196 NEWS FROM THE BIRDS. 



serve its name. Perhaps you have seen pic- 

 tures of its nest. It will select two broad 

 leaves not far apart, and stitch the edges 

 together with a thread w^hich it has spun of 

 cotton. The stitching is done with its bill 

 used as a needle. The leaves thus bound 

 together form a sort of pocket into which the 

 little tailor throws some soft, downy material, 

 slightly hollowed at the top for a nest. Some- 

 times only one leaf is used, if it is large enough, 

 the two edges being brought together and 

 stitched. 



The English blackbird and lapwing, after 

 building a nest of grasses and fibers, surround 

 it with a kind of cement which holds the walls 

 firm. There are some birds which scratch to- 

 gether a heap of leaves, making a sort of hot- 

 bed, on which they lay their eggs, and let them 

 hatch by the heat produced by the decaying 

 substances. Some of the grebes and rails drag 

 from the sides and bottoms of streams frag- 

 ments of water plants of which they form a 

 rude, half-floating mass piled on the water- 

 weeds. On this they sit, the eggs being 

 hatched partly by the heat of their bodies and 

 partly by the heat generated by their queerly 

 constructed nest. 



The magpie is a thief, and, like all rascally 



