BIRDS. 



lay their eggs. Their nest is frequently composed of such large pieces of wood, 

 that it would be difficult to believe they were ever carried by birds did we not 

 know the extraordinary strength of their limbs. The pieces are so arranged 

 as not to yield readily to the force of the wind, and they support boughs, form- 

 ing a solid habitation called an eirie. Those species that in the construction 

 of their nests employ only rushes and reeds, accumulate them in gseat quanti- 



