210 WOODLAND IDYLS. 



ping eagerly at the acidulated sugar left on its 

 bottom. 



The oak sap area is still attracting butterflies 

 and other insects. One of the largest and most 

 handsome red-spotted purples 82 I have seen this 

 season is trying to get at it, but the bald hornets 

 keep her on the move. A half dozen of the 

 hornets are present and when the butterfly 

 alights anywhere near the sap one or more of 

 them attempts to fly on her back and sting her. 

 A large comma 83 butterfly and a red admiral 84 

 are also there. All three of these butterflies, 

 when they settle down on or near the sap, open 

 and shut or flap their wings rapidly, as if try- 

 ing to fend off or frighten away the hornets. 

 The latter, however, are the self-appointed rul- 

 ers of the place and all other forms have to steal 

 or fight for what they get. 



On the last evening that I was in the city a 

 great event happened unto me, an honor that 

 comes to a man seldom more than once in a life- 

 time and to most men not at all. I was sitting 

 on my front porch with my feet, slipper-clad, 

 stretched out across the railing when all at once 

 a robin, coming from I know not where, alighted 

 on one of them. Only an instant stayed he, for 

 glancing around he saw the other part of his 

 roosting place. Too close it was for even a city 



82 Limenitis Ursula Fab. M Grapta comma Hair. 

 84 Pyrameis atalanfa Liun. 



