CHAPTER I 



FEATHERED ARTISTS 



It wins my admiration 

 To view the structure of that little work, 

 A bird nest. Mark it well, within, without; 

 No tool had he that wrought, no knife to cut, 

 No nail to fix, no bodkin to insert, 

 No glue to join; his little beak was all, 

 And yet, how neatly finished! What nice hand, 

 With every implement and means of art, 

 And twenty years' apprenticeship to boot, 

 Could make me such another"? Fondly then 

 We boast of excellence, whose noblest skill 

 Instinctive genius foils. 



,Hurdis "The Linnet." 



PERHAPS in no better way do our little 

 brothers of the air show that they possess 

 considerable knowledge of the arts, and that they 

 are continually improving that knowledge, than by 

 the marvellous homes and miniature palaces they 

 create and decorate for themselves. Birds learn by 



