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The common tailorbird (''Orthotomus sutorius'') is a
songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 500 ...
found across tropical Asia. Popular for its nest made of leaves "sewn" together and immortalized by
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
as ''Darzee'' in his ''
Jungle Book
''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who ...
'', it is a common resident in urban gardens. Although shy birds that are usually hidden within vegetation, their loud calls are familiar and give away their presence. They are distinctive in having a long upright tail, greenish upper body plumage and rust coloured forehead and crown. This
passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
is typically found in open farmland, scrub, forest edges and gardens. Tailorbirds get their name from the way their nest is constructed. The edges of a large leaf are pierced and sewn together with plant fibre or spider silk to make a cradle in which the actual nest is built. Punjab tailor birds produce shiny red eggs, but became extinct around 1975 due to laying their eggs in fields used to grow fodder crops.
Taxonomy and systematics
The scientific name ''sutorius'' means "cobbler" rather than "tailor" while ''Orthotomus'' means "straight-cutting".
[
The species was earlier placed in the family ]Sylviidae
Sylviidae is a family of passerine birds that includes the typical warblers and a number of babblers formerly placed within the Old World babbler family. They are found in Eurasia and Africa.
Taxonomy and systematics
The scientific name Sylviid ...
but more recent molecular studies place the species within the family Cisticolidae, along with ''Prinia
Prinia is a genus of small insectivorous birds belonging to the passerine bird family Cisticolidae. They were at one time classed in the Old World warbler family, Sylviidae.
The prinias are sometimes referred to as wren-warblers. They are a ...
'' and ''Cisticola
__NOTOC__
Cisticolas (pronounced ''sis-TIC-olas'') are a genus of very small insectivorous birds formerly classified in the Old World warbler family Sylviidae, but now usually considered to be in the separate family Cisticolidae, along with other ...
''.
A number of subspecies are recognized within its widespread range in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
* ''O.s. sutorius'': Lowlands of Sri Lanka
* ''O.s. fernandonis'': Highlands of Sri Lanka
* ''O.s. guzuratus'': Indian peninsula, West to Pakistan
* ''O.s. patia'': The Terai of Nepal along the Himalayan foothills until Myanmar. A small population of ''O. s. patia'' is also found in the northern Eastern Ghats (Wangasara).
* ''O.s. luteus'': Hills of Northeast India
* ''O.s. inexpectatus'' and ''O.s. maculicollis'': Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam
* ''O. s. inexpectatus'' and ''O. s. maculicollis:'' South east China, including the island of Hainan
* ''O. s. longicauda'': Tonkin in Vietnam
* ''O. s. edela'': Java
Description
The common tailorbird is a brightly coloured bird, with bright green upperparts and creamy underparts. They range in size from and weigh . They have short rounded wings, a long tail, strong legs and a sharp bill with curved tip to the upper mandible. They are wren
Wrens are a family of brown passerine birds in the predominantly New World family Troglodytidae. The family includes 88 species divided into 19 genera. Only the Eurasian wren occurs in the Old World, where, in Anglophone regions, it is commonly ...
-like with a long upright tail that is often moved around. The crown is rufous and the upperparts are predominantly olive green. The underside is creamy white. The sexes are identical, except that the male has long central tail feather
Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier ...
s in the breeding season, although the reliability of sexing data accompanying museum specimens used in determining this sexual dimorphism has been questioned. Young birds are duller.[ When calling, the dark patches on the sides of the neck become visible. These are due to the dark pigmented and bare skin that are present in both sexes and sometimes give the appearance of a dark gorget.]
Behaviour and ecology
Like most warblers, the common tailorbird is insectivorous
A robber fly eating a hoverfly
An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects.
The first vertebrate insectivores were ...
. The song is a loud ' with variations across the populations. The disyllabic calls are repeated often.[ Tailorbirds are found singly or in pairs, usually low in the undergrowth or trees, sometimes hopping on the ground. They forage for insects and have been known to feed on a range of beetles and bugs. They are attracted to insects at flowers and are known to favour the inflorescences of mango. They also visit flowers such as those of '']Bombax
''Bombax'' is a genus of mainly tropical trees in the mallow family. They are native to western Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and the subtropical regions of East Asia and northern Australia. It is distinguished from the genu ...
'', '' Salmalia'' for nectar and are sometimes covered in pollen, giving them a golden-headed appearance.[
The birds roost alone during the non-breeding season but may roost side-by-side during the breeding season, sometimes with the newly fledged juvenile sandwiched between the adults. The roost sites chosen are thin twigs on trees with cover above them and were often close to human habitation and lights.
]
Breeding
The breeding season is March to December peaking from June to August in India, coinciding with the wet season. In Sri Lanka the main breeding periods are March to May and August to September, although they can breed throughout the year.
Although the name is derived from their nest construction habit, the nest is not unique and is also found in many ''Prinia
Prinia is a genus of small insectivorous birds belonging to the passerine bird family Cisticolidae. They were at one time classed in the Old World warbler family, Sylviidae.
