THE LAKE OF PITCH. 35 



jungle itself would have short shrift, were it not for the 

 strange communal guardianship of the wasps. These insects 

 are usually large and venomous, and one sting would be 

 enough to kill a bird; indeed, a severe fever often ensues 

 when a man has been stung by half a dozen. So the birds 

 must in some way be immune to the attacks of the wasps. 

 Perhaps their wonderfully complete armor of feathers, scales, 

 and horny beak accounts for this, while their quickness of 

 vision and of action enables them to save their eyelids 

 their one unprotected spot. Although the Cassiques cannot 

 have learned from experience of the terrible wounds which 

 the wasps can inflict, yet they are keenly alive to the advan- 

 tages to be derived from close association with them. 



The wasp's nest is built far out on the tip of the limb of 

 some forest tree, and the long pendent homes of the Cassiques 

 are placed close to it, sometimes eight or ten on the same 

 branch, and others on neighboring limbs, so near that the 

 homes of insects and birds rattle against each other when 

 the wind blows. 



One such community was placed rather near the ground, 

 where we could watch the inhabitants closely. Frequently 

 when one or two of the big birds returned to their nests with 

 a rush and a headlong plunge into the entrance, the whole 

 branch shook violently. Yet the wasps showed no excite- 

 ment or alarm; their subdued buzzing did not rise in tone. 

 But when I reached up and moved the branch gently down- 

 ward, the angry hum which came forth sent me into the under- 

 brush in haste. From a safe distance I could see the wasps 

 circling about in quick spurts Which meant trouble to any 

 intruder, while the excited Cassiques squeaked and screamed 

 their loudest. Whether the slight motion I gave to the 

 branch was unusual enough to arouse the insects, or whether 

 they took their cue from the cries and actions of the alarmed 

 birds, I cannot say. 



