MORE THAN ONE TO MAKE A PANCAKE 1 The pan said, "She can't make it without me. I hold it." The fire said, "She can't make it without me. I bake it." When the woman went to get the flour, the mice had eaten it all up. When she went to get the milk, the little boy had drunk it. When she went to get the pan, a neighbor had borrowed it. When she went to make the fire, the wood was wet and would n't burn. "Dear, dear!" said the woman. "How shall I make my pancake!" Then she walked three miles and borrowed flour of her mother-in-law. Then she went and milked the cow. Then she ran over to the neighbor's and brought back the pan. Then she went and chopped wood and made up the fire. "Ah!" said the farmer's wife. "It takes more than one to make a pancake!" ONE day, in the last part of summer, some one called up the stairway to tell me that "your boy says he can't mow the front lawn." He is n't my boy, but I borrow him to assist in caring for my pets and to do various odd jobs. about the premises. So I went down from my study to see what was the matter with the lawn-mower-as I supposed that to be the cause of the trouble. "Now, see here," the boy said; "I can't stand this, and I won't. I've been stung twice; I can't run a lawn-mower by that walk where the yellow-jackets are coming out of the ground, and I won't. I want you to understand that. See them there!" Sure enough, from a small hole in the ground, under a stone, the hornets were going back and forth like honey-bees in and out of a hive. And it occurred to me that such a colony of stingers was not only bad for the boy, but might be so for pedestrians on the sidewalk or for horses on the road near by. Late that night, after the hornets were all in, I set firmly over the hole the upper wire netting of a fly-trap, and pushed earth closely around the base. All the next day the hornets HORNET APPARATUS." were going up through the cone-shaped trap within that part of the contrivance, till the cage was nearly half full. THE MAIN PART OF A HORNET COMB, The next morning I supposed that all the fierce little stingers were within the trap; but fearing that some lazy hornet which had not been out of the burrow that day might be disposed to come out at that time, I put on gloves and the bee-veil which I wear as a protection when I am about to handle honey-bees. I soon found that I certainly needed such protection. It was evident that the same conditions prevailed in the hornets' nest as in a hive of bees, with the exception that only a small percentage of the members of the colony go for work out of doors-that is, out of the nest. Most of the hornets were too young to start in the work of the wide, wide world; many others were occupied in caring for the hatching hornets (like the "nurse" bees of a hive), or in making the papery combs and infolding layers. All these simultaneously turned their attention to me. Where the veil hung away from my face, I escaped. But through the rest of it, through gloves and clothes, almost anywhere and almost everywhere, I received a liberal amount of attention and stings. But one who has handled bees and other stinging insects for many years soon learns to regard such things as but the "exhilarations of the chase." Yet I would not advise such exhilaration, even with the best of protection, to any one who does n't have a kind of "dreaded joy" in dangerous work. I found that the nest occupied a cavity about a foot in diameter. The outer layers were very fragile and could not be lifted out, for the entire mass broke apart, while portions of it crumbled to pieces. These underground hornets seem to have learned that it is not necessary to make the walls of their home so firm THE MAIN PART OF A HORNET'S NEST. and tough as are those of the white-faced hornets that build the large nests in the branches of trees and of shrubs. The papery material that these yellow-jackets make and use is also beautifully striped and tinted. Our young folks will recall that the nests of the larger open-air hornets are of dull, uniform, weatherbeaten appearance. The comb of the yellow-jackets, like the enveloping layers, is of hornet-paper. The caps are A FLY-TRAP OVER A HORNETS' NEST. white and so thin and dainty that the broodcells have the appearance of being capped with white wax. A bit of this delicate tissue, when viewed by the aid of a compound microscope, is seen to have a beautiful and intricate structure. It cost a little time and many stings, but to have again peered into one of nature's wonders was well worth the work and the pain. But the boy who runs the lawn-mower? He was also well pleased, from my own as well as from his particular point of view. He seemed to take an especially