132 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



the very midst of the dense foliage. Their nesting 

 place is by preference at the junction of several fork- 

 ing branches. The male goes forth and gathers 

 from neighboring trees, never from the ground, the 

 building material of dry twigs. If he sees a dead 

 twig attached to the branch on which he is perching, 

 he seizes it with his claws, sometimes with the beak, 

 and tries to break it either by leaning on it with all 

 his weight or by pulling -it toward him. Possessed 

 of his prize, he returns at once to his mate, who con- 

 tents herself with putting the materials into place 

 without taking part in getting them. In building the 

 nest, therefore, the male is the worker and the fe- 

 male the architect; but an architect without talent, 

 we must admit, for the structure is nothing but a 

 mass of intertwined sticks without lining of feathers 

 and flock, and, worse still, without firmness. Hence 

 it is not unusual for this nest to fall to pieces before 

 the brood has taken its flight ; fortunately the strong 

 branches on which it rests save the young ones from 

 a disastrous fall. 



" Wild and mistrustful, the wood-pigeon has never 

 been willing to accept the calculated hospitality of 

 the pigeon-house; it prefers the perilous life of the 

 woods to the full-fed existence of servitude. This is 

 the wild pigeon that frequently falls before the hunt- 

 er's fire. In certain defiles of the Pyrenees it is 

 caught with large nets, hundreds at a time. The 

 rock-pigeon, on the contrary, has from time imme- 

 morial been dependent on man ; and in return for the 

 shelter of the pigeon-house which protects it from 



