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

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The eggs answer well enough to Dr. Jerdon's description, but to an
oologist's eye they are excessively _un-like_ those of the Common
Bulbul; shape, tone of colour, and character of markings alike differ.

In shape they are decidedly elongated ovals. The shell is very fine
and smooth, and moderately glossy. The ground is reddish white, and
this is profusely speckled and blotched (the blotches being chiefly
confined, however, to a broad irregular zone round the broader end)
with a deep but certainly, I should say, _not_ lake-red, but much
nearer what one would get by mixing brown with vermilion. Besides
these red markings sundry clouds and spots of a pale greyish lilac are
intermingled in a zone, and one or two spots of the same colour may be
traced elsewhere.

The eggs measure 0.92 by 0.62, and 0.97 by 0.63.

300. Pycnonotus blanfordi (Jerd.). _Blanford's Bulbul_.

Ixus blanfordi (_Jerd.), Hume, cat._ no. 452 quint.

Mr. Oates writes from Pegu:--"Nest in a small tree, well concealed
by leaves, about 7 feet from the ground, near Pegu. A very neat cup
measuring 3 inches diameter externally and 2.25 internally. The depth
1.75 inch outside and 1.25 inside. The sides of the nest, though very
strongly woven, can be seen through. The materials consist of small
fine branchlets of weeds, and the inside is neatly lined with grass.
One or two dead leaves, or rather fragments, are used in the exterior
walling.

"The nest was found on the 25th May, and contained three eggs slightly
incubated. The ground-colour is a fresh pink, but with little gloss.
The whole egg is covered with a profusion of dark purplish-red spots,
more thickly disposed at the thick end, but everywhere frequent. In
addition there are some underlying and much paler smears. The three
eggs measured respectively .75, .78, and .77 in length, by .63, .62,
and .61 in breadth.

"Subsequently I found five other nests, from the 1st April to the 20th
June, all similar to the one described. Eggs invariably three. Average
size of twelve eggs .82 by .6."

The nests of this species that I have seen have been very slight
flimsy structures, nearly hemispherical cups, composed of fine twigs
and the leaf-stalks of pennated leaves a little bound together with
cobwebs and thinly lined with fine hair-like grass. In some cases
a leaf or two has been attached to the outer surface to aid the
concealment of the nest. The nest is very loosely woven just like a
sieve, as a rule nowhere more than 0.25 inch thick, and with a truly
hemispherical cavity, diameter about 2.5, depth about 1.25.

The eggs are of the ordinary Bulbul type, but not amongst the more
richly-coloured examples of these; in shape and size they vary a good
deal, but typically they seem to be moderately broad ovals slightly
compressed towards the small end. The shell is fine and smooth, but
has scarcely any appreciable gloss; the ground is pale pink or pinky
white. At the large end the markings are dense, forming in some eggs
an almost confluent zone, in others a mottled cap; they consist
of irregular-shaped spots and specks of deep red and pale
subsurface-looking greyish purple; over the rest of the surface of the
egg outside the zone or cap the markings are much smaller in size and
much more thinly scattered, and it is observable that the secondary
purple markings are to a great extent confined to the zone or cap, as
the case may be, and its immediate neighbourhood.

Occasionally the markings, which seem always to be small and speckly,
are very sparsely set, leaving comparatively large portions of the
surface unmarked; and occasionally eggs are met with in which the
primary markings are wholly wanting, and there is nothing but a pale
reddish-purple cloudy mottling over the greater portion of the surface
of the egg.[A]

[Footnote A: PYCNONOTUS PLUMOSUS, Bl. _The Large Olive Bulbul_.

Ixus plumosus (_Bl.), Hume, cat._ no. 452 sept.

Mr. W. Davison writes:--"I found one nest of this Bulbul at Kossoom:
it was of the ordinary Bulbul type and placed in a small but dense
clump of cane, about 18 inches from the ground. The parent birds were
very vociferous when the nest was approached."

The eggs of all these Bulbuls, though they are separable when
individually compared, follow so closely the same type of colouring
that, it is almost impossible to make their distinctions apparent by
any verbal descriptions.

The eggs of the present species are like those of so many others,
moderately broad ovals, obtuse at the large end, somewhat compressed
towards the small end, at times slightly pyriform. The shell very
fine, smooth and thin, but strong, and generally with an appreciable
though not at all conspicuous gloss.

