THE TAILOK BIRD. 209 



that the bird occupies the same nest repeatedly, after the manner 

 of swallows and martins, and that it does not desert the tenement 

 until the spathe becomes detached and falls to the ground, after 

 the custom of its kind. Fallen spathes are plentiful under the 

 palms, and in them the nests of the Palm Swift are frequently 

 seen. 



Sometimes the Palm Swift choses another tree, and builds its 

 nest in the palmetto, a palm belonging to the genus Chamcerops. 

 In such cases, the nest is of a diJBferent shape to that which is 

 found in the cocoa-palm, something resembling in form the india- 

 rubber tobacco-pouches which are now so common. The exterior 

 of the nest is loose and woolly, instead of being firm and compact ; 

 and in some instances it is so very loose, that it looks just like 

 a doll's wig. The eggs of the Palm Swift are white. 



The man who first invented sewing in all probability thought 

 that he had discovered, or rather created, an art which was 

 entirely new, and that to him alone was due the credit of per- 

 ceiving the virtues of a fibre thrust through holes. 



The capabilities of his invention he could not be expected to 

 foresee, inasmuch as he would in all probability limit its powers 

 to the decoration rather than the clothing of his own person. 

 In process of time he might comprehend that, by means of the 

 needle and thread, a number of small leaves or skins might be 

 made to serve the same purpose as a single large one, and as 

 his instruments improved, so would his work. There are, it is 

 true, certain nations who have been acquainted with the art of 

 sewing from time immemorial, and never seem to have made the 

 least progress in it. The native Australian, for example, dis- 

 plays wonderful ingenuity in making thread from the sinews of 

 the kangaroo's tail, and needles from the emu's bones; but 

 there his invention seems to have stopped, and up to the present 

 time, the junction of a couple of kangaroo skins, or the sewing 

 together of a few " opossum " furs, seem to be the limits of his 

 powers. Still, in other countries, the needle and thread have, as 

 a rule, exhibited a regular improvement, until they have culmi 

 nated in the sewing-machine of the present day. Had, however, 

 some good genius enabled the original founder of the art to 

 foresee its effect upon the world, he might well have been proud 

 of his discovery, the earliest of human arts. 



p 



