252 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



vast number of parents and young, it is originally the work of a 

 single pair, and attains its enormous dimensions by the labours 

 of those birds which choose to associate in common. The first 

 task of this Weaver Bird is to procure a large quantity of the 

 herb which really seems as if made expressly for the purpose. 



SOCIABLE WEAVER BIRD. 



This is a grass Avith a very large, very tough, and very wiry 

 blade, which is known to the colonists as Booschmannie grass, 

 probably because it grows plentifully in that part of Southern 

 Africa where the Bushmen, or Bosjesmans live. 



