BIRDS. 



569- 



Fig. 469. — Black-throated green warbler (Dendrwca virens). 



While watching in this way there comes a sudden flash of red through 

 the bushes, and one of our most beautiful birds, the scarlet tanager, appears 

 on the scene, lights 

 upon a branch, and 

 shows you plainly 

 his scarlet plumage 

 and his velvety 

 black wings and 

 tail. Notice him 

 well ; for he is one 

 of our five represen- 

 tatives of a group 

 numbering nearly 

 three hundred and 

 fifty species, mostly 

 centred in the for- 

 ests of South Amer- 

 ica, where forms occur which rival the humming-birds and parrots in their 

 splendor. None of the group are remarkable as songsters, our scarlet 

 species having a song much like that of the robins. 



The weaver-birds, two hundred and fifty in number, all belong to the 

 warmer regions of the Old World, the great majority being African. All 

 are remarkable for their peculiar nests of woven straw. Some of these 

 structures are shaped like the retort of the chemist, the entrance being 

 through the long neck. At this portion, which hangs downward, the 

 texture is much weaker, so that any snake or monkey attempting to enter 

 through it will be sure to tumble. Some of these nests are hung from 

 high trees, while others, as in the following quotation from Mr. Forbes, 

 are placed in more humble positions. His description relates to a Javanese 

 species : — 



" In a neighboring clump of canes a colony of yellow weaver-birds had 

 thickly hung their nests. Each nest was artfully suspended between the 

 interlacing leaf-stems of one or two reeds in the most skilful way, to secure 

 as much as possible the safety of their eggs, during the waving of the reeds 

 in the wind. These nests were not strung fast to, but strung lightly on, 

 the leaves, sometimes passed through the fork of another leaf, to form a 

 pulley, so as to permit, by sliding along in the swaying of the grass, of 

 their retaining a vertical position, which they must do, weighted as they 

 are by a layer of clay in the bottom of the nests. ... I was also struck 

 by the fact that different individuals had adopted different forms of nests, 

 which, though agreeing fundamentally, exhibited considerable variation. 



