The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1885-10-10

Mrs. Dirt-d0bber begin ner work. IN
deed, Katic began to fear that some
thing had happened to her, when she
flew in heavily laden with spider half
as large as herself This she carefully
stuffed into the very back of the cell.
and, after washing her hands, was OF
once more.
"Allie, how does she catch the
spiders without them singing herr"
asked Katie.
Every easily, my dear. When the
cell is ready for the spiders she flies
into the woods or down on the marsh,
and as soon as she sees one lying in or
near its web, ready to jump upon the
first luckless fly that attempts to rest
on its net, she says to herself: Ahs
you will do and pounces down upon
the spider before he can say Good
gracious what's the matter?' catching
him by the back of the head or neck.
buzzing very loud. As she does so she
flies away with her victim. and by the
time she reaches her house the spider
is stiff and dead. Sometimes l have
seen the spider show fight, but gener-
ally the dirt-dobber is too quick to give
him q chance.
"How many spiders does she put in
one cell, Cousin Allie?"
Ihave found from six to ten It
depends, think, upon the size OF the
spiders"
when it's full of spiders what does
the dirt-dobber do?"
She then deposits tiny egg, that
looks almost like a wee, wee worm.
4 hat xbn 10 loi1 in fhn
body of the dead spider, but this spring
have examined some thirty or forty
nests almost as soor as they were
closed up, and in I'll cases / have found
the egg on, not in, the spider"
what does she do when the egg is
laid, Allie?'
las soon as the egg is laid she goes
to work and seals the cell up alright
with dirt, and then begins new one"
'.But what becomes of the egg and
the spiders. shut up in that dark holep"
asked Katie.
''Out of the egg comes tiny worm,
scarcely so large as rose thorn, and
it begins and eats the spiders up"
'Oh, dear! it will starve when the
last spiders gone" exclaimed Katie.
mo, it win not, for as soon as it has
eaten all of the spiders it weaves out of
its body silk white sheet and, rolling
it all about itself, goes to sleep for
about two months; at the end of which
time the ugly white worm has become
beautiful dirt-dobber, with wings and
| legs and feelers and eyes, and body
like, but far more graceful, than
wasp's."
"But it is still in the dark PRISON."
said Katie.
yes"
''And still rolled up in the sheet?"
''Still rolled up, but the silky sheet
has changed, too; it is now q thin
brown shell. very brittle and easily
broken"
How does the dirt-dobber get out OF
his prison. Cousin Allie?"
by boring round hole through the
wall of his CELL"
"Did you ever see one come out, Al
lie?''
"Oh, yes. Only few weeks since.
had taken nest down, so that could
look at it more closely, and about eleven
O'Clock that night heard such buzz
zing in one cell that it startled me.
Ten minutes after the buzzing began. a
bit of round earth fell from the upper
side of the cell and out crawled the
dirt-dobber. 1t was very unsteady on
its legs at first, ard its wings seemed
damp and stiff for awhile, but in few
minutes l had to put him inside of the
net, because he would insist upon fly
ing on the hot lamp chimney. The
next morning, when / opened the win
dow, no one who had seen it come out
of the little dark cell would ever have
believed that it was brand-new dirt
dobber, to see with what an at-home
air he flew away into the sunshine and
the great outside world"
"Does the nest have to be air-tight,
Cousin Allie?" asked Katie, as she
watched the dirt-dobber sealing up
cell.
II think it does, for have noticed
that if the nest gets cracked. the dirt
dobber stops all other work and patches
every crack carefully; but it is not often
that even after all this trouble the
worms come to life. have examined
several of these mended nests. and
nearly always found the worms dead. I
have also noticed two other species of
dirt-dobbers, besides this one that we
have watched" continued Allie, "but
there is not very much difference in
their habits, although some in their
looks. You see this one is black and
hairy, and builds its nest in the cells
lying side by side"
''Rcal one-story houses" said Katie.
| Eyes, that illustrates my meaning
very well. Besides these, there are the
more common kind, with the yellow
legs and handsome body, which build
their cells one on top of the other, some
times having three layers"
''Three-story houses, you should say,
Allie"
Very well, dear. The third kind are
black and slender. II they can not find
a suitable hole they build a rough three
| stOried house of dirt but close IL nm