FAIRY MARTIN'S NESTS. 101 



bird is the architect, and is assisted by six or 

 seven labourers. The latter are despatched to 

 the river side to fetch mud, whilst the former 

 places itself inside the cavity already commenced, 

 and, with the material supplied by the industrious 

 labourers, adds to the nest from within. This 

 continues until the nest is finished. When 

 complete, it is of a rounded form, six or seven 

 inches in diameter, the nest being eight or nine 

 inches in length. These nests are often found in 

 clusters of thirty or forty together.* 



The rock-warbler, found in the same country, 

 constructs a nest scarcely less remarkable. The 

 most romantic spots are selected by this bird for 

 the locality of its nests. Along water-courses, 

 on the precipitous sides of rocky gullies, in the 

 hollows of precipices whose feet are bathed by a 

 tumultuous mountain river, the nests are found. 

 In caverns in such spots as these the traveller 

 beholds the extraordinary sight of clusters of 

 bottle-shaped masses of clay hanging by a narrow 

 neck from the roof. It appears extraordinary how 

 the weight of the nest can be safely supported by 

 so small an attachment ; and the nests altogether 

 * Gould : Birds of Australia. 



