THE SITUATION. 



a plaster of loam, perfectly excluding, by these 

 cottage-like walls, the keen icy gales of our open- 

 ing year. Yet, should accident bereave the parents 

 of their first hopes, they will construct another, 

 even when summer is far advanced, upon the 

 model of their first erection, and with the same 

 precaution against severe weather, when all neces- 

 sity for such provision has ceased, and the usual 

 temperature of the season rather requiring cool- 

 ness and free circulation of air The green- 

 finch places its nest in the hedge, with little regard 

 to concealment. Its fabric is slovenly and rude, 

 and the materials of the coarsest kinds ; while the 

 chaffinch, just above it in the stem, hides its nest 

 with cautious care, and moulds it with the utmost 

 attention to order, neatness, and form. One bird 

 must have a hole in the ground; to another a 

 crevice in the wall or a chink in a tree is indis- 

 pensable Endless examples might be found 



of the dissimilarity of requirements in these con- 

 structions among the several associates of our 

 groves, our hedges, and our houses ; and yet the 

 supposition cannot be entertained for a moment, 

 that they are superfluous, or not essential for some 

 purpose with which we are unacquainted. By 



