built generally on the naked great branch of a tree, sometimes on the
windows of houses, a fence, or a projecting beam of a high house or
other building; it is composed of earth, in the form of a baker's oven,
and is often built in the short space of two days, both birds being
engaged in its construction; it is six inches in diameter, and one
thick; a division is within, beginning at the entrance, and carried
circularly, so that the eggs are deposited in the inner chamber, on a
bed of grass. The swallow and other birds often attempt to obtain
possession of this nest, but are generally repulsed by the owners.

Many of the _Orioles'_ nests are also deserving notice. The
_black and yellow Oriole_, inhabiting South America, has a pendent
nest, shaped like an alembic; it is affixed to the extreme branches of
trees; sometimes, it is said, so many as four hundred nests are found
hanging on the same tree.

The _Philippine_ and _Pensile Grosbeak_ make also very curious nests.

In concluding this account of the nests of birds, I may notice here the
nest of the _Hirundo esculenta_, or _Esculent Swallow_, an inhabitant
of China and the Islands of the Indian Ocean. The nest consists of a
gelatinous substance, in shape resembling an apple cut down the middle.
The nests are found in great numbers together, and are by the luxurious
Asiatics made into broths, and otherwise cooked, and are esteemed one of
the greatest dainties of the table; they are also occasionally used for
glue.--_Jennings's Ornithologia_.


[1] We are pleased therefore to commence our Supplementary Sheet
with such a volume as the present, which we have reserved for