122 FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



repairs, and the dug-out is completed. The Rabbit is cleverer 

 than these, for he builds his house by burrowing wherever he 

 pleases, when there is no natural passage that allows him to 

 settle down free of all trouble. 



The Cricket is cleverer than any of them. He scorns 

 chance refuges, and always chooses the site of his home care- 

 fully, in well-drained ground, with a pleasant sunny aspect. 

 He refuses to make use of ready-made caves that are incon- 

 venient and rough : he digs every bit of his villa, from the 

 entrance-hall to the back-room. 



I see no one above him, in the art of house-building, except 

 man ; and even man, before mixing mortar to hold stones 

 together, or kneading clay to coat his hut of branches, fought 

 with wild beasts for a refuge in the rocks. Why is it that a 

 special instinct is bestowed on one particular creature ? Here 

 is one of the humblest of creatures able to lodge himself to 

 perfection. He has a home, an advantage unknown to many 

 civilised beings ; he has a peaceful retreat, the first condi- 

 tion of comfort ; and no one around him is capable of settling 

 down. He has no rivals but ourselves. 



Whence does he derive this gift ? Is he favoured with 

 special tools ? No, the Cricket is not an expert in the art 

 of digging ; in fact, one is rather surprised at the result when 

 one considers the feebleness of his means. 



Is a home a necessity to him, on account of an exceptionally 

 delicate skin ? No, his near kinsmen have skins as sensitive 

 as his, yet do not dread the open air at all. 



Is the house-building talent the result of his anatomy ? 

 Has he any special organ that suggests it ? No : in my 

 neighbourhood there are three other Crickets who are so much 

 like the Field Cricket in appearance, colour, and structure, 

 that at the first glance one would take them for him. Of these 

 faithful copies, not one knows how to dig himself a burrow. 

 The Double-spotted Cricket inhabits the heaps of grass that 

 are left to rot in damp places ; the Solitary Cricket roams 

 about the dry clods turned up by the gardener's spade ; the 



