THE TAILOR-BIRD. 43 



work with. But probably both of the tailors work at. 

 their wonderful structure, which is simply a big living 

 leaf, or several, actually sewn into a rough bag for the 

 reception of the inner nest, with silk or fibre somehow 

 procured by the bird, passed through holes bored in 

 the leaves by its slender bill, and finished ofi at the end. 

 with what is said to be a knot. The nests vary very 

 much in construction as far as the details of tailoring 

 are concerned ; there may be, as above implied, one 

 leaf or many pressed into the service, and the thread 

 may be of cobweb, cocoon-silk, vegetable fibre, or 

 real sewing-thread pilfered from a verandah ; for 

 the Tailor-bird is one of the most familiar of our 

 birds, and is to be seen even in town, tamely hopping 

 about pot-plants a few feet from a room. 



Nevertheless, though broods have been often 

 brought off in the Museum compound, I have never 

 seen the nest in situ, and it is naturally not easy to 

 find. There is a 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 patt in cotfon-wool, of which 

 the inner neat is composed, and when they come out- 

 in the world are charmingly tame Httle things, with 



