THE LIVING WORLD. 
353 
A good example of the last-mentioned description of nest is the Mahali 
Weaver Bird, of South Africa (.Pliopasser mahali). Although the architect 
is a small bird measuring only six inches in total length, the nest which it 
makes is of considerable size, and is formed of substances so stout, that, when 
the edifice and the builder are compared together, the strength of the bird 
seems quite inadequate to the management of such materials. 
The general shape of the nest is not unlike that of a Florence oil-flask, sup¬ 
posing the neck to be shortened and widened, the body to be lengthened, and the 
whole flask to be enlarged to treble its dimensions. Instead, however, of being 
smooth on the exterior, like the flask, 
it is intentionally made as rough 
as possible. The ends of all the grass- 
stalks, which are of very great thick¬ 
ness, project outward, and point 
towards the mouth of the nest, which 
hangs downward; so that they serve 
as eaves whereby the rain is thrown 
off the nest. 
Perhaps the most singular look¬ 
ing nest made by these birds is that 
of a rather small, yellow-colored spe¬ 
cies (.Ploceus ocularius). This nest 
looks very like a chemist’s retort, 
with the bulb upward—or, to speak 
more familiarly, like a very large 
horse-pistol suspended by the butt. 
The substance of which it is made 
is a very narrow, stiff and elastic 
grass, scarcely larger than the ordi¬ 
nary twine used for tying up small 
parcels, and interwoven with a skill 
that seems far beyond the capabili¬ 
ties of a mere bird. 
If the hand be carefully intro¬ 
duced up the neck of one of these 
nests, its admirable fitness for the 
repose of the young birds is at once 
perceived. When merely viewed from 
the outside, the nest looks as if it 
would be a very unsafe cradle, and 
would permit the young birds to fall . I 
through the neck into the water. A section of the nest, however, shows thatj 
no habitation can be safer, and even the hand can detect the wonderfully in¬ 
genious manner in which the interior is constructed. Just where the neck is 
united to the bulb, a kind of wall or partition is made, about two inches in 
height, which runs completely across the bulb, and effectually prevents the 
young birds from falling into the neck. 
Another of this group is the Gold-capped Weaver Bird (.Ploceus ictero- 
cephalus ), The nest of this bird is notable for the extreme neatness and com. 
23 
