POPPIES 



65 



and from the old Camino real and the 

 "Valley of Angels" in the south, to the 

 snow-capped mountains in the north, 

 the golden poppies possess the land. 

 Everywhere is the "verdure patched 

 with cloth of gold." They are like 

 beacon fires on meadow and on moun- 

 tain slope, and we are told that mari- 

 ners have seen their color when thirty 

 miles out at sea. It is said that these 

 golden poppies gave the name to the 

 Golden Gate. 



Notwithstanding all their pride in 

 their golden poppies, Californians will 

 tell you, "But, wait ; you must see our 

 Poppy Queen ! You have never seen 

 flowers until you see Matilija." 



The Matilija, of whitest, crumpled, 

 silken tissue, is from five to ten inches 

 across, and is filled at the center with 

 circle upon circle of filaments, purple 

 stalked and tipped with gold. It has 

 other names suggestive of California 

 and of mission bells but its most musi- 

 cal is Matilija, and its most heart al- 

 luring is "ama flower" a lingering love 

 name given to it in the old Californian 

 days of romance. 



Sow their seed once and you have 

 poppies forever. The seeds brought 

 to me long ago from the Isle of 

 Shoals, from the garden planted there 

 with a song by Celia Thaxter, give 

 me each succeeding year an ever in- 

 creasing wealth, and as I stand among 

 my treasures, I can do no less than 

 gather them with the tenderness that 

 Mother Nature shows as she lifts them 

 on her loving bosom and lends them 

 to us for a day, that we may love their 

 diaphanous beauty, and be glad. 



An Unusual Hornets' Nest. 



Mr. W. E. Covert, of Aldemere, B. 

 C, Canada, publishes in the "Ameri- 

 can Photography" of Boston, a re- 

 markable photograph of a hornets' 

 nest. I asked him for the particulars. 

 He is unable to give any details. He 

 does not know what kind of hornet 

 occupied the nest. He writes as fol- 

 lows : 



"The nest itself was about six inches 

 long, the neck four inches, the body 

 two inches, with a circumference of 

 eight inches at the largest part. It 

 was found about two feet from the 

 ground, on a poplar tree." 



The photograph was sent to Dr. L. 

 O. Howard of Washington, D. C. He 

 writes as follows : 



A HORNETS' NEST WITH A NECK 



"An expert of this Bureau, Mr. S. A. 

 Rohwer, reports that it is impossible to 

 determine from the nest alone. The 

 habit of making the nest in this fash- 

 ion is very unusual for American 

 species, and he knows of no nest of 

 an American Vespula which normally 

 has the cylindrical extension shown 

 in the photograph. If adults are pre- 

 served from this nest, we would be 

 glad to have them for determination, 

 and we should also be glad to have a 

 print of the photograph for our col- 

 lection." 



Can a reader give us any information 

 on this subject? 



July. 



The screech owl bids 

 With drowsy lids, 

 Glad welcome to the katydids ; 

 The nestlings leave their downy homes, 

 And perch themselves on forest domes ; 

 Green cornfields laugh in tassels gay, 

 And plow boys fork the new-cut hay; 

 Brown thrashers gripe, 

 While loud they pipe, 

 Red earthworms and big berries ripe. 



— Robert Sparks Walker. 



