250 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



its compensation in the brilliancy of the plumage, which is 

 mostly bright yellow, the wings, back, and tail being brown. 

 They are particularly fond of the acacias and date-trees, and 

 choose the branches of those trees for the suspension of their 

 nests. 



Sometimes the nest is only made for incubation, sometimes 

 it is intended merely as an arbour in which the male sits while 

 the female incubates her eggs, and sometimes it consists of the 

 nest and arbour united, producing a most curious effect. This 

 " arbour," in fact, serves precisely the same purpose as the sup- 

 plementary nest of the pinc-pinc and other birds which have 

 already been described. 



