A SHARP LOOKOUT 



some seasons than others ; what is the value 

 of the unknown quantity here ? Does it 

 indicate a severe winter approaching ? Only 

 observations extending over a series of years 

 could determine the point. How much pa- 

 tient observation it takes to settle many of 

 the facts in the lives of the birds, animals, 

 and insects ! Gilbert White was all his life 

 trying to determine whether or not swallows 

 passed the winter in a torpid state in the 

 mud at the bottom of ponds and marshes, 

 and he died ignorant of the truth that they 

 do not. Do honey-bees injure the grape 

 and other fruits by puncturing the skin for 

 the juice ? The most patient watching by 

 many skilled eyes all over the country has 

 not yet settled the point. For my own 

 part, I am convinced that they do not. The 

 honey-bee is not the rough-and-ready free- 

 booter that the wasp and bumblebee are ; 

 she has somewhat of feminine timidity, and 

 leaves the first rude assaults to them. I knew 

 the honey-bee was very fond of the locust 

 blossoms, and that the trees hummed like 

 a hive in the height of their flowering, but 

 I did not know that the bumblebee was 

 ever the sapper and miner that went ahead 

 in this enterprise, till one day I placed my- 

 199 



