6oo THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



face. In most cases the cliff above overhangs the site. At the 

 end of February or the beginning of March the needful repairs 

 to the nest are attended to, and the universal branch of evergreen 

 is laid upon the nest, seemingly for any purpose save that of util- 

 ity. This feature has been present in all the nests I have exam- 

 ined myself, or have had examined by others ; it would seem to 

 be employed as a badge of occupancy." 



It is scarcely necessary to recall the skillful art with which the 

 stickleback, which inhabits all our streams, plaits its nest and re- 

 mains sentinel near it. (Fig. 4.) This fish has indeed monopo- 

 lized our admiration, and is considered as the most skillful if 

 not the only aquatic architect. Yet, besides those which I have 

 already mentioned, there is one which equals the stickleback in 

 the skill it displays in constructing a shelter for its spawn. This 

 is the Gohius niger, met on our coasts, especially in the estuaries 

 of rivers. The male interlaces and weaves the leaves of algse, etc., 

 and when he has finished his preparations he goes to seek females, 

 and leads them one by one to lay in the retreat he has built. 

 Then he remains in the neighborhood until the young come out, 

 ready to throw himself furiously with his spines on any impru- 

 dent intruders. 



Dwellings Woven with Greater Art. Without doubt the 

 class of birds furnishes the most expert artisans in the industry 

 of the woven dwelling. In our own country we may see them 

 seeking every day to right and left, carrying a morsel of straw, a 

 pinch of moss, a hair from a horse's tail, or a tuft of wool caught 

 in a bush. They intermingle these materials, making the frame- 

 work of the construction with the coarser pieces, keeping those 

 that are warmer and more delicate for the interior. These nests, 

 attached to a fork in a branch or in a shrub, hidden in the depth 

 of a thicket, are little masterpieces of skill and patience. To de- 

 scribe every form and every method would fill a volume. But I 

 can not pass in silence those which reveal a science sure of itself, 

 and which are not very inferior to what man can do in this line. 

 The Lithuanian titmouse {^githalns pendulinus), whose works 

 have been well described by Baldamus, lives in the marshes in 

 the midst of reeds and willows in Poland, Galicia, and Hungary. 

 Its nest, which resembles none met in our own country, is always 

 suspended above the water, two or three metres above the surface, 

 fixed to a willow branch.* All individuals do not exhibit the same 

 skill in fabricating their dwelling ; some are more careful and 

 clever than others who are less experienced. Some, also, are 

 obliged by circumstances to hasten their work. It frequently 

 happens that magpies spoil, or even altogether destroy with blows 



* Baldamus, Beitrage zur Oologie und Nidologie, 1853, pp. 419-445. 



