only relinquish its hold when the victim has successfully counterfeited death from this cruel treatment. If not quite in the humour for such _active_ amusement, the Crimson Beak contents itself with pulling out the feathers of its playmates, who never seem to dream of opposing force to force, and quietly submit to all its persecutions. When confined with others of its own species, it is but little more conciliatory in its manners, squabbles and fighting appearing to form the principal diversion of the males, and even the females are not always exempted from the disagreeable results occasioned by the decidedly eccentric tempers of their mates. Their nests are suspended from the topmost branches of trees, and are constructed of various dry materials woven together while rendered flexible by the moisture sprinkled over them by the birds, who use their claws when fastening down the various parts, the beak at the same time doing its full share in carefully smoothing and arranging the fibres into a proper state of neatness and order. The little couple work together, apparently quarrelling the whole time; the male usually appropriates to himself the business of constructing the exterior, while the female is busy within, and the flexible stems employed being passed from one to the other. The nest when completed is round in shape, the front, where the entrance is situated, being somewhat straighter than the rest; the whole fabric resembles a nicely padded willow basket. The birds work for not more than three or four hours at a time, but so industriously that only about eight days are occupied in building their wonderfully beautiful home. * * * * * The TAHA may be selected as an example of a group of Weaver Birds distinguished by their black plumage. These birds have a few Abyssinian congeners also called Taha; in all of them the body is compact, the wings and tail small, and the beak short, strong, and conical; the upper mandible being slightly arched. The wings reach to the middle of the very short tail; the first quill is almost rudimentary, the third longest of all; the tail-feathers are of nearly equal length. THE TAHA.