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

A >> Allan O. Hume >> The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46

In length they vary from 0.63 to 0.7, and in breadth from 0.5 to 0.56;
but the average of twenty-four eggs now before me is 0.67 by 0.53.

136. Dumetia albigularis (Blyth). _The Small White-throated
Babbler_.

Dumetia albogularis (_Blyth), Jerd. B. Ind_ ii, p. 26; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 398.

Miss M.B. Cockburn, writing from Kotagherry, tells me that "the
White-throated Babbler builds its nest in the month of June. One was
found by my nest-seekers on the 17th of that month in the year 1873.
It was constructed on a coffee-tree, and contained three eggs, which
were white, profusely covered with reddish spots of all sizes. The
bird was very shy, and would not return to the nest for some hours
after it had been discovered; when, however, she did so, she was shot.
This year (1874) I found another similar nest on the 9th of June, also
containing three eggs."

The nest with which she favoured me was small and nearly globular (say
at most 4 inches in external diameter), composed entirely of broad
flaggy grass without any lining or any admixture whatsoever of other
material. The nest was loosely put together, and had a comparatively
narrow circular entrance near the top.

From Mysore Mr. Iver Macpherson writes:--"This is an exceedingly
common bird in parts of this district, and their nests are so
plentiful that I never now take them.

"I send you all the eggs I have at present, but can procure you any
number more next season.

"The birds are to be found in all kinds of wooded country except the
heavy forests, and appear to breed from the middle of April to the end
of July, and possibly later.

"The nest is a largish globular structure loosely made of either
bamboo-leaves or blades of grass, and all that I have ever seen have
been lined inside with a few fine fibres.

"Four appears to be the usual number of eggs, but very often there are
only three.

"The nests are always built near the ground, sometimes almost touching
it, and are fixed in either small bushes, tufts of grass, or young
bamboo-clumps."

Mr. J.L. Darling, Jun., states that this bird is very common in
Culputty in the Wynaad, at an elevation of about 3000 feet, and that
he has found the nests from the end of May to the middle of October.
The nest is built in high grass nearly on the ground, or in
date-palms, or in arrowroot in the jungle up to heights of 3 feet.
The nest is built entirely of grass, lined with finer grass; a nearly
round ball 6 inches in diameter outside and 5 inside, with a hole on
the side. The eggs are laid at the rate of one a day, and three are
usually found in one nest, occasionally only two. On one occasion
after securing the female bird, he found the cock bird sitting on the
eggs and he continued to sit there for three days.

Mr. J. Davidson tells us that he found a nest of this bird on the 15th
July at Kondabhari with four fresh eggs.

Colonel Legge writes in his 'Birds of Ceylon':--"The breeding-season
lasts from March until July, the nests being built in a low bush
sometimes only a few inches from the ground."

In shape the eggs are moderately elongated ovals. The shell is very
fine and smooth, and has in some a rather bright, in some only a very
slight gloss. The ground is a China-white. The markings consist of
a profusion of specks and spots of a very bright red, which, though
spread over the whole surface, are gathered most densely into an
imperfect, more or less confluent, cap or zone at the larger end,
where also a few purplish-grey spots and specks not usually found on
any other part of the egg, are noticeable.

In length the eggs vary from 0.66 to 0.78, and in breadth from 0.5 to
0.55. The average of 28 eggs is 0.72 by 0.53.

139. Pyctorhis sinensis (Gm.). _The Yellow-eyed Babbler_.

Pyctorhis sinensis (_Gm.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 15; _Hume, Rough
Draft N.& E._ no. 385.

