YELLOW JACKETS AND HORNETS. 175 



plentiful. Several of the former visit me at 

 every meal, and alight on my bananas, sip my 

 orange juice and invade my sugar can. One of 

 them this morn was too inquisitive and fell into 

 my pan of hot water. Though he possessed a 

 hot reception for any one who crossed his wishes, 

 he got a hotter one there a taste of hades be- 

 fore reaching its confines. The hornets have not 

 bothered me much as yet, though at breakfast 

 when I removed the cover I found one in my 

 cup of butter. Several of them are frequently 

 seen on the base of the oak tree by the side of 

 my tent. They are perhaps gathering material 

 for their paper nests, though they usually se- 

 cure it from the sides of old houses or old posts 

 or rails. 



Chiggers also have gotten busy, and following 

 the advice of M., I last evening gave them a 

 dose of coal-oil well rubbed in. An excellent 

 remedy for chiggers is it but not o'er pleasing 

 to my sense of smell. 



On going down to the boat to get my sunfish 

 for breakfast I could nowhere see them and 

 thought they had escaped. However, they were 

 huddled beneath an inverted scoop used for 

 bailing the boat. True to their instinct of keep- 

 ing out of sight of kingfisher and other enemy, 

 they had thus hidden beneath the only available 

 shelter. 



The alarm note of the brown thrasher sounds 



