HUMMING-BIRDS. 249 



CHAPTER XIII. 



PENSILE BIRDS {Continued). 



American Pensile Birds. — Humming-birds, and the general Structure of their 

 Nests. — The Little Hermit, its Color, Habits, and Nest. — The Gray-throated 

 Hermit and its Hardihood. — The Pigmy Hermit and its Seed-nest. — The Long- 

 tailed Humming-bird. — Mode of building its Nest. — The White-sided Hill 

 Star. — Curious Method of suspending its Nest. — The Sappho Comet. — The 

 Chimborazian Hill Star. — Curious Locality. — Its Habits, Food, and Nest. — 

 The Sawbill and its singular Nest. — Habits of the Sawbill. — The Brazilian 

 Wood Nymph. — Use made of its Plumage and its Nest. — The Ruby and Topaz 

 Humming-bird. — Stuffed Skins. — The Azure Ccereba, its Color, Nest, and Hab- 

 its. — The Baltimore Oriole. — Reason for its Name. — Its beautiful Nest, and 

 curious Choice of Materials. — Familiarity of the Baltimore Oriole. — The Orchard 

 Oriole, or Bob-o'-Link. — Various Forms of Nest. — Why called Orchard Oriole. 

 — The Crested Cassique, its Size, Form, and Colors. — Its remarkable Nest. — 

 Difficulty of obtaining Negts. — The Great-crested Fly-catcher, and its use 

 of Serpent-sloughs. — The Red-eyed Fly-catcher, Whip-Tom-Kelly. — Low- 

 Elevation of its Nest. — The White-eyed Fly-catcher, its Nest, and Fondness 

 for the Prickly Vine. — The Prairie Warbler, its Habits and Nest. — The Pine- 

 creeping Warbler. — The Asiatic Pensiles. — The Baya Sparrow. — Its Color 

 and Social Habits. — Singular Form of the Nest. 



Having now taken a cursory glance at the pensile nests con- 

 structed by the feathered inhabitants of Africa and Australia, we 

 again cross the sea and come to America. There are many pen- 

 sile builders among American birds, and chief among them are 

 the exquisite little creatures called the Humming-birds, which 

 are peculiar to America and her islands. 



Among the multitudinous species of this -wonderful group of 

 birds are very many examples of pensile nests, that mode of 

 structure being, indeed, the rule, and any other the exception. 

 As is the case with the nests of the Australian birds, some are 

 suspended from twigs, others from rocks, and others again from 

 leaves, the last-mentioned plan being the most common. It is 

 evident that, in order to enable a nest to be fastened to a leaf, 

 some very tenacious substance must be employed; and this is 

 found in the webs of various spiders, some of which are of won- 

 derful strength and elasticity — as strong, indeed, as the silken 

 lines of our well-known brown-tailed moth, which, though tightly 



