THE PIE KIND 



the chief of them are of the woodpecker kind; 

 and indeed there is not, in the whole history 

 of nature, a more singular instance of the 

 sagacity of those little animals in protecting 

 themselves against such enemies as they have 

 most occasion to fear. In cultivated coun- 

 tries, a great part of the caution of the fea- 

 thered tribe is to hide or defend their nests 

 from the invasions of man ; as he is their most 

 dreaded enemy. But in the depth of those 

 remote and solitary forests, where man is but 

 seldom seen, the little bird has nothing to 

 apprehend from man. The parent is care- 

 less ho\f much the nest is exposed to general 

 notice ; satisfied if it be out of the reach of 

 those rapacious creatures that live by rob- 

 bery and surprise. If the monkey or the 

 snake can be guarded against, the bird has 

 no other enemies to fear ; for this purpose its 

 nest is built upon the depending points of the 

 most outward branches of a tall tree, such as 

 the banana, or the plantain. On otie of those 

 immense trees, is seen the most various and 

 the most inimical assemblage of creatures 

 that can be imagined. The top is inhabited 

 by monkeys of some particular tribe, that 

 drive off all others; lower down twine about 

 the great trunk numbers of the larger snakes, 

 patiently waiting till some unwary animal ' 

 comes within the sphere of their activity, 

 and at the edges of the tree hang these 

 artificial nests, in great abundance, inhabited 

 by birds of the most delightful plumage. 



The nest is usually formed in this manner: 

 when the time of incubation approaches, they 

 fly busily about, in quest of a kind of moss, 

 called by the English inhabitants of those 



This bird constructs a curious nest with the long fibres 

 of plants andj grass, and suspends it by a kind of cord, 

 nearly half an ell loner, from the end of a slender branch 

 of a tree, that it may be inaccessible to snakes, and secure 

 fro ' n the intrusion of the numerous monkeys which inhabit 

 those regions. At the end of this cord, is a gourd-shaped 



countries, old man's beard. It is a fibrous sub- 

 stance, and not very unlike hair, which bears 

 being moulded into any form, and suffers be- 

 ing glued together. This therefore the little 

 woodpecker, called by the natives of Brasil, 

 the guiratemga, first glues, by some viscous 

 substance gathered in the forest, to the ex- 

 tremest branch of a tree; then building down- 

 ward, and still adding fresh materials to those 

 already procured, a nest is formed, that de- 

 pends, like a pouch, from the point of the 

 branch : the hole to enter at, is on the side ; 

 and all the interior parts are lined with the 

 finer fibres of the same substance, which com- 

 pose the whole. 



Such is the general contrivance of these 

 hanging nests ; which are made, by some 

 other birds, with still superior art. A little 

 bird of the Grosbeak kind, in the Philippine 

 islands, makes its nest in such a manner that 

 there is no opening but from the bottom. At 

 the bottom the bird enters, and goes up 

 through a funnel like a cliimney, till it conies 

 to the real door of the nest, which lies on one 

 side, and only opens into this funnel.' 



Some birds glue their nest to the leaf of 

 the banana-tree, which makes two sides of 

 their little habitation ; while the other two 

 are artificially composed by their own indus- 

 try. But these, and all of the kind, are built 

 with the same precautions to guard the young 

 against the depredations of monkeys and 

 serpents, which abound in every tree. The 

 nest hangs there before the spoilers, a tempt- 

 ing object, which they can only gaze upon, 

 while the bird flies in and out, without danger 

 or molestation from so formidable a vicinity. 



nest, divided into three apartments; the first of which is 

 occupied by the male, the second by the female, and the 

 third contains the young; and in the first apartment, where 

 the male keeps watch, is placed on one side a little tough 

 clay, and on the top of this clay is fixed a glow-worm, to 

 afford its inhabitants light in the night. 



