SEPTEMBER 15: The Children’s Museum
“The other day,” said daddy, “when I had to be in Washington on business, I found a little spare time in which to visit the children’s miniature museum in a building known as the Smithsonian Institution. Now, in this museum, where there were different kinds of birds and insects and trees, there was a description of the bird or of the insect, and of its ways. Among the insects and spiders were some scorpions and the thousand legged creature. Mr. Thousand Legs is very long and has lots of little legs underneath him.
“Of course he must have lots and lots of little legs when he is called Mr. Thousand Legs.
“Then I saw Mr. Tarantula from South America. Mr. Tarantula can catch birds. Then Mr. Giant Walking Stick was there with long feelers coming from his head. He, too, had been brought from South America.
“He had some little feelers, too, and three pairs of legs which are almost enough for any creature.
“He was grayish white in color.
“Then,” daddy continued, “there were examples of different kinds of trees and of the different creatures who lived in the trees, and of how they could protect themselves by the color of the nests they made, and by the safety habits they had.
“For example, the Brown Creeper creeps over the bark of trees which have much the same coloring as his feathers.
“The Wood Pewee has a nest, bending down, in the tree, shaped and fixed so that it almost looks like a part of the tree.
“Then the bird called the Least Tern always lays its eggs among the pebbles on the beach and the eggs and the babies are much the same color as the pebbles.
“In that way the Least Tern can protect the eggs from the Sea Gulls who would steal them if they thought they were eggs instead of pebbles.
“Mrs. Night-hawk’s ground nest is made to look like dead leaves and just like the ground. It is hidden that way. And it made me think yet again how clever the birds are.”