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CHAPTER XIII. 
PENSILE BIRDS ( continued ). 
American Pensile Birds — Humming Birds, and the general structure of their 
nests — The Little Hermit, its colour, habits, and nest — The Grey- 
throated Hermit and its hardihood — The Pigmy Hermit and its seed- 
nest — The White-sided Hill Star — Curious method of suspending its 
nest— The Sawbill and its singular nest — Habits of the Sawbill — The 
I Brazilian Wood Nymph — Use made of its plumage and nest — The 
Baltimore Oriole — Reason for its name — Its. beautiful nest, and curious 
choice of materials — The Orchard Oriole, or Bob-o’-Link — Various 
forms of nest — Why called Orchard Oriole — The Crested Cassique, 
its size, form, and colours — Its remarkable nest — The Great Crested Fly- 
catcher, and its use of serpent-sloughs — The Red-eyed Fly-catcher, 
or Whip-Tom-Kelly — Low elevation of its nest — The White-eyed Fly- 
Catcher, its nest, and fondness for the prickly vine — The Asiatic Pensiles 
— The Baya Sparrow — Its colour and social habits- — Singular form of 
the nest. 
' 
Having now taken a cursory glance at the pensile nests con- 
structed by the feathered inhabitants of Africa and Australia, 
we again cross the sea and come to America. There are many 
pensile builders among American birds, and the chief among 
them are the exquisite little creatures called the Humming 
Birds, which are peculiar to America and her islands. 
Among the multitudinous species of this wonderful group of 
birds are very many examples of pensile nests, that mode of 
structure being, indeed, the rule, and any other the exception. 
As is the case with the nests of the Australian birds, some are 
I suspended from twigs, others from rocks, and others again from 
leaves, the last-mentioned plan being the most common. 
Our first example of the pensile Humming Birds is the beau- 
tiful species called the Little Hermit ( Phaethornis eremita). 
The nest which is here figured was attached to the very 
extremity of the leaf, so that the long tail hung down freely. 
