302 THE HARMONIES OF NATURE. 



Although most birds are able to seek refuge in an element 

 where none but those of their own class their most dangerous 

 enemies with the exception of man can pursue them, yet they 

 are exposed to the attacks of many terrestrial animals. The 

 martens and weasels, a number of rodents, the smaller felidse 

 and the tree-snakes, are constantly endeavouring to surprise 

 them in their retreats ; and even still more ignoble foes im- 

 peril their safety, for the brilliant hummingbird has been seen 

 to expire under the jaws of the hideous trapdoor spider. 

 Thus they are encompassed with dangers on all sides, both 

 during their aerial flight and when they seek repose on land : 

 but they are chiefly menaced in their eggs or their callow young, 

 who, incapable of flight and self-defence, have nothing but the 

 tenderness and the foresight of their parents to rely upon. But 

 never has confidence been better placed ; for Providence, which 

 in every case proportions the means of resistance to the great- 

 ness of the peril, and nowhere shows its power more evidently 

 than in the protection of the weak, has inspired the birds with a 

 more than common share of affection for their helpless young, 

 and taught them to build those wonderful homes without hands, 

 where they bring up their dearest treasures with such touching 

 self-denial, and in case of need defend them with such heroic 

 courage. 



The situations where the birds place their nests are as 

 various as the materials of which they compose them, or the 

 degrees of skill they evince in their construction. Many, for 

 better protection against wind and weather, fix themselves in 

 the deserted burrows of quadrupeds, or dig tunnels on their 

 own account. Thus the gregarious sand- martin perforates steep 

 gravelly or sandy banks, whose hardness frequently seems 

 quite out of proportion to its tiny bill. But perseverance will 

 do wonders ; for turning round and round upon its legs as upon 

 a pivot, and pecking away as it proceeds, the martin soon chips 

 out a tolerably circular hole, which it prolongs to a depth of 

 two or three feet with a gentle upward slope, so as to prevent 

 the lodgment of rain. 



At the farthest extremity is placed the nest which, as an 

 effectual protection has been already obtained, is a very primi- 

 tive structure, hardly better than a mass of dry herbage and 

 soft feathers. The burrowing puffin takes even less trouble 



