68 THE LIFE OF A BIRD. 



movement to adapt it to the position in which it is 

 placed, yet it is ingeniously rendered so secure as 

 to run no risk of injury. 



The orioles have long been celebrated for the 

 matchless workmanship of their nest. The mate- 

 rials are so united by the bird as to form a strong 

 firm kind of cloth, not unlike the substance of a 

 hat in its raw state, the nest being of the form of 

 a deep pouch, the whole being shaded from the 

 sun and rain by a natural pent-house, or canopy, 

 of leaves. The materials are in some instances 

 tightly sewn through with strong horsehairs ; a feat 

 which is surprising, when we remember that the 

 bird must perform it, as ladies do their crochet- 

 work, by thrusting the hair through one hole, and, 

 airain inserting the beak, pulling it back through 

 another.* 



The celebrated tailor-bird is a beautiful instance 

 of similar ingenuity in the use of its beak. It 

 may be questioned how far all the accounts of 

 this bird's actions recorded in works on natural 



* An old lady, to whom one of these beautiful structures was 

 shown, after admiring its texture for some time, inquired in a 

 tone between joke and earnest, whether it might not be possible 

 to teach these birds to darn stockings. 



