NATURAL HISTORY. 203 



birds weave as smoothly and regularly as 

 people do !" 



" Not quite, boys ; but still it is very fair 

 weaving, and done as our weaving is, by 

 working a hair or thread in and out between 

 other hairs and threads, or roots, or bits of stick 

 and grass. The best way to see it, is to re- 

 move the outside work of hay or roots very 

 carefully, or to take away the felt-work of 

 wool or moss, and you may see a round piece 

 of hair-cloth, sometimes finer, and sometimes 

 coarser, according to the bird that made it, 

 and the things of which it is made. In the 



O 



common sparrow's nest the hair-cloth is very 

 thin, so that you can see through it easily ; 

 but still every hair is woven in singly, and 

 always bent, so as to lie smooth in the bottom 

 of the nest. And there are no ends of hairs 

 left sticking out ; they are always worked 

 into the moss which makes the outside of the 

 nest." 



" Uncle Philip, how do the birds make the 

 hairs lie smooth in their places ?" 



"About that, boys, there is some uncer- 

 tainty. Some persons think that the birds 

 have a kind of glue in their mouths by which 

 they make them stick ; and others suppose 



