233 



multitude of birds nest hanging at the extremity of 

 almost every branch. Many other kinds of birds build 

 in this manner, but the chief of them are of the wood* 

 pecker kind. 



In cultivated countries a great part of the caution 

 b f the feathered tribe, is to hide their nests from the 

 invasion of man. But in the depths of those remote 

 and solitary forests, the little bird having nothing to 

 apprehend from man, is careless how much the nest 

 is exposed to general notice : satisfied if it be ost of 

 the reach of those rapacious creatures that live by 

 robbery, and surprise. If the monkey or the snake 

 can be guarded against, the bird has no other ene- 

 mies to fear : for this purpose, its nest is built upon, 

 the depending points of the most outward branches 

 of a tall tree. On one of those immense trees, is 

 seen the most various assemblage of creatures that 

 can be imagined. The top h inhabited by monkies 

 of some particular tribe, that drive off all others : 

 IOWAT down twine about the trunk numbers of snakes, 

 waiting till some unwary animal comes within their 

 reach, and at the edges of the tree hang these artifu 

 cial nests, inhabited by birds of the meat delightful 

 plumage. 



The nests are usually formed in this manner : 

 when the time of incubation approaches, they fly 

 beautifully about, in quest of a kind of moss, called 

 by the English, old man's b^ard. It is a fibrous sub- 

 stance, not unlike hair, which bears being moulded 

 into any form. This the little wood-pecker first 

 glues by some viscous substance, to the extreme 

 branch of a tree ; then building downward, a nest is 

 formed, that descends 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 

 parts of the tfame substance, which compose the 

 whole. 



Such is the general contrivance of these hanging 

 nests; made by some other birds, with still superior 

 art. A little bird in the Philippine islands, makes 



