Adapted from a 1916 pattern
Re-writen by Wally Sosa ©2001
This little bird has his own story. Well, at least, my story...
Everything started when someone was asking for a tatted bird pattern for a baby blanket. I had this pattern for a very LONG time and didn't make it. So after the person told me about how pretty the bird was I wanted to make it.
The original pattern is a old one, circa 1916. I encontered several problems understanding the pattern, so I work and re-work the pattern until I understood it.
One thing I didn't like, as soon as I started tatting, was that the pattern has a lot of "cut and tie"; aproximately 8 cuts!!! That's a big "no-no" for us tatters, so I tried to simplify it. I got it, but anyway the bird was made in 2 rounds.
So the challenge was made in the Online Tatting Class and 2 persons made it in 1 round. I'm offering also the original pattern and a link to the persons who made it in one round.
Materials:
Shuttle
DMC Cebelia #30
DMC Tatting Thread #80
Abbreviations:
R: Ring
CH: Chain
CL: Close
RW: Reverse Work
- : Picot
/x/ : Double Picot with "x" amount of ds in the middle
+ : Join
Instructions:
Using thread #30
Starting with the wing:
R: 4 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 4. CL. RW.
CH: 4 - 2 - 2 - 4. RW
R: 4 + (to 2nd picot of big ring) 4. CL. RW.
CH: 4 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 4. RW.
R: 4 + (to 4th picot) 4. CL. RW.
CH: 4 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 4. RW.
R: 4 - 4. CL. RW.
CH: 4 - 2 - 2 - 4. Don not RW.
R: 4 - 4. Do not RW.
CH: 4 - 2 - 2 - 4 + (to picot of 1st small "floating" ring) 4 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 4. RW.
R: 4 + (to 8th picot of big ring) 4. CL. RW.
CH: 4 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 4. RW.
R: 4 + (to 10th picot of big ring) 4. CL. RW.
CH: 4 - 2 - 2 - 4. Join to the base of the big ring. Cut and Tie.
Head, Beak and Body
Join to the space between the last small ring and the chain (see detailed picture). 
CH: 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3. RW.
R: 12. CL. RW.
R: 7 - 7. CL. Do not RW.
CH: 3 - 3 - 3 - 3. RW.
R: 5 - 5 + (to the last picot of wing's chain) 5 + (to the 1st picot of wing's chain) 5 - 5. CL. RW.
CH: 3 - 3 + (to the last picot of previous ring) 3 - 3 - 3 - 3. RW.
R: 5 - 5 - 5 - 5. CL. RW.
CH: 3 - 3 - 3 - 3. RW.
R: 5 + (to the last picot of previous ring) 5 - 5 - 5. CL. RW.
CH: 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3. Do not RW.
R: 4 - 4. CL. Do not RW.
CH: 3 - 3 - 3 - 3. RW.
R: 4 + (to last picot of previous ring) 4. CL. RW.
CH: 3 - 3 - 3 - 3. RW.
R: 4 - 4. CL. RW.
CH: 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 + (to the middle picot of the last ring) 3 - 3 - 3 - 3. RW.
R: 5 + (to the picot shared with the 2 big rings) 5 + (to the middle picot of the 1st ring) 5. CL. Join to the base of the wing's 2nd small ring. Cut and Tie.
Double Picot Flower - using thread #80
R: 8 / 2 / 8. That means, make 8 ds, long picot (about 5/8"), make 2 ds, join the long picot, make 8 ds more.
Repeat Ring until you have 4 petals. The last petal work like the other but before joining the picot to form the double picot, insert the picot through the picot in the bird's beak. Join the picot, make the last 8 ds. CL. Cut and tie. 
