NOTES BY THE WAY 



Pickering's hyla l that also pipes occasionally 

 in the woods.) I have discovered, also, that we 

 have a musical spider. One sunny April day, while 

 seated on the borders of the woods, my attention 

 was attracted by a soft, uncertain, purring sound 

 that proceeded from the dry leaves at my feet. On 

 investigating the matter, I found that it was made 

 by a busy little spider. Several of them were trav- 

 eling about over the leaves, as if in quest of some 

 lost cue or secret. Every moment or two they would 

 pause, and by some invisible means make the low, 

 purring sound referred to. Dr. J. A. Allen says the 

 common turtle, or land tortoise, also has a note, 

 a loud, shrill, piping sound. It may yet be discov- 

 ered that there is no silent creature in nature. 



THE SAND HORNET 



I turned another (to me) new page in natural 

 history, when, during the past season, I made the 

 acquaintance of the sand wasp or hornet. From 

 boyhood I had known the black hornet, with his 

 large paper nest, and the spiteful yellow- jacket, 

 with his lesser domicile, and had cherished proper 

 contempt for the various indolent wasps. But the 

 sand hornet was a new bird, in fact, the harpy 

 eagle among insects, and he made an impression. 

 While walking along the road about midsummer, I 



1 A frequent piper in the woods throughout the summer and 

 early fall. 



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