524 



PASSEEINES. 



shaped, occasionally round; in fact, they are of every imagin- 

 able outline. Mr. Swainson describes the nest of a species of 

 Loxia built on a branch extending over a river or a pool of 

 water, shaped like a chemist's retort suspended from the head, 

 while the shank was eight or ten inches long, at the bottom of 

 which was the entrance, all but touching the water. 



Fig. 234. Java Sparrows, or Eice Birds (Loxia oryzivora. Linn.). 



Another species of the Ploceincz construct their nests in a clump 

 under one roof or cover, each nest having a separate entrance 

 on the under side, but not communicating with that next it. 

 Another variety is said each year to attach a new nest to that of 

 the previous year, and nothing is more picturesque than these 

 groups of nests thus suspended to the branches of a tree. 



But the most curious of birds, in respect to nidification, are the 

 Republican Weaver Birds (Loxia socia, Latham). These establish 

 themselves, to the number of five or six hundred, upon the same 

 tree, constructing their nests under a common roof, the one back- 

 ing against the other, like the cells of a bee-hive, all living 

 together in the happiest manner. 



The BUNTINGS (Emberizidce) are intimately associated with the 

 Passerine birds. They are characterised by a short, stout, conical 

 bill, the upper mandible narrower than the lower, its dorsal outline 



