NESTON 



instinct is common to a large part 

 of tin- .mi nuil \M'i lil. Am.'iin mam- 

 mals most of tin- rodents con>tiu. t 

 neata or IIUIMHU cliniiiliiTs, those 

 of inii-i- l)cing familiar, and many 

 of the insectivores have the same 

 hiiliit. Many fishes, e.g. the com- 

 m..ri Htickleback, build nests. 

 Among the insect* bees, wasp*, and 

 .mi- construct elaborate nests in 

 which to rein- their larvae, and 

 mimy spiders make nests of silk, in 

 which the eggs are deposited and 

 th' young kept for a time. 



Nest building has attained its 

 highest development among the 

 In 1 1 IN as a class, culminating in 

 the wonderful constructions of the 

 weaver birds and tailor birds. In 

 the case of some of the gregarious 

 birds, a huge structure is built 

 which contains the individual nests 

 of many pairs. 



Generally the most elaborate 

 nests are made by those species 

 whose young are most helpless in 

 the earlier stages of life. Where, 

 as in the game birds, the young 

 are able to run about and pick up 

 food soon after being hatched, the 

 nest is almost always on the 

 ground, and is of very simple con- 

 struction. Birds, such as the 

 finches, which have many enemies, 

 take the most pains to conceal 

 their young, either by placing the 

 nest in an inaccessible place, or by 

 covering the outside with lichens 

 or other material to match its sur- 

 roundings. See Bird ; Cassiques. 



Neston. Dist. of Cheshire, 

 part of the urban dist. of Neston 

 and Parkgate. It stands on the 

 estuary of the Dee, 12 m. from 

 Chester, and is served by the G.C. 

 Rly. and the joint line of the G.W. 

 and L. & N.W. Rlys. The old 

 church of S. Mary has some inter- 

 esting memorials. Coal is mined in 

 the neighbourhood. Pop. 4,600. 



Nestor. In Greek legend, king 

 of Pylos, who in spite of his years 

 took part in the Trojan War, in 

 which his counsel was highly 

 valued. As a young man, he had 

 taken part in several adventures, 

 including the expedition of the 

 Argonauts and the hunt for the 

 Calydonian boar. He was one of 

 the few Greek leaders to reach 

 home safely after the fall of 

 Troy. See Troy. 



Nestorianism. Christian heresy 

 which caused the Council of 

 Ephesus in 431 formally to define 

 the dual nature of Christ. It is 

 named after Nestorius, conse- 

 crated bishop of Constantinople 

 in 428, who, if he did not originate, 

 formulated in somewhat hazy 

 language the doctrine that the 

 B.V.M. could not be called Theo- 

 tokos, Mother of God, because not 

 God, but only the temple in which 



5683 



God dwelt, was born of Mary. In 

 ..th. i- words, he appears to have 

 believed that in Jesus Christ then: 

 were two Persons and two Natures, 

 that Christ's humanity was but 

 the temple of His divinity, and 

 that God the Son did not endure 

 hum. m suffering or go through 

 iimii.in experiences. Nestorius was 

 deposed, excommunicated, and 

 banished to Egypt, where he died 

 in 435. The heresy spread to 

 Syria. iVrsia, India, Central Asia, 

 and China, and communities in 

 Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, and Mala- 

 bar, India, preserve the name but 

 not the heresy. See Eutyches ; 

 Monophysite ; Theodore ; consult 

 also Nestorians and their Rituals, 

 G. P. Badger, 1852 ; Lesser Eastern 

 Churches, A. Fortescue, 1013. 



Net. Openwork fabric of cord 

 or thread knotted at each intersec- 

 tion. The making of nets is one of 



Net-ball Try for a goal, the ball 

 bouncing from rim of net 



the oldest and most wide-spread 

 arts. Remains and paintings have 

 been found of nets used oy the 

 Swiss lake-dwellers and the ancient 

 Egyptians. The Chinese make very 

 fine nets of silk, and the Eski- 

 mos use the sinews and strips of the 

 skin of seals for making nets. Nets 

 are used for catching fish and birds, 

 for protecting fruit, for bags, in 

 many games, etc. Fishing nets 

 were formerly made of hemp, but 

 are now largely made of cotton by 

 machinery. The principal types of 

 fishing nets are the seine, which is 

 thrown from a boat and drawn 

 back to the boat or to shore ; the 

 trawl, which is towed from a boat ; 

 the drift net, which drifts with the 



NET-BALL 



md the moored net, which is 

 stationary. Wire netting is com- 

 monly used for the protection of 

 garden produce from rabbiU, etc., 

 to fence in poultry and other 

 domestic animals. For the net used 

 in lace-making, tee Lace. 



During the Great War wire net* 

 were used as anti-submarine de- 

 fences at British, French, and 

 Italian naval bases and harbours. 

 A large establishment was organ- 

 ized at Shotley, near Harwich, for 

 their production, at which 597 miles 

 of nets, a dead weight of 105,150 

 tons, were turned out by naval 

 labour. See Marine Biological 

 Research; Submarine. 



Net-ball. Outdoor or indoor 

 pastime. Although generally 

 played by women, net- ball may be 

 played by either sex or by mixed 

 sides. The ground, similar in 

 shape to a hockey pitch, usually 

 measures 100 ft. in length by 50 ft. 

 in breadth, but may be varied 

 according to the number of partici- 

 pants on either side, generally 

 seven. Around the goals, which 

 are fixed in the centre of the end 

 lines, a semi -circle 16 ft. in radius, 

 called the shooting circle, is drawn, 

 and in the centre of the field a 

 circle 4 ft. in diameter is marked, 

 while the playing pitch is divided 

 into three courts of equal size by 

 lines drawn transversely to connect 

 with side lines. 



The goals are single upright 

 posts, each fitted with an iron ring 

 15 ins. in diameter, placed horizont- 

 ally 10 ft. above the ground and 

 projecting 6 ins. from the post. 

 Attached to the ring is a net, open 

 at the bottom, through which the 

 ball has to be passed to score a 

 goal. The ball is an ordinary 

 Association football, 27 ins. to 

 28 ins. in circumference. 



The opposing teams at the start 

 of the game, which is played in 

 two periods each of 15 minutes' 

 du ration, unless otherwise arranged, 

 line up in the field, the respective 

 positions being goal-scorer, attack, 

 attacking centre, centre, defending 

 centre, defence, and goal-keeper. 



The game is begun by one of the 

 two umpires, each of whom con- 

 trols hall the playing field, bounc- 

 ing the ball in the centre circle, 

 while the opposing centres stand 

 outside the circle with their backs 

 to the side lines. It proceeds 

 when one of the centres succeeds in 

 catching the ball, which is then 

 batted or thrown from one player 

 to another, until it is received by 

 one standing within the shooting 

 circle, who then attempts to throw 

 or bat it into the net. 



Infringements of the rules, such 

 as offside, two players of one side 

 holding the ball at the same time 



