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

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The late Captain Beavan recorded the following interesting note in
regard to this species:--

"This handsome bird is very abundant in Manbhoom, where it is called
'Hurrooa' by the natives. Its note is so much like that of _Dicrurus
ater_ that I have frequently been deceived by the resemblance. It
breeds in the district. A nest with two eggs was brought to me at
Beerachalee on April 4th, 1865. It is built at the fork of a bough and
neatly suspended from it, like a hammock, by silky fibres, which are
firmly fixed to the two sprigs of the fork, and also form part of the
bottom and outside of the nest. The inside is lined with dry bents and
hairs. The eggs (creamy white with a few light pinky-brown spots) are
rather elongated, measuring 0.85 by 0.62. Interior diameter of nest
2.25, depth 1.5. The cry of alarm of this species is like that of
_Parus major_"

Dr. Jerdon remarked ('Illustrations of Indian Ornithology'), writing
at the time from Southern India:--

"I have seen a nest of this species in the possession of S.N. Ward,
Esq. It is a neat but slightly cup-shaped nest, composed chiefly of
fine grass, and was placed near the extremity of a branch, some of
the nearest leaves being, it was said, brought down and loosely
surrounding it. It contained two eggs, white, with a few
claret-coloured blotches. Its nest and eggs, I may remark, show an
analogy to that of the Orioles."

Mr. Layard tells us that this species is "extremely common in the
south of Ceylon, but rare towards the north. It feeds in small flocks
on seeds and insects, and builds an open cup-shaped nest. The eggs,
four in number, are white, thickly mottled at the obtuse end with
purplish spots."

And Sir W. Jardine says:--"For the interesting nest and eggs of
_Phyllornis jerdoni_, Blyth, we are indebted to E.S. Layard, Esq.,
Magistrate of the district of Point Pedro (the northernmost extremity
of Ceylon), in which district we understand it to have been procured.
A large groove along the underside of the nest indicates it to have
been placed upon a branch; the general form is somewhat flat, and
it is composed of very soft materials, chiefly dry grass and silky
vegetable fibres, rather compactly interwoven with some pieces of dead
leaf and bark on the outside, over which a good deal of spider's web
has been worked. It contains four eggs, white, abruptly speckled
over with dark bistre mingled with some ashy spots." Layard is not
generally reliable where eggs are concerned, for he did not usually
take them with his own hands and natives _will_ lie; and I doubt the
_four_ eggs here, but I think, so far as the nest goes, that he was
right in this case.

The eggs are rather elongated ovals; some of them a good deal pointed
towards one end, others again slightly pyriform. The shell is very
delicate; the ground-colour white to creamy white; as a rule almost
glossless, in some specimens slightly glossy. They are sparingly
marked, usually chiefly at the large end, with spots, specks, small
blotches, hair-lines, or hieroglyphic-like figures, which are
typically almost black, but which in some eggs are blackish, or even
reddish, or purplish brown. In no specimens that I have seen were the
markings at all numerous, except just at the large end; and in some
they consist solely of a few tiny specks, scattered about the crown of
the egg.

The eggs vary from 0.8 to 0.92 in length, and from 0.56 to 0.63 in
breadth; but the average of a dozen was 0.86 by 0.6.

254. Irena puella (Lath.). _The Fairy Blue-bird_.

Irena puella (_Lath._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 105; _Hume, Rough Draft
N. & E._ no 469.

Mr. Frank Bourdillon favoured me with an egg of the Fairy Blue-bird,
which with other rare eggs he obtained on the Assamboo Hills. So
little is known of this range that I quote his remarks upon this
locality.

