THE PINC-PINC. 



199 



and is chiefly remarkable for its curious nest, which is made in a singular and most ingenious 

 manner. Taking two leaves at the exfremity of a slender twig, the bird literally sews them 

 together at their edges, its bill taking the place of the needle and vegetable fibres constituting 

 the thread. A quantity of soft cottony down is then pushed between the leaves, and a con- 

 venient hollow scraped 

 out in which the eggs 

 may lie and the young- 

 birds may rest at their 

 ease. Sometimes, if the 

 leaf be large enough, its 

 two edges are drawn to- 

 gether, but in general a 

 pair of leaves are needed. 

 A few feathers are some- 

 times mixed wdth the 

 down. 



This curious nest is 

 evidently hung at the 

 very extremity of the 

 twigs, in order to keep 

 it out of the way of the 

 monkeys, snakes, and 

 other enemies which 

 might otherwise attack 

 and devour mother and 

 young together. 



The large genus 

 Drymoica, which num- 

 bers nearly seventy spe- 

 cies, is quite as remark- 

 able as the preceding 

 genus. Some species 

 inhabit Africa, others 

 Southern Europe, some 

 are found in India, and 



many in Australia. They are always found in open plains where the grass is long and thick, 

 or among the rich rank hei-bage that grows in marshy localities. They mostly feed on the 

 ground insects, and are well fitted by their very great speed of foot for the chase and capture 

 of their swift insect prey. Being but indifferent in ilight, they seldom take to wing, and 

 always try to escape from their foes by means of running among the thick herbage in which 

 they live. "While running, they generally lift their tails and hold them over the back. Their 

 song is loud, but by no means agTeeable. 



The nest of the Pinc-pinc is of considerable dimensions, being often more than a foot in 

 circumference and of a most singular shape and structure. The materials of w^hich it is com- 

 posed are vegetable fibres, beaten, twisted, and woven into a fine felt-lili:e substance, and 

 strongly fastened to the branches among which it is situated. It is of a rough, gourd-like 

 shape, and is always entered by means of a neck, or spout, so that the bird is able from the 

 interior to present its sharply-pointed bill to any assailant, and to prevent its entrance. Near 

 the mouth of the nest there are generally one or two projections, which serve as perches for 

 the bird to rest upon before it enters the nest, and may probably be used by the male as a seat 

 whereon to recline while his mate is sitting upon the eggs within. The color of the nest varies 

 according to the substance of which it is composed, sometimes being of a snowy whiteness, 

 and at other times of a dingy brown. 



TAILOK-BIED.— 6i/'tfuj.wnus bennettii. 



