The Absent Worm
Some birds become more useful than ever in times of drought. The worm is only to be secured in moist weather. It is a beast that has the power, in a certain small degree, of aestivating as well as hibernating, and goes down to the moist depths as securely as the roots of alfalfa or sugar beet. The worm devourers perforce become the caterpillar devourers and the thrushes desert the lawn for the vegetable garden. Drought diminishes also the food supply of the bees, though they are essentially children of the sun. Honey is short, and flowers deserve all that Herrick, or Horace, says of their brevity of life. One of the swarms in my hives had been storing honey at a satisfactory rate till the coming of July, and then ceased almost suddenly. When the hive was Opened with great expectations of booty, the cupboard was quite bare of any superfluous store.
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