212 BIRDS' NESTS. 



skill with which the various substances em- 

 ployed are felted together. The bird itself has 

 the style and deportment of a rustic beau, and 

 constructs a habitation in accordance with his 

 own air of neatness and propriety. Not con- 

 tent with making it snug and comfortable 

 within, he expends as much care on the out- 

 side as on the interior, and finishes off the 

 edge with as much symmetry as if it had been 

 modelled in a turning-lathe or on a potter's 

 wheel. The main substance of the nest con- 

 sists of moss and wool, felted together with 

 wonderful skill. The outside and rim are 

 decorated with spangles of white and green 

 lichen, picked from the bark of trees. Instances 

 are recorded in which the bird, instead of 

 using the white lichen described above, has 

 employed tiny scraps of white paper, or, in 

 the neighbourhood of cotton factories, small 

 tufts of cotton wool. It is commonly said 

 that the chaffinch thus studs its nest with 

 lichens, in order that it may present as close a 



