DR. THEODOR NEUMANN. 169 



the most distinguished artists. It ought to be said right 

 here that it is often rather hard to place a bird in the 

 proper department, as in more than one case the little 

 artist combines in his editice the work of two or more 

 trades, but usually one feature is eminent and decisive. 



Let us begin with a look at the simplest baskets, made 

 by the crows, ravens, magpies, and others. They are 

 twisted of dry twigs and stalks, and have in the centre a 

 nice bunch of hair, wool, feathers and other soft material. 

 They do not show any special skill, but are twisted firmly 

 and durably, and fill their purpose to a nicety. On a 

 higher level are the basket-shaped nests of the different 

 finches, which are carefully built in the forks of some 

 bushes or trees, and must be considered as very neat and 

 even elegant structures, composed of moss, grass, fine 

 roots and twigs, often intermixed with other suitable 

 materials, adorned externally with fragments of lichens, 

 and lined with wool, hair and feathers. The twigs with 

 which the outward parts of the nests are constructed are 

 short and crooked, so that they may the better hook in 

 with one another, and the hole or entance is so con- 

 tracted to prevent the intrusion of enemies that it ap- 

 pears almost impossible for the bird itself to enter. 



High above these basket-plaiters rank some foreign 

 birds, above all, the weaver birds. They do not belong 

 to the weavers, however, as their name might indicate, 

 but to this group, for their nests show all the peculiarities 

 of the other basket-plaiters. Their work is truly won- 

 derful, surpassing all the other curious examples of bird 

 architecture. Although we find in them a great variety 

 in shape, form and material, there is yet a nameless 

 something in the construction of these edifices which at 

 once points them out as the workmanship of the weaver 

 birds. Some of them are huge and massive, clustered 

 together in vast multitudes, like regular tenement houses, 

 and bearing down the branches with their weight. Others 



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