My Studio Neighbors

Studio Neighbors, by William Hamilton Gibson

Project Gutenberg's My Studio Neighbors, by William Hamilton Gibson This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: My Studio Neighbors
Author: William Hamilton Gibson
Release Date: July 28, 2007 [EBook #22165]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY STUDIO NEIGHBORS ***

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

[Illustration (signed) W Hamilton Gibson]

MY STUDIO NEIGHBORS
BY
WILLIAM HAMILTON GIBSON
ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR
[Illustration]
NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1898
Copyright, 1897, by HARPER & BROTHERS.
All rights reserved.

[Illustration: CONTENTS]
Page
A Familiar Guest 3
The Cuckoos and the Outwitted Cow-bird 23
Door-step Neighbors 57
A Queer Little Family on the Bittersweet 87
The Welcomes of the Flowers 105
A Honey-dew Picnic 151
A Few Native Orchids and Their Insect Sponsors 171
The Milkweed 227
Index 239

[Illustration: LIST OF DESIGNS]
Page
William Hamilton Gibson Frontispiece
Initial. The Studio Door 3
The Rose-bush Episode 9
A Corner of My Table 12
An Animated Brush 14
A Specimen in Three Stages 16
The Studio Table 18
Initial 23
The European Cuckoo 24
The Yellow-billed Cuckoo 26
Browsing Kine 29
A Greedy Foster-child 34
The Yellow Warbler 44
A Blighted Home 46
The Normal Nest of the Yellow Warbler 47
The Yellow Warbler at Home 49
A Suspicious Nest of the Yellow Warbler 50
The Nest Separated 52
Initial 57
The Door-step Arena, with its Pitfalls 60
Fishing for Tigers 65
Tiger-beetle 68
The Spider Victim 70
Filling the Spider's Grave 71
Black Digger-wasp 73
Black Digger-wasp and His Victim, Showing the Egg of the Wasp Attached 75
Protecting the Burrow while Searching for Prey 79
The "Cow-spit" Mystery Disclosed 81
The Tiger's Head, from the Victim's Stand-point 84
Initial. Branch of the Bittersweet 87
A Bittersweet Covey 90
Flushing the Game 92
Specimen Twig 94
Building Froth-tent 100
Butterflies and Flowers 105
A Row of Stamens 106
The Parts of a Flower 109
Historical Series, Showing the Progress of Discovery of Flower Fertilization 110
The Garden Sage 120
Cross-fertilization of the Sage 121
Elastic Stamens. Anthers Inserted in their Pockets 124
Elastic Stamens of Mountain-laurel 125
Andromeda Ligustrina 127
Fertilisation of Andromeda 128
The Laurel 130
Cross-fertilization of the Blue-flag 131
Blue-flag 132
Pogonia and Devil's-bit 133
Devil's-bit 134
Horse-balm. Collinsonia 135
Cross-fertilization of the Horse-balm--Flowers in Various Stages, and in the Order of their Visitation by the Bee 136
The Cone-flower 137
Cone-flower, Showing Numerous Florets, Some in Pollen, Others in Stigmatic Stage 139
Cross-fertilization of Cone-flower 140
The Fertilization of the English Arum, 1st Stage 141
The Fertilization of the English Arum. 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th Stages 142
Pogonia 145
Cross-fertilization 146
A Pine Branch 151
Initial 151
The Picnic 159
Tail-piece 167
Habenaria Orbiculata 171
Arethusa Bulbosa 177
The Botanical Distribution of an Ordinary Flower and of the Orchid 182
The "Column" in Various Orchids 183
The Result of the Bee's Visit 184
Cross-fertilization of Arethusa 188
Habenaria Orbiculata. A Single Flower Enlarged 190
Orchis Spectabilis 191
Cross-fertilization of H. Orbiculata (Sphinx-moth) 193
The Flower and Column of Orchis Spectabilis, Enlarged 195
Orchis Spectabilis 195
Position of Pollen of Orchis Spectabilis Withdrawn on Pencil 197
The Cross-fertilization of Orchis Spectabilis 197
The Purple-fringed Orchid 199
The Ragged Orchid (Front Section) 200
The Ragged Orchid (Profile Section) 202
The Ragged Orchid (H. Lacera) and the Butterfly's Tongue. Cross-fertilization 203
The Yellow Orchid (H. Flava) 204
The Ragged Orchid (H. Lacera) 205
Cypripedium Acaule 207
Moccasin-flower (C. Acaule) 208
The Bee Imprisoned in the Lips of Cypripedium 210
Moccasin-flower. Bee Sipping Nectar 211
The Bee Passing Beneath the Stigma 213
A Bee Receiving Pollen-plaster on His Thorax 214
Rattlesnake-Plantain--the Young and the Old 215
Cross-fertilization of the Rattlesnake-Plantain. Side Sections 216
Cross-fertilisation of the Rattlesnake-Plantain. Front View 217
The Tongue of a Bumblebee 218
Goodyera, or Periamium Pubescens 221
Milkweed Captives 231
The Pollen Masses and the Fissure 232
The Tragedy of the Bees 235
A Moth Caught by the Tongue in Dogbane 237

A FAMILIAR GUEST
[Illustration]
Solitude! Where under trees and sky shall you find it? The more solitary the recluse and the more confirmed and grounded his seclusion, the wider and more familiar becomes the circle of his social environment, until at length, like a very dryad of old, the birds build and sing in his branches and the "wee wild beasties" nest in his pockets. If he fails to be aware of the fact, more's the pity. His desolation is within, not without, in spite of, not because of, his surroundings.
Here in my country studio--not a hermitage, 'tis true, but secluded among trees, some distance isolated from my own home and out of sight of any other--what company! What occasional "tumultuous privacy" is mine! I have frequently been obliged to step out upon the porch and request a modulation of hilarity and a more courteous respect for my hospitality. But this is evidently entirely a matter of point of view, and, judging from the effects of my protests at such times, my assumed superior air of condescension is apparently construed as a huge joke. If the resultant rejoinder of wild volap��k and expressive pantomime has any significance, it is plain that I am desired to understand that my exact status is that