CHAPTER VIII 



WONDERFUL NESTS 



Weaver-birds' Nests in Liberia (after BSttikofer). 



Stick-nest Builders Hammer-heads Fire-wood Gatherers Moss- 

 nest Builders Felt-nest Builders Penduline Tits Rock 

 Warblers Purse-nest Builders Weaver-birds Grass-Warblers 

 Humming-birds as Engineers Sun-birds Salvin's Swift- 

 Assemblages of Albatrosses and Terns. 



No bird makes a more extraordinary nest than the 

 Hammer-head (Scopus umbretta), a kind of Stork of a 

 sober brown colour found in Africa, Arabia, and Mada- 

 gascar. It has a compressed bill, terminating in a hook, 

 and its nearest ally in the Class Aves is the peculiar Shoe- 

 bill (Bal&niceps rex) already described (p. 38). It makes a 

 nest of sticks in a tree, or more frequently on a rock ; and 

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