242 CURIOUS HOMES AND THBIK TENANTS. 



TEATHEEED GARDENERS, 



AND THEIR BEAUTIFUL CABINS. 



Birds build houses and lay out gardens and play- 

 grounds. 



Fancy encountering in an unexplored land, in the 

 recesses of a primeval forest, far away from human 

 habitation, a tiny cabin set in miniature pleasure 

 grounds studded with brilliant iiowers. 



That such a piece of workmanship), more lovely 

 than the ingenuity of any mere animal has ever be- 

 fore been known to construct, is in reality built with 

 beaks or claws, is probably an idea less likely to enter 

 the mind of the discoverer than that fairies, after all, 

 do exist, and, flying from civilized lands, have found 

 refuge here, and that the little house and mossy 

 meadow is one of their places of abode. 



The architect, however, is in reality a bird which, 

 though allied to the magnificent birds of paradise, 

 that also inhabit the great island of New Guinea, 

 is neither remarkable for color or size, being of a 

 plain uniform reddish bro-mi, and about the size of 

 our common American robin. 



As descrilied by, its discoverer, the garden bird — 

 for so he called it — when it sets out to build one of its 

 remarkable structures first selects a woody plant with 

 a stem about the height and girth of the handle of 

 a lady's parasol. This plant must be surrounded by 



