Morning journal and courier., 1883-04-30
How a Bird Outyvitted the Monkeys.

"Of all the hanging nests, commend m
 to that made of grass by the baya sparrow e
 India It is enc of the most perfect bird houses I Know of, and seems only to need fire place to make it 8 real house. It is en tered through the long neck at the lower end The bed for the eggs rests in the bulb, or ex pansion at the middle of the nest, where there are actually two rooms, for the malt has perch divided off from the female by 8 little partition, where he may sit and sing to her in rainy weather, or when the sun shines very hot, and where he may rest st night. The walls are firm lattice-work of grass neatly woven together, which permits the air to pass through, but does not allow the birds to be seen. The whole nest is from fourteen to eighteen inches long, and six inches wide at the thickest part. It is hung low over the water,-why, we shall present ly see,-and it's only entrance IS through the hanging neck.
 s.Why do birds build hanging nests
 tsThose birds that do make hanging nests, undoubtedly do it because they think them the safest Birds egg are delicacies on the bill of fare of several animals, and are eager Iy sought by them. Snakes, for instance, live almost entirely upon them, during the month of June; squirrels eat them, raccoons also, and opossums, cats, rats and mice. But none of these animals could creep out to the pliant, wavy ends of the willow branches or elm twigs, and cling there long enough to get at the contents of Baltimore orioles nest.
 'sIn the country where the baya sparrow lives, there are snakes and opossums. and all the rest of the egg-eaters and in addition there are troops of monkeys, which are more to be feared than all the rest together. Mon keys are wonderfully expert climbers, from whom the eggs, in an ordinary open-top pouch nest, like the orioles, would not be secure for if they can get anywhere near' It. Ak,aS. f1nOeFG down inside the nest. The baya sparrow discovered this, and learned to bulld nest ipclosed on all sides, and to enter 1t from underneath by a neck too long for monkey to conveniently reach up through Beside this. she took the precaution to hang 1t out which she thought no robber would dare trust himself. But she found that the mon- keys knew a trick worth two O that They would go to higher limb which was strong, ond one would let himself down from it, grasping it firmly with his hands; then an other monkey would crawl down and hold on to the heels of the first one, another would go below him, and so on until several were hanging to each other, and the lowest one could reach the spaFrow's treasures. He would eat them all himself, and then one by one they would climb mp over each other and last of all the tired first one, who had been holding up the weight Of all the rest, would get up, too, ana all Woubo Ro enoiShy of in search of fresh under, which, sup. pose, would be given to different one. the rest making a ladder for him as before-
 'sNow the cunning baya sparrow saw way to avoid even this dangerous trickery. She knew that there was nothing monkey hated so terribly as to get his sleek coat wet. He would rather go hungry So she hung her nest O yer the water close to the surface, and the agile thieves do not dare make chain long enough to enable the last~one to reach up into her nest from below, as he must do, for fear that the springy branches might bend SO far as to souse them into the water.
 ''The sparrow has fairly eutSitted the monkey !"-Ernest Ingersoll in "CuEious Items About Birds, P May St. Nicholas.