IT.] 



OF SELBORNE. 



147 



in the morning, and by dedicating the rest of the day to food 

 and amusement, gives it sufficient time to dry and harden. 

 About half an inch seems to be a sufficient layer for a day. 

 Thus careful workmen when they build mud-walls (informed at 

 first perhaps by this little bird) raise but a moderate layer at a 



Tin: mirsr-M A 



time, and then desist ; lest the work should become top-heavy, and 

 so be ruined by its own weight. By this method in about ten or 

 twelve days is formed an hemispheric nest with a small aper- 

 ture towards the top, strong, compact, and warm ; and perfectly 

 fitted for all the purposes for which it was intended. But then 

 nothing is more common than for the house-sparrow, as soon 



