224 BIRDS' NESTS 



wonderful manner in which some of the nests of the 

 Sun-birds are made to resemble or harmonise in 

 colour with surrounding objects, but I may be for- 

 given for quoting a very remarkable instance recorded 

 by Mr Marshall in the Zoologist (1898). His observa- 

 tions concern the nests of three South African species 

 of Sun-birds — Cinnyris gutturalis, C. chalybaeus, and 

 Anthodiasta collaris — which appear to be constructed 

 specially to resemble certain nests of the social spiders 

 (Stegodyphus). He writes: — "I have watched the 

 construction in the case of these three species, and 

 the nests are all built in a practically similar manner. 

 No attempt is made at concealment, and they hang 

 suspended from the outermost twigs of bushes on low 

 trees at no great distance from the ground — positions 

 which are equally affected by the social spiders. The 

 ground-work of the dome-shaped nest, with its small 

 porch, is composed of interwoven grass, and the 

 exterior is covered with leaves, twigs, etc., bound on 

 with cobwebs, so that the structure, when finished, 

 has a generally unkempt appearance eminently sug- 

 gestive of the abode of Stegodyphus. Indeed, I have 

 been deceived myself in this respect more than once. 

 In Natal I have observed A. collaris and C. chalyhceiis 

 collecting webs from the snares of the large Nephile ; 

 but a pair of C. gutturalis, which built within a few 

 feet of the door of one of my huts on the Umfali 

 River, used only the webs of Stegodyphus." Lastly, 

 we may mention that the nests of the Sun-birds 



