98 MATESHIP WITH BIRDS 



need for the smaller birds to use measures to pro- 

 tect their eggs and young in the struggle for 

 existence. 



It may be that not very long ago our friend 

 the Yellow-tuft built its home in the fork of a 

 tree. At present the bird "balances" curiously 

 between the suspended and the supported types of 

 nest. As a general rule its nest is pensile, situated 

 in bushes from two to ten feet high. Very often, 

 however, it chooses a situation where the hanging 

 cradle will have support from below. Sometimes it 

 nests right down in tussocks, or adopts protective 

 coloration by nesting in dry bushes; and, again, I 

 have known an instance in which a curious fancy, 

 rather than circumstance, apparently threw a pair 

 of these birds back to the habits of their ancestors. 

 There were quite a lot of suitable trees in the 

 neighborhood, but these Yellow-tufts chose 

 deliberately to set aside the "rule" of the species in 

 respect of fibres and a swaying branch, and reverted 

 to bark-threads and the leaf-crowned fork of a 

 sapling. 



Such a definite departure as that is rare indeed, 

 but there are numbers of instances wherein 

 the Yellow-tufts have been known to build what 

 a small boy called "fancy" nests. This species 

 is, in fact, the Autolycus of the bird world con- 

 firmed "snapper-up of unconsidered trifles" and 

 the nests are often found to be reinforced with all 

 manner of small, soft articles, from bits of sack-bag 

 to the dried heads of flowers. One nest I knew was 

 almost wholly built of feathers from a neighboring 



