322 Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker on the 



38. Pnoepyga pusilla. [Oates, op. cit. i. p. 343.) 



This little Wren constructs two types of nests, very dif- 

 ferent from one another in character, so much so that one 

 would almost imagine them to be built by birds of different 

 species. Perhaps the most common position selected is one 

 on the trunk of some tree which is covered with long pen- 

 dent moss, and during April and May, 1895, I took several 

 nests from such places, a description of any one of which 

 would do almost equally well for all the rest. 



Wandering along a road cut through heavy, evergreen 

 forest, the trees on either side covered -with most luxuriant 

 growth of all kinds, I was attracted by the unusual heaviness 

 and length of the brilliant green moss which covered the 

 whole surface of the trunk of a large tree that grew beside 

 and hung over the path. Going closer to examine it, I saw 

 a small bird fly from out of the moss at about the level of 

 my head, and, putting in my fingers whence it had flown, I 

 discovered a nest and three eggs. 



The first work of the bird seems to be to attach some of 

 the loose, lower ends of the moss to small, rough projections 

 in the bark of the tree, so as to form a rough loop beside it. 

 It then works more and more moss into the loop — not tearing 

 it from the tree, but using it as it grows — until it has a firm 

 basis to work on. As soon as this is obtained it collects 

 quantities of the fine black roots of the same kind of moss 

 and works these in with the lining- material already used, so 

 that finally it has a beautiful little pad securely fastened 

 inside the living green moss on the tree. The depression in 

 the pad for the eggs to lie in is rather shallow, about half 

 an inch, while it may be aboat 2" across. Externally, of 

 course, the size depends much on the luxuriance of the moss 

 in which it is placed, but the comparatively solid base is 

 generally somewhere between 2^ and 3 inches in diameter, its 

 depth seldom exceeding an inch, and often being considerably 

 less. No artificial entrance is required, as the birds can 

 easily slip in and out between the tree and the moss. 



Most nests which I have found built thus, against the 

 sides of trees, have not been very low down on them ; most 



