The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 written by Allan O. Hume

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Messrs. Davidson and Wenden, writing from the Deccan, remark:--"Very
common along tops of ghats. D. got a nest with two eggs in March."

Mr. T. Fulton Bourdillon writes from Travancore:--"I have been so
fortunate as to obtain two nests of this bird lately, though I have
never found any before. The first contained three fresh eggs on the
5th December last, and was situated in a bank on the roadside at
an elevation of about 3000 feet above sea-level. The nest was very
loosely made of grass, with finer kinds of grass for the lining. I
endeavoured to preserve it, but it fell to pieces on being taken from
its position, and I only succeeded in saving the eggs. As the bird,
usually a very shy one, flew off on my approach and remained close
by while I was examining the nest, I have no doubt of its identity.
Whether she would have laid more eggs I cannot say, but I fancy not;
three seems to be the usual number judging from the two clutches
taken. The other nest I found on the 8th of this month just completed.
It was in much the same position as the last, viz. a bank by the
roadside, and as it was near my bungalow I watched to see how the eggs
were deposited. The bird laid one egg each day on the 11th, 12th and
13th, and then began to sit, so on the 15th I took the nest. When
fresh the eggs are beautifully pink from the thinness of the shell."

Mr. J. Darling, junior, remarks:--

"Mr. Davison makes a very good remark on the nest of this bird, but I
found one once under the roots of a tree at Neddivattam, and it was
a most beautiful nest, built entirely of the fibrous bark of the
Nilghiri nettle, in the shape of an oven, with a hole to go in at one
side. It contained four pure white delicate eggs. Another one found
near the same place was of the same nature, only resting on some
fern-leaves and under a rock, and contained five eggs.

"I found a nest down at Vythery, Wynaad, in a hole in the bank of a
road, in December 1874, made entirely of broad grass, very untidy, and
containing three eggs."

Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan writing from South India, says:--"Breeds in
April, constructing a neat domed nest of leaves on the ground, at the
foot of a bush. The nest is lined with fine grasses, and almost always
contains three eggs, which, when fresh, are of a beautiful pink
colour, owing to the yolk shining through the shell, which is
exceedingly fragile. The egg, when blown, is of a very beautiful
glossy white. If suddenly approached whilst on its nest, this bird
runs out like a rat, and flies when at a distance from the nest. An
egg in my collection measures 1.04 by .7 inch."

The eggs sent me from the Nilghiris by Miss Cockburn and Mr. Carter
are nearly perfect ovals, usually much elongated, but sometimes
moderately broad, and very slightly compressed towards one end.
They are very fragile, and perfectly pure spotless white in colour.
Typically, although smooth and satiny in texture, they have but little
gloss, but occasionally a fairly glossy egg is to be met with.

In length they vary from 0.98 to 1.12, and in breadth from 0.75 to
0.79; but the average seems to be about 1.08 by 0.77.

122. Pomatorhinus ferruginosus, Blyth. _The Coral-billed Scimitar
Babbler_.

Pomatorhinus ferruginosus, _Blyth,, Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 29; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 401.

The Coral-billed Scimitar Babbler, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes,
breeds in Sikhim, at an elevation of 5000 or 6000 feet. Its nest is
placed about a foot or 2 feet above the ground, in a bamboo-clump or
some thick bush, and is firmly wedged in between the twigs and shoots.
It is composed internally of dried bamboo-leaves, grass, and vegetable
fibres, outside which bamboo-sheaths are bound on with creepers and
fibres of different kinds. The nest is more or less egg-shaped, with
the longer diameter horizontal, some 7 inches or so in length and 5
inches in height, and with the entrance at one end, measuring some
3 inches in diameter. Four or five eggs are laid, elongated ovals,
somewhat pointed towards the small end, pure white, and measuring
about 1.08 by 0.7.

