APRIL. 97 



and of these dried flags it had constructed the base 

 and exterior of its nest of such a size, owing to this 

 bulky material, and so interwoven it with large 

 pieces of paper with which its vicinity to the town 

 had supplied it, as to form one of the strangest sights 

 imaginable. The same departure from the uni- 

 formity of material may be observed in situations 

 where the article commonly used is not to be found ; 

 otherwise, in selection of materials, in the degree of 

 ingenuity displayed in putting them together, in 

 choice of situation, every bird adheres exactly to 

 the practice of its species and ancestry, and that 

 without instruction. This is one of the marvels of 

 instinct. 



In the barn there is the owl; and amongst the 

 old crooked trees of the orchard, a great variety of 

 bird habitations. In one hollow tree the wry-neck 

 has built; in another, the ox-eye; in a third, the 

 starling. The missel-thrush has constructed a nest 

 large as a man's head, of hay and wool, which often 

 hang in large waving locks, in the pear-tree. Its 

 eggs, like those of the w 7 ater-hen and the crake, are 

 marked with large pink spots. The wren has in- 

 serted its oval nest of green moss, leaving only a 

 small side-entrance, into the roof of a shed, or into 

 the stump of an old ivied thorn ; and so sensitive is 

 this little creature, that if her nest be only touched 

 with a finger, she will very seldom enter it again. 

 The chaffinch delights to build its beautiful nest, 

 spangled with silvery lichens, and lined with soft 

 cow-hair, in the apple-tree ; the goldfinch, on the 



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