Tailorbirds are small

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s, most belonging to the genus ''Orthotomus''. While they were often placed in the

Old World warbler The Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. They are not closely related to the New World warblers. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxo ...

family Sylviidae, recent research suggests they more likely belong in the

Cisticolidae The family Cisticolidae is a group of about 160 warblers, small passerine birds found mainly in warmer southern regions of the Old World. They were formerly included within the Old World warbler family Sylviidae. This family probably originated ...

and they are treated as such in Del Hoyo et al. One former species, the mountain tailorbird (and therefore also its sister species rufous-headed tailorbird), is actually closer to an old world warbler genus '' Cettia''. They occur in the

Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...

tropics, principally in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. These warblers are usually brightly colored, with green or grey upper parts and yellow white or grey under parts. They often have chestnut on the head. Tailorbirds have short rounded wings, short tails, strong legs and long curved bills. The tail is typically held upright, like a

wren Wrens are a family, Troglodytidae, of small brown passerine birds. The family includes 96 species and is divided into 19 genera. All species are restricted to the New World except for the Eurasian wren that is widely distributed in the Old Worl ...

. They are typically found in open woodland, scrub 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 Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

's web to make a cradle in which the actual grass nest is built. Tailorbird baby

Species

The genus contains 13 species: Two species moved to the Cettiidae: * Mountain tailorbird, ''Phyllergates cucullatus'' * Rufous-headed tailorbird, ''Phyllergates heterolaemus''

References

Bibliography

* The New Student's Reference Work/Tailor-Bird * Baker, Kevin. ''Warblers of Europe, Asia and North Africa''. (2007). * Ryan, Peter (2006). Family Cisticolidae (Cisticolas and allies). Pp. 378–492 in del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Christie, D.A. (editors). (2006). ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...

''. Volume 11. Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers''.

Lynx Edicions Lynx Nature Books, based in Barcelona, is a publishing company specializing in ornithology and natural history. The company was founded in 1989. It was formerly named Lynx Edicions. History Lynx Nature Books was founded as Lynx Edicions in Barce ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

External links

Call of the common tailorbird
{{Taxonbar, from=Q18340387 Cisticolidae Birds of Southeast Asia