DEFENCE AND SANITATION OF DWELLINGS. 24S 



these birds set Glow-worms, when they are fresh, to 

 act as candles. The entrance to the nest is thus 

 luminous. (Fig. 44.) Apparently this lighting up is 

 a defensive measure, for the birds have nothing to do 

 at night except to sleep, and must be rather incom- 

 moded than cheered by this light But the terrible 

 enemy of all broods, the Snake, is, it is said, 

 frightened by this illumination, which is able to 

 penetrate the meshes of the nest, and will not 

 dare to enter. The system is ingenious, and the 

 Roman Emperors, when they used burning Christians 

 as torches, were only plagiarising from this little bird, 

 which paves with martyrs the threshold of its house 

 of love. 



