NATURE NOTES 
30 
to cheer the female bird at night during nesting time. Mr. 
Layard, of Ceylon, who studied these birds, never met with a 
firefly in the nest, and though I have several nests with the 
mud, there is no sign of there having been any portion of an 
insect attached. Oliver Goldsmith in his “Natural History,” 
1816, has a note about this to the following effect : “The male 
bird keeps watch, and puts on one side a little tough clay, and 
on the top of this clay is fixed a glow-worm to afford its 
inhabitants light in the night.” It must be left, therefore, like 
much else in the study of Nature, for future investigation. 
The completed nests, when quaintly dangling from the trees, 
have all the appearance to me of being pear-shaped, except those 
that have the channel attached, when they may perhaps be 
compared to a flask or retort, as some naturalists have said. 
There are many of these nests on the same tree in the little 
territory that these birds have singled out for themselves, and 
when removed from the tree they will bear the closest inspec- 
tion. I have taken out, from one or more, strands of grass 
of from eighteen inches to two feet in length, and it is worthy 
of note that though the nest has so great a length, the general 
form has been kept up throughout, as if the bird were working 
to an understood pattern. 
I have referred to a channel ; this is not attached to the 
female nest at first, but is added on, probably when the eggs are 
hatched, not only as a further protection from enemies, but to 
preserve the young from view, and possibly to restrain them 
within the compass of the nest when they become impatient of 
confinement. I have the female nests in all stages, from the 
incipient open nest to one where the channel has just been 
added ; in others where it extends downwards for two inches or 
more, and with a “ toothing” left, as builders would say, to be 
further carried on when desired, and I have one with a channel 
up to a length of eight inches. The diameter of this channel is 
not more than three inches, so though the old birds would be 
accustomed to the passage they formed for themselves, the 
young would need to be taught how to find their way through. 
In the construction of this channel perhaps, more than in the 
nest itself, it has been wisely ordained that though the little 
artisans differ somewhat in size ; their beaks, legs and claws, 
which are virtually the weaving tools, correspond exactly in 
shape, form and dimensions, so as to enable them to work in 
perfect harmony together. 
The nests weigh from two to five ounces, and those I have 
from India and from the Malayan Peninsula are identical in 
shape and in method of construction. I should add here that 
Dr. Balfour in his Encyclopaedia tells us that the natives of 
India find a use for these nests in stuffing elephants’ pads. 
These baya birds are frequently caught in India with bird- 
lime by the bird catchers or “ bheileyas,” who form a sticky 
substance from the milky juice of the banyan tree mixed with 
