80 BIRDS' NESTS. 



of a proper situation jfor constructing the 

 dwelling which should contain their intended 

 brood. About a quarter past six this morning, 

 they appeared to be engaged in the most 

 serious consultation. They hopped up and 

 down amongst the branches of a Spanish juni- 

 per, each of which they surveyed with parti- 

 cular attention. At seven o'clock, in one of 

 its clefts, about two feet from the ground, the 

 female began to lay the foundation with the 

 decayed leaf.of a lime-tree. Although two 

 men were at work within seven yards of it, 

 yet she, like a steady and active workman, was 

 so bent upon the completion of her design, 

 that she laboured as if unaware of their pre- 

 sence. Her perseverance was indeed astonish- 

 ing, for she sometimes carried in bundles of 

 leaves nearly as big as herself. To her beloved 

 partner she seemed to give intense delight, for 

 he sat upon the branch of a Portugal laurel, a 

 few feet above her, viewing most anxiously her 

 operations ; and now and then, having mounted 



