tailor bird, noun phrase

Forms:
Also taylor bird.
Origin:
See quotation 1827.
obs.
The warbler Camaroptera brachyura brachyura of the Sylviidae.
Note:
In G.L. Maclean’s Roberts’ Birds of Sn Afr. (1993), the name ‘green-backed bleating warbler’ is used for this species.
1827 T. Philipps Scenes & Occurrences 69The taylor bird when making its nest hangs from the tree; the female supplies him with long grass with which he actually sews the nest, inserting his head as a needle and pulling it out again until his threading is used.
1899 R.B. & J.D.S. Woodward Natal Birds 29 (Pettman)When we discovered the nest of this little Warbler we christened it the Tailor bird. It well earns this title from its skill in the art of sewing.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 491Tailor bird, The Grahamstown name of Camaroptera olivacea. The name refers to the neat way in which this bird stitches the neighbouring leaves with fibres and cobwebs to its neatly made nest.
1923 Haagner & Ivy Sketches of S. Afr. Bird-Life 138First of all comes the Green-backed Bush-Warbler (Camaroptera olivacea), or Tailor-Bird, as it is appropriately called in Grahamstown. It is olive-green on the upper parts, except the crown of the head, which is grey.
The warbler Camaroptera brachyura brachyura of the Sylviidae.
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18271923

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obsolete or obsolescent
tail fat, noun phrasen. phr.takhaar, nounn.
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