A Furious Battle. 283 



tion, that about that time there is a movement in 

 nature. The croaking of frogs, the singing of larks 

 and thrushes, are distinctly suggestive of spring 

 (the weather, too, was warm and showery, with 

 intervals of bright sunshine ) ; the grasshopper and 

 dragon-fly were characteristic of summer, and there 

 were a few swallows still flying about ; the pheasants 

 and the acorns, and the puff-balls, full of minute 

 powder rising in clouds if struck, spoke of autumn ; 

 and, finally, the first redwing indicated winter : so 

 that all the seasons were represented together in 

 about the space of a fortnight. I do not know any 

 other period of the year which exhibits so remark- 

 able an assemblage of the representative features 

 of the four quarters : an artist might design an 

 emblematic study upon it say for a tesselated pave- 

 ment. 



In the early summer the lime-trees flower, and are 

 then visited by busy swarms of bees, causing a hum 

 in the air overhead. So, in like manner, on October 

 16, I passed under an old oak almost hidden b} 7 ivy, 

 and paused to listen to the loud hum made by the 

 insects that came to the ivy blossom. They were 

 principally bees, wasps, large black flies, and tiny 

 gnats. Suddenly a wasp attacked one of the largest 

 of the flies, and the two fell down on a bush, where 

 they brought up on a leaf. 



The fly was very large, of a square build, and 

 wrestled with its assailant vigorously. But in a few 

 seconds, the wasp, getting the mastery, brought his 

 tail round, and stung the fly twice, thrice, in rapid 

 succession in the abdomen, and then held tight. 

 Almost immediately the fly grew feeble ; then the 