The Yellow-eyed Babbler breeds throughout the plains of India, as also
in the Nilghiris, to an elevation of 5000 feet, and in the Himalayas
to perhaps 4000 feet. It lays in the latter part of June, in July,
August, and September. Gardens are the favourite localities and in
these the little bird makes its compact and solid nest, sometimes in
a fork of the fine twigs of a lime-bush, sometimes in a mangoe-,
orange-, or apple-tree, occasionally suspended between three stout
grass-stems, or even attached to a single stem of the huge grass from
which the native pens are made. I have taken a nest, hung between
three reeds, exactly resembling in shape and position the
Reed-Warbler's nest (_Salicaria arundinacea_), figured in Mr.
Yarrell's vignette at page 313, vol. i. 3rd edition.

The nest is typically cone-shaped (the apex downwards), from 5 to 6
inches in depth, and 3 or 4 in diameter at the base; but it varies of
course according to situation, the cone being often broadly truncated.
In the base of the cone (which is uppermost) is the egg-cavity,
measuring from 2 to 3 inches in diameter, and from 2 to 2.5 inches in
depth. The nest is _very_ compactly and solidly woven, of rather broad
blades of grass, and long strips of fine fibrous bark, exteriorly more
or less coated with cobwebs and gossamer-threads. Interiorly, fine
grass-stems and roots are neatly and closely interwoven. I once found
some horse-hair along with the grass-roots, but this is unusual.

The full number of eggs is, I believe, five. I have repeatedly taken
nests containing this number, and have comparatively seldom met with a
smaller number of eggs at all incubated.

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall says:--"I found a nest of this species at
Roorkee in the early part of July. It contained three eggs and was
beautifully made, a deep cup fixed on to an artichoke-stock, and at a
little distance much resembled an artichoke."

Mr. E.C. Nunn, writing from near Agra on the 26th September 1867,
says:--"I got a _Pyctorhis_' nest yesterday, suspended between two
stalks of jowar (_Holcus sorghum_), the nest firmly bound with strips
of fibrous bark, at two opposite points of its circumference, to the
two stems. This is, I imagine, something out of the usual order of
things with these birds. The nests which I have hitherto found have
been situated in young mangoe-trees, rose-bushes, or peach- and
orange-trees."

From Futtehgurh the late Mr. A.A. Anderson sent me the following
note:--"The nest and eggs of this bird are very beautiful. A pair once
built in a pumplenose-tree (_Citrus decumana_) in my garden, laying
five long eggs. The nest, still in my collection, was placed in the
fork of _four_ small upright twigs; it was composed entirely of dry
grass-stems (no soft material inside), and laced outwardly, in and out
of the twigs, with dry fibre belonging to the plantain-tree.

"The eggs are small for the size of the bird, and scarcely so large as
those of the Hedge-Sparrow."

Captain Hutton remarks:--"This likewise is a Dhoon bird; its nest was
found there on the 1st July, when it contained four eggs of a dull
white colour, thickly speckled and blotched all over with ferruginous
spots, forming also an open darker coloured ring at the large end, and
intermixed with brown.

"The nest is a deep cup, placed in the trifurcation of the slender
upright branch of a low shrub, and is constructed externally of coarse
grass-blades held together by cobwebs and seed-down, the lining being
fine grass-seed stalks. Diameter of the top 21/2 inches; depth within 2
inches; externally 31/2 inches."

Mr. F.R. Blewitt tells us that "the Yellow-eyed Babbler breeds from
July to September, or, I should say, up to the middle of September.
Its selection of a tree for its nest is not confined to any one
species, but by preference the bird selects those of small growth,
and even frequently high-growing brushwood. The nests are very neatly
made, and what is singular is that, as regards build and shape, they
are always almost exactly alike. If I have seen one, I must have seen
at least fifty this year, all with the same exterior material of
closely interlaced vegetable fibre over grass, and the inner lining of
fine grass, deep cup-shaped, and in diameter, outer and inner, varying
but little. Where it could be effected, the nest was suspended to, or
rather fastened between, two forks; or where these were not available,
between three twigs. The outer diameters of the nests were from 2.7 to
2.9 inches, inner from 2.3 to 2.5. Four is the regular number of eggs,
though occasionally five in one nest have been obtained."

