FLY-CATCHER OF AUSTRALIA. 263 



nest, the little bird has been taught to make it of 

 the size exactly necessary to contain the future 

 young, and to line it, as the case may require, 

 either with the warmest feathers, or with hair or 

 cobwebs. The small fan-tailed fly-catcher of Aus- 

 tralia makes its elegant little nest on the slender 

 stalk of a tree. It resembles a wine glass in shape, 

 without the bottom part, and the stem is fastened 

 to a lower stalk, thus preserving a due balance. 

 It is outwardly matted together with the webs of 

 spiders, which not only serve to envelope the nest, 

 but are also employed to strengthen its attachment 

 to the branch on which it is constructed. The 

 whole is woven together with exquisite skill. This 

 also is the case with some of the nests of the hum- 

 ming-bird, where the use of the rim is very appa- 

 rent. 



If writers on natural history, who make their 

 remarks on animals as they see them in a state of 

 captivity, could watch them in their native haunts, 

 much that has been said of them would have been 

 omitted. In some instances the wisdom of the 

 Great Creator has been called in question, as if 

 everything that He had made was not perfect, and 

 afforded proofs of infinite wisdom. Buffon, and 

 some other naturalists have described the Sloth, 

 for instance, as an unhappy, miserable animal, 

 almost incapable of crawling on the earth, shedding 

 tears instead of defending itself, and so imperfectly 



