THE NEST. 
ARCHITECTURE OF BIRDS. 3 \ 
I am writing opposite a graceful collection of 
nests of French birds, made for me by a friend, I 
ain able thus to appreciate, to verify the descriptions 
of authors, to improve them, perhaps, if the very 
limited resources of style can give any just idea of 
a wholly special art, less analogous to ours than 
one would be tempted to believe at the first glance. 
Nothing in this branch of study can supply the 
place of actual sight of the objects. You must see 
and touch; you will then perceive that all compari- 
son is false and inaccurate. These things belong 
toa world apart. Shall we say above, or below the 
“ ¥ N works of man? Neither the one nor the other; 
but essentially different, and whose supposed simi- 
larities (or relations) are only external. 
