More Hunting Wasps 



themselves by brigandage as well. We are 

 told of the Skua, that pirate of the seas, that 

 he swoops down upon the fishing birds, at 

 the moment when they rise from the water 

 with a capture. With a blow of the beak 

 delivered in the pit of the stomach he makes 

 them give up their prey, which is caught by 

 the robber in mid-air. The despoiled bird 

 at least gets off with nothing worse than a 

 contusion at the base of the throat. The 

 Philanthus, a less scrupulous pirate, pounces 

 on the Bee, stabs her to death and makes 

 her disgorge in order to feed upon her honey. 

 I say feed and I do not withdraw the word. 

 To support my statement I have better rea- 

 sons than those set forth above. In the 

 cages in which various Hunting Wasps, whose 

 stratagems of war I am engaged in studying, 

 are waiting till I have procured the desired 

 prey — not always an easy thing — I have 

 planted a few flower-spikes, a thistle-head or 

 two, on which are placed drops of honey 

 renewed at need. Here my captives come 

 to take their meals. With the Philanthus, 

 the provision of honeyed flowers, though fa- 

 vourably received, is not indispensable. I 

 have only to let a few live Bees into her cage 

 from time to time. Half a dozen a day is 

 about the proper allowance. With no other 

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