THE PHILOSOPHY OF BIRDS’ NESTS. 217 
beautiful in proportion than that of the blackbird, the 
magpie, or the crow. The wren, having a slender beak, 
long legs, and great activity, is able with great ease to 
form a well-woven nest of the finest materials, and 
places it in thickets and hedgerows which it frequents 
in its search for food. The titmouse, haunting fruit- 
trees and walls, and searching in cracks and crannies for 
insects, is naturally led to buildin holes where it has 
shelter and security; while its great activity, and the 
perfection of its tools (bill and feet), enable it readily 
to form a beautiful receptable for its eggs and young. 
Pigeons having heavy bodies and weak feet and bills (im- 
perfect tools for forming a delicate structure) build rude, 
flat nests of sticks, laid across strong branches which 
will bear their weight and that of their bulky young. 
They can do no better. The Caprimulgide have the 
most imperfect tools of all, feet that will not support 
them except on a flat surface (for they cannot truly 
perch) and a bill excessively broad, short, and weak, and 
almost hidden by feathers and bristles. They cannot 
build a nest of twigs or fibres, hair or moss, like other 
birds, and they therefore generally dispense with one 
altogether, laying their eggs on the bare ground, or 
on the stump or flat limb of atree. The clumsy hooked 
bills, short necks and feet, and heavy bodies of Parrots, 
render them quite incapable of building a nest like 
most other birds. They cannot climb up a branch 
without using both bill and feet; they cannot even 
turn round on a perch without holding on with their 
bill. How, then, could they inlay, or weave, or twist 
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