The ground-colour is pink or pinky white, and they are very thickly
speckled and spotted everywhere, but extremely densely so, and there
blotched also in a broad irregular zone, round the large end with
rich reddish maroon and dull greyish or inky purple--the rich colour
predominating in some eggs, the dull colour in others; and in some the
markings being all extremely fine and speckly, while in others they
are rather bolder. Two eggs measure 0.9 by 0.66.

PYCNONOTUS SIMPLEX, Less. _Moore's Olive Bulbul_.

Ixus brunneus (_Bl.), Hume, cat._ no. 452 oct.

Mr. W. Davison says:--"I took a nest of _P. simplex_ in some rather
thick jungle at Klang. The nest, of the ordinary Bulbul type (in fact
it might easily have passed for a nest of _Olocompsa_), was placed in
the fork of a small sapling about 6 feet from the ground. The nest
contained two eggs. The female was shot from the nest."

The eggs are moderately elongated, rather regular ovals, some
specimens having a slight pyriform tendency. The shell is fine and
compact, and seems to have generally an appreciable but not striking
gloss. The ground-colour appears to have been creamy pink, and it is
very thickly freckled and speckled all over with a rich maroon, in
amongst which tiny clouds of pale purple may be faintly discerned;
dense as are the markings everywhere, they are generally most so in a
zone round the large end. Very possibly this species will be found to
exhibit somewhat different types of coloration, as the eggs of all
Bulbuls vary very much; but certainly typically the markings of this
species are much more speckly than in most of the others, forming a
universal stippling over the entire surface. The two eggs measure 0.9
and 0.88 in length by 0.62 in breadth.]

Family SITTIDAE.

315. Sitta himalayensis, Jard. & Selby. _The White-tailed Nuthatch_.

Sitta himalayensis, _J. & S., Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 385; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 248.

According to Mr. Hodgson's notes and drawings this species begins to
lay in April, constructing a shallow saucer-like nest of moss lined
with moss-roots, in holes of trees at no great elevation from the
ground. One such nest, the measurements of which are recorded, was
3.25 inches in diameter and 2 in height externally; the cavity was
2.25 inches in diameter and 1.25 inch in depth. They lay three or four
pure white eggs slightly speckled with red, which measure about 0.72
inch in length by 0.55 inch in width. They breed once a year, and both
sexes assist in incubating the eggs and rearing the young.

Mr. R. Thompson says:--"In Kumaon the White-tailed Nuthatch breeds in
May and June, laying five or six eggs, in holes in trees, especially
in oaks."

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:--"This bird is an early breeder in
Naini Tal; a nest found on the 25th April contained half-fledged
young. It was in a natural hollow of a tree about 10 feet from the
ground in a thick trunk; the hole was closed up with a kind of stiff
gummy substance, leaving only a circular entrance about an inch in
diameter, just as I have seen in nests of _Sitta europaea_. The
old birds were busily engaged in feeding the young. Another nest
containing young was found on the 28th April in an oak tree at about
7000 feet elevation; both birds were feeding the young, and the nest
was similar to the last except that in this case it was so low down in
the trunk that, sitting on the ground, I could put my ear against
the hole. From a third nest, found on the 2nd May, the young
had apparently just fled. My experience bears out Mr. Hodgson's
observations: I have often been up here in May and June searching
closely and never found a nest; this year I came up for the first time
in April, and within a few days find three nests with young. I may add
that after the 10th May all the Nuthatches I have seen were in small
parties, apparently parents with their young."

316. Sitta cinnamomeiventris, Blyth. _The Cinnamon-bellied
Nuthatch_.

Sitta cinnamomeoventris, _Bl., Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 387.

Writing from Sikhim, Mr. Gammie says:--"I lately took the nest of
_Sitta cinnamomeiventris_ at 2000 feet. It was 20 feet from the ground
in a soft decaying bamboo on the edge of large jungle. The birds had
made a small hole just below an internode, and from the next internode
below had filled up the hollow of the bamboo with alternate layers of
green moss and pieces of tree-bark of about an inch or more square to
within a few inches of the entrance-hole. Each layer of moss was about
an inch thick, but the bark layer not more than a quarter of an inch,
the thickness of the bark itself. On the top of this pile, which was a
foot high, was a pad three inches wide by two in depth, of fine moss,
fur, a feather or two, and a few insects' wings intermixed, for the
eggs to rest on. The fur looks like that of a rat. There were four
hard-set eggs, which, unfortunately, got broken in the taking. One
of them only was measurable, and it was 0.65 inch by 0.5. I send the
shell-fragments to show the coloration."

317. Sitta neglecta, Walden. _The Burmese Nuthatch_.

Sitta neglecta, _Wald., Hume, cat._ no. 250 bis.

