THE WEAVER BIRDS. 405 



and Iiang by the bill from your hand, striking with great fury ; but they arc 

 soon reconciled to confinenieiit, and in a day or two are (luite at hoiiie. I 

 have kept a pair of these l)ir(l,s upwards of nine montiis to observe tiieir 

 manners. One was cauylit in a tra[i, the other was winged witli the gun : 

 both are now as faniiHar as if brought up from the nest bv tlie liand, and seem 

 to prefer hemp seed and cherry blossoms to all other kinds of food. IJotli 

 male and female, though not crested, are almost constantly in tlie Iial.iit of 

 erecting the feathers of the crown. They appear to be of a tyrannical and 

 domineering disposition; for they nearly killed an Indigo-bird, and two or 

 tlirce others, that were occasionally placed with them, driving them into a 

 corner of tlie cage, standing (}n them, and tearing out their feathers, strikini'- 

 them on the head, munching their wings, &(■., till I was obliged to interfere ; 

 and, even if called to, the aggressor would only turn up a malicious eye to 

 me for a moment, and renew Ids outrage as before. Tliey are a liardv, vig- 

 orous bird. In the month of October, about the time of their first arrival, 

 I shot a male, rich in plumage and plump in ilcsh, Ijut which wanted one 

 leg, that had been taken off a little abo\e the knee : the wound had healed 

 so completely, and was covered with so thick a skin, that it seemed as 

 though it had been so for years. Whether this nuitilation was occasioned 

 by a shot, or in party quarrels of its own, I could not determine ; but our 

 invalid seemed to ha\e used his stump, cither in hupping or resting, ibr it 

 had all the appearance of having been brought in frequent contact with 

 bodies harder than itself." 



The Crossbills (^Lo:rii() are placed with these birds: the curiously formed 

 bills of the Loxias makes them interesting to the naturalist. The mandiljles 

 are elongated and narrowed, the points crossing or overlapping to a greater 

 or less degree : the various species are distributed in both the Xew and Old 

 Worlds. They feed principally on the seeds of the pine trees, and the form 

 of the bill is well adapted to the ilctaching the seeds from the cones. They 

 breed in liigli latitudes, and in the severity of winters they nugrate to more 

 southern localities. They are very tame and unsus[)icious in their nati\e 

 haunts. We have been visited by them in our camp in New Brunswick, 

 the birds flying down to the floor of our tent to pick up the crumbs that had 

 fallen. 



The rioceincc, or Weaver Birds, are among the most interesting of their 

 family. They numljer some ninety species, and are distributed throughout 

 Africa and some portions of India. They are all distinguished for their 

 wonderful weaving capacitv in the construction of their nests, and some of 

 their habitations are exquisite; models of neatness and diu-ai)ility. Some 

 congregate in C(jnnnunitics, especially those included in the genus PIocciis, 

 and are called the Iicpublican or Sociable \\'ca\ ers : these birds unite and 



