Tailorbirds get their name from their habit of building nests by sewing or stitching leaves together using their long, pointed bill like a sewing needle. This is presumably the longer billed, paler subspecies O. s. guzuratus which is resident throughout most of peninsular India. It is replaced by brighter, shorter-billed races in NE India and by distinctive rusty browed races in Sri Lanka. Tailorbirds were formerly included with the Sylviidae warblers, but based on recent genetic data are now classified in the Cisticolidae, a group of mostly cryptic but highly vocal birds confined to the Old World.
A pair of Tailorbirds figures prominently in "Rikki-tikki-tavi," a children's story from "The Jungle Book" by Kipling. One of their babies falls out of the nest and is eaten by a Cobra named "Nag." Rikki-tikki, a young Mongoose exacts revenge.
Reference
Rasmussen & Anderton. 2012. Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions.
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