The Burmese Nuthatch probably breeds throughout Pegu and Tenasserim.
Of its nidification in the latter division Major C.T. Bingham
writes:--"On the 21st March, wandering about in a deserted clearing,
I saw a couple of Nuthatches (_Sitta neglecta_) flying to and from a
tree, carrying food apparently. Watching them closely with a pair of
binoculars, I saw them disappear near a knot in a branch. The tree was
a dead dry one and rather difficult to climb, but a peon of mine went
up and reported five young ones unfledged, the nest-hole being 6
inches deep, and the opening, which was originally a large one, and
probably caused by water wearing into the site of a broken branch,
narrowed by an edging of clay. The young lay on a layer of broken
leaves. As they were featherless, blind little things I left them
alone, and was delighted to see the parents continuing to feed them."

321. Sitta castaneiventris, Frankl. _The Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch_.

Sitta castaneoventris, _Frankl., Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 386.

The late Captain Cock furnished me with the following note a long time
ago regarding the breeding of this Nuthatch:--"A very common bird at
Sitapur in Oudh, every mango-tope containing one or more pairs. They
pair early and commence making their nests in February, laying their
eggs in March. The nests are in cavities of trees, at no great height
from the ground, and unless observed in course of construction are
difficult to find--the bird filling the whole cavity up with mud
consolidated with some viscid seed of a parasitical plant, and merely
leaving a small round hole for entrance. This composition hardens like
pucca masonry in a very short time, and secures the nest from all
marauders except the oologist. The nest consists of a few dry leaves
at the bottom of the cavity at no great depth, and upon this four eggs
are laid. The birds sit close and do not easily desert their nests, as
the following instance will show. In 1873 I found a _Sitta's_ nest in
a mango-tree, and after watching the birds for some days, when the
eggs had been laid I took the nest, placing my handkerchief in the
nest to prevent bits of mud falling in on the eggs. I opened out the
cavity, cleaning away the mud, and putting in my hand I caught the
female bird. I looked at her and let her go. In 1874 curiosity induced
me to look at the place again, and to my surprise I saw the cavity had
been built up again. I caught a bird on the nest and took four eggs;
it may have been a different bird, but there was only one pair in that
tope of trees, and was probably the same bird I caught in 1873. I
found another nest in my garden about 2 feet from the ground, and I
often used to flash the sunlight from a small hand-mirror, that I use
out birds' nesting, onto the hen bird while she sat on her eggs. Our
collection contains a large series of these eggs, the produce of some
five-and-twenty nests taken by myself at Sitapur."

Major C.T. Bingham writes:--"At Allahabad I found two nests of this
little Nuthatch, one in July and one in September. I regret to say
neither contained any eggs, though the birds were going in and out
constantly. The nests were in tiny holes in mango-trees, the entrances
being still more contracted by earth being plastered round."

Colonel C.H.T. Marshall observes:--"A nest of the Chestnut-bellied
Nuthatch was pointed out to me at Umballa in the next garden to mine.
It was about 12 feet above the ground in an old mango-tree; the
locality chosen was the stump of a branch which had been cut off and
had rotted down. Outside there was a great deal of masonry work as
hard and firm as that on white-ant hills, in the middle of which was a
neat circular hole just large enough for the passage of the bird. The
masonry continued down inside the hole as far as I could see; I did
not break it open, as there were nearly fledged young ones inside.
I knew this because the parent birds had been seen for some days
carrying in food. I did not see the nest till the end of May. The
following spring I found another nest at Kurnal in a bokain tree;
it was constructed after the same fashion; the nest itself, which
consisted only of dead leaves, was not very far down. I was
unfortunately this time (March 15th) too early for the eggs. The
holes are not easy to see from the ground, as they are most skilfully
concealed from view."

The eggs of this species are very regular, slightly elongated ovals,
scarcely compressed or pointed towards the small end at all. The shell
is fragile, and is either entirely glossless or has only a trace of
gloss. The ground-colour is white, with at times a faint pinkish
tinge, and the markings consist of spooks, spots, and splashes (always
most numerous at the large end, where they usually form a more or less
conspicuous though irregular cap) of dull or bright brick-red, more
or less intermingled in most specimens with dull reddish lilac. The
arrangement and size of the markings are very variable. In some eggs
they are all mere specks, forming a small speckly cap at the large
end, and elsewhere very thinly scattered about the surface; in others
many of the spots are (for the size of the egg) large, the majority
are well-marked spots and not mere specks, and the whole surface of
the egg is pretty thickly studded with them, while the broad end
exhibits a large blotched and mottled cap. The majority of the eggs
are intermediate between these two extremes.

