164 ARTISTS AND ARTISANS IN THE FEATHERED WORLD. 



remains. The eggs are deposited in the mass, the holes 

 excavated for that purpose being filled up, so that the 

 natives can detect the existence of a newly laid one by- 

 observing the marks of the bird's feet upon the top of 

 the mound. The old birds are said to keep in the vicin- 

 ity of the nest at the time v^hen the young might be ex- 

 pected to appear, to uncover the eggs frequently and 

 cover them up again, even to regulate the heat of the 

 mound by either adding more cover or removing some of 

 it — a proceeding which truly ought not to be called in- 

 stinct only, but classed among the proofs that these 

 animals show an intelligence and a reasoning power little 

 short of the human mind. 



Nothing remarkable is found either among the nests 

 of \h% platform builders^ of the eagles, vultures, hawks, 

 storks, pigeons, etc., whose nests are just what the name 

 "platform" indicates. Nearly all birds of prey love to 

 build upon elevated spots, and generally place their 

 nests on the summit of some lofty cliff. These nests are 

 very crude affairs, being chiefly composed of sticks laid 

 inartistically together, and serving merely as a platform 

 on which the eggs and the young may be kept from 

 actual contact with the bare rock. To obtain such sticks 

 the eagle drops with great vehemence from a great height 

 on branches of trees which seem to serve his purpose ; 

 when they break, he catches them skillfully with his 

 beak and carries them to the place where the nest is to 

 be built. Similar constructions are those of the pigeons, 

 whose work in nest-building is described in the old nur- 

 sery rhyme : 



" A few sticks across. 



Without a bit of moss. 

 Laid in the fork of an old oak tree, 



Coo — goo — roo — o — o, 



She says it will do. 

 And there she's as happy as a bird can be." 



—T7i^ Jlingdom, 