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"I took a nest of this bird on the
19th May, at an elevation of about 5000 feet. It was placed on the
ground, among low scrub, near the outskirts of a large forest, and was
neatly made, for a _Pomatorhinus_, of bamboo-leaves and long grass,
with a thin lining of fibry strips torn from old bamboo-stems. In
shape it was a cone laid on its side. Externally it measured 9 inches
in length by the same in height at front, while the egg-cavity
measured 3.5 inches across, and 1.75 in depth. The entrance, which was
at the end, measured 3 inches in diameter.

"Next to the lining was a layer of broadish grass-blades, placed
lengthways, _i.e._ from base to apex of the cone, then came a
cross layer of broad bamboo-leaves succeeded by a second layer of
bamboo-leaves placed lengthways. By this arrangement the nest was
kept perfectly water-tight. So nicely were these simple materials
put together that they held each other in their places without the
assistance of a single fibre.

"The nest contained four partially incubated eggs: three of them
pointed and exactly alike, but the fourth rounded, and apparently of a
different texture, so that it may have been introduced by a Cuckoo."

Two eggs sent by Mr. Gammie are moderately elongated ovals, somewhat
obtuse even, at the smaller end. The shell is very fine, pure white,
and has a fine gloss. They measure 1.1 by 0.83, and 1.06 by 0.78.

125. Pomatorhinus ruficollis, Hodgs. _The Rufous-necked Scimitar
Babbler_.

Pomatorhinus ruficollis, _Hodgs., Jerd, B. Ind._ ii, p. 29; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 400.

The Rufous-necked Scimitar Babbler breeds in Nepal, the Himalayas
eastward of that State, and in the various ranges running down from
Assam to Burmah.

The breeding-season appears to be April and May. They lay five, or
sometimes only four, eggs.

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"This species breeds, I think, from
the middle of April to the middle of May; but I have only as yet
taken a single nest, and this I found at Rishap on the 5th May, at an
elevation of about 4500 feet. The nest was placed on the ground in
open country, but partially concealed by overhanging grass and weeds,
and immediately adjoining a deep humid ravine filled with a dense
undergrowth. The nest was composed of dry grass, fern, bamboo, and
other dry leaves put loosely together and lined with a few fibres. In
shape it was domed or hooded, and exteriorly it measured 5.7 inches in
height and 5 in diameter. Interiorly the cavity was 2.6 in diameter,
and had a total depth of 3.8 measured from the roof, but of only 2
inches below the lower margin of the aperture. This nest contained
five eggs, much incubated; indeed, they would have hatched off in one
or two days."

The Rufous-necked Scimitar Babbler breeds, according to Mr. Hodgson,
in the central portion of Nepal in April and May, building a large,
coarse, globular nest of dry grass and bamboo-leaves on the ground in
some thick bush or bamboo-clump. The opening of the nest is at the
side. They lay four or five white eggs, measuring as figured 0.9 by
0.68.

The eggs sent me by Mr. Gammie are rather elongated ovals, a good deal
pointed towards one end, pure white, the shells very fine and fragile,
and with a fair amount of gloss.

Ten eggs varied from 0.85 to 1.02 in length, and from 0.62 to 0.74 in
breadth, but the average was 0.95 by 0.68.

129. Pomatorhinus erythrogenys, Vigors. _The Rusty-cheeked Scimitar
Babbler_.

Pomatorhinus erythrogenys, _Vig., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 31; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 405.

The Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler breeds from April to June in the
Himalayas, at any rate from Darjeeling to the Valley of the Beas, at
elevations of from 2000 to 6000 feet. It may be _met_ with at double
this latter altitude, but I doubt if it _nests_ higher.

As a rule, the nest is placed on the ground, in some thick clump of
dry fern or coarse grass, amongst dead leaves and moss, but at times I
have seen it placed in a thick bush 2 or 3 feet from the ground. It is
very common near Kotegurh and below Narkunda, where we found nearly a
dozen nests, almost all, however, containing young ones. Typically
the nest is domed, and is loosely constructed of the materials at
hand--coarse grass, dry fern, dead leaves, moss-roots, and the like,
some 6 or 7 inches in diameter and 5 or 6 inches high, with a broad
entrance on one side, a good deal above the middle. In some cases,
however, where a dense bunch of grass or fern completely curves over
the spot selected for the nest, the latter is a mere broad, shallow
saucer. There is no regular lining to the nests, but a good many fine
roots are at times incorporated in the interior of the cavity. All
the nests that I have seen were placed near the edges of clumps of
brushwood or scrubby jungle.

