126 GODBOLD'S. 



have been known by the name of Godbold's : before that 

 great era in the affairs of men, when it pleased my mother 

 to clothe me in the noble garb before alluded to, it was de- 

 nominated Oglethorpe's. On these subjects, bursting, as 

 they seem to be, with all those factella, or little facts, 

 which make a story pleasant, I must be silent for the pre- 

 sent; the only object I now have in mentioning Godbold's, 

 is to say that it was there I watched the manosuvres of the 

 BURYING-BEETLE. Waring Kidd had shot a bulfmch, 

 but it was spoiled for stuffing, and thrown down as useless 

 by the side of the path just by the bath. It was on this 

 bulfinch, and in this situation, that I had the pleasure of 

 seeing the burying-beetle at work. 



Two days after, I was again in Godbold's ; and seeing 

 the bulfinch lie where he had been left, I lifted him up by 

 a leg, intending to make a present of him to a fine colony 

 of ants established a little further on in the days of Gene- 

 ral Oglethorpe, and which had maintained their station 

 ever since. They had made many a pretty skeleton for 

 me, and I intended to add that of a bulfinch to the store, 

 but the buzz of a beetle round my head caught my ear ; 

 he flew smack against the bulfinch which I was holding 

 up by the leg, and fell at my feet. I knew that the gen- 

 tleman was a burying-beetle, and as I put the bird down 

 for him, he soon found it, mounted upon it, and, after 

 much examination, opened out his wing-cases, and flew 

 away. I will profit by his absence, to tell you a bit of his 

 history. 



The burying-beetle is about an inch in length ; he is 

 black, with two bands across his back of a bright orange 

 colour ; these bands are formed by two blotches of that 

 colour on each of the wing-cases : he is a disgusting crea- 



