OF NATURE. 201 



wasps happened to be found in one of their 

 nests. The combs were conveyed thither 

 doubtless for the sake of the maggots or 

 nymphs, and not for their honey : since 

 none is to be found in the combs of wasps. 

 Birds of prey occasionally feed on insects ; 

 thus have I seen a tame kite picking up 

 the female ants full of eggs with much satis- 

 faction. White. 



That red-starts, fly-catchers, black-caps, 

 and other slender-billed insectivorous small 

 birds, particularly the swallow tribe, make 

 their first appearance very early in the 

 Spring, is a well known fact ; though the 

 fly-catcher is the latest of them all in its 

 visit (as this accurate naturalist observes in 

 another place), for it is never seen before 

 the month of May. If these delicate crea- 

 tures come to us from a distant country, 

 they will probably be exposed in their pas- 

 sage, as Mr. White justly remarks, to much 

 greater dijQBculties from storms and tem- 

 pests than their feeble powers appear to be 

 able to surmount : on the other hand, if we 



