Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1883-05-23

waneth not sin; but he that refraineth
his lips is wise"
How Bird Outwitted the Monkeys
"Of all the hanging nests, commend
Inc to that made of grass by the baya
sparrow of India. 1t is one Of the
most perfect bird-houses l know of,
and seems only to need fireplace to
make it real house. 1t is entered
through the long neck at the lower
end. The bed for the eggs rests in the
bulb, or expansion at the middle of the
nest, where there are actually two
rooms, for the male has a perch divided
off from the female by 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 at
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 thlckest part 1t is hung
low over the water,-why, we shall
presently see,- and its only entrance
is through the hanging neck,
why do birds build hanging nestsf ?
Those birds that do make hanging
nests, undoubtedly do it because they
think them the safest. Birds eggs are
delicacies on the bill of fare of several
animals, and are eagerly sought by
them. Snakes, for instance, live almost
entirelyupon 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 plant, wavy ends of the
willow branches or elm twigs, and
cling there long enough to get at the
'ontents of Il Baltimore orioles nest
"In the country where the baya
sparrow lives, there are snakes and
Opossums, and all the rest of egg-eaters
and in addition there are troops OF
monkeys, which are more to be feared
than all the rest together. Monkeys
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 any
where near, they will reach their long,
slender fingers down inside the nest
The baya sparrow discovered this, and
learned to build nest inclosed on al
sides, and to enter it from underneath
by neck too long for a monkey to
conveniently reach up through. Beside
this, she took The precaution to hang
it out on the very tips of light branches,
upon which she thought no robber
lare trust himself. But she found
that the monkeys knew trick worth
two o'that.' They would go to higher
limb which was so strong, and one
would let himself down from it, grasp
ing it firmly with his hands; then
mother monkey would crawl down
md hold on to the heels of the first
one, another would go below him, and
50 on until several were hanging to
each other, and the lowest one could
reach the sparrow's treasures. He
would eat them all himself, and then
one by one they would climb up over
each other; land last of all the tired
first one, who had been holding up the
weight of all the rest, would get up,
too, and all would 60 noisily off in
search of fresh plunder, which, sup
pose, would be given to different one.
the rest making Il ladder for him as
before.
"Now the cunning baya sparrow
saw Il way to avoid even dangerous
.rickery. She knew that there was
nothing monkey hated so terribly as
10 get his sleek coat wet. He would
.ather go hungry. So she hung her
lcst over the water close to the surface,
md the agile thives do not dare make
chain enough to enable the last one
% reach up into her nest from below,l
Is he must do, for fear that the springY
branches might bend so far as to souse
them into the water.
"The sparrow has fairly outwitted
the monkey"