I ought here to mention that I am by no means certain that the
Nepalese and Sikhim, in fact the eastern race of this species (_P.
ferrugilatus_ Hodgs.), will not have to be separated from the more
western _P. erythrogenys_ of Gould. Long ago Blyth remarked ('Journal
Asiatic Society,' 1845, p. 598) that "there seems to be two marked
varieties of _P. erythrogenys_, one having white under-parts, with
merely faint traces of darker spots, the other with the throat and
breast densely mottled with greenish olive," or, as I should call it,
dingy olive-grey. This is perfectly true, and, as far as I can make
out, the latter variety is not one of sex or age, but is local and
confined to Kumaon (where the other form also occurs) and the hills
eastward of this province. My own remarks above given refer to the
true _P. erythrogenys_, and so do Hutton's; but Hodgson's and Mr.
Gammie's birds both appear to have been, and the latter's certainly
were, grey-throated examples. The eggs are undistinguishable, as,
indeed, though they vary somewhat in shape and size, are those of most
of the _Pomatorhini_.

Captain Hutton says that this species is "common from 3500 feet up to
10,000 or 12,000 feet, always in pairs, turning up the dead leaves
on copsewood covered banks, uttering a loud whistle, answering and
calling each other. It breeds in April, constructing its nest on the
ground of coarse dry grasses and leaf-stalks of walnut-trees, and is
covered with a dome-shaped roof, so nicely blended with the fallen
leaves and withered grasses, among which it is placed, as to be almost
undistinguishable from them. The eggs are three in number, and pure
white; diameter 1.12 by 0.81 inches, of an ordinary oval shape. When
disturbed, the bird sprung along the ground with long bounding hops,
so quickly that, from its motions and the appearance of the nest, I
was led to believe it a species of rat. The nest is placed in a slight
hollow, probably formed by the bird itself."

According to Mr. Hodgson's notes, this species would appear to breed
at heights of from 2000 to 8000 feet. It lays in May and June. On the
20th May, and again on the 6th June, Mr. Hodgson found nests of this
species in thick bushes 3 or 4 feet above the ground. They were
broad saucer-shaped nests of coarse vegetable fibres, grass, and
grass-roots, 7 inches or so in diameter, and the cavity, which had
no lining, was about 4 inches in diameter by 2 inches in depth. They
contained three and four white eggs respectively. One figured measures
0.98 by 0.73. On June 8th he found two more nests at Jaha Powah, on
the ground, on edges of brushy slopes close to grassy open plains, the
nest a large mass of grass, oven-shaped, open at one and in one case
at both ends, protected by the root of a tree. There were two and
three white eggs in the nests respectively. The eggs of these nests
are figured as measuring 1.08 by 0.73.

Mr. Gammie remarks:--"I found a nest of this species below Rungbee, at
an elevation of about 2000 feet, on the 17th June. It was placed on,
and partially in a hole in a bank, and contained two hard-set eggs. It
was a large, loose pad of fine grass and dead fern, with a few broad
flag-like grass-leaves incorporated towards the base, and overhung by
a sort of canopy of similar materials. The basal portion was some
6 inches long and 5 inches broad, and about 2 inches thick in the
thickest part, with a broad shallow depression for the eggs of about
half that depth."

