The Tailor-bird 



61 



Nest of the Tailor-bird (Sutoria sutoria), 

 (three-quarters natural size), from a 

 specimen in the British Museum, pro- 

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



limits of the family Timeliidcs 

 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 [Tyrannidcz). 



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, 



M 



