THE TAILOR BIRD. 125 



thotomus longicaudus. The manner in which it constructs its 

 pensile nest is very singular. Choosing a convenient leaf, gene- 

 rally one which hangs from the end of a slender twig, it pierces 

 a row of holes along each edge, using its beak in the same 

 manner that a shoemaker uses his awl, the two instruments 

 being very similar to each other in shape, though not in 

 material. 



When the holes are completed, the bird next procures its 

 thread, which is a long fibre of some plant, generally much 

 longer than is needed for the task which it performs. Having 

 found its thread, the feathered tailor begins to pass it through the 

 holes, drawing the sides of the leaf towards each other, so as to 

 form a kind of hollow cone, the point downwards. Generally a 

 single leaf is used for this purpose, but whenever the bird cannot 

 find one that is sufficiently large, it sews two together, or even 

 fetches another leaf and fastens it with the fibre. Within the 

 hollow thus formed the bird next deposits a quantity of soft 

 white down> like short cotton wool, and thus constructs a warm, 

 light, and elegant nest, which is scarcely visible among the 

 leafage of the tree, and which is safe from almost every foe 

 except man. 



The Tailor Bird is a native of India, and is tolerably familiar, 

 haunting the habitations of man, and being often seen in the 

 gardens and compounds, feeding away in conscious security. It 

 seems to care little about lofty situations, and mostly prefers the 

 ground, or lower branches of the trees, and flies to and fro with 

 a peculiar undulating flight. Many species of the same genus 

 are known to ornithologists. 



The tailor bird is not the only member of the feathered tribe 

 which sews leaves together in order to form a locality for its 

 nest. A rather pretty bird, the Fan-tailed Warbler (Salicaria 

 cisticola) has a similar method of action, though the nest cannot 

 be ranked among the pensiles. 



This bird builds among reeds, sewing together a number of 

 their flat blades in order to make a hollow wherein its nest may 



