The Mason- Wasps 



inet of curiosities where the collector gathers 

 smooth pebbles, variegated shells, empty 

 Snail-shells, Parrots' feathers, bones that 

 have come to look like sticks of ivory. 

 Even the odds and ends mislaid by man find 

 a home in the bird's museum, where we see 

 pipe-stems, brass buttons, strips of cotton 

 stuff and stone axe-heads. 



The collection at either entrance to the 

 bower is large enough to fill half a bushel. 

 As these things are of no use to the bird, 

 its only motive for accumulating them must 

 be an art-lover's hobby. Our common 

 Magpie has similar tastes: any shiny thing 

 that he comes upon he picks up, hides and 

 hoards. 



Well, the Eumenes, who shares this pas- 

 sion for bright pebbles and empty Snail- 

 shells, is the Bower-bird of the insect world; 

 but she is a more practical collector, knows 

 how to combine the useful and the ornament- 

 al and employs her discoveries in the construc- 

 tion of her nest, which is both a fortress and 

 a museum. When she finds bits of trans- 

 lucent quartz, she rejects everything else: 

 the building will be all the prettier for them. 

 When she comes across a little white shell, 

 she hastens to beautify her dome with it; 

 should fortune smile and empty Snail-shells 



12 



