IN JAVA. 



57 



deserted from the breaking of one or more of their eggs, after 

 incubation Lad progressed some way ; in others, where there 

 nas only one chick, there was often one egg which had been 

 cracked and become dried up, so that even with all their 

 acute architectural devices the wind appears to wreck the 

 hopes of the little builders. 



What can be the use of the mud in the Weaver-birds' nests 

 has often been discussed. Mr. E. L. Layard, the accurate 



TWO FOEUS OF THE NEST OV THE WEA.TER BIRD. 



observer and well-known ornithologist, has suggested * " that 

 these lumps of mud were used as scrapers on which to clean 

 the birds' bills "; but if in the nests I found here they were 

 used for this purpose, it must have been only at the commence- 

 ment of their task, for the layer of mud would be quite con- 

 cealed at an early stage of their nest-building. I am more 

 inclined to the belief that they are to weight and balance 

 the nest, from having found loose among the lower stems 

 unfinished portions, which were evidently the foundations of 

 * Nature, Dec. 1879. 



