BEE-EATERS, ROLLERS, AND DRONGOS 153 



April to July. The nests are shallow saucers of 

 dried grass, casuarina-needles, or other fibrous 

 materials, bound together by strands of spiders' 

 web, and of such loose texture that in many cases 

 the sky and the eggs can be distinctly seen through 

 the floor from beneath. They are generally placed 

 high above the ground at a point where a horizontal 

 bough forks so as to afford a conveniently broad 

 foundation, and are often anchored by strands of 

 spiders' web, passed round the smaller branches. 

 Owing to their small size and flattened outline they 

 are very inconspicuous objects, even when in trees, 

 like the teak, that are leafless during the greater part 

 of the time during which they are occupied ; in fact, 

 at a little distance they so closely resemble knots or 

 irregularities of the bark that their true nature is 

 often first detected by the peculiar appearance 

 presented by the long, forked tail of the sitting bird 

 projecting over the edge. When the tree contains 

 nests belonging to other kinds of birds, their owners 

 are usually tolerated and allowed to come and go in 

 peace, except when the king-crows happen to be 

 overflowing with nervous excitement evoked by the 

 stimulus of passing strangers, and only imperfectly 

 expanded in assaults upon them. In this case the 

 surplus may have to be worked off at the expense 

 of their neighbours. Should a pair of specially 

 offensive birds, however, set up house-keeping in a 

 tree close by, they have a very poor time of it, and 



