SWV BIRDS. 



47 I 



and builder, for it measures not less than from twelve to fourteen 

 inches in diameter; it is entirely formed of clay, and the interior 

 is divided into two compartments by a partition, the outer and inner, 

 the latter being that in which the female lays her eggs. When 

 engaged making this birthplace for their young, the male and female 

 alternately bring small balls of earth, out of which the edifice is 

 constructed, and they labour so industriously that their work is some- 

 times finished in two days. Some species construct their nests on 

 trees, interlacing them with spiny branches, and providing one or 

 many openings j that of the Cinclodes is fifteen inches in diameter 

 by twenty inches in height. 



The Thornbills, of which 

 the Columbian (Rhamphomi- 

 cron hetcropogon, Fig. 190) is 

 best known of the family, are 

 American birds ; their love 

 for saccharine substances has 

 obtained for them their syn- 

 onym. They feed on honey 

 extracted from flowers, and 

 the sap from the sugar-cane, 

 the juice of which they suck 

 through crevices in the stem. 

 Like the Humming - birds, 

 they have the tongue divided 

 into two parts, by which they 

 are enabled to seize insects, 

 which form a part of their diet. 

 They are small in size, and 

 their plumage is brilliantly 

 coloured. Among the Cinny- 

 rid(E we find the Guits-guits, ingenious little creatures, which construct 

 a nest in the form of a horn, which is suspended from the flexible 

 branches of a shrub : in order to protect their young from the attacks 

 of earwigs, the opening is below. 



The Sun Birds (Nectarind] have ,the same partiality for sugar 

 exhibited by the last, justifying their name, which signifies "sugar- 

 eater" in the Malagasy tongue. They are natives of Southern Africa 

 and India, and represent in the Old World the Humming-birds of 

 the New. They are gay and sprightly, and decked in the most 

 brilnant colours. 



The Nuthatches (Sitta europcza, Fig. 191) have the beak straight, 



Fig. 191 The Common Nuthatch. 



