Supposing, however, that he has successfully overcome his dif ficulties, and has been able to reach the nest, he still finds himself in a very awkward position on account of the multitudinous insects which swarm upon tropical trees, and the majority of which can either sting or bite savagely. There are many kinds of wasps, larger, fiercer, and more irritable than the little yellow and black insect which terrifies us so much in this country, and these creatures have a habit of fixing their nests among the branches, where they are concealed by the leaves, and can not be seen by the climber until he nearly strikes them with his hands.

But the very worst of all his foes are the ants and termites,. which infest the trees to a wonderful degree. The ants are of various kinds. There are arboreal ants, which make their nests among the branches, and there are terrestrial ants, which make their homes under the earth, but ascend the trees in search of insects or to procure materials for their subterranean abode.

The termites, again, are found on many trees, and in some instances actually hollow out the branches, so that when the climber grasps a bough for the purpose of hauling himself up by it, the treacherous branch breaks in his hands, and pours out a flood of angry insects, all provided with means of offense, and anxious to wreak their vengeance on the enemy. Even the natives, accustomed as they are to these pests of their woods, and versed in every method of foiling them, confess themselves worsted by the ants, and are often forced to yield the point to their tiny foes.

In some cases, they attack so fiercely that the unlucky climber is perforce obliged to descend the tree with all speed, and envelop himself in smoke in order to rid himself of his adversaries; or, whenever a river flows beneath the branches, the tortured native is fain to fling himself into it, and to drown off the myriad insects who are burying their jaws, or stings, or both, in his flesh. A naturalist's labors in a tropical forest are very pleasant reading at home, but they are not quite so pleasant to perform, even setting aside the chances of fever, and snake-bites, and the certainty of being sucked by thousands of musquitoes, sand-flies, and other winged plagues.

BEFORE leaving the American pensile birds, we must briefly notice one or two other species. The Fly-catchers of all countries are generally notable for the beauty or eccentricity of their nests, one of the oddest being that of the GREAT-CRESTED FLY

.

CATCHER of America, which always uses the cast slough of snakes when building its nest. The reason no one seems to know, though several opinions have been offered; one person thinking the snake-slough is peculiarly grateful to the young birds which are intended to lie upon it, and another, that the presence of the cast slough acts as a scarecrow, and frightens away obnoxious birds. One conjecture is as good as another, and both are absurdly bad.

The species which we have now to notice is the RED-EYED FLY-CATCHER (Muscicapa olivacea) popularly known as “WhipTom-Kelly," from its peculiar articulate cry, which is said to bear a strangely exact resemblance to the words "Tom Kelly, Whiptom-kel-ly," and is uttered so loudly and briskly that it can be heard at a considerable distance. It inhabits a tolerably wide range of country, being found from Georgia to the St. Lawrence, and in many parts is plentiful.

The nest of the Red-eyed Fly-catcher is small and very neatly made, and, contrary to the usual custom of pensile nests, is placed near the ground, seldom at a height of more than five feet. Bushes and dwarf trees, such as dogwood or saplings, are usually chosen by the bird when it looks about for a branch wherefrom to hang its nest. A wonderful array of materials is employed by the feathered architect, which makes use of bits of hornets' nests, dried leaves, flax fibres, strips of vine bark, fragments of paper and hair, and binds all these articles firmly together with the silk produced by some caterpillars. The lining is made of fine grasses, hair, and the delicate bark of the vine.

The nest is wonderfully strong-so compact, indeed, that after it has served the purpose of its architect, it is usurped by other birds in the following year, and saves them the trouble of building entire nests of their own. Even the mammalia receive some benefit from the nest, for the field-mouse often takes possession of it, and rears its young in the pensile cradle.

An allied species, the WHITE-EYED FLY-CATCHER (Muscicapa cantrix), builds a very pretty pensile nest, and uses so much old newspaper in the construction of its home that it has gone by the name of the POLITICIAN. The other materials used in the structure of the nest are bits of old rotten wood, vegetable fibres, and other light substances, woven together with wild silk, and the lining is mostly of dried grasses and hair.

The form of the nest is nearly that of an inverted cone, and it

is suspended by part of the rim to the bend of a species of smilax, that is popularly called the prickly vine, and which grows in low thickets. The bird is very fond of this smilax, and rarely chooses any other tree for the reception of its nest, so that the home of the White-eyed Fly-catcher is not very difficult to find; moreover, the bird is so jealous and so bold when engaged in rearing its young, that it betrays the position of the nest by scold. ing angrily as soon as a human being approaches the thicket, and by dashing violently at the intruder with impotent rage.

ANOTHER pensile species is the PRAIRIE WARBLER (Sylvia minuta), a bird which, as its specific name denotes, is of very small size, not reaching five inches in total length.

