700 



The Sparrow-like Birds 



repeated song. Of these, the Sedge Warbler (A. phragmitis) is a very well 

 known species, ranging over Europe and Asia as far north as the Yenisei and 

 spending the winter in Africa; it is a common and well-known bird in Eng- 

 land, being found where there are reed beds, willows, and bushy places near 

 watercourses. It is very active and rapid in its movements, and although not 

 exactly shy, it is hard to observe on account of its restlessness. "It breeds in 

 May in dense patches of aquatic herbage, and its nest, which is fastened to the 

 dense-growing stems of aquatic plants, is constructed of dry stems of grasses, 

 fine rootlets, and often a little moss, and is lined with fine bents, horsehair, 

 feathers, and sometimes wool; its four to six eggs are pale yellowish brown or 

 warm buff, closely dotted with dark brown." - DRESSER. 



Bush Warblers. Much less migratory are the so-called Bush Warblers 

 (Tribura), of which there are five Indian species and a number of others in 

 Africa and eastern Asia. They are all birds of plain plumage and have the 

 feathers especially soft and silky in texture. They frequent paddy-fields, stubble, 

 and places where there is abundant ground cover, and feed much upon the 

 ground. 



Tailor -birds. Not widely separated from the last are the celebrated Tailor- 

 birds, of which there are at least two genera (Sutoria and Orthotomus) and some 



seventeen species, 

 which range from 

 India, Ceylon, and 

 the Burmese coun- 

 tries through the 

 Malay Peninsula 

 to the Philippines. 

 More brightly 

 colored than any 

 of the Warblers 

 thus far considered, 

 the Tailor-birds are 

 chiefly remarkable 

 for the skill they 

 display in the con- 

 struction of their 

 nest, this being a 

 delicate little re- 

 ceptacle formed by 

 sewing the edges 

 of a leaf, or some- 

 times two leaves, together with plant fibers, the nest proper consisting of plant 

 down, hair, fine grass, etc. In the Indian Tailor-bird (Sutoria sutoria} the 

 length of the bird is about five inches, but in summer the male acquires very 

 much lengthened middle tail-feathers, which increase its length by some two 

 and a half inches; the plumage is mainly yellowish green above and dull 



FIG. 199. Indian Tailor-bird, Sutoria sutoria. 



