40 OUT OF DOORS. 



forms itself into natural banks, and it is very rarely the 

 case that a gulf is cut through the sand by the action 

 of water, so as to leave a perpendicular bank on either 

 side. Now, as the Kentish bee makes horizontal and 

 not vertical burrows, it is evident that in the days when 

 England was in the hands of savages, who made no 

 roads and built no houses, the Kentish bee must have 

 been much fewer in numbers. But, now-a-days, roads 

 are cut through the sand-hills, and the sides of the 

 cutting are filled with the bees' burrows. Sand, too, is 

 urgently wanted both for building and agricultural 

 purposes, and consequently almost every sand-hill has 

 its quarry. It is most interesting in the bright summer 

 time to watch these places, and see the white throng of 

 Kentish bees flying into and out of their burrows, and 

 making the air musical with their busy hum. 



In the particular quarry of which I am writing, the 

 Kentish bee has restricted itself to the upper portion 

 of the sand, so that its tunnels cannot be reached with- 

 out much difficulty. The lower part is occupied by the 

 small burrows of the sand-wasp, which are placed so 

 closely together that the face of the quarry looks very 

 much as if it had sustained a series of volleys of No. 7 

 shot. Not exactly so, as we shall see, for in one place 

 there actually is a group of shot-holes round the 

 entrance of a rabbit-burrow, the gun having evidently 

 been fired at the animal as it was making its escape. 

 Shot-holes differ from those of the sand-wasps in this 

 respect. The latter are quite circular, and their 



