732 



ai Natural f&t 



which her proceedings were the same, save 

 that at length she seemed to become very 

 angry, and endeavoured to catch the house- 

 flies that were flying and crawling near. I 

 have no doubt that she suspected them of 

 having a hand in it. At all events, she 

 jumped at them very snappishly whenever 

 they came near, and sometimes even with 

 the load in her mouth, but I did not see that 

 she caught one. Once too, a large Ichneu- 

 mon was lurking about, at whom she fiercely 

 flew, and I think they had a short struggle. 

 At times she would linger at a little dis- 

 tance after depositing her load, apparently 

 hoping to catch the insidious housebreaker, 

 in the manner,' as lawyers say. 



" At length I broke off a large piece from 

 the side and bottom, exposing the spiders to 

 view ; this, however, she speedily built up 

 as before, at two or three loads, adding to 

 the standing part all round the hole, and 

 not at one side only. After this I did not 

 put her industry to the task any more, but 

 suffered her to finish her work, which she 

 did by adding another layer or two to the 

 end. I, however, made a hole in the first 

 cell, which was quite hard and dry, to see 

 if she would observe it, which she did at 

 once, and clapped her load of mortar on it. 

 I noticed, that while working, though the 

 wings were closed incumbently, she kept up 

 a shrill buzz, like that of a bee when held 

 in the fingers : her antennae, which were 

 usually carried nearly straight, were, during 

 the plastering, curled up, and continually 

 vibrating, and moving on the surface of the 

 work, evidently trying it by touch, which I 

 could not see without rejecting the theory 

 that calls the antennae ' ears.' In seeking 

 her materials, she was gone never more, often 

 less, than a minute, and always brought a 

 similar lump in appearance, which was in- 

 variably carried in the jaws, without any 

 aid from the feet. 



" July 1 The Dauber built another cell 

 to-day, on the other side of the first, which 

 is now therefore in the middle. I again 

 pestered her, by sticking a small tin tack in 

 the newly laid mud, just where she would 

 have to deposit the next load. When she 

 came she appeared quite ' bothered ; ' she 

 ran backward and forward, and round and 

 round, over the cells for some time, with the 

 mud in her jaws, as if at a loss what to do 

 in so novel an exigency. It was a different 

 case from the former ; a hole could be stopped 

 up, but here was an intruding substance just 

 where she wanted to deposit ; should she 

 lay it on, the incumbrance would be more 

 firmly imbedded ; should she place it else- 

 where, it would be wasted, not being needed, 

 or perhaps be positively injurious ; should 

 she attempt to remove the evil, her mouth 

 was occupied, and she was unwilling to lose 

 her burden. At length, however, as the least 

 of the evils, she seized the tack with her 

 jaws and drew it out, dropping her mud in 

 the effort. When away the next time, I 

 bundled up a worsted thread, and pressed it 

 on the soft work, which presented a still 

 more serious obstacle, as she could seize only 

 a small part of it which would yield without 

 coming away ; however, by taking hold of 



several parts successively, and tugging at 

 them a long time, and by walking round and 

 round with it in her mouth, she at length 

 got it out. These instances of sagacity and 

 perseverance greatly pleased me. After lay- 

 ing on a load, she always cleans her antennae 

 with her fore-feet, and her feet with her 

 jaws : on arriving she never alights at the 

 nest, but always on the inside of the cup- 

 board-froiit, and crawls along the ceiling to 

 it. 



" Aug. 6 I pulled down the nest of the 



yellow-footed Dauber, to which other cells 

 had been added in succession after the last 

 record. On examining them now, I find 

 three perfected insects have made their exit, 

 one has died in making its way out, two are 

 in pupa, one black and near perfection, the 

 other white and nearly turned, and two are 

 in larva, one large, the other very small, 

 making eight originally in the nest. Many 

 of the spiders remained uneaten, most of 

 them were handsomely studded with scarlet 

 spots on a black ground. It was in looking 

 at these pupas that I first was aware how a 

 difficulty of no ordinary magnitude was got 

 over. How do insects, whose abdomen is 

 peduncled, draw it out of the pupa skin, 

 seeing the peduncle is so slender ? I should 

 have guessed that the skin woald be rup- 

 tured, but it is not so. These Daubers have 

 a very long and slender peduncle, but the 

 skin of the pupa, close in every other part, 

 is as wide around the peduncle as around 

 the abdomen, stretching across from the 

 thorax to the summit of the abdomen, like 

 a loose garment. What a beautiful example 

 of Divine foresight in creation I " 



WATER-HEN. [See GALLINULE.] 

 WATER-OUZEL. [See OUZEL.] 

 WATER-SNAKE. [See HYDROPHIS.] 

 WATTLE-BIRD. [See TALEGALLA.] 



WAVE [MOTHS]. A name given by 

 collectors to different species of Moths, of the 

 genera Ptychopoda, Emmeleaia, Cabera, &c. 



WAXWING. (.Bombycilla.) We learn 

 from Bonaparte's supplement to Wilson's 

 entertaining ' American Ornitholgy,' that 

 the Waxwings, " having no other represen- 

 tative in Europe or North America are easily 

 recognized by their short turgid bill, trigonal 

 at base, somewhat compressed and curved at 

 tip, where both mandibles are strongly 

 notched ; their short feet, and rather long 

 subacute wings. But their most curious 

 trait consists in the small, flat, oblong ap- 

 pendages, resembling in colour and sub- 

 stance red sealing-wax, found at the tips of 

 the secondaries in the adult. These ap- 

 pendages are merely the coloured corneous 

 prolongation of the shafts beyond the webs 

 of the feathers." " The Waxwings," he 

 adds, " live in numerous flocks, keeping by 

 pairs only in the breeding season ; and so 

 social is their disposition, that, as soon as 

 the young are ably to fly, they collect in 

 large bands from the whole neighbourhood. 

 They perform extensive journeys, and are 

 great and irregular wanderers. Far from 

 being shy, they are simple and easily tamed, 



