232 CLASS AVES. 



The Worabee, or Black-coUared Finch, also exhibits won- 

 derful industry in the making of its nest, and great fore- 

 sight to protect its young from rain, and from the attacks 

 of little animals. The form of this nest, according to Buffon, 

 is pyramidal. It is always suspended above the water, and 

 at the extremity of a little branch. The aperture is on one 

 of the faces of the pyramid, and usually turned towards the 

 east. The cavity of this pyramid is separated into two parts 

 by a partition, thus forming, as it were, two chambers. The 

 first, in which is the entrance to the nest, is a sort of vesti- 

 bule, where the bird first introduces itself. Then he climbs 

 up the intermediate partition, and descends down to the bot- 

 tom of the second chamber, where the eggs are deposited. 

 This species is a native of Senegal and Abyssinia. 



Of the Textor Alecto, described p. 133 of the present 

 volume, the opposite is a figure from M. Temminck. It is a 

 recently discovered species, of whose habits we are wholly 

 ignorant. 



The Sociable Grosbeak is left by M. Vieillot in the genus 

 Coccothraustes, although he confesses that its proper place 

 is here. These birds are found in India, and the interior of 

 the Cape. They unite in numerous flocks, often to the 

 number of eight hundred or a thousand ; select a large 

 mimosa, or an aloe-tree, to establish their habitation in, at 

 which they work in concert. They construct it with reeds 

 and other fibrous plants tissued together. This habitation is 

 divided into compartments, or small cells, and has many 

 issues irregularly placed, or rather it is composed of as many 

 nests as there are couples, about two or three inches distant 

 from each other. Each year the total mass augments with 

 the number of new couples, until the tree can sustain no 

 more. The plants which they employ are termed by the 

 Cape Colonists, Booshmanees-grass. As the wings and feet 

 of insects are found in these nests, it would appear that this 

 bird uses food of this kind. These grosbeaks live in peace 



