I3 o THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



wise and tender truths which we should do well to 

 heed. The little creature has itself been taught by a 

 wonderful instinct to make its nest of the size exactly 

 necessary to contain the future young, and to furnish 

 it in the proper manner ; and it has learned by slow 

 degrees to modify its shape so as to afford more room 

 for its inmates, and to protect them better from rain, 

 cold, and foreign enemies than the old nests. The 

 mortar with which it builds is mud from cart-ruts, sides 

 of wells, and such like places. This it makes more 

 adhesive by moistening it with some salivary fluid of 

 its own, kneading it thoroughly, and forming it into 

 a solid mass with much patience and skill, adding 

 bits of broken straw and dry bents to make it hold 

 together. The wisdom and foresight which the 

 swallow displays in the use of this mortar are not 

 unworthy of a reasoning mind. Instead of working 

 continually at building the nest until completed, it 

 takes more than a week for the process. Each morn- 

 ing it finishes a certain portion of its task by the first 

 light of the sun, and then gives up work for the rest 

 of the day. In this way each layer of mud has time 

 to dry and consolidate before the next is added, and 

 the safety of the structure is not endangered by imprud- 

 ent haste. The little bird takes time to perfect its 

 work to make it secure and lasting ; and its patience 

 and perseverance are rewarded in the end by finding 

 itself the possessor of a tiny edifice of loam as wonder- 

 ful and as admirably adapted for its purpose as anything 

 which the Temple of Solomon itself had to show. It 



