The Winners in Life's Race; Or, the Great Backboned Family (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 Excerpt: ...draw through with their slender bill and strengthen with saliva. The smaller the bird and the more delicate its feet and bill, the more closely woven, as a rule, is its nest. Yet all are built with care; the mother bird, as a rule, choosing the position and laying the twigs, while the father helps her to collect the materials. So rapidly do these f little creatures work, that among our smaller English birds the Nest of the Tailor-Bird 0 01 India or China. early morning sees the work begun, and by evening it is ended. Other birds are longer, according to the amount of material they have to collect; but all labour industriously till the cradle is finished, and then "begins the laying, the sitting, the tender care of the mother for her little ones, and of the father for his wife and brood. Orthotomus sutorius. And indeed there is much need both of skill in nest building and of watchfulness for many a long day after, for if the perchers are the highest, they are not by any means the strongest of birds; and while they feed on insects and smaller creatures, they have to guard their little ones with anxious care against the larger birds of prey which rule as masters in the higher regions of the air. It is on rocky pinnacles and in the clefts of inaccessible heights among the mountains that we must look for the nests of the Eagle, the Vulture, and the Falcon. Strong, powerful, and untiring in flight, they sail majestically high up in the air, not to sing a joyful song like the lark, but. with piercing eye to search every corner for miles around, for animals of all sizes, from the dead ox or mule to the tiny living mouse or bird, which can serve for a meal. It needs only a glance at them to see that they are strong destroyers, with their powerful wings, their s...