The prinias are sometimes referred to as wren-warblers. They are a ...
'' warblers. The nest is a deep cup, lined with soft materials and placed in thick foliage and the leaves holding the nest have the upper surfaces outwards making it difficult to spot. The punctures made on the edge of the leaves are minute and do not cause browning of the leaves, further aiding camouflage. The nest lining of a nest in Sri Lanka that was studied by Casey Wood was found to be lined with lint from ''Euphorbia'', ''Ceiba pentandra
''Ceiba pentandra'' is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and the family Malvaceae (previously emplaced in the family Bombacaceae), native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, and (as the variety ''C. pentandr ...
'' and ''Bombax malabaricum
''Bombax ceiba'', like other trees of the genus '' Bombax'', is commonly known as cotton tree. More specifically, it is sometimes known as Malabar silk-cotton tree; red silk-cotton; red cotton tree; or ambiguously as silk-cotton or kapok, both of ...
'' species. Jerdon wrote that the bird made knots, however no knots are used. Wood classified the processes used by the tailorbird in nest as sewing, rivetting, lacing and matting. In some cases the nest is made from a single large leaf, the margins of which are rivetted together. Sometimes the fibres from one rivet are extended into an adjoining puncture and appearing more like sewing. The stitch is made by piercing two leaves and drawing fibre through them. The fibres fluff out on the outside and in effect they are more like rivets. There are many variations in the nest and some may altogether lack the cradle of leaves. One observer noted that the birds did not utilize cotton that was made available while another observer, Edward Hamilton Aitken
Edward Hamilton Aitken (16 August 1851, in Satara, India – 11 April 1909, in Edinburgh) was a civil servant in India, better known for his humorist writings on natural history in India and as a founding member of the Bombay Natural History Soc ...
, was able to induce them to use artificially supplied cotton. The usual clutch is three eggs.
The incubation period is about 12 days. Both male and female feed the young. Mortality of eggs and chicks is high due to predation by rodents, cats, crow-pheasants, lizards and other predators.[ The young birds fledge in about 14 days. The female alone incubates according to some sources, while others suggest that both sexes incubate; however, both parents take part in feeding and sanitation. The males are said to feed the incubating female.][ An unusual case of a pair of tailorbirds adopting chicks in an artificially translocated nest belonging to a different pair has been recorded. Nests are sometimes parasitized by the ]Plaintive Cuckoo
The plaintive cuckoo (''Cacomantis merulinus'') is a species of bird belonging to the genus ''Cacomantis'' in the cuckoo family Cuculidae. It is native to Asia, from India, Nepal and China to Indonesia.
Description
The plaintive cuckoo is fai ...
('' Cacomantis merulinus'').[
]
In culture
"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" is a short story in the 1894 anthology ''The Jungle Book
''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and ...
", one of Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
's ''Jungle Book'' stories, includes a tailorbird couple, ''Darzee'' (which means "tailor" in Urdu) and his wife, as two of the key characters. Darzee's wife is said to have feigned injury, but this behaviour is unknown in this species. A classic book of children's folk tales in Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
by Upendrakishore Ray is titled "Tuntunir Boi", after the local name for the species, ''tuntuni''.[ ]
Gallery
File:Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) gleaning insects from Kapok (Ceiba pentandra) flower buds in Kolkata W IMG 3802.jpg, Foraging for insects in Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
, West Bengal, India
File:Orthotomus sutorius.jpg, Male of subspecies ''O. s. guzuratus'' with elongated central tail feather
Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier ...
s
File:Nest of tailorbird.jpg, Leaf holding the nest showing "rivets"
File:Eggs of Tailorbird inside of nest.jpg, View from above showing eggs
File:CommonTailorbird DSCN8947.jpg, Male with elongated central tail feathers singing showing dark bare skin under neck feathers
File:Tailorbird_roosting.jpg, Roosting tailorbird
File:Common Tailor Bird, Juvenile.jpg, Juvenile in Pallikaranai wetland
Pallikaranai wetland is a freshwater marsh in the city of Chennai, India. It is situated adjacent to the Bay of Bengal, about south of the city centre, and has a geographical area of . Pallikaranai marshland is the only surviving wetland ecos ...
, Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
References
Other sources
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External links
Internet Bird Collection
{{Taxonbar, from=Q795556
common tailorbird
The common tailorbird (''Orthotomus sutorius'') is a songbird found across tropical Asia. Popular for its nest made of leaves "sewn" together and immortalized by Rudyard Kipling as ''Darzee'' in his ''Jungle Book'', it is a common resident in ur ...
Birds of South Asia
Birds of South China
Birds of Southeast Asia
common tailorbird
The common tailorbird (''Orthotomus sutorius'') is a songbird found across tropical Asia. Popular for its nest made of leaves "sewn" together and immortalized by Rudyard Kipling as ''Darzee'' in his ''Jungle Book'', it is a common resident in ur ...
Taxa named by Thomas Pennant