GUITGUnS. 



73 



insects and honied juices, which they are able to extract by 

 means of their tongue. Their nests are suspended from the ends 

 of slender branches, and are sometimes in the form of a lengthened 

 pear or chemist's retort, terminated by a long tube that bends 

 towards the ground. This beautiful nest is composed of dried 

 grass and slender fibres. Other birds belonging to this sub-family 

 build their nests after a different fashion, but with the same 

 admirable skill in their construction. The Ccrthiola, for example, 

 suspends its nest from the ends of the flexible branches of trees 

 that hang over the middle of a stream. The nest is in the form 



Fig. 36. — The Black and Blue Guit-guit (Ccct-eba. cyaiiea). 



of an ostrich's e.gg, composed of dried moss and dried grass ex- 

 teriorly, but lined internally with cotton and the down of plants. 

 The entrance is on the under side, which faces the water ; and 

 the interior is divided into two compartments, one of which forms 

 a sort of antechamber leading to the larger division, wherein the 

 female deposits her eggs, which arc thus securely protected from 

 the attacks of snakes and other destroyers. 



The type of this sub-family is — 



The Black and Blue Gmt-gmt {Ctvreba cyanea), so called from its fea- 

 thers being deeply and gorgeously dyed with azure, verditer, and velvet black, 

 arranged in bold and striking contrast. This beautifully coloured species is 



