The Tailor-birds 221 



be abolished ! They lead to all kinds of mistakes and 

 differences of opinions, and are more trouble than they 

 are worth ! " 



The Tailor-birds, however, are more consistent in their 

 methods of nest-building. The nest (p. 161) is generally 

 made of fine cotton-wool, with occasionally a lining of hair 

 or grass-stems to keep it in shape, and enclosed in two or 

 more leaves stitched together with cobwebs, silk, thread, or 

 vegetable fibres. Sometimes a single large leaf is selected, 

 and the edges are stitched across so as to envelope the 

 nest. My friend, Mr. R. M. Adam, has told me that in his 

 compound at Agra these little birds were very common, 

 and he used to assist them in their nest-building by dis- 

 tributing thread of different colours at intervals, so that 

 sometimes all the leaves would be stitched together with 

 red cotton, the next week with white, and so on. 



The Hang-nests (Jcteridce) of the New World also make 

 nests of a similar pattern to those of the Weaver-birds, 

 which are, however, inhabitants of the old world only, being 

 plentiful in Africa and India. Some of the nests made by 

 the species of Icteridce are purse-like structures of coarse 

 fibre, with a long stocking-like entrance added thereto, but 

 some of the species, notably the Tinkler of Jamaica (Qm's- 

 calus crassirostris), make their nest of a curious conglo- 

 meration of rubbish at a considerable height above the 

 ground. A mass of fibre, sticks, horse-hair, paper, skeleton 

 leaves, grass, etc., is combined in the nest of the Tinkler, 

 and the wonderful specimen given to the British Museum 

 by Lady Blake was only obtained by severing the lofty 

 bough to which it was attached, by a rifle-shot. 



Considering the fact that Humming-birds are sometimes 

 described as birds of low intelligence, the ingenuity which 

 is shown in the construction of their nests is remarkable. 

 The tiny little cups of moss which they make are truly 

 beautiful, especially when they are decorated, as is usually 



