438 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



mestic ties to chain them at home take to the water, and swim up 

 and. down the stream at liberty until the month of August, when 

 they return to their homes. There are also certain individuals, 

 called by the trappers " les paresseux," or idlers, which do not 

 live in houses, and make no dam, but abide in subterranean tun- 

 nels like those of our common water rat, to which they are close- 

 ly allied. These "paresseux" are always males, and it some- 

 times happens that several will inhabit the same tunnel. The 

 trapper is always pleased when he finds the habitation of an idler, 

 as its capture is a comparatively easy task. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



SOCIAL BIEDS. 



The Sociable Weaver Bird and its Country. — Description of the Bird. — Nest of 

 the Sociable Weaver. — How begun and how carried on. — Materials of the Nest. 

 — The Tree on which the Nest is built, and its Uses. — Dimensions of the Nest and 

 disastrous Consequences. — A Hottentot and a Lion. — Supposed Object of the So- 

 cial Nest. — Average Number of Inhabitants. — Analogy with Dyak Houses. — En- 

 emies of the Sociable Weaver, the Monkey, the Snake, and the Parrakeet. 



We now come to the Social Birds, one of which is as pre- 

 eminent among the feathered tribes as is the beaver among mam- 

 malia. This is the Sociable Weaver Bird, sometimes called 

 the Sociable Grosbeak {Philelcerus socius). 



This species is allied to the Weaver Birds, some of which have 

 already been described, and makes a nest which is no whit infe- 

 rior to those which have already been mentioned. The Sociable 

 Weaver Bird is a native of Southern Africa, and in some places 

 is very plentiful, its presence depending much upon the trees 

 which clothe the country. It is not a large bird, measuring about 

 five inches in length, and is very inconspicuous, its color being 

 pale buff, mottled on the back with deep brown. 



The chief interest about the species is concentrated in its nest, 

 which is a wonderful specimen of bird architecture, and attracts 

 the attention of the most unobservant traveler. Few persons ex- 

 pect to see in a tree a nest which is large enough to shelter five 

 or six men, and yet that is often the case with the nest of the 

 Sociable Weaver Bird. Of course so enormous a structure is not 

 the work of a single pair, but, like the dam of the beaver, is 

 made by the united efforts of the community. How it is made 

 will now be described. 



