Tut: MADAGASCAR WEAVER. 307 



wings ; then, hopping in front of it upon a branch, bending the body 

 over backwards, immediately afterwards pursuing it in its flight, lastly 

 climbing to an elevation, he hissed out to it his comical song. 



" The very moment that this brood was fairly started, the male 

 busied himself in building a new nest, and when both the nearly fledged 

 young had come to grief through an accident, the female, two days 

 later, began busily to carry material into the latter also. She collected, 

 more especially, long fibres of flax-silk and vegetable wool, in order, as 

 I supposed, to line the nest-cavity therewith. This supposition, how- 

 ever, was not correct. Two days later the first egg appeared in the 

 nest and, in the intervals between each day and the other, one egg 

 was laid. The female incubated splendidly, it was not fed, but merely 

 guarded by the male. The latter now developed a scarcely credible 

 liveliness and activity ; no inhabitant of the bird-room was left un- 

 scathed, and, with the exception of the larger parrots and doves, they 

 were collectively hunted and domineered over, so that even the 

 obstinate Ribbon Finch was compelled to leave its nest with four eggs 

 in the lurch. At this time absolutely no other brood prospered. 



" The nest has the form of a retort with the tube cut off, yet the 

 upper roof stands somewhat over it, whilst the front of the lower wall 

 hangs deep down, so that, moreover, the entrance leads up to it from 

 below. The building is mainly woven of agave fibres, between which 

 also threads of sacking, horse-hair, very thin paper and strips of bast, 

 and also fresh blades of grass, are plaited in, moreover, in addition, 

 here and there, little tufts of flax, silk, and cotton wool ; the cavity, 

 however, in which the eggs lie, is only constructed of agave-fibres, and 

 contains no softer lining. The nest thus forms an airy, almost entirely 

 transparent, but very firmly woven purse, about ten centimetres high, 

 and six centimetres in diameter, with quite a short lateral drooping 

 flight-passage. The laying consists of from three to six eggs. Average 

 duration of incubation fifteen days. Nestling down dark brownish." 



Dr. Russ, furthermore, observes that when the young have grown 

 up, the male assists in feeding them. On the third day, after leaving 

 the nest, they are tolerably strong on the wing and able to follow their 

 parents about. As a rule, three broods are reared in a year ; sometimes 

 as many as four, and at least two, provided that the pair is not 

 molested. 



Illustration from a living male and a skin in the author's collection. 



