252 THE NEST. 



rough work. It is, moreover, a stratagem. The true mason is the 

 swallow, which suspends her house to ours. 



The marvel of its kind is, perhaps, the wonderful carpentry which 

 the thrush executes. The nest, very much exposed under the moist 

 shelter of the vines, is made externally of moss, and amid the sur- 

 rounding verdure escapes the eye; but look within: it is an admirable 

 cupola, neat, polished, shining, and not inferior to glass. You may 

 see yourself in it as in a mirror. 



The rustic art, appropriate to the forests, of timber- work, joining, 

 wood-carving, is attempted on the lowest scale by the toucan, whose 

 bill, though enormous, is weak and thin : he attacks only worm- 

 eaten trees. The woodpecker, better armed, as we have seen, accom- 

 plishes more : he is a true carpenter ; until love inspires him, and he 

 becomes a sculptor. 



Infinite in varieties and species is the guild of basket-makers and 

 weavers. To note the starting-point, the advance, and the climax 

 of an industry so varied, would be a prolonged labour. 



The shore birds plait, to begin with, but very unskilfully. Why 

 should they do better? So warmly clothed by nature with an 

 unctuous and almost impermeable coat of plumage, they have little 

 need to allow for the elements. Their great art is the chase ; always 

 lank, and insufficiently fed, the piscivora are controlled by the wants 

 of a craving stomach. 



The very elementary weaving of the herons and storks is already 

 outstripped, though to no great extent, by the basket-makers of the 

 woods, the jay, the mocking-bird, the bullfinch. Their more numerous 

 brood impose on them more arduous toil. They lay down rude enough 

 foundations, but thereupon plant a basket of more or less elegant 

 design, a web of roots and dry twigs strongly woven together. The 

 cistole delicately interlaces three reeds or canes, whose leaves, mingled 

 with the web, form a safe and mobile base, undulating as the bird 

 rocks. The tomtit suspends her purse-like cradle to a bough, and 

 trusts to the wind to nurse her progeny. 



The canary, the goldfinch, the chaffinch, are skilful fclters. The 



