The Wit of the Wild 



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patted down on top, a bowl is presently built; 

 but generally she likes to set the structure in a 

 corner, or against the wall, and then it becomes 

 a half or three-quarters circle. 



Several days are consumed in this operation, 

 but not much work is done except in the morn- 

 ing, leaving the new material to dry during the 

 afternoon. She works slowly and carefully, 

 too, spending many minutes, at times, in tram- 

 pling down the wet moss with her feet, pushing 

 it with her breast to make the cavity of just the 

 right size and fitness, and arranging and rear- 

 ranging the sprays with her bill, delightedly 

 loitering about her work like any other happy 

 young home-maker. If not enough mud clings 

 to the roots of the moss, she brings more, in 

 pellets, and uses it as extra mortar. Finally, 

 when she has erected the rim so high that it will 

 conceal all of her body except head and tail (as 

 she sits upon her eggs), she lines it with a bed- 

 ding of horsehair, to lift the eggs above the chill 

 and dampness of the adobe walls and base. 

 Meanwhile the hardy moss, rooted in the nest, 

 lives and keeps green and hangs down in tufts, 



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