352 
THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
The Weaver Birds are all natives of tropical regions, being confined 
largely to Africa and India, though a few species are found in South America. 
So numerous are the weaver birds that they have been grouped under a 
scientific head (. Ploceidw ), and are usually described in order, though they 
present many different characteristics, which, if followed, would distribute them 
among several orders. Generally weaver birds suspend their nests to drooping 
boughs, but there are notable exceptions to this rule, as will be shown. But 
wherever built, the observer will perceive the intuition that has led the birds 
to build with a special view to protecting their young from the depredations of 
monkeys and snakes. 
All the pensile birds are remarkable for the eccentricity of shape and 
design which 
mark their 
nests; al¬ 
though they 
agree in one 
point, name¬ 
ly, that they 
dangle at the 
end of twigs, 
and dance 
about merri¬ 
ly at every 
breeze. Some 
of them are 
very long, 
others are 
very short; 
some have 
their en¬ 
trance at the 
side, others 
from below, 
and others 
again from 
near the top. 
Some are 
AUSTRALIAN TRAPPE. 
hung, hammock-like, from one twig to another; others are suspended to the 
extremity of the twig itself; while others, that are built in the palms, which have 
no true branches, and no twigs at all, are fastened to the extremities of the leaves. 
There is a bird found only in Australia and called the trappe which pos¬ 
sesses not only a singular nesting habit, but is no less curious in other respects. It 
is so rare that few naturalists have recognized its existence, and none have ever 
attempted to classify it. This curious creature seems to be a cross between 
the gallinaceous and wading birds. During the strutting season the male 
makes himself an object remarkable to behold, as is seen in the engraving. It 
nests in the high grasses, but quite unlike others of the fowl species, it builds 
a very large truncated cone leaving only a shallow basin in the top for the four 
dusky colored eggs which it lays. Its size is equal to that of a guinea hen.. 
