164 ARTISTS AND ARTISANS IN THE FEATHERED WORLl). 



wholly closed up. The female once inside, is fed by the 

 male through the narrow slit left in the material with 

 which the entrance is closed, or through a natural cleft 

 in the wood. In the latter case the main entrance is 

 closed up completely. This may be a precautionary 

 measure to protect the female during the season of incu- 

 bation. It is doubtful whether the male builds or the 

 female ; probably the female takes an essential part in 

 the plastering up of the entrance. 



The female, after going into the nest, usually begins to 

 molt, and is found sometimes almost naked. She is 

 usually very fat while in her prison, as the male bird 

 brings her food every few minutes. As soon as danger 

 approaches the female bird climbs up the nest as far as 

 possible away from the entrance and keeps perfectly 

 quiet until the danger has passed. The young behave in 

 the same manner, the birds relying for protection on the 

 fact that the nest is not easily recognized as such. No 

 doubt, if attacked, the hornbill could give a good account 

 of itself. The female is imprisoned for seven or eight 

 weeks, certainly for not less than six weeks. The eggs 

 are laid about the end of December or beginning in Janu- 

 ary, and are usually three or four in number and vary in 

 size. 



Among foreign masons, the most remarkable is the 

 oven bird (Furnarius fuliginisus) of South America. It 

 builds its nest always in an exposed situation, such as a 

 naked branch, the palisades of a garden, or the windows 

 of a house, so that a quantity of them will form landmarks 

 of surprising character. The birds seem indeed to be con- 

 vinced of the perfect safety of their nests and never take 

 the trouble of hiding them, so that they are nearly al- 

 ways found in the most conspicuous places. The nest is 

 built of earth, always in the shape of a small oven ; it is 

 hemispherical in form, six or seven inches in diameter and 

 five or six inches high ; its walls have a thickness of one 



loa 



