Hoiv a Nest ivas built. 1 1 



morning, laid the foundation with the decayed leaf of a lime- 

 tree. Some men were at work cutting a drain not far off, but 

 she took no notice of thefn, and worked away industriously, 

 carrying to her work bundles of dead leaves as big as herself, 

 her mate, seeming the while to be delighted with her industry, 

 seated not far off in a Portugal laurel, where he watched her, 

 singing to her, and so doing, making her labour, no doubt, 

 light and pleasant. From eight o'clock to nine she worked like 

 a little slave, carrying in leaves, and then selecting from them 

 such as suited her purpose and putting aside the rest. This 

 was the foundation of the nest, which she rendered compact by 

 pressing it down with her breast, and turning herself round in 

 it : then she began to rear the sides. And now the delicate 

 and difficult part of the work began, and she was often away 

 for eight or ten minutes together. From the inside she built 

 the underpart of the aperture with the stalks of leaves, which 

 she fitted together very ingeniously with moss. The upper part 

 of it was constructed solely with the last-mentioned material. 

 To round it and give it the requisite solidity, she pressed it with 

 her breast and wings, turning the body round in various 

 directions. Most wonderful to tell, about seven o'clock in the 

 evening the whole outside workmanship of this snug little 

 erection was almost complete. 



" Being very anxious to examine the interior of it, I went out 

 for that purpose at half-past two the next morning. I intro- 

 duced my finger, the birds not being there, and found its struc- 

 ture so close, that though it had rained in the night, yet that it 

 was quite dry. The birds at this early hour were singing as if 

 in ecstasy, and at about three o'clock the little he-wren came 



