BIRDS. 



319 



the half of a walnut, made of a bay-coloured down, the 

 produce of the silk-cotton tree, most compactly inter- 

 woven, and mingled with the glossy down of an Asclepias. 

 Externally it is quite covered with spiders' webs, crossed 

 and recrossed in every direction, and made to adhere by 

 some viscous substance, evidently applied after the web 

 was placed, probably the saliva of the bird. These webs 

 are used to confine little bits of pale-green lichen, which 

 are stuck about here and there, and impart a rustic pretti- 

 ness to it. To see a bird sitting in a cup like this is very 

 amusing. Small as is the species, it seems impossible that 

 it should be able to crumple itself up sufficiently to be con- 

 tained in so tiny a cavity, especially when two eggs are 

 lodged in the bottom; but the incubation is managed. 

 The head and tail are .both excluded, the latter projecting 

 erect; the belly and feet alone are contained within the 

 circumference, which they completely fill. 



A volume * of great interest has been written, devoted 

 exclusively to the various kinds, forms and materials of 

 birds' nests; and the subject is far from exhausted. We, 

 as yet, know comparatively little of the nests which are 

 constructed by the hundreds of species of birds from 

 foreign, especially intertropical, countries, that crowd the 

 shelves of our museums. Yet, among those with which 

 intelligent travellers have made us acquainted, are found 

 some of the most curious and admirable examples of the 

 constructive faculty. 



Thus the Baya, or Indian Sparrow (Ploceus Philippensis), 

 described by Sir William Jones and others, is said to make 

 a nest " of grass, which he weaves like cloth, and shapes 



* Rennie's " Architecture of Birds." London, 1881. 



