BIRDS’ NESTS. 183 
in which to locate its children’s home. The Magpie, more am- 
bitious, constructs its nest of branches interlaced with twigs, and 
lined with fine grass, hair, and other soft materials, in the topmost 
fork of some tall ash, poplar, or elm. It is a large, and conse- 
quently a conspicuous fabric, elliptical in form, composed first of 
rough boughs, on which is laid a quantity of mud, and then a layer 
of twigs, the whole lined with fibrous roots and other soft material. 
The Goldfinch builds its nest on trees ; it is composed of grass, moss, 
and lichens, and lined with the down of various plants and such 
other soft material as comes in its way, elaborately interwoven with 
wool and hair (Fig. 74). 
Fig. 74. —Nest of Goldfinch. Fig. 75.— Nest of Barn Owl. 
The Barn Owl chooses her nest in some obscure nook of an old 
tower, the steeple of a church, a dovecot, or the hollow of an aged 
tree (Fig. 75). It is composed of twigs and straw loosely arranged. 
Some birds form into a sort of coarse tissue of fibres the materials 
of which they construct their nest—this has procured them the name 
of Weaver Birds. The nest of the Tailor Bird is placed in a large 
leaf, the margins of which are sewn together so as to form a bag (Fig. 
76). The Synalaxine Bird builds its nest with grasses, interlacing 
them ina firm and inextricable web, and in it are found two apartments, 
the eggs being placed in the inner one. The Baltimore Orioles and 
Crested Crioles of the New World cannot be passed without noticing 
their wonderful skill in nest construction. The nest of the Baltimore 
Oniole is a perfect pouch, which is suspended from the upper branch 
of a shrub or tree; but the nest of the latter consists of dry grasses 
