36 THE ARCHITECTURE OF BIRDS. 



ter them from the weather, the indolence of that 

 state in which the ingenuity of man has not been 

 called forth by thought and experience, prevents 

 them from constructing any additional convenience 

 in the form of a door. Even when they take the 

 trouble of making a wigwam of boughs, their sub- 

 stitute for a door consists in narrowing the entrance 

 so that it will only allow of their crawling in on all 

 fours, like their fellow foresters, the bears and foxes. 

 It is only after the dawn of refinement, when inven- 

 tion has been stimulated by the desire of comfort, 

 that we meet with doors curiously and tastefully 

 constructed, possessing certain architectural pro- 

 portions, as well as adapted to the character of the 

 climate. Among the lower animals, the contri- 

 vance of a door of any description is of rare occur- 

 rence, and is, we believe, only to be found among a 

 peculiar family of spiders (Mygalida), But all ani- 

 mals, man included, are soon taught by experience, 

 that protection from enemies is no less necessary 

 than shelter from the inclemencies of weather. The 

 Gothic castle and the walled city have low and nar- 

 row portals, opposed to the entrance of a hostile 

 army; and the Indian contracts or barricades his 

 hut to prevent his being devoured by nocturnal beasts 

 of prey. 



It is probably both for protection from enemies 

 and for shelter from the weather, that the nut-hatch 

 (Sitta Europaa) forms the barricade to her nest, 

 which has suggested the preceding observations. 

 In France, the bird is termed the mason woodpeck- 

 er. The older naturalists tell us that this little ma- 

 son selects for breeding the hole of a tree, and if 

 this be larger than she requires, she narrows the en- 

 trance with earth and mud so neatly kneaded that a 

 potter could not do it more dexterously. Buffon 

 adds, that she strengthens the fabric of soft earth 

 with small stones, a device which we have observed 



