66 
FINDING NATURE’S TREASURES 
Buddy told the children to stand away from the web. 
He said that Mrs. Spider would be afraid of them and 
not come out of her hole if they stood too close. Then 
Buddy reached over and dropped the grasshopper on the 
web. Its feet stuck fast. How it did kick and pull, try¬ 
ing to get loose! Mrs. Spider rushed out of her hole. 
She put her web around the grasshopper so quickly that 
the children could not see just how she did it. She rolled 
the grasshopper up into a little ball with the web all 
around it. The grasshopper could not wriggle a leg. 
Then she carried it back into her hole. 
Bess and Fred looked at each other. Then they looked 
at Buddy, who was laughing at their surprise. 
“Didn’t I tell you it was fun to feed her?” he asked. 
“It is fun,” said Bess. “That’s better than a picture 
show. Let’s feed her something else.” 
Bess caught a big red ant and dropped it on the web. 
Mrs. Spider darted out of her hole again. But this time 
she stopped and looked at the ant for a little while. Then 
she wrapped it up in her web, but she did not take it 
back into her hole. She left the ant where it was. 
“Now, why didn’t she take my ant into her hole?” 
asked Bess. 
“Mrs. Spider knows what is good to eat and what is 
not,” laughed Uncle Jack, who had been watching the 
children. “Very few birds eat ants, because ants do not 
taste good to them.” 
“We saw the flickers eat ants,” said Marylee. 
“Yes,” said Uncle Jack. “The flicker is one of the 
few birds in this country that will eat ants.” 
