They Swarmed On My Table As I Was At Work Setting Out My
Insects, Carrying Them Off From Under My Very Nose, And Even
Tearing Them From The Cards On Which They Were Gummed If I Left
Them For An Instant.
They crawled continually over my hands and
face, got into my hair, and roamed at will over my whole
Body,
not producing much inconvenience till they began to bite, which
they would do on meeting with any obstruction to their passage,
and with a sharpness which made me jump again and rush to undress
and turn out the offender. They visited my bed also, so that
night brought no relief from their persecutions; and I verily
believe that during my three and a half months' residence at
Dorey I was never for a single hour entirely free from them. They
were not nearly so voracious as many other kinds, but their
numbers and ubiquity rendered it necessary to be constantly on
guard against them.
The flies that troubled me most were a large kind of blue-bottle
or blow-fly. These settled in swarms on my bird skins when first
put out to dry, filling their plumage with masses of eggs, which,
if neglected, the next day produced maggots. They would get under
the wings or under the body where it rested on the drying-board,
sometimes actually raising it up half an inch by the mass of eggs
deposited in a few hours; and every egg was so firmly glued to
the fibres of the feathers, as to make it a work of much time and
patience to get them off without injuring the bird.
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