40 
NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 
ange. There are not many pairs of these indus¬ 
trious orchard friends in these parts, worse luck, 
for man has no better friends. 
“ The past-masters of the weaver’s art in Bird- 
dom, however, are not the orioles, incomparable 
as their work may seem. The palm goes to a 
species found in the tropical country called the 
weaver birds, and there are some three hundred 
or more members of the clan. Naturally among 
such a large host we must expect to find a wide 
variety of nests, varying in shape according to the 
birds’ individual tastes, and woven of fine 
branches, roots, or grasses in accommodation to 
circumstance. The most common form is that of 
the pouch cradle, similar to our Mrs. Clara 
Peter’s. One species builds a kidney-shaped bag, 
with the entrance at the side; others prolong their 
pouches into tubes and enter from below. The 
yellow Baya weaver fashions a curious stocking¬ 
like nest, with the cradle or nest proper in the 
heel, and the entrance through the leg. Her 
cousin, the Mahali, constructs a bottle-shaped af¬ 
fair of reeds, that gives to her the common name 
of bottle bird. But the most wonderful nest of 
all is that fashioned by the various tribes of so¬ 
ciable weaver birds, who congregate in large 
numbers, often building as many as three hun¬ 
dred nests under one general roof. 
“ These sociable weaver birds are very remark- 
