THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS. 337 
with its strong bill, as if it were a pickaxe, soon 
loosens a portion, which it scratches down. Having 
made an entrance, and removed sufficient to admit 
its body into the hole, which is usually a perfect 
circle, it sets to work, with both bill and claws, till 
it has succeeded in excavating a gallery between two 
and three feet in length, and being sloped upwards, 
prevents the influx of rain ; nor is this laborious little 
jniner less careful to secure its habitation from the 
cold winds which might affect its tender nurslings, 
should it strike upon the face of the bank, to guard 
against which, the gallery is always more or less 
tortuous ; and the nest, which is of the simplest 
kind, composed of hay, lined with duck or goose 
feathers, is placed at the furthest end ; thus this 
simple little bird provides one of the most secure 
and warmest nurseries for its callow brood. Other 
varieties of the swallow are proficients in masonry, 
mortar-working, and cementing. 
The kingfisher and lark may be ranked among the 
miners, though their excavations do not exceed many 
inches in depth. 
The bullfinch is a basket-worker. Having selected 
his tree, sometimes the flat branch of a spruce-pine, 
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