subject to changes of plumage, which alter the appearance of the male especially—to such an extent, that it would be difficult to recognise in him the same bird. The long feathers, which are his peculiar attribute, fall off towards the end of autumn, and, with the other changes that take place in his plumage, leave him little to distinguish him, during the winter months, from his plainer mate. But in spring he recovers his long feathers, his more brilliant hues, and his sharp, but agreeable and varied note; the change being usually completed by the beginning of June. It is said that they live for twelve or fifteen years.

Of all the genera composing the family of weavers, the Broad-shafted Whidah Finch is the most striking. It is composed of very small birds, mostly not larger than canaries. The males, during the breeding season, are decorated with exceedingly long tail-feathers, often four times the length of the bird itself, and which, however ornamental, must rather impede the action of flight. Little or nothing is known of the habits and manners of the whidah finches in a state of nature, but they have always been among the most favourite cage-birds; and although not very frequent in the aviaries and houses of this country, they are common in those of France and other parts of the Continent.

Numbers of these, and the other pretty finches of the same country, are imported into France by the Senegal traders, and sold to the marchands des oiseaux of Paris. A resident in that city states that he was not a little surprised to find between a hundred and fifty and two hundred of these inhabitants of the torrid zone flying and sporting about in a small, dark, dirty room, transformed into a sort of aviary in one of the meanest houses on the Quai Voltaire, two rooms only of which were tenanted by a marchand des oiseaux—his birds living in one, and himself and his family living in the other. He adds:-"We have been assured that these ingenious people, who are really practical ornithologists, contrive to breed several of these African natives in these dingy quarters.”

THE PHILIPPINE GROSBEAK.*

THE Philippine Grosbeak is one of the best known of the genus; its general colour is dull-yellow, blotched with brown; the throat is black. It is said to be very common in Dukhun; and there are four wells, overhung by a tree, where their nests are now seen pendent. The nest is woven in the shape of an inverted flask-the entrance being at the extremity of a prolonged neck, through which is a passage to a snug little chamber in the round body of the nest itself. These birds 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 grassplots in his own ground, killed as many weaver-birds as sparrows.

The peculiar position of the nest of the weaver-bird protects them, to a great extent, from their enemies, the monkeys, but more especially from the deadly attacks of the snake tribes, which abound in these regions. Dr. Smith, in his "Zoology of South Africa," expresses his decided opinion, that the fear of injury from small quadrupeds and snakes operates upon the birds of that country in their selection of the trees on which they shall build. The influence which snakes produce upon these birds, when they come in contact with them, is very singular. The boom-slange, which, however, is not considered poisonous, is one of its most common foes; and it is generally found upon trees, to which it resorts for the purpose of catching birds, upon which it delights to feed. The presence of a specimen in a tree is generally soon discovered by the birds of the neighbourhood, who collect around it, and fly to and fro, uttering the most fearful sounds, until some one, more terror-stricken than the rest, actually skims along so as to touch its lips, and, as a fly will destroy itself in the flame of a candle, becomes, almost without resistance, a prey to its enemy. During these proceedings, the snake may usually be observed with its head raised about ten or twelve inches above the branch round which its body and tail are entwined, with its mouth open, and its neck inflated, as if anxiously endeavouring to increase the terror which it would almost appear it was aware would, sooner or later, bring within its grasp one of the feathered group.

THE BOTTLE-NESTED SPARROW.

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. *Ploceus Philippensis: Cuvier.

THE BOTTLE-NESTED SPARROW.

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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. The nest is 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 SOCIABLE GROSBEAK.*

THE Sociable Grosbeak, of Southern Africa, excels any of its feathered race in the extent, if not in the beauty, of its habitation. Usually selecting a large and lofty tree, often of the mimosa or sensitive plant species, these birds find under its ample top and strong wide-spreading branches a good shelter and support for their erection. Having chosen the site, the framework is constructed by the combined efforts of the fraternity at large, who will derive from it a common advantage. The nest is firmly interwoven with the branches of the tree on which it rests, and often a large part of a principal branch is included within its substance. This part of the work being completed, each pair proceeds to the construction of its own nest, which, like the roof, consists of grass.

The best description we have of these birds is that by Le Vaillant, in his "Travels in Africa.” His narrative is as follows:-"I observed, on the way, a tree with an enormous nest of these 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 Bushman's grass, without any mixture, but so compact and firmly basketed 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 preserve 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 Patterson, 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," says Patterson, "was one of the most considérable I had anywhere seen in the course of my journey, and contained 320 inhabited cells, which, supposing a male and a female to each, would form a society of 640 individuals. Such a calculation, however, would not be exact." It appears that in every flock the females are more numerous by far than the males; many cells, therefore, would contain only a single bird. Still, the aggregate would be considerable; and,

* Ploceus socius. Loxia Socia of Latham.