How Animals Work. 



blotches at the large ends, and just a very few spots 

 and specks of the same colour elsewhere." By means 

 of its rather slender, sharp-pointed beak the Tailor 

 Bird pierces the necessary holes along the edges of the 

 leaves, then passes the sewing material through them 

 and draws them together, generally so as to form a 

 kind of hollow, downward-pointing cone. 



Several of the Humming Birds make more or less 

 purse-like nests, which they attach to the extremity 

 or to the middle of some suitable, broadly lanceolate 

 leaf. The beautiful little Hermit Humming Bird, 

 for instance, builds a singular pouch nest, which has 

 a sort of long tail depending from its base, and this 

 nest is attached to the extremity of a leaf. For building 

 materials the silky fibres of plants, the cotton down 

 from various seed vessels, and the woolly sort of sub- 

 stance procured from a species of fungus are used- 

 all being woven together with spiders' webs, by means 

 of which the nest is also attached to the leaf. The 

 Gray-throated Hermit Humming Bird attaches its 

 nest, composed of moss fibres bound together with 

 gossamer webs, near the centre of the leaf. The 

 Pigmy Hermit also attaches its nest to a leaf in much 

 the same manner. This wee bird makes great use of 

 downy seeds as building material, the exterior of the 

 nest being covered with them, while inside it is lined 

 with the same material and strengthened with the 

 most delicate fibres of flowering plants. The dainty 

 little nest is cup-shaped, with a long tail-like appendage 

 which gives it rather the appearance of a delicate fun- 

 nel. A particularly dainty nest, usually suspended 

 from the tip of some conveniently placed palm leaf, 



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