550 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



have been impressed with their graceful curves. As the blasts 

 of the wind pass over them, they bend in successive waves like 

 the billows of the sea, and are sometimes bowed so low that 

 their tips nearly reach the water. 



A nest, therefore, which rests on such pliant supports must 

 be thrown out of its perpendicular by every breath of wind, 

 and unless it were very deep the eggs would be flung out. The 

 great depth, however, of the nest counteracts the deflection of 

 the reeds ; and, however fiercely the storm may rage, the Eeed 

 Warbler sits securely in her nest, even though it be sometimes 

 nearly bowed to the surface of the water. The materials of the 

 nest are generally taken from the immediate neighbourhood, the 

 body of the nest being composed of broken rushes and moss 

 bound together with reed leaves, and the lining made almost 

 wholly of cows' hair. 



In the illustration the nest is represented as it appears during 

 a rather smart breeze. The reeds are all bowed down by the 

 force of the wind, and the nest is leaning so much to one side, 

 that its contents would be flung into the water were it of the 

 ordinary cup-shaped form. The tiny inmates, however, are per- 

 fectly secure in their home, and crouch in the bottom of the nest, 

 so that there is no fear that they may be thrown out. The 

 parent birds are busily attending on their little family, one 

 having just brought an insect which all the gaping mouths are 

 eager to devour, while the other is setting off in its turn to 

 perform the like office. The little eggs are rather pleasing in 

 colour, being very pale green, almost fading to whitish grey in 

 parts, and being mottled and speckled with brown or green 

 darker than the ground hue of the shell. As is usually the case 

 with similar birds, they are four or five in number. 



JIany foreign birds are excellent branch-builders. 



One of the best known is a lovely little bird, which is familiar 

 to us through the mediumship of taxidermists, who are always 

 glad to insert a few specimens in their glass cases of brightly 

 plumaged birds. This is the Indigo Bird, or Blue Linnet of 

 America (Spiza cyanea), which derives its name from the hue 

 of its feathers. Viewed in some lights, the plumagj is a rich, 

 deep azure, shining with a satiny lustre in the direct light of the 

 sunbeams, and deepening into indigo in the shadows. But the 



