The Wit of the Wild 



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and are incubated by each parent in turn. The 

 middle chamber serves for the young when they 

 are too big for the inner one, while the hall is 

 used as a lookout station." 



Mr. Layard also says that the birds are also 

 fond of embellishing their substantial home with 

 anything bright or glittering which they may 

 pick up, as brass buttons, bits of pottery, 

 bleached bones and the like. This reminds one of 

 the similar fancy of the Australian bower-birds, 

 which likewise construct very elaborate homes. 

 Where animals spend much time and labor in 

 their architecture, they evidently feel a much 

 more profound and lasting interest in their 

 habitations than do those which form merely 

 hasty and temporary breeding-places. 



It is an entertaining matter for speculation, 

 why this bird should diverge so far from its 

 relatives in its home-making habits, and choose 

 to produce a nest which is a regular castle in 

 comparison with the ordinary type. We cannot 

 see that the hammer-head is exposed to any 

 greater present dangers than are its cousins, 

 or that it gains much or anything from its 

 +$ 234 fo> 



