COBBLER OR TAILOR? 63 



My attitude towards its sewing was then that of the 

 child who sings — 



Twinkle, twinkle, little star. 

 How I wonder what you are ! 



To-day I can boast with the learned astronomer — 



Twinkle, twinkle, little star. 

 Now we all know what you are ! 



for I have found out how the bird does its sewing. 



Some months ago Mr. G. A. Pinto, a very keen 

 ornithologist, informed me that a tailor-bird built regu- 

 larly every year in the verandah in front of his drawing- 

 room window. He told me that he had never thought 

 of watching the stitching operation, and was much 

 surprised when I informed him that, so far as I knew, 

 no one had ever observed the complete process. He 

 said that as the bird would undoubtedly begin building 

 shortly, he would follow the whole process from the 

 other side of the window. He was as good as his word. 

 It is thanks to his patient watching that I am in a 

 position to pen this article. Towards the end of May 

 the hen tailor-bird began "prospecting" for a likely site, 

 for the hen alone works at the nest, and selected a 

 Dracana plant on the left-hand side of the entrance to 

 the verandah. One of the leaves of the plant was so 

 curved that its terminal half was parallel with the 

 ground. Upon this she commenced operations. The 

 first thing she did was to make with her sharp little 

 beak a number of punctures along each edge of the leaf. 

 In this particular case the punctures took the form of 

 longitudinal slits, owing to the fact that the veins of the 



