The Processionary : the Nest 



tern-light, often in bad weather, to see what 

 happens in the pine-trees at the end of the en- 

 closure, I have installed half-a-dozen nests 

 in a greenhouse, a modest, glazed shelter 

 which, though hardly any warmer than the air 

 outside, at least affords protection from the 

 wind and rain. Fixed in the sand, at a height 

 of about eighteen inches, by the base of the 

 bough that serves as both an axis and a frame- 

 work, each nest receives for rations a bundle 

 of little pine-branches, which are renewed as 

 soon as they are consumed. I take my lan- 

 tern every evening and pay my boarders a 

 visit. This is the way in which most of my 

 facts are obtained. 



After the day's work comes the evening 

 meal. The caterpillars descend from the nest, 

 adding a few more threads to the silvery 

 sheath of the support, and reach the posy of 

 fresh green stuff which is lying quite near. It 

 is a magnificent sight to see the red-coated 

 band lined up in twos and threes on each 

 needle and in ranks so closely formed that the 

 green sprigs of the bunch bend under the load. 



The diners, all motionless, all poking their 

 heads forward, nibble in silence, placidly. 

 Their broad black foreheads gleam in the 



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