86 ANNALS OF BIRD LIFE. 



nificant creature, yet the masterly way in which it 

 forms its wonderful nest cannot fail to excite the 

 highest admiration. 



I should here also remark that many birds are 

 masters of several of the crafts here enumerated. 

 The Magpie, for instance, as well as being an 

 expert basket-maker, is also a plasterer, and many 

 pounds weight of mud are used by this bird to 

 cement the foundation of sticks together, a lining 

 of that material being used before the final one of 

 fine roots. The Titmice, many of them, as well 

 as being wood-cutters, are felt-makers too, their 

 nests in the hollow stumps being beautifully felted. 

 With this we will conclude the brief notice of our 

 feathered engineers. Many curious and beautiful 

 nests there are, especially in the tropics ; yet most, 

 if not all, are made on one or the other plan which 

 we have already noticed. Birds' nests ever excite 

 admiration, even in the most casual observer of 

 Nature's wonders ; and the variety in the method 

 of their construction, in the selection of materials, 

 in the sites they occupy, and, above all, the 

 mental powers called into play by the birds them- 

 selves in fabricating them, make them a fascinating 

 subject for contemplation, and furnish abundant 

 material for patient, loving study, and research. 

 Spring-time is a season of birds' nests, and the 

 naturalist cannot be better occupied than in work- 

 ing out the secrets which surround these beautiful 

 objects. 



