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

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"Close at our own gate is a pretty neem tree, the '_Melia
azadirachta_,' a species now naturalized in Provence and other parts
of the south of France. High up in a fork a small nest was visible,
and projecting over it on one side a black forked tail that could
belong to nothing but the King-Crow. Of this bird we have already
taken during the last six weeks at least fifty nests, and in many
cases where we had left the empty nest in _statu quo_, we found it a
week later with a fresh batch of eggs laid therein. Many birds will
never return to a nest which has once been robbed, but others, like
the King-Crow and the Little Shrike (_Lanius vittatus_) will continue
laying even after the nest has been _twice_ robbed. The very day after
the nest has been cleared of perhaps four slightly incubated eggs, a
fresh one that otherwise would assuredly never have seen the light is
laid, and that, too, a fertile egg, which, if not meddled with, will
be hatched off in due course. It might be supposed that immediately on
discovering their loss, nature urged the birds to new intercourse,
the result of which was the fertile egg, and this, in some cases, is
probably really the case; Martins and others of the Swallow kind being
often to be seen busy with 'love's pleasing labour' before their eggs
have been well stowed away by the collector. But this will not account
for instances that I have observed of birds in confinement, who
separated from the male before they had laid their full number, and
then later, just when they began to sit deprived of their eggs,
straightway laid a second set, neither so large nor so well coloured
as the first, but still fertile eggs that were duly hatched. But for
the removal of the first set, these subsequent eggs would never have
been developed or laid. Now, the theory has always been that the
contact of the sperm- and germ-cells causes the development and
fertilization of the latter. In these cases no fresh accession of
sperm-cells was possible, and hence it would seem as if in some birds
the female organs were able to store up living sperm-cells, which
only work to fertilize and develop ova in the event of some accident
rendering it necessary, and which otherwise ultimately lose vitality
and pass away without action.

"The nest of the King-Crow that we took was of the ordinary type; in
fact I have noticed scarcely any difference in the shape or materials
of all the numerous nests of this common bird that I have yet seen.
They are all composed of tiny twigs and fine grass-stems, and the
roots of the khus-khus grass, as a rule, neatly and tightly woven
together, and exteriorly bound round with a good deal of cobweb, in
which a few feathers are sometimes entangled. The cavity is broad and
shallow, and at times lined with horsehair or fine grass, but most
commonly only with khus. The bottom of the nest is very thin, but the
sides or rim rather firm and thick; in this case the cavity was 4
inches in diameter, and about 11/2 in depth, and contained three pure
white glossless eggs. In the very next tree, however (a mango, and
this is perhaps their favourite tree), was another similar nest,
containing four eggs, slightly glossy, with a salmon-pink tinge
throughout, and numerous well-marked brownish-red specks and
spots, most numerous towards the large end, looking vastly like
Brobdingnagian specimens of the Rocket-bird's eggs. The variation in
this bird's eggs is remarkable; out of more than one hundred eggs
nearly one third have been pure white, and between the dead glossless
purely white egg and a somewhat glossy, warm pinky grounded one, with
numerous well-marked spots and specks of maroon colour, dull-red, and
red-brown or even dusky, every possible gradation is found. Each set
of eggs, however, seems to be invariably of the same type, and we have
never yet found a quite white and a well coloured and marked egg in
the same nest.

"These birds are very jealous of the approach of other birds even of
their own species to a nest in which they have eggs, and many a little
family would this year have been safely reared, and their ovate
cradles have escaped the plundering hands of my shikaries, had not
attention been invariably called to the thereabouts of the nest by the
pertinacious and vicious rushes of one or other of the parents from
near their nest at every feathered thing that; passed them by."

Captain Hutton says:--"This species, which appears to be generally
diffused throughout India, is not uncommon in the Dehra Doon, but does
not ascend the hills; it breeds in June, laying four eggs of somewhat
variable size. They are pure white, thus differing widely from those
of the supposed _D. longcaudatus_ of Mussoorie.

"It is evident likewise that the eggs which Captain Tickell assigns to
this species do not belong to it. (_Vide_ Journal As. Soc. vol. xvii.
p. 304.)

