JUNE 103 



discovery of medical science in the nineteenth century 

 has been for millions of years the common property 

 and daily practice of many species of predaceous 

 insects. 



XXIV 



Towards the end of June 1921 a neighbour of mine 

 told me that he had been puzzled by the note The Go iden 

 of a bird in a thick plantation of Scots pine Oriole 

 and birch. He had repeatedly been to the place and, 

 though he always heard the call, he never could catch 

 sight of the musician. From his description and 

 imitation of the sound a monotonous, but melodious, 

 flute-like note I told him that it was probably a 

 golden oriole. Having just returned from the south of 

 Spain, where orioles abound, I was not surprised that 

 he had failed to get a view of the bird, which is very 

 clandestine in its habits, and is far more frequently 

 heard than seen. During ten days which I spent in 

 Tharsis, a mining village of Andalusia, I heard orioles 

 calling every day, and almost every hour of every day, 

 from a grove of lofty eucalyptus not far from my 

 bedroom window, but only once did I see one of the 

 birds, though I spent a considerable time looking for 

 them. 



At the time my friend spoke to me, I was unable to 

 visit the wood where he heard the note, although it 

 happens to be on my land; but he persevered, and 

 succeeded at last by a simple stratagem. He laid a 



