232 BOY AND WASPS—MIDGES. [PART II. 
White, in his Natural History of Selborne, 
mentions an idiot boy, who had a remarkable 
penchant for taking the nests of Bees and Wasps, 
of the stings of which he was perfectly regardless. 
I knew a similar instance of a mason’s son in the 
Island, who, with all his wits about him, when 
about nine years old, had the same fearlessness of 
wasps. He would take one of their nests, and 
bring it home in his cap, either not being stung, or 
feeling no pain from the stings. 
We are, happily, comparatively free from 
Midges in the south of England, but in some parts 
of Scotland they are sometimes perfectly intole- 
rable. The best simple preventive against their 
attacks is, I believe, oil—not a pleasant cure, par- 
ticularly as you feel them trying to crawl after 
they are stuck in it, but not so bad as the disease. 
If you anoint your face with this before going into 
a locality infested by midges, you will soon find 
it thickly peppered with them, it being in fact for 
the time converted into a “Catch ’em alive, O!” 
Deer’s fat is said to be preferable to oil, as it does 
not dry up so quickly, but, if you carry a small 
bottle of oil in your pocket, you can renew the 
application at pleasure. Whisky is of no use. I 
have washed my face with it, but the midges are 
