A COUPLE OF NEGLECTED CRAFTSMEN 221 



structure, composed exclusively of grass or strips of 

 leaves of monocotyledonous plants which the bird tears 

 off with its bill. These strands are invariably very 

 narrow, and are sometimes less than one-twentieth of 

 an inch in breadth. The nest may be described as an 

 egg-shaped purse, some five or six inches in depth and 

 three in width, with an entrance at one side, near the 

 top. It is devoid of any lining, and its texture puts 

 one in mind of a loosely made loofah. The nest is 

 sometimes attached to two or more stalks of corn, or 

 more commonly it is found among the long grasses 

 which are so abundant in India. When the nest is 

 built in a cornfield the birds have to bring up their 

 family against time. They are unable to begin nest- 

 building until the corn is fairly high, and must, if the 

 young are to be safely started in life, have brought them 

 to the stage when they are able to leave the nest by the 

 time the crop is cut. 



In India nearly every field of ripe corn has its family 

 of wren-warblers ; the two parents flit about, followed 

 by a struggling family of four. These little birds do 

 not by any means always defeat time. Numbers of 

 their nests containing half-fledged young are mown 

 down at every harvest by the reaper's sickle. The nest 

 is woven in a manner similar to that adopted by the 

 baya ; the cock and hen in each case work in combina- 

 tion. Its texture is looser than that of the more famous 

 weaver, but it is not less neatly put together. In it are 

 deposited four or five pretty little green eggs, marked 

 with brown blotches and wavy lines. 



Our second neglected craftsman is a tailor. It sews 



