The Wit of the Wild 



r 



than is required by the ordinary stick or grass- 

 built home. Its resemblance to a patch of moss 

 is an accidental result of the use of such mate- 

 rials, but the effect of this is so good that 

 natural selection seems to have nearly perfected 

 the tendency to the exclusive use of moss. 



The mud, of course, is a mortar needed to 

 hold the nest in place when it is bracketed 

 against the face of a rock, which may be consid- 

 ered the typical situation, but it is rarely needed 

 when the nest rests upon a ledge or other flat 

 surface, as it often does; yet the birds seem 

 rarely to spare themselves labor in that case 

 though now and then a nest will be found with 

 very little mud and composed of miscellaneous 

 materials. 



Thus far I have been dealing only with the 

 primitive style of nest, in the wilderness. But 

 this bird has been one of the first to attach itself 

 to mankind, as settlements advanced into the 

 interior, and to make use of his structures. Its 

 greatest anxiety, apparently, in choosing a 

 nesting-site was to find one beneath a shelter, 

 so that the rain should not dampen and chill the 

 <*$ 244 5o 



