210 THE WONDERS OF INSTINCT 



nests where this Helix took the place of pebbles almost 

 entirely. They were like boxes made of shells, the work 

 of a patient hand. 



A comparison offers here. Certain Australian birds, 

 notably the Bower-birds, build themselves covered walks, 

 or playhouses, with interwoven twigs, and decorate the 

 two entrances to the portico by strewing the threshold 

 with anything that they can find in the shape of 

 glittering, polished, or bright-colored objects. Every 

 door-sill is a cabinet of curiosities where the collector 

 gathers smooth pebbles, variegated shells, empty snail- 

 shells, parrot's feathers, bones that have come to look 

 like sticks of ivory. The odds and ends mislaid by man 

 find a home in the bird's museum, where we see pipe- 

 stems, metal buttons, strips of cotton stuff and stone 

 ax-heads. 



The collection at either entrance to the bower is large 

 enough to fill half a bushel. As these objects are of 

 no use to the bird, its only motive for accumulating 

 them must be an art-lover's hobby. Our common 

 Magpie has similar tastes : any shiny thing that he comes 

 upon he picks up, hides and hoards. 



Well, the Eumenes, who shares this passion for bright 

 pebbles and empty snail-shells, is the Bower-bird of 

 the insect world; but she is a more practical collector, 

 knows how to combine the useful and the ornamental 

 and employs her finds in the construction of her nest, 

 which is both a fortress and a museum. When she 

 finds nodules of translucent quartz, she rejects every- 

 thing else : the building will be all the prettier for them. 



