Wasps and Ants 45 



Joe could tell where they had been by the 

 color of the dropped pellets. Mud from the 

 orchard was almost black, that from the calf- 

 pond distinctly reddish. Sometimes he pur- 

 posely renewed the yard-puddle he liked to 

 watch the nests grow, and they grew very 

 much faster with building stuff handy. 



Building began by sticking a thickish lump 

 against a flat surface. Two or three balls 

 commonly went into this lump. The walls 

 spread from it either side in a sort of semi- 

 Gothic arch, and grew to a gallery, often 

 longer than the hand. Throughout the build- 

 ing the arch remained. New work began 

 in the point of it a laden dauber stuck a 

 mud-ball there and spread it down one side 

 or the other, using fore legs for trowels, and 

 stretching the ball into an earth-cord. Dried, 

 these round cords formed walls as thick as 

 thin cardboard, and ridged delicately all over. 

 Each ridge outlined the wall-arch. Some- 

 times a dauber built so fast there was an 

 inch of gallery with the mortar still wet. 



The daubers were poor judges of mortar, 

 for all their experience. Black stuff, such as 

 came from the orchard, was hardly worth 

 bringing in. Dry, it crumbled for the least 

 jar. Red-clay mud made fairly good walls, 

 but not as good as yellow, which dried almost 

 flint-hard. No dauber in good standing was 



