56 NATURAL HISTORY. 



The sides are formed by the blades and stems of the grass, in situ, closely tacked and caught together 

 with cobwebs and very fine, silky vegetable fibre. This is done for a length of from two to nearly 

 three inches, and, as it were, a narrow tube, from one to one-fifth in diameter, formed in the grass. 

 To this a bottom, from four to six inches above the surface of the ground, is added, a few of the blades 

 of the grass being bent across, tacked and woven together with cobwebs and fine vegetable fibre. The 

 whole interior is then closely felted with silky down in Upper India usually that of the Mudar 

 (Oalotropis Hamiltoni). The nest thus constructed forms a deep and narrow purse, about three inches 

 in depth, an inch in diameter at top, and one-fifth at the broadest part below. The tacking together 

 of the stems of the grass is commonly continued a good deal higher up on one side than on the other, 

 jind it is through or between the untacked stems opposite to this that the tiny entrance exists. Of 

 course, above the nest the stems and blades of the grass meeting together completely hide it. The 

 dimensions above given are those of the interior of the nest ; its exterior dimensions cannot be given. 

 The bird tacks together not merely the few stems absolutely necessary to form a side to the nest, but 

 most of the stems all around, decreasing the extent of attachment as they recede from the nest cavity. 

 It does this, too, very irregularly ; on one side of the nest perhaps no stem more than an inch distant 

 from the interior surface of the nest will be found in any way bound up in the fabric, while on the 

 opposite perhaps stems fully three inches distant, together with all the intermediate ones, will be found 

 more or less webbed together. Occasionally, but rarely, I have found a nest of a different type. Of 

 these, one was built among the stems of a common prickly labiate marsh-plant, which has mauve and 

 tflrite flowers. There was a straggling' framework of fine grass, firmly netted together with cobwebs, 

 and a very scanty lining of down. The nest was egg-shaped, and the aperture on one side, near the top. 

 Mr. Brooks, I believe, once obtained a similar one ; but the vast majority of the others that any of us 

 have ever got have been of the type first described, which corresponds closely with Passler's accounts. 

 Five is the usual complement of eggs ; at any rate, I have notes of more than a dozen nests that con- 

 tained this number, and in more than half the cases the eggs were partly incubated. I have no record 

 of more than five ; and though I have any number of notes of nests containing one, two, three, and 

 four eggs, yet these latter in almost all these cases were fresh." 



Respecting the species in Africa some interesting notes are given in Layard's work on the birds 

 inhabiting the southern part of that continent. Mr. Ayres says that in Natal they are common in the 

 open country, frequenting much shorter grass than that visited by Drymoica curvirostris. Their 

 nest is very beautifully constructed amongst the fine stalks of grass, which are drawn together towards 

 the top, a sort of purse, or bag, being made of the finest and whitest down and spiders' webs, and 

 attached at the sides to the grass which surrounds it, the opening being on the top. On any intruder 

 approaching the nest the birds generally mount overhead with a flitting, eccentric flight, watching 

 with anxiety the fate of their domicile. Their flight is tolerably strong ; and when they have been 

 disturbed once or twice it is sometimes a difficult matter to get within shot of them. Major Bulger 

 writes from Windovgelberg : "There is a very tiny bird abundant on the flats all around us here, 

 which wa call the ' little grass bird.' It is Cisticola cursitans the smallest feathered creature I have 

 seen in the country, and something like a diminutive Lark in appearance. When started it always 

 rises with a whirr, and flies away, emitting a snapping noise, and occasionally an alarm note ; and whilst 

 on the ground amongst the grass, where it is commonly met with, I fancy it not unfrequently makes 

 the same snapping noise, for often, whilst I have been walking on the flats, I have heard this sound, 

 and presently have flushed this ' little grass bird.' It has seemed to me that this Cisticola possesses 

 the power of ventriloquism, for I have remarked on many occasions that although we have heard the 

 peculiar sound produced by this bird around us in every direction, we have never succeeded in finding 

 more than one or two at the most of these little creatures." In his work on the " Birds of Damara 

 Land " the late Mr. Andersson writes as follows : " This species came under my notice in Great 

 Namaqua Land in about 24 or 25 S. lat. I have also met with it abundantly in Southern Damara 

 Land, and have obtained it in Ondonga. Specimens from Damara Land are of a lighter tint than 

 those from Ondonga, but I have no doubt they are identical. It is common at some large waters on 

 the Omaruru River, but is most difficult to shoot ; it can generally only be shot on the wing as it rises, 

 and when shot it invariably falls in the reeds, where its diminutive size easily eludes the eye. It is, 

 however, found in many other situations besides reedy localities, but chiefly among tall, coarse grasses 



