THE TAILOR-BIKD AND THE ORIOLE. 
59 
at. But if you could see within it you 
would be astonished at the workmanship. 
With no implements except her bill, her wings, 
and her feet, she has pressed and worked up 
the material into a cloth of the finest texture, 
and the best quality. An old lady might 
well ask the question, " If these birds could 
not be taught to mend stockings ? 
The nest has a narrow neck, through which 
the bird can pass in and out ; and there is a 
little porch built outside the neck, and looking 
like a small nest resting against the large 
one. This smaller nest was supposed to be 
for the pinc-pinc to sit and keep watch in 
while his partner was hatching her eggs. But 
this is not the case ; for both the birds sit by 
turns upon the eggs, and when one is sitting 
the other flies away. It is, in fact, only a 
resting-place, where the birds may perch as 
they pass in and out of the nest ; for if they 
were to perch upon the nest itself they might 
injure it. 
Such a soft comfortable abode as that of 
the pinc-pinc is sure to be envied by the 
other birds ; and some, that are larger and 
stronger than it is, will lie in wait until the 