"I must premise that the specimens were obtained along the Assamboo
Range of hills, between the elevations of 1500 and 3000 feet above
sea-level. This range of hills, running in a north-westerly and
south-easterly direction from Cape Comorin to 8 deg.33' north latitude,
forms the boundary line between Travancore and the British Territory
of Tinnevelly, the average height of the range being about 4000
feet, while some of the peaks are as high as 5500 feet. The general
character of the hills is dense forest, broken here and there by grass
ridges and crowned by precipitous rocks, above which lies an almost
unexplored table-land, varying in width from a mile to 12 or 15 miles,
at an elevation of almost 4000 feet."

"The egg of the Fairy Blue-bird," he adds, "was taken slightly set on
the 28th February, 1873, from a loose sparsely-built nest situated in
a sapling about 12 feet from the ground. The nest was composed of
dead twigs lined with leaves, and was about 4 inches broad and very
slightly indented."

As will be remembered, Dr. Jerdon states that "Mr. Ward obtained, what
he was informed were, the nest and eggs; the nest was large, made of
roots and fibres and lined with moss; and the eggs, two in number,
were pale greenish, much spotted with dusky:" and I have no doubt that
Mr. Ward's eggs were genuine.

The egg is an elongated oval, compressed almost throughout its entire
length, very blunt at both points; a long cone, the apex broadly
truncated and rounded off obtusely, sealed on half a very oblate
spheroid. In no one single point--shape, texture of shell, colour or
character of markings--does this egg approach to those of either the
Oriole or the Chloropsis. This shell is very close-grained and fine,
but only moderately glossy. The ground is pale green, and it is
streaked and blotched with pale dull brown. The markings are almost
entirely confluent over the large end (where they appear to be
underlaid by dingy, dimly discernible greyish blotches), and from the
cap thus formed they descend in streaky mottlings towards the small
end, growing fewer and further apart as they approach this latter,
which is almost devoid of markings.

It is impossible to generalize from a single specimen as to the
position this bird _should_ hold, but this one egg renders it quite
certain to my mind that the nearest allies of _Irena_ are neither
_Oriolus_ nor _Chloropsis_, and that it is quite impossible to place
it with the _Dicruridae_. The eggs of _Psaroglossa spiloptera_ are
not very dissimilar, and I expect that it is somewhere between
the _Paradiseidae, Sturnidae_, and _Icteridae_ that _Irena_ will
ultimately have to be located.

The egg measures 1.1 by 0.73.

Mr. Fulton Bourdillon writes:--"The last note I have to send you at
present is that of a Blue-bird's nest (_Irena puella_). Of this there
can be no possible doubt, as my brother and I shot both the male and
female birds, and I took the nest with my own hands. It was in a
pollard tree beside a stream among some thick branches about 20 feet
from the ground. The nest was neatly but very loosely constructed of
fresh green moss, which formed the bulk of the nest, and lined with
the flower-stalks of a jungle shrub. It was very well concealed, and
was about 4 inches broad with a cavity not more than 11/2 inch deep. It
contained two eggs slightly set, measuring respectively 1.11 x .84 and
1.16 x .81. These eggs tally very fairly in colour, shape, and size
with those sent last year; of the identity of which I was doubtful at
the time, though now I think there can be no mistake.

"Since writing last I have had another nest of _Irena puella_ brought
me with two fresh eggs. The nest was very loosely put together and
similar in all respects to the one last sent. The eggs measure .95 x
.81 and .92 x .79, with the same well-defined ring round the larger
end. The nest was in a small tree about 10 feet from the ground and
was well concealed. It was composed of twigs, without any lining."

The nest sent me by Mr. Bourdillon is a very flimsy affair, reminding
one much of the nest of _Graucalus macii_ and not in the smallest
degree of that of an Oriole. A mere pad, some 4 inches in diameter,
composed of very thin twigs or dry flower-stalks with a couple of dead
leaves intermingled, and an external coating of green moss.

