DWELLINGS 1633 



years; as long as there is room beneath the roof the 

 young form pairs near their cradle; but at last, as 

 the colony continues to increase, a portion emigrate 

 to found a new town on another tree in the forest. 



The industry of the woven dwelling does not flour- 

 ish among mammals; but there is one which excels 

 in it. This is the dwarf mouse (Mus minutus), cer- 

 tainly one of the smallest rodents. It generally lives 

 amid reeds and rushes, and it is perhaps this circum- 

 stance which has impelled it to construct an aerial 

 dwelling for its young, not being able to deposit them 

 on the damp and often flooded soil. This retreat is 

 not used in every season; its sole object is for bring- 

 ing forth the young. It is therefore a genuine nest, 

 not only by the manner in which it is made, but by 

 the object it is intended to serve. The nest is made 

 with as much delicacy as that of any bird, and no 

 other mammal except man is capable of executing 

 such weaver's work. 



There are birds which have succeeded in solving 

 a remarkable difficulty. Sewing seems so ingenious 

 an art that it must be reserved for the human species 

 alone. Yet the tailor-bird, the Orthotomus longi- 

 cauda, and other species possess the elements of it. 

 They place their nests in a large leaf which they 

 prepare to this end. With their beaks they pierce two 

 rows of holes along the two edges of the leaf; they 

 then pass a stout thread from one side to the other 

 alternately. With this leaf, at first flat, they form 

 a horn in which they weave their nest with cotton or 

 hair. These labors of weaving and sewing are pre- 

 ceded by the spinning of the thread. The bird makes 