Writing again this year (1874) he says:--"I have only found two more
nests this year, and both in the last week of April; the one contained
three partially incubated eggs, the other three young birds. These
nests were at Gielle, at an elevation of about 2500 feet. As a rule,
these birds nest in open country, immediately adjoining moist thickly
wooded ravines, in which they feed, and take refuge if disturbed from
the nest. The nest is usually placed on sloping ground, more or less
concealed by overhanging herbage, and is composed, according to my
experience, of dry grass sparingly lined with fibres. It is large; one
I measured _in situ_ was 8 inches in height and 7 inches in diameter;
the vertical diameter of the cavity was 4 inches and the horizontal 31/2
inches. I have not yet found more than three eggs or young ones in any
nest."

Dr. Scully remarks of this bird in Nipal:--"It lays in May and June;
two nests, taken on the 30th May and 6th June, were large loosely-made
pads, not domed, and with the egg-cavity saucer-shaped, each nest
contained three pure white eggs."

The eggs of this species are long, and at times narrow, ovals, pure
white and fairly glossy, but occasionally almost glossless, without
any marks or spottings.

In length they vary from 1.0 to 1.2, and in breadth from 0.73 to 0.85,
but the average of twenty eggs is about 1.11 by nearly 0.8.

133. Xiphorhamphus superciliaris (Blyth). _The Slender-billed
Scimitar Babbler_.

Xiphorhamphus superciliaris (_Blyth), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 33; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 406.

The Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes,
breeds in Sikhim, at elevations of 3000 to 6000 feet, during the
months of May and June. The nest is a large globular one, composed of
dry bamboo-leaves and green grass, intermingled and lined with fine
roots and fibres. The entrance, which is about 2 to 2.5 inches in
diameter, is at one end. A nest containing four eggs, obtained on the
12th June, measured about 7 inches in diameter externally, and it
was placed in the crown of a stump from 2 to 3 feet from the ground.
Sometimes the nests are placed in tufts of high grass or in thick
bushes, but never at any great elevation above the ground. They lay
three or four eggs, which are pure white, and one of which is figured
as a broad oval, measuring 0.95 by 0.7.

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"I took a nest of this Scimitar
Babbler on the 29th May, in the middle of the large forest on the top
of the Mahalderam ridge, at about 7000 feet elevation. It was built
on the ground, on top of a dry bank by the side of a path, and was
overhung by a few grassy weeds. In shape it was a blunt cone laid on
its side, with the entrance at the wide end. It was loosely made of
the dead leaves of a deciduous orchid (_Pleione wallichiana_), small
bamboo, chestnut, and grass, intermixed with decaying stems of small
climbing-plants. It measured externally 6 inches long, with a diameter
of 5.5 at front, and of 1.75 at back. The cavity was quite devoid of
lining and measured 3.5 in length by 2.5 wide at entrance, slightly
contracting inwards. It contained three partially incubated eggs."

Two eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Gammie are elongated ovals,
pure white, and with only a faint gloss. They measure 0.99 and 1.05 in
length, by 0.68 and 0.75 in breadth respectively.

Subfamily TIMELIINAE.

134. Timelia pileata, Horsf. _The Red-capped Babbler_.

Timelia pileata, _Horsf., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 24; _Hume, Rough Draft
N. & E._ no. 396.

Mr. Eugene Oates records that he "found the nest of this bird at
Thayetmyo on the 2nd June with young ones a few days old. The nest
was placed on the ground in the centre of a low but very thick thorny
bush."

Subsequently he wrote from Pegu, further south:--"The nest is placed
in the fork of a shrub, very near to, or quite on, the ground, and is
surrounded in every case by long grass. A nest found on the 4th July,
on which the female was sitting closely, contained three eggs slightly
incubated. The breeding-season seems to be in June and July.

"The nest is made entirely of bamboo-leaves and is lined sparingly
with fine grass. No other material enters into its composition. It
is oval, about 7 inches in height and 4 in diameter, with a large
entrance at the side, its lower edge being about the middle of the
nest.

"When the bird frequents elephant-grass, where there are no shrubs, it
builds on the ground at the edge of a clump of grass, and I have found
two nests in such a situation, only a few feet from each other.

