THE WEAVER BIRD 189 



My theory is that the bird brings the clay to the nest 

 in its bill in a moist condition. Now wet clay retains 

 moisture for some time and would shine quite brightly 

 in the moonlight, so might easily be mistaken for a 

 firefly. Unfortunately the weaver bird is not common 

 where I am now stationed, so that I have not had an 

 opportunity of putting this theory to the test. I have, 

 however, noticed how the nests built by solitary wasps 

 shine when the clay that composes them is wet. 



The natives of Northern India attribute great medi- 

 cinal value to the nest of the weaver bird. They assert 

 that a baby will never suffer from boils if it be once 

 washed in water in which a weaver bird's nest has been 

 boiled ! 



A great many half-finished weaver birds' nests are 

 seen in India. Most of these are the work of the cock, 

 who thus amuses himself while his wife is incubating. 

 A few are nests which have gone wrong, nests which do 

 not balance nicely and so have not been completed. 



Two eggs are usually laid ; they are pure white and 

 without any gloss. On these the hen sits very closely. 

 On one occasion Hume took home a very fine specimen 

 of the nest and hung it from one of a pair of antlers on 

 his dining-room wall. Three days later the inmates of 

 the bungalow became aware of a very unpleasant odour, 

 which was traced to the nest. On taking it down it 

 was found to contain a female baya dead upon two 

 dead half-hatched chicks. 



