Evening star., 1932-07-28
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEFELL.

mute evidence of Natures workings. 1t
will be interesting to see how long they
stay there, under the influence OF wind
and rain.
As far as We could determine, there
was no attempt at weaving them to-
gether, or placing them in any particu-
lar manner so as to prevent them from
falling out.
Evidently the squirrel is rather hap
hazard in its construction of nests, in
this respect being entirely different
from the hornets. or wasps. or what
ever one wants to call the prize sting
ers of Summer.
A small nest by these artisans 1--WE
will call them waspS, for the sake Of
convenience) has been begun over an
open porch not far from the tree where
the squirrel made her Inflated attempt
at home building
The waSps nest Is attached to the top
of a rooflet which protects one side Of
the porch This puts the entire nest
back out of the weather. to a great
extent. Only a very severe rainstorm,
sweeping in from the north, could touch
it.
The nest Is now about the size Of q
human fist, white-gray in color, giving
the impression that it Is made out Of
a length of clothes line, very cleverly
coiled for the purpose.
This coiled appearance probably
would identify 1t at once to any wasp
expert" or the like. Those human be-
ings who specialize in wasps and hor-
nets and yellow Jackets, with various
other stingers thrown In for good meas
ure, surely know the types of houses
made by each variety, and how and
| why they make them.
NJ - k<nt, zAvk L. tt.na fnhk
est sense, we will simply stick to our
homemade description, that it looked
as if the creatures had taken an old
clothes line and coiled 1t around. be-
ginning small at the top and making
! larger loops as they went down. the
coils so close together that they made
a waterproof house.
The door was at the bottom, as with
all these insects. It was barely large
enough to permit one of the rightful
occupants to enter. Occasionally one
Of them could be seen to buzz In or out.
Here were two natural habitations Of
the lower creatures, as they are called.
Each pointed to a keen knowledge on
the part OF each type OF its own de-
mands.
The squirrel nest, although quite ru-
dimentary, was better home from the
standpoint of protection from curious
| eyes.
If one had not seen 1t actually being
made, even a keen observer might have
overlooked It, or at the most wondered
idly how those dead leaves got up
there"
After having seen the performance,
we recalled that upon several days be-
| fore this we had noticed fallen branches
of fresh leaves, and had wondered about
them, there having been no storms at
! that time.
Evidently the squirrel had been max
| ing tests of various branches, to see
which limbs bore leaves of Just the
precise quality to suit her.
Or maybe she had been doing moth
ing of the kind, but had made more
than one attempt to establish a nest
Probably the daddy squirrel came along,
! and said, Cant you see that there is
cat down there?"
The waSps do not seem to plan the
location of their large toplike nests with
any particular idea of concealment in
mind, If they can be said to have minds.
The present house is plainly in sight.
Last year a very much larger wasp
nest was constructed by these busy fell
lows in the corner of an upstairs win
dow, the construction preventing the
lowering of the top sash.
Previously they had made two at
tempts to build nest In letter box,
site which seemed to make a power
full appeal to the wasp instincts, but
which did not exactly take into con-
| sideration the daily visits Of the mall
man.