176 ARTISTS AND AETISANS IK THE FEATHERED WORLD. 



Without a tool to aid her skill, 



Naught but her little feet and bill — 



Without a pattern whence to trace 



This little roofed-in dwelling place — 



And does not in your bosom spring 



Love for this skillful little thing ? 



See, there's a window in the wall ; 



Peep in, the house is not so small, 



But snug and cosy you shall see 



A very numerous family ! 



Now count them : one, two, three, four, five — 



Nay, sixteen merry things alive — 



Sixteen young, chirping things all sit. 



Where you, your wee hand could not get ! 



I'm glad you've seen it, for you never 



Saw aught before so soft and clever. 



Some of these weavers have been observed when actually 

 at work, and the information gained in this way is doubt- 

 less very interesting and valuable. Thus a noted scien- 

 tist describes the work of the spotted fly -catcher (Musci- 

 capa maculata) when building her nest, in these words : 

 ''First she arranged a rather large bundle of fine dry 

 grass in the thick fork of some branches, and having 

 pecked it about for some little time, as if to shake it up 

 regularly, she sat in the middle of it, and by a rapid 

 movement of her wings spun round and round like a top, 

 so as to produce a shallow, cup-like IloIIow. She then 

 fetched some more grasses, and after arranging them 

 partly around the edge and partly on the bottom, re- 

 peated the spinning process. A few hairs and some 

 moss were then stuck about the nest and woven in 

 very neatly, the hairs and some slender vegetable fibres 

 being the threads, so to speak, with which the moss 

 was fastened to the nest. In working out the long hairs 

 and grasses she generally moved backwards, laying them 



