DR. THEODOR NEtJMANN. I'^B 



scape-gardeners, an entirely proper addition to the list 

 of trades or guilds mentioned in the beginning of this 

 lecture. The variety of the objects thus collected is very 

 great, and they are always of brilliant colors; and these 

 ornaments are selected not only from among flowers and 

 fruit, but showy fungi and elegantly-colored insects are 

 also distributed about the garden and within the galleries 

 of the bower. When these objects have been exposed so 

 long as to lose their freshness, they are taken from the 

 premises, thrown away, and replaced by others. So per- 

 severing are these birds in carrying off anything that 

 may strike their fancy that they have been known to 

 steal a stone tomahawk, pieces of cloth, a tobacco-pipe, 

 silver money pieces, etc. ; and the natives are so well 

 aware of their habit of taking anything that they can fly 

 away with, that on missing any small article they seek 

 it at the nearest bower, iisually with success. 



Among the weavers we find not only the most artistic 

 nest-builders of the feathered world but also the most emi- 

 nent artists of the entire animal kingdom. Scientists of 

 all nations and lovers of nature generally speak with en- 

 thusiasm of the work of these wonderful little builders, 

 and often do not find words of praise sufiicient to express 

 their admiration and astonishment. The nest of the 

 penduline titmouse (Parus pendulinus) is surely the most 

 wonderful example of bird architecture we know of. No 

 other structure surpasses it in beauty of design, in ele- 

 gance of construction, in comfort of arrangement, in 

 safety of situation. It is woven, twisted and felted in 

 a really inexplicable way, so that nobody is able to say 

 where one part of the work ceases and the other begins or 

 how this little artist has ever managed to produce such a 

 remarkable result. It is always hung up on the extreme 

 end of a thin, slender twig which reaches out over the 

 surface of some lake or pond, so that " when the wind 



blows the cradle rocks." 



Ill 



