DOxMED OR ROOFED NESTS 225 



forming the genus -^thopyga frequently so closely 

 resemble masses of dead leaves and other forest 

 refuse or debris, amongst which they are placed, 

 that their discovery is most difficult. The South 

 African Nectarinia famosa furnishes another example. 

 As we have already seen, the nests of some of the 

 Flower-peckers (Dicaeidae) are open and cup-shaped, 

 but the normal type in this small family is very 

 similar to the domed or roofed cradles of the Sun- 

 birds, and attached to drooping branches or to the 

 stems of big leaves. A Burmese species, Dicaeum 

 cruentatum, forms a lovely little nest about the same 

 size and shape as a Goose's egg, made of the finest 

 vegetable fibres, with a small entrance on the side. 

 Another, dwelling in the Philippine Islands, the 

 Dic2eum cinereigulare, forms a bag-shaped nest of 

 green moss, cemented with webs and lined with 

 down from young fern fronds, fastening it to the 

 slender twigs of some tree. There are also pendulous 

 nests in this family, as will be described in the 

 following chapter {conf. p. 256). Then amongst the 

 Titmice (Paridse) we have some very beautiful ex- 

 amples of domed architecture. Some of these birds 

 build thoroughly typical pendulous nests, and must 

 be reserved for our closing chapter, but the domed 

 cradle builders have two very characteristic represen- 

 tatives in the British avifauna. The Long-tailed Tit- 

 mice {Acredida) build exquisitely beautiful nests. 

 None of these is handsomer than that of the British 



p 