Major C.T. Bingham has favoured me with the following notes from
Tenasserim:--"At the sources of the Winsaw stream, a feeder of the
Thoungyeen river, on the 30th April I found a nest of this bird, a
mere irregularly roundish pad of moss with very little depression in
the centre, containing two fresh eggs, and placed 12 feet or so above
the ground in the fork of an evergreen sapling. The eggs measure 1.18
x 0.86 and 1.19 x 0.86 respectively, and are so thickly spotted and
blotched with brown as to show very little of the ground-colour, which
latter, however, appears to be of a greenish white.

"On the 11th April I was slowly clambering along a very steep
hill-side overlooking the Queebaw choung, a small tributary of the
Meplay stream, when from a tree whose crown was below my feet I
startled a female _Irena puella_ off her nest. I could see the nest
and that it contained two eggs, so I shot the female, who had taken to
a tree a little above me. On getting the nest down, I found it a poor
affair of little twigs, with a superstructure of moss, shaped into a
shallow saucer, on which reposed two eggs, large for the size of the
bird, of a dull greenish white, much dashed, speckled, and spotted
with brown. They were so hard-set that I only managed to save one,
which measured 1.09 by 0.77 inch."

Mr. Davison writes:--"At Kussoom, in some moderately thin tree-jungle
I found the nest of _Irena puella_. The nest was placed in the fork
of a sapling some 12 feet from the ground. The nest externally was
composed of dry twigs, carelessly and irregularly put together. The
egg-cavity was shallow, not more than 1.5 inch at its deepest part,
and it was lined with finer twigs, fern-roots, and some yellowish
fibre. The nest contained two fresh eggs."

Two eggs, taken by Mr. Davison at Kussoom in the north of the Malay
Peninsula, to which the Malayan form does not extend, are rather
elongated ovals, with a slightly pyriform tendency. The shell is fine,
smooth, and compact, and has a perceptible gloss. The ground-colour is
greenish white; round the large end is a huge, smudgy, irregular zone
of reddish brown and inky grey, the one colour predominating in the
one egg, the other in the other. Inside the zone are specks and spots
of the same colours, and below the zone streaks and spots of these
same colours, thinly set, stretched downwards towards the small end of
the egg.

Other eggs subsequently received are very similar to that first sent
by Mr. Bourdillon, except that in shape they are more regular ovals,
and that the brown markings in some have a reddish and in some a
purplish tinge, and that in some eggs the mottings and markings are
pretty thick even at the small end.

In length they seem to vary from 1.08 to 1.2 inch and in breadth from
0.73 to 0.88 inch.

In some eggs the ground appears to have no green tinge, but is simply
a greyish white. In one egg the markings are all of one colour, a sort
of chocolate-brown, a dense almost confluent mass of mottlings in a
broad irregular zone round the large end and elsewhere pretty thickly
set over the entire surface of the egg. They have always a certain
amount of gloss, but are never very glossy.

257. Mesia argentauris, Hodgs. _The Silver-eared Mesia_.

Leiothrix argentauris (_Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 251.
Mesia argentauris, _Hodgs., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 615.

According to Mr. Hodgson's notes, the Silver-eared Mesia breeds in the
low-lands of Nepal, laying in May and June. The nest is placed in a
bushy tree, between two or three thin twigs, to which it is attached.
It is composed of dry bamboo and other leaves, thin grass-roots and
moss, and is lined inside with fine roots. Three or four eggs are
laid: one of these is figured as a broad oval, much pointed towards
one end, measuring 0.8 by 0.6, having a pale green ground with a few
brownish-red specks, and a close circle of spots of the same colour
round the large end.

Dr. Jerdon brought me two eggs from Darjeeling, which he believed to
belong to this species. They much resemble those of _Liothrix lutea_.
They are oval, scarcely pointed at all towards the lesser end, and
are faintly glossed. The ground-colour of one is greenish, the other
creamy, white, and both are spotted and streaked, chiefly in an
irregular zone near the large end, with different shades of red and
purple. The markings are smaller than those of the preceding species.
Further observations are necessary to confirm the authenticity of the
eggs.

They measure 0.85 and 0.87 by 0.65.

