, each half rolling
back to disclose little
black seeds to w r hich are
attached silvery hairs. And
these seen altogether
make the whole catkin
look at this stage like a
mass of white fluff. In
the aspen, which is a
species of poplar, the
awning over the in-
dividual flowers has a
fringe of long white hairs,
so that both kinds of
catkins have rather the
appearance of furry cater-
pillars.

The differentiation of
trees into male and
female has somewhat
curious results at times.
Take the case of the
steeple - like Lombardy
poplar, for instance. It
was a male tree only that
was brought to England
by Lord Rochford in
1758, so, as there could
be no seed, propagation,
therefore, had to be en-
tirely by slips cut from it. Now cuttings
always grow into trees of the same sex
as that of the individual from which
they are taken ; hence it followed that
all the subsequent Lombardy poplars
were males. Female trees could only
be secured as the result of a separate
importation. Even so, it is strange that
one very seldom finds female Lombardy
poplars in this country. There is one
near Kew Palace, but it is not charac-



terized by the extreme slenderness that
distinguishes the male form. It is, per-
haps, because of this lack of distinction,
and partly, too, because gardeners always
oppose the planting of female poplars on
account of their " messiness " in scattering




Male (a) and female () flowers of the Sweet (or Spanish) Chest-
nut. The male are the feathery upstanding catkins, the female
are the little groups at the base of some of the male catkins.



their white cottony fruit that their importa-
tion has not been encouraged.

It will have been apparent that, throughout
all this class of unisexual flowers, there is a
marked lack of colour, fragrance and sweet-
ness. And this is natural, for these are
solely forms of invitation and offers of pay-
ment to the insect world. In plants which
trust to the impersonal wind for fertilization
such blandishments would be only a sense-
less expenditure of energy.

423






Our Wild Animals at Home







Comparison of the Vole with the field-mouse is to the advantage of the latter, although
there may not be much to chose between them for destructive power.



7.-A GENUINE VULGARIAN: THE VOLE

By H. W. SHEPHEARD-WALWYN, M.A., F.Z.S., F.E.S.,
F.R.Met. Soc., F.N.B.A., etc.



THE vole is a creature entirely devoid
of personal charm. Surely the very
name is enough to make one in-
stinctively recoil ! Who could possibly
look for romance, for beauty, for attractive-
ness even, in the possessor of such a name
as vole ? To make his acquaintance in
the flesh is by no means to court disillusion-
ment. The dormouse one can fondle, the
hare one can admire, the squirrel one can
rave over, but for the vole one can feel
nothing but suspicion and dislike. He has
not even the manners of a gentleman, and
the word " sportsman " does not occur in
his vocabulary. True that, in the matter
of destructive powers, there may not be



much to chose between him and the field-
mouse. The latter, however, is open and
above-board in his actions a sportsman
from the tips of his whiskers to the end of
his long sinuous tail. If he is out for mis-
chief, one can see where he has been ; the
vole, on the other hand, never seems to lose
an opportunity for hitting below the belt.
One autumn I had occasion to plant some
valuable young trees in a corner of the
orchard ; the following spring found them
the picture of health and exuberance.
Then, without any apparent cause, one
of them drooped, withered, and died.
Another soon followed in its wake, and
presently I came out to find a third with



424



OUR WILD ANIMALS AT HOME



But the moment that a tree is completely
" ringed," it may be considered as past
praying for, and in regions where the voles
are abundant serious havoc may be wrought
in this way. I read recently of an extra-
ordinary instance of the rapid increase of
these pests, and of the injury which they
sometimes perpetrate, which occurred about
the middle of last century in the new plan-



the fresh young leaves hanging limp and
flabby from their stems. " Maybe they
wasn't planted right," said the new
gardener, glad of any opportunity to
launch a back-hander at the reputation of
his predecessor. " Rats ! " quoth I, and,
although it was only meant as an expletive,
I was much nearer the truth than I had any
idea of, for the rat is not such a very
distant relation

of But we must

not precipitate our
climax !

