49 
in the rainy season at Bombay, affords us a pleasant spectacle, as 
Avell as matter for admiration: for here is a bird, that is not only 
exquisitely curious in the artificial composure of its nest with hay, 
but furnished with devices and stratagems to secure itself and 
young ones from its deadly enemy, the squirrel; as likewise from 
the injury of the weather; which being unable to oppose, it eludes 
with this artifice, contriving the nest like a steeple-hive, with wind- 
ing meanders: before which hangs a penthouse for the rain to 
pass, tying it with so slender a thread to the bough of the tree, 
that the squirrel dare not venture his body, though his mouth 
water at the eggs and prey within; yet it is strong enough to bear 
the hanging habitation of the ingenious contriver, free from all the 
assaults of its antagonists, and all the accidents of gusts and storms: 
hundreds of these pendulous nests may be seen on one tree/’ 
Equally curious in the structure of its nest, and far superior in 
the variety and elegance of its plumage, is the tailor-bird of Hin- 
dostan; so called from its instinctive ingenuity in forming its nest: 
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, sows the leaves neatly to- 
gether to conceal its nest. The tailor bird (motacilla sutoria, Linn.) 
resembles some of the humming-birds at the Brazils, in shape and 
colour: the hen is clothed in brown; but the plumage of the cock 
displays the varied tints of azure, purple, green, and gold, so com- 
mon in those American beauties. Often have I watched the pro- 
gress of an industrious pair of tailor-birds in my garden, from their 
first choice of a plant, until the completion of the nest, and the 
enlargement of their young. How applicable are the following 
ii 
