CHAPTER XXII.
THE WEAVER BIRDS.
After the Mynas come the Fringillidæ, or Finches,
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the little seed-eating-birds which form so large a proportion of our cage pets. Jerdon divides them into several families, among which he gives the first place to the Weaver Birds. There are several species in India, but we know only one, Ploceus baya the Weaver Bird par excellence and the head of the clan. And we know it by its works: of itself few of us know much; most of us nothing. It is like Cheops, whose pyramid we gape at. Yet it were surely worth while to learn something of the marvellous little workman who weaves champagne bottles of grass and hangs them upside down on the trees so securely that two monsoons will not wash them away. That workman is a com-
