Bramble-bees and Others 



now on the glass panes, now on the Iron bars 

 of the framework. Other little swarms settle 

 in the window-embrasures, under the project- 

 ing ledge of the front-door or in the cranny 

 between the wall and an open shutter. Others 

 again, being perhaps of a morose disposition, 

 flee society and prefer to work in solitude, 

 one in the inside of a lock or of a pipe in- 

 tended to carry the rain-water from the leads; 

 another in the mouldings of the doors and 

 windows or in the crude ornamentation of the 

 stonework. In short, the house is made use 

 of all round, provided that the shelter be an 

 out-of-door one; for observe that the enter- 

 prising invader, unlike the Pelopasus, never 

 penetrates inside our dwellings. The case of 

 the conservatory is an exception more ap- 

 parent than real : the glass building, standing 

 wide open throughout the summer, is to the 

 Mason-bee but a shed a little lighter than the 

 others. There is nothing here to arouse the 

 distrust with which anything indoors or shut 

 up inspires her. To build on the threshold 

 of an outer door, or to usurp its lock, a hiding- 

 place to her fancy, is all that she allows her- 

 self; to go any farther is an adventure repug- 

 nant to her taste. 



20Z 



