. Sharp eyes; a rambler's calendar of fifty-two weeks among insects, birds and flowers; . ECCENTRIC PRECENTOR ( ■ ■ w Aiio-itsf iSth jrv) -< ^ m ORCHESTRA is complete, ofcourse, without its leader. Eventhe first fiddle must observe thei baton. And as the insect worldaffords us a veritable fiddler and aharpist, as well as other instrumen-talists, so too may we find our precentor close at hand,if our eyes are only sharp enough. This group of sing-ing beetles upon the poplar branch, I wonder if theyare watching him as they nod their squeaky trio? Forhe is close at hand. Even among these very l
. Sharp eyes; a rambler's calendar of fifty-two weeks among insects, birds and flowers; . ECCENTRIC PRECENTOR ( ■ ■ w Aiio-itsf iSth jrv) -< ^ m ORCHESTRA is complete, ofcourse, without its leader. Eventhe first fiddle must observe thei baton. And as the insect worldaffords us a veritable fiddler and aharpist, as well as other instrumen-talists, so too may we find our precentor close at hand,if our eyes are only sharp enough. This group of sing-ing beetles upon the poplar branch, I wonder if theyare watching him as they nod their squeaky trio? Forhe is close at hand. Even among these very leaves weare sure to find him with a little search. But if theyare indeed observing him, he must be a decidedly con-fusing leader, for no two of the bobbing heads are keep-ing the same time. Ah, here he is! perched upon themid-stem of an aspen leaf close by. You have seen him,perhaps, a hundred times, and all his pompous pridehas been wasted on you, being doubtless mistaken fora part of a withered or curled leaf. Our precentor isabout an inch and a quarter long. The forepart of his. body is arched upward, likea sphinx. He wears a greenvest and a flat triangularhat, and a white-bordered brownmantle decorates his back. Andhis baton ? No wonder our bee-tle trio were confused, for our precen-tor wields two batons. He is a law untohimself, has no score to follow, and, what is more, ifthings dont go exactly to suit him, he whips out fromthe tips of his batons two long red whip - lashes, andmakes things lively for a few moments. It is difficult to understand the many impetuous an-tics of our eccentric precentor—squirming from side toside, circling his double baton about his head as with ahurrah, snapping his whip on right and left withoutrhyme or reason. Yes, as a precentor it is difficult tounderstand his doings. But when we return to reason, AN ECCENTRIC PRECENTOR I45 and remember that he is only an important puss-mothcaterpillar, it is not half so mysterious. If we watchand wa
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
