70 



THE ARCHITECTURE OF BIRDS. 



performs the office of incubation ; another, consist- 

 ing of a little thatched roof and covering a perch, 

 without a bottom, is occupied by the male, who, with 

 his chirping note, cheers the female during her ma- 

 ternal duties." 



Nest of the Baya. 



The sociable grosbeak (Loxia soda) seems to ex- 

 cel both the preceding species in the extent, if not 

 in the skill, of its workmanship. " I observed," says 

 Vaillant, " on the way a tree with an enormous nest 

 of those birds to which I have given the appellation 



