35 6 
BIRDS. 
not more soft. Near the upper end projects a small 
tube about an inch in length, with an orifice about 
three-fourths of an inch in diameter. Immediately 
under the tube is a small hole in the side, that has 
no communication with the interior part of the nest ; 
in this hole the male sits at nights, and thus they 
are both screened from the weather. The sparrow 
hedges round its nest with thorns ; and even the 
swallow, under the eaves of houses, or in the rifts 
of rocks, makes a tube to its nest six or seven inches 
in length. The same kind of birds in this part of 
the world, having nothing to apprehend from mon- 
keys, snakes, and other noxious animals, neglect 
the same precautions, and construct open nests. 
Nevertheless, the European species manifest a great 
degree of ingenuity in the formation of their dwell- 
ings, though they are not quite so artfully contrived 
as the African. The swallow, for instance, con- 
structs a nest entirely different from all others ; she 
wants neither wood, nor hay, nor bands, but knows 
how to make a kind of plaister, or rather cement, 
with which she erects a dwelling equally secure and 
convenient for herself and all her family. In pass- 
ing over a river or pond, she contrives to wet her 
wings and breast, after which she sheds the dew 
over the dust, and then tempers and works it up 
with her bill. The blackbird and lapwing, after 
they have made their nest, rough-cast the inside 
with a small lay of mortar, that glews and supports 
all below ; and by the aid of a little flue or moss, 
with which they temper it when it is fresh and soft, 
