NEST BUILDING. 
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(. Ploceus) are either shaped like the half of a hollow sphere 
surmounted by a hollow ninepin, or resemble a simple 
concave sphere. They are almost always composed of 
strong lengths of grass, which are twisted round a 
branch, and form the foundation of the pendant 
habitation; finer grasses, again, are interwoven with 
these, and complete the shell, which is lined with 
similar, but softer, material; the entrance, situated at 
the top of the ninepin, or the roof of the sphere, is 
furnished with a tube of greater or less length, which 
falls outside the whole structure, and often to some 
distance below the same.* No snake can cling to this 
nest; and the most agile monkey, with a taste for eggs, 
must inevitably fall from the swinging branch into the 
water, should he seek to gain the coveted delicacy, as, 
when possible, the colony is always located over that 
element. 
The Hang-nests (Icterus, Cassicus , &c.), may be 
regarded as the American representatives of the former. 
The last construct unusually large and deep pendulous 
nests. The Yapu (Cassicus cristatus), for instance, weaves 
a nest of bast, of from three to five feet in length by five 
or six inches in diameter, in the form of a bag rounded 
at the bottom; the upper end where the entrance is 
situated is hung to a thin branch, while the breeding- 
chamber at the bottom is lined with moss, leaves, and 
strips of bark. The texture of this structure, though looser 
than that of the Weaver-bird’s nest, is strong enough to 
resist the influence of wind and weather for many years. 
* Some South African birds, like the Maliali Weaver-finch (Plocepasser Mahali ), 
protect their nests, which resemble those of the Weaver-birds, by allowing the stiff 
ends of the grass, of which the nest is composed, to overhang it all round by several 
inches. Others interweave thorns in the structure for the same object.— A. E. 
Brehm. 
