46 
BY THE WAYSIDE. 
I could have done, for Agathe became trim and 
shining and fat and learned to eat alone. 
“So this poor little creature, a mere child 
herself, took her companion as an adopted 
daughter, and would not have fed herself ex¬ 
cept as she was forced to it by motherly love 
for her little comrade. 
“A month after this Jonquille and Agathe, 
always together although of the same sex and 
of different species, lived at liberty in the big 
trees of my garden. They did not go far from 
the house, and chose for a home the branch 
of a great oak. They were slender and glossy. 
Every day, as it was summer and we took our 
meals out of doors, they flew down to the table 
and sat with us like friendly guests, sometimes 
on a near branch and sometimes on our should¬ 
ers, sometimes flying before the servant who 
brought the dish of fruit to take a taste 
before us. In spite of their confidence in all of 
us, they would permit me only to catch them, 
and at any time they would come down from 
their tree at my call, which they knew perfectly 
and which they never confused with that of 
anyone else. 
“I had also a redbreast, who for intelligence 
and memory was a wonderful creature, and a 
royal kite, who was savage toward everybody, 
but who was on such intimate terms with me 
that he perched on the edge of my son’s cradle, 
and with his great beak, sharp as a razor, he 
would, with a tender and roguish cry, nip off 
the flies that settled on the baby’s face. He 
did this with such skill and caution that he 
never awoke him. This fine fellow however 
was so strong and self-willed that one day he 
threw down and broke the immense case in 
which we had put him, because lie was danger¬ 
ous to those who displeased him, and flew 
away. We had no chain whose links he could 
not quickly cut and the largest dogs were 
terribly afraid of him. 
'In Venice I once lived in very friendly 
fashion with a charming starling, which was 
drowned in the Canalletto, to my great grief, 
also with a thrush, which I was obliged to 
leave behind me, and from which I parted sor¬ 
rowfully. 
«/ 
“The Venetians have remarkable skill in edu¬ 
cating birds, and at the corner of the street 
was a young fellow who accomplished marvels 
in this way. One day his lottery ticket brought 
him, I don’t know how many sequins. He 
spent them all in one day on a great feast that 
he gave to all his ragged friends. The next 
day he went back to his corner of the street, 
on the steps of a landing place, with his cages 
filled with magpies and starlings which he 
sold, already taught, to the passers by, and 
with which he amused himself from morning 
to night. He felt not the least regret that he 
had spent his silver on his friends. He had 
lived too long with the birds not to be an 
artist. It was on that day that he sold me 
my thrush for five sous. To get for five sou^ 
such a pretty, good, gay, and learned com¬ 
panion, who need live with you only one day to 
love you all his life, it is really too cheap. 
Ah! the birds! how lightly they are esteem¬ 
ed, how little appreciated! E. G. 
The Leaf=Cutter Bee. 
The roses in their different varieties occupy 
a prominent position in the flora of our gar¬ 
dens, and it is with much regret that througH-i 
out the summer months we frequently find the 
foliage of our rose-bushes more or less de¬ 
stroyed by insects. A close investigation re 
veals the fact that several kinds of insects or 
their larvae participate in this work of de¬ 
struction. To the majority of these insects 
the leaves serve as food. But there is one 
among them that utilizes pieces cut out of the 
leaves as material for the construction of its 
nest. This is the leaf-cutter bee, Megachile. 
If, on looking over your rose-bushes, you dis¬ 
cover that circular pieces about one-third of 
an inch in diameter, or oval pieces more than 
half an inch in length have been cleanly cut 
out of the leaves, then you have unmistakable 
evidence of the visits of a leaf-cutter bee to, 
your garden. The work of this bee is a master-^ 
piece of neatness and accuracy. There are; 
several species of Magachile in our surround-f 
ings, and these differ somewhat in their habits. 
The leaf-cutter that usually visits our rose-; 
bushes, very often constructs its nest in some 
hollow space below a board on the outside of 
our dwellings. As a rule a site for the nest 
is selected not far from the plants that furnisli 
the nest-building material. At first long, oval 
pieces are cut out of the leaves, and placed! 
together, so as to form a thimble-shaped cell,? 
which is closed at the bottom. This cell con-1 
sists of several layers of leaves, the innermost! 
of which are fastened together with a glue-lik<4 
secretion from the bee’s salivary glands. After! 
