Mr. Blyth says that this species is “remarkable for the beautiful construction of its nest, sewing together a number of growing stems and leaves of grass, with a delicate pappus which forms also the lining, and laying four or five translucent white eggs, with reddish-brown spots, more numerous and forming a ring at the large end, very like those of Orthotomus sutorius.  It abounds in suitable localities throughout the country.”

I must here note that Mr. Blyth never paid special attention to eggs, or he would have hardly said this, because the character of the markings are essentially different.  Those of the Tailor-bird are typically blotchy, of the present species speckly.

Colonel W. Vincent Legge writes to me from Ceylon that “in the Western Province it breeds from May until September, and constructs its nest either in paddy-fields or in guinea-grass plots attached to bungalows.”

The nest is so beautiful and so neatly constructed that perhaps a short description of it will not be out of place.  A framework of cotton or other fibrous material is formed round two or three upright stalks, about 2 feet from the ground, the material being sewn into the grass and passed from one stalk to the other until a complete net is made.  This takes the bird from one to two days to construct[A].  Several blades, belonging to the stalks round which the cotton is passed, are then bent down and interlaced across to form a bottom on which, and inside the cotton network, a neat little nest of fine strips of grass torn off from the blade is built; this is most beautifully lined with cotton or other downy substance, which appears to be plastered with the saliva of the bird, until it takes the appearance and texture of soft felt.

[Footnote A:  Numbers of these birds used to build in a guinea-grass field attached to my bungalow at Colombo, and I had full opportunity of watching the construction of the nest on many occasions.—­W.V.L.]

“The average dimensions of the interior or cup are 2 inches in depth by 11/4 in breadth.  The whole structure is generally completed in about five days, and the first egg laid on the fifth or sixth day from the commencement.  The number of eggs varies from two to four, most nests containing three.  The time of incubation is, as a rule, from nine to eleven days.

“I have found but little variation in the eggs of this species either as regards size or colour.  They are white or pale greenish white, spotted and blotched in a zone round the larger end with red and reddish grey, a few spots extending towards the point:  axis 0.63 inch; diameter 0.51 inch.

“From close observation I can certify that this and many other small birds do not here sit during the daytime.  I scarcely ever found a Cisticola on the nest between sunrise and sunset,”

Colonel E.A.  Butler writing from Deesa says:—­“The Rufous Fantail-Warbler breeds in the plains during the monsoon, making a long bottle-shaped nest of silky-white vegetable down, with an entrance at the top, in a tuft of coarse grass a few inches from the ground.  I have taken nests on the following dates:—­