The Tribulations of the Mason-bee 



hours compete for these with an eagerness 

 which shows the value attached to them. 

 Face to face, at times with their mandibles 

 interlocked, now both rising into the air, now 

 coming down again, then touching ground 

 and rolling ove^ each other, next flying up 

 again, for hours on end they will wage battle 

 for the property at issue. 



A ready-made nest, a family heirloom 

 which needs but a little restoring, is a pre- 

 cious thing for the Mason, ever sparing of 

 her time. We find so many of the old homes 

 repaired and restocked that I suspect the Bee 

 of laying new foundations only when there 

 are no second-hand nests to be had. To have 

 the chambers of a dome occupied by a 

 stranger therefore means a serious privation. 



Now several Bees, however industrious in 

 gathering honey, building party-walls and 

 fashioning receptacles for provisions, are less 

 clever at preparing the resorts in which the 

 cells are to be stacked. The abandoned cham- 

 bers of the Chalicodoma, now larger than 

 they were originally, through the addition of 

 the hall of exit, are first-rate acquisitions for 

 them. The great thing Is to occupy these 

 chambers first, for here possession is nine 



. 2bo 



