252 THE NEST. 
rough work. It is, moreover, a stratagem. The true mason is the 
swallow, which suspends her house to ours. 
The marvel of its kind is, perhaps, the wonderful carpentry which 
the thrush executes. The nest, very much exposed under the moist 
shelter of the vines, is made externally of moss, and amid the sur- 
rounding verdure escapes the eye; but look within: it is an admirable 
cupola, neat, polished, shining, and not inferior to glass. You may 
see yourself in it as in a mirror. . 
The rustic art, appropriate to the forests, of timber-work, joining, 
wood-carving, is attempted on the lowest scale by the toucan, whose 
bill, though enormous, is weak and thin: he attacks only worm- 
eaten trees. The woodpecker, better armed, as we have seen, accom- 
plishes more: he is a true carpenter; until love inspires him, and he 
becomes a sculptor. 
Infinite in varieties and species is the guild of basket-makers and 
weavers. To note the starting-point, the advance, and the climax 
of an industry so varied, would be a prolonged labour. 
The shore birds plait, to begin with, but very unskilfully. Why 
should they do better? So warmly clothed by nature with an 
unctuous and almost impermeable coat of plumage, they have little 
need to allow for the elements. Their great art is the chase; always 
lank, and insufficiently fed, the piscivora are controlled by the wants 
of a craving stomach. 
The very elementary weaving of the herons and storks is already 
outstripped, though to no great extent, by the basket-makers of the 
woods, the jay, the mocking-bird, the bullfinch. Their more numerous 
brood impose on them more arduous toil. They lay down rude enough 
foundations, but thereupon plant a basket of more or less elegant 
design, a web of roots and dry twigs strongly woven together. The 
cistole delicately interlaces three reeds or canes, whose leaves, mingled 
with the web, form a safe and mobile base, undulating as the bird 
rocks. The tomtit suspends her purse-like cradle to a bough, and 
trusts to the wind to nurse her progeny. 
The canary, the goldfinch, the chaffinch, are skilful felters. The 