"In looking for the nest a good deal of grass is necessarily trodden
down; the consequence is that if you do not find eggs, there is little
chance of their being laid later on. I have found some ten nests, more
or less completed, but only three eggs."

And again, later on:--"This bird would appear to have two broods a
year, for I procured two sittings of three eggs each this year in
April, former nests having been found in June and July. With many eggs
before me I find that the density of the markings varies considerably.
The size is very constant; for the length of numerous eggs varies only
from .75 to .72, and the breadth from .6 to .54 inch."

I was, I believe, myself the first to obtain the eggs of this species,
but the first of my contributors who sent me eggs, nest, and a note on
the nidification of this species was Mr. J.C. Parker. Writing to me in
September 1875, he said:--

"On the 14th August I took a nest of _Timelia pileata_ on my old
ground in the Salt Lakes. I discovered this by a mere accident, for I
happened to see a female _Prinia flaviventris_ (whose eggs I was in
quest of for you) perched on the top of a bush inland about 10 feet
from the bank of the canal, and from her movements I thought she must
have a nest near at hand.

"Accordingly I landed, although not in trim for wading through a
bog. Sure enough I was not mistaken; the _Prinia_ had a nest, but it
contained only _one_ egg. Close by, however, I saw a nest, from out of
which a bird flew, and although I did not shoot it I am quite sure it
was _Timelia pileata_. The jungle was particularly thick just about
where I stood, indeed impenetrable, and I could not follow the
bird, but I soon heard the male bird talking to his mate in that
extraordinary way which these birds have, and which once heard cannot
be mistaken.

"The nest was placed on the spikes growing from the joints of a
species of grass very thick and stiff, and forming a secure foundation
for the nest. This latter is 6 inches high and 4 inches broad.
Egg-cavity 2 inches, entrance-hole 11/2 by 2. The nest itself is very
loosely put together with the dead leaves of the tiger-grass twisted
round and round, and lined roughly with coarse grass. The nest was
quite open to view and about three feet from the ground. I suppose the
birds never expected that such a wild swampy spot as they had selected
would be invaded by any oologist."

Mr. J.R. Cripps writing from Eastern Bengal says:--"Pretty common.
Permanent resident. Oftener found in the patches of cane brushwood
jungle found in and around villages than in unfrequented jungle and
thickets as Dr. Jerdon says. I have, however, once seen it in a field
of jute, which was alongside a village. Its well-known note can be
heard a long way off. I have several times found nests in course of
construction, but only once secured a clutch of eggs. When the nests
are being built, if the bush is at all disturbed the nest is deserted.
The earliest date on which I found a nest was the 1st April, 1878; it
was half finished, and as I pulled the cane-leaves asunder to see if
there were eggs, the birds deserted it. After this I found four nests
in cane-clumps on the sides of roads, but they were empty, and as the
birds abandoned them in due course I despaired of getting any eggs;
but on the 15th June, while going along a road, the edges of which
were bounded by the small embankments natives throw up round their
holdings, and which are always overgrown with 'sone' grass, I saw one
of these birds with a straw in its bill disappear at the root of a
small date-tree. The nest could be discerned from the road. On the
20th June I returned and found two fresh eggs; the nest was placed at
the junction of the frond and the stem of the date-tree about five
inches from the ground, and was an oval deep cup and measured
externally 5 inches deep by 33/4 broad. Egg-cavity 2 broad and 13/4 deep,
composed exclusively of 'sone' grass with no lining."

The eggs of this species are broad ovals with a tolerably fine gloss.
The ground-colour is pure white. The whole of the larger end of the
egg is pretty thickly speckled and spotted with brown, varying from an
olive to a burnt sienna intermingled with little spots and clouds of
pale inky purple, and similar spots and specks chiefly of the former
colour, but smaller in size, scattered thinly over the rest of the
egg. In size they vary from 0.69 to 0.75 in length, and from 0.55 to
0.6 in breadth.

