262 BIRDS' NESTS 



the bird-life of the East, and in some countries (as, 

 for instance, in Burma) there are few thatched houses, 

 as Mr Oates informs us, without a number of their 

 inverted flask-like and spouted nests suspended from 

 the eaves, the birds caring little for the near approach 

 of the human owners. I may also state that the 

 chief materials generally employed by these wonder- 

 ful little birds are fibres, strips of various leaves, and 

 a variety of narrow stiff and elastic grasses. 



Our last examples of these pendulous nests are 

 furnished by a family of birds not inappropriately 

 named Hang-nests (Icterid^e), confined to America, 

 and most abundant in the tropical portions of that 

 vast region. These birds are the makers of the 

 most pronounced type of pendulous nest, some of 

 the structures they weave being of a most extra- 

 ordinary description. Some of these w^onderful avine 

 cradles measure nearly six feet in length, the greater 

 part of this, of course, being occupied by the support- 

 ing woven cord or tube. They vary considerably in 

 shape, some being nearly globular, others of almost 

 every description of bottle or flask shape. The 

 materials consist of wiry grasses, dry roots, hairs 

 and fibres, lichens and slender mosses. Many species 

 breeding in the more populated districts have readily 

 availed themselves of such articles as twine and 

 worsted. This variation of material in some cases 

 has a very perceptible effect upon the appearance 

 of the nests of the same species. Apropos of this 



