We have now seen quite a variety of nests, and I think that we may come to this conclusion about their builders:—­The bird or other creature which can carefully select the materials for the home of its young, can decide what is most suitable for the rough outside and what will be soft and nice for the inner lining, and can choose a position for its nest where the peculiar wants and habits of its little ones can be best provided for, must certainly be credited with a degree of intelligence which is something more than what is generally suggested by the term instinct.

[Illustration]

THE BOOMERANG.

Civilized folks are superior in so very many respects to their barbarous brethren that it is well, when we discover anything which a savage can do better than we can, to make a note of it, and give the subject some attention.

And it is certain that there are savages who can surpass us in one particular—­they can make and throw boomerangs.

It is very possible that an American mechanic could imitate an Australian boomerang, so that few persons could tell the difference; but I do not believe that boomerang would work properly.  Either in the quality of the wood, or in the seasoning, or in some particular which we would not be apt to notice, it would, in all probability, differ very much from the weapon carved out by the savage.  If the American mechanic was to throw his boomerang away from him, I think it would stay away.  There is no reason to believe that it would ever come back.

And yet there is nothing at all wonderful in the appearance of the real boomerang.  It is simply a bent club, about two feet long, smooth on one side and slightly hollowed out on the other.  No one would imagine, merely from looking at it, that it could behave in any way differently from any other piece of stick of its size and weight.

But it does behave differently, at least when an Australian savage throws it.  I have never heard of an American or European who was able to make the boomerang perform the tricks for which it has become famous.  Throwing this weapon is like piano-playing; you have to be brought up to it in order to do it well.

In the hands of the natives of Australia, however, the boomerang performs most wonderful feats.  Sometimes the savage takes hold of it by one end, and gives it a sort of careless jerk, so that it falls on the ground at a short distance from him.  As soon as it strikes the earth it bounds up into the air, turns, twists, and pitches about in every direction, knocking with great force against everything in its way.  It is said that when it bounds in this way into the midst of a flock of birds, it kills and wounds great numbers of them.  At other times the boomerang-thrower will hurl his weapon at an object at a great distance, and when it has struck the mark it will turn and fall at the feet of its owner, turning and twisting on its swift and crooked way.  This little engraving shows how the boomerang will go around a tree and return again to the thrower.  The twisted line indicates its course.