406 
PENSILE NESTS. 
part of the nest to the branch, so as to form the dome-like roof. By 
degrees they complete the globular bulb, still working downwards; and, 
lastly, the neck is attached to the body of the nest. Great skill is 
required to keep the nest even and open, and yet no machine could 
accomplish the work better than do these ingenious little architects. 
The upper part of the nest is very thick, and firmly built ; more than 
twice as thick as the neck, and the material of which it is made is far 
stronger. In some instances I have seen one nest attached to another ; 
and when this is the case, the second builder strengthens the first nest, 
and then attaches his own work thereto. Should by chance a hawk 
or monkey venture into the vicinity of a colony of birds, he is chased 
and chirped at by hundreds of these little creatures, who make common 
cause against the intruder, and quickly drive him off. During the 
building of the nests, the river-side is a most interesting place, as the 
intelligence and dilig-ence of the birds are most remarkable." 
PENSILE NESTS. 
It will not fail to be observed by the reader that the architectural 
instinct or intelligence of the birds is more or less developed according 
to the conditions under which it is exercised. We have no example in 
England of sociable birds, as distinguished from the purely gregarious, 
like the rooks, because no need is felt here of the protection and 
strength which association affords. And it is specially against the 
serpent and the monkey that the nest-grouping proves effective. But 
pensile nests are obviously capable of being used for defensive purposes 
in many localities ; and accordingly we find them constructed by birds 
which show no tendency to unite in a single community. Take, for 
instance, the Baltimore oriole,* which ranges over America from Brazil 
to Canada, but everywhere constructs his nest in the same manner. 
" High on yon poplar, clad in glossiest green, 
The orange, black-capped Baltimore is seen ; 
The broad e.xtended boughs still please him best — 
Beneath their bending skirts he hangs his nest; 
There his sweet mate, secure from every harm, 
Broods o'er her spotted store, and wTaps them waitu ; 
* So named because the colours of liis plumage, oranje and black, were those ot Lord Baltimore, the 
founder of Baltimore 
