6 INSECT MANUFACTURES. 



together broad pieces of grass to make their nests, 

 working them through and through, as if actually 

 done with a needle ; but almost every one can say 

 from his own knowledge, that there are weaver- 

 birds, such as our common hedge-sparrow and 

 chaffinch, who weave a circular piece of haircloth 

 for the interior of their nests, each hair being col- 

 lected and interwoven singly, and always bent so 

 as to lie smoothly in the hollow of the nest. 

 Then who shall describe all the wondrous pro- 

 ceedings of tent-making caterpillers, upholsterer- 

 bees, turret-building ants, net-making spiders, 

 paper and card-making wasps, and spinning worms ? 

 Volumes have been written, and volumes might 

 still be written on the history of these creatures. 

 Any one possessing a garden, and taking delight 

 therein, has ample opportunity of watching the 

 habits of birds and insects, and of confirming, if 

 not of adding to, the accounts given by naturalists, 

 of the commoner species. But we must still be 

 indebted to the patient observations of those who 

 have made insects or birds their especial study, for 

 many of the most curious particulars, and for all 

 our knowledge of rare or foreign species. 



