942 



S YRINX— TA IL OR- BIRD 



number of rings, semirings, muscles and membranes that enter into 

 the composition of the Syrinx. The essential requirement of a vocal 

 organ, the presence of vibratory membranes, can be met in many 

 ways ; but how these membranes act in particular, and how their 

 tension is modified by the often numerous muscles we do not know. 

 Various dilatations of the Trachea no doubt assist the modulation 

 of the voice, and the same may be said of the upper Larynx ; but 

 the Tongue plays no part in the voice of Birds, with the possible 

 exception of Parrots, and the slitting of that member or the cutting 

 of its frenum cannot possibly add to the faculty of articulation. 



TAILOR-BIRD, the Motacilla sidoria of Pennant, who in 1769 

 (Imlian Orn. p. 7, pi. viii.) described and figured its wonderful 

 nest,^ built in a cone which is formed by the sewing together of the 

 leaves of plants, as may be seen in alnaost every museum, and read 

 of in many books. A good summary of what has been "written on 

 the subject is given by Mr. Gates (Hume's Nests & Eggs, Ind. B. 



ed. 



pp. 231-235); but though the progress of building has 

 been Avatched and recoi'ded almost day by 

 day, few seem to have observed the birds 

 at work upon their fabric, and no one has 

 explained how they make the threads (when 

 they do make them) with which they sew, 



Obthotomus LONGIKOSTRIS.2 

 (After Swainson.) 



or the bunches at the ends acting as knots 



to hinder the thi-eads from being draAvn 

 out. The briefest account must here suflfice. 

 Of the common Indian Tailor-bird, Orthotomus sutorius or Sutoria 

 longicauda, Jerdon (B. Ind. ii. p. '166) Avrites that it "makes its nest 

 of cotton, wool and various other soft materials," and "draws 

 together one leaf or more, generally two leaves, on each side of the 

 nest, and stitches them together with cotton, either woven by itself, 



•^ He Avas wrongly informed as to what the bird was like, for he says it was 

 " light yellow," whereas it has a chestnut crown, tlie back of a bright olive-green, 

 and is white beneatli. The cock has the two middle tail-feathers elongated ; but 

 in the lien they do not surpass the rest. J. R. Forster, a dozen years later, 

 brought out a German version of Pennant's work (the original edition of which 

 was never completed), and therein referred (p. 17) to an earlier description of the 

 bird and its nest by Walter Schouten (Vay. Ind. Orient, ii. p. 513, pi. xv.) under 

 the name of " Tati ou Oiseau-mouche." 



'^ The figure was drawn from a specimen in the Paris Museum ; but Dr. Sharpe 

 (ut supra, p. 219, note) says he has " not succeeded in identifying " the species to 

 which it belonged. 



