100 



STARLIGHT AND SUNSHINE. 



leave their black, spiny, cast-off skins of all their five periodic 

 moults attached to the denuded branches upon which the larvae 

 have fed. 



In another amusing specimen I found a large piece of hor- 

 net's nest, four inches broad, arranged as a pendant, and dangling 

 from this a string of brilliants that glittered like emeralds, and 

 which proved to be three dead blue-bottle flies entangled in spider 



silk. Whether or not 

 especial attractions 

 cobweb thus en- 

 justed the flies by 

 determine. But it 

 decorative sense is 



the bird had appreciated the 

 of some particular remnant of 

 riched, or had deliberately ad- 

 way of ornament, I could not 

 is undeniable that a similar 

 frequently displayed in their 



nests, certain rare treasures being held in 

 reserve for finishing touches of adornment, 



even as I once actually witnessed the careful adjustment of a 

 bright green iridescent feather of a peacock beneath a pendent 

 nest in a rose-bush just outside the closed blinds of my room. 

 What twitterings of congratulation, mutual suggestion, and experi- 

 mental touches ere the dainty prize found its final setting ! 



In the same bush I discovered, later, a small narrow wisp of 

 lace, abandoned to the antagonism of the thorns, though not 



