STRANGE DWELLINGS . 
252 
vast number of parents and young, it is originally the work of a 
single pair, and attains its enormous dimensions by the labours 
of those birds which choose to associate in common. The first 
task of this Weaver Bird is to procure a large quantity of the 
herb which really seems as if made expressly for the purpose. 
SOCIABLE WEAVER BIRD. 
This is a grass with a very large, very tough, and very wiry 
blade, which is known to the colonists as Booschmannie grass, 
probably because it grows plentifully in that part of Southern 
Africa where the Bushmen, or Bosjesmans live. 