"The nest differs from that of our hill species, being larger and
far less neatly made; it is placed in the bifurcation of the smaller
branches of a tall tree, and is composed exteriorly of two hard
semi-woody stalks of various plants, plastered over with cobwebs.
Another one was constructed entirely of fine roots, like the khus-khus
used for tatties, and plastered over like the former with cobwebs. It
is flattened or saucer-shaped, and about 3 inches in diameter."

Mr. F.R. Blewitt remarks:--"It breeds from the middle of May well into
August. I do not think it has two broods in the year, at least close
observation has not proved the fact. Trees of various sizes are chosen
indiscriminately for the nest, from the lofty mango and tamarind to
the low-growing roonji, &c.

"The nest is a peculiarly slight-formed structure (occasionally I have
seen it otherwise, but this is the exception), always neatly made.
The exterior of the nest is composed of small fine twigs, roots, and
grass, with generally a good deal of spider's web round the outer
surface. The average exterior diameter of the nest is about 5.5
inches. The cavity is frequently lined with horsehair. On three or
four occasions I have seen very fine khus substituted for the hair.
The average inner diameter of the nest is about 3.4 inches.

"The regular number of eggs is four; in colour they are a light
reddish white, with a few spots or blotches, here and there of a
purplish red or red-brown. The eggs often differ much in size.

"I happened to find in one nest two eggs, one of the usual size, the
other only about one third of the size. What is more surprising, it
was perfectly formed, as regards the white and yolk."

The instance of sagacity related by Mr. Phillips, and quoted by
Jerdon, was related to him by the late Mr. Davis, my old Collector of
Customs.

"I have on two or three occasions myself witnessed similar instances
of sagacity. This bird, during the breeding-season, is pugnacious to
a degree, fearlessly attacking every bird that approaches the tree on
which the nest may be."

Writing from the Sambhur Lake, Mr. E.M. Adam says:--"Very common here.
The King-Crow breeds here in June and July. The eggs vary much with
regard to colouring; some are pure white without spots, some have dark
brown spots on the white ground, whilst others have a pale rufous
ground darker at the broader end, with spots of deep rust-colour and
lilac."

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:--"At Bheera Tal, fully 4000 feet
above the sea, I found two nests of this species on the 24th May, one
contained four eggs, and the other three; the eggs varied much in
size, and out of the seven, six were pure white, almost like Barbet's
eggs, and the seventh had only a faint sprinkling of tiny dark spots
at one end. The birds, all four of which I shot, were typical _D.
ater_, with the white spot well developed. On the same day, and in the
same place, I found eggs of _D. longicaudatus_. I record this, as it
is not usual to find _D. ater_ breeding at this elevation. It may be
noticed that the eggs of this species found by Hutton in the Doon
were all pure white, while in the plains I think white is more
exceptional."

Dr. Scully says:--"In Nepal it breeds freely at elevations of from
4000 to 5000 feet. Three nests were taken in the valley, in May and
June; these contained each three or four pure white eggs."

Major C.T. Bingham remarks:--"I have found many nests of the King-Crow
both at Allahabad and Delhi. In both places they begin laying towards
the end of May, and I got fresh eggs at Allahabad as late as the 13th
August. The nests and eggs have been nearly always of the same type.
The former, a shallow, but well-made saucer, rather small sometimes
for the size of the bird, of grass-roots and twigs, and absolutely
without lining; the latter white, when fresh with a pink tinge,
spotted, chiefly at the larger end, rather scantily with claret-colour
and dark brown. I have never found a pure white egg."

Lieut. H.E. Barnes, writing of Rajputana in general, tells us:--"The
King-Crow breeds during May and June. A few nests may be found in
July, but by far the greater number are to be found during the latter
part of May and the commencement of June."

Colonel Butler informs us that "The Common King-Crow breeds in the
neighbourhood of Deesa during the rains. I have taken nests on the
following dates:--

"June 6, 1875. A nest containing 4 fresh eggs.
June 7, 1875. " " 4 fresh eggs.
June 9, 1875. " " 2 fresh eggs.
" " " " 4 young birds.
June 10, 1875 " " 4 fresh eggs.
June 11, 1875. " " 4 fresh eggs.
June 13, 1875. " " 3 fresh eggs.
" " " " 4 fresh eggs.
July 8, 1875. " " 4 fresh eggs.
July 12, 1875. " " 4 fresh eggs.

