THE TAILOR-BIRD 



" A wren, light rustling 

 Among the leaves and twigs." 



WERE a census taken of the birds of 

 Madras, the crows would come easily 

 first on the list ; but there would be 

 keen competition between the mynas 

 and the tailor-birds for the second place, and I should 

 hesitate to say whether the sparrows or the king-crows 

 would establish a right to the fourth place, a long way 

 behind the third. Abundant though they be, tailor- 

 birds are unknown to quite a number of people. It is 

 not that they avoid the public gaze or shun the 

 "madding crowd." Far from it. The tailor-bird is 

 essentially a creature of garden and verandah ; but he 

 is not arrayed in gay plumage and is very small, so 

 fails to attract the eye. His feathers are of sober hue, 

 but he makes up with vivacity what he lacks in brilliance 

 of plumage. 



Little folks tend to be more vivacious than big ones. 

 The reason of this is, I suppose, that the little people 

 have less bulk of body to keep going, and consequently 

 have a larger stock of surplus energy. It is as well 



