48 
GUIDE TO THE 
and Martin, wliicli build entirely of mud, lined with 
soft material. Other birds build closed nests, with a 
small entrance hole, in our country especially the 
Long-tailed Titmouse and the Wren, while some birds 
suspend their nests in a more or less artificial manner. 
A curious nest is the one of the Tailor-Bird, which 
actually sews some leaves together with cotton and 
builds a nest between these. 
Still more remarkable are the nests of the Swifts, 
as they are fixed with the birds’ saliva ; and those 
of the Swiftlets {Collocalia) are entirely built of dried 
spittle — and eaten as great delicacies by the Chinese 
and many others. The nests of the Macropteryx, a 
Swift, and the Batrachostomus, a Frogmouth — allied to 
the Nightjars — are also worth special attention, being 
small cups or soft pads, attached to the side of a 
stem or twig, and containing one single white egg, 
which is incubated by the parent warming it with 
its belly while sitting across the bough. The variety 
of forms of nests and their adaptation to surroundings 
and circumstances are of endless interest. 
On ascending the staircase we may look at the 
photographs, taken from life, of the Kiwis, Manis, 
and Giant Land Tortoises, the horns of some Deer, 
and some huge fossils ; but we must not forget to 
look high up to see the monstrous Snakes suspended 
from the walls, the large Python reticulatm measuring 
23 feet, and the fine heads of the Indian Wild 
Buffalo or Water-Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) from 
