627 

 THE NESTING HABITS OF THE BAYA. 



RY 



D. DEWAR, F.Z.S., I.e.?. 



Abundant though the Baya or Weaver-bird (^/Hor.e.uK bai/n) is in this country, 

 there are still certain points in its nesting habits that still requiie elucidation. 

 It is with a view to gaining fresh knowledge on this most interesting point 

 that I pen these lines. The matters to which I invite attention are : fiistly the 

 nature or ruinon <Vetre. of the so-called supplementary nests, secondly, the use 

 of the lumps of clay found in many of the nests, and thirdly the fi e fly story. 



Although I have served in th ee Provinces I have not yet resided in a locality 

 where Bayas have been abundant ; indeed the only place at which I have had an 

 opportunity of watching these birds at work was Lahore wheie the species is 

 far fiom common. Thus it is that my observations do not throw very much 

 light on the above-mentioned matteis. There must, however, be alaige number 

 of members of this Society whof=e lives are cast in localities where Weaver-birds 

 are numerous, and I trust ILat what follows will stimulate some, at any rate, of 

 them to pay special attenUpn to these matters and give the Society the benefit 

 of their obseivations. Desciiption of the nests is quite unnecessary, for Ihey 

 are among the most familiar objects of the Indian countiy-side. 



The material out of which the nest is woven varies with the locality. In 

 No-th India strands of long grass seem to be most geneially used, in other parts 

 of the country strips of cocoa-nut leaves or those of the date-palm or the 

 banana are fiequently utilised. Nests made of these latter mateiials are said 

 to be less bulky than tho3e woven out of grass since the fibres are much 

 stronger. 



As to the various grasses utilised. Major I. F. A. McNair writes as follows 

 (p. 29 of Vol. IX of Niiture ^olfis) : ' The grass from which the Indian Baya 

 builds his nest is usually the ' kusha ' or sacred gtass of the Hindus, it is one 

 of the Puacf.oi and is known as the dog's-tail grass. In the Malayan Peninsula 

 they weave together the young shoots of the ' lalang ' {Gramfn c'lriroyuno) and 

 sometimes what is called the ' buffalo ' grass and other fodder and pastuie glasses. 

 Under difficulties they have even been observed to strip into narrow shreds, the 

 rigid leaves of the pine and sugarcane and the green leaves of the millet, the 

 Indian Millet or Sonjhuvi tulf/aie.'^ 



As to the moiluf cpmano'/, 1 find in my note book the following observations 

 made at Lahore in August 1907 I fear that they do not contain much tliat is 

 new, but they were taken down on the spot, and so recoid actually what 

 I saw. 



" Aug. 24. — Came upon two Weaver-biids' nest high up in a tree — one of 

 them complete except for the tubular entrance, and the other which is higher 

 op in the tree, at the inverted basket or bell stage. At the latter a cock was 

 working. Fiom the former a pair of birds flew away, but did not return while 

 I waited. 

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