CHAPTER VIII 



WONDERFUL NESTS 



Weaver-birds' Nests in Liberia (aftct- Biittikufer). 



Stick-nest Builders— Hammer-heads — Fire-wood Gatherers— Moss- 

 nest Builders — Felt-nest Builders — Penduline Tits — Rock 

 Warblers — Purse-nest Builders — Weaver-birds — Grass- Warblers 

 — Humming-birds as Engineers — Sun-birds — Salvin's Swift — 

 Assemblages of Albatrosses and Terns. 



No bird makes a more extraordinary nest than the 

 Hammer-head {Scopus 7iinbretta), a kind of Stork of a 

 sober brown colour found in Africa, Arabia, and Mada- 

 gascar. It has a compressed bill, terminating in a hook, 

 and its nearest ally in the Class Aves is the peculiar Shoe- 

 bill {Balceniceps rex) already described (p. 38). It makes a 

 nest of sticks in a tree, or more frequently on a rock ; and 



207 