It is a lively little bird, but withal deliberately cool in its movements, flitting about among the foliage and grass with a quick, though jerking, regular movement, and yet inspecting every leaf and blade with perfect composure; chirping feebly all the while, and allowing itself to be watched without betraying any alarm. The nest of this little bird is unusually small, even when the size of the feathered architect is taken into consideration, and when dry weighs scarcely a quarter of an ounce. The materials of which it is made are moss, mixed with rotten and very dry wood, fastened together with caterpillar silk, and the lining is made of very fine and delicate fibres of grape-vine bark.

OUR last example of American pensile birds is the PINECREEPING WARBLER (Sylvia pinus), a pretty little species, which has many of the actions that characterize the titmice, flitting among the branches like these birds, and hanging head downward from the twigs while looking for insects. Sometimes it runs along the ground, and is equally active there; and when disturbed, it flies upward, and clings to the trunk of the nearest tree, the whole movement being so peculiar that the bird can be distinguished at a long distance.

The Pine-creeping Warbler is found in the pine-woods of the Southern States, where it assembles in little flocks of twenty or thirty in number. Its nest is suspended from the horizontal fork of some small branch, and is made of strips of grape-vine bark and rotten wood, tied firmly together with caterpillar silk. Sometimes the bird finds a hornet's nest, and rightly considering that the substance of which it is made is the driest and lightest rotten

wood that can be obtained, robs the insect, and builds its own nest with the spoils. The interior of the nest is lined with the fine roots of plants and dry pine-leaves, which latter materials afford a softer bed than their shape seems to indicate.

As we are near the end of our list of pensile birds, we must turn to Asia for a specimen as remarkable as any which has yet been mentioned. This is the nest of the BAYA SPARROW, sometimes called the TODDY BIRD, a native of several parts of India, and found in Ceylon.

As may be seen by the illustration, the nests are variable in shape, and hang close to each other; indeed, the birds are very sociable in all their manners, and fly about in great numbers, flocks of thousands flitting among the branches and displaying their pretty plumage to the sun. They have no song, and can only chirp in a monotonous manner; but the want of song finds its compensation in the brilliancy of the plumage, which is mostly bright yellow, the wings, back, and tail being brown. They are particularly fond of the acacias and date trees, and

choose the branches of those trees for the suspension of their

nests.

Sometimes the nest is only made for incubation, sometimes it is intended merely as an arbor in which the male sits while the female incubates her eggs, and sometimes it consists of the nest and arbor united, producing a most curious effect. This "arbor," in fact, serves precisely the same purpose as the supplementary nest of the pinc-pinc and other birds which have already been described.

CHAPTER XIV.

PENSILE INSECTS.

The Hymenoptera.-Australian Insects.-The CREMATOGASTER and NEGRO-HEAD. -The GREEN ANT, its Habits and Nest.-An African Species.-Pensile Ants of America. The ABISPA and its remarkable Nest.-Ingenious Entrance.-The TATUA, or DUTCHMAN'S PIPE.-Structure and Shape of its Nest.-Firmness of the Walls.-Average Number of Cells in each Tier.-The common WASP as a Pensile Insect.- Gigantic Nest.- Union of three Colonies.- Character of the Wasp.-The NORWEGIAN WASP.-Structure and Locality of its Nest.-Classification of the Wasps.-The CAMPANULAR WASP and the NORTHERN WASP.-The CHARTERGUS, or PASTEBOARD WASP.-Mode by which the Nest is suspended.Method of Structure.-Meaning of the Name.-Enormous Nest from Ceylon.Various Wasp Nests.-The POLISTES as a Pensile Insect.-Singular Nest in the British Museum.-The GIBBOUS ANT.-Honey Wasps, the general Characteristics of their Nests.-The MYRAPETRA.-Its singular Nest.- Structure of the Walls and Use of the Projections.-The NECTARINIA.-Why so called.-Locality of the Nest.-Size of the Insect.-The TRIGONA and its Nest.-Ichneumon Flies. -Different Species of MICROGASTER, and their Habitations.-The PERILITUS.— Weevils.-Beautiful Cocoon of Cionus.-The EMPEROR MоTH and its Home.The ATLAS MOтH and other Silk Producers.-The HOUSE-BUILDER MOTH and its movable Dwelling.-The TIGER MOTH and its Hammock.-The CYPRESSSPURGE MOTH.-Various Leaf-rollers.-Suspended Cocoon.-LEAF-BURROWERS and their Homes.-The SPIDER.

WE now leave the birds, and proceed to the insects which make pensile nests. Some of them, such as those which will be first described, do not become pensile architects until they have attained their perfect state, while many others form their nests, either as a place of refuge during their larval life, or as an asylum in which they can rest while in the transition state of pupa.

Just as the Hymenoptera are the best burrowers, so are they the best insect artisans when the nests are suspended, and we shall therefore take them first in order. The reader will prob