6 FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



comes a kind of Wild Bee who stacks her cells in the winding 

 staircase of an empty snail-shell ; and another who lodges her 

 grubs in the pith of a dry bramble-stalk ; and a third who 

 uses the channel of a cut reed ; and a fourth who lives rent- 

 free in the vacant galleries of some Mason-bee. There are 

 also Bees with horns, and Bees with brushes on their hind- 

 legs, to be used for reaping. 



While the walls of my harmas were being built some great 

 heaps of stones and mounds of sand were scattered here and 

 there by the builders, and were soon occupied by a variety of 

 inhabitants. The Mason-bees chose the chinks between the 

 stones for their sleeping-place. The powerful Eyed Lizard, 

 who, when hard pressed, attacks both man and dog, selected 

 a cave in which to lie in wait for the passing Scarab, or Sacred 

 Beetle. The Black-eared Chat, who looks like a Dominican 

 monk in his white-and-black raiment, sat on the top stone 

 singing his brief song. His nest, with the sky-blue eggs, 

 must have been somewhere in the heap. When the stones 

 were moved the little Dominican moved too. I regret him : 

 he would have been a charming neighbour. The Eyed Lizard 

 I do not regret at all. 



The sand-heaps sheltered a colony of Digger-wasps and 

 Hunting-wasps, who were, to my sorrow, turned out at last 

 by the builders. But still there are hunters left : some who 

 flutter about in search of Caterpillars, and one very large 

 kind of Wasp who actually has the courage to hunt the Taran- 

 tula. Many of these mighty Spiders have their burrows in 

 the harmas, and you can see their eyes gleaming at the bottom 

 of the den like little diamonds. On hot summer afternoons 

 you may also see Amazon-ants, who leave their barracks in 

 long battalions and march far afield to hunt for slaves. 



Nor are these all. The shrubs about the house are full 

 of birds, Warblers and Greenfinches, Sparrows and Owls ; 

 while the pond is so popular with the Frogs that in May it 

 becomes a deafening orchestra. And boldest of all, the Wasp 

 has taken possession of the house itself. On my doorway 



