NATURAL HISTORY. 



not aware if they ever have more than one brood. Its long retort-shaped nest is familiar to all, and it 

 is indeed a marvel of skill, as elegant in its form as substantial in its structure, and weather-proof 

 against the downpour of a Malabar or Burmese monsoon. 



" It is very often suspended from the fronds of some lofty palm-tree, either the palmyra, cocoa-nut, 

 or date, but by no means so universally so as Mr. Blyth would imply, for a babool (Acacia arabica, 

 or Vachellia farnesiana) or other tree will often be selected, in preference to a palm-tree growing close 

 by, as I have seen within a few miles from Calcutta on the banks of the canal. Very often a tree over- 

 hanging a river or tank, or even a large well, is chosen, especially, as Tickell says, if it have spreading 

 branches and" scanty foliage. In India I have never seen the Baya suspend its nest except on trees, 

 but in some parts of Burmah, and more particularly in Rangoon, the Bayas usually select the thatch 

 of a bungalow to suspend their nests from, regardless of the inhabitants within. In the cantonment 

 of Rangoon very many bungalows may be seen with twenty, thirty, or more of these long nests 

 hanging from the end of the thatched roof, and in one house in which I was an inmate that of Dr. 

 Pritchard, garrison surgeon there a small colony commenced their labours towards the end of April, 

 and, in August, when I revisited that station, there were above one hundred nests attached all round 

 the house ! In India, in some localities, they appear to evince a partiality to build in the neighbour- 

 hood of villages or dwellings ; in other places they nidificate in most retired spots in the jungle, or in 

 a solitary tree in the midst of some large patch of rice cultivation. 



" The nest is frequently made of grass of different kinds plucked when green, sometimes of strips of 



plantain leaf ; and not unfrequently of strips from the leaves of the date palm, or cocoa-nut ; and I 



have observed that nests made of this last material are smaller and less bulky than those made with 



grass, as if the little architects were quite aware that with such strong fibre less amount of material 



was necessary. The nest varies much in the length both of the upper part or support, and the lower 



tube or entrance, and the support is generally solid from the point whence it is hung for two or three 



inches, but varies much both in length and strength. When the structure has advanced to the spot 



where the birds have determined the egg compartment to be, a strong transverse loop is formed, not in 



the exact centre, but a little at one side. If then taken from the tree, and reversed, the nest has the 



appearance of a basket with its handle, but less so in this than in other species, which have 



seldom any length of support above. Various authors have described this loop or bar as peculiar to 



the male-nest or sitting-nest, whereas it exists primarily in all, and is simply the point of separation 



between the real nest and the tubular entrance, and, being used as a perch both by the old birds and 



the young (when grown sufficiently), requires to be very strong. Up to this time both sexes have 



worked together indiscriminately, but when this loop is completed, the female takes up her seat upon 



it, leaving the cock bird to fetch more fibre and work from the outside of the nest, whilst she works on 



the inside, drawing in fibres pushed through by the male, re-inserting them in their proper place, and 



smoothing all carefully. Considerable time is spent in completing this part of the nest, the egg 



chamber being formed on one side of the loop and the tubular entrance at the other ; after which there 



appears to be an interval of rest. It is at this stage of the work, from the formation of the loop to the 



time that the egg compartment is ready, that the lumps of clay are stuck on, about which there have 



been so many conflicting theories. The original notion, derived entirely, I believe, from the natives, 



was that the clay was used to stick fire-flies on, to light up the apartment at night. Layard suggests 



that the bird uses it to sharpen his bill on ; Burgess that it serves to strengthen the nest. I, of course, 



quite disbelieve the fire-fly story, and doubt the other two suggestions. From an observation of several 



nests, the times at which the clay was placed in the nests, and the position occupied, I am inclined to 



think that it is vised to balance the nest correctly, and to prevent its being blown about by the wind. 



In one nest lately examined there were about three ounces of clay in six different patches. It is 



generally believed that the unfinished nests are built by the male for his own special behoof, and that 



the pieces of clay are more commonly found in it than in the complete nest. I did not find this the 



case at Rangoon, where my opportunities of observing the bird were good, and believe rather that the 



unfinished nests are either rejected, if built early in the breeding season, or if late, that they are 



simply the efforts of that constructive faculty which appears, at this season, to have such a powerful 



effect on this little bird, and which causes some of them to go on building the long tubular entrance 



long after the hen is seated on her eggs. 



