148 OUR BACKDOOR NEIGHBORS 



ment. He had also seen her apparently in the 

 act of building just for a moment now and 

 then, and was beginning to wonder whether 

 she ever worked seriously at building. 



He had about decided that she did such 

 work with a touch now and then at odd times, 

 when on June 25, after nearly three weeks of 

 patient watching, he saw her hard at work. It 

 must be remembered that the weather was cool 

 and wet much of the time, and that conditions 

 were favorable for insect life only a part of the 

 time. 



She gathered her raw material for paper- 

 making near at hand, and the Naturalist had 

 no difficulty in following her from the nest to 

 a weather-beaten post but a few feet distant, 

 where she secured her pulp. She alighted on 

 the post and with her mandibles cut away 

 enough of the weather-beaten wood to make a 

 good mouthful. She would then fly directly to 

 the nest, where she would stand for a moment, 

 kneading the pulp between her jaws, and with 

 her forefeet turning it round and round, much 

 as she did the caterpillar which she was pre- 

 paring to feed the young. She would then 

 spend some time in looking about over her 

 comb to select a suitable place for work. 



