46 BIRDS AND POETS 



and proceed to dress and draw his game. The 

 wings were sheared off, the legs cut away, the bris- 

 tles trimmed, then the body thoroughly bruised and 

 broken. When the work was completed, the fly 

 was rolled up into a small pellet, and with it under 

 his arm the hornet flew to his nest, where no doubt 

 in due time it was properly served up on the royal 

 board. Every dinner inside these paper walls is a 

 state dinner, for the queen bee is always present. 



I used to mount the ladder to within two or three 

 feet of the nest and observe the proceedings. I at 

 first thought the workshop must be inside, — a place 

 where the pulp was mixed, and perhaps treated with 

 chemicals; for each bee, when he came with his 

 burden of materials, passed into the nest, and then, 

 after a few moments, emerged again and crawled to 

 the place of building. But I one day stopped up 

 the entrance with some cotton, when no one hap- 

 pened to be on guard, and then observed that, when 

 the loaded bee could not get inside, he, after some 

 deliberation, proceeded to the unfinished part and 

 went forward with his work. Hence I inferred 

 that maybe the bee went inside to report and to 

 receive orders, or possibly to surrender its material 

 into fresh hands. Its career when away from the 

 nest is beset with dangers ; the colony is never large, 

 and the safe return of every bee is no doubt a mat- 

 ter of solicitude to the royal mother. 



The hornet was the first paper-maker, and holds 

 the original patent. The paper it makes is about 

 like that of the newspaper ; nearly as firm, and made 