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"I have taken about half a dozen nests
of this bird. They closely resemble those of _Liothrix lutea_ in size
and structure and are similarly situated, but instead of having the
egg-cavity lined with dark-coloured material, as that species has, all
I found had light-coloured linings; such was even the case with
one nest I found within three or four yards of a nest of the other
species.

"The eggs are usually four in number."

Other eggs obtained by Mr. Gammie correspond with those given me
by Dr. Jerdon. They are as like the eggs of _L. lutea_ as they can
possibly be, and if there is any difference, it consists in the
markings of the present species being as a body smaller and more
speckled than those of _L. lutea_.

The six eggs that I have vary in length from 0.82 to 0.9, and in
breadth from 0.6 to 0.65.[A]

[Footnote A: There is in the Tweeddale collection a skin of a young
nestling of this species procured by Limborg on Muleyit mountain in
Tenasserim in the second week of April. On the label attached to the
specimen is a note to the effect that the nest from which the nestling
was taken was made of moss.--ED.]

258. Minla igneitincta, Hodgs. _The Red-tailed Minla_.

Minla ignotincta, _Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 254: _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 618.

The Red-tailed Minla, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes and figures,
breeds in the central region of Nepal and near Darjeeling, during May
and June. It builds a beautiful rather deep cup-shaped nest of mosses,
moss-roots, and some cow's hair, lined with these two latter. The nest
is placed in the fork of three or four slender branches of some bushy
tree, at no great elevation from the ground, and is attached to one or
more of the stems in which it is placed by bands of moss and fibres. A
nest taken on the 24th May measured externally 3.28 inches in diameter
and 2.25 in height; internally the cavity was 2 inches in diameter and
1.62 in depth. They lay from two to four eggs, of a pale verditer-blue
ground, speckled and spotted pretty boldly with brownish red. An egg
is figured as a regular rather broad oval, measuring 0.78 by 0.55.

On the other hand, Dr. Jerdon says:--"Its nest has been brought to me,
of ordinary shape, made of moss and grass, and with four white eggs,
with a few rusty red spots."

260. Cephalopyrus flammiceps (Burton). _The Fire-cap_.

Cephalopyrus flammiceps (_Burt.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 267; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 633.

Writing from Murree, Colonel C.H.T. Marshall tells us:--"On the 25th
May we found the nest of this species (the Fire-cap) in a hole in a
rotten sycamore-tree about 15 feet from the ground. The nest was a
neatly made cup-shaped one, formed principally of fine grass. We were
unfortunately too late for the eggs, as we found four nearly fledged
young ones, showing that these birds lay about the 15th April.
Elevation, 7000 feet."

Captain Cock says:--"I found a nest in the stump of an old
chestnut-tree at Murree. The nest was about 13 feet from the ground
near the top of the stump, placed in a natural cavity: it was
constructed of fine grass and roots carefully woven and was of a deep
cup shape. It contained five fully fledged young ones. The end of May
was the time when I found this, and I have never yet succeeded in
finding another."

261. Psaroglossa spiloptera (Vigors). _The Spotted-wing_.

Saroglossa spiloptera (_Vig.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 336; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 691.

Personally I know nothing of the nidification of the Spotted-wing.

Captain Hutton tells us that "this species arrives in the hills about
the middle of April in small parties of five or six, but it does
not appear to ascend above 5500 to 6000 feet, and is therefore more
properly an inhabitant of the warm valleys. I do not remember seeing
it at Mussoorie, which is 6500 to 7000 feet, although at 5200 feet on
the same range it is abundant during summer. Its notes and flight are
very much those of the Starling (_Sturnus vulgaris_), and it delights
to take a short and rapid flight and return twittering to perch on the
very summit of the forest trees. I have never seen it on the ground,
and its food appears to consist of berries.

