THE CEMENT OF BIRD MASONS 175 



the nest will rest. It then sticks to this some dried 

 grass stems or other fine material, next adds more 

 cobweb, and continues in this manner until the neat 

 little cup-shaped nest is completed. This, as I have 

 already said, is thickly coated exteriorly with cobweb 

 to give it additional strength. 



The sunbirds or honeysuckers make nearly as 

 extensive use of cobweb in nest construction as do the 

 fan-tailed fly-catchers. Loten's honeysucker [Arach- 

 nechthra lotenia) seeks until it finds a large spider's web 

 stretched horizontally across some bush ; it then pro- 

 ceeds to build its nursery in the middle of this. As the 

 material is added the nest grows heavier, and thus 

 depresses the middle of the web until it at last assumes 

 the shape of a V, in the angle of which the mango- 

 shaped nest is situated. The nursery is thus sus- 

 pended from the bush by the four corners of the 

 cobweb. 



A spider's web looks such a flimsy affair that it does 

 not seem possible that it could support a nest peopled 

 by a number of birds. Sometimes the nest derives 

 additional support by being attached to other branches. 

 Moreover, a tiny creature such as a sunbird is almost 

 as light as the proverbial feather. Then cobweb is 

 exceedingly elastic, and, considering its attenuity, 

 is able to support a surprising amount of weight. It 

 occasionally happens that the common garden spider 

 (Epeira diadema) is not able to find a foint d'appui 

 to which it can attach the lower part of its web ; it then 

 utilises a stone (which may be as much as a quarter-inch 

 in each dimension) as a plummet to make the nest 



