ORDER PASSERES. 231 



yellow ; its song is peculiar, and very lively. Some of these 

 birds, when seen alive in France, evinced a disposition to 

 nestle, though unexcited by the presence of the female ; they 

 constructed nests with blades of grass or reeds, interlaced in 

 the wirage of their cage. It is probable, that with care, and 

 the production of a proper degree of warmth, they might be 

 made to multiply, even in this climate. 



Tlie Nelicourvi (Ploceus Pensilis) does not display less 

 ingenuity and industry in the formation of its nest than the 

 baglafecht, or Abyssinian grosbeak, and the toucnam-courvi ; 

 it composes it of straws and reeds, interlaced with much 

 dexterity, and suspends it to a flexible branch, on the edge 

 of a rivulet ; it forms a pouch in the upper pai't, in which the 

 eggs are deposited, and fits to this an elongated tunnel, 

 leading downwards, at the end of which the entrance is 

 situated. When the second brood takes place, the bird 

 attaches a new nest to the former, and so on successively ; 

 five or six hundred of these nests may be sometimes seen, thus 

 suspended to a single tree. The female lays only three eggs. 



Ploceus Cristatus, the Malimhic Tanager, of Latham, 

 inhabits Malimba, a country on the eastern coast of Africa, in 

 the kingdom of Congo, where it was first observed by 

 Perrein. These birds usually sojourn on trees bearing figs, 

 which exactly resemble those of Europe, and place their 

 nests on such of the branches as form a triangle. The nest 

 is of a round form, with the aperture worked on the side ; 

 the exterior is composed of fine plants, arranged ingeniously, 

 and the interior is furnished with cotton. The eggs are 

 from three to five, of a greyish colour, and the male and 

 female partake of the incubation. It is in the months of 

 October and November that these birds are found in Ma- 

 limba; they remain on the fig-trees abovementioned only 

 while they are loaded with fruit ; and when that disappears, 

 the birds disappear also, and do not return till the following 

 year. 



