. Natural history of birds : their architecture habits and faculties . these, which he met with ona clump of low bushes at Sneuwberg, consisted ofa number of cells, each of which formed a separatenest, with a tubular gallery leading into it throughthe side. Of such cells each clump contained fromsix to twenty, one roof of twigs woven into a sortof basket-work covering the whole. * Wilson, Amer. OrnithoL, iv., p. 32. 68 THE ARCHITECTURE OF BIRDS. Another of these gregarious African birds is thepensile grosbeak {Loxia pensilis), which is about thesize of a house-sparrow, and makes a basket-nest
. Natural history of birds : their architecture habits and faculties . these, which he met with ona clump of low bushes at Sneuwberg, consisted ofa number of cells, each of which formed a separatenest, with a tubular gallery leading into it throughthe side. Of such cells each clump contained fromsix to twenty, one roof of twigs woven into a sortof basket-work covering the whole. * Wilson, Amer. OrnithoL, iv., p. 32. 68 THE ARCHITECTURE OF BIRDS. Another of these gregarious African birds is thepensile grosbeak {Loxia pensilis), which is about thesize of a house-sparrow, and makes a basket-nest ofstraw and reeds, interwoven into the shape of a bag,with the entrance below, while it is fastened aboveto the twig of some tree, chiefly such as grow oniKe border^ of streams. On one side of this, with-in, is the true nest. The bird does not build a dis-tinct nest every year, but fastens a new one to thelower end of the old, and as many as five may thusbe seen, one hanging from another. From five tosix hundred such nests have been observed crowd-ed upon one Nests of the Pensile Grosbeak {Loxia pensilis). A living author of reputation thus describes thesenests ; but we must premise that we do not coincidewith his opinion of the structure being devised fordefence : Several varieties of the finch tribe, inSouth Africa, suspend their nests from the branches THE BAYA. 69 of trees, especially where they happen to impendover a river or precipice. The object of this pre-caution is obviously to secure their offspring fromthe assaults of their numerous enemies, particularlythe serpent race. To increase the difficulty of ac-cess to these tree-rocked cradles, the entrance isalways from below, and frequently through a cylin-drical passage of twelve or fifteen inches in length,projecting from the spherical nest, exactly like thetube of a chymists retort. The whole fabric ismost ingeniously and elegantly woven of a speciesof very tough grass; and the wonderful instinct offoresight (o
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, bookidnaturalh, booksubjectbirds
