The Mantis: her Hatching 



above I The Sparrow is the first to hear of 

 the ripe cherries and comes trooping, morn- 

 ing and evening, to pilfer and squall; he in- 

 forms his friends in the neighbourhood, the 

 Greenfinch and the Warbler, who hasten up 

 and banquet for weeks on end. Butterflies 

 flit from one nibbled cherry to another, 

 taking delicious sips at each. Rose-chafers 

 bite great mouthfuls out of the fruit, then 

 fall asleep sated. Wasps and Hornets burst 

 open the sweet caskets ; and the Gnats follow 

 to get drunk in their wake. A plump mag- 

 got, settled in the very centre of the pulp, 

 blissfully feasts upon its juicy dwelling-house 

 and waxes big and fat. It will rise from 

 table to change into a comely Fly. 



On the ground there are others at the 

 banquet. A host of footpads is battening 

 on the fallen cherries. At night, the Field- 

 mice come gathering the stones stripped 

 by the Wood-lice, Earwigs, Ants and Slugs; 

 they hoard them in their burrows. During 

 the long winter they will make holes in them 

 to extract and nibble the kernels. A num- 

 berless throng lives upon the generous cherry- 

 tree. 



What would the tree require to provide 

 a successor one day and maintain Its species 



183 



