

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 217 
found them in a nest of thin sticks and soft grasses on the oen about 
two or three feet above the water as it made its exit from the s- The 
nest was also near the mill, close to the water-wheel, near to prg the 
water shot over the wheel. I shot the female, and I afterwards saw that 
the male bird was attending them as the female had done 
female and young of Tringa maculata.— WALTER J. HOFFMAN, Reading, 
Pa. 
VV Tus Locust KILLER. —I never saw but one of these wasps, and that 
was about two years ago, and then only for a few moments. It appeared 
to be marked almost, if not precisely, like a “hornet,” and to be about 
two or two and a half inches in length, and large in proportion; truly a 
most formidable looking insect. The “killer” had seized one of our 
August locusts, and was endeavoring to rise from the ground with it, the 
locust clinging to the grass, and fluttering and screaming all the while. 
fore I could seize them, they rose from the ground and made off in a 
bee-line, at a height of about twelve or fifteen feet, the locust resisting 
with might and main. I am told they make nests in the ground, boring a 
hole to the depth of two or three feet. They must be rare, or I should 
have seen them before. — C. W. TAYLOR, iain ille, Pa. 
V/ The wasp is, probably, the Stizus speciosus, which seizes the Cicada to- 
Store its nest with, which is, probably, ioi more than a foot in depth. 
We hope our correspondent will observe its habits more closely, and send 
us specimens so that it can be identitied with certainty. — Eps 
E DoG.— Among my observations on the prairie, I have 
outskirts of the dog-town, and pounces upon any unlucky dog that starts 
out to forage, and carries him off before he can whisk his funny little 
tai aOR 
HE Rosin at Faurt.—A_ remarkable instance of the lack of the 
“bump of locality” in birds came under m my observation some years ago. 
Thad nailed a board of moderate width under the eaves rhe a barn to form 
: Ariana -place for the nests of the Cliff, or Jug-swallow. It was inclined 
bi 
a house, about thirty feet. — A. P. R., Geneva, 
A Vare THE BLACKBIRD. —I suppose that almost every one is 
well acquainted + with the general appearance of the Red-winged Starling, 
oF Blackbird (Agelaius Pheniceus Vieillot). Last May I shot, near 
AMER. aa VOL. 0. 28 


