68 FROM SPRING TO FALL. 



Wasps, through the hardness and extreme dryness 

 of the ground, have made their nests in blackthorn- 

 bushes and the like. They are beautiful structures. 

 At first you would take them for the nest of the 

 long-tailed tit. That is exactly what they look like a 

 short distance off, but a close inspection at once 

 convinces you that they are nothing of the kind. 

 I have been fortunate enough to procure a fine 

 specimen — without its tenants. 



s The doves have worked hard for their young this 

 season, when they were in the nest and after they 

 were able to fly. I live on the edge of a small 

 common. As a rule this is fresh and green all the 

 year round, but this season it has been baked. 

 Even the cockchafers, that at certain seasons the 

 rooks hunt for with the greatest eagerness, have 

 been scarce through the drought. The poor birds 

 knew it was not the least use trying to pick any- 

 thing up in the daytime, so directly it was light 

 some of them brought their young on the turf 

 beneath my window, and there they kicked up a 

 row. There were the old rooks stocking away at 

 the grubs and chafers, croaking now and then, 

 because they have to work hard for small returns ; 



