50 THE ARCHITECTURE OF BIRDS. 



structive brood in crevices between the bark and 

 wood, he labours sometimes for half an hour inces- 

 santly at the same spot before he has succeeded in 

 dislodging and destroying them. At these times you 

 may walk up pretty close to the tree, and even stand 

 immediately below it, within five or six feet of the 

 bird, without in the least embarrassing him; the 

 strokes of his bill are distinctly heard several hun- 

 dred yards off; and I have known him to be at work 

 for two hours together on the same tree. Buffon 

 calls this ' incessant toil and slavery ;' their attitude 

 ' a painful posture ;' and their life ' a dull and insipid 

 existence;' expressions improper because untrue, 

 and absurd because contradictory. The posture is 

 that for which the whole organization of his frame 

 is particularly adapted ; and though to a wren or a 

 humming-bird the labour would be both a toil and a 

 slavery, yet to him it is, I am convinced, as pleasant 

 and as amusing as the sports of the chase to the hunt- 

 er, or the sucking of flowers to the humming-bird. 

 The eagerness with which he traverses the upper 

 and lower sides of the branches ; the cheerfulness 

 of his cry ; and the liveliness of his motions, while 

 digging into the tree and dislodging the vermin, jus- 

 tify this belief." 



Our author's account of the nestling of this active 

 little bird is equally lively. " About the middle of 

 May," says he, " the male and female look out for a 

 suitable place for the reception of their eggs and 

 young. An apple, pear, or cherry tree, often in the 

 near neighbourhood of the farmhouse, is generally 

 pitched upon for this purpose. The tree is minutely 

 reconnoitred for several days previous to the opera- 

 tion, and the work is first begun by the male, who 

 cuts out a hole in the solid wood, as circular as if 

 described with a pair of compasses. .He is occa- 

 sionally relieved by the female, both parties work- 

 ing with the most indefatigable diligence. The di- 

 rection of the hole, if made in the body of the tree, 



