THE TAILOR BIRD. 
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thoiomns longicaudus. The manner in which it constructs its 
pensile nest is very singular. Choosing a convenient leaf, gene- 
rally one which hangs from the end of a slender twig, it pierces 
a row of holes along each edge, using its beak in the same 
manner that a shoemaker uses his awl, the two instruments 
being very similar to each other in shape, though not in 
material. 
When the holes are completed, the bird next procures its 
thread, which is a long fibre of some plant, generally much 
longer than is needed for the task which it performs. Having 
found its thread, the feathered tailor begins to pass it through the 
holes, drawing the sides of the leaf towards each other, so as to 
form a kind of hollow cone, the point downwards. Generally a 
single leaf is used for this purpose, but whenever the bird cannot 
find one that is sufficiently large, it sews two together, or even 
fetches another leaf and fastens it with the fibre. Within the 
hollow thus formed the bird next deposits a quantity of soft 
white down, like short cotton wool, and thus constructs a warm, 
light, and elegant nest, which is scarcely visible among the 
leafage of the tree, and which is safe from almost every foe 
except man. 
The Tailor Bird is a native of India, and is tolerably familiar, 
haunting the habitations of man, and being often seen in the 
gardens and compounds, feeding away in conscious security. It 
seems to care little about lofty situations, and mostly prefers the 
ground, or lower branches of the trees, and flies to and fro with 
a peculiar undulating flight. Many species of the same genus 
are known to ornithologists. 
The tailor bird is not the only member of the feathered tribe 
which sews leaves together in order to form a locality for its 
nest. A rather pretty bird, the Fan-tailed Warbler ( Salicaria 
cisticold) has a similar method of action, though the nest cannot 
be ranked among the pensiles. 
This bird builds among reeds, sewing together a number of 
their flat blades in order to make a hollow wherein its nest may 
