Each of these different kinds builds a nest of peculiar shape, and each chooses a material different from the others.

Some, as the _Ploceus icterocephalus_, make their nests of a kidney-shape, with the entrance upon the sides, and the latter not circular, but like an arched doorway.
Others of the genus _Plocepasser_ weave their nests in such a manner, that the thick ends of the stalks stick out all around the outside, giving them the appearance of suspended hedgehogs; while the birds of another genus closely allied to the latter, construct their nests of slender twigs, leaving the ends of these to project in a similar manner.
The "social gros-beak" (_Loxia socia_) fabricates a republic of nests in one clump, and all under one roof.

The entrances are in the under-surface of this mass, which, occupying the whole top of a tree, has the appearance of a haystack, or a dense piece of thatch.
All these weaver-birds, though of different genera, bear a considerable resemblance to each other in their habits.

They are usually _granivorous_, though some are _insectivorous_; and one species, the red-billed weaver-bird, (_Textor erythrorhynchus_), is a parasite of the wild buffaloes.
It is a mistake to suppose that weaver-birds are only found in Africa and the Old World, as stated in the works of many naturalists.

In tropical America, birds of this character are found in many species of the genera _Cassicus_ and _Icterus_, who weave pensile nests of a similar kind upon the trees of the Amazon and Orinoco.