236 BIRDS' NESTS 



it in dense bushes, clusters of bamboo and so forth. 

 Then again the nest of Gampsorhynchus rufulus is a 

 massive and nearly globular structure formed of 

 bamboo leaves and lined with fern roots, narrow 

 strips of bark and grass. Again, various species of 

 Pellorneum make equally massive nests of very 

 similar materials, some being more neatly put to- 

 gether than others. In some of these nests the 

 entrance is near the top, in others near the middle, 

 or even quite close to the bottom. The majority 

 of these birds nest on the ground, but exceptionally 

 a species places its home in clusters of bamboo or in 

 tangled masses of plants and creepers. Another 

 species, also an Indian one, the Drymocataphus 

 tickelli, makes a rather different type of nest, more 

 in the shape of a deep cup with one side prolonged 

 and arched over into a sort of hood, placed either on 

 the ground or low down in bamboo clusters and dense 

 bushes. The materials consist of bamboo leaves, soft 

 sun-grass, dead leaves, and fern fronds. As previously 

 mentioned, some of these Timeline birds display an 

 exceptional amount of adaptability in forming their 

 nests, in certain instances no fewer than three types 

 of nest. In one of these, Stachyrhis assimilis, when it 

 builds under shelter sufficient to cover the nest com- 

 pletely, the cradle is cup-shaped (as so often happens 

 in a great many remotely allied species) ; when in more 

 open sites it is formed on a semi-domed model ; whilst 

 on other occasions it assumes the completely globular 



