176 CASE OF A NEST REPAIRED. 



how many of the ordinations of supreme intelli- 

 gence is our ignorance made manifest ! Even the 

 fabrication of the nests of these little animals ex- 

 ceeds our comprehension we know none of the 

 causes or motives of that unbodied mind that 

 willed them thus. 



One notice more of the parus tribe (the parus 

 caeruleus), and these little creatures may retire to 

 their leafy shades and be forgotten. I was lately 

 exceedingly pleased in witnessing the maternal care 

 and intelligence of this bird ; for the poor thing 

 had its young ones in the hole of a wall, and the 

 nest had been nearly all drawn out of the crevice 

 by the paw of a cat, and part of its brood de- 

 voured. In revisiting its family, the bird discovered 

 a portion of it remaining, though wrapped up and 

 hidden in the tangled moss and feathers of their 

 bed, and it then drew the whole of the nest back 

 into the place from whence it had been taken, un- 

 rolled and resettled the remaining little ones, fed 

 them with the usual attentions, and finally suc- 

 ceeded in rearing them. The parents of even this 

 reduced family laboured with great perseverance 

 to supply its wants, one or the other of them 



their nests are annually washed down. The projecting thatch of 

 the old farm-house appears to be their safest asylum. The parent 

 birds at times seem aware of the misfortune that awaits them ; as> 

 before the calamity is completed, we may observe them with great 

 anxiety hovering about their nests. 



