22 SOCIAL HABITATIONS. 
The man then scrambled down the tree, and made the 
best of his way homewards, little the worse for his im- 
prisonment except the fright, and a skin scorched by long 
exposure to the sun. The artist has introduced this little 
episode into the illustration, because it enables the reader 
to judge of the enormous size of the nest. 
Season after season the Weaver Birds continue to add 
their nests, until at last the branch is unable to endure 
the weight, and comes crashing to the ground. This 
accident does not often occur during the breeding months, 
but mostly takes place during the rainy season, the dried 
grass absorbing so much moisture, that the weight becomes 
too great for the branch to bear. 
The nest group which is shown in the illustration is of 
medium size, as can be ascertained by its shape. In its 
early state, the nest-mass is comparatively long and narrow, 
spreading out by degrees as the number of nests increases, 
so that at last it is as wide and as shallow as an extended 
umbrella. The dimensions of some of these structures 
may be gathered from the fact, that Le Vaillant counted 
in one unfinished edifice, beside the deserted nests of 
previous seasons, no less than three hundred and twenty 
nests, each of which was occupied by a pair of birds en- 
gaged in bringing up a brood of young, four or five in 
number. 
Those who are acquainted with Borneo and the customs 
of its inhabitants, cannot fail to perceive the analogy 
between these social nests of the Weaver Bird and the 
“long houses” of the Dyaks, each of which houses is in 
fact one entire village, sheltering a whole community 
under a single roof. 
The Weaver Birds have but few enemies. First, there 
are the snakes, which are such determined robbers of nests, 
swallowing both eggs and young; and then there are the 
