38 CONVERSATIONS ON 



" Well, Uncle Philip, one can almost forgive 

 his mischief for the sake of his ingenuity. 

 But you have said nothing yet about needles ; 

 how do these little creatures sew ?" 



" Why, they have what serves as a needle 

 to them : but I can tell you of another animal 

 which sews with a needle a great deal plainer 

 to be seen than that of these little insects." 



" Pray let us hear of him, Uncle Philip." 



"I must go among the birds to find this 

 workman. There is a kind of starling, called 

 the orchard starling,* about which, Mr. Wilson, 

 a gentleman who has written a great deal con- 

 cerning the birds of our country, gives a very 

 curious account. He says that this bird com- 

 monly hangs its nest from the twigs of an ap- 

 ple-tree, and makes it in a very singular man- 

 ner. The outside is made of a particular kind 

 of long tough grass, that will bend without 

 breaking, and this grass is knit or sewed 

 through and through in a thousand direc- 

 tions, just as if done with a needle. The little 

 creature does it with its feet and bill. Mr. 

 AVilson says that he one day showed one of 

 these nests to an old lady, and she was so 

 much struck with the work that she asked 



* Icterus mutatus. 



