PASSERINE BIRDS. I/I 



hundred of these strange appendages hanging to the roof of one house, and the little occupants living 

 on excellent terms with their human neighbours ; it is, therefore, very remarkable that this same 

 species in some places should occupy the most quiet and isolated situations, only visiting such 

 districts as are but little frequented by man. The walls of the Baya's nest are composed of blades of 

 grass, gathered while still green, or of strips of leaves, frequently those of the palm-tree, woven 

 carefully together, the shape of the little edifice varying according to circumstances or the taste of its 

 owner. As soon as the chamber allotted to the eggs is fully completed, the bird proceeds to build a 

 partition wall, thus forming a second apartment, supposed by some naturalists to be the especial 

 property of the male, whilst others imagine that it is only intended to separate the entrance passage 

 from the cradle of the nestlings. The entrance is tubular, and is very strongly and firmly constructed, 

 being destined to serve as the favourite sitting-room of the whole family, when the young birds have 

 acquired sufficient strength. No sooner is the second chamber of which we have spoken completed 

 than the female, who has hitherto worked with her mate, retires into the part designed for her eggs, 

 and occupies herself in weaving together the fine grass with which the interior is lined, the materials 

 for the work being brought to her by the male bird, who alone continues the building of the passage 

 and exterior portions of the nest. When this part of the work is concluded, the little artisan proceeds 

 to carry in the lumps of clay, about the use of which so many opinions have been expressed. The 

 natives assert that to these pieces of clay the male affixes fire-flies, to illumine the interior of the nest. 

 Layard imagines them to be employed by the little builder as a whetstone whereon to whet its beak, 

 whilst we ourselves are of opinion that they serve merely as a means of weighting the structure as it 

 hangs suspended in the air, and have many times remarked that an unfinished nest contained more 

 clay-balls than one that was completed. Very various accounts are given as to the number of eggs 

 that form a brood ; we have never found more than three, and feel sure that in cases where six or 

 seven have been discovered two females must have occupied the nest. Young Bayas are frequently 

 tamed, and form a most interesting and attractive addition to an aviary. 



The CRIMSON-BEAKED WEAVER BIRDS constitute a separate group, distinguished by 

 the unusual height and depth of their beak, which is nearly equal to two-thirds of its entire length ; 

 in shape it is slightly arched, and compressed towards its edges. The wings reach to the middle of 

 the tail, which is short, but slightly graduated and rounded at its extremity ; the plumage is brownish, 

 spotted on the lower portion of the body when the bird is young, becoming at a later period of a 

 yellowish or reddish shade. 



THE CRIMSON-BEAKED WEAVER BIRD. 

 The Crimsox-beaked Weaver Bird, or Diock (Quclca sangiiinirostris), is about four inches and 

 ten lines long, and seven inches and ten lines broad; the wing two inches, the tail rather more than one 

 inch. The iris is brown, the beak brownish red, and the feet pale red. The plumage of this species 

 varies considerably, according to the time of year. During the breeding season, the coat of the male 

 is chiefly of a yellowish red ; the face, forehead, cheeks, and throat black, the mantle appearing of 

 a greenish brown, mingled with a black shade that shines through from the shafts of the feathers ; 

 these latter are edged with a red tinge ; the wing and tail feathers are black ; the exterior web of the 

 quills bordered with lemon colour. The female and young birds are without the black upon the face. 

 Very shortly after the breeding season the male dons his winter coat, in which the throat and belly 

 are of a dirty white, and the breast and sides of a dull yellow, all the feathers having faint lines upon 

 their shafts. The whole of the upper part of the body is a dark greenish grey, the feathers of the 

 mantle and nape of the neck being bordered with yellow ; the tail is brownish grey ; the third, fourth, 



