196 WASPS AND THEIR WAYS 



As she works she curls up her precious 

 antennae so that the delicate tips cannot 

 come in contact with the earth. 



Sometimes her load is so large that she 

 is obliged to hold it in place by clasping 

 her forelegs about it. 



When she has her little ball in her jaws, 

 she flies home. 



Her load is so heavy that she is tilted 

 down by it, her head often being much 

 lower than the rest of her body. Up goes 

 her tail, down goes her head and she 

 speeds away on hurrying wings, soon 

 lost to sight, unless her nest hap- 

 pens to be very near the mud upon 

 which she is working. 

 Mud-daubers once made their nests 

 under the roof of a small shed, coming in 

 and going out through a little window at 

 one end. And here it was discovered that 

 they, too, have their troubles. 



The wind was blowing, the window was 

 small, and as the laden wasp neared the 



