Marvels of the Universe 



257 



On looking at them on the morning of x\pi"il 

 17th, the female was seen to be in the act of 

 making her nest. The wall was about half 

 built, and she continued her work all the rest 

 of the day and through the night, and it was 

 finished early on the next morning. A second 

 nest was made, unobserved, shortly afterwards. 

 On May 7th, about 11 a.m., a third nest was 

 seen to be just started, ^^'e shall follow the 

 building of this nest. All the photographs are 

 twice the natural size, so a good idea can be 

 obtained of the actual dimensions of the differ- 

 ent parts. 



\Mien first seen, the \\-all was only raised a 

 little above the level of the wood, and it con- 

 tained an incomplete ring of spherical, white, 

 semi-translucent eggs, one layer deep, and irre- 

 gularly three or four eggs wide. The female 

 rested on the top of the wall and worked round 

 it, generally in the direction of the hands of a 

 watch, with the feet on the side of the body 

 towards the centre holding on to the upper 

 edge of the nest. She extended the anterior 

 segments of the body over the interior of the 

 nest and passed out the eggs, two at a time, 

 from the openings of the oviducts, which are 

 situated just behind the second pair of legs. 

 I.e., not far behind the head. After completing 

 the ring of eggs, she proceeded to raise the 

 wall of the nest about the height of the eggs 

 themselves, and then deposited another layer 

 of eggs as above described. 



The method of raising the wall was very 

 curious. She foraged all round the nest, as she 

 continuously revolved on the top, and ate up 

 the small particles of earth within reach. The 

 material thus obtained was passed out at the 

 hinder end of the body in a prepared con- 

 dition, and was moulded into position by the 

 large flaps at the extremity. As the wall was 

 raised it was made dome-shaped, and egg- 

 laying alternated with wall-building. Only onc( 

 did she stop work, and that was when broughi 

 into a stronger light about 4 p.m., and in 

 the third photo on page 255 we see how the 

 work had progressed. The mouldings are very 

 noticeable, and the mass of eggs. She resumed 

 her task, and at 5.40 p.m. the opening at the 

 top of the nest was reduced to the size seen 



I'holoVii] [II jli \/ lilt, I ./.s 



Eleven Hours from the start saw the dome completed ail but 



the chimney, which took three hours more to erect. 



riir.lnlni] [ll«!lli Miiiii, /■'.K.S. 



THE NEST HIDDEN. 



The nest ia finally covered over with earth, which completely 

 disguises it, and prevents the eggs from drying up. 



17 



