The Natural History of Se I borne 239 



amusement, an anecdote or two not much in favour of her 

 sagacity : 



A certain swallow built for two years together on the 

 handles of a pair of garden-shears that were stuck up against 

 the boards in an out-house, and therefore must have her 

 nest spoiled whenever that implement was wanted ; and, what 

 is stranger still, another bird of the same species built its nest 

 on the wings and body of an owl that happened by accident 

 to hang dead and dry from the rafter of a barn. This owl, 

 with the nest on its wings, and with eggs in the nest, was 

 brought as a curiosity worthy the most elegant private museum 

 in Great Britain. The owner, struck with the oddity of the 

 sight, furnished the bringer with a large shell, or conch, 

 desiring him to fix it just where the owl hung : the person did 

 as he was ordered, and the following year a pair, probably the 

 same pair, built their nest in the conch, and laid their eggs. 



The owl and the conch make a strange grotesque appear- 

 ance, and are not the least curious specimens in that wonderful 

 collection of art and nature.* 



Thus is instinct in animals, taken the least out of its way, 

 an undistinguishing, limited faculty, and blind to every circum- 

 stance that does not immediately respect self-preservation, or 

 lead at once to the propagation or support of their species. 

 I am, 



With all respect, &c. &c. 



* Sir Ashton Lever's " Musseum." 



