The Mason-bees had chosen the interstices between the stones as a dormitory where to pass the night in serried groups.

The powerful Eyed Lizard, who, when close-pressed, attacks wide-mouthed both man and dog, had selected a cave wherein to lie in wait for the passing Scarab (A Dung-beetle known also as the Sacred Beetle .-- Translator's Note.); the Black-eared Chat, garbed like a Dominican, white-frocked with black wings, sat on the top stone, singing his short rustic lay: his nest, with its sky-blue eggs, must be somewhere in the heap.

The little Dominican disappeared with the loads of stones.

I regret him: he would have been a charming neighbour.

The Eyed Lizard I do not regret at all.
The sand sheltered a different colony.