"Like the two species of _Acridotheres_, it nidificates by itself in
the holes of trees, lining the cavity with bits of leaves. The eggs
are usually three, or sometimes four or five, of a delicate pale
sea-green speckled with blood-like stains, which sometimes tend to
form a ring near the larger end; shape oval, slightly tapering."

The eggs are so different in character from those of all the Starlings
that doubts might reasonably arise as to whether this species is
placed exactly where it ought to be by Jerdon and others. I possess at
present only three eggs of this bird, which I owe to Captain Hutton.
They are decidedly long ovals, much pointed towards the small end,
and in shape and coloration not a little recall those of _Myiophoneus
temmincki_. The eggs are glossless, of a greenish or greyish-white
ground, more or less profusely speckled and spotted with red, reddish
brown, and dingy purple. In two of the eggs the majority of the
markings are gathered into a broad irregular speckled zone round the
large end. In the third egg there is just a trace of such a zone and
no markings at all elsewhere. In length they vary from 1.03 to 1.08,
and in breadth from 0.68 to 0.74.[A]

[Footnote A: HYPOCOLIUS AMPELINUS, Bonap. _The Grey Hypocolius_.
Hypocolius ampelinus, _Bp., Hume, cat._ no. 269 quat.

Although this bird has not yet been found breeding within Indian
limits, the following account of its nidification at Fao, in the
Persian Gulf, by Mr. W.D. Cumming (Ibis, 1886. p. 478) will prove
interesting:--

"It is not till the middle of June that they breed.

"In 1883, first eggs were brought by an Arab about the 13th of June,
and on the 15th of the same month I found a nest containing two fresh
eggs. In 1884, on the 14th of June a nest was brought me containing
four fresh eggs, and on the 15th I found a nest containing also four
fresh eggs.

"2nd July, I came across four young birds able to fly. On the 3rd,
three nests were brought, one containing two fresh eggs, another three
young just fledged, and the other four eggs slightly incubated. On the
9th, another nest, containing four young just fledged was brought. On
the 15th I saw a flock of small birds well able to fly; on the 18th I
found a nest containing four young about a couple of days old, and on
the 20th a nest containing three eggs well incubated was brought from
a place called 'Goosba' on the opposite bank (Persian side) of the
river.

"The nests are generally placed on the leaves of the date-palm, at no
very great height. The highest I have seen was built about ten feet
from the ground but from three to five feet is the average height.

"They are substantial and cup-shaped, having a diameter of about 31/4
inches by 21/4 inches in depth, lined inside with fine grass, the soft
fluff from the willow when in seed, wool, and sometimes hair.

"The eggs are of a glossy leaden white, with leaden-coloured blotches
and spots towards the larger end, sometimes forming a ring round
the larger end and at times spreading over the entire egg. On rare
occasions I have noticed a greenish tinge in very fresh eggs. This, I
think, is due to the colour of the inner membrane, which is generally
a very light green, in some very faint and in others more decided;
this tinge seems to disappear after the egg is blown.

"Very rough measurements are as follows:--0.9 x 0.63; 0.83 x 0.63;
0.83 x 0.6; 0.83 x 0.66; 0.86 x 0.66."]

Subfamily BRACHYPODINAE.

263. Criniger flaveolus (Gould). _The White-throated Bulbul_.

Criniger flaveolus (_Gould), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 83; _Hume. Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 451.

A nest of this species sent me from Darjeeling was found in July, at
an elevation of about 3000 feet.

It was placed on the branches of a medium-sized tree, at a height of
only about 5 feet from the ground.

The nest was a compact, rather shallow saucer, 5.5 inches in diameter
and about 2 inches in height externally. The cavity was about 3.5 in
diameter and an inch in depth. The greater portion of the nest was
composed of dead leaves bound together firmly by fine brown roots;
inside the leaves was just a lining of rather coarser brown roots, and
again an inner lining of black horsehair-like roots and fine steins of
the maiden-hair fern.

