

POCIABLF, WEAVER Rllin. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



SOCIAL BIRDS. 



The Sociable AVEAVEr. Bir.D and its country — Desciiption of the bird — Nost of 

 the Sociable Wearer — How begun and how carried on — Materials of the nest — 

 The tree on which the nest is built, and its uses — Dimensions of the nest and 

 disastrous consequences — A Hottentot and a lion — Supposed object of the 

 Social nest — Average number of inhabitants — Analog}- with Dyak houses — 

 Enemies of the Sociable Wearer, the monkey, the snake, and the parrakeet. 



We now come to the Social Bikds, one of which is as pre- 

 eminent among the feathered tribes as is the beaver among 

 mammalia. Tliis is the Sociable Weaver Bikd, sometimes called 

 the Sociable Grosbeak {Philctccncs sociun). 



