CHAPTER XIII. 



PENSILE BIRDS (CONTINUED). 



American Pensile Birds — Humming Birds, and the general stracture of their 

 nests — The Little Hermit, its colour, habits, and nest — The Grey-throated 

 Hermit and its hardihood — ^The Pigmy Hermit and its seed-nest — ^The Long- 

 tailed Humming Bird — Mode of biulding its nest — The White-sided Hill 

 Star — Curious method of suspending its nest — The Sappho Comet— The 

 Chimborazian Hill Star— Curious locality— Its habits, food, and nest— The 

 Sawbill and its singular nest — Habits of the Sawbill — The Brazilian 

 Wood Nymph — Use made of its plumage and its nest— The Ruby and Topaz 

 Humming Bird — Stuffed Skins- The Azure Ccereba, its colour, nest, and 

 habits — The Baltimore Oriole — Keason for its name — Its beautiful nest, 

 and curious choice of materials — Familiarity of the Baltimore Oriole — The 

 Orchard Oriole, or Bob-o'-Link — Various forms of nest — Why called 

 Orchard Oriole — The Crested Cassique, its size, form, and colours — Its re- 

 markable nest — Difficulty of obtaining nests — The Great Crested Fly- 

 catcher, and its use of serpent-sloughs — The ;Eed-Eyed Flycatcher, or 

 Whip-Tom-Kelly — Low elevation of its nest — The White-Eyed Flycatcher, 

 its nest, and fondness for the prickly vine — The Prairie Warbler, its habits 

 and nest — The Pinb-Creeping Wakblbk — The Asiatic peusUes — The Baya 

 Sparrow — Its colour and social habits — Singular form of the nest. 



Having now taken a cursory glance at the pensile nests con- 

 structed by the feathered inhabitants of Africa and Australia, 

 we again cross the sea and come to America. There are many 

 pensile builders among American birds, and chief among them 

 are the exquisite little creatures called the Humming Birds, 

 which are peculiar to America and her islands. 



Among the multitudinous species of this wonderful group of 

 birds are very many examples of pensile nests, that mode of 

 structure being, indeed, the rule, and any other the exception. 

 As is the case with the nests of the Australian birds, some are 

 suspended from twigs, others from rocks, and others again from 

 leaves, the last-mentioned plan being the most common. It is 

 evident that, in order to enable a nest to be fastened to a leaf, 

 some very tenacious substance must be employed ; and this is 