In length the eggs vary from 0.61 to 0.72 and in breadth from. 0.5 to
0.54, but the average of numerous specimens is 0.67 by 0.52.[A]

[Footnote A: SITTA TEPHRONOTA, Sharpe. _The Eastern Rock-Nuthatch_

Sitta neumayeri, _Mich., Hume, cat._ no. 248 quint.

The Eastern Rock-Nuthatch is abundant in Baluchistan, and without
doubt breeds there. The following note by Lieut. H.E. Barnes will
therefore be interesting. He writes from Afghanistan:--"This Nuthatch
is very common on the hills. It appears to choose very different
localities to build in. In some instances a hole in the face of a
rock is selected, and this it lines with agglutinated mud and resin,
continuing the lining-case until it, projects in the shape of a cone
to fully 8 inches. It seems fond of decorating its little palace
with feathers to a distance of 2 or even 3 feet, and it is thus a
conspicuous object; but most nests are found in holes in trees, and
even here feathers are stuck into crevices all around. They are
usually well lined with camel-hair.

"They breed in March and April. The eggs are usually four in number (I
have sometimes found five), oval in shape, more or less glossy white,
and more or less densely or sparsely (generally most densely towards
the large end) spotted and blotched with varying shades of chestnut
to reddish brown, more or less intermingled with pale purple and
occasionally purplish grey. Some eggs are very richly marked. Some are
almost pure white. They average 0.87 by 0.57."

The eggs of this species are typically moderately broad ovals,
slightly pointed towards the small end, but elongated and more or less
blunt-ended pyriform examples occur. The shell is extremely fine and
smooth, but has only moderate amount of gloss in any specimen that I
have seen and in some specimens has only a trace of this. The ground
colour is pure white, and the eggs are generally thinly speckled,
spotted, or blotched, about the broad end only, with a pale red;
occasionally a few greyish-purple spots and blotches are intermingled
with the other markings, and specks and tiny spots of both red and
grey sometimes extend to the smaller end of the egg also. I have seen
no such examples myself, but very probably in some eggs the principal
markings may be at the small end. Eighteen eggs vary from 0.81 to 0.91
in length by 0.61 to 0.69 in breadth.]

323. Sitta leucopsis, Gould. _The White-cheeked Nuthatch_.

Sitta leucopsis, _Gould, Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 385; _Hume, Rough Draft
N. & E._ no. 249.

Captain Cock took the eggs of the White-cheeked Nuthatch late in May
and early in June (1871) in Kashmir at Sonamurg.

Captain Wardlaw Ramsay says, writing of Afghanistan:--"I observed it
hanging about a nest-hole on the 21st May, but on returning to take
the eggs some days later was unable to find the tree:" and he adds,
"On the 21st of June I shot a young bird just fledged near the Peiwar
Kotul."

The eggs of this species vary somewhat in size. In shape some are
moderately elongated, some are somewhat broad ovals, and all are, more
or less, compressed towards the smaller end, which, however, is obtuse
and not at all pointed. The ground is white and has a slight gloss.
The markings consist of small spots and minute specks, some eggs
exhibiting only the latter. In all cases the markings are most dense
towards the large end, where they generally form an irregular and
ill-defined mottled cap or zone. In colour the markings are red and
pale purple, the red varying from bright brickdust-red to brownish and
even purplish red, and the purple being sometimes lilac and sometimes
grey, and here and there in a single speck, almost black. In length
the eggs vary from 0.67 to 0.75 inch, and in breadth from 0.5 to 0.55
inch.

323. Sitta frontalis,, Horsf. _The Velvet-fronted Blue Nuthatch_.

Dendrophila frontalis (_Horsf._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ p. 388; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 253.

The Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, lays from the middle of February to
the end of May. It breeds in the forest-tracts of the Sub-Himalayan
ranges, in the Central Indian forests, the Ghats of Southern India,
and the well-wooded slopes of the Nilghiris, Palnis, &c.

It builds a compact little nest of moss and feathers in a tiny hole
in a tree, selecting, I believe, generally a natural cavity, but
certainly trimming the entrance and interior itself.

Mr. B. Thompson says:--"This species is common in all the low
densely-wooded valleys of the Sub-Himalayan ranges of Kumaon, at an
elevation of from 1500 to 2500 feet. It breeds in May and June in
hollows of trees. Any small hole suits for a nest, and it lays four or
five eggs, for I have seen it with as many young, though I never took
the trouble of getting out the eggs themselves."

