THE NEST OF THE INDIAN TAILOK BIRD 



By Casey A. Wood 



[With 5 plates! 



Very few people have actually found a nest of Orthotouius s. 

 sutoHus (also known as Sutotius s. sutoHa) — the Indian tailor bird. 

 After reading one of the numerous descriptions of this wonderful 

 structure published any time during the past century, the impres- 

 sion is gained that its discovery is an everyday occurrence. Investi- 

 gation, however, reveals the fact that those who have lived for a long 

 time in a compound where these pretty little wren-like birds are seen 

 every day and in whose gardens they are laiown to breed, have never 

 discovered a nest or even the tree where it was built. A number of 

 amateur ornithologists who have studied the habits of these birds 

 have told me that they failed to find the nests in spite of a careful 

 search for them. To emphasize this peculiarity the birds seemed 

 quite tame and raised one or more yearly broods under their very 

 eyes. 



The well-known writer on natural history, Capt. W. W. A. Phil- 

 lips, to whom I am indebted for one of the nests figured in this 

 paper, writes me, " This is the first tailor bird's nest I have found 

 during a residence of nine years in Ceylon. The species is common 

 enough but is such an adept at concealing its nest tliat it is very diffi- 

 cult to find it. The sample I sent you was discovered only because 

 I observed the birds frequently in the vicinity of the bush." 



The main reason that the nest is difficult to find is that it is built 

 in the midst of thick foliage which is very little disturbed by the 

 operation of nest building. In consequence it is almost impossible to 

 separate, visually, the components of the nest from the surrounding 

 leaves. Moreover — and this is important — the leaves used by the 

 bird are always apposed so that only their upper surfaces are ex- 

 posed. There is no contrasting of upper and under surfaces to at- 

 tract the eye. Nor is there generally any alteration in the direction 

 of the leaves ; if they have a natural downward disposition, the nest 

 is also pendent. If the foliage stands out horizontally the nest 

 shows the same direction. To complete this camouflage, perforation 

 of the leaf by the bird's beak rarely kills it, so that there is little or 

 no dead foliage to indicate the probable whereabouts of the nest. A 



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