THE GRIFFARD. 61 
to Vaillant, who ranks among the very best observers 
of the manners of animals, the griffard builds either. 
on the tops of the loftiest trees, or among the most 
inaccessible and rugged rocks, making its nest quite 
flat, in the manner of a floor, without any perceptible 
hollow. Itis so firmly constructed that it will bear 
the weight of a man upon it without giving way, and 
it will consequently last for a number of years. It 
is composed at first of several strong rafters of dif- 
ferent lengths, according to the distance of the 
branches or cliffs upon which it is erected. These 
rafters, again, are interwoven with smaller and more 
flexible branches, which unite them strongly togeth- 
er, and serve as the foundation of the platform. 
Over this is piled a considerable quantity of brush- 
wood, moss, dry leaves, heath, and sometimes rush- 
es, if they can be found in the vicinity. The second 
floor, if we may call it so, is covered with a bed of 
small pieces of dry wood, upon which, without the 
addition of any softer materials, the female deposites 
her eggs. The eyry or nest thus constructed is 
about four or five feet in diameter, and two feet thick, 
but it is not very regular in its form. The strong, 
massive structure of the nest causes it to endure for 
many years, perhaps during the lives of the couple 
who build it, if they are not compelled to abandon 
it on account of danger or alarm. The necessity of 
building it so very strong will be more obvious when 
it is considered that the parent birds weigh from 
twenty-five to thirty pounds, the female being the 
larger of the two, as is common among birds of prey, 
exceeding the male in length by about a foot. 
The several species of herons may also not im- 
properly be ranked among the platform-builders ; 
for though they construct a shallow depression in 
the centre of the nest, which is by all the species, 
if we mistake not, lined with some sort of soft ma- 
terial, such as dry grass, rushes, feathers, or wool, 
the body of the nest is quite fiat, and formed much 
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