CLIFF-DWELLERS 31 



the top of the cliff, showing absolute familiarity 

 with her mountain home. 



The most beautiful and far the most diminutive 

 of all the cliff-dwellers are certain varieties of 

 humming-birds. They appear most abundant in 

 the mountainous regions of South America, espe- 

 cially in the high Andes, where there are hundreds 

 of different species. Here, if one is especially 

 lucky, he may occasionally find a nest attached to 

 the side of a high cliff, or overhanging rock. The 

 nests are marvels of beauty and wonder. They are 

 usually cup -shaped, and formed of plant down 

 woven together by silver spider's webs. The out- 

 side of the nests is covered with lichens, mosses, 

 and sometimes with dried flowers or feathers. 



Oven-birds are the aristocrats among the cliff- 

 dwellers, and are not satisfied with one chamber, 

 but build two in the clay not unlike ovens hence 

 the name. These are common sights in South 

 America. Like their friends, the swallows, they 

 sometimes convert a nest into a sepulchre by clos- 

 ing up the entrance when a bird has died. It some- 

 times happens that an underground city, in case of 

 an epidemic among the inhabitants, becomes a 

 cemetery ! 



A cousin of the oven-bird, which closely resem- 

 bles this interesting home-maker in the reddish tint 



