The Hunting Wasps 



the roadmender's friend. But one need not 

 go far north to find the favourite spots for the 

 Skylark's broods: the next department, the 

 Drome, is rich in his nests. It is very 

 probable therefore that, out of the numbers 

 of Skylarks that come to take possession of 

 our plains for the whole of autumn and 

 winter, there are many that travel no farther 

 than the Drome. They have only to migrate 

 to the next department to find plains free 

 from snow and a steady supply of tiny seeds. 

 A like migration to a short distance seems to 

 me to have caused the crowd of Ammophilae 

 which I surprised near the top of Mont 

 Ventoux. I have shown that this Wasp 

 spends the winter in the perfect insect-state, 

 hidden in some shelter and waiting until April 

 to make her nest. She also, like the Skylark, 

 must take her precautions against the frosty 

 season. Though she need not fear the lack 

 of food, being capable of fasting until the 

 return of the flowers, she must at least, deli- 

 cate creature that she is, guard against the 

 fatal attacks of the cold. She will therefore 

 flee snowy country, the districts where the 

 ground freezes to a great depth; she will 

 assemble in a migratory caravan, after the 

 manner of the birds, and, crossing hill and 

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