160 Wonders of the Bird World 



the colour of the eggs might have been expected. Thus in 

 many Families the variation in the form and position of 

 the nests and in the colour of the egg is extreme. The 

 Crows (Corvidce) mostly build a nest in the open, but the 

 Jackdaws (Colceus) build their nests in holes. In the Birds 

 of Paradise and the Bovver-birds the eggs are characteristic 

 and the nest does not vary in structure, and the same may 

 be said of the typical Starlings, the Tree-Starlings, the 

 Drongos, and the Orioles. In the Hang-nests (IcUridcf)^ 

 however, we meet with purse-like nests in the typical 

 genera, while in some of the ground-living species the nest 

 is placed on the ground, and the Cow-birds (Molotkrus) are 

 parasitic and make no nest of their own. Weaver-birds 

 (Ploceida) may be said to have a typical form of nest, 

 though it is placed in a variety of situations, but in the 

 Tanagers again great variation in the nesting-site takes 

 place, nor is there absolute uniformity in this respect in the 

 Finches. Larks, Wagtails, and Pipits are mostly ground- 

 nesters, and the colour of their eggs is characteristic, and a 

 certain type of nest and eggs is kept up throughout the 

 American Warblers, Creepers, Honey-suckers, Sun-birds, 

 and Flower-peckers, as well as the White-eyes, and the 

 majority of the Tits ; but in the latter family we find the 

 aberrant nests of the Long-tailed Tits {^Eg-ithalus} and the 

 Penduline Tits (Remizd). Nuthatches seem to have much 

 the same nesting habits wherever they are found, and the 

 same may be said of Gold-crests, Shrikes, Swallow- 

 Shrikes, Wax-wings, and Greenlets ; but when we come to 

 the Warblers and Thrushes there is great variation in the 

 form and position of the nest, as well as in the colour of the 

 eggs. Here, however, arises the question as to whether all 

 the birds which we associate with the Sylviidce and 

 Turdidce really belong to those Families. Uniformity in 

 nesting habits is the rule among the Wrens and Mocking- 

 birds, but in the Babbling-Thrushes (Timeliidce) great 

 variation in this respect obtains, though here again the 



