A NATURALIST IN CEYLON WOOD 527 



plants and animals that make up the life of the Lanka Forest, but 

 of all the jungle areas I have visited throughout the Tropics it has 

 charmed me most. 



Tlie birds peculiar to Ceylon are now being pictured from draw- 

 ings^ by Mr. G. M. Henry and as this beautiful atlas is issued by the 

 Government at a very Jow price I shall say nothing further about 

 them. 



Of all the nest-builders the Indian tailor bird {OrthotoTnus s. 

 sutorius, also known as SutoHus s. sutoria) holds first rank. In the 

 Smithsonian Annual Report for 1925 I thought I had described all 

 the typical nests but a glance at the accompanying plates w.ill show 

 my error. Additional studies of these wonderful structures con- 

 vince me that nidification forms are almost endless. Indeed, the 

 finest example of the sewing, stitching, and suturing these little 

 birds are capable of was sent me a short time ago by a lady in 

 Kandy. It is made of four hibiscus leaves — probably H. rosa- 

 sinensis — three of them fairly large and in their normal site on the 

 tree, and the fourth smaller, inverted and used to fill the space be- 

 tween the others. Roughly, the nest mass is 6V2 inches long, with 

 transverse diameters of 3 and 31/2 ,inches, respectively. The open- 

 ing at the upper part of the nest is quite patent and must have been 

 readily reached by the birds. 



Miss Le Marchant, of Kandy, who discovered and gave me this 

 example, tells me that it was built about 4 feet from the ground 

 and was entirely hidden from view. The body of the nest is well 

 filled with the floss of Kapok {Enodendron anfractuosmn) or " silk 

 cotton," mixed with papyrus-like bark, vegetable (coconut?) fibers 

 and a few hairs. The nest cavity extended to the very bottom of 

 the structure and was carefully lined with kapok over an inter- 

 twining Jayer of fibrous material. The tailoring was mostly of the 

 tufted pattern, although here and there are evidences of genuine 

 sewing and stitching. 



Mr. N. K. Jardine of the Ceylon Department of Agriculture re- 

 cently noted an interesting instance of parasitism in this species which 

 is unique in the literature. As soon as a Loten's sunbird {Gyrtostomus 

 lotenius) had completed a nest, a pair of tailor birds took possession. 

 The female laid one o^gg therein, hatched it and raised a fledgling. 

 Was this a case of pure laziness on the part of the birds, or had they 

 failed in one or more previous efforts at nidification and, weary of 

 the fruitless struggle, decide to rent and not to build ? Who knows ? 



During my sojourn in Ceylon I found it politic to offer small re- 

 wards for gathering such plants and animals as I could induce the 

 indolent natives to collect. Among desiderata were nests of the In- 



1 Colored Plates of the Birds of Ceylon, 3 parts, 48 colored plates. Dulau & Co., 

 London. 1927. 



