260 Wild Life in a Southern County 



under an old oak almost hidden by ivy, and paused to listen 

 to the loud hum made by the insects that came to the ivy 

 blossom. They were principally bees, wasps, large black 

 flies, and tiny gnats. Suddenly a wasp attacked one of 

 the largest of the flies, and the two fell down on a bush, 

 where they brought up on a leaf. 



The fly was very large, of a square build, and wrestled 

 with its assailant vigorously. But in a few seconds, the 

 wasp, getting the mastery, brought his tail round, and 

 stung the fly twice, thrice, in rapid succession in the abdo- 

 men, and then held tight. Almost immediately the fly 

 grew feeble ; then the wasp snipped off its proboscis, and 

 next the legs. Then he seized the fly just behind the head, 

 and bit off pieces of the wings ; these, the proboscis, and 

 the legs dropped to the ground. The fell purpose of the 

 wasp is not easily described ; he stung and snipped and bit 

 and reduced his prey to utter helplessness, without the 

 pause of a second. 



So eager was he that while cutting the wings to pieces 

 he fell off the leaf, but clung tight to the fly, and although 

 it was nearly as big as himself, carried it easily to another 

 leaf. There he rolled the fly round,, snipped off the head, 

 which dropped, and devoured the internal part ; but slipped 

 again and recovered himself on a third leaf, and as it were 

 picked the remaining small portion. What had been a 

 great insect had almost disappeared in a few minutes. 



After the arrival of the fieldfares the days seem to 

 rapidly shorten, till towards the end of December the cocks, 

 reversing their usual practice, crow in the evening, hours 

 before midnight. The cockcrow is usually associated with 

 the dawn, and the change of habit just when the nights are 

 longest is interesting. 



Birds have a Feng-shui of their own — an unwritten 



