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I was assured that the original soda-water wire 

 nest was built in Madras, and certain it is that such 

 a nest was constructed in Madras long ago. Not 

 being an antiquary I am unable to give an opinion 

 as to which city has the right to claim the invention. 

 But the Madras crows can afford to do without it. 



To use the words which occur so often in native 

 papers, '' a valued correspondent " informed me that 

 a pair of Madras crows constructed a nest out of 

 bits of tin taken from the Tin Bazaar. Another 

 gentleman wrote to say that his father once took 

 out of a Palmyra tree at Pallavaram a nest made 

 of brandy-bottle wires. This, as the Madras Mail 

 sagely remarked, says much for the sagacity of the 

 local crow, but more for the consumption of brandy 

 at Pallavaram. 



But we must return to the normal nest and its 

 method of construction. This is an untidy mass of 

 twigs piled together in the angle of a forked branch. 



Both birds collect material for the nest, but the 

 husband appears to take no part in the actual building. 

 He merely helps in the gathering of sticks. The 

 male and female keep close company while nest-build- 



