"The Tailor-bird breeds, I fancy, at least twice in the year, as I
have seen young birds early in the hot weather both at Mount Aboo
and in Deesa, and I have also taken nests in the rains. The nest is
usually constructed with much skill and ingenuity. One nest which I
took on the 3rd September at Mount Aboo consisted of three leaves
cleverly sewn together with raw cotton, leaving a moderate-sized
entrance on one side near the top, the inside being lined exclusively
with horsehair and fine dry fibres.
"I captured the hen bird with a horsehair noose fixed to the end of a
long thin rod as she left the nest. Another nest which I took in Deesa
on the 3rd September, 1876, was composed almost entirely of raw cotton
with a scanty lining of horsehairs and dry grass-stems. It was fixed
to the outside twigs of a lime-tree, two of the leaves of which were
sewn to it; two dead leaves were also attached to the nest, one being
sewn on each side as a support to the cotton. It was cup-shaped and
open at the top, much like a Chaffinch's nest."
Mr. Oates remarks:--"This is a common bird in Burma in the plains, and
possibly also on the hills, though I did not observe it on the latter.
I found the nest of this species containing young birds in the
Thayetmyo cantonment on the 12th August. In the Pegu plains it appears
to nest from the middle of May to the end of August."
The eggs are typically long ovals, often tapering much towards the
small end. The shells are very thin, delicate, and semi-transparent,
and have but little gloss.
The ground-colour is either reddish white or pale bluish green. Of the
two types, the reddish white is the more common in the proportion
of two to one. The markings consist of bold blotchings or sometimes
ill-defined clouds (in this respect recalling the eggs of _Prinia
inornata_,) chiefly confined to the large end; and specks, spots, and
splashes, extending more or less over the whole surface, typically of
a bright brownish red, varying, however, in different examples both
in shade and intensity. The markings have a strong tendency to form a
bold, irregular zone or cap at the large end, and in some specimens
the markings are entirely confined to this portion of the egg's
surface.
The eggs, which have a reddish-white ground, though smaller and of
a much more elongated shape, closely resemble those of _Suya
fuliginosa_.
In length the eggs vary from 0·6 to 0·7, and in breadth from 0·45 to
0·5; but the average of fifty eggs measured is 0·64 by 0·46.