FIERY TOPAZ AND HERMIT. and twigs. it goes off to the trees, and searches for a peculiar kind of fungus, and with this singular material it makes its home. It is tough, leathery, thick, and soft, and in some curious manner the bird contrives to mould the apparently intractable substance into the shape which is represented in the illustration. The lower figure in the illustration represents the nest of another species of Humming-bird, belonging to the pretty little group popularly called Hermits, and which may be recognized by the peculiar shape of the tail. All the Hermits are remarkable for the beauty of their homes. The nest of this species is always long and funnel-shaped, and is hung either to a leaf or a delicate twig of a tree. There is a remarkable species of bird, to which is given the popular name of Edible, or Esculent Swallow, not because it is itself edible, but because its nest is eaten in some countries. We have all heard of birds-nest soup, and some may possibly have imagined that the nests in question are made of the or In reality they are formed of some gelatinous substance, though its true nature is still uncertain, no one precisely knowing whether it is of animal or vegetable origin. Some persons have thought that the material is fishspawn, which the bird fetches from the sea; is nearly allied to it, and which much resem- | dinary vegetable substances, such as moss, leaves, bles it in general coloring. Curiously enough, although it is bedecked with resplendent hues, which seem to need the presence of daylight, and to be made expressly for the purpose of reflecting the brightest beams of the sun, yet the lovely bird is one of the night-wanderers, being seldom seen as long as the sun is above the horizon, and preferring to seek its food while the world is shrouded in darkness. The nest which is built by the Fiery Topaz is really a wonderful structure. Its shape is remarkable, and is well shown in the illustration. It is fastened to the branch with extreme care, as is clearly necessary from its general form. The most curious point about the nest is, however, the material of which it is made. When it was first discovered no one knew how the bird could have built so strange a structure. It looked as if it were made of very coarse buff leather, and was so similar in hue to the branches that surrounded it, that it seemed more like a natural excrescence than a birds-nest. The reason for this similitude was simple enough. It was made of a natural excrescence, and therefore resembled one. When the Fiery Topaz wishes to build a nest, EDIBLE SWALLOW. It is made of innumerable glutinous threads, which have been drawn irregularly across each other, and have hardened by exposure to the air into a material which much resembles isinglass. The nests, when used as an article of food, are steeped in hot water for a considerable time, when they soften into a gelatinous mass, which forms the basis of a fashionable soup, not unlike turtle soup. The Chinese value this soup highly, thinking that it possesses great power of restoring lost strength. It is, however, far too costly to be obtained by any but the rich. others have supposed it to be a kind of seaweed, which is dissolved in the bird's crop and then disgorged; while others believe that it is secreted by certain glands in the throat, and proceeds entirely from the body of the architect. When first made these nests are very white and delicate in their aspect, and in that condition are extremely valuable, being sold at an extravagant price to the Chinese. They soon darken by use and exposure, and are not fit for the purposes of the table until they have been cleaned and bleached. These nests are found in Borneo, Java, etc., and are extremely local, being confined to certain spots. The The nest of the Nightingale is always set birds always choose the sides of deep cavern- very near the ground, and in most cases is ous precipices, so that the task of obtaining scarcely raised more than a few inches above the nests is extremely dangerous. They are the soil. In one sense it is not a pretty nest, attached to the perpendicular rocks much as and its apparent roughness of construction is the ordinary mud-built swallow nests, and are probably intended to make it less conspicuous. generally arranged in horizontal layers. The The discovery of a Nightingale's nest is not an caverns in which the nests are placed are ex- easy task, unless the eye be directed to the tremely valuable, and are preserved with jeal- spot by watching the movements of the bird. ous care from any intruder. On the out- It is always most carefully concealed under side the nests have a shelly appearance, be- growing foliage, and is composed of grass, ing arranged in regular layers, with distinct straw, little sticks, and dried leaves, all jumedges. The material is so translucent that bled together with such "artless art" that even when placed on printed paper and held to the when a nest is seen its real nature often eslight the capital letters can be plainly read capes detection. In consequence of the posithrough its substance. A glance at the inte- tion which they occupy the materials look like rior shows at once the mode of its construction. a mass of loose débris that has been blown by the wind and arrested by the foliage among which it has been lodged. The eggs are equally inconspicuous, being dull olive-brown, without a spot or streak. After they are laid, the lively song of the Nightingale becomes less and less frequent, while after the young are hatched the bird is silent until the next season. The Wandering Albatros, the giant of the petrel tribe, makes its nest after a peculiar fashion. It chooses the summit of lofty precipices near the sea, and its nest may be found plentifully in the islands of the Southern Atlantic Ocean. The Albatros is lord of the country, and no other living being seems to intrude upon its nesting-place. So completely do the birds feel themselves masters of the situation, that if a human being penetrates to their haunts they quietly move about as if he were non-existent, and do not appear to take the least notice of him. On such elevated positions the cold is necessarily intense, but the Albatros cares not for the cold; and brings up its white-coated young in a temperature that few human beings would care to endure. The Albatros lays only a single egg, and no particular bed seems necessary for it. The mother bird simply deposits it on the bare ground, and then scrapes earth around it, so as to form a small circular wall, as may be seen by reference to the illustration. The Coot, sometimes called the Bald Coot, on account of the horny plate on its forehead, which is pink during the breeding season and white during the rest of the year, forms an ingenious structure for its home. Its favorite nesting-places are little islands on which the grass grows rankly. Failing them it will make its nest among reeds and rushes, binding and twisting them together until they are firm enough to support the weight of the nest, the bird, and the many eggs. The nest contains a great number of eggs, seldom less than seven, and sometimes twelve or fourteen. They are whitish, and profusely spotted with irregular brown marks. In the illustration the haunts of the Coot are well represented. In the foreground is one of the grass tussocks, of which a pair of Coots have taken possession, and in which the young are seen under the protection of their parents. Similar tussocks protrude from the shallow water, and from one of them the mother Coot is issuing, followed by her young brood. In the back-ground are seen a pair of swans, one of which is bearing her young on her back, according to the custom of her kind. IT stands remote by sunken ways, Where wheels no more the dust shall raise; The fences that once ran before, Like invitations to the door, Each year sprout weaker through the sod; To bleak, bare pasture land has passed Some poison parsnips haunt the spot. The paths by frequent usage worn, In shapeless masses lie, And rifted shingles thin and dry. A tall and weather-beaten post, Its fork by rusting king-bolt crossed, In naked desolation left The house stands of life's life bereft; Or prayer of wanderer asking alms. The damp within strikes slowly through And oozes in a mouldy dew, Licked up by moss and ravenous things, A grim and sullen air, And kept defiant station there. |