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CHAPTER XXII. 



SOCIAL BIRDS. 



The Sociable Weaver Bird and its country— Description of the bird— Nest 

 of the Sociable Weaver— How begun and how carried on— Materials of the 

 nest— The tree on which the nest is built, and its uses— Dimensions of the 

 nest and disastrous consequences— A Hottentot and a lion — Supposed object 

 of the Social nest — Average number of inhabitants — Enemies of the Sociable 

 Weaver, the monkey, the snake, and the parrakeet. 



We now come to the Social Birds, one of which is as pre- 

 eminent among the feathered tribes as is the beaver among 

 mammalia. This is the Sociable Weaver Bird, sometimes 

 called the Sociable Grosbeak [PhiletcBrus socius). 



This species is allied to the Weaver Birds, some of which 

 have already been described, and makes a nest which is no 

 whit inferior to those which have already been mentioned. 

 The Sociable Weaver Bird is a native of Southern Africa, and 

 in some places is very plentiful, its presence depending much 

 upon the trees which clothe the country. It is not a large 

 bird, measuring about five inches in length, and is very incon- 

 spicuous, its colour being pale bluff, mottled on the back with 

 deep brown. 



The chief interest about the species is concentrated in its 

 nest, which is a wonderful specimen of bird architecture, and 

 attracts the attention of the most unobservant traveller. Few 

 persons expect to see in a tree a nest which is large enough to 

 shelter five or six men ; and yet that is often the case with the 

 nest of the Sociable Weaver Bird. Of course so enormous a 

 structure is not the work of a single pair, but, like the dam of 

 the beaver, is made by the united efforts cf the community. 

 How it is built will now be described. 



I^rge as is the domicile, and capable at last of containing a 



