628 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIX. 



Aug. 25. — Again visited nests. With the upper one considerable progress 

 had been made and the cock was working at it very hard. Every time he 

 approached it, carrying material, he uttered cries of delight — not unmusical 

 cries ; they might almost be called ' song '. Every now and again while working 

 he would actually burst into song. He perched on the ' handle ' of the inverted 

 basket and pushed the fibres he had brought in and out of the structure, some- 

 times perching on the outside to finish off the piece of weaving. 



As soon as he had woven in his material he again shouted for joy, and then 

 flew rapidly to a clump of tall (elephant) grass, that grows about 10 ft. high. 

 The clump in question is about 50 yards from the tree in which the nest is 

 situated. In about 2 minutes the bird returned with more material which he 

 carried in his beak, holding it near one end so that it streamed behind him 

 when he was flying. 



In order to see how he tore off his material I quietly approached the clump 

 and watched operations through my field glasses. 



Having alighted on one of the nearly upright blades the Weaver-bird pecked 

 at a neighbouring blade, gripping the edge with his beak. He then pulled or 

 rather jerked his head away, giving several tugs. By this means the bii-d 

 strips off a thin strand of grass. Holding this strand in his beak, he proceeds 

 to strip off another ; then a third, and perhaps a fourth. He then flies off 

 carrying the strands in his bill. Some at any rate of them, are not completely 

 detached by the tearing process, but remain fixed to the grass blade by one end. 

 The force with which the bird flies away suffices to complete the severance. 

 Sometimes, however, the portion to be utilised does not come away so easily, 

 the bii'd is pulled back, and may even hang for a little suspended from the 

 blade of grass, but at the second or third attempt the Baya succeeds in 

 completely severing the strand he has stripped off. Having watched this pro- 

 cess for some time I walked up to the clump to examine the grass, and found 

 it so thickly impregnated with silicon that I could have cut my hand with 

 the edge of a blade. I found some strands that had been partly torn away 

 evidently by the bird, I stripped these off and put them in my pocket. On my 

 arrival at the bungalow I found some difficulty in extracting them, so closely 

 did they cling to the lining owing to the large amount of silicon they contain. 

 This material is thus well adapted for the purpose of weaving. When once it 

 is threaded it will hold firmly together for an indefinite time. 



Having pocketed these strands I returned to the tree and found a pair of 

 Weaver-birds at the nearly completed nest, the hen inside and the cock outside. 

 At the half completed nest the cock was working. Both cocks appeared much 

 excited and were calling loudly. The former kept flapping his wings and 

 every now and again attempted to perch on the half finished nest ; this was 

 resented by the cock in possession and a squabble would ensue which would 

 end in much noise and the flight of both cocks. In a few seconds each 

 returned to his own nest. 



There was a high wind blowing, so that while I watched the bu'ds the 



