Part 62

John says he feels better acquainted with the catbird than he would have been if he had read fifty books about it.

And I am sure he is right. The only way to enjoy a bird and to know it, is to watch it alive.

A camera is the very best gun in the world for catching birds. And it is really much better fun to take their pictures than to shoot and kill them.

It seems to me we have strayed a long way from bugs.

May says she thinks birds are much more interesting than bugs.

That may be, but still we want to know about bugs, too.

Do you think you will know a bug when you see it now?

No, I do not believe you can be sure of that. But at least you know something about a few bugs.

Some day you will study more carefully how insects are formed, and then you will understand better how we decide what order they belong to.

We group together the insects that are most like each other.

~NEUROPTERA~

~TRICHOPTERA~

THE HORNED CORYDALUS

No more bugs, if you please.

We are to make the acquaintance of another order of insect folk this time.

I think we can find some worthy members of this new order if we go with John to a brook he knows of.

Here we are, and it certainly is a lovely brook, whether we find a dobson in it or not.

Yes, Nell, the dobson is the new insect we shall try to find.

Now, be careful and not get your clothes too wet, but we have to turn over the stones along the edge of the brook until we find what we are after.

Mollie wants to know how she is to know it if she finds it.

Well, Mollie, whatever you find that is interesting you must show us. Even though it is not what we are searching for, we shall enjoy seeing it.

Look at little Nell! She has tumbled into the brook. Her foot slipped, and down she went.

Don't cry, deary, you are not wet enough to do any harm. The warm sun will soon dry you.

No, indeed, you will not have to go home.

Perhaps you will be the first one to find a dobson after all.

Hurrah! hurrah! hear John shout!

He must have found the first dobson.

Yes, he has.