CHAPTER VIII 



BIRDS AND INSECTS THAT WILL TAKE AN 

 ARTIFICIAL FLY 



CAT BIRDS AND HORNETS, DECEIVED BY PICTURES THE 

 ICHNEUMON FLY MADE AN ATTEMPT TO PUNCTURE A NAIL 

 INCIDENTS SHOWING POOR JUDGMENT OR POOR INSTINCT 

 ON THE PART OF OUR UNDEVELOPED FELLOW CREATURES 



We are all familiar with the story of the painter, 

 who painted the grapes so well as 



TO DECEIVE THE BIRDS OF THE AIR, 



so that they flew down and pecked the painting 

 mistaking the flat surface of the picture for the 

 luscious fruit; probably most of us have looked 

 upon this story as a pretty bit of fable; but it is 

 not an improbable story. 



ANY ONE CAN DECEIVE A BIRD 



with the crudest sort of a representation of bugs, 

 or insects, even if they are only black silhouettes 

 upon a piece of white paper, as I have proved by 

 experiment, and as for the insects themselves, ] 

 have seen 



