162 BIRDS' NESTS 



birds), an open type of elaborate nest being built ; 

 in another (the Swifts) such a form of nest occasion- 

 ally occurs. The Humming-birds (Trochilidse) are 

 specially famous for their wonderful architectural 

 skill, their nests, although always open or cup- 

 shaped, presenting an amount of beauty, ingenuity, 

 and diversity attained in few other groups with the 

 same degree of uniformity. Unfortunately the limits 

 of my space prevent me dealing with these wonderful 

 nests to the extent I should wish, but I think 

 sufficient may be said to indicate the measure of 

 their beauty. The Humming-birds are a New World 

 group, and occur in greatest abundance in the equa- 

 torial regions, where they constitute, as Ridgway 

 tersely remarks, the most charming element in the 

 wonderfully varied bird-life of that vast area. As 

 the Humming-birds themselves number amongst 

 them some of the smallest avine forms, so also do 

 the nests many of them fabricate rank as the tiniest 

 examples of bird architecture. Some of these minute 

 homes are exquisitely neat, so deftly and perfectly 

 finished that we might suppose none but fairy fingers 

 had woven them, or that human intelligence had been 

 the prime mover in their design and workmanship, 

 and not the little mind that is encased in such a 

 small feathered casket. The principal materials 

 used by Humming-birds in nest-building are vege- 

 table downs of various kinds, spiders' webs, fine 

 fibres, lichens, wool, hair, and moss, and more rarely 



