. The bird. Birds. 262 THE COMMUNITIES OF BIRDS. He chooses a bamboo growing close to the water. To the branches of this tree he deHcately suspends some vegetable fibres. He knows beforehand the weight of the nest, and never eiTS. To the threads he attaches, one by one (not supporting himself on anything, but working in the air) some sufficiently strong grasses. The task is long and fatiguing; it presupposes an infinite amount of patient courage. The vestibule alone is nothing less than a cylinder of twelve to fifteen feet, which hangs over the water, the opening being below, so that one enter
. The bird. Birds. 262 THE COMMUNITIES OF BIRDS. He chooses a bamboo growing close to the water. To the branches of this tree he deHcately suspends some vegetable fibres. He knows beforehand the weight of the nest, and never eiTS. To the threads he attaches, one by one (not supporting himself on anything, but working in the air) some sufficiently strong grasses. The task is long and fatiguing; it presupposes an infinite amount of patient courage. The vestibule alone is nothing less than a cylinder of twelve to fifteen feet, which hangs over the water, the opening being below, so that one enters it ascending. The upper extremity may be compared to a srourd or an inflated ba!.,' like a chemist's retort. Sometimes five o)- six hundred nests of this kind hang to a single tree. Such is my city of the air ; not a dream and a phantasy, like that of Aristophanes, but actual, realized, and answering the three condi- tions : security both on the side of land and water, and inaccessibility to the robbers of the air through its narrow openings, where one can only enter Ijy ascending with gi-eat difficulty. Now, that which was said to Columbus when he defied his guests to make an egg stand upright, you perhaps will say to the ingenious bird in reference to his suspended city. You will observe, " It was very ; To which the bird will reply, like Columbus, " Why did you not discover it?". Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Michelet, Jules, 1798-1874; Giacomelli, Hector, 1822-1904. London ; New York : T. Nelson
Size: 1869px × 1337px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthormich, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbirds
