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Show NATURE'S UNDERTAKERS. How often do we hear the query, "What becomes of all the dead birds?" The secret of their mysterious disappearance was but just now half told by the buzz of those brown wings, and the other half is welcome to any one who will take the trouble to follow the lead. The beetle is one of ?? incalculable benefactors. It is his mission to keep fresh and pure the air we breathe. He is the sexton that takes beneath the mould not only the fallen sparrow but the mice, the squirrels, and even larger creatures that die in our woods and fields. Beneath the clump of yarrow I found just what I had expected-a small dead bird-and the grave-diggers were in the midst of their work. Already the rampart of fresh earth was raised around the body, and the cavity was growing deeper with every moment as the busy diggers excavated the turf beneath. Now and then one would emerge on a tour of inspection, even rummaging among the feathers of that silent throat, and climbing upon the plumy breast to press down the little body into the deepening grave. These natural burials are by no means rare, and when the listless eye fails to discover them the nostrils will often indicate the way, and any one desirous of witnessing the operations, without the trouble of search, it is only necessary to place in some convenient spot of loose earth the carcass of some small animal. The most casual observer could not fail soon to be attracted by the orange-spotted beetles. Entomologists assert that these insects are attracted by the odor of decay, but from my own humble investigations I have never been able to reconcile myself to this theory. If it were the question of odor alone in the dead bird, for instance, it would be difficult to explain the bee line flight of these humming beetles, two of which came toward me even from the direction of the wind, and dropped quickly upon these feathers hidden from sight among the grass. Perhaps in such an instance we might imagine that they had been there before, and knew the way, that they had noted this clump of yarrow, may be, but I have observed the fact before when there was every reason to believe that no such previous visit had been made.-Second Century. |