The nest contained three fresh eggs. These eggs vary from broad to
somewhat elongated ovals, are more or less pointed towards the small
end, and exhibit a fine gloss.

The ground is a beautiful salmon-pink, and it is thinly spotted,
blotched, and marked with irregular lines of deep maroon-red. Most of
the markings in one egg are gathered into a very irregular straggling
zone round the large end, and the other egg exhibits a tendency to
form a similar zone. Besides these primary markings a few spots and
clouds of dull purple, looking as if beneath the surface of the shell,
are thinly scattered about the egg, chiefly in the neighbourhood of
the zone.

These eggs vary from 0.9 to 1.0 in length, and from 0.7 to 0.72 in
breadth.

Several nests of this species sent me by the late Mr. Mandelli and
obtained by him in British and Native Sikhim during July and the early
part of August are all precisely of the same type. They each contained
two fresh eggs; they were all placed in the branches of small trees in
the midst of dense brushwood or heavy jungle, at heights of from 4 to
10 feet from the ground. The nests are broad and saucer-like, nearly
5 inches in diameter, but not much above 2 in height externally; the
cavities average about 3.25 in diameter and about 1 in depth. The body
of the nest is composed of dead leaves, the sides are more or less
felted round with rich brown fibrous, almost wool-like roots; inside
the leaves fine twigs and stems of herbaceous plants, all of a uniform
brown tint, are wound round and round, apparently to keep the leaves
in their places interiorly, and then the cavity is lined with
jet-black horsehair-like vegetable fibres. What these are I do not
know, but they are precisely like horsehair to look at, only they are
comparatively brittle. The contrast of colour between the jet-black
lining and the rich brown of the lip of the saucer, which is constant
in all the nests, is very striking.

The eggs of this species sent me by Mr. Mandelli, obtained by him in
Sikhim at elevations of from 2000 to 4000 feet in July and the early
part of August, possess a very distinctive character. They are broad
ovals, much pointed towards the small end, and they are more glossy
than the eggs of any other of this family with which I am acquainted.
The ground-colour is pink. The markings consist of curious hair-line
scratches, clouded blotches, and irregular spots--in some eggs all
very hazy and ill-defined, in others more scratchy and sharp. The
great majority of the markings seem to be gathered together into
an irregular and imperfect zone round the large end. In colour the
markings vary from a deep brownish maroon to a dull brickdust-red,
sometimes they are slightly more purplish. In some eggs a few faint
clouds or small spots of subsurface-looking dusky purple may be
noticed mingled with the rest of the markings.

These eggs are totally unlike the eggs of _Criniger ictericus_. I have
never had an opportunity of verifying the eggs myself, but as three
different nests have now been taken, all containing precisely similar
eggs, I believe there can be no doubt of their authenticity.

269. Hypsipetes psaroides, Vigors. _The Himalayan Black Bulbul_.

Hypsipetes psaroides (_Vig.), Jerd. B. Ind_ ii, p. 77; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 444.

The Himalayan Black Bulbul breeds throughout the outer and lower
ranges of the Himalayas, at any rate from Bhootan to Afghanistan, at
elevations varying from 2000 to 6000 feet.

They lay mostly in May and June, but eggs may occasionally be met with
during the latter half of April.

The nest of _Hypsipetes psaroides_ is usually made of rather
coarse-bladed grass, with exteriorly a number of dry leaves, and more
or less moss incorporated, and lined with very fine grass-stems and
roots of moss. A good deal of spider's web is often used exteriorly to
bind the nest together, or attach it more firmly to the fork in which
it rests. Its general shape is a moderately deep cup, the cavity
measuring some 21/2 inches in diameter by 11/2 inch in depth. The sides,
into which leaves and moss are freely interwoven, vary from an inch to
a couple of inches in thickness. The bottom, loosely put together, is
rarely more than from a quarter to half an inch in depth. It appears
to be generally placed on the fork of a branch, at a moderate height
from the ground.