106 BIRDS' NESTS, 



Tailor-bird's nest. 



LESSON XVIIL 



BIRDS* nests strikingly show the care taken by 

 God of all his creatures. The instinct which 

 leads to their construction affords some of the 

 most curious proofs of animal sagacity. The 

 beauty of their contrivance, the selection of mate- 

 rials, their firmness of structure, all render these 

 " leafy homes" objects of admiration; and this 

 more especially, when we consider how few are 

 the means possessed by the little architects, and 

 the nature of the substances on which they have to 

 work. A slender bill, a few twigs and blades of 

 dried grass, and a little hair, or moss, are all, and 

 yet what a beautiful and perfect structure is pro^ 

 duced. 



Every species of bird selects the fittest materials 

 for building its nest, and also builds it in situations 



