262 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



became an intolerable nuisance, and the enraged ant- 

 lion emerged, and, seizing the suspended ant, gave it one 

 toss that sent it far beyond the pit. But the thread 

 controlled its motions, and in a second it was back again, 

 aided by a little movement that I gave it. The ant-lion 

 again seized it, and, apparently realizing the situation, 

 gave it a jerk which tore it from the thread, and then 

 dragged it out of sight, beneath the bottom of the pit. 



Do not accord to ants and bees all the intelligence of 

 the insect world. 



September 30. — Wandering southward, along the 

 hillside, interest centred in the absence of usual occur- 

 rences and sights. The drought has even affected the 

 flocking of certain birds, for the scattered companies of 

 grakles and red-wings are poor apologies for the autum- 

 nal gatherings of thousands, that are so marked a feature 

 of the meadow landscape in September. 



Speaking of flocking blackbirds, I have wondered if it 

 were true that the pin-feather birds bring up the rear, in 

 all large flocks. I have often been told so, and market 

 gunners say they always fire into the end of a flock, be- 

 cause it contains the young birds, and these sell Tnore 

 readily as reed-birds! How good a thing would it be 

 if English sparrows could be made palatable by some 

 cunning of the cook's art. I have made trials, but these 

 foreign disintegrators of equine ejecta were bitter, bitter, 

 bitter ! 



But if the flockidg red-wings miserably maintained 

 their old-time reputation, the bluebirds did not fail to 

 preserve theirs. From stake to stake, along the zigzag 



