BIRD PARADISE 145 



single blue fly was investigating the prize, not an- 

 other of his fellows being in sight. Eeturning 

 about two hours later I found the single fly 

 multiplied by at least two hundred. Where did 

 they all come from and how did they learn of the 

 feast spread for them 1 I think their system of 

 conveying news must be wonderfully efficient. 

 But the number assembled on the occasion noted 

 above was simply astonishing. They must have 

 been dwellers in the grass of the field near by and 

 doubtless the company I saw was only a corporal's 

 guard of the vast number on duty in the wide 

 country. They may do harm as our wise men 

 tell us, and certainly they are not very agreeable 

 companions, but there is the other side of the 

 matter. The things they feed upon are of that 

 character which would be injurious in many ways 

 if they were not removed. The fly is a scavenger 

 of large value, and until we have a better system 

 of preventing his increase we shall need him for 

 the good he does. 



If what the toad now says corresponds with 

 what he does then it conveys the single idea of 

 winter quarters. Under the clinging vines at the 

 side of the barn a venerable specimen of this 



