254 BIRDS' NESTS 



flnition of a " pendulous" nest is one that may either 

 hang loosely by a woven rope of varying length and 

 not supported from below, or in any other manner ; 

 or by having the upper material of the nest itself 

 attached in one or more places to the branch which 

 carries it, the nest, however, swinging completely free. 

 This type of nest is by no means a common one. 

 Indeed, it is noteworthy in how very few families 

 these pendulous nests are found, and I may also add 

 that they are almost exclusively confined to species 

 dwelling in tropical countries. To my mind they 

 represent the most skilful limits to which birds have 

 developed the nest-building art. Not that they should 

 be regarded as any more wonderful in their construc- 

 tion than the various other types of avine nests (for 

 they are but representatives of the same great utili- 

 tarian plan), but they are the highest development of 

 an architecture that has progressed along certain 

 lines — a type that is possibly a development from, 

 or even an improvement upon, the one that has for 

 its examples nests suspended from the extremities 

 of drooping branches, so many of which have been 

 described in the previous chapter. Possibly these 

 pendulous nests appeal more to our admiration than 

 those of any other birds when we bear in mind how 

 skilful must the little architect be that can construct 

 or weave, first a swinging rope or cord, and then a 

 more or less elaborate domed cradle at the extremity 

 of it, absolutely in mid-air, often over water, and 



