202 Whild Life in a Southern County. 
slightest danger from them, or indeed from any other 
insects of this class, I think the common hive-bees. 
are the worst tempered of any—they resent the 
slightest interference with their motions. The hornet 
often chooses an old hollow withy-pollard for the site: 
of its nest. 
In the orchard there is at least one nest of the 
humble-bee, made at a great depth in a deserted 
mouse’s hole. These bees have eaten away and 
removed the grass just round the entrance, so as to 
get a clear road in and out. They are as industrious 
as the hive-bee ; but, as there are not nearly so many 
working together in one colony, they do not store up 
anything approaching to the same quantity of honey. 
There is a superstition that if a humble-bee buzzes in 
at the window of the sitting-room it is a sure sign of 
a coming visitor. 
Be careful how you pick up a ripe apple, all glow- 
ing orange, from the grass in the orchard ; roll it over 
with your foot first, or you may chance to find that 
you have got a handful of wasps. They eat away the 
interior of the fruit, leaving little but the rind; and 
this very hollowness causes the rind to assume richer 
tints and a more tempting appearance. Specked 
apples on the tree, whether pecked by a blackbird, - 
eaten by wasps or ants, always ripen fastest, and if 
you do not mind cutting out that portion, are the 
best. Such a fallen apple, when hollowed out within, 
is a veritable torpedo if incautiously handled. 
