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seen in the water. Surely there is material in abundance 

 here to last one a life-time. 



We ■will, however, focus our attention for awhile on those 

 great inseet-hawkers, 



DRAGON-FLIES OR DARNING-NEEDLES. 



Just as the Marsh Hawk or Harrier courses over marsh 

 and meadow ready to pounce upon mouse or mole that 

 chances to expose itself, so do dragon-flies hawk over ponds 

 looking for mosquitoes and midges. For they are among 

 our most useful insects, feeding almost exclusively upon 

 the many tiny, obnoxious species that multiply so rapidly. 

 They are absolutely harmless and it is very unfortunate 

 that the old superstition that they sew up the ears, eyes or 

 mouths of children should be drilled into the rising genera- 

 tions at an early age. 



If you watch one for a time, you will see that his actions 

 are much like those of the common Kingbird. He has his 

 favorite lookout perches and dashes out suddenly after his 

 prey with a rapidity that the eye can scarcely follow. He 

 also has the habit, very disconcerting to those not famil- 

 iar with it, of rushing out and hovering in front of a stran- 

 ger in order to carefully look him over. He means well 

 but is quite near sighted, but not as much so as most other 

 insects, and has to get within six feet of you before he can 

 make out what you are. 



I doubt if any living thing is without its enemies ; those 

 of the dragon-fly, besides other predacious insects, consist 

 chiefly of birds one of which is that same kingbird that 

 we compared to the dragon-fly in actions. In this con- 

 nection we might cite an interesting cycle of events that 

 may occur every day: — Mosquitoes prey upon man; dra- 

 gon-flies devour the mosquitos; a kingbird snaps up the 

 dragon-fly; and along comes a bad man and shoots the 

 kingbird, — and so life goes. 



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