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LIFE, IN ITS HIGHER FORMS. 
wall. Woo] is the staple ; you may see the busy birds in 
spring collecting the straggling tufts of wool that hang on 
the thorn-bushes around the sheep-pasture, and carrying 
off the prizes in their bills : watch one home, and you will 
have no difficulty in discovering tho whereabouts of its 
domestic economy, But be merciful ; look, but touch not ! 
Well does the skilful little architect know the felting pro- 
perties of wool ! how, when the fibres are placed in contact, 
and rubbed and pressed, they unite and bind together into 
a cloth-like texture, like the substance of a hat, or a piece 
of drugget. God has put into her feeble sensorium this 
instinctive knowledge, and how effectively she uses it! 
Tuft after tuft of -vvool is brought, pulled and spread out 
thin, and applied to the interior of the mossy cup, each 
layer placed evenly round, so that the thickness shall grow 
uniformly, and each addition united to the fixed portion 
by the pressure of the bird’s breast, she sitting in the 
hollow and moving briskly round and round, pressing the 
wool with all the force of which she is capable. A sort of 
sewing process goes on at the same time ; for individual 
fibres of the wool are passed around projecting branches 
of the moss, aud, being inserted into the walls by means 
of the bill, are seized on the opposite side, drawn tio-ht 
and passed through again aud again, every effort adding 
to the strength, compactness, and neat appearance of the 
growing nest. The united cobwebs of the spiders that 
lurk in hedges and banks are also brought into requisition 
for this sewing work; bits of cotton and thread from the 
neighbouring dwellings, and many other substances : and 
thus the house is made. But it is not quite ready yet; 
it must be strengthened on the outside, by intertwining 
