THR BAYA WEAVER. 315 



of that constructive faculty which appears, at this season, to have such 

 a powerful effect on this little bird, and which causes some of them to 

 go on building the long tubular entrance long after the hen is seated 

 on her eggs. 



" I have generally found that the Baya lays only two eggs, which 

 are long, cylindrical, and pure white, but other observers record a larger 

 number. Sundevall states that he found three in one nest. Layard 

 says from two to four; Burgess six to eight; Tickell six to ten. 

 Blyth thinks that four or five is the most usual number. From many 

 observations, I consider two to be the usual number, but have found 

 three occasionally. In those exceptional instances, where six or seven 

 eggs have been found, I imagine they must have been the produce of 

 more than one bird. The Baya is stated not to use the same nest for two 

 years consecutively, and this I can quite understand, without having 

 actually observed it. 



" The Baya is frequently taken when young, tamed, and taught to 

 pick up rings, or such like articles, dropped down a well ; or to snatch 

 the Ticca mark off the forehead of a person pointed out. It is also 

 taught occasionally to carry a note, to a particular place, on a given 

 signal." 



Dr. Jerdon then proceeds to quote Mr. Blyth's account of the 

 many tricks which this bird has been taught to perform, most of which 

 we have seen Canaries performing in the streets of London. He then 

 continues : 



"In an ordinary cage or aviary, they will employ themselves con- 

 stantly, if allowed the chance, in intertwining thread or fibres with the 

 wires of their prison, merely gratifying the constructive propensity, 

 with apparently no further object ; unless, indeed, the sexes are matched, 

 when they breed very readily in captivity ; of course, provided they are 

 allowed sufficient room, as in a spacious aviary." 



Mr. Charles Home, in 1869, published some interesting notes on 

 the nidification of the Baya, which are well worth quoting : 



"This morning (July yth, 1865), as I passed our solitary palm 

 tree (Phoenix dactylifera) in the field, I heard a strange twittering over- 

 head, and, looking up, saw such a pretty sight as I shall never forget. 



" In this tree hung some thirty or forty of the elegantly formed 

 nests, of woven grass, of the Baya bird, so well known to all. The 

 heavy storms of May and June had taken away many and damaged 

 others, so as to render them, as one would think, past repair. Not so 

 thought the birds ; for a party of about sixty had come to set them 

 all in order. 



