162 AETISTS AND ARTISANS IN TflE FEATllEREB WORLD. 



soft materials to be ready for use again. Several times 

 it has been reported by trustworthy observers that swal- 

 lows, finding their nest occupied by insolent sparrows 

 which could not be forced to leave the territory on which 

 they trespassed, summoned a number of companions 

 which helped the rightful owners speedily to wall up the 

 entrance of the nest so that the intruder was summarily 

 and most effectively punished for his offense. 



The marsh wren (Certhia palustris) is another mason, 

 is perhaps deficient in singing, yet excells in the art of 

 design. It constructs a nest which, in durability, 

 warmth and convenience is scarcely inferior to any, and 

 far superior to those of its more musical brethren. This 

 is formed outwardly of wet rushes mixed with mud, well 

 intertwisted, and fashioned into the form of a cocoa-nut. 

 A small hole is left two-thirds up for entrance, the upper 

 ledge of which projects like a pent house over the lower, 

 to prevent the admission of rain. This nest, when hard- 

 ened by the sun, resists every kind of weather, and being 

 tied so fast in every part to the surrounding reeds, it 

 bids defiance to the winds and the waves. 



Besides these, we have some other birds doing masonry, 

 less known perhaps, but just as skillfal as those men- 

 tioned. The nest of the song thrush (Turdus musicus) is 

 hemispherical, composed of clay and cowdung, covered 

 externally with moss, internally plastered with rotten 

 wood of old trees which the bird has chewed, ground to 

 powder, mixed with his own saliva and kneaded through, 

 then covered the nest with it and smoothed it over. This 

 is indeed a fine work of art, but it contains another 

 wonder, for when the walls of this nest have become 

 humid with rain or dew, then the rotten wood begins to 

 get phosphorescent, and thus produces all kinds of 

 superstitious tales. 



A very skillful and cunning mason is the nuthatch 

 (Sitta europaea), which likes to nestle in holes of trees, 



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