THE PING-PING. 
199 
and. is cliiefly remarkable for its curious nest, which, is made in a singular and most ingenious 
manner. Taking two leaves at the extremity of a slender twig, the bird literally sews them 
together at their edges, its bill taking the place of the needle and vegetable fibres constituting 
the thread. A quantity of soft cottony down is then pushed between the leaves, and a con- 
venient hollow scraped 
out in which the eggs 
may lie and the young 
birds may rest at their 
ease. Sometimes, if the 
leaf be large enough, its 
two edges are drawn to- 
gether, but in general a 
pair of leaves are needed. 
A few feathers are some- 
times mixed with the 
down. 
This curious nest is 
evidently hung at the 
very extremity of the 
twigs, in order to keep 
it out of the way of the 
monkeys, snakes, and 
other enemies which 
might otherwise attack 
and devour mother and 
young together. 
The large genus 
Drymoica, which num- 
bers nearly seventy spe- 
cies, is quite as remark- 
able as the preceding 
genus. Some species 
inhabit Africa, others 
Southern Europe, some 
are found in India, and 
many in Australia. They are always found in open plains where the grass is long and thick, 
or among the rich rank herbage that grows in marshy localities. They mostly feed on the 
ground insects, and are well fitted by their very great speed of foot for the chase and capture 
of their swift insect prey. Being but indifferent in flight, they seldom take to wing, and 
always try to escape from their foes by means of running among the thick herbage in which 
they live. While running, they generally lift their tails and hold them over the back. Their 
song is loud, but by no means agreeable. 
The nest of the Pixc-pmc is of considerable dimensions, being often more than a foot in 
circumference and of a most singular shape and structure. The materials of which it is com- 
posed are vegetable fibres, beaten, twisted, and woven into a fine felt-like substance, and 
strongly fastened to the branches among which it is situated. It is of a rough, gourd-like 
shape, and is always entered by means of a neck, or spout, so that the bird is able from the 
interior to present its sharply -pointed bill to any assailant, and to prevent its entrance. Near 
the mouth of the nest there are generally one or two projections, which serve as perches for 
the bird to rest upon before it enters the nest, and may probably be used by the male as a seat 
whereon to recline while his mate is sitting upon the eggs within. The color of the nest varies 
according to the substance of which it is composed, sometimes being of a snowy whiteness, 
and at other times of a dingy brown. 
TAILOK-BIRD .— Orthotomus bennettii. 
