178 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



many males, especially among the Game-birds, do 

 not. The male Globose Curassow (Craoc globicera), 

 however, seems to be the chief constructor himself. 



Nests of the felted type, well exemplified by that 

 of our Chaffinch in a cup form, are often built in a 

 pensile and domed pattern as well as woven ones, 

 especially in the tropics, where the abundance and 

 variety of enemies render necessary in the case of 

 all defenceless species either inaccessibility of the 

 nest or its very perfect concealment. 



In India, for instance, nearly the only nests one 

 ever ordinarily sees besides those of Crows, Kites, 

 and other strong birds are the pensile ones of the 

 Bayas. Now and then one may find the pensile 

 felted nest of a Sun-bird, but this is often well 

 concealed by looking like a bunch of rubbish ; 

 indeed, it is made of all sorts of odds and ends 

 bits of dry leaf, masses of caterpillar " frass," and 

 so forth, matted together with spiders' webs, a 

 great stand-by for birds which build these pensile 

 felted nests. 



I have even seen a pair of the Amethyst-rumped 

 Sun-bird (Cinnyris zeylonica), the commonest kind 

 in Calcutta, come into my verandah to carry off 

 scraps of the grey fluff which is swept out of rooms, 

 for use as nesting material. 



Extremely beautiful felted nests are built on 

 the pensile principle by the tiny Flower-peckers 

 (Dic&ida) of the Eastern Tropics, minute birds 

 haunting tree-tops. These, nests are matted 

 together with cobweb, and are so well made that 



