JUNE, 1883. 309 



dangling in the air about a yard above the grass. At 

 first it looks like a head of dried grass hanging on a 

 gossamer thread, but we have seen similar gymnastics 

 performed before by a caterpillar too frequently to be 

 misled, and so we seek by tickling the little fellow to get 

 him to wind himself up again, a very ingenious perfor- 

 mance that we used to enjoy observing. But this one 

 is determined to go down, and refuses to climb, and we 

 petulantly sweep the long grass we are using across this 

 rope, tossing the grass from us when we have done so. 

 Cruelty, you will say, to destroy his rope ladder, and 

 cast him friendless among the long grass ! Wait a bit ! 

 Not only does he not come to grief, but, to our surprise, 

 the slender gossamer line carries grass stem and cater- 

 pillar both, rudely as the former was added to its burden. 

 The tenacity of this line, that is scarcely perceptible 

 unless the light falls upon it in a certain direction, must 

 be great, and the caterpillar must have prepared it against 

 emergencies, when an additional weight, quite equal to 

 the creature itself, driven violently against it, and hanging 

 on to it, fails to destroy it. We left the double burden 

 dangling and swinging in the breeze, the caterpillar still 

 seeking to reach the grass by a steady descent. 



Those fellows are making a most unconscionable row, 

 and we always start them about the same place on the 

 knoll. It is clear they must have a nest about, although 

 by this time it is late for eggs. Thus we reason ; and 

 partly stimulated by pride as a nester, partly stirred to it 

 by their continual iteration, we beat the ground steadily 

 without result. We find what we would consider the 

 empty cavity that had formed the simple nest of the 

 birds, but they go on piping as vigorously as if we had 

 robbed them of their treasure. Amused at their 