When yet another
of the cherished sap-
lings began to follow
suit, I determined
that the time was
ripe for action. Pick
and shovel were
requisitioned if
only to show the
sceptical gardener
that the trees had
been "planted right"
and a very few
minutes' work dis-
closed a network of
tiny burrows a foot
or more below the
surface of the
ground. However,
not even when a
small , reddish
brown animal
presently broke
cover and made a
dash for safety did
I think of connect-
ing his presence
with the deaths of
my precious

nurslings but I knew the truth when we tations made by order of the Crown in Dean
found the tender young roots nibbled and Forest and the New Forest. Shortly after




Photo: Richard Kearto>i, f.Z.S.

The Field Vole never seems to lose an opportunity of hitting below-
the belt ; he is most destructive to the root-fibres of young trees.



gnawed in truly heart-rending fashion



the formation of these plantations, a sudden



It must not be supposed that the vole and rapid increase of voles took place in

cannot also hit above the belt if the spirit them, which threatened destruction to the

should move him. There are other methods whole of the young trees. Vast numbers

of murdering a delicate young tree than by of the creatures were killed, and it was

devouring the root-fibres. It may not be found that they had eaten through the roots

generally known that the veins of a tree are of five-year-old oaks and chestnuts, gener-

in its bark. Mutilate the branches, gash ally just below the surface of the ground,

the trunk, and the tree will recover ; even Hollies also, which were five or six feet

slice off the bark wholesale so long as a bare high, were barked round the foot of the

strip is left to carry the life-blood upwards, trunk, and in some instances the voles had

4 2 5



THE PAGEANT OF NATURE



The vole is a prolific animal,
breeding three or four times a
year, and producing five or six
young at a birth. The nest, com-
posed of leaves and moss, is tucked
away amongst the roots of some
thick tuft of grass, and I have
sometimes found as many as a
dozen nests within a few yards
of meadow-land. Where adequate
means of compassing their destruc-
tion is not resorted to, these
creatures will, even nowadays, in-
crease sometimes at a pace which
is a serious menace to all forms
of cultivation, especially after a

ft(,uiu. mi/iLcs jrit-i* | T J J 1

The Bank Vole differs chiefly from the common OP lld winter. Indeed, a plague




Field Vole in the length of the tail, which is as long
again as its little body.



of voles assumed such propor-
tions in the lowlands of Scotland
a few years ago that all the

climbed the trees and were seen devouring higher pastures on the hills were destroyed.

the bark on the upper branches. Various In normal cases, however, the balance of

schemes were devised for their

destruction : traps were set, poison

laid down, and cats turned out,

but the numbers of the voles in-
creased by geometrical progression.

At length someone came forward

with a suggestion which was at

first laughed to scorn. He had

his way, however, and gangs of

workmen were set to work in

Dean Forest to dig a series of

holes about twenty yards apart,

eighteen or twenty inches in depth,

and hollowed out much wider at

the bottom than at the top. Thus

it was almost impossible for the

animals, when once in, to find

their way out again. The result

was that over thirty thousand voles

were captured, and it was calculated

that a much greater number were

taken out of the holes by stoats

and weasels, hawks and various

other birds of prey.

An even more underhand

method of hitting below the belt

and certainly more disastrous

from the farmer's point of view

is the vole's habit of burrowing

beneath the ground at sowing-
time and devouring the seed-corn

, i i i , . u A u A The nest of the Field Vole, composed of leaves and

which has just been deposited in moas> is usually tueked awa ' y in t fty gpass . as many




Photo: Stanley Crook.



the furrows.



as a dozen nests may sometimes be found near together.
426



THE PAGEANT OF NATURE



Nature is to a great extent maintained
without the aid of human agency, for
there are many creatures that find the
Vole good eating ; weasels, kestrels, and
especially owls will gather in numbers about
any particularly infested region. Damp
pastures are the favourite breeding places of
the field vole or campagnol, as it is also
named and it is very interesting to watch
them, when the dusk is falling, slithering and
sliding snake-like amongst the grass. In
many cases a highly trained eye is neces-
sary to follow their movements with any
degree of success, for they glide along so
easily that the blades are scarcely stirred
in their silent and almost imperceptible
progress, while the red-brown colouring
of their backs is so exactly similar to that
of the earth and dead leaves littered around
that you may stand and stare at one for
some minutes before realizing what it is.

