THE BLACK-NECKED TAILOB-BIRD 
Orthotomus atrogHhris {Temm,) 
Description:— Th^ top of the head chestnut, the upper 
parts greeiij lower parts white with the throat and fore-neck 
black. 
The female has no black on the throat, etc, and young 
males often have these parts not wholly black bat streaked 
with white. 
The irides are yellowish-brown and the bill and feet brown. 
This small species is usually about 4i to 5 inches in length 
and has a wing of approximately i| inches. 
Distribution : — The black-necked tailor-bird is found from 
Northern India to Annam atid t' ence southward to Sumatra and 
Borneo. 
Status in Singapore: — One of the common garden birds 
of the island and a cheery little fellow usually seen flitting about 
the bushes in a confiding manner in well-poptdated places. 
Other habits The tailor-birds of course owe their trivial 
name to the skill with which they construct their nests. A 
large leaf is curled round and the edges drawn together by 
means of regular stitches of fibre » or any convenient sewing 
material that happens to be handy when nest building is in 
process. 
Within the neat receptable thus formed the actual nest is 
placed. In some nests in the Raffles Museum (although we 
are by no means sure that they belong to 0, airogwlaris) the 
receptable is formed not of one large curled leaf, but of two 
leaves stitched together at the edges. One has to examine a 
tailor-birds nest to appreciate the ingenuity showm in its con- 
struction. In some examples the tailoring is better than in 
others, but all show the holes made along the edges of the 
leaf through which is threaded the substitute for the tailor's 
thread. 
[195] 
