210 BIRDS' NESTS 



roofed nest, and it is not until we reach the order 

 Pelargifo'rmes, containing the Herons, Storks, and 

 so forth, that an example of such a type of 

 architecture occurs. Even then this is the work 

 of a species that can only be regarded as a most 

 aberrant member of the order. This bird is the 

 curious Hammer-head {Scopus umbretta), an inhabitant 

 of most parts of Africa south of the Sahara. Although 

 but the size of a Raven, it makes an enormous nest 

 six feet in diameter, which may either be placed on a 

 ledge of rock or in the branches of a tree. In form it 

 is dome-shaped or roofed, and is made principally of 

 sticks, although dry grass and reeds form a minor 

 portion of the materials. The entrance hole is at the 

 side, the most concealed side being selected. This 

 nest is said to contain no less than three chambers, 

 each with an entrance so small that the owner can 

 only enter with difficulty. The innermost chamber is 

 said to be reserved for the eggs and purposes of nidi- 

 fication ; the central one is a kind of playing place for 

 the young birds when sufficiently matured ; whilst the 

 front one is used as a look-out station by the parent 

 birds. It should be stated, however, that the Messrs 

 Woodward, in describing a nest of this species found 

 on a ledge of a cliff overhanging a river in Zululand, 

 do not make any allusion to these three internal 

 apartments, but merely remark that the only way to 

 get at the four white eggs it contained was to remove 

 the roof. Domed and roofed nests are found in no 



