CHAPTER VIII 



WONDERFUL NESTS 



Weaver-birds' Nests in Liberia {after Buttikofer). 



Stick-nest Builders —Hammer-heads— Fire- wood Gatherers — Moss- 

 nest Builders — Felt-nest Builders — Penduline Tits — Rock 

 Warblers — Purse-nest Builders— Weaver-birds — Grass-Warblers 

 — Humming-birds as Engineers — Sun-birds — Salvin's Swift — 

 Assemblages of Albatrosses and Terns. 



No bird makes a more extraordinary nest than the 

 Hammer-head {Scopus utnbretta), a kind of Stork of a 

 sober brown colour found in Africa, Arabia, and Mada- 

 gascar. It has a compressed bill, terminating in a hook, 

 and its nearest ally in the Class Aves is the peculiar Shoe- 

 bill (Balceniceps rex) already described (p. 38). It makes a 

 nest of sticks in a tree, or more frequently on a rock ; and 



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