are properly finished have the
form of a purse, twenty centimetres high and twelve broad. (Fig. 27.)
At the side an opening, prolonged by a passage which is generally
horizontal, gives access to the interior. Sometimes another opening is
found without any passage. Every nest in the course of construction
possessed this second entry, but it is usually filled up when the work
is completed. When the bird has resolved to establish its retreat, it
first chooses a hanging branch presenting bifurcations which can be
utilised as a rigid frame on which to weave the lateral walls of the
habitation. It intercrosses wool and goat's hair so as to form two
courses which are afterwards united to each other below, and
constitute the first sketch of the nest, at this moment like a
flat-bottomed basket. This is only the beginning. The whole wall is
reinforced by the addition of new material. The architect piles up
down from the poplar and the willow, and binds it all together with
filaments torn from the bark of trees, so as to make a whole which is
very resistant. Then a couch is formed by heaping up wool and down at
the bottom of the nest.

[95] Baldamus, _Beitraege zur Oologie und Nidologie_, 1853,
pp. 419-445.

The American Baltimore Oriole, also called the Baltimore Bird, is a
distinguished weaver. With strong stalks and hemp or flax, fastened
round two forked twigs corresponding to the proposed width of nest, it
makes a very delicate sort of mat, weaving into it quantities of loose
tow. The form of the nest might be compared to that of a ham; it is
attached by the narrow portion to a small branch, the large part being
below. An opening exists at the lower end of the dwelling, and the
interior is carefully lined with soft substances, well interwoven with
the outward netting, and it is finished with an external layer of
horse-hair, while the whole is protected from sun and rain by a
natural canopy of leaves.

The Rufous-necked Weaver Bird, as described by Brehm, shows itself
equally clever. Its nest is woven with extreme delicacy, and resembles
a long-necked decanter hung up with the opening below. From the bottom
of the decanter a strong band attaches the whole to the branch of a
tree. (Fig. 28.) The Yellow Weaver Bird of Java, as described by
Forbes, constructs very similar retort-shaped nests.[96]

[96] H. O. Forbes, _A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern
Archipelago_, 1885, pp. 56-58.

These birds