The Wit of the Wild 



? 



Then I saw that she was not one of the 

 broad-winged brown wasps so numerous about 

 this house in the edge of the woods, but a 

 slender, thread-waisted one, exceedingly active 

 afoot, and carrying her wings like two slats 

 along her back; in fact, each was folded up 

 like a fan of three sticks. 



Right behind the flexible rod of a waist, 

 where the body swelled again, was a bright red 

 band ; and so I called her Madame Redbelt, for 

 I did not then know her book-name, which is 

 Ammophila urnaria. You may read scientific 

 history of her, if you wish, in that fine treatise, 

 "The Instincts and Habits of the Solitary 

 Wasps," by George W. and Elizabeth G. 

 Peckham. 



A wide crack in the top of the wall, under 

 the web, was filled with dry earth in which a 

 few small weeds grew, and this tiny garden 

 seemed greatly to interest the little lady, who 

 darted hither and thither examining every 

 inch. 



Suddenly she halted and began to scratch 

 with' her foremost feet, sending the grains of 



