322 



LIFE, IN ITS HIGHER FORMS. 



vincially known as the Banana-bird (Icterus leucopteryx). 

 It is a deep purse, suspended by two opposite points of its 

 margin, between two parallel twigs of a tree, and composed 

 sometimes of horse hair, sometimes of long vegetable fibres 

 which can scarcely be distinguished from hair. " The 

 hairs or threads are procured one by one, and carried to 

 the selected spot, where they are deposited in a loose heap. 

 From this accumulated mass of material, the work is car- 

 ried on, and progresses rapidly when once begun. When 

 a few threads are laid and interlaced for the base, the work 

 becomes perceptible and interesting. Both birds work 

 together : one, taking a thread and weaving-in one end, 

 holds down the loose part with his beak, while his mate 

 takes the ends of others projecting, and lays them tightly 

 down over it, interweaving them with others. Other 

 threads are crossed in the same manner, in every direction, 

 until a slight but very compact purse is made, resembling 

 a loose cloth. As it hangs, the texture is so thin that a 

 person below can discern the eggs or young within." * 



An old lady in America, to whom Wilson was shewing 

 a similar nest to this, asked him, half in jest, half in earnest, 

 if he did not think it possible that birds might be taught 

 to darn stockings. There are some nests in the British 

 Museum, which half incline us to think that the owners 

 might learn to hem handkerchiefs. They are those of the 

 Tailor-bird of India (Orthotomus longicauda), a beautifully 

 plumaged member of the family of the Warblers. "It 

 first selects a plant with large leaves, and then gathers 

 cotton from the shrub, spins it to a thread by means of its 

 long bill and slender feet, and then, as with a needle, sews 



* ' ' Birds of Jamaica, " 228. 