Mr. R.M. Adam remarks:--"This species builds about Agra in May, June,
and July. The nest is a beautiful deep cup-shaped structure, almost
always fastened to a branch of a low bush. The normal number of eggs
appears to be four."

From Kotagherry, near Ootacamund, Miss Cockburn records that "this
bird builds a neat cup-shaped nest, generally choosing a branch
consisting of three upright sprigs, at the bottom of which the
building is placed. The nests (one of which is now before me) are
begun with broad grass-leaves, and the inside compactly lined with
fine fibres of the same material: to render the whole firm, a few
cobwebs are added to the outside, thus fixing the nest securely to the
sprigs. These birds build in the months of June and July, and, as far
as I have observed, lay only three eggs."

Mr. Philipps, quoted by Dr. Jerdon, says that this bird "_generally_
builds on banyan-trees." This is clearly a mistake. I have known of
the taking, or have myself taken, altogether upwards of fifty nests
in the North-Western Provinces, whence Mr. Philipps was writing, and
never yet heard of or saw a nest of this species on a banyan.

Mr. H. Wenden writes:--"At Egatpoora, the top of the Thull Ghat
incline, I noticed, on 30th September, a partly-built nest of this
species. Watching for some time, I ascertained that both birds shared
in the labour of construction. It was situated in the trifurcated
stalk of that plant which bears a clover-like blossom (called
Kessara-Hind and Koordoo-Mhar), about 3 feet above the ground, the
stalks passing through the side-walls of the nest, which cannot have
a better description than that given by Mr. Hume (page 238, 'Rough
Draft'). The first egg was laid on 2nd October, and another each
succeeding day until there were five. On the 10th the hen-bird was
shot and the nest taken.

"On 30th October, in a garden near the same place, another nest was
found, on the twigs of a pangra tree, containing three young birds and
one egg."

Messrs. Davidson and Wenden say:--"Tolerably common in the Sholapoor
District; more so in the better-wooded parts, and breeds."

Finally, Colonel Butler sends me the following note:--

"Belgaum, 14th September, 1880.--A nest in sugar-cane about 2 feet
from the ground, containing five fresh eggs. 17th September: another
nest in a sugar-cane field, containing five eggs about to hatch. In
both instances the nest was built, not on the blades of sugar-cane,
but on a solitary green-leaved weedy-looking plant growing amongst the
sugar-cane.

"The Yellow-eyed Babbler breeds during the rains. I have taken nests
on the following dates:--

"July 26, 1875. A nest containing 4 fresh eggs.
"July 30, 1875. " " 3 fresh eggs.
"Aug. 14, 1875. " " 4 fresh eggs.
"Aug. 21, 1875. " " 4 fresh eggs.
"July 18, 1876. " " 4 fresh eggs.
"July 20, 1876. " " 3 fresh eggs.
"July 28, 1876. " " 4 fresh eggs.

"From this date to the end of August I found any number of nests
containing eggs of both types. The nest is usually built in the fork
of some low thorny tree from 3 to 7 feet from the ground. The outside
of the nest is usually smeared over with cobwebs, reminding one of the
nest of a _Rhipidura_"

Mr. Oates writes:--"Breeds abundantly throughout Pegu in June, and
probably in the other months of the rains up to September."

