DOMED OR ROOFED NESTS 213 



woven in small plaits or wisps and not in single 

 blades, and the tops protruding freely for some 

 distance above the nest " (Ibis, 1900, p. 253). Another 

 species, the well-known Indian "Crow Pheasant" 

 (C. rufipennis), makes a nest like an enormous ball 

 of twigs and grass, lined with grass and leaves with 

 an entrance at the side. The purse-shaped nests of 

 the Broad-bills (Eurylaemi), a small order of tropical 

 species ranging over India, Burma, Malaya, and Java, 

 are usually suspended from the points of tapering 

 branches, especially from bamboos. Here may be 

 mentioned another aberrant group, the Lyre-birds, 

 raised to the dignity of an order (Menuras) by some 

 systematists, yet only allowed family rank (Menurida) 

 by others. So far as is known, the domed type of 

 nest prevails in this group. This nest of Menura 

 superba is built near to or on the ground, at the base 

 of a rock or tree, and is made of closely woven fibres 

 and roots, and lined with feathers. This central nest 

 appears to be surrounded by a mass of sticks, grass, 

 moss, and leaves, an opening in the side affording 

 means of entrance and exit. The nest of another 

 species, Menura alberti, is made on a similar plan, 

 but the materials are almost entirely composed of 

 long twigs and thin sticks. 



The domed and roofed type of nest is a very 

 dominant one in the architecture of the Passeri- 

 formes. Indeed, with the few exceptions which we 

 have just noticed, this domed or roofed procreant 



