140 THE STORY OF BIRD-LIFE. 



the spawning-beds to feed on the ova of the 

 salmon and tiout, while examination of its 

 gizzard proves it to be one of the best guardians 

 of the fishery." Alas! another victim to be added 

 to the already long list of slaughtered innocents. 



So far, the nests we have considered, when 

 built above the ground, have all rested upon 

 some support, and have been more or less 

 cup-shaped ; or have been formed of sticks into a 

 platform more or less hollowed in the middle. 

 That of the dipper was an exception, being 

 domed, concerning which form more has to be 

 said. We come now to pensile nests, nests 

 slung or suspended beneath instead of above the 

 bough, or other support, and will take a glance 

 at one or two of the more important. 



The first, and one of the most wonderful of 

 them is that of the tailor-bird. Choosing two 

 long leaves at the end of a twig, it bores a series 

 of holes down the outer side of each, then with 

 some long thread of vegetable fibre proceeds to 

 seam the two leaves together by passing the 

 thread through and through with its beak, much as 

 we should do with a needle. In this, it is probably 

 assisted by its mate who would look from the 

 inside and push out the threads as they came 

 through. The cavity of the nest is lined wilh a 

 kind of cotton-wool, and in this are deposited the 

 eggs. 



The smallest of our British birds, the golden- 

 crested wren, builds a most elegant pensile but 

 cup-shaped nest. It is built of the " softest 

 moss, thickly felted with wool and spiders' webs, 

 intermixed with a few grasses and dead leaves, 



