The
different forms of spiders' nests are very interesting objects of
study. Some are those close-spun, flat, button-shaped objects, about
half an inch in diameter, which are so common in winter on the under
side of bark, chunks and flat rocks. Others are balloon-shaped and
attached to weeds. Within the latter the young spiders often hatch in
early winter, make their first meal off their empty egg cases, and
then begin a struggle for existence, the stronger preying upon the
weaker until the south winds blow again, when they emerge and scatter
far and wide in search of more nutritious sustenance.

The "wandering" spiders never spin webs, but run actively about and
pounce upon their prey with a tiger-like spring. Six or eight of the
larger species of this group winter in the mature form beneath logs
and chunks, being often frozen solid during cold weather, but thawing
out as healthy as ever when the temperature rises. Retiring beneath
the loose-fitting bark of hickory or maple trees, a number of the
smaller tube-weaving spiders construct about themselves a protecting
web of many layers of the finest silk. Within this snug retreat they
lie from November until April--a handsome, small, black fellow, with
green jaws and two orange spots on his abdomen, being the most common
species found motionless within this seeming shroud of silk on a day
in mid-winter.

In any Northern State as many as four hundred different kinds of the
six-footed or true insects, in the winged or adult stage, may be taken
in winter by any one who is so disposed, and knows where to search for
them. Among the _Orthoptera_, the "grouse grasshoppers" live during
the cold season beneath the loose bark of logs, or beneath the bottom
rails of the old Virginia worm fences. From these retreats every warm,
sunny day tempts them forth in numbers. On such occasions the earth
seems to swarm with them, as they leap before the intruder, their hard
bodies striking the dead leaves with a sound similar to that produced
by falling hail. The common field cricket belongs also to the
_Orthoptera_, and the young of various sizes winter under rails and
logs, bidding defiance to Jack Frost from within a little burrow or
pit beneath the protecting shelter.

[Illustration: CHINCH BUG.]

The true bugs, or _Hemiptera_, hibernate in similar places; squash
bugs, chinch bugs, "stink" bugs, and others being easily found in
numbers beneath loose bark or hidden between the root le