THE MARTIN. 



217 



and texture, after having been so long benumbed by tie severities 



of the winter. Towards the 



middle of May, if the weather be 



line, the Martin begins to think t 



of providing a mansion for its 



Cimily. The crust or shell of its 



rest seems to be formed of such 



rtirt or loam as is most readily 



taet with ; and it is tempered and 



wrought together with little 



O O 



nieces of broken straws, to render 

 it tough and tenacious. 



As this bird often builds against 

 a perpendicular wall, without any 

 projecting ledge under, its utmost efforts are necessary to get the 

 Jrst foundation firmly fixed, so as to carry safely the superstructure. 

 On this occasion the bird not only clings with its claws, but partly 

 supports itself by strongly inclining its tail against the wall, making 

 *hat a fulcrum; and, thus fixed, it plasters the materials into the face 

 >f the brick or stone. But that this work may not, while soft, incline 

 lown by its own weight, the provident architect has the prudence and 

 torbearanee not to proceed too fast ; but, by building only in the 

 morning, and dedicating the rest of the day to food and amusement, 

 she gives it sufficient time to dry and harden. About half an inch 

 seems to be a sufficient layer for a day. Thus, careful workmen, 

 when they build mud-walls, (informed at first, perhaps, by this little 

 bird,) add but a moderate layer at a time, and then desist, lest the 

 work should become top-heavy, and so be ruined by its own weight. 

 By this method, in about ten or twelve days, a hemispherical nest is 

 formed, with a small aperture towards the top ; strong, compact, and 

 warm, and perfectly fitted for all the purposes for which it was in- 

 tended. But nothing is more common than for the House-Sparrow, 

 as soon as the shell is finished, to seize on it, eject the owner, and to 

 line it according to its own peculiar manner. After so much labor is 

 bestowed in erecting a mansion, as Nature seldom works in vain, 

 Martins will breed for several years successively in the same nest, 

 where it happens to be well sheltered and secured from the injuries 

 of the weather. The shell or crust of the nest is a sort of rustic work, 

 full of knobs and protuberances on the outside: nor is the inside 

 smoothed with any great exactness; but it is rendered soft and warm, 

 and fit for incubation, by a lining of smaU straws, grasses, and 

 feathers, and sometimes by a bed of moss interwoven with wool. 



In this nest are produced four or five young ones ; which, when 

 arrived at full growth, become impatient of confinement, and sit all 

 day with their heads out at the orifice, where the dams, by clinging 

 to the nest, supply them with food from morning to night. After 

 this they are fed on wing by the parents; but this feat is performed 

 by so quick and almost imperceptible a flight, that a person must 

 attend very exactly to the motions of the birds, before he is able to 

 perceive it. 



