1 84 A HISTORY OF BIRDS 



of the chamber are started, the female receiving the ends of the 

 threads pushed through from the outside by her mate. One 

 species, Ploccipasser inaliali, make two " spouts " or covered 

 ways to the brood chamber, while Ploceus baya balances its 

 nursery by means of lumps of clay, as is also done by some 

 Humming-birds (p. 182). 



It would seem that the addition of this tubular entrance is 

 a contrivance to prevent the entrance of snakes. To achieve 

 this end Salvin's Swift and the Penduline Tits add a false, blind 

 entrance, their nests being exposed to the attacks of lizards. 

 The nest of Salvin's Swifts, Panyptila Sancti-liierononiyi, is to be 

 reckoned among the most remarkable of the pendant nests, 

 being constructed entirely of seeds collected in mid-air, held 

 together by a salivary secretion, which is also used as a cement 

 for the attachment of this curious tubular structure. The felted 

 nests of the Penduline Tits of the Genus Reinisa deserve some 

 special notice. In texture the walls of this nursery, both in 

 appearance and to the touch, resemble that of the finest felt 

 carpet, being made of cotton and seed-down. Towards the 

 upper end of the nest is a funnel-shaped opening leading to 

 the chamber, and below this a small pocket which is supposed 

 by some to be a roosting place for the male. On the other 

 hand, according to others, the sitting bird draws in the 

 tubular entrance before going to sleep so that snakes or lizards 

 fumbling about the pocket or false entrance give the alarm, when 

 the bird escapes by pushing a hole through the back of the nest. 



One other example of pendant nests and we must conclude 

 this section : this is furnished by the Tailor-bird {Siitoria 

 longicauda). It is an extraordinary cradle that this creature 

 makes, inasmuch as it draws together the edges of a leaf and 

 holds them in position by stitching them, either by vegetable 

 fibres or threads spun by man— when the nest is built near 

 human habitations. Sometimes two leaves are similarly held. 

 The pocket thus formed is then filled with cotton-down and 

 other vegetable matter and soft material. Just as various 

 stages in the evolution of the highly finished nests of the Hang- 

 nests and Weaver-birds are to be met with, so in the case 

 of the Tailor-bird we find an allied species, the Fan-tailed 

 Warbler {Cisticola cursitans) building a globular nest amid 

 grass stems and binding the free ends together above it. 