The second of the three British species
is known as the bank vole, or bank cam-
pagnol, but its characteristics are so similar



to those of the common or field vole that
it would hardly be worth while to dwell
upon it at any length. The chief difference
lies in the length of the tail, which in the
case of the latter is so ridiculously stubby
and out of proportion to the rest of the
body as almost to give rise to the impres-
sion that the owner had met with an
accident, and had a piece cut off. Both
species measure from five to six inches in
length, the ears are rounded and very small,
the chest and abdomen being much lighter
in colour than the back, and the tail of the
bank vole accounts for fully half of its
total length. The field vole, with his broad,
blunt face, sunken eyes and ears, and
general sheepish expression, presents a
vivid contrast to the sprightly little field-
mouse, with which he should not be con-
founded. The latter is not a Vole at all,
but a genuine mouse. It is a curious fact
that the genus vole is quite unknown in
Ireland but no doubt Ireland has enough
trouble without it !




rhoto : Frauds 1 i t.



A highly trained eye is necessary to follow the movements of Voles, for they glide
along so easily that the blades of grass are scarcely stirred in their silent progress.

428



PMEYLAND gfNATURE,






Pages for the Children

HOCKLIN



" Like prim little girls at school the seven blue Kingfishers sat ranged along the branch."



V. The Dragon and the Seven Blue

Maidens.



TOPSY ! " said Boodles medi-
tatively. *' If you were just
as big as my thumb, I
know where there is a great fierce
dragon who would carry you off
to his cave, and then I'd be St.
George in golden armour, and
come and rescue you ! "

" Nonsense ! " said his matter-
of-fact sister. " Dragons were all
killed off hundreds of years ago.
What stories you do make up,
Boodles ! "

" 'Tisn't stories ! " said Boodles.
" I do know where there's a mon-
strous dragon ! At least he would
be monstrous if only we were small
enough ! He's got a long scaly
body and four legs with claws and
a long twisty, scaly tail ! "
" Oh Boodles ! " joined in




Popsi, always agog for adventure.
44 Do tell me where he is ! Can't
we go and find him ? "

4 \Well," said Boodles. 44 We shall
have to make ourselves very, very
small, and crawl on hands and
knees through the tangly grass till
we come to the river, and then per-
haps we'll see him looking out of
his cave ! "

44 Come on, Topsy ! " cried Popsi.
44 Do let's go and see ! "

Topsy, though she did not believe
in fairy tales, was curious enough
to join in the expedition, and away
they all went, down through the
orchard and over the meadow to
the marshy lands by the river.

What a tangle of grass and reeds
and thistles they had to crawl
through ! The feathery wild



OOOOQPOODOOOOPOOOOO OPPPPOPPOPOOOOOCOOOOOPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPOPPOPOOOOCOOPPPPPPPPPP :

429





THE PAGEANT OF NATURE



parsley grew so tall that it made a
white lace -work over their heads.
In the reeds a warbler was trilling
away to his little wife on her nest,
while on a bush near by a chaffinch
was singing over and over again




does a kingfisher make ? " asked
Boodles.

44 I know ! " said Popsi. " Spring
was telling me last time I saw her.
If it can't find a nice hole ready-
made it digs one itself in the river
bank ever so far
in, so that you
can't reach the
eggs however
much you
stretch J "

44 And then,"
continued Topsy,
44 it makes the
most uncomfort-
able nest you can
imagine ! No
cosy little home
lined with
feathers, but a
horrid mass of
fish bones and
bones it has al-
swallowed
It rolls
up in its
and then
them up,



Photo :
A. M. C. Nicholl.



The Chaffinch always seems so pleased with his little song

that he sings it over and over again " What-a-funny-

thing-o-squee-chu ! "



his descending run of notes, round-
ing them off each time with a queer,
up - and - down " Squee - chu I "
which sounded as if he were very
well pleased with his performance.

Suddenly, as they crept on, a glint
of blue light flashed out of the
willow tree, scored its way from
right to left, and vanished down
the river.

44 Oh ! " gasped Popsi and
Boodles.

44 Oh ! " cried Topsy. " It must
have been a kingfisher ! Let's see
if we can find his nest ! "

44 What sort of a nest



ready

too !

them

inside

spits

and then sits on

them to shape the

nest ! "

44 Well, never
mind the kingfisher!" said Popsi.
44 Do let's get on and find the
dragon ! "

* 4 He lives over here," said
Boodles, leading them through the
reeds to a shallow pool that lay
back from the river. Then round