[ *98 ] 
tins will breed on, for feverai years together, in 
the fame neft, where it happens to be well 
fheltered, and fecure from the injuries of weather. 
The fhell, or cruft, is a fort of ruftic work, full of 
knobs and protuberances on the outftde : nor is the 
inftde, of thole that I have examined, frr.oothed with 
any exafttnefs at all; but is rendered lort and warm 
and fit for incubation, by a lining of fmall fcraws, 
graftes, and feathers, and, fometimes, by a lx cf 
mol's, interwoven with wool. In this neft thev 
tread or engender frequently, during the time of 
building ; and the hen lays from three to five eggs. 
At firft when the young are hatched, and are in a 
naked and helplefs condition, the parent birds, with 
tender aftiduity, carry out what comes from their 
young. Was it not for this affectionate clieanlinefs, 
the neftlings would foon be burnt up, and deftroyed, 
in their own caufiic excrement. In the quadruped 
creation the fame neat precaution is made ufe of; 
particularly among dogs and cats, where the dams 
lick away what proceeds from their young. But, in 
birds, there feems to be a particular provision, as the 
dung of neftlings is enveloped in a tough kind of 
jelly, and therefore is the eafier conveyed off with- 
out foiling or daubing ; yet, as Nature is cleanly in all 
her ways, the young perform this office for them- 
felves in a little time, bv thruftins: their tails out at 
the aperture of the neft. As the young of fmall birds 
prefentiy arrive at their or full growth, they 
foon become impatient of confinement, and fit all 
day with their heads out at the orifice, where the 
dams, by clinging to the neft, fupply them with 
food from morning to night. 
i 
For 
