I30 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



localities which appear to be the most unsuited for the purpose. 

 Still keeping to Australia, we may find a most wonderful 

 example of a pensile nest near mountain courses. The bird 

 which makes it is called, indifferently, the Rock Warbler, or 

 the Cataract Bird (Origma rubricata), because it is alway? 

 found where water-courses rush through rocky ground. So 

 attached is the bird to these localities, that it is never seen in 

 the forest, nor ever has been observed to perch upon a branch. 

 The generic name, Origma^ is derived from a Greek word, sig- 

 nifying a rock or a precipice, and is more appropriate than are 

 many scientific titles. 



It is a small bird, no larger than our sparrow, and is soberly 

 coloured, the general hue being brown, relieved by a dull red 

 on the breast, something like that of the female robin. It has 

 a melodious though not very powerful note; but its chief claims 

 to admiration are founded upon the extraordinary nest which it 

 builds. In general shape this nest somewhat resembles a claret 

 jug without a handle, having a long, slender neck and a globular 

 and suddenly-rounded bulb. 



It is suspended from the rocks in sheltered places, and 

 whenever an overhanging ledge of rock affords protection from 

 the elements, there the strange nests may be found. Just as the 

 martins take a fancy to some favourite spot, and build whole 

 rows of nests on one side of some particular house, utterly dis- 

 daining neighbouring houses, which, to all appearance, afford 

 exactly the same advantages, so do the Rock Warblers affect 

 some particular rock, and hang their nests by dozens in close 

 proximity to each other. The material of the nest is the long 

 moss which is plentiful in the country ; and, as it may be seen 

 from the illustration, the entrance is near the centre of the 

 rounded bulb. In consequence of the material of which the 

 nest is constructed, it is very rough on the exterior, though 

 smooth and comfortable within. 



A MOST beautiful pensile nest is made by the Singing Honey- 

 Eater {Ptilotus sonorus), a species which is spread over a large 

 portion of Australasia. 



