320 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



observation reveals, he wakens into activity some of our purest 

 sympathies; nor can the naturalist present a picture more 

 faithful than that which is arrayed in the garb of verse: the 

 truth and the poetry are one. 



" Some sought their food among the finny shoals, 

 Swift darting from the clouds, emerging soon 

 With slender captives glittering in their beaks ; 

 These in recesses of steep crags constructed 

 Their eyries inacessible, and trained 

 Their hardy brood to forage in all weathers. 

 Others, more gorgeously apparelled, dwelt 

 Among the woods, on Nature's dainties feeding 

 Herbs, seeds, or roots ; or, ever on the wing, 

 Pursuing insects through the boundless air ; 

 In hollow trees, or thickets, these concealed 

 Their exquisitely woven nests, where lay 

 Their callow offspring, quiet as the down 

 On their own breasts, till from her search the dam 

 "With laden bill returned, and shared the meal 

 Among her clamorous suppliants all agape ; 

 Then, cowering o'er them with expanded wings, 

 She felt how sweet it is to be a mother." 



MONTGOMERY'S " PELICAN ISLAND." 



Nests. We turn from the young birds to those singular 

 habitations in which they are hatched. The smallest amount 



of observation 

 makes manifest 

 to every one, the 

 3&f great diversity 

 of their situa- 

 tion, structure, 

 and materials. 

 As examples, 

 we may mention 

 the exposed nest 

 of the Sky-lark, 

 built upon the 

 ground, com- 

 pared with the 

 globular edifice 

 of the Wren, 

 constructed in 

 sheltered situa- 

 tions, and in- 



Fig. 251. NEST OF GOLDFINCH. 



geniously concealed from view; or the neat and elaborately 



