46 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA. 



song seem to a great extent to replace each other ; 

 •the songlessness of beautiful birds is aknoat 

 proverbial. And similarly songsters do not seem to 

 run to architecture, and vice versa ; the tailor and 

 weaver are more remarkable for noise than melody, 

 and the nightingale, with twenty centuries of 

 reputation for music, is but a poor nest-constructor 

 compared with many humbler birds. Another curious 

 fact is that clever birds of any sort display the 

 infirmities of genius in a most marked way by having 

 nasty tempers ; song birds are generally solitary, 

 and a weaver colony admirably exemplifies the 

 definition of a sociable animal as one which always 

 sits within quarrelling distance of another. I fear 

 that Durzee, although belonging to a profession 

 usually credited with peaceful proclivities, comes 

 under this uadictment. He is certainly only about 

 the ninth part of a bird, but one never sees two 

 Tailor-birds together, unless they are husband and 

 wife or members of a family ; and oftener the little 

 artist is alone. Herein probably is the reason why 

 with habits so well calculated to preserve his species, 

 he is not more common ; two of a trade never agree, 

 and Durzee, like cock robin, has doubtless long ago 

 learnt that a private pitch is the first necessity of 

 life, and that after a time even the little apprentices 

 must be compelled to move into the next street. 



