BOOK VI. 



THE ARCHITECTURE OF BIRDS. 



The extreme diversity in the works constructed by birds 

 has excited the admiration of every one. These animals 

 vary to infinity the forms, style, and materials which they 

 employ. It is therefore possible to divide them into as 

 many classes as there are kinds of work. Some are car- 

 penters ; others weave ; some build ; and we find among 

 them navvies, masons, and miners ; blacksmiths alone are 

 wanting. 



Alongside of our gigantic monuments, such as St. Peter's 

 at Rome and the pyramids of the Pharaohs, the nest of the 

 bird is only a point in space ; but the work suddenly ex- 

 pands before our eyes when we compare the weakness of 

 the workman with the magnitude of his task ; for some of 

 our aerial architects, in order to build their dwellings, amass 

 more earth, in proportion, in one season than a man would 

 heap up in his whole life. 



Their nests lend animation to every part of the world. 

 Some, like the eagle and vulture, only build them on the 

 shattered mountain tops, on the naked and arid rocks ; 

 others, more delicate, such as some of the humming-birds, 

 let them wave at the will of the zephyr, and content them- 



