Birds of the Indian Hills 



a man's wrist, and then continued its horizontal 

 direction, greatly diminished in size. 



The four upwardly-directed branches took 

 various directions, each being considerably 

 twisted, and one actually curling round its 

 neighbour. At the junction of the various 

 branches lay the nest, resting on the flat surface, 

 much as a large, shallow pill-box might rest 

 in the half-closed palm of the hand of a man 

 whose fingers were rugged and twisted with 

 years of hard toil. 



The upper part of the trunk was covered 

 by a thick growth of green moss, and from it 

 two or three ferns sprang. 



As the exterior of the nest consisted entirely 

 of green moss, it blended perfectly with its 

 surroundings. From below it could not pos- 

 sibly have been seen. When I caught sight 

 of it I was standing above it at the top of 

 the ravine, and even then I should probably 

 have missed seeing it, had not that ray of 

 sunlight fallen on the nest and imparted a 

 golden tint to the fawn-coloured plumage of 

 the nestlings which almost completely filled 

 the nest cup. 



The situation of this nest may be said to be 



typical, although cases are on record of the 

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