t with a green caterpillar. We had missed
the wonderful sight of the paralyzer at work, but we had no time to
bemoan our loss for she was making off at so rapid a pace that we were
well occupied in keeping up with her. She hurried along with the same
motion as before, unembarrassed by the weight of her victim. Twice she
dropped it and circled over it a moment before taking it again. For
sixty feet she kept to open ground, passing between two rows of
bushes, but at the end of this division of the garden, she plunged,
very much to our dismay, into a field of standing corn. Here we had
great difficulty in following her, since far from keeping to her
former orderly course, she zigzagged among the plants in the most
bewildering fashion, although keeping a general direction of
northeast. It seemed quite impossible that she could know where she
was going. The corn rose to a height of six feet all around us; the
ground was uniform in appearance, and, to our eyes, each group of corn
stalks was just like every other group, and yet, without pause or
hesitation, the little creature passed quickly along, as we might
through the familiar streets of our native town.

[Illustration: "She Hurried along, Unembarrassed by the Weight of Her
Victim."]

At last she paused and laid her burden down. Ah! the power that has
led her is not a blind, mechanically perfect instinct, for she has
travelled a little too far. She must go back one row into the open
space that she has already crossed, although not just at this point.
Nothing like a nest is visible to us. The surface of the ground looks
all alike, and it is with exclamations of wonder that we see our
little guide lift two pellets of earth which have served as a covering
to a small opening running down into the ground.

The way being thus prepared she hurries back with her wings quivering
and her whole manner betokening joyful triumph at the completion of
her task. We, in the meantime, have become as much excited over the
matter as she is herself. She picks up the caterpillar, brings it to
the mouth of the burrow and lays it down. Then, backing in herself,
she catches it in her mandibles and drags it out of sight, leaving us
full of admiration and delight.

How clear and accurate must be the observing powers of these wonderful
little creatures! Every patch of ground must, for them, have its own
character; a pebble here, a larger stone there, a trifling tuft of
grass--these must be their