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. It is 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 flat, and formed much 

 F 



