A BOOK OF FLIES REAL OR OTHERWISE

Horse Fly

At first when I saw a horses fly
I thought it SUPER DOOPER.
But SPLAT!!!
I should have worn a hat
and brought a pooper scooper.
If I were King I’d change some things:
I’d keep all horse flies chained
unless they wore cloth diapers or
were fully potty-trained.

 

Horse flies are huge flies (some as large as an inch long with a 2-inch wingspan) that feed on the blood of animals, especially… you guessed it, horses. Or at least the females do. The males prefer a flower’s nectar.

Like horses, horse flies are often brown or gray in color, but they have speckled wings that, at rest, rest on each other like the roof of a house. They hava a loud hmmmmmmmmmm when they fly, and although they don’t carry diseases, their bite can sting like a wasp’s, which is why horses swat at them with their tails.

I wish my house could fly, Here’s why: the clock says ten till eight.
My hair’s uncombed, my teeth unbrushed, and I don’t feel so great.
I hate to hurry but Mom is worried that the bus won’t wait.
School starts in minutes. I’ll be half an hour late!
If houses flew like house flies do, Mom wouldn’t have to shout .
I’d yawn, and stetch, and brush, and comb, and lollygag about.
I’d disembark before the bus could park. And then, no doubt, my house would come to fly me home again when school is out.

Not all flies in your house are House flies. Some are just passing through, or lost. A real housefly lives in your home, flying about the rooms and walking over the walls and ceilings (the tip of each foot has a pair of claws and two pads; the entire foot is covered with tiny hairs that have a sticky solution at their tips).

House flies don’t have teeth and they can’t bite. If you’re home and a fly bites you, don’t blame the house fly. Neither do house flies taste with their mouths. They taste with their feet, walking around until they touch exposed food, at which point a shourt tube automatically descends and, like a vacuum cleaner, sucks up the nutrient.