Tailorbird

They occur in the Old World tropics, principally in Asia.

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

Taxonomy

The genus Orthotomus was introduced in 1821 by the American naturalist Thomas Horsfield to include a single species, Orthotomus sepium Horsfield, 1821, the olive-backed tailorbird. This is therefore the type species of the genus by monotypy. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ορθος/orthos meaning "straight" and τομευς/tomeus, τομεως/tomeōs meaning "knife" or "edge".