72 THE LIFE OF A BIRD. 



dicular side of the wall, supporting itself by 

 its claws and feet. In this manner our little 

 plasterer builds a good solid basis upon which to 

 rear the rest of his dwelling. The bird lays on 

 about half an inch of material every day. This 

 is soon accomplished, and is generally done, as has 

 been said, in the early morning ; after which the 

 little architect flies off to collect food, or to sport 

 in the sunshiny air. The next morning beholds 

 the labourer at earliest dawn busy at work ; before 

 noon the day's work is completed, and the long 

 hours of the afternoon and summer evenings are 

 devoted to amusement. In about ten or twelve 

 days the nest is complete. 



White of Selborne describes the nest with 

 great accuracy, in the following terms : " The 

 shell or crust of the nest is a sort of rustic-work, 

 full of knobs and protuberances on the outside. 

 Xor is the inside of those that I have examined 

 smoothed with any exactness at all, but is rendered 

 soft and warm, and fit for incubation, by a lining of 

 small straws, grasses, and feathers, and sometimes 

 by a bedding of moss interwoven with wool. 

 They are often capricious in fixing on a nesting 

 place, beginning many edifices, and leaving them 



