NEXT we come to the projecting Eaves, like those of our houses, and serving to preserve the body of the edifice itself from wet. On the right hand of the illustration there is an example of the eaves as they are still to be seen in some of our country places, where the less picturesque slates have not yet superseded the old thatch. In some places these eaves extend considerably beyond the walls, and I know of several instances, especially in North Devon, where a supplementary set of eaves extends, like a penthouse, throughout the length of the building, and just above the windows of the ground-floor. The reader will remark that the projections upon the Myrapetra’s nest may very well fulfil the office of eaves as that of porches, and not only shelter the entrances, but serve to shoot the wet off the walls of the nest. * * * * * ON the left hand of the illustration are several instances of eaves as existing in Nature. In the centre is the compound nest of the Sociable Weaver-bird of Southern Africa (_Philetœrus socius_). This is a dwelling constructed very much after the fashion adopted by many hymenopterous insects, namely, that each pair of birds make their own individual nest, but unite with their companions in constructing a common roof or covering. More than three hundred nests have been found in a single habitation, and sometimes the birds miscalculate, or rather, do not calculate the resisting power of the branches, and, when the rainy season comes, the additional weight of water brings down the whole edifice with a great crash. [Illustration: DWELLING OF SOCIABLE WEAVER-BIRD, WITH THATCH.] [Illustration: THATCHED EGGS OF GOLD-TAILED MOTH.] [Illustration: THATCHED HOUSE.] The thatch which covers this congeries of nests is made of the Booschmannees-grass, whose long leaves and tough wiry stems are admirably adapted for throwing off water, even though they be not bound together like our more regularly constructed thatch. Perhaps the reader may be aware that in the Orang-outan, the Chimpansee, and other large apes, the hairs of the arms are very long, and point in different directions, so that if the creature should be caught in a rain-storm, and, after the manner of its kind, fold its arms on its breast, with the hands resting on the shoulders, the rain is shot clear of its body, the hairs performing the duty of eaves. Both Japan and China have a rain-cloak, constructed on exactly the same principle as the thatch of the Sociable Weaver-bird. They are nothing more than successive rows of long grass-blades fastened to a network of the proper shape. No amount of rain or snow can wet them through, and they have the advantage of being pervious to the exhalations of the body, though impervious to external moisture.