288 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



last chapter an example was mentioned where a carder-bee es- 

 tabhshed herself in the deserted nest of a wren, and so saved 

 herself the trouble of fetching materials and building a dome. 



Birds of various kinds are notorious parasites, the Cuckoos 

 ranking as chief among them, inasmuch as they make no 

 nest at all, but simply lay their eggs in the nests of other 

 birds, and foist upon them a supposititious offspring, which 

 occupies the entire nest and monopolises all the care of its 

 foster-parents. 



All Cuckoos, however, do not possess this habit ; for some 

 of the group build nests which are remarkable for their beauty, 

 and tend their young as carefully as do any birds. The cele- 

 brated Honey-finders, for example, which are found in most 

 hot portions of the globe, are notable for their skill in architec- 

 ture. The nests of these birds are pensile, and not unlike 

 those of the African weaver-birds, which have already been 

 described. They are made of tough bark, torn into filaments, 

 and are flask-like in shape, hung from the branches of trees, 

 and having their entrance from below. 



Then there is the well-known Cow-bird of America ( Coccygus 

 Americanus)^ which is closely allied to the common cuckoo, 

 and yet which builds its own nest, and rears its own young. 

 * Early in May,' writes Wilson, ' they begin to pair, when ob- 

 stinate battles take place among the males. About the loth of 

 that month they commence building. The nest is usually fixed 

 among the horizontal branches of an apple-tree ; sometimes in 

 a solitary thorn, crab, or cedar, in some retired part of the 

 woods. It is constructed with little art, and scarcely any con- 

 cavity, of small sticks and twigs, intermixed with green weeds 

 and blossoms of the common maple. On this almost flat bed 

 the eggs, usually three or four in number, are placed ; these 

 are of an uniform greenish blue colour, and of a size propor- 

 tionate to that of the bird. 



' While the female is sitting, the male is generally not very 

 far distant, and gives the alarm by his notes, when any person 

 is approaching. The female sits so close, that you may al- 



