Sept. 11, 1885.] 



KNOW^LEDGE 



mighty ocean. :. 

 Ihe wisest of u> ( 

 opinions of tlic el 



re BO with the 

 ?r of the pond ; 

 monkeya. We 

 , though there 

 jurhood. The 



ON THE INDIAN WEAVER BIRD. 



[19l.'I] — Among the many marvels exhibited out here by nature 

 with a hberal hand, none, I think, can approach the pendulous 

 nest of the Indian weaver, or, as it is more familiarly known, the 

 Baiya-bird. It is a finch, and its African cousins are known as 

 sociable gross-beaks, and are famous for their aggregate straw- 

 uests. Our baiya is facile j^rinreps among bii-d architects, inas- 

 much as it virtually launches its frail pendulous neat from nothing 

 into nothing. 



All other birds have a foundation of some sort or other to com- 

 mence from, and their nests, more or less, rest upon, and are sup- 

 ported by such foundation, bat this bold and unique architect, 

 starting, say, from a straw in the the thatch of your bungalow, 

 or from the spiny end of the pinnule of a date-palm, or from the 

 thorn of a mimosa, launches forth its wondrous structure to the 

 fostering care of the atmosphere, being well aware that it will for 

 ever know but little rest. 



Careless alike of zephyr or gale, just moving under the kiss of 

 the former, or agitated by the blast of the latter, the brave little 

 iiirds resolutely carry on their building and nesting operations. 



Why do they affect pendulous nests ? When I was at the Cape 

 many years ago, one of our boyish haunts was a large oval willow- 

 fringed pond, each tree of which was hung with the waving 

 pendulous nests of the weaver birds. 



We were greatly impressed with them, and i 

 reason assigned for them by Herr Jurgens, the ov 

 the nests were pendulous to keep off snakes an 

 were obliged to be satisfied with this explauati 

 were neither snakes nor monkeys in the neigl 

 reason is equally difficult out here ; for neither snakes 

 could possibly reach the nests. The work of construction, 

 onongh to the little architect, is one of great magnitude to the 

 observer, and at times difficult to follow, even under the closest 

 observation ; for it must be borne in mind the little bird works 

 downwards literally from nothing. 



Note that straw projecting from the thatch of yonr verandah, 

 for a golden-headed cock baiya has spotted it too. Perhaps you 

 had wondered what all the ohatteration in the adjoining neam-tree 

 was about. But you did not for a moment dream that a colony of 

 weaver birds was going to monopolise your verandah. But so it is ; 

 and presently you see a weaver hovering around that straw with 

 a long streamer of green grass in its beak; and, while yon look, in 

 some marvellous manner, one end of the grass ribbon is fastened to 

 the straw, how, you can't say, for the process is so rapid. After 

 that it is hopeless to attempt to follow the marvellous downward 

 progress of the little architect, but you see the fairy fabric steadily 

 lengthening downwards towards completion. 



The only two points you can fi.x are — at first, the little bird 

 weaver on the wing ; then, when it has a footing, it works down- 

 wards, clinging to the apex of its nest. 



Baiyas almost always build from the date-palm (P^icEniaj Dae- 

 lijUJera), or from the babul (Acacia Arabica) ; and, what is very 

 furious, they prefer the neighbourhood of railways, and each 

 season they build fresh nests in fresh localities. 



There has been much fanciful writing about these nests, some 

 writers describing the basket-shaped nest of the male, in which he 

 perches and surveys approvingly the work of the colony. This is 

 simply an unfinished and abandoned nest. There is another fable 

 which has eiiually no existence, that of the firefiy stuck in to 

 illuminate the nest. 



The only real story lies in the fact that some of them weight 

 their nests with mud ; but this is the exception and not the rule. 

 When the mud docs exist, it is found on the little ridge between 

 the bowl of the nest and the tube of exit. 



Wonderful as an architect, this little bird is equally wonderful as 

 a comic actor of the highest ordei'. So docile is it, and so apt to 

 leara, that it may be taught anything. 



Native women wear little discs of coloured and gilded glass on 

 their foreheads. A lover will tell his baiya to bring him the disc 

 from his lady's brow, and the command is at once obeyed. Or he 

 will bid it take a cardamom to her lips, with eqnal success. 



A silver two-nuna bit may be dropped into a well, and, arrested 

 in its flight by the baiya, bo brought back to the hand of its owner. 



