The jYatiiraUsts' Compel h ion 
71 
inny in the tuture he pi-oduetive of val- 
uahle (liseoverjes. 
Ozocerite has innnv uses in tlie arts 
and seienees. and is very valuable, eom- 
inandino- from $2,000 to $2,500 [)er ton. 
It is ein[)loyed in the inanufacture of 
excellent candles; also medicinally in 
a certain class of skin diseases, and it 
is further used in the production of tele¬ 
graphic insulators. Recently it has 
been used in large quantities in Vienna, 
in a great variety of a[)plieations. In 
addition to its use for illumination,wax 
[)encils are made of this material in 
that city, and are em})loved for mark¬ 
ing and writing on wo,od,linen,cloth and 
paper, and as a substitute for chalk for 
th-e blackboard. The writing made by 
these pencils is not obliterated by mois¬ 
ture, acid or friction. On the Trans¬ 
caspian railroad in Russia,apijroaching 
Merv, it is claimed that about $300 a 
mile is saved by the use of ozoceidte 
ties. When i)artly purified and melt¬ 
ed and mixed with limestone and grav¬ 
el, the ozocerite, which is quite abund¬ 
ant in the vicinit}" of the railroad, 
})roduces a very good variety of asphal- 
tum. This mixture is pressed into 
shape in Ijoxes, and gives ties which 
retain their form and hardness even 
in the hottest weather. 
Remarkable Nests. 
BY C. D. PENDEIvU, WAVEREY, N. Y. 
The graceful pendant nest of the ori¬ 
ole, the dainty chalice of the humming 
bird, the mere excavation of sand as 
made by the ostrich, or tlie innumer¬ 
able and varied forms of nests con¬ 
structed by the hosts of tlie feathered 
tribes, each and all present a remark¬ 
able ada[)tion to the individual recpiire- 
ments of the buildei'. But there are 
certainexti’Mortlinarv forms which have 
been described by travelers, that are 
especially deserving of notice on ac¬ 
count of their great size or peculiarity 
of construction. 
First in regard to size may be men¬ 
tioned that of the mound-building meg- 
apodius, a bird of Australia, which in 
color and size resembles the partridge. 
A nest of this bird measured by the 
ornithologist Gould, was fourteen feet 
high and had a circumference of one 
hundred and fifty feet. “Compared to 
the size of the bird the dimensions of 
such a mountain are almost prodigious, 
and we ask how,withits beak and claws 
only, for pickaxe and entire ineans of 
trans})oi’t. it contrives to get together 
such a mass of materials I” 
The immense structure is constiaict- 
ed by lirst getting together a thick bed 
of leaves, brandies and plants, the bird 
being guided in making this collection 
b}' a wonderful chemical instinct, se¬ 
lecting only such matter as will in fer¬ 
menting, by the heat thus generated, 
hatch the eggs without a tendency to 
cause their decay. After having gath¬ 
ered sufficient vegetable matter, it heaps 
uj) earth and stones above it, and in such 
a manner as to form ^‘an enormous cra¬ 
ter-like tumulus, concave in the noddle, 
the place where alone the materials hrst 
collected remain uncovered.” 
d'he bird having completed its her¬ 
culean task, deposits its eggs (usually 
eight in number, and about the size of 
a swan’s) in the centre of the nest among 
the vegetation left uncovered. They 
are jilaced in a circle at e([ual distances 
ajiart with the small end down, 'hhis 
done, the megapod ins gives no further 
attention to its nest or offspring, .^(fhe 
voung knows how to nourish itself Irom 