Mr. Davison says:--"This Nuthatch breeds on the Nilghiris as high up
as Ootacamund, nesting in holes of trees, and laying three or four
eggs, spotted with chestnut, pinkish red, or reddish brown. The nest
is composed of moss, moss-roots, &c., and lined with feathers. I am
not quite certain how long the breeding-season lasts, but I think that
it is from the middle of April to the early part of May."

Miss Cockburn, of Kotagherry, sends me the following account of the
first nest she took of this species:--

"After having wished for some years to obtain the eggs of this bird, I
was delighted to hear from my brother that he had seen a Nuthatch go
into a _small_ hole in a tree, and that, on looking into it, he had
seen something like a nest. I went prepared with a chisel and hammer,
but wished first to ascertain fully who the owner of the nest was.
After watching at a respectful distance for a long time, an Indian
Grey Tit flew to the hole and peeped in. My first thought was one
of great disappointment at having ridden many miles with such high
expectations to find only a Common Titmouse's nest; but it did not
last long; the inquisitive Grey Tit found the hole too small for him,
and flew off just as happily as he had flown to it. I continued to
watch, and was quite repaid by seeing a Velvet-fronted Nuthatch fly to
the top of the tree containing the nest, and descend rapidly down the
trunk (which was about 12 or 13 feet high), as if it knew where the
wee hole was, and disappear into it. This was sufficient proof as to
the proprietor of the nest; I walked quietly up to the tree, and when
within a foot of it out flew the bird. My handkerchief was stuffed
into the hole to prevent any chips breaking the eggs, should there be
any: and making use of the chisel and hammer, I soon made the hole
large enough to admit my hand. The nest contained three eggs, which I
most carefully extracted one by one. The nest was then brought out,
and consisted of a quantity of beautiful green moss, feathers (many of
which belong to the bird), some soft fine hair, and a few pieces of
lichen. This nest was discovered on the 10th February. The tree it was
found in grew nearly alone, at the side of a road not much frequented.

"The eggs were quite fresh, and most probably the bird would have laid
at least one more; but these were sufficient to show the colour of
the eggs, which were pure white, with dark and light red spots and
blotches, chiefly at the thick end, besides a circle of spots like a
Flycatcher's eggs."

Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, writing of South India, says, in 'The
Ibis':--"It breeds in holes of trees, preferring the deserted ones
excavated by _Megalama caniceps_. The nest is built of moss, and lined
with the fluff of hares and soft feathers. The eggs are always four in
number, spotted with pinkish red on a white ground, the spots being
more numerous towards the larger end. They breed in March. Dimensions,
0.71 inch long by 0.57 broad,"

Mr. Mandelli sent me a small pad-like nest of this species found on
the 4th May in Native Sikhim. It was placed in a hollow of a trunk of
a large tree about 3 feet from the ground. It is composed of very fine
moss felted together with a little fine vegetable fibre, and the upper
surface coated with a little fine short silky fur, probably that of a
rat.

Major Bingham, writing from Tenasserim, says:--"Fairly common in the
Thoungyeen valley. On the 18th February I found a nest in a hole in a
branch of a pynkado tree (_Xylia dolabrifomis_), but I was too early
for eggs."

One egg of this very beautiful species was sent me by Miss Cockburn.
It is intermediate in size and colour between those of the European
Creeper and Nuthatch, while at the same time it strongly recalls the
eggs of _Parus atriceps_. In shape the egg is a broad oval (not quite
so broad, however, as those of the European Nuthatch are), slightly
compressed towards one end. The ground-colour is white, and the egg
is blotched, speckled, and spotted, chiefly, however, in a sort of
irregular zone round the large end, with brickdust-red and somewhat
pale purple. The shell is fine and compact, but devoid of gloss. The
egg measures 0.08 by 0.55 inch.

Three other eggs from the Sikhim Terai measure 0.68 by 0.51.

Family DICRURIDAE.

327. Dicrurus ater (Hermann). _The Black Drongo_.

Dicrurus macrocercus (_V._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 427.
Buchanga albirictus, _Hodgs., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 278.

The Black Drongo or Common King-Crow lays throughout India, at any
rate in the plain country; it does not appear to breed either in the
Himalayas or the Nilghiris at any height exceeding 5000 feet.

A few eggs may be found towards the close of April, and again during
the first week of August, but May, June, and July are _the_ months.

It builds usually pretty high up in tall trees, in some fork not quite
at the outside, constructing a broad shallow cup, and lays normally
four eggs, although I _have_ found five. Elsewhere I have recorded the
following in regard to its nidification:--