"The nest consists of a broad shallow saucer about 31/2 inches in
diameter measured from the inside, composed of dry twigs and fine
roots, and is invariably fixed in the fork of a tree. The bottom of
the nest, though strongly woven, is often so thin that the eggs are
visible from below. The eggs, usually four in number, are of the
Oriole type, being white or creamy buff:, sparingly spotted and
speckled with deep chocolate or rusty brown, with, occasionally,
markings of inky purple. The markings of the eggs of this species,
like those of the Oriole, are apt to run if washed."

Messrs. Davidson and Wenden, writing from the Deccan, say:--"Common
and breeds."

Mr. Vidal remarks of this bird in the South Konkan:--"Abundant. Breeds
in May."

Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, writing from South India, says in 'The
Ibis':--"Breeds from March to the end of May, constructing a slight
cup-shaped nest in a tree. The nest is composed of fine twigs bound
together with cobwebs, and is rather a flimsy concern, the eggs often
being visible from below. It is generally placed in the fork of a
branch, at from 10 to 30 feet from the ground. The eggs are three in
number, occasionally only two, and vary very greatly in colour, some
being almost of a pure white, whilst others again are spotted and
blotched, especially at the larger end, with claret and light purple
on a rich salmon-coloured ground. The birds are very noisy in the
breeding-season, keeping all intruders off, not hesitating to attack
Kites and Crows. They seem to have an especial antipathy to the
latter."

Mr. Benjamin Aitken states that in Madras "the King-Crow, so
conspicuous on the backs of cattle, telegraph-wires, &c., all through
the cold and hot seasons, is conspicuous by its absence during the
breeding-season. Many of them retire to woods and gardens to breed,
but even when they do not, they keep very quiet while they have their
nests. Last June there was a nest in a tree in the Thieves' bazaar at
Madras, but the birds hardly ever showed themselves out of the tree."

Mr. J. Inglis informs us that in Cachar "this King-Crow is extremely
common. It breeds all through the summer. It lays four or five pure
white eggs on the top of a few grasses placed in the fork of a tree.
It is very pugnacious, and attacks birds of all sizes if they approach
it."

There are two very distinct types of this bird's eggs. The one pure
white and spotless, the other a pale salmon-colour, spotted with a
rich brownish red. These eggs unquestionably both belong to the same
species, as I have taken them times without number myself and can
positively certify to their parentage; moreover connecting links are
not wanting in a large series. I have one egg perfectly white, with
the exception of three or four blackish-brown spots, another with more
of these spots, another with almost as many as the ordinary spotted
eggs have, the ground-colour in all these being still pure white,
and the spots being blackish or very deep reddish brown. Then I
have others similar to those just described, but showing a faint
salmon-coloured halo round one or two of the largest spots, others in
which the halo is further developed, and others again with the entire
ground-colour an excessively pale salmon throughout, and so on a
complete series gradually increasing in intensity of colour till we
get the pure rich salmon-buff which is at the other end of the scale.
I am particular in this description, because the eggs of this bird
have been a subject of almost as many contradictions between Indian
naturalists as the chameleon of pious memory. In shape the eggs are
typically a rather long oval, somewhat pointed towards one end. Very
much elongated varieties are common, recalling in this respect the
eggs of _Chibia hottentotta_. Spherical varieties, if they occur, must
be very rare, the enormous series I possess containing no example. In
the colour of the ground, as above remarked, there is every possible,
variety of shade between pure white and a very rich salmon-colour. In
the intensity and number of the markings there is an equally great
variety. The markings, always spots and specks, the largest never
exceeding 0.1 inch in diameter, are invariably most numerous towards
the large end, where they are sometimes, though rarefy, slightly
confluent. They vary from only two or three to a number too large to
count, and in colour through many shades of reddish, blackish, and
purplish brown, the latter being rare and abnormal.

