MASON BEE. 273 
whose nest has the appearance of stone, 
and costs her incredible pains ; she first 
chooses the kind of sand that answers her 
purpose, and then ghies grain by grain 
together with a liquid, which she throws 
out from her mouth ; when a round ball 
has thus been formed, as large as she can 
carry, she flies with it to the spot, on 
which she has previously determined, in 
^ome warm, sheltered wall, and there fixes 
it as the foundation stone. With a num- 
ber of similar balls, about the size of small 
shot, and firmly attached to each other, 
she constructs a cell about an inch high, 
and a little more than half an inch in di- 
ameter; and then, with a still finer sort 
of sand she gives it a smooth, polished 
lining. She next goes to the fields, and 
brings home a quantity of honey, and of 
the farina of flow^ers, which she works 
into a paste, and with it fills about two 
thirds of the cavity; on the paste she de- 
posits an e^^, and then, with the same 
kind of sandy mortar, she covers over 
and completes this first cell. Another h 
N 5 
