The Tailor-bird 



61 



Nest of the Tailor- bird (Suiori, 



(three-quarters natural size), from a 

 specimen in the British Museum, pro- 

 cured by Mr. E. W. Gates in Pegu. 



limits of the family Timeliidce 

 are somewhat arbitrary, and 

 many forms, such as the Tailor- 

 birds (Sutoria) now included 

 within its borders, may prove 

 to belong to other Families, 

 when a more intimate ac- 

 quaintance with their structure 

 and anatomy is attainable. 



Bulbuls and Cuckoo-Shrikes 

 are all much alike in their 

 ways of nesting and in the 

 type of eggs they lay, while of 

 the Swallows I have already 

 spoken. In the aberrant Pas- 

 seres of the New World the 

 nesting is characteristic in 

 some of the Families, but any 

 amount of difference in nest- 

 ing-habits is met with among 

 the Wood-hewers (Dendroco- 

 laptidce) and, though in a less 

 degree, among the Tyrant- 

 birds (Tyrannid(E). 



Certain large groups of birds, 

 however, lay characteristic eggs 

 and vary little in their method 

 of nesting. This is especially 

 the case with what are called 

 Picine or Woodpecker-like 

 Birds (Piciformes) and Picarian 

 Birds (Coraciiformes). Nearly 

 all of these discard a nest, but 

 lay their glossy white eggs in 

 the holes of trees or banks, 



