The Peaceable Swallow, Like The Passive Quaker,
Meekly Sat At A Small Distance And Never Offered The Least
Resistance; But No Sooner Was The Plunder Carried Away, Than The
Injured Bird Went To Work With Unabated Ardour, And In A Few Days
The Depredations Were Repaired.
To prevent however a repetition of
the same violence, I removed the wren's box to another part of the
house.
In the middle of my new parlour I have, you may remember, a curious
republic of industrious hornets; their nest hangs to the ceiling, by
the same twig on which it was so admirably built and contrived in
the woods. Its removal did not displease them, for they find in my
house plenty of food; and I have left a hole open in one of the
panes of the window, which answers all their purposes. By this kind
usage they are become quite harmless; they live on the flies, which
are very troublesome to us throughout the summer; they are
constantly busy in catching them, even on the eyelids of my
children. It is surprising how quickly they smear them with a sort
of glue, lest they might escape, and when thus prepared, they carry
them to their nests, as food for their young ones. These globular
nests are most ingeniously divided into many stories, all provided
with cells, and proper communications. The materials with which this
fabric is built, they procure from the cottony furze, with which our
oak rails are covered; this substance tempered with glue, produces a
sort of pasteboard, which is very strong, and resists all the
inclemencies of the weather.
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