“ 
18 THE ARCHITECTURE OF BIRDS. 
might, apparently with as good reason, attribute the 
invention of paper-making to wasps: but the record- 
ed history of paper would disprove the theory; for 
the manner in which wasps make paper was not 
known previous to 1719, though Réaumur had en- 
deavoured to discover it for twenty years. 
We cannot weil conceive how it happened that 
White of Selborne, usually so accurate in his facts, 
should have committed so many mistakes respecting 
the bank-swallow. ‘These mistakes are the more 
unfortunate, as they have been implicitly copied by 
almost every succeeding writer. ‘ Perseverance,” 
says White, ‘‘ will accomplish anything; though at 
first one would be disinclined to believe that this 
weak bird, with her soft and tender bill and claws, 
should ever be able to bore the stubborn sandbank 
without entirely disabling herself; yet with these 
feeble instruments have I seen a pair of them make 
great despatch, and could remark how much they 
had scooped that day by the fresh sand which ran 
down the bank, and was of a different colour from 
that which lay loose and bleached in the sun.”* 
Whoever, on the contrary, looks at the bill and 
tlaws of the bird, cannot fail to be convinced, that, 

so far from being “soft and tender,” they are more 
than commonly hard and sharp, and admirably adapt- 
ed for digging. The bill, we admit, is small, but its 
very shortness adds to its strength, as it suddenly ta- 
* Nat. Hist. Selborne, vol. i., p. 229, ed. 1825. 
