336 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



cases some important variation in the structure has been known 

 to have occurred. But, in the present instance, the inhabitants 

 of the cottage were not satisfied to see the labors of their favorite 

 perpetually rendered void, and they set their wits to work in what 

 manner to secure them from harm. 



" The method adopted was to place a small round basket un- 

 der the eaves, at the place where the nest had been, as a protec- 

 tion from injury below; but it was attended with the inconven- 

 ience that the handle prevented it from being pressed into contact 

 with the stone, while the breadth of the basket was so great as to 

 cause the wet dripping from the eaves to fall within the cavity. 

 It was to obviate this last annoyance that a fiat piece of board 

 was laid as a cover to the basket, with the precaution of leaving 

 an opening, not in front, but at the side, for the birds to enter, if 

 they should choose to adopt this new contrivance for their ad- 

 vantage ; and they did justice to the kind intentions of their 

 friends by adopting it, and that, too, in a way of their own con- 

 trivance. They began by placing a rim of their usual mortar 

 round the basket, at the border where the covering board rested 

 on it; but in thus rendering it safe and close on every side, they 

 observed the precaution of leaving a small hole at the side by 

 which to enter. In this convenient piece of wicker-work they 

 formed a cradle, in which they were able successfully to rear 

 their brood. 



"But this was not all. Another pair of birds had seen the 

 good fortune of their fellows, and they resolved to be sharers in 

 the advantage they were enjoying. The space above the board, 

 and within the arched handle of the basket, was only inferior to 

 the basket itself as a situation for a nest, and there, accordingly, 

 they proceeded to place it. It was formed of clay, in the usual 

 manner, and here, immediately above their neighbors, they suc- 

 cessfully hatched their young. . . . The laying hold of a novel 

 but obvious convenience to secure an important object is not the 

 least of the operations of the reasoning powers." 



The writer of this notice is quite correct in attributing the per- 

 formances of these birds to reason, and not to instinct. Instinct 

 would have taught them to make their nests under ordinary con- 

 ditions, and to raise their clay-built houses against a wall. But 

 the mental process which led them to accommodate themselves to 

 such a change of circumstances as the substitution of a basket for 

 a wall does undoubtedly belong to the province of reason rather 

 than of instinct. 



