ARCHITECTURE OF BIRDS. 249 
curve, has been a thousand and a thousand times pressed against his 
bosom, his heart, certainly with much disturbance of the respiration, 
| perhaps with much palpitation. 
It is quite otherwise with the habitat of the quadruped. 
x He comes into the world clothed; what need has he of a nest ? 
\ Thus, then, those animals which build or burrow labour for 
: ~ themselves rather than for their young. A skilful miner is 
the mountain rat, in his oblique tunnel, which saves him from 
the winter gale. The squirrel, with hand adroit, raises the 
pretty turret which defends him from the rain. The great 
engineer of the lakes, the beaver, foreseeing the gathering of 
the waters, builds up several stages to which he may ascend at 
pleasure ; but all this is done for the individual. The bird 
builds for her family. Carelessly did she live in her bright leafy 
bower, exposed to every enemy ; but the moment she was no 
longer alone, the hoped for and anticipated maternity made 
her an artist. The nest is a creation of love. 
Thus, the work is imprinted with a force of 
extraordinary will, of a passion singularly persever- 
You see in it especially this fact, that it is not, 
like our works, prepared from a model, which 
settles the plan, conducts and regulates the 
labour. Here the conception is sv thoroughly 
im the artist, the idea so clearly defined, that, 
without frame or carcase, without preliminary 
support, the aerial ship is built up piece by 
piece, and not a hitch disturbs the ensemble. 
_ All adjusts itself exactly, symmetrically, in 
perfect harmony; a thing in- 
finitely difficult in such a de- 
8 oN 7 , xy 
“om Dp 
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