46 BIRDS AND POETS 
and proceed to dress and draw his game. The 
wings were sheared off, the legs cut away, the bris- 
tles trimmed, then the body thoroughly bruised and 
broken. When the work was completed, the fly 
was rolled up into a small pellet, and with it under 
his arm the hornet flew to his nest, where no doubt 
in due time it was properly served up on the royal 
board. Every dinner inside these paper walls is a 
state dinner, for the queen bee is always present. 
T used to mount the ladder to within two or three 
feet of the nest and observe the proceedings. I at 
first thought the workshop must be inside, —a place 
where the pulp was mixed, and perhaps treated with 
chemicals; for each bee, when he came with his 
burden of materials, passed into the nest, and then, 
after a few moments, emerged again and crawled to 
the place of building. But I one day stopped up 
the entrance with some cotton, when no one hap- 
pened to be on guard, and then observed that, when 
the loaded bee could not get inside, he, after some 
deliberation, proceeded to the unfinished part and 
went forward with his work. Hence I inferred 
that maybe the bee went inside to report and to 
receive orders, or possibly to surrender its material 
into fresh hands. Its career when away from the 
nest is beset with dangers; the colony is never large, 
and the safe return of every bee is no doubt a mat- 
ter of solicitude to the royal mother. 
The hornet was the first paper-maker, and holds 
the original patent. The paper it makes is about 
like that of the newspaper; nearly as firm, and made 
