DOMED OR ROOFED NESTS 217 



shall) that the nest is almost invariably placed near 

 or almost touching one or more of the hanging nests 

 of a powerful social wasp (Belenogaster rufipennis), as 

 though the little weaver regarded the insect in the 

 light of a protector from certain enemies. It is still 

 more remarkable that the same habit has been 

 observed in South America (conf. p. 267). Another 

 Weaver (Spermestes nana), known in Madagascar as 

 the " Dwarf Rice-bird," builds one of the simpler 

 types of " woven " nests, placing it almost anjrwhere 

 like our own House Sparrow, in thatch or trees, or 

 even in the deserted nests of other birds. Coming 

 within the present division, however, of domed or 

 roofed nests, is one of the most wonderful structures 

 in the entire series of avine architecture. This 

 is the home (or rather village would, perhaps, be the 

 better term) of the Sociable Weaver-bird {Philhefcerus 

 socius), another African species. It is the habit of 

 these little birds to live in communities, and to make 

 what we may call co-operative dwellings, many pairs 

 gathering the materials and constructing a huge 

 dome or mushroom-shaped structure amongst the 

 branches of a camel - thorn or other suitable tree. 

 Travellers have often mistaken these nests for the 

 grass-roofed huts of the natives, a pardonable blunder, 

 when we are assured that many of them contain more 

 than a cartload of grass, and accommodate from one 

 hundred to three hundred pairs of birds ! The under 

 surface of this structure is nearly flat, and is full of 



