58 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



when the wasps have become suffocated, the angler can dig 

 the cakes out with a spade. Brush all the loose wasps from 

 the comb and pop it into a bag, and make " tracks " away 

 from the spot in case of the return of any wasps. The best 

 time to take a wasp's nest is just after sunset, while you can 

 see what you are about. I have been sometimes asked how 

 to find a wasp's nest, and in what sort of places to look for 

 them. In a few words, then, you want to rise early in the 

 morning, and walk out into the fields and lanes, and care- 

 fully examine with your eye every sheltered bank that faces 

 the rising sun, and you. will in all probability soon see a wasp 

 flash past you, and then another, and still another, and when 

 you do, you may be sure that there is a nest in that bank 

 somewhere, and if you follow the flight of the insect you 

 will soon find the nest, perhaps in a situation that would be 

 unnoticed by the casual observer, half or wholly hidden 

 among the grass and mosses of the bank, in the deserted 

 burrow of a field-mouse, or some earth-burrowing beetle. 

 Very often, of course, the nest is plainly exposed to view, 

 and anybody who walks past can see it ; but this very last 

 year there were no less than nine of these nests in one single 

 bank that scores of people had gone past without dreaming 

 that there was such a thing on the whole length of it. 



There is a way of taking a nest with a deadly poison, but 

 the angler should avoid all such dangerous experiments. 

 These grubs are very tender, and cannot be used well without 

 some preparation. Some anglers bake them in the oven for 

 a few minutes, but I think the best plan is to put the cakes in 

 a jar, then put the jar in a saucepan of water, and steam them 

 over the fire, but don't let any of the water get to the comb. 

 This renders them tough, and enables them to hang on the 

 hook. A very few minutes of this treatment will be quite 

 sufficient. If you want to use the grubs directly, take those 

 that are uncovered, and with the embryo wasps put them in 

 a bag with some bran for ground-bait. The good grubs are 

 carefully picked out, and put in a tin for the hook-bait. 

 If, after you have steamed your cakes, you don't want to use 

 them for, say, three or four days, the best plan to keep them 

 good is to lay them on a board in a dry place, and turn each 



