THE NEST. 143 



assume a rough outline of what its form was 

 eventually to be; its shape, when completed, 

 being very like the half of a teacup stuck against 

 a wall. Being curious to see from whence they 

 procured their building materials, I tracked them 

 to the edge of the stream, where, on a tiny kind 

 of beach, they worked up the clay and fine sand 

 into mortar with their delicate beaks. For days 

 these feathered architects, with unwearying pa- 

 tience, journeyed to and from the brick-field, 

 making their own bricks, carrying them home, 

 and carefully laying them. 



The house is built; and next to furnish it. 

 First of all, minute bits of soft dry grass were 

 brought, and laid on the bottom, and round the 

 rough walls ; this occupied about two days ; then 

 excursions had to be made along the banks of 

 the stream, where ducks' feathers and bits of 

 goose-clown were picked up, brought home, and 

 neatly deposited on the grass lining, until the 

 inside was made as smooth and soft as an eider- 

 down pillow. The trustful couple knew no fear. 

 I frequently stood on a log to watch them, their 

 feathers touching my face as they toiled at their 

 brickwork twisting, shaping, fitting, and gluing 

 the bricks together with an adhesive salivary 

 secretion. 



