58 A NATUEALISrS WANDERINGS 



nests, which had been Llown down before being properly 

 seemed; or were they, perhaps, abandoned unsuccessful first 

 attempts ? They had the exact shape of tiny key baskets, such 

 as are used by housewives, one end being weighted with a layer 

 of clay. I was also struck by the fact that different indi- 

 viduals had adopted different forms of nests, which, though 

 af>'reeing fundamentally, exhibited considerable variation. 



The bulk of them were of the 

 retort shape, set with a long- 

 necked orifice hanging down- 

 ward, but a considerable number, 

 of the progressionist party per* 

 haps, had inaugurated a new 

 fashion by inverting tlie retort 

 and shortening the neck, giving 

 the doorway an upward and forward entrance, wliich, if more 

 enticing to depredators, may perhaps be less awkward to 

 the owners. I much regret that I have no note as to the 



ABANDONED NEST-FOUNDATIOX. 



position of the day in this new form ; for what was previously 

 the bottom of the nest had become a dome over the bird, while 

 its eggs wore laid in what would correspond in the older pattern 

 with the upper curve of the neck of the retort, so that if my 

 belief is correct that the use of the clay is to retain the nest 

 in its vertical position, it ought to be found occupying a 

 corresponding site in the new structure. It is possible, however, 

 that the deviation from the ancestral pattern may result from 

 an unequal distribution of clay during the laying of the 

 foundation of the nest, causing it to become reversed without 

 diverting the bird's purpose from completing its work as best 

 it could, under the altered conditions. 



One of the bird-cries that early attract attention is 

 the reiterated, unvaried call of the Bell-birds {Megalseminse), 

 poured forth in long stretches from the top of some high 

 tree, where, from their plumage according so well with 

 the varied colours of the vegetation, they can select a perch 

 even in a prominent branch without fear of discovery. I 

 obtained five different species of these birds, which belong to 

 one of the most varied and beautiful-plumaged families, and of 

 which some idea may be obtained by turning over the pages of 

 Marshall's splendid monograph of the group. 



