INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 203 



Others had similar side entrances, neatly finished with 

 a rounded border. On a north-western gable, quite 

 on its top corner, repeated efforts had been made to 

 construct a nest which would brave the storm winds, 

 and after several failures and mendings, a sort of but- 

 tress was stuck on below, evidently a new idea. On 

 the southern side, a favourite locality was under a 

 projecting window, sufficiently high above the sill of a 

 lower window that no cat could reach it by a jump. 

 In this situation the birds built twin nests semi- 

 attached houses, and they placed their doorways close 

 to the wall on opposite sides, so that when looking at 

 them, the left abode had its entrance on the extreme 

 left, and tho right one on the extreme right. If the 

 entrances had been in any other position, the birds 

 might have jostled in going in and out. The walls of 

 the cottage being rough cast, offered a good founda- 

 tion, but there is no tenacious clay near, and the 

 martin architects were never quite successful with two 

 of the highest gables, possibly on that account. Mis- 

 chievous sparrows occasionally stole a nest, but the 

 right birds were generally very comfortable, and 

 reared their broods prosperously. It was, therefore, 

 a matter of surprise that, after coming for many suc- 

 cessive years, repairing old nests, and making new 

 ones, they merely looked at the place, and did nothing 

 in the summer of 1881. The weather was unfavour- 

 able, the birds arrived late, and prepared houses some 

 way off, perhaps from their offering more sheltered 

 situations. Towards the close of the martin season, 



