MY WOODLAND INTIMATES 



and eyeing him sternly as he performed his ablu- 

 tions, and when he emerged the three disappeared 

 as they had come; the grackle in the centre and 

 the robin guard on each side. 



Over in the honeysuckle vines, at a little dis- 

 tance from the table d'hote, you will see a curious- 

 looking object fastened, cocoon-like, in among a 

 cluster of leafless twigs. My sister came upon it 

 a few days ago while carefully inspecting the 

 vines, and some little nature-loving friends of 

 mine enlightened me as to its meaning. It is the 

 egg-mass of the praying mantis; not our Ameri- 

 can species, but a foreigner recently introduced 

 experimentally in our neighborhood. This is no 

 doubt the very mantis religiosa which appeared 

 to the devout St. Francis Xavier as he walked in 

 his garden. " A great, winged insect, walking 

 with head bent down, and forelegs stretched out 

 and elevated in an attitude of prayer." 



" He was much astonished at this circum- 

 stance," says the narrator of the incident, " but 

 much more so on hearing the humble creature 

 chant a beautiful canticle, after the custom of 

 that period, with great solemnity." * 



It was thus that the saint and mystic saw and 



* E. Van Bruyssel, in The Population of an Old Pear-Tree. 



['36] 



