THE SCARLET-BACKED FLOWER-PECKER 
"The nest is geiieraUy built in mango-trees but other trees, 
especially if the leaves are large and drooping, are also used. 
It is placed at all heights from the ground, from twelve feet 
to the summits of the highest trees. The nest is suspended 
from an outside twig, and is so surrounded by leaves that it is 
<jlmost invisible. When once the f^'malc begins to set, all 
efforts to find the nest would* 1 believe, be useless. It is only 
by watching the littfe birds carrying materials, which they do 
incessantly and with a constant twitter, that 1 and my shikaree 
have been able to secure the nests, 
'To say that the nest is most beautiful is only to say what 
is ftpplicable to the nest of all the flower-peckers. The nest of 
this little bird is simply exqtiisite when newly built. It mea- 
sures no more than 4 inches in total height, and one nest I have 
is only 3} inches, It is egg-shaped, slightly pointed at the 
upper end, where it is attached to the branch. Its external 
diameter is 2 inches. The entrance is circular f inch diameter, 
and placed just mid-way between the top and bottom of the 
nest. The egg-chamber is small, the walls of the nest being of 
considerable thickness/* 
"The bulk of the nest is made of fines! vegetable down of 
dazzling whiteness resembling spun glass, and exteriorly tbe 
nest is kept firm by being bound round with fine grass, which 
is twisted into a rope at the lower edge of the entrance. At 
the back of one nest there are a few patches of excreta of 
caterpillars, and in another, four dry blossoms of some shrub 
are stuck to the back of the nest. As a rule, however, no 
omamentation is attempted.^' 
We can very appropriately wind up the account of the last 
bird we are to describe in detail in this %'olume with the above 
description. It is from the pen of E. W. Oates whose name 
with that of A. O. Hume will always be associated with the 
study of ornithology in the East. The paragraph which we 
quote furthermore provides a most excellent example of the 
manner in which such observations should be framed* 
[233] 
