How to make Home comfortable.--The Bed in its various Forms.--The Feather Bed of Man.--The Eider-duck and her Plumage.--The Rabbit and her Down.--The Long-tailed Titmouse and her wonderful Nest.--The Hammock of civilised Man and Savage.--The Sailor’s Canvas Hammock.--The String Hammock of tropical America.--Nest of the Pensile Oriole.--Silken Hammock of the Tiger-moth and other Insects.--The Mat Bed.--Cocoa-nut Matting.--The Robber-crab and its Bed.--Strength and Uses of the Cocoa-nut Fibre.--The Surgeon’s “Cradle” and the Pupa of Tabanus.--The Art of Sewing and the Tailor-bird.--Principle of the Umbrella and its Original Use.--Natural Umbrella on the Rosemary.--Servants and Slaves, and the Distinction between them.--The Use of Slaves in hot Countries.--Slavery in the Insect World.--The Ants and their Slaves.--Ornamental Gardening and Pleasure-grounds.--The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.--The Bower-birds and their Pleasure-grounds. We now come to a different branch of the same subject, namely, the means by which our dwellings are rendered comfortable. After having procured a dwelling which can withstand the elements, we next look for a bed on which to repose, and which will ease the limbs and brain, wearied by the toils of the day. Allusion has already been made to the ordinary feather bed and its multitudinous natural springs. We now have to see how the various kinds of beds are anticipated in Nature, and will begin with the feather bed. As to our own beds, nothing need be said about objects so familiar, although, in order to preserve the parallelism, it is necessary to introduce an illustration on the right hand of the page. On the left hand are shown two examples of natural feather beds, selected from many others on account of the exact parallels which they afford. We all know the wonderful warmth and lightness of the Eider-down mattress or quilt, though there are comparatively few who know how the Eider-down is procured. In common with many other creatures, the Eider-duck forms a bed for her young by plucking the down from her own body. Rabbits do exactly the same thing, as all boys know who have kept them, the only difference being that fur is substituted for feathers. So do many insects, stripping themselves of their own downy covering, and employing it for the comfort of their offspring. [Illustration: LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE.] [Illustration: EIDER-DUCK.] [Illustration: FEATHER BED.] The lower figure on the left hand represents the Eider-duck in the act of plucking the far-famed down from her breast in order to make a soft and warm couch for her young, and the amount of feathers which she will devote to this purpose is simply astonishing. Their weight is insignificant, but their bulk is wonderful.