224 Wonders of the Bird World 



Ridgway tells of an instance which came under his own 

 observation—" A nest of the Broad-tailed Humming-bird 

 {Selasp/wrus platycercus) had been built upon a dead twig 

 of an aspen bush, some three feet from the ground. The 

 dry atmosphere had caused the bark of the twig to crack, 

 making a transverse fissure on each side of the nest, the 

 wood at the same time shrinking, so that the cylinder-like 

 section of bark enclosed it loosely. After the eggs were 

 laid, something had caused the section of bark to turn, so 

 that the nest hung inverted on the under side of the branch, 

 of course spilling out the eggs. When found by me, the 

 nest was in this position, with the fragments of the eggs 

 lying on the ground beneath it ; but immediately above the 

 original nest was a new one, very much smaller than the 

 first, containing two fresh eggs. Evidently the owner knew 

 that by building a much smaller nest above the old one, 

 which was rather a bulky one for the species, the greater 

 weight of the latter would keep the former in position, and 

 thus prevent a recurrence of the accident." 



Sun-birds {Nectnriniida) make beautiful little purse-like 

 nests which they suspend from a twig, and decorate with 

 lichens, spiders'-webs, and cocoons of moths, and over the 

 entrance-hole is generally a kind of porch or cornice. The 

 birds often place their nests in most conspicuous places. A 

 nest of the Purple Sun-bird {Cinnyris asiaticiis) was recently 

 presented to the British Museum by Mr. E. F. Bourdillon, 

 and was built on a croton plant in his father's garden at 

 Bankipore. It is made of fine grass-bents with moss and 

 spiders'-webs interwoven, and presents a silvery white 

 exterior from the number of white cocoons with which it is 

 decorated. This seems to be the usual ornamentation 

 adopted by the species, as Mr. Hume describes the nest as 

 " pendent, and composed of all kinds of materials, beauti- 

 fully woven together with the silkiest of fibres and cobwebs, 

 while hair, fine grass, pieces of decayed wood, lichens, rags, 