The eggs are entirely devoid of gloss, as a rule, though here and
there a slight trace of it is observable. It is this want of gloss
alone that distinguishes some of the larger white, black-spotted
varieties from the eggs of the common Oriole, which they occasionally
exactly resemble not only in shape, colour, and character of marking,
but even (though generally smaller) in size.

In length they vary From 0.87 to 1.15 inch, and in breadth from 0.7
to 0.85, but the average of 152 eggs measured is 1.01 by 0.75 inch. I
have two dwarf eggs of this species not included in the above average
which I myself obtained in different nests, measuring only 0.78 by 0.5
inch, and 0.87 by 0.62 inch.

328. Dicrurus longicaudatus. A. Hay. _The Indian Ashy Drongo_.

Dicrurus longicaudatus, _A. Hay, Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 430.
Buchanga longicaudata (_A. Hay), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._
no. 280.

The Indian Ashy Drongo, a species that, with the really large series
before me from all parts of India, I find it impossible to subdivide
into two or more species, breeds alike in the plains, in well-watered
and wooded districts, and in the Himalayas up to an elevation of 6000
to 7000 feet, and lays during the months of May and June.

They build generally in large trees, at a considerable height from
the ground, placing their somewhat shallow cup-shaped nests in some
slender fork towards the summit or exterior of the tree.

The nest is neatly and firmly built, of fine grass-stems, slender
twigs, and grass-roots, closely interwoven, and externally bound
together with cobwebs, in which, as in the body of the nest, lichens
of several species are much intermingled. Exteriorly the nests are
from 4 to 5 inches in diameter, and from 2 to 21/2 in height. Interiorly
they are lined with moss, roots, hairs, and fine grass; the cavity
measuring from 3 to 3.5 inches in breadth, and from 1.1 to 1.4 inch in
depth. The normal number of the eggs is four.

Mr. Brooks says:--"The nest is usually fixed on the upper surface of a
thin branch about 15 to 20 feet from the ground, and at its junction
with another branch, the nest being partly embedded in the fork of two
_horizontal_ branches. It is composed of grass, fibres, and roots, and
lined with finer grasses and a few hairs. The nest is broader and much
shallower than that of _D. ater_; outside it is covered with spiders'
webs and small bits of lichen.

"The eggs are four in number, sometimes only three, and vary much in
size, shape, and colour; size 1.0 by 0.7 inch: some are buff, blotched
with light reddish brown and pale purple-grey; others are lighter
buff, almost white in fact, spotted and marked more sparingly than the
first described with the same two colours, but each of a darker tint;
others are white, marked sparingly with spots and blotches of dark
purple-brown and reddish brown, and intermixed with larger blotches
of deep purple-grey, the markings principally forming a zone at the
larger end. Others, again, are pale purplish white, spotted with dark
and light purple-brown, and intermixed with spots and blotches of
purple-grey. The shape of the egg varies as much as the colouring,
some being of a fine oval form, while others are quite pyriform.
Laying in Kumaon from the middle to end of May."

As I shall notice further on, I think that Mr. Brooks is mistaken
about some of his eggs.

Captain Hutton remarks:--"This species, the only one that visits
Mussoorie, arrives from the Doon about the middle of March, and
retires again about September. It is abundant during the summer
months, and breeds from the latter end of April till the middle of
June, making a very neat nest, which is placed in the bifurcation of
a horizontal branch of some tall tree, usually an oak tree; it
is constructed of grey lichens gathered from the trees, and fine
seed-stalks of grasses, firmly and neatly interwoven; with the latter
it is also usually lined, although sometimes a black fibrous lichen is
used; externally the materials are kept compactly together by being
plastered over with spiders' webs. It is altogether a light and
elegant nest. The shape is circular, somewhat shallow; internal
diameter 3 inches. The eggs are three or four, generally the latter
number, and so variable in colour and distribution of spots that until
I had got several specimens and compared them narrowly, I was inclined
to think we had more than one species of _Dicrurus_ here. I am,
however, now fully convinced that these variable eggs belong to the
same species. Sometimes they are dull white with brick-red spots
openly disposed in form of a rude ring at the larger end; at other
times the spots are rufescent claret, with duller indistinct ones
appearing through the shell; others are of a deep carneous hue,
clouded and coarsely blotched with deep rufescent claret; while again
some are faint carneous with large irregular blotches of rufous clay
with duller ones beneath the shell."

