So also, most of the
birds trace the moraines to some extent, because the forests are growing
on them. But they wander far, crossing the canons from grove to grove,
and draw exceedingly angular and complicated courses.
The Ouzel's nest is one of the most extraordinary pieces of bird
architecture I ever saw, odd and novel in design, perfectly fresh and
beautiful, and in every way worthy of the genius of the little builder.
It is about a foot in diameter, round and bossy in outline, with a
neatly arched opening near the bottom, somewhat like an old-fashioned
brick oven, or Hottentot's hut. It is built almost exclusively of green
and yellow mosses, chiefly the beautiful fronded hypnum that covers the
rocks and old drift-logs in the vicinity of waterfalls. These are deftly
interwoven, and felted together into a charming little hut; and so
situated that many of the outer mosses continue to flourish as if they
had not been plucked. A few fine, silky-stemmed grasses are occasionally
found interwoven with the mosses, but, with the exception of a thin
layer lining the floor, their presence seems accidental, as they are of
a species found growing with the mosses and are probably plucked with
them.
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