248 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



can be the object of this appendage no one knows, and there is 

 no purpose that it can even be imagined to fulfill, except perhaps 

 that it may serve as a conductor. Like many other pensile nests, 

 it is placed at a low elevation, and hung over water. Sometimes, 

 however, it is found in a forest where no stream runs, but even in 

 such a case it is suspended not many feet from the ground, though 

 high enough to guard it against the attacks of any ordinary foe. 



The materials of which the nest ia made are the delicate inner 

 bark of the gum-tree, together with mosses, and the soft down ob- 

 tained from the. tree-fern. These substances are interwoven with 

 tough spiders'-web, which has the effect of binding them firmly 

 together. This remarkable nest is mentioned in the present place 

 because its peculiar shape bears some resemblance to certain pen- 

 sile nests formed by the humming-birds, and which will presently 

 be described. 



The bird itself is a lively and amusing little being, not only 

 active on the wing, but singularly bold and confiding in charac- 

 ter, betraying little fear of man, and even entering houses when 

 engaged in chasing insects. These attributes, however, entirely 

 disappear during the breeding season, when the little bird be- 

 comes as shy, as suspicious, and as timid as it was formerly bold 

 and confiding. It can not endure that a human being should 

 even approach its nest, and in order to draw off his attention, acts 

 after the manner of the lapwing, and by feigning lameness en- 

 deavors to decoy the intruder in another direction. The White- 

 shafted Fantail rears at least two broods in a season, and has oc- 

 casionally been known to produce a third. There are only two 

 young in each brood, so that the parents are not subject to very 

 hard work when rearing their ofispring. 



These birds are generally seen in pairs, but are not gregarious, 

 and, as far as is known, they are permanent residents in Australia, 

 merely shifting their quarters at the different seasons. 



