FAMILY CARES — BUILDING THE HOME. 131 



male is, strange to say, the lining membrane of 

 his own gizzard which is ejected together with 

 its contents ! 



As Dr Sharpe remarks, '' between providing 

 material for the effectual imprisonment of his 

 wife, and shedding the lining of his gizzard for 

 her future sustenance, to say nothing of that of 

 the baby, the male hornhill must have rather a 

 bad time of it. No wonder then that Livingstone 

 says that the prisoner becomes quite fat, and 

 is esteemed a dainty morsel by the natives; 

 while the poor slave of a husband gets so lean, 

 that in the sudden lowering of the temperature, 

 which often happens after a fall of rain, he is 

 benumbed, falls down, and dies." 



We will next turn to birds which build 

 nests of mud, mixing a certain amount of 

 saliva therewith to ensure durability. We 

 have two very perfect examples of such mud- 

 built nests, amongst those of our British birds. 

 The house-martin (Chelidon urhica) and the 

 swallow {Hirundo rustica). 



The beautiful cup-shaped nest of the house- 

 martin must be familiar to most of us. It is 

 made of mud gathered from rain-pools by the 

 roadside or the riverside, and carried bit by bit 

 in, and ejected from the mouth of tlie little 

 architect, on to the surface of the selected site. 

 As soon as a sufficient foothold can be obtained 

 on the foundation of the new house, one or other 

 of the little builders works continually from the 

 inside to direct its shape. The pertinacity with 

 which these poor birds will adhere to any spot 

 they have selected is amazing. The writer well 



