A FEATHERED COMMUNITY. 
403 
a species of birds which live in a community, as a means of defence 
against the serpents which destroy their eggs. The structure of these 
nests is very remarkable. To the number of eight hundred or a 
thousand, they dwell under one roof, which, like a roof of thatch, 
covers one large bough and its branches, and overhangs the nests sus- 
pended beneath in such a manner that no serpent or carnivore can 
reach them. In industry these birds vie with the bees. They are 
occupied all day in seeking the grass which forms the essential part of 
their structure, and in enlarging the latter, and perfecting it. Every 
year they build new nests, until the trees bend beneath the weight of 
these aerial cities. Underneath the roof a number of openings lead 
each into a kind of corridor, along the sides of which are deposited the 
nests, at a distance of an inch and a half from one another. 
Le Vaillant's description is well known. He tells us that on his 
journey he caught sight of a tree which supported one of these r-epub- 
lican communities, and he ordered it to be felled that he might examine 
the huge nest, or congeiies of nests, with particular attention. This 
having been done, he dismantled the nest, and ascertained that 
its principal and fundamental portion was a mass of the tough wiry 
grass known as Booschmannie grass, woven into so close a texture 
that it was impervious even to the heavy African rains. This forms 
the nucleus of the intended fabric, and here each bird constructs and 
attaches his own nest. But Le Vaillant remarked that the nests were 
built only around and beneath this nucleus or foundation, the upper 
surface remaining unoccupied. As it is a little inclined, and has pro- 
jecting ledges, it serves to carry oflf the waters, and preserves each little 
habitation from the rain. Let the reader figure to himself an enormous 
irregular clump or " bulk," the summit of which forms a kind of roof, 
while all the other sides are entirely covered with cells, set close to 
one another, and he will have a tolerably accurate idea of this truly 
singular structure. 
Each cell or nest is three to four inches in diameter, which suffices 
for the bird ; but as all adhere to one another, they seem to the eye to 
form a single mass, and are only distinguished by a small external 
aperture, which serves as an entrance to the nest, or sometimes to a 
