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A HISTORY OF BIRDS 



practice of building a pensile nest, it will often be found that 

 other species of the same group build after the older fashion, 

 as witness the Weaver-birds (p. 183) and Humming-birds, for 

 example. The nests of the latter, of whichever type, are of 



III. 25. — Nest of the Humming-bird (Plicethornis cnrynome). Pensile Type. 



great beauty, and formed principally of a felting of cotton- 

 down and spiders' webs. Mostly cup-shaped, and often be- 

 studded externally with lichen, they are small even relatively to 

 the size of the bird, so much so that in one instance it is re- 

 corded that as the young grew in size the walls were heightened 

 by the parents, until at last the nest was more than twice as 

 big as when the eggs were laid and hatched ! Where the nest 

 is suspended it is attached either to the tendril or stem of some 

 climbing plant, or to the side of a drooping palm leaf When 

 hanging freely some species, it is said, load one side of the nest 

 with a stone or bits of earth to secure a proper balance, and 

 this device is again met with in the case of some of the Weaver- 

 birds. 



