140 JUNGLE FOLK 



other of ascending white-eyes. These might have 

 been Httle fluffy, golden balls with which some unseen 

 person was playing. 



When the heat of the day is at its zenith, white-eyes, 

 like most birds in India, enjoy a siesta. At this hour 

 Uttle gatherings of them may be seen, each bird huddled 

 against its neighbours on some bough of a leafy tree. 



At the nesting season the white-eye sings most 

 sweetly. The ordinary cheeping note then becomes 

 glorified into something resembling the lay of the 

 canary ; less powerful, but equally pleasing to the ear. 



The nest of the white-eye is a neat little cup, or, 

 as Mr. A. Anderson' describes it, a hollow hemisphere. 

 It is a miniature of the oriole's nursery. It is large 

 for the size of the bird, being usually over two inches 

 in diameter. Some nests are fully two inches deep, 

 while others are quite shallow. It is composed of fine 

 fibres (i.e. grass stems, slender roots, moss, and seed 

 down) and cotton, bound together by cobweb, which 

 is the cement most commonly used by bird masons. 

 The nursery is invariably provided with a hning. 

 In one nest that I found, this lining consisted of human 

 hair. Other hning materials are silky down, hair-hke 

 moss and fern-roots, and grass fibres so fine that the 

 horsehairs which are sometimes utihsed look quite 

 coarse beside them. The most wonderful thing about 

 the nest of this pretty httle bird is the manner in which 

 it is attached to its supports. I have called it a minia- 

 ture of the oriole's nursery, because it is usually sus- 

 pended from two or more branches by cotton fibres. 

 I once came upon a nest which was attached to but 



