THE BAYA SPAKROW. 307 



instances I have seen one nest attached to another ; and when 

 this is the case, the second builder strengthens the first nest, 

 and then attaches his own work thereto. Should by chance a 

 hawk or monkey venture into the vicinity of a colony of these 

 birds, it is chased and chirped at by hundreds of the little 

 creatures, who make common cause against the intruder and 

 quickly drive him off. During the building of the nests, the 

 riverside is a most interesting place, as the intelligence and 

 diligence of the birds are most remarkable. ' 



f If the hand,' says the author of ' Homes without Hands,' 

 ' be carefully introduced up the neck of one of these nests, its 

 admirable fitness for the nurture of the young birds is at once 

 perceived. When merely viewed from the outside, the nest 

 looks as if it would be a very unsafe cradle, and would permit 

 the young birds to fall through the neck into the water. A 

 section of the nest, however, shows that no habitation could be 

 safer, and even the hand can detect the wonderfully ingenious 

 manner in which the interior is constructed. Just where the 

 neck is united to the ball, a kind of wall or partition is made 

 about two inches in height, which runs completely across the 

 ball, and effectually prevents the young birds from falling into 

 the neck.' 



Among the pensile nest-builders of India, the -baya sparrow 

 yields to none in ingenuity. These clever little birds are found 

 in most parts of Hindostan ; they have no song, and can only 

 chirp in a monotonous manner, but the want of voice finds its 

 compensation in the brilliancy of the plumage ; for though the 

 back and wings are brown, the head and breast are of a bright 

 yellow, so that in the rays of a tropical sun the bayas have a 

 splendid appearance when flying by thousands in the same 

 grove. For they are fond of associating in large communities, 

 and cover clumps of palmyras, acacias, and date-trees with their 

 nests. These are formed of long grass, woven together in the 

 shape of a bottle, and suspended, like those of the cassique and 

 African weaver, to the end of flexible branches for throughout 

 the whole tropical world the same instinct has been given 

 to guard against the same dangers. Sometimes the nest is 

 made only for incubation, sometimes it is intended merely 

 as an arbour in which the male sits while the female incubates 



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