234 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



hangs downward, so that at a little distance it looks like a huge 

 pear with a rather long stem. The material of the nest is the cot- 

 tony down of the willow and poplar, and the opening is always at 

 the side. The position chosen is not invariably at the end of a 

 twig, as the nest is sometimes found among the reeds, hidden by 

 their thick stems from observation. 



CHAPTER XII. 



PENSILE BIRDS {Continued). 



Australian Pensiles. — The Yellow-throated Sericornis. — Its Habits. — Singular 

 Position for its Nest. — Conscious Security. — The Rock Warbler. — Shape and 

 Locality of its Nest. — The Yellow-tailed Acanthiza. — Its Color and Song. — 

 Supplementary Nests. — The Pinc-finc and its Home. — Supposed Use of the sup- 

 plementary Nest. — The Singing Honey-eater and its Nest. — The Myall or 

 Weeping Acacia. — Various Materials. — The Lunulated Honey-eater. — A new 

 Material. — The Painted Honey-eater, its Habits and Nest. — The Art of Pres- 

 ervation. — Nests and their Branches. — The Color of Eggs. — The White-throat- 

 ed Honey-eater and its Habits. — Its curious Nest. — Locality of the Nest. — The 

 Golden-crested Wren, and the Resemblance of its Nest to those of the Honey- 

 eater. — The Swallow Dic^edm. — Its Song, and Beauty of its Plumage. — The 

 Nest, its Materials, Form, and Position. — The Malurus and its Nest. — The Ham- 

 mock Bird. — Singular Method of suspending the Nest. — The White-shafted 

 Fantail. — Strange Form of the Nest. — The Appendage or Tail of the Nest. 



Some very remarkable instances of pensile birds' -nests are 

 found in Australia, and for many of them we are indebted to the 

 patient and careful research of Mr. J. Gould, from whose skillful 

 works on ornithology several illustrations have been, by permis- 

 sion, copied. 



A very curious instance is found in the nest of the Yellow- 

 throated Sericornis {Sericornis citreogularis), a rather pretty, but 

 not a striking bird. The general color is simple brown, and, as 

 its name imparts, the throat is of a citron-yellow. The only re- 

 markable point in the color, beside the yellow throat, is a rather 

 large patch of black, which envelops the eye and passes down 

 each side of the neck, nearly as far as the shoulders. It is the 

 largest of its genus, and, although not rare, is seldom seen except 

 by those who know where to look for it, as it is scarcely ever 

 observed on the wing, but remains among the thick underwood, 

 flitting occasionally between the branches, but mostly remaining 

 on the ground, where it pecks about in search of the insects on 

 which it feeds. 



