n6 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



cast there, one or both the little birds made a 

 swoop for my fly. 

 Not only do various 



BIRDS READILY TAKE THE ARTIFICIAL FLY, 



but the big, black, paper nest-building hornets will 

 dart at the feather-decorated hook upon every oc- 

 casion, and more than once I have had dragon 

 flies try to devour my lures under the impression 

 that they were real live insects. 



At Whip-poor-will Cottage, near Wild Lands, 

 Pa., where I am now writing, I related the last inci- 

 dent, and it was met with incredulous smiles. In 

 the oak tree shading the door of the camp is a 

 goodly sized paper balloon of a nest, occupied by 

 black hornets, who busy themselves searching for 

 house flies. Piqued at the reception of my story, 

 I proclaimed the fact that I would fool these hor- 

 nets with a picture of a fly, and forthwith drew, 

 one with a soft lead pencil on a paper pad, while 

 all the "Whip-poor-wills" sat round and watched. 

 It was only a few moments until a big hornet 

 pounced upon the picture fly, to the great astonish- 

 ment of the "Whip-poor-wills" and my great joy, 

 for I had never before tried the experiment, and a 

 failure would have been embarrassing. 



THE DIGGER WASP. 



One summer when I was attempting to show 

 some small boys how to handle fireworks with 



