438 



DICK BRONTNELL'S LAST EXPLOIT IN INDIA. 



twigs in order to keep it, as far as possible, out of the way of monkeys, snakes and 

 other enemies. 



A very picturesque bird is the eagle owl, which dwells among the deep recesses 



of vast forests in Norway, Sweden and Russia, and sometimes in the clefts of rocks 



or the desolate ruins of ancient towers. It is found also at the Cape of Good Hope. 



The oven bird is so called because it constructs its earthen nest in the form of 



an oven, and this habitation, although of considerable size, is often completed 



by a pair of 

 these birds 

 in about 

 two days, 

 both male 

 and female 

 engaging 

 in the task. 

 The nest is 

 made of 

 earth and 

 is six inch- 

 es and a 

 half in di- 

 ameter, the 

 walls being 

 one inch 

 thick, and 

 the interior 

 is divided 

 into two 

 chambers 

 by a parti- 

 tion begin- 

 ning at the 

 entrance 

 and carried 

 circularly 

 backward. 



I cannot refrain in this place from telling you something about the stormy 

 petrels, familiarly known as Mother Gary's chickens, which are seen in every part 

 of the ocean skimming over the surface of a heavy-rolling sea. They flock under 

 the wake of ships before a storm, and superstitious sailors look upon them as 

 prophets of evil. " But," says an eminent naturalist, " as well might they curse 

 the midnight light-house that, star-like, guides them on their watery way, or the 

 buov that warns them of the sunken rocks below, as this harmless wanderer, whose 



THE EARED GREBE. 



