THE PIE KIND. 201 



are excluded, and before they leave the nest, they 

 are adorned with a scarlet plumage under the 

 throat, which adds to their beauty. 



In our climate, this bird is contented with such 

 a wainscot habitation as has been described for its 

 young ; but in the warmer regions of Guinea and 

 Brasil, they take a very different method to pro- 

 tect and hatch their nascent progeny. A travel- 

 ler who walks into the forests of those countries, 

 among the first strange objects that excite curio- 

 sity, is struck with the multitude of birds' nests 

 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 woodpecker 

 kind ; and indeed there is not, in the whole his- 

 tory of nature, a more singular instance of the 

 sagacity of those little animals in protecting them- 

 selves against such enemies as they have most oc- 

 casion to fear. In cultivated countries, a great 

 part of the caution of the feathered 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 

 careless how much the nest is exposed to general 

 notice, satisfied if it be out of the reach of those 

 rapacious creatures that live by robbery and sur- 

 prise. If the monkey or the snake can be guard- 

 ed against, the bird has no other enemies to fear : 

 for this purpose, its nest is built upon the depend- 

 ing points of the most outward branches of a tall 

 tree, such as the banana or the plantain. On one 



