524 



PASSERINES. 



shaped, occasionally round; in fact, they are of every imagin- 

 able outline. Mr. Swainson describes the nest of a species of 

 Loxia built on a branch extending oyer a river or a pool of 

 water, shaped like a chemist's retort suspended from the head, 

 while the shank was eight or ten inches long, at the bottom of 

 which was the entrance, all but touching the water. 



Fig. 234 — Java Sparrows, or Bice Birds [Loxia oryzivora, Linn.). 



Another species of the Ploceince construct their nests in a clump 

 under one roof or cover, each nest having a separate entrance 

 on the under side, but not communicating with that next it. 

 Another variety is said each year to attach a new nest to that of 

 the previous year, and nothing is more picturesque than these 

 groups of nests thus suspended to the branches of a tree. 



But the most curious of birds, in respect to nidification, are the 

 Republican Weaver Birds {Loxia soda, Latham). These establish 

 themselves, to the number of five or six hundred, upon the same 

 tree, constructing their nests under a common roof, the one back- 

 ing against the other, like the cells of a bee-hive, all living 

 together in the happiest manner. 



The Buntings {Emberizidce) are intimately associated with the 

 Passerine birds. They are characterised by a short, stout, conical 

 bill, the upper mandible narrower than the lower, its dorsal outline 



