58 



A NATUBALISTB WANDERINQS 



nestg, which had been lilown down before being properly 

 secured, or were they, perhaps, abandoned inisuceessful first 

 attempts ? They had the exact shape of tiny key baskets, sneh 

 as are used by housewives, one end being weighted with a biyer 

 of clay. I was also stnick by the fact that difi'ereut indi- 

 viduals had adopted different forms of nests, which, though 

 agreeing iundamentiilly, exhibited considerable variation. 



The bnlk of tliem were of the 

 retort shape, set ^ith a long- 

 neeked oriflce banging down- 

 wardj bnt a considerable nnml>er, 

 of the progressionist party per- 

 haps, had inangn rated a new 

 A£j^MwNEi> KEST-FouxDATioN. fttshiou' b/ inverting the retort 



and shortening the neck, giving 

 the doorway an npward and forward entrance, widch. If more 

 enticing to depredators, may perluips be less a^^kwa^d to 

 the owners. I much regret that I have no note as to the 

 position of the clay in this new form j for what was pi-eviously 

 the bottom of the nest had become a dtane over the bird, while 

 its eggs were laid in what would correspond in the older pattern 

 with the ii|)per curve of tlie nwk i>f the retort, so that if my 

 belief is e(>rrect that the use of th^i cbiy is to retain the nest 

 in its vertical ixigition, it ought to be found occupyuig a 

 i.'orresponding site in the new structure. It is ptsssihle, however, 

 that the deviation froiu the ancestral pattern may result from 

 an unequal distribution of clay during the laying of the 

 foundation of the nest, causing it to heeiime reversed without 

 diverting the bird's purpose from completing its work as best 

 it couhl, under the altered conditions. 



One of the htrd-eries that early attract at Lent inn is 

 the reiterated, UJi varied call of the Ijeil-bir<ls {^h't/uhvnnufi^, 

 [wured forth in long stretches from the top of some high 

 tree, where, from their plumage accnrding so well wilh 

 the varied colours of the vegetation, they can select a pereii 

 even in a prominent branch without fear of discovery. I 

 obtained five different species of these birds, which Ix-hmg to 

 one of the most varied and beautiful-plumaged familieH, and of 

 which some ideA may be obtained by turning over the j)agesof 

 Marshuirs splendid monograph of the group. 



