458 OBSERVATIONS ON 



purpose in the business of nidification. It is very pleasant to 

 see with what address it strips off the pubes, running from the 

 top to the bottom of a branch, and shaving it bare with all the 

 dexterity of a hoop-shaver. When it has got a vast bundle, 

 almost as large as itself, it flies away, holding it secure be- 

 tween its chin and its fore legs. 



There is a remarkable hill on the downs near Lewes in 

 Sussex, known by the name of Mount Carburn ; which over- 

 looks that town, and affords a most engaging prospect of all 

 the country round, besides several views of the sea. On the 

 very summit of this exalted promontory, and amidst the 

 trenches of its Danish camp, there haunts a species of wild 

 bee, making its nest in the chalky soil. When people ap- 

 proach the place, these insects begin to be alarmed, and, with 

 a sharp and hostile sound, dash and strike round the heads 

 and faces of intruders. I have often been interrupted myself 

 while contemplating the grandeur of the scenery around me, 

 and have thought myself in danger of being stung. WHITE. 



WASPS. 



Wasps abound in woody wild districts far from neighbour- 

 hoods ; they feed on flowers, and catch flies and caterpillars 

 to carry to their young. Wasps make their nests with the 

 raspings of sound timber; hornets, with what they gnaw 

 from decayed : these particles of wood are kneaded up with a 

 mixture of saliva from their bodies, and moulded into combs. 



When there is no fruit in the gardens, wasps eat flies, and 

 suck the honey from flowers, from ivy blossoms, and umbel- 

 lated plants : they carry off also flesh from butchers shambles. 

 WHITE. 



In the year 1775 wasps abounded so prodigiously in this 

 neighbourhood, that, in the month of August, no less than 

 seven or eight of their nests were ploughed up in one field ; 

 of which there were several instances, as I was informed. 



In the spring, about the beginning of April, a single wasp 



