12 THE WONDERS OF INSTINCT 



is the Amazon-ant, who leaves her barrack-rooms in long 

 battalions and marches far afield to hunt for slaves. We 

 will follow her in her raids when we find time. Here 

 again, around a heap of grasses turned to mold, are 

 Scolise ^ an inch and a half long, who fly gracefully and 

 dive into the heap, attracted by a rich prey, the grubs of 

 I^mellicorns, Oryctes, and Cetonise.^ 



What subjects for study ! And there are more to come. 

 The house was as utterly deserted as the ground. When 

 man was gone and peace assured, the animal hastily seized 

 on everything. The Warbler took up his abode in the 

 lilac-shrubs; the Greenfinch settled in the thick shelter of 

 the cypresses ; the Sparrow carted rags and straw under 

 every slate ; the Serin-finch, whose downy nest is no big- 

 ger than half an apricot, came and chirped in the plane- 

 tree tops ; the Scops made a habit of uttering his monot- 

 onous, piping note here, of an evening; the bird of Pallas 

 Athene, the Owl, came hurrying along to hoot and hiss. 



In front of the house is a large pond, fed by the aque- 

 duct that supplies the village pumps with water. Here, 

 from half a mile and more around, come the Frogs and 

 Toads in the lovers' season. The Natterjack, sometimes 

 as large as a plate, with a narrow stripe of yellow down 

 his back, makes his appointments here to take his bath ; 

 when the evening twilight falls, we see hopping along the 

 edge the Midwife Toad, the male, who carries a cluster of 

 eggs, the size of peppercorns, wrapped round his hind- 



1 Large Hunting-wasps. — Translator's Note. 



2 Different species of Beetles. The Cetonia is the Rose-chafer. — 

 Translator's Note. 



