264 Life and Lnmortality. 
NEST OF THE ROBIN. 
Built Upon a Railroad Cutting. 
But the most curious nest I have ever met with was built 
upon a railroad cutting, where the ground hada slope of more 
than forty-five degrees. Such a position for a dwelling of 
the kind the Robin is known to build, to one not conversant 
with the facts, must appear incredible. But that it was ac- 
complished, the nest itself was the monument of the build- 
ers’ thoughtful skill and labor. A semicircular wall of mud, 
eight inches in diameter and five inches in height, constituted 
the groundwork, and within the cavity thus formed was 
reared a coarse, substantial, bulky fabric, that was entirely 
composed of the stems of grasses, leaves and roots, loaded 
down and held in place by pellets of mud. 
A more remarkable position, and one that seemed as diffi- 
cult to manage, I shall now relate. Few birds care so little 
for position as the common House Wren. Almost any place 
