THE ARISTOCRACY OF THE CREST 111 



varies the practice of passing the fibres to the 

 female by stitching them in himself. Probably only 

 the more delicate worker attends to the weaving and 

 binding of the web-like substance on the outside of 

 the nest. Around the rim this is managed by the 

 bird sitting in the nest that its breast is modelling, 

 and drawing its bill gently upwards a pretty prac- 

 tice that the Shrike-Tit has in common with the 

 Fly-catchers, and some other birds which build soft, 

 open nests. 



In noting these nesting arrangements I had not 

 only the one pair of birds to rely on; for the ex- 

 perience gained with them helped in the locating of 

 several other nests, and by mid-November I had 

 listed seven of these dainty dwellings. None was 

 situated lower than 25 feet, and some few swayed 

 at the tops of trees 50 feet in height. Of necessity, 

 they had to be very deep to ensure the safety of the 

 eggs or young, and even then, when the winds blew, 

 how the cradles did rock! In some instances only 

 the tip of the brooding bird's tail could be seen ; in- 

 deed, it was a puzzle how she (or he) reached the 

 eggs at all. Almost invariably some of the leaves 

 above the nest were nipped off by the birds. Why? 

 A school class to whom I showed one such nest sug- 

 gested that it was to lessen the swaying of the 

 branchlets a logical assumption. At times, too, 

 the vertical branch to which the nest was fastened 

 it is never suspended was cleaned of its bark in 

 proximity to the pretty home, for what reason it is 

 not easy to suggest. 



But the most remarkable feature in connection 

 with the nests came under notice when a few of the 



