CONCEALMENT AND PROTECTION. 607 



A somewhat similar nest, but of a much more formidable as- 

 pect, was discovered by W. B. Lord, Esq., E. A., and has been fig- 

 ured in the Boys' Own Magazine for August, 186-1. The shape of 

 the nest is very remarkable, and is exactly that of a soda-water 

 bottle suspended by its neck. A very tolerable imitation of this 

 curious nest could be made by coating a soda-water bottle with 

 clay, and sticking it full of porcupine quills, with the points radi- 

 ating on every side. The following is Mr. Lord's own description : 



" On looking closely at the thorny, sinuous branches, we shall 

 see a number of little pendent prickly things, each hanging to its 

 own silken cord, like juvenile hedgehogs 'lynched' by the fairies 

 of the spring. 



" These are a peculiar species of l tree-caddis,' which, as far as 

 I know, are as yet undescribed by any one. Their cases are cu- 

 riously armed with thorns, nipped from the tree on which they 

 hang. The thorns are all disposed with their points outward, 

 and are stuck into a strong, glutinous material of which the body 

 of the case is composed, and they look for all the world like the 

 spikes of clievaux-de-frise. A web-like skein of singularly strong 

 material serves as a rope whereby to swing the caddis-case from 

 the branch to which it is attached. And a nest more difficult to 

 swallow, and hard to digest, its enemies would be rather puzzled 

 to find." 



As is frequently the case with such nests, the peculiar form 

 serves a double purpose, namely, protection and concealment, the 

 sharp points of the thorns performing the former duty, and their 

 similarity to surrounding objects the latter. Acacias are conspic- 

 uous for the thorns with which their branches and sometimes 

 their trunks are studded, and in several species the wooden bay- 

 onets are several inches in length, and as large and sharp as por- 

 cupine quills. These thorns are crowded thickly on the branch- 

 es, and always diverge from each other, so that the hand can 

 scarcely be insinuated among the boughs without suffering sev- 

 eral wounds. The nest being surrounded with these thorns, it is 

 evident that all ordinary foes would be baffled by such an array 

 of points, no matter how anxious they might be to get at the 

 creature within. 



The thorns are equally efficient as a means of concealment, for, 

 as they are taken from the tree itself, they cause the nest to har- 

 monize so perfectly with surrounding objects that it is not very 

 easily perceived. 