fraternal interest in my wounds when he examined and exhibited his; for he had two, and I had-well, I won't say just how many I had received, but I consider my capture amply repaid what it cost me. The lawn-mower now sings its metallic song, and the citizens go along the street unmolested, for the entire nest and its occupants are safely stored in exhibition boxes for the admiration and the instruction of those young folk who visit my laboratory. NOVEL "ATTACK" OF PRAIRIE-DOG ON A chuck drew himself up and opened his mouth as wide as it would go, while his eyes gleamed WE had once a prairie-dog, whom we named with fury; and I held my breath in terror for "Napoleon" on account of his extraordinary my pet, who walked up to him, seeming greatly energy, courage, and acuteness. We had a interested. "Napoleon" never paused an inpair of them, the other being " Josephine," but stant, but proceeded to examine the woodthere was nothing remarkable about her. "Na- chuck's wide-open mouth, thrusting his whole poleon" was a fat little fellow, but exceedingly muzzle inside it, and then actually putting out strong and brave. his little pink tongue and sampling the roof of We had caught a young woodchuck. It was the woodchuck's mouth! Every moment I old enough to have all the undaunted ferocity of its species; and, indeed, it was already nearly three times the size of "Napoleon." The woodchuck had been left out in the sitting-room, where it had retreated into the unused fireplace, and sat, glaring furiously at every one who approached, and keeping its mouth wide open, except when, from time to time, it would close it with a fearful snap, loudly grinding its teeth together in the way peculiar to woodchucks. Some one now brought in "Napoleon," and, to my horror, set him down on the floor. I was for snatching him up, feeling sure that the woodchuck would make an end of him; but my father said, "Let them be. We can interfere in time." "Napoleon," after investigating other parts of the room, trotted toward the fireplace. The wood thought, "Now-now it will be all up with Napoleon'! Those awful jaws will shut andthat will be the end." But nothing of the kind happened: the woodchuck seemed entirely paralyzed; he did not relax a muscle, but sat immovable, with mouth wide open, as he had done when "Napoleon " first approached. The latter made a long and leisurely inspection, first of the inside and then of the outside of the woodchuck's mouth, and at last trotted calmly away again, leaving the poor nonplussed animal sitting calmly in the fireplace as before. "Napoleon" lived for several years more, and at last died of old age (so we believe), his mate having previously escaped. MONADNOCK, N. H. MARY B. THAYER. DO BIRDS CARRY EGGS AND YOUNG? NORTH POMONA, CAL. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Can any kinds of birds carry their eggs and young? Your interested reader, GERTRUDE PALMER. Both the European and the American woodcock have been repeatedly seen carrying their young, while on wing, by holding them between their thighs. Of course the chicks can be thus carried only when they are rather small, and only one at a time. It has also been reported on good authority that wood-ducks, whistlers, and a few other ducks which nest in holes in trees convey their young to the nearest water in their bills. I do not think of any other birds which carry their young, but doubtless there are others. Grebes, and I think also loons, carry their young on their backs while swimming, probably at times to considerable distances. I have heard that whippoorwills will sometimes remove their eggs from one place to another, when disturbed, by flying off with them in their mouths, but I do not think that this is fully established. I have written the above without attempting to look up this question in the books, for which I have not time at present. WILLIAM BREWSTER. Birds probably carry their young much more often than is usually supposed. Among others, the following instances are of especial interest as bearing upon this subject-all observed in the New York Zoölogical Park. For two years (1904-5) the same pair of mallard ducks have nested in a deserted osprey's nest in a cedartree about twenty feet above the water. The female carried down the majority of each brood, one by one, in her bill. This year a young white ibis hatched in a nest about twenty feet from the ground, and tumbled out when three days old. One of the parents picked it up by the wing and carried it up to the nest in her bill. Several years ago a female bald eagle carried a good-sized stone some fifty feet, placed it in her nest, and sat on it for several weeks. C. WILLIAM BEEBE, New York. |