178 A NATURALIST IN HIMALAYA 



Far and wide these wasps had scattered over the 

 country. Wherever filth and refuse had accumulated 

 there were the wasps to be seen searching every 

 corner for a precious burden. Down the village 

 street, exploring every nook and cranny in the foul 

 bazars, boldly entering every shop, busy amongst the 

 mules and camels of our transport and far around 

 over the fertile fields, these industrious insects were 

 engaged from morning to night in a continual search 

 for plunder. Fragments of decomposing meat, decay- 

 ing remnants of fish or anything of a sugary nature 

 was enveloped in a swarm, torn into pieces by a 

 hundred busy jaws and carried off to the nest. These 

 wasps, at certain times, are the natural scavengers of 

 the country. With the kites, the pariah dogs and the 

 dung-rolling beetles, they help to cleanse the village of 

 its refuse. 



At one place they had crowded round a dead 

 pigeon. Nothing was left of the flesh but a few tough 

 fragments on the wings which the wasps were unable 

 to separate from the bases of the quills. They 

 dragged about the feathers and the whole wings in the 

 attempt to bite away the hard fibres, and one of them, 

 unable to detach the flesh and unwilling to desert its 

 provender, sailed away for the nest carrying in its tiny 

 claws a large pinion almost five inches in length. It 

 was amusing to watch the insect struggling in the air 

 laden with this strange burden. The breeze seized 

 the broad vane of the feather ; the wasp was wafted 

 about by every wind and sometimes whirled around in 

 circles in the air, yet it still struggled on, and at every 

 interval of calm it renewed its efforts to make direct 

 for the nest. All the changing and eddying breezes, 



