40U FETCH : 



position on the edge of an orifice or of a plate ^\•hicll is in course 

 of construction, and extrudes a single pellet, the final stages of 

 extrusion being attended by a rapid backward and forward 

 movement of the abodmen. The pellets are simply heaped on 

 one another and adhere only because they are moist ; they are 

 not glued together by any special secretion. Consequently the 

 walls of the hanging mass are coarsely granular with numerous 

 minute interspaces, and they separate readily into their com- 

 ponet pellets if rubbed lightly when dry, while a shower of 

 rain washes to the ground the whole structure unless it is in a 

 sheltered position. 



The object of this external structure is not known, and it is 

 scarcely possible to make any suggestion as to its use which 

 has any semblance of probability. If it is a store of material 

 for the future construction of combs, it is an extremely in- 

 efficient one, for it is periodically carried away by the rains, 

 and in the dry weather it cracks and falls to the ground. 

 Moreover, there does not appear to be any necessity for a 

 reserve of such material, and no observations have been 

 reoorfled which would tend to show that it ever diminishes in 

 bulk except by the accidents noted. It would seem reasonable 

 to suppose that it is merely a method of getting rid of surplus 

 excrement, but, on the other hand, the care and method 

 exercised in its construction negative that suggestion. l*^)r 

 the jK'.lkits are not simply heaped together indiscrimuiately, 

 at least when the foundations of this structure are laid, but are 

 arranger! in a definite manner which a]>pears to be the same 

 for all nests. These foundations take the shape of thin plates, 

 8omi-clliptical as a rule, perpendicular to the surface of the 

 branch or stem, and arranged in vertical rows ; some of the.se 

 plat<'s are shown in the [)hotograph on 1*1. VF. n, which was 

 taken during the m-construction of the extcniil mass a few 

 days after it. had been washed away by the rain. 



In one inKtance, where the nest occupictl a IkiIIow tree 1 luiik 

 incliiic<l at ail angle of about 45^, these j)lates wer(> from a 

 (|uartcr to iwo iiu^hcs in length and were arranged in eight 

 vertical rows alxnit one inch apart, the length of each row being 

 about nine iueheK. It was intended to take a ])hotograph of 

 that example, but unfortunately operations had to be deferred 



