THE ORCHARD STARLING. 79 



point downward between two branches. Its great- 

 est diameter was two inches and a half, and gradually 

 diminishing towards the base. It would be difficult 

 to explain the principle upon which such a nest had 

 been built, particularly as three fourths of it appear- 

 ed to be entirely useless and idly made ; for the part 

 which was to contain the eggs, and which was alone 

 indispensable, was not more than three inches from 

 the surface. All the rest of this edifice, which was a 

 tissue closely and laboriously woven of slender 

 threads taken from the bark of certain shrubs, seem- 

 ed to be totally useless. The interior of the nest 

 was not furnished with any sort of soft material, 

 such as down, wool, or hair, but as the female had 

 not laid her eggs when Klaas brought it to me, it is 

 probable that the nest was not quite finished ; a fact 

 indeed proved by the birds being still at work at the 

 time.' 1 * 



Tailor Birds. It seems no less difficult to conceive 

 in what manner a. bird could make its bill perform 

 the office of a needle than that of a weaver's shut- 

 tle ; yet that this is actually done we have unques- 

 tionable evidence, both in the workmanship of the 

 nests of more than one species, and in the ocular 

 testimony of observers who have watched the little 

 mechanics at work. We are, however, more defi- 

 cient in details upon the process of forming nests 

 by sewing, than in the case of most of the other 

 mechanical operations of birds described in this 

 volume, and therefore our notices must be brief. 

 The most perfect of these descriptions is given by 

 Wilson, respecting the nest of the orchard starling 

 (Icterus mutatus), a bird which has created no small 

 confusion among systematic writers, in consequence 

 of the male not arriving at its mature plumage till 

 the third summer, which circumstance has caused 

 it to be mistaken by Buffon and Latham for the fe- 

 male of the Baltimore (Icterus Baltimore). Wilson 

 * Oiseaux d'Afrique, iii., 129. 



