142 ARTISTS AND ARTISANS IN THE FEATHERED WORLD. 



will, as a matter of course, think of the bird's song first 

 of all, which in so many cases has really been developed 

 to a high degree of art, and which gives pleasure and 

 delight to every human ear that is fortunate enough to 

 listen to it. I shall, however, not speak about this art 

 of song, although it is the most conspicuous and ranks 

 highest in the appreciation of all. I would select quite a 

 different subject to-night, one which may not stand 

 prominent in your esteem, since you may scarcely believe 

 that anything remarkable can be said about it; I would 

 ask you to let me talk to you about the art and skill 

 which birds show when building homes for rearing of 

 their young and for shelter and protection against 

 weather and climate. 



"But how can you speak of art and artistic skill con- 

 cerning such things as birds' nests?" you will object, 

 "which are nothing but an aggregate of small twigs and 

 stalks of grass, lined with feathers and other soft ma- 

 terials." Indeed, for many people birds' nests are 

 nothing more than that ; they have never taken the 

 trouble of looking carefully, of comparing one nest with 

 another ; to them all nests look and are alike, and they 

 wonder how I venture to talk a whole evening on such 

 plain everyday things, and place at the head of my lect- 

 ure such a presumptuous title. Well, I hope to succeed 

 in proving to you that some interesting things can be 

 said even about birds' nests, and that it is not wrong to 

 speak of art, when we consider the fact that even tlie 

 most artless nest is constructed by a creature which 

 had no instruments at all, no needle, no thread, no 

 scissors, no hammer, no nails, only a bill and its two 

 feet, a creature without any real instruction and guid- 

 ance, which nevertheless produced a piece of work such 

 as we could never have done as well. A popular German 

 author, Hebel, asked this question: "If you look at a 

 finch's nest, do you dare to knit one yourself with mouth 



so 



