Fig. 76.
Fig. 77.
The Owl, Strix flammea, chooses her nest in some obscure nook of an old tower, the steeple of a church, a dovecot, or the hollow of an aged tree ([Fig. 77]). It is composed of twigs and straws loosely arranged.
Some birds form into a sort of coarse tissue the fibres of which they construct their nest, which has procured them the name of Weaver Birds. The nest of Fondia erythrops occupies the centre of a bundle of reeds growing in shallow water, in which various grasses are roughly interwoven in the form of a cupola. The Black-headed Synalaxis, S. melanops (Bonaparte), constructs a more delicate fabric, but remarkable for its strength. It builds its nest with grasses, interlacing them in a firm and inextricable web; the form is globular, and the entrance is a small hole in one of its sides. The Orioles and Cassiques of the New World cannot be passed without noticing their wonderful skill in nest construction. The nest of the Baltimore Oriole forms a perfect family pouch, which it suspends from the upper branches of a shrub or tree. The nest of Cassicus hæmorrhous (Cuvier) consists of dry grasses woven into long sacks, gradually increasing in size towards the bottom, with an elongated slit in the side; this is so constructed as to exclude rain from the nest. These wonderful structures are sometimes two yards in length; and when these birds are numerous in the country, the nests, as they hang suspended from the branches of trees, give a singularly novel aspect to the landscape.
Not less curious is the nest of the Tailor Bird, Orthotonia ([Fig. 78]), which is formed of a large leaf, the two sides of which the bird has contrived to sew together; in the interior is placed the nest. Miraculous indeed is the produce of these little workers. The wonder is how the birds contrive to enter a nest on the wing when the opening seems scarcely so large as the bird's body, and yet it enters without disturbing a fibre. The hut of some savage races is left constantly open, their intelligence not suggesting a protecting door. The Spiders are more ingenious. They contrive to close the entrance to their dwellings, while the door is left habitually open; some birds adopt analogous precautions. In M. Jeudon's book on the Birds of India, he reports a curious arrangement of a species of Homrain: when the female of this bird begins to lay, the male encloses her in their nest by shutting up the door with a thick mud wall, leaving only a small opening by which the female can breathe and receive her food from the male bird's bill; for this severe husband is not forgetful of his duties, but every few minutes conveys some morsel to the enclosed prisoner.
Fig. 78.
Fig. 79.