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But the true weaver-birds that is to say, those which are considered the type of the class, are those of the genus Ploceus; and it was a species of this genus that had hung their pendulous habitations upon the weeping-willow.
As I look upon the matter, the most wonderful and ingenious nests in the world, as those of the weaver-birds and orioles, show no more independent self-directed and self-originated thought than does the rude nest of the pigeon or the cuckoo. They evince a higher grade of intelligent instinct, and that is all.
I am sure you have heard of weaver-birds before this; and you know that these creatures are so called on account of the skill which they exhibit in the construction of their nests. They do not build nests, as other birds, but actually weave them, in a most ingenious manner. You are not to suppose that there is but one species of weaver-bird one kind alone that forms these curious nests.
Weale, J., Mansel, on a South African caterpillar. Wealth, influence of. Weapons, used by man; employed by monkeys; offensive, of males; of mammals. Weaver-bird. Weaver-birds, rattling of the wings of; assemblies of. Webb, Dr., on the wisdom teeth. Wedderburn, Mr., assembly of black game. Wedgwood, Hensleigh, on the origin of language. Weevils, sexual difference in length of snout in some.
No doubt from this source have been derived the tales of ancient travellers, who represented that in Africa were trees with fruits upon them, which, upon being broken open, disclosed to view either living birds or their eggs! Now the sight of the weaver-birds, and their nests, was nothing new to Truey.
It is a mistake to suppose that weaver-birds are only found in Africa and the Old World, as stated in the works of many naturalists. In tropical America, birds of this character are found in many species of the genera Cassicus and Icterus, who weave pensile nests of a similar kind upon the trees of the Amazon and Orinoco.
They were each twelve or fifteen inches in length, and of a greenish colour nearly as green as the leaves of the tree itself. Were they its fruit? No. The weeping willow bears no fruit of that size. They were not fruit. They were nests of birds! Yes; they were the nests of a colony of harmless finches of the genus Ploceus, better known to you under the appellation of "weaver-birds."
The piping call of the cheerful jacamar was changed at intervals for the deep, full note of the red-billed shrike, as he sat hidden in the thicket; bright yellow weaver-birds twittered in crowds on the boughs, whilst from the depth of the shade came the cooing murmur of the turtle-dove.
But the true weaver-birds that is to say, those which are considered the type of the class, are those of the genus Ploceus; and it was a species of this genus that had hung their pendulous habitations upon the weeping willow. They were of the species known as the "pensile weaver-bird."
I am sure you have heard of weaver-birds before this; and you know that these creatures are so-called on account of the skill which they exhibit in the construction of their nests. They do not build nests, as other birds, but actually weave them, in a most ingenious manner. You are not to suppose that there is but one species of weaver-bird one kind alone that forms these curious nests.