But tliese are comparatively minor performances. Let us attend 

 to this man, who presents himself with a troupe of performing 

 baiyas, all of whom are prevented from flying away by a soft 



tliifud passed round their loins. Making his salaam, he asks 

 -I mission to exhibit ; that accorded, he commences his patter : — 



\ Sepoy has deserted to the enemy, has subsequently been 

 . jptured, and is now before them. He is to be tried by conrt- 

 iiiailial, and, if convicted, is to be blown from a gun. The traitor 

 is placed on the ground, and takes up a dejected position ; the 

 court is also deposited, and at once commences chattering. Pre- 

 sently an ominous silence ensues, during which a little cannon, a 

 ramrod, and a pellet of gunpowder are produced and laid ready. 

 One baiya takes up and drops in the pellet, another drives home 

 the ramrod, and a third seizes the cord of the trigger. 



While a pinch of powder is being placed on the touch-hole, the 

 prisoner, with drooping head, takes up a position two feet in front 

 of the cannon ; the court now draws up in a solemn line behind the 

 cannon, and one takes the fatal trigger-cord; bang goes the piece, 

 and the culprit drops ; the court hops up, and forms a circle of 

 chatterers around the body, which suddenly revives, and a free 

 fight all round ensues. 



After this military spectacle, we are treated to a religions one. 

 The man rigs up a little wooden mosque, on the platform of which 

 the members of the late court-martial take up their places as a line 

 of worshippers, led by a moulvie. Under his guidance they accu- 

 rately go through the nimaz, and then hop off and assist in dis- 

 mantling the mosque. 



Such are some of the interesting features exhibited by this inte- 

 resting little finch, and they illustrate strikingly its constructive 

 and imitative powers. E. F. Huxcuissox, M.D. 



Pachmari, July 26, 1885. 



P.S.— We have two other weavers, or rather sewers, out here, 

 each very wonderful in its way — the dear little mite of a tailor- 

 bird, which sews the edges of leaves together for its nest ; and 

 the fierce mata, or great red ant, which sews together the edges of 

 a terminal bunch of mango leaves. Approach one of these nests 

 carefully, and give it a tap, in a moment the exterior will be covered 

 with fierce brown-eyed warriors, all standing erect on their hind 

 legs, and discharging formic acid into the air, the effects of which 

 are soon felt in your eyes if you are near enough. Those who are 

 afraid of the yeUow wasp send for a red-ants' nest, and place it 

 near that of the wasps, which clear out in no time. 



PHILOLOGICAL. 

 [1922] — Tennyson and Wagner have made \ 



fan 



s-ith 



alleged "Holy Grail." Unless there is positive evidence that 

 " Sangreal " is two words, there is, I think, a much more obvious 

 origin. 



It was fabled to be the vessel of which Jesus, at the Last Sapper, 

 said, " This cup is the new covenant in my own blood." Now, the 

 linen napkin on which the Host lies at Mass is called " corporal," 

 the receptacle of the body. By analogy, the chalice should, or 

 might have been called " sauguiual." In Spanish (and other 

 Romance dialects, probably) sanyuis becomes sanyrc, sangrinale 

 would then become sangrciil (three syllables). There you have the 

 natural name of the vessel at once, without any " holy," or any 

 " grail." 



" Whitsuntide " has never had its derivation settled ; but it seems 

 allowed that sun is part of the word, and does not belong to Su niay ; 

 so that we should pronounce, not "Whit Snndav," but " Whitsun 

 Day," This is the Feast of th,. llnlv Chost. '-'Wir." in primitive 

 English, signified " spirit " a- \M II ,1- 111 -■ .■, as a 



Latin word learned from il i ; 



" Wit Saint" bo likely EiiL I: : a 



tions are so beautifully siiri|il.' 1 1 a; ir-nii, ,!i " a. al.l 



GOOD TRirYCl.E FOR . 



1 on no account to have any machine that 

 hines, being simpler, are much less liable 

 John Bbowsing. 



TRICYCLE. 



[1921]— If Mr. Browning (whose series of articles on matters con- 

 nected with bicycles and tricycles have been of much interest) 

 would kindly let your readers know whether lie has tried the 

 Crypto-Dyuamic Two-speed Gear, to which the gold medal lias been 

 awarded at tlio Inventions Exliibition, and if he has tried it, with 



