The Wit of the Wild 



r 



and of the fermentation of the vegetation. But 

 in most cases several females work at and use the 

 same mound, which rules them out of our con- 

 sideration. 



In absolute bigness, the result of the labor 

 of a single pair, the foremost place (with one 

 exception, which I shall consider in detail pres- 

 ently) belongs to the great birds of prey. 

 Gould long ago expressed the opinion, in his 

 " Birds of Australia," that " the largest nest 

 known was that of the Australian sea-eagle," 

 which he said contained " materials enough to 

 fill a small cart." The same expression was 

 used by Wilson, the father of American orni- 

 thology, in describing the eyries of fish-hawks 

 along the coast of southern New Jersey. " I 

 ascended," he says, " to several of these nests 

 that had been built in from year to year, and 

 found them constructed as follows : Externally, 

 large sticks, from an inch to an inch and a half 

 in diameter, and two or three feet in length, 

 piled to the height of four or five feet, and from 

 two to three feet in breadth; these were inter- 

 mixed with cornstalks, seaweed, pieces of Wet 

 ^f? 228 > 



