266 WASPS AND THEIR WAYS 



before taking it again. For sixty feet she 

 kept to open ground, passing between two 

 rows of bushes, but at the end of this 

 division of the garden, she plunged, very 

 much to our dismay, into a field of stand- 

 ing corn. Here we had great difficulty in 

 following her, since, far from keeping to 

 her former orderly course, she zigzagged 

 among the plants in the most bewildering 

 fashion, although keeping a general direc- 

 tion of northeast. It seemed quite impos- 

 sible that she could know where she was 

 going. The corn rose to a height of six 

 feet all around us; the ground was uni- 

 form in appearance, and, to our eyes, each 

 group of corn-stalks was just .like every 

 other group; and yet, without pause or 

 hesitation, the little creature passed quickly 

 along, as we might through the familiar 

 streets of our native town. 



" At last she paused and laid the burden 

 down. Ah 1 the power that has led her is 

 not a blind, mechanically perfect instinct, 



