«'S4 INSECTS IN WINTER. 



The domicle selected is completely furnished with a lining of fine 

 grass, neatly arranged in the bottom of the hole, and on this bed the 

 female deposits from four to six pale blue eggs. These are often laid in 

 early May when the winds are often cold. 



It cannot be said that the female bluebirds do not make every effort 

 to keep their race extant, for they deposit from two to three litters of 

 eggs in a season, and the fully fledged young may often be seen in June 

 flying about in small flocks. 



The whistle of the bluebird is not its true song. This is a call note. 

 The true song is a kind of twittering warble, given as the bird is perched 

 on the top of a fence, post, or in some similar elevated situation, uttered 

 with fluttering wings. 



In autumn, when the bluebirds gather in small flocks, they utter a short- 

 er call note than in May, and this note is even given by the newly fledged 

 young. {I, 



My question in regard to the bluebird is ; why does it put its nest in 

 a hole ? 



INSECTS IN WINTER. 



BY 



Harry H. Whale. 



( CONTINUED ) 



THE YELLOW-STRIPED LOCUST. 



The thorax is divided into three parts, the prothorax, the messo- 

 thorax, and the metathorax. The prothroax, that next to the head, to 

 which the first pair of legs are attached, partly covers the other parts 

 of the thorax, acting as a shield, it being much harder. Then comes 

 the messothorax which bears the second pair of legs and the wing cov- 

 erts. Then following this is the metathorax which bears the long 

 leaping legs and the wings. The prothorax moves freely, being apparent- 

 ly only connected with the middle segment, or mesothorax, by soft 

 skin, while the messothorax and metathorax, the second and last seg- 

 ments, are quite hard to separate, and more as one body. The wings are 

 membranous expansions which ore very different in aspect from the 

 body walls, but by some authorities, are considered to be folds of the 

 skin which have grown out from the tergal portion of their respec- 

 tive rings. In the young locusts they are mere pads, the veins are 



