dile than we'd have," exclaimed the 

 children. 



"Then there is the rhinoceros-bird, 

 which belongs to the family of ravens. 

 Its beak is a probe and it is the surgeon 

 of the thick skinned animals, cleaning 

 their sores of flies and insects. It also 

 clears the animals of parasites, a very 

 necessary service in the hot climate of 

 Africa." 



''By the way, Africa is the land of 

 curious birds. TItc hammerhead . is 

 said to build a dome-shaped mud nest, 

 which sometimes covers an area of forty 

 square feet. In front of this aristocratic 

 mansion the architect places a wooden 

 platform, which he carpets with veget- 

 able material. The home is divided into 

 three apartments, main room, store 

 room, and nursery," 



"Now Auntie, you are surely joking. 

 You'll tell us next that he has a summer 

 kitchen and a gasoline stove," exclaimed 

 Howard. 



"No indeed; I am in earnest ; if any- 

 one plays us false it is the naturalists who 

 report the bird life of Africa for us, 

 and they say that besides his architec- 

 tural instinct this bird is also quite 

 artistic in regard to ornament, and dec- 

 orates his home with bric-a-brac in true 

 modern style. He travels about to 

 gather up such gems of art as buttons, 

 bits of glass, polished stones, and so 

 forth." 



"What does he put in his storeroom ?" 

 John inquired. 



"Any kind of provision he fancies. 

 The female bird occupies the nursery, 

 while he uses the main room, or, for an 

 siring, sits upon the portico where the 

 mother-bird and young ones sometimes 

 join him. 



"You need not laugh, for I know of 

 another bird, the baza, of Burmah. who 

 does all this and more." 



"Impossible ! Auntie ; what could he do 

 more than to build, carpet, provision and 

 ornament such a villa?" said Alice in a 

 skeptical tone. 



"The baza surpasses the hamrnerhead 

 in this, that while his home is smaller it 

 is built in stories, the nurserv 1:)eing the 

 upper chamber, which is more in accord- 

 ance with our ideas of architecture — 



question, but now pay attention, this is 

 what insures the superiority of the baza 

 as a householder, he lights up his home 

 at night." 



"Where does he get his gas? Where 

 does he get candles ? Where does he get 

 lamps?" clamored the children in a 

 breath. 



"The male baza gets a lump of fresh 

 clay and fastens it to the wall of Mrs. 

 Baza's room. Then he captures some 

 fire flies and sticks them securely in the 

 moist clay, and their phosphorescent 

 glow lights up the chamber. Not con- 

 tent with this, he hangs up lanterns of 

 the same kind on the outside of his 

 house. 



"But there is another bird that sur- 

 passes both of these. He is the 'garden- 

 er-bird' of Papira. His home is a yard 

 ni diameter, the roof is perfectly water- 

 proof, and there is a gallery running 

 around the inside of his house where 

 he deposits his art collection. In addi- 

 tion to all this he lays out and ornaments 

 his yard with fruit, flowers, fungi and 

 m.osses. When these fade he renews 

 them, and substitutes a fresh collection. 

 ''Really and /n//y. Aunt Jane," asked 

 the astonished children with bated 

 breath. 



"Yes, and there is still another bird 

 called the 'bower-builder' who builds and 

 ornaments a place for public entertain- 

 ments, where the birds give parties, and 

 ujdulge in dancing!" 



"She will tell us next," said Howard, 

 "that the birds build churches, and go 

 to meeting, but I, for one, will never 

 believe it, there, now !" 



"Why not?" Aunt Jane laughingly re- 

 torted. There is the 'parson-bird' with 

 his little white necktie, who could doubt- 

 less preach as well as the blue jay scolds, 

 whether it is an improvement or not is a 

 "But here is the shop of our bird fan- 

 cier ; come let us find a canary beautiful 

 ab a primrose." 



"But promise us first that going home 

 }ou will tell us something- about the 

 plumage of birds," coaxed Madge. 

 "Now, please do, auntie." 



"Of course I will do so, with pleas- 

 ure," was the response, "for during the 

 ride I am entirely at your service." 



Belle Paxson Drury. 



3-2 



