124 CURIOUS HOMES AND THEIR TENANTS. 



plucked when green, sometimes of strips of plantain 

 leaf, and not infrequently of strips of date-palm or 

 cocoanut, and I have observed that nests made of this 

 last material are smaller and less bulky than those 

 made with grass, as if the little architects were quite 

 aware that with such strong fiber less amount of ma- 

 terial was necessary." 



The nest is not only handsome and shapely, but it 

 is so well built and so substantial in its structure as to 

 be weather-proof against the downpour of a Malabar 

 or Burmese monsoon. It is very often hung from 

 the branches of palm trees, though other trees are 

 sometimes used, and in Burmah the eaves of thatched 

 houses seem to be preferred, where twenty or thirty 

 of these long nests, like rows of gourds hung out to 

 ripen and dry, may sometimes be seen ; indeed, on 

 one occasion more than a hundred were counted 

 attached all around a single dwelling, and their in- 

 genious builders did not seem in the least disturbed 

 by their close proximity to human neighbors, although 

 in many parts of India the bird is extremely timid 

 and secluded in its habits. 



The truth of the matter seems to be that the natu- 

 rally wild, shrinking, and retiring nature the baya ex- 

 hibits in sparsely peopled parts is overcome by the 

 gentle kindness of the native Indians, whom it, in 

 common with all animate Nature, learns to regard as 

 harmless and friendly. 



In Oriental countries generally birds and beasts 

 rather tend to become tamer and more fearless than 

 wilder in proportion as human beings become more 



