i«4 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

 BUILDING BIRDS. 



The Oven Bird and its place in ornithology — Its general habits — Nest of the 

 Oven Bird — Curious materials and historical parallel — The specimens in the 

 British Museum — The internal architecture of the nest — Division into 

 chambers — The Pied Grallina — The specimens at the Zoological Gardens 

 — Materials and form of the nest — Boldness of the Bird — The Song Thrush 

 and its nest — The Blackbird and its clay-hned nests — Supposed reasons for 

 the lining — The Fairy Martin — Locality, shape, and materials of the 

 nest— Social habits of the bird— How the nest is built— The House Martin 

 — Material of its nest — Favourite localities — Ingenuity of the Martin — 

 Adaptation to circumstances — The Swallow — Distinction between its nest 

 and that of the Martin — Why called the Chimney Swallow. 



Among the building birds, there is one species which is pre 

 eminently chief. Not only is there no equal, but there is no 

 second. This is the Oven Bird {Furnarius fidiginosus)^ which 

 derives its popular name from the shape and material of its 

 nest. 



The Oven Bird belongs to the family of the Certhidae, and is 

 therefore allied to the well-known Creeper of our own country. 

 It is about as large as a lark, and is a bold-looking bird, rather 

 slenderly built, and standing very upright. Its colour is warm 

 brown. It is very active, running and walking very fast, and is 

 much on the wing, though its flights are not of long duration, 

 consisting chiefly of short flittings from bush to bush in search 

 of insects. It generally haunts the banks of South American 

 rivers, and is a fearless little bird, not being alarmed even 

 at the presence of man. The male has a hard shrill note, 

 and the female has a cry of somewhat similar sound, but much 

 weaker. 



The chief interest of this bird centres in its nest, which is a 

 truly remarkable example of bird architecture. The material of 



