36 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA. 



good specimen of a single-leaf nest in the Museum for any 

 one to see who has not met with an actual specimen ; but 

 the Tailor-bird's reputation is a century old in Europe, and 

 many people must have seen pictures giving more or less 

 of an idea of it and its abode. The young birds are cradled 

 for the most part in cotton- wool, of which the inner nest 

 is composed, and when they come out in the world are 

 charmingly tame little things, with a very strong likeness 

 to their parents, except that the chestnut cap which marks 

 the old birds is not so bright in the young ; although in 

 many warblers the young birds are actually brighter than 

 their parents while keeping the same pattern. 



The eggs are, according to Mr. Hume, from whom I take 

 my details about the nests, most remarkably variable, for 

 although always spotted with reddish brown, they may 

 have either a white or a bluish-green ground colour. But 

 as these two types do not occur in the same nest, it is very 

 probable that the disposition to produce eggs of one or 

 other colour ' ' runs in the family ' ' in certain strains of 

 Tailor-birds, just as a common duck has been known to 

 secure her destruction and that of her descendants (who 

 took after her) by laying eggs which always had yolks of the 

 very unappetising appearance of melted glue! There are 

 only three or four in the clutch, so thatDurzee has not to 

 work so hard for the family as Jenny Wren, who is wont to 

 resemble the traditional old lady who lived in a shoe in the 

 exuberance of her family. Presumably the reason for the 

 difference in two so similar birds is that the hanging cradle 

 won't accommodate safely more than a very limited num- 

 ber of infants, while the wren's nest in a hedge can be 



