2o6 I S L A N D O F G E Y L O N. 



Tauor-Bxrd. It is impoffible not to mention the tailor bird, Ind. Zool. 

 tab. viii, a warbler ; on account of its wonderful neft ; my own 

 account of its oeconomy, taken from the hidian Zoology^ P^ge 

 44, deferves attention. It is thus introduced : 



" Had Providence left the feathered tribe unendowed with 

 ** any particular inftin<5t, the birds of the torrid zone would 

 " have built their nefts in the fame unguarded manner as thofe 

 <* of Europe : but there, the leffer fpecies, having a certain 

 <* prefcience of the dangers that furround them, and of their 

 ** own weaknefs, fufpend their neft at the extreme branches of 

 *' the trees : they are confcious of inhabiting a climate replete 

 *' with enemies to them and their young; with fnakes that 

 ** twine up the bodies of the trees, and apes that are perpetu- 

 ** ally in fearch of prey ; but, heaven-inftru6led, they elude the 

 ** gliding of the one, and the a6tivity of the other. 



" The brute creation in the torrid zone, are more at enmity 

 *' with one another, than in other climates ; and the birds are 

 " obliged to exert unufual artifice in placing their little broods 

 ** out of the reach of an invader. Each aims at the fame end, 

 ** though by different means. Some form their penfile neft in 

 ** fhape of a purfe, deep, and open at top ; others, with a hole 

 " in the fide ; and others, ftill more cautious, with an entrance 

 " at the very bottom, forming their lodge near the fummit. 



" But the little fpecies we defcribe, feems to have greater 

 " diffidence than any of the others ; it will not truft its neft 

 " even to the extremity of a {lender twig, but makes one more 

 <* advance to fafety, by fixing it to the leaf itfelf. 



" It 