The eggs vary a good deal in size and shape, and very much in
colouring. They are mostly of a very broad oval shape, very obtuse
at the smaller end. Some are, however, slightly pyriform, and some a
little elongated. There are two very distinct types of coloration: one
has a pinkish-white ground, thickly and finely mottled and streaked
over the whole surface with more or less bright and deep brick-dust
red, so that the ground-colour only faintly shows through, here and
there, as a sort of pale mottling; in the other type the ground-colour
is pinkish white, somewhat _sparingly_, but boldly, blotched with
irregular patches and eccentric hieroglyphic-like streaks, often
Bunting-like in their character, of bright blood- or brick-dust red.
The eggs of this type, besides these primary markings, generally
exhibit towards the large end a number of pale inky-purple blotches or
clouds. There is a third type somewhat intermediate between these, in
which the ground-colour, instead of being finely freckled all over
as in the former, or sparingly blotched as in the latter, is very
coarsely mottled and clouded, as if clumsily daubed over by a child,
with a red intermediate in intensity between that usually observable
in the two first-described types. Combinations of these different
types of course occur, but fully two thirds can be separated
distinctly under the first and second varieties. Though much smaller,
many of the eggs recall those of the English Robin. The eggs have
often a fine gloss. I have one or two specimens so uniformly coloured
that, though perhaps slightly shorter and broader in form, they might
almost pass for the eggs of Cetti's Warbler.

In length they vary from 0.65 to 0.8, and in breadth from 0.53 to
0.68; but the average of seventy-seven eggs measured is 0.73 by 0.59.

140. Pyctorhis nasalis, Legge. _The Ceylon Yellow-eyed Babbler_.

Pyctorhis nasalis, _Legge, Hume, Cat._ no. 385 bis.

Colonel Legge writes in his 'Birds of Ceylon':--"In the Western
Province this Babbler commences to breed in February; but in May I
found several nests in the Uva district near Fort Macdonald; and
that month would thus seem to be the nesting-season in the Central
Province. The nest is placed in the fork of a shrub, or in a huge tuft
of maana-grass, without any attempt at concealment, about 3 or 4 feet
from the ground. It is a neatly-made compact cup, well finished off
about the top and exterior, and constructed of dry grass, adorned with
cobwebs or lichens, and lined with fine grass or roots. The exterior
is about 21/2 inches in diameter by about 2 in depth. The eggs are
usually three in number, fleshy white, boldly spotted, chiefly about
the larger end, with brownish sienna; in some these markings are
inclined to become confluent, and are at times overlaid with dark
spots oil brick-red. They are rather broad ovals, measuring, on
the average, from 0.76 to 0.79 inch in length, by 0.56 to 0.59 in
breadth."

142. Pellorneum mandellii, Blanf. _Mandelli's Spotted Babbler_.

Pellorneum nipalensis (__Hodgs._), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 399
bis.

This species, originally described by Hodgson as _Hemipteron
nipalensis_, was confounded by Gray and others with _P. ruficeps_,
Swainson, and subsequently rediscriminated and described by Blanford
as _P. mandellii_.

Mandelli's Spotted Babbler, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes, begins
to lay in April, the young being ready to fly in July. They build a
large, more or less oval, globular nest, laid lengthwise on the ground
in some bush or clump of rush or reed, composed of moss, dry leaves,
and vegetable fibres, and lined with moss-roots. The entrance, which
is circular, is at one end. A nest measured by Mr. Hodgson was 6.75
inches in length and 5 in height. The aperture, at one end of the
egg-shaped nest, was about 2 inches in diameter, and the cavity was
about 2.5 in diameter and nearly 4 inches deep. The eggs are three or
four in number, and are figured as broad ovals pointed towards the
small end, measuring about 0.86 by 0.65, and having a greyish-white
ground, thickly speckled and spotted with more or less bright red or
brownish red, and most thickly so at the large end, where the markings
are nearly confluent.

A nest said to belong to this species, and found near Darjeeling in
July, at an elevation of about 4000 feet, was placed on the ground on
the side of a bank--a very dirty untidy nest, more or less cylindrical
in shape, composed of dead leaves, including a good many of those of
the bamboo, dead twigs, and old roots, and very sparsely lined with
black moss-roots. The nest is about 4 inches in diameter externally,
and the cavity about 2-5 in diameter.

It contained three fresh eggs, very regular, moderately broad, ovals;
the shell fine and compact, with a slight gloss. The ground-colour is
white, and the egg everywhere very finely speckled with chocolate- or
purplish brown, the markings being by far most dense at the large
end, where they form a more or less irregular, and more or less
conspicuous, speckly cap.