135. Dumetia hyperythra (Frankl.). _The Rufous-bellied Babbler_.

Dumetia hyperythra (_Frankl.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 26; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 397.

The Rufous-bellied Babbler breeds throughout the Central Provinces,
Chota Nagpoor, Upper Bengal, the eastern portions of the North-West
Provinces, parts of Oudh, and even in the low valleys of Kumaon.

It lays from the middle of June to the middle of August, building
a globular nest of broad grass-blades or bamboo-leaves some 4 or 5
inches in diameter, sparingly lined with fine grass-roots or a little
hair, or sometimes entirely unlined. The nest is placed sometimes on
the ground amongst dead leaves, some of which are not unfrequently
incorporated in the structure; sometimes in coarse grass or some
little shrub a foot or two from the ground, but by preference,
according to my experience, in amongst the roots of a bamboo-clump.

Four is the usual number of eggs laid.

Mr. Brooks writes:--"On the 26th June, 1867, in the broken ground
above Chunar, I took two nests in the foot of a thick bamboo-bush
about 2 feet from the ground. The nests were made of bamboo-leaves
rolled into a ball with the entrance at the side, and no lining except
a few hairs. There were two eggs in one nest and three in the other.
They were all fresh. The eggs in the two nests varied somewhat: the
ground of the one was nearly pure white, and it was finely speckled
with reddish brown, which at the large end was partly confluent: the
other nest had the eggs with a pinkish-white ground, the spots larger
and less neatly defined, and with a rather large confluent spot at the
large end."

Writing from Hoshungabad, Mr. E.C. Nunn remarks:--"I found two nests
of this species, each containing two eggs, on the 20th July and 6th
August, 1868. Both nests were ball-shaped, of coarse grass very
firmly and compactly twisted together, and with numerous dead leaves
incorporated in the body of the nest and towards the base, forming the
major portion of the material. They were thinly lined inside with fine
grass-roots. One was placed at the root of a small thorny bush: the
other on the ground in a thick clump of rank grass." The nest Mr. Nunn
sent to me was peculiarly solidly made. The cavity was small, about
2.25 inches in depth and 1.5 in diameter. The bottom of the nest was
some 2 inches and the sides 1.25 inch thick.

From Raipoor Mr. F.R. Blewitt tells us that "in July and August four
nests of this Babbler were taken; in two there were four eggs each, in
the third, three, and in the fourth, two--thirteen in all. The nests
were carefully made on the ground, at the base of clumps of long grass
growing very near to bamboo thickets. Three are made exclusively of
the dry leaves of the bamboo; the fourth of coarse grass. They were
nearly globular, about 4 inches in diameter, and without any regular
lining, although in the interior of the cavity a good deal of fine
grass-stems had been incorporated in the nest. They were well hidden
in the grass."

Mr. Henry Wenden writes:--"On July 18th, about 15 miles from Bombay,
on the line of railway, I found a nest and eggs of the following
description: nest, a rough loose ball of soft flat grasses, lined with
hard but fine grass-stems, entrance at side near top; situated in
a thorny bush in cactus-hedge, by a narrow lane, not 4 feet wide,
through which numerous people passed. The nest, about 3 feet from the
ground, was in no way concealed. On the 18th there were two eggs, and
on the 20th, when there were four eggs, the bird was snared and nest
taken."

The eggs are short, broad ovals, very slightly compressed towards one
end. The ground-colour is white or pinkish white, and it is streaked,
spotted, and speckled most thickly at the large end (where there is
a tendency to form an irregular confluent cap or zone), and thinly
towards the small end, with shades of red, brownish red, and reddish
purple, varying much in different examples. In some the markings are
pretty bold and blotchy, in others they are small and speckly; in
some they are smudgy and ill-defined, in others they are clear and
distinct. Some of the eggs are miniatures of some types of _Pyctorhis
sinensis_, but many recall the eggs of the Titmouse. They are much
about the size of those of _Parus caeruleus_ and _P. palustris_, but a
trifle less broad than either of these. The eggs have a faint gloss.