LV.] 
OF SELEORNE. 
147 
in the morning, and by dedicating the rest of the day to food 
and amusement, gives it sufficient time to dry and harden. 
About half an inch seems to be a sufficient layer for a day. 
Thus careful workmen when they build mud- walls (informed at 
first perhaps by this little bird) raise but a moderate layer at a 
time, and then desist ; lest the work should become top-heavy, and 
so be ruined by its own weight. By this method in about ten or 
twelve days is formed an hemispheric nest with a small aper- 
ture towards the top, strong, compact, and warm ; and perfectly 
fitted for all the purposes for which it was intended. But then 
nothing is more common than for the house-sparrow, as soon 
L '2 
