DOMED OR ROOFED NESTS 229 



compact mass in the head or crown of a palm, or on 

 the cluster of berries just below it. In this ball of 

 sticks there are usually three or four nests, which are 

 merely burrows into the main mass of sticks, lined at 

 the end with finer twigs. 



I have already had occasion to deal at some length 

 with the nests of the Warblers (Sylviinas), a group 

 which presents considerable diversity in its architec- 

 ture even in the open or cup-shaped type. We have 

 now to consider the domed or roofed nests made by 

 other species included in this sub-family. To British 

 ornithologists the most familiar examples of these 

 are furnished by the Willow Warblers {PhyUoscopus). 

 These little birds construct domed or semi-domed 

 nests, placing them amongst herbage on the ground or 

 amongst vegetation a little distance above it. Some 

 of the species, as for instance the British Willow Wren 

 {P. trochilus) and the ChifP-chaff (P. rufus), make their 

 nests of dry grass, scraps of moss, dead leaves and 

 roots, and line them with quantities of feathers and a 

 little hair. Others, like the equally well-known English 

 Wood Wren (P. sihiiairix), make a similar half-globular 

 nest, but do not use any feathers in the lining, only a 

 small quantity of hair. But even more interesting 

 are the wonderful little homes of the Fantail Warblers 

 (Cisticola). These species build globular nests amongst 

 long grass, and possess the curious habit of sewing 

 together the tall stems of herbage into a canopy above 

 them. It must be admitted, however, that some of 



