180 AETISTS AND AETISANS IN THE PEATHEEED WOELD. 



exactly like some bough. They are, moreover, connected 

 with the other component parts through spider-webs, 

 caterpillar silk, etc., and the whole worked up to a very 

 dense and uniform felt-like mass, which fulfills its pur- 

 pose, sheltering the eggs and protecting the young splen- 

 didly. 



A similar, not much less elegant, structure is the nest 

 of the goldfinch (Carduelis elegans) ; but as the real and 

 genuine felt manufacturers we must consider the hum- 

 ming bird (Trochilidae), which, masterpieces themselves 

 of nature, as to beauty and magnificence of color, build 

 also works of art which claim the highest admiration of 

 every observer. Their tiny nests are generally fixed on 

 the upper side of a horizontal branch, not among the 

 twigs, but on the body of the branch itself. They are 

 composed, in most cases, externally of fragments of 

 bluish, gray and green lichens, glued on with a sort of 

 saliva and tied with fine fibres, tender roots or cobwebs ; 

 inside of these layers, which protect this building against 

 any atmospheric humidity, we find thick layers of the 

 wings of certain seeds ; the whole is lined with the fine 

 down of the mullein and of the stalks of ferns. The base 

 of the nest is continued around the branch, so that when 

 viewed from below it appears to be a mere mossy knob 

 or protuberance. In some cases the rim is slightly bent 

 inward in order to prevent the eggs or the young from 

 being hurled out from the " procreant cradle " by tem- 

 pestuous winds. The most remarkable nests, in this re- 

 gard, is surely that of the sun humming bird (Phaetornis 

 eurynome), which uses a certain lichen only. The latter 

 adds a very fine look to the nest, but when the breeding 

 goes on the lichen develops a special coloring substance 

 and covers the nest as well as the eggs with a magnificent 

 red. Another peculiarity is worthy of a passing notice. 

 Mr. R. Hill, who had paid close attention to the nests of 



humming birds, has ingeniously hit upon a connec- 



iis 



