310 



NATURE S TEACHINGS. 



and fulfil it, and have no pretence about them. Then, as 

 they are moulded by hand alone, without any assistance from 

 machinery of any kind, even a wheel, the indivi duality of the 

 maker is stamped upon them, and no two are exactly alike either 

 in form, colour, or ornament. A couple of these rude vases are 

 to be seen on the right hand of the accompanying illustration. 



On the left hand of the same illustration are shown two 

 examples of earthenware vessels made by birds, which are 

 nearly, if not quite, as good as those made by the hands of 

 civilised man. 



The upper figure represents the nest of the Pied Grrallina 

 (Grrallina Australis), a bird which, as its specific name implies, 

 is a native of Australia. 



This nest is formed chiefly of clay, but a quantity of dried 



NEST OF PIED GRALLINA. 

 NEST OP OVEN-BIRD. 



PRIMITIVE EARTHENWARE. 



grass is always mixed with it, and serves to bind it together. 

 If one of these nests be broken up, and compared with the 

 bricks of which ancient Babylon was built, it will be found 

 that they are almost identical in material, and that both are 

 merely baked in the sun. In form it so closely resembles an 

 Essequibo jar in my possession, that if it were removed from 

 the branch, and similarly coloured, it would not be easy to 

 distinguish the one from the other. 



Below this is the nest of the Oven-bird of South America 

 (Furnarius fuliginosus) , a bird allied to our common creeper. 

 The drawing was taken from a specimen in the British 

 Museum. 



Like the nest of the Grallina, it is placed upon some hori- 



