200 BIRDS' NESTS 



with dry grass and hair. Some of the nests of the 

 tropical species are extremely pretty little structures. 

 The favourite breeding places of these birds in the 

 tropics are amongst the dense masses of forest drift 

 that accumulate in the clumps of bamboo, or in the 

 drooping branches of low trees, or in the tufts of moss 

 and the various vines or creepers that hang from the 

 trees. Of the nest of an Australian species, the Prill- 

 necked Flycatcher (Arses candidor), Mr D. Le Souef 

 writes as follows : " Their beautiful open nest has 

 the appearance of a hanging basket, and is fastened 

 between two upright hanging vines by cobwebs. The 

 interior is composed of fine dark-coloured rootlets, 

 and the exterior of small light-coloured twigs, rather 

 loosely put together, and ornamented on the outside 

 with green lichen, the whole being lightly covered 

 with cobweb." This nest swung in the vines about 

 thirty feet from the ground. Another and much 

 more open and flat type of nest is made also by 

 an Australian species, the Yellow-breasted Flycatcher 

 {Machcerirhynchus jlaviv enter). A nest of this bird 

 built in the fork of a slender projecting branch about 

 fourteen feet from the ground is a shallow structure 

 composed externally of twigs bound together in 

 places by cobwebs, the latter also being used to 

 secure the nest to the supporting branches, and 

 lined exclusively with curly vine tendrils. The depth 

 of the egg cavity in this nest is only half an inch, 

 and the complete diameter of the entire structure 



