Common Tailorbird
Orthotomus sutorius (Pennant, 1769)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Common tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius guzuratus), Vembanad Lake, Kerala, India
Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The common tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) is a songbird found across tropical and subtropical Asia. Popular for its nest made of leaves "sewn" together and immortalized by Rudyard Kipling as Darzee in his Jungle Book, it is a common resident in urban gardens. Although shy birds that are usually hidden within vegetation, their loud calls are familiar and give away their presence. They are distinctive in having a long upright tail, greenish upper body plumage and rust coloured forehead and crown. This passerine bird is typically found in open farmland, scrub, forest edges 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 silk to make a cradle in which the actual nest is built.
Wikipedia contributors, Common tailorbird; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:21:13.659612+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Orthotomus sutorius (Pennant, 1769)
- Name authority
- (Pennant, 1769)
- Common name
- Common Tailorbird
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Cisticolidae
- Genus
- Orthotomus
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyCisticolidae Sundevall, 1872
- genusOrthotomus Horsfield, 1821
- speciesOrthotomus sutorius (Pennant, 1769)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Orthotomus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| White-eared TailorbirdOrthotomus cinereiceps Sharpe, 1877 | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Dark-necked TailorbirdOrthotomus atrogularis Temminck, 1836 | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Grey-backed TailorbirdOrthotomus derbianus Moore, 1855 | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Orthotomus frontalis Sharpe, 1877 | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yellow-breasted TailorbirdOrthotomus samarensis Steere, 1890 | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=561738 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:6SXXL. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.