MINA BIRD. 
93 
me a most pleasant and amusing spectacle. They 
were constantly busy, filling tlieir small baskets 
with every esculent leaf and blade not sovui by 
man. The Composite and Cruciferae were the 
principal objects of their search, the knowing 
urchins carefully avoiding deleterious Euphorbiacese. 
In this part of China the myriapod crawls in 
every sunny path ; and in the air above hum the 
early andrsenas — for the other bees are not yet out 
— diligently seeking, with steady zigzag flight, 
their food in • every flower. At this early period, 
the insect world is not yet fliirly roused from its 
winter sleep. A glittering black Staphylinus occa- 
sionally alights upon the path, a dull Ajihodius 
falls down before you, or an adventurous land-crab 
makes an experimental trip from one hole to 
another on a sunny mud-bank. The dykes are 
filled with little pellucid fish, Avith big heads and 
large golden eyes. 
As for the mina-bird, he is every whei'e. As you 
pass tlirough the settlement, a loud cheery note 
salutes your car, and on looking about to thank 
