THE BAYA WEAVER. 311 



Altogether, I have had five males of this species, and at the 

 present time have two fine cock birds in my Weaver-aviary, where I 

 find them rather troublesome, as they seem to take a fancy to newly 

 hatched Canaries for breakfast ; they also take great pleasure in pulling 

 to pieces the nests which the Red-billed Weavers have just completed, 

 and they have too great an appreciation of their own song, an exagger- 

 ation of that of our Corn Bunting, harsh and rasping : nevertheless, 

 they are lively, and their brilliant golden caps and breasts render them 

 very attractive. 



These Weavers should never be associated with weaker birds in a 

 small aviary, or they will infallibly deprive them of their toes, if they 

 do nothing worse ; doubtless it is all play, but the mutilated sufferers 

 can hardly be expected to understand the fun of it. They are more 

 than a match for Saffron Finches, and I believe my want of success in 

 rearing young from the two first nests of these birds in my Weaver 

 aviary, in 1894, was due to the presence of these Weavers, for I noticed 

 one of them showing the liveliest interest in the contents of the nest- 

 box occupied by the Finches. Java Sparrows, however, seem to be able 

 to hold their own against them.* 



The wild life of the Baya Weaver has been very fully described, as 

 might be expected in the case of such an abundant and widely distributed 

 Indian species : it would occupy too much space to repeat all that has 

 been published respecting it, but the following may be quoted : 



Sundevall says : " The ' Bayas ' are very common about Calcutta 

 after April, when they begin to build their nests : before April they 

 were not observed. The nests are skilfully suspended under the 

 enormous leaves of the common palm-tree (Borassus flabelliformis) , 

 Some are of compact coarse hay, and have the appearance of a purse, 

 being thirteen to fourteen inches long, and seven broad in the lower 

 part, growing smaller upwards to the breadth of two inches, and 

 externally smooth ; but they are in a great part solid, so that only the 

 lowest extremity has a small spherical cavity of five inches diameter, 

 with a pendant cylindrical (tube ?) at the side. The nest is built from 

 above ; so that the cavity is made the last. When it is half-made, so 

 that the bottom is wanting, a transverse wall is made ; and the structure 

 has consequently two holes in the lower part, one for the nest, the other 

 for the entrance : these are afterwards completed, each by themselves. 

 The males were supposed to be chiefly occupied in collecting materials ; 

 and this seemed the most probable. I shot down, from a half-finished 

 nest, what I supposed to be a female. Two or three nests are often 



* M\ third nest of Saffron I'inches was successfully reared. A.G.B. 



