400 
A DOUBLE INTERIOR. 
habitations, in others retires into the densest coverts or to isolated 
trees, in the midst of the almost unfrequented rice-fields. 
The nest is built up of the stems of various grasses, which the baya 
plucks while they are still green ; and sometimes of the ribs of the 
palm-leaves. The latter nests are less capacious and less convex than 
the others ; as if the tiny architect knew that so solid a substance did 
not need to be employed with the same liberality as the more pliant 
and less substantial grasses. But in form and appearance the nests 
vary greatly. When their construction is sufiiciently far advanced, 
and the chamber intended to contain the eggs completed, the baya 
closes it up with a stout and slightly lateral partition. At this 
stage, the nest has all the appearance of a basket with a handle. 
Several naturalists aver that the separate compartment is reserved 
for the male ; but, in truth, it is nothing more than a kind of vesti- 
bule or ante-chamber, separating the nest proper from its enti-ance- 
gallery : and this partitional or dividing chamber is necessarily 
strongly made, because there the adult birds perch, and afterwards 
the young. 
Up to this point the two spouses labour together; but as soon as the 
partition is finished, the female retires into the interior of the nest, 
weaving the blades of grass brought to her by her mate, who completes 
the exterior without assistance. The work is not done in a day. On 
one side the entrance lies the egg-chamber ; on the otlier, tlie gallery 
or corridor. After all is happily consummated, the builders enjoy an 
interval of well-merited repose. Meanwhile, the birds carry fragments 
of clay into the nest ; a procedure which has given rise to many con- 
jectures. To the idea of the natives, that they are used with fire-flies 
as cheap and convenient night-lights, we have already alluded. Layard 
believes that the birds sharpen their beaks upon them ; Burgess, that 
they serve to consolidate the structure ; Jerdan, however, after a 
careful examination, concludes that their intention is to maintain its 
equilibrium, and render it less easily aff"ected by the wind. In one 
nest, he says, he found three ounces of clay, at six different places. It 
is generally admitted that the imperfect nests are constructed by the 
male, exclusively for his own use, and that only in these is the clay 