Two eggs measure 0.86 and 0.9 in length, and 0.65 and 0.66 in breadth.

Another nest, found on the 5th June in Native Sikhim, contained four
fresh eggs. It was placed on the ground, and precisely resembled that
obtained near Darjeeling in July.

In some eggs the markings are rather bolder and coarser, and in
these there are generally some few pale lilac or inky-purple spots
intermingled where the markings are densest. Closely looked into, many
of the spots in some eggs are rather a pale yellowish brown.

The eggs are clearly all of the same type, and vary very little.

Four eggs varied from 0.84 to 0.9 in length, and from 0.65 to 0.68 in
breadth.

144. Pellorneum ruficeps, Swains., _The Spotted Babbler_.

Pellorneum ruficeps, _Swains., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 27; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 399.

Writing from Kotagherry Miss Cockburn says:--"Spotted Babblers are
exceedingly shy. They associate in small flocks except during the
breeding-season, when they go about in pairs. I have only known them
to frequent small woods and brushwood, a little higher than the
elevation of the coffee-plantations.

"Three nests of these birds were found in the months of March and
April 1871. The first was placed on the ground, close against a bush.
The nest, consisting of dry leaves and grass, appeared to be merely
a canopy for the eggs, which, were almost on the bare ground, having
only a _very few_ pieces of straw under them. The eggs were three
in number, and covered profusely with innumerable small dark spots,
making it difficult to say what the ground-colour really was. The nest
was not easily found. The bird left it so quietly as not to be heard,
and dropped down the hill like a ball. When the eggs were discovered
the bird did not return to them for fully three hours, after which she
came very cautiously, but only to meet her doom, poor thing, as she
was then shot. The second nest was built in the same way under a bush,
and contained three eggs, which were put into my egg-box lined
with cotton, but were hatched on the way home. The third nest was
constructed under a large stone and with the same materials, and
contained two young ones."

An egg of this species, received from Miss Cockburn, is a moderately
broad and very regular oval. The ground-colour is a slightly greenish
white, and the whole surface of the egg is excessively finely freckled
and speckled with lilac or pale purplish grey and a more or less
rufous brown. The egg has a slight gloss.

It measures 0.88 by 0.65.

145. Pellorneum subochraceum, Swinh. _The Burmese Spotted Babbler_.

Pellorneum subochraceum, _Swinh., Hume, Cat._ no. 399 sex.

The Burmese Spotted Babbler breeds pretty well over the whole of Pegu
and Tenasserim. Mr. Oates writes:--"On the 3rd May I found a nest on
the ground near Pegu. A good many bamboo-leaves had fallen and the
nest was imbedded in these. It was formed entirely of these leaves
loosely put together, the interior only being sparingly lined with
fine grass. The structure _in situ_ was tolerably firm, but it would
not stand removal. In height it was about 7 inches, and in breadth
about 5, the longer axis being vertical. Shape cylindrical with
rounded top. Entrance 21/2 inches by 11/2, placed about the centre. The
interior of the nest was a rough sphere of 4 inches diameter.

"There were three eggs, slightly incubated. The ground-colour is pure
white, and the whole surface is minutely and thickly speckled with
reddish-brown and greyish-purple spots, more closely placed at the
thick end, where they coalesce in places and form bold patches.

"On the 29th June, I found another nest of similar construction,
placed on the ground in thick forest, at the root of a shrub."

Mr. W. Davison in 1875 gave me the following note:--"On the morning
of the 25th March I took at Bankasoon a nest of this species in thick
forest; it was placed on the ground and was composed externally
of dead leaves, with a scanty lining of fine roots and fibres.
It measured externally about 5 inches high by about 4 wide. The
egg-cavity was hardly 3 inches in diameter. The nest was only
partially domed, and was very loosely and carelessly put together.

