The Mason-Wasps 



sometimes exacting more labour, is at least 

 always possible. 



The Sparrow shall tell us first how his 

 nest-building art stood in the days when 

 there were no lodgings in walls and roofs. 

 A hollow in a tree, high enough to shelter 

 him from prying eyes, with a narrow mouth 

 to keep out the rain and a fairly generous 

 cavity, gives him an excellent dwelling, of 

 which he readily avails himself even when 

 there are plenty of old walls and roofs in 

 the neighbourhood. The youngest bird's- 

 nester in my village knows all about it and 

 abuses his knowledge. The hollow tree 

 then is one lodging which the Sparrow em- 

 ployed, long before using Evander's cabin 

 and David's stronghold on the rock of 

 Zion. 



His architectural resources go even fur- 

 ther. His shapeless mattress, an incoher- 

 ent jumble of feathers, down, ilock, straw 

 and other incongruous materials, seems to 

 demand a broad and stable support. The 

 Sparrow laughs at the difficulty and, from 

 time to time, for reasons that remain hid- 

 den from me, he conceives a bold plan: he 

 decides to build a nest having no support 

 but that of three or four tiny branches at 

 the top of a tree. The clumsy maker of 

 138 



