572 HOMES "WITHOUT HANDS. 



ferring to seek its food while the world is shrouded in darkness. 

 Perhaps the reader may remember that the sea-mouse, whose iri- 

 descent garment possesses all the tints of the rainbow, is also a 

 darkness lover, and passes its life sunk in the black mud of the 

 sea-shore. 



The nest which is built by the Fiery Topaz is really a wonder- 

 ful structure. 



Its shape is remarkable, and is well shown in the illustration. 

 It is fastened to the branch with extreme care, as is clearly nec- 

 essary from its general form. The most curious point about the 

 nest is, however, the material of which it is made. When it was 

 first discovered no one knew how the bird could have built so 

 strange a structure. It looked as if it were made of very coarse 

 buff leather, and was so similar in hue to the branches that sur- 

 rounded it, that it seemed more like a natural excrescence than a 

 bird's nest. The reason for this similitude was simple enough. 

 It was made of a natural excrescence, and therefore resembled 

 one. 



When the Fiery Topaz wishes to build a nest, it goes off to the 

 trees, and searches for a kind of fungus belonging to the genus 

 boletus, and with this singular material it makes its home. It is 

 tough, leathery, thick, and soft, and in some curious manner the 

 bird contrives to mould the apparently intractable substance into 

 the shape which is represented in the illustration. The non-bo- 

 tanical reader may form an idea of the appearance of the nest by 

 supposing it to be made of German tinder, which is, in fact, a kind 

 of boletus which has been pressed, dried, and steeped in a weak 

 solution of nitre. 



The lower figure in the same illustration represents the nest of 

 another Humming-bird {Phaethornis eurynome), belonging to the 

 pretty little group which are popularly called Hermits, and which 

 may be recognized by the peculiar shape of the tail, which is reg- 

 ularly graduated, the two central feathers being, however, much 

 longer than the others. They are inhabitants of Venezuela. 



All the Hermits are remarkable for the beauty of their homes, 

 and the present species is mentioned as affording a good example 

 of nest-making. The nest is always long and funnel-shaped, and 

 is hung either to a leaf or the delicate twig of a tree, according to 

 circumstances. The materials of which the nest is made are rath- 

 er various, consisting of vegetable fibres, especially those downy, 

 cotton -like filaments which are furnished by so many plants, of 



