[f. TAILOR sb. + BIRD.] One of a number of species of Asiatic passerine singing birds, belonging to the genera Orthotomus, Prinia, Sutoria, etc., which stitch together the margins of leaves with cotton, etc., so as to form a cavity for their nest. Originally applied to a particular species (Motacilla sutoria of Pennant, now variously called Orthotomus sutorius, Sutoria longicauda, or S. sutoria) of India and Ceylon.
1769. Pennant, Ind. Zool., 7. Motacilla Sutoria. The Tailor Bird.
1813. J. Forbes, Oriental Mem., I. 49. The tailor-bird of Hindostan; so called from its instinctive ingenuity in forming its nest, it … 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 together to conceal its nest.
1870. Gillmore, trans. Figuier’s Reptiles & Birds, 183. The nest of the Tailor Bird is placed in a large leaf, the margins of which are sewn together so as to form a bag.
1876. Grant, Hist. India, I. xxxii. 170/1.
1895. Newton, Dict. Birds, 943. Species of Tailor-birds more or less nearly allied are found throughout the greater part of the Indian Region.
