250 HISTORY OF 



nerally warmer. It is easy to conceive that small 

 things keep heat a shorter time than those that 

 are large. The eggs, therefore, of small birds, 

 require a place of more constant warmth than 

 those of great ones, as being liable to cool more 

 quickly; and accordingly, their nests are built 

 warmer and deeper, lined on the inside with 

 softer substances, and guarded above with a bet- 

 ter covering. But it sometimes happens that the 

 little architects are disturbed in their operations, 

 and then they are obliged to make a nest, not 

 such as they wish, but such as they can. The 

 bird whose nest has been robbed several times, 

 builds up her last in a very slovenly manner, con- 

 scious that, from the near approach of winter, she 

 must not take time to give her habitation every 

 possible advantage it is capable of receiving. 

 When the nest is finished, nothing can exceed 

 the cunning which the male and female employ 

 to conceal it. If it is built in bushes, the pliant 

 branches are so disposed as to hide it entirely 

 from the view ; if it be built among moss, no- 

 thing outwardly appears to show that there is an 

 habitation within. It is always built near those 

 places where food is found in greatest abundance; 

 and they take care never to go in or out while 

 there is any one in sight. The greater birds con- 

 tinue from their nest for some time, as their eggs 

 take no damage in their absence ; but the little 

 birds are assiduous while they sit, and the nest is 

 always occupied by the male when the female is 

 obliged to seek for sustenance. 



