How Animals Work. 



sible. One of its favourite nesting sites is the most 

 exposed and bare horizontal branch it can find, either 

 in the open forest or overhanging a stream. In such 

 a noticeable situation the bird will set to work, and 

 with soft clay will construct a remarkably solid nest, 

 from five to six inches in breadth and three inches in 

 depth. The clay soon becomes hard and solid upon 



Nest of the Australian Magpie-lark. 



exposure to the atmosphere and the hot rays of the 

 sun, so that the finished nest assumes the appear- 

 ance of a massive, clay-coloured earthenware vessel, 

 which varies in colour with that of the material of which 

 it is formed. Sometimes the locality of the nest site 

 will yield no mud or clay, and then the nest is con- 

 structed of black and brown mould ; and the Grallina, 

 as if fully aware that this substance will not hold to- 



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