A WILLING PRISONER 



Smyrna, and he describes the nest as a very curious structure. 

 He says: "A recess in the rock is selected, and a funnel made 

 of mud and little bits of dry grass is built in front of it. 

 It is quite an important affair; the base is frequently 

 twenty-four inches in circumference, and the walls vary in 

 thickness from half an inch to an inch and a half. The tube 

 of the funnel, which of course serves for the ingress and 

 egress of the bird, is about four inches long, with an internal 

 diameter of an inch and a quarter at the 'entrance. The 

 outside of the nest is carefully made to resemble the appear- 

 ance of the rock against which it is built. One which 

 I brought home with me is curiously corrugated or granu- 

 lated, to imitate the calcareous deposits on the inside of the 

 cave where I found it. The nest is warmly lined with goats' 

 wool, thistle-down, and all sorts of soft materials." It has 

 been stated that the entrance funnel may be as much as 

 a foot in length, and that the outside of the nest is some- 

 times covered with the wing-cases of beetles. This bird 

 is said to take extraordinary pleasure In building, and to 

 construct nests which it will never use, or repair others in 

 which it has no personal interest. 



Those remarkable Old World birds the Hornbills (Bucero- 

 tidoe\ whose immensely developed bill gives them such a 

 grotesque appearance, should be mentioned in connexion 

 with the masons, for though the works they have occasion 

 to undertake are by no means elaborate, they are remarkable 

 for their strength and solidity. 



The nesting habits of these birds are most interesting 

 and peculiar. The eggs are deposited in the hollow of a 

 tree, and when the time comes to incubate, the hen bird 

 retires to the cavity and is there carefully walled in by her 

 mate, who leaves only a narrow slit at the top of the hole 

 through which she can protrude the end of her bill. The im- 



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