Puslapio vaizdai
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genus Ploceus are by no means alone; we have seen that the golden oriole forms a pendent nest, and it is the case with many of the American starlings, (Icterus,) often, though erroneously, called orioles, a term belonging to a group peculiar to the old world, and of a different tribe and family.

The subjects of the genus Ploceus have been rescued from various ill assigned situations in the systems of earlier writers, some having been placed with the grosbeaks, (Loxia,) others with the orioles, (Oriolus ;) hence the reader must be warned not to be surprised at the names of Philippine Grosbeak, the Pensile Grosbeak, and the Weaver Oriole, which, as the English names most familiar to our ears, are usually retained.

The Philippine Grosbeak, or rather Weaver Bird, (Ploceus Philippensis, Cuv.) is one of the best known of the genus; its general colour is dull yellow blotched with brown, the throat being black. It suspends a skilfully woven nest, in the shape of an inverted flask, the entrance being at the extremity of a prolonged neck, through which is the passage to a snug little chamber in the round body of the nest itself. In page 94, P. II. of the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, is the following remark. "Ploceus Philippensis.—The Weaver Bird is very common in Dukhun, and there are few wells overhung by a tree where their nests are not seen pendent. They live in small communities, and are very noisy in their labours. They associate so readily with the common sparrow, that, at the season of the grass seeds, Colonel Sykes, in firing into a flock of sparrows on the grass plats in his own grounds, killed as many Weaver Birds as sparrows."

Their food consists almost entirely of the seeds of plants, especially grasses, to which is added the fruit of the ficus Indica.

The following sketch is taken from the nest of an African species of this genus; it is fixed to the long slender leaves of some kind of palm, and is remarkable for its beauty and firmness; the structure consists of the long tough stalks of one of the grasses, interwoven with admirable

precision and nicety, a circumstance the more wonderful, considering the difficulties attending every stage of the work, from the twining of the first fibre round the leaf, to the completion of the depending passage. Though not capable of positively identifying the species to which this nest belongs, it seems, by comparison and a careful investigation, to belong to the Nelicourvi, or PENSILE GROSBEAK, (Ploceus pensilis.) This bird is gregarious, numbers uniting to form a colony, whose pendent nests,

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often to the amount of several hundreds, all upon a single tree, bespeak a busy population. The favourite situation is by the bank of a river, or precipice, over which the tree impends; here they dwell year after year, rearing their progeny, secure from their wily foes, the monkey and the

snake.

Forbes describes another interesting species under the

name of Baya, or Bottle-nested Sparrow, which, he says, "is remarkable for its pendent nest, brilliant plumage, and uncommon sagacity. These birds are found in most parts of Hindostan; in shape they resemble the sparrow, as also in the brown feathers of the back and wings; the head and breast are of a bright yellow, and, in the rays of a tropical sun, have a splendid appearance when flying by thousands in the same grove. They make a chirping noise, but have no song; they associate in large communities, and cover extensive clumps of palmyras, acacias, and date-trees with their nests. These are formed in a very ingenious manner by long grass woven together in the shape of a bottle, and suspended by the other end to the extremity of a flexible branch, the more effectually to secure the eggs and young brood from serpents, monkeys, squirrels, and birds of prey. These nests contain several apartments appropriated to different purposes: in one the hen performs the office of incubation; another, consisting of a little thatched roof, and covering a perch, without a bottom, is occupied by the male, who with his chirping note cheers the female during her maternal duties."

The species, however, which forms the most singular nest, or mass of nests, is the SoCIABLE GROSBEAK, or WEAVER BIRD, of southern Africa, (Ploceus socius.) Hundreds of these birds, in one community, join to form a structure of interwoven grass, (the sort chosen being what is called Boshman's grass,) containing various apartments, all covered by a sloping roof, impenetrable to the heaviest rain; and increased year by year as the increase in numbers of the community may require.

The following is Le Vaillant's description of these birds and their aërial city. "I observed, on the way, a tree with an enormous nest of those birds, to which I have given the appellation of Republicans; and as soon as I arrived at my camp, I dispatched a few men with a wagon to bring it to me, that I might open the hive and examine its structure in its minutest parts. When it arrived, I cut it to pieces with a hatchet, and saw that the chief portion of the structure consisted of a mass of Boshman's grass, without any mixture, but so compact

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and firmly basketted together as to be impenetrable to the rain. This is the commencement of the structure; and each bird builds its particular nest under this canopy, the upper surface remaining void; without, however, being useless, for as it has a projecting rim and is a little inclined, it serves to let the rain-water run off, and preserves each little dwelling from the rain. Figure to yourself a huge, irregular, sloping roof, all the eaves of which are completely covered with nests crowded one against another, and you will have a tolerably accurate idea of these singular edifices. Each individual nest is three or four inches in diameter, which is sufficient for the bird. But as they are all in contact with one another around the eaves, they appear to the eye to form but one building, and are distinguishable from each other only by a little external aperture which serves as an entrance to the nest; and even this is sometimes common to three different nests, one of which is situated at the bottom and the other two at the sides. According to Paterson, the number of cells increasing in proportion to the increase of inhabitants, the old ones become streets of communication formed by line and level. No doubt, as the republic increases, the cells must be multiplied also; but it is easy to imagine that, as the augmentation can take place only at the surface, the new buildings will necessarily cover the old ones, which must therefore be abandoned. Should these even, contrary to all probability, be able to subsist, it may be presumed that the depths of their situation, by preventing any circulation and renewal of the air, would render them so extremely hot as to be uninhabitable. But while they would thus become useless, they would remain what they were before, real nests, and change neither into streets nor sleeping rooms.

"The largest nest that I examined, was one of the most considerable I had any where seen in the course of my journey, and contained three hundred and twenty inhabited cells, which, supposing a male and a female to each, would form a society of six hundred and forty individuals. Such a calculation, however, would not be exact." It appears that in every flock the females are

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