"The nest contained three eggs, but these were so far incubated that
it was impossible to blow two of them."

The single egg of this species obtained by Mr. Davison is in shape a
moderately broad oval, a little pointed towards the small end; the
shell is fine, but has little gloss. The ground-colour, so far as this
is visible through the thickly-set markings, is white, and it is very
finely but densely stippled and freckled (most densely at the large
end, where the markings are not unfrequently confluent or nearly so)
with dull to bright reddish brown; here and there, especially about
the large end, more or less faint grey or red specks, spots, or tiny
clouds may be traced underlying as it were the brown or purplish
markings.

The egg sent me from Pegu by Mr. Oates is of precisely the same size
and type, but the markings are much less dense and are brighter
coloured. The ground-colour is white, and the egg is pretty thickly
speckled with a reddish-chocolate brown. Here and there a moderately
large irregularly-shaped spot is intermingled with the finer
specklings. The markings are rather most dense at the large end,
where there is a tendency to form a zone, and here a number of pale
purplish-grey streaks and specks are also intermingled.

Major C.T. Bingham says:--"Early on the morning of the 7th April,
moving camp from the sources of the Thoungyeen, on the side of a hill
at the foot of a bamboo-bush not two feet from the road, I flushed
and shot a female of the above species off her nest; a little
loosely-put-together round ball of dry bamboo-leaves, unlined, though
domed over, with the entrance at the side, and containing two fresh
eggs, white, thickly speckled with brick-red and obscure purple. On
the 12th of the same month, I found a second nest behind the zayat or
rest-house at Meeawuddy. This was similar to the nest above described,
and contained three similar eggs."

The eggs measure from .78 to .88 in length, and from .58 to .65 in
breadth; but the average of twelve eggs is .82 by .62.

147. Pellorneum fuscicapillum (Bl.). _The Brown-capped Babbler_.

Pellorneum fuscocapillum (_Bl), Hume, Cat._ no. 399 quint.

Captain Legge writes, in his 'Birds of Ceylon':--"The nest of this
species is exceedingly difficult to find, and scarcely anything is
known of its nidification. Mr. Blyth succeeded in finding it in
Haputale at an elevation of 5500 feet. It was placed in a bramble
about 3 feet from the ground, and was cup-shaped, loosely constructed
of moss and leaves; it contained three young."

149. Drymocataphus nigricapitatus (Eyton). _The Black-capped
Babbler_.

Drymocataphus nigricapitatus (_Eyton), Hume, Cat._ no. 396 sex.

Mr. W. Davison writes:--"I got one nest of this bird at Klang. I was
passing through some very dense jungle, where the ground was very
marshy, when one of these birds rose from the ground about a couple of
feet in front of me, and alighted on an old stump some few feet away.
On examining the place from which the bird rose, I found the nest
placed at the base of a small clump of ferns, and concealed by a
number of overhanging withered fronds of the fern. The base of the
nest, which rested on the ground, was composed of a mass of dried
twigs, leaves, &c.; then came the real body of the nest, composed of
coarse fern-roots, the egg-cavity being lined with finer roots and
a number of hair-like fibres. It looked compactly and strongly put
together, but on trying to remove it, it all came to pieces. When the
bird saw me examining the nest it fluttered to within a couple of feet
of me, twittering in a most vehement manner, feigning a broken wing
to try and draw me away. The nest contained only two eggs, which were
slightly set."

These eggs are extremely regular ovals, scarcely smaller, if at all,
at one end than at the other. The shell is very fine and fragile, but
has only a slight gloss. The ground-colour appears to have been creamy
white, but the markings are so thickly set that little of this is
anywhere visible. First, pale inky-purple spots and clouds are thickly
sprinkled over the surface, and over this the whole egg is freckled
with a pale purplish brown. They measured 0.82 in length by 0.62 and
0.63 in breadth.