232 



The kite, the c^ow, and the sparrow-hawk, are 

 to be guarded against : as their nests have been some. 

 times plundered by the magpie, so it may be, they will 

 take an opportunity to retaliate. To prevent this, 

 the magpie's nest is built with surprising labour and 

 ingenuity. 



The body of the nest is composed of haw-thorn 

 branches ; the tho-ns sticking outward, but well uni- 

 ted together by their mutual insertion. It is lined 

 with fibrous roots, wool, and Jong grass, and nicely 

 plaistered round with mud and clay. The body of the 

 nest being thus made firm and commodious, the 

 next work is to make the canopy which is to defend 

 it above. 



This is composed of the sharpest thorns, so wove 

 together, as to deny all entrance except at the door 

 which is just large enough to permit egress and re. 

 gress to the owners. In this fortress the male and 

 female hatch and bring tip their brood with security 

 sheltered from all attacks but those of the climbing 

 school boy, who often finds his torn and bloody hands 

 too dear a price for the eggs or the young ones. 



As the Wood-pecker is obliged to make holes in 

 trees to procure food, so is it also to make cavities still 

 larger to form its nest and to lay in. This is per. 

 formed as usual with the bill. He chuses for this 

 purpose, trees that are decayed, or wood that is soft, 

 like beech, elm, and popiar. In these 3 with very 

 little trouble, it can make holes as exactly round as 

 a mathematician could with compasses. Dne of these 

 holes the bird generally chuses for its own use, to 

 nestle, and brin^ up its young in, but as they are ea- 

 sily made, it is delicate in its choice, and often makes 

 twenty before one gives entire satisfaction; 



In our climate, wood- peckers are contented with 

 a wainscoat habitation for their young, but in Gui- 

 nea and Brazil, (hey take a very different method. A 

 traveller who walks into the forests of these countries 

 among the first strange objects ; is struck with the 



