Nests in Trees 



are firmly bound together. Then, working from below 

 upwards, further additions of reed and tough grasses are 

 cleverly interwoven with the supporting reeds, which act as 

 scaffold poles. Eventually the little nest is completed, and 

 a marvellous structure it is. 



Anyone who has watched reeds blown and bent now here 

 now there even in a slight wind must wonder that any 

 bird should select so frail a support for its nest. The reed- 

 warbler, however, builds a nest that is proof against all 

 but the most violent storms, for it is remarkably deep for 

 its size and, as it sways in the wind till it lies almost 

 horizontally, the eggs ride securely in its depths and are 

 in no danger of falling out. 



Before we pass to the consideration of birds' eggs and 

 their peculiarities we must, perforce, mention one skilled 

 architect if only for the fact that its activities are so ex- 

 traordinary and so different from those of all other birds. 

 We refer to the tailor-bird of India. This little bird 

 tailored its leaves long years before man wore clothes. We 

 wonder if man learned the art from this humble bird as he 

 admittedly has done in other cases from other animals 

 lower in the scale than himself. 



The tailor-bird builds its white, cottony nest either in the 

 folds of a single leaf or between two or more. Whether 

 one or more leaves are used, it is necessary for the bird to 

 make a funnel to hold its nest. To accomplish this, either 

 the two edges of a large leaf must be fastened together or 

 the edges of more than one leaf must be joined, and the 

 bird accomplishes this by sewing the leaves. Using its 

 beak as a needle, it bores a number of holes along either 

 edge of the chosen leaf; then, having provided itself with 

 thread, in the shape of plant fibres, with beak and feet it 

 brings the two edges together and sews them up. Some 

 of these birds take the greatest care in sewing their leaves 

 from tip to base, others insert a few threads here and 

 there, but in any event the result is the same : the original 

 flat leaf is fashioned into a cone. Should the bird not 



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