TAILORING ANIMALS 



needle and grasses for threads will put together its pretty 

 pensile nest. But it has learned the superiority of arti- 

 ficial fibres; for strings, wrapping-cord, and silk and 

 cotton threads are freely appropriated and wrought 

 into the bag wherein her household treasures are 

 kept. 



The most striking achievement of birds in the sar- 

 torial line is perhaps that of the tailor bird, a small 

 Asiatic species. When tailor birds are house-hunting 

 they choose a plant with large leaves, say the size of a 

 man's hand, which they proceed to make into a bag 

 wherein to establish their nursery. They are said to 

 pluck the boll of the cotton-plant and actually to spin 

 it into thread with their bills and feet, and therewith 





A VIREO'S NEST, WOVEN AND BOUND WITH GATHERED SPIDER SILK 



literally sew together the edges of the chosen leaf. 

 This sack is filled with down and feathers, and therein 

 the female lays her eggs and rears her young. 

 This bit of avian tailoring, with its helpless birdlings 



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