Some of Captain Hutton's eggs which he sent me were clearly those of
_Hypsipetes psaroides_ (of which also be sent me specimens), and the
fact is that in thick foliage where the Red-bill is not seen nothing
is easier than to mistake this bird for _D. longicaudatus_. I have
taken a great many of these nests, and I never found eggs other than
of the two types to be below described.

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:--"In Kumaon this species breeds from
4000 to 5000 feet above the sea; the eggs are laid in the last week of
May. I have never seen a nest at Naini Tal itself (6000 to 7000 feet),
but at Bheem Tal (4000 feet) I found numerous nests within three days,
in the first week of June; all without exception had young. The next
season I visited the place in the last week of May, and found the eggs
just laid.

"The nests were of the usual _Dicrurus_ type, wedged in a fork at
heights varying from fifteen to fifty feet from the ground, but as far
as my experience goes always in conspicuous places and generally on
trees almost or quite bare of leaves. The nests are usually only to be
obtained by sawing off the bough they are built on."

Long ago Captain Cock, writing from Dhurmsala, said:--"I took a
nest on the 8th of May, containing four eggs. The eggs are regular,
roundish ovals, somewhat pointed towards one end. The ground-colour is
white, here and there suffused with a faint pinkish tinge, and it is
spotted and blotched with purplish red and pale lilac, most of the
spots being gathered into an irregular zone about the large end."

Colonel C.H.T. Marshall, writing from Murree, says:--"Breeds in May,
in almost inaccessible places, about 7000 feet up, choosing a thin
fork at the outermost end of a bough about 50 or 60 feet from the
ground, and always on trees that have no lower branches. The nest is
almost invisible from below, as it is very neatly built on the top of
the fork; and when the female sits on it, she places her tail down the
bough so as entirely to hide herself. The eggs are only to be obtained
either by climbing higher up the tree than the nest is, and extracting
the eggs by means of a small muslin bag at the end of a long stick, or
else by lashing the bough on which the nest is to an upper bough as
the climber goes along so as to make it strong enough to support him.
The nest is much neater than that of _D. ater_; the eggs are light
salmon-coloured, with brick-red blotches sparsely scattered over them,
and are .95 by .7 inch."

Dr. Scully records the following note from Nepal:--"This species lays
in the valley in May and June, the nest being placed high up in trees,
often in _Pinus longifolia_. The eggs are usually four in number,
fairly glossy, in shape moderate ovals, smaller at one end. The
ground-colour is pinkish white, with a tinge of buff, sparingly
spotted and blotched with brownish red, chiefly at the large end,
where the marks tend to coalesce, so as to form an irregular
incomplete ring. Four eggs taken on the 28th May measured 1.09 to 1.12
in length, and 0.75 to 0.76 in breadth. The race which I identify with
_D. himalayanus_ was found, in very small numbers, on the summit of
Sheopuri, at an elevation of about 7500 feet, and was breeding at the
time I shot my specimen, viz. the 20th May."

Mr. Gammie found a nest at Mongpho, near Darjeeling, at an elevation
of about 3500 feet on the 13th May. It was placed on an outer branch
of a tall tree and contained only one partially incubated egg. The
nest was a beautifully compact, but shallow cup, placed on the upper
surface of the bough, composed externally of roots and coated with a
little lichen and a great deal of cobweb. Interiorly lined with the
finest grass and moss-roots. The cavity measured about 3 inches in
diameter and scarcely more than 1 inch in depth. At the bottom, where
it rested on the bough, the nest was not above 1/4 inch thick, and
consisted only of the lining materials. Laterally it was about 3/4 inch
thick.

The egg was a broad oval, slightly compressed towards one end, but
not at all pointed. The shell very fine and with a slight gloss, the
ground-colour a delicate salmon-pink, and with a broad ring of deep
brownish-pink spots and blotches intermingled with pale purple
subsurface-looking clouds and spots round the large end. The rest of
the egg with some half-dozen similar spots.

He subsequently sent me the following note:--"This species is common
in the Darjeeling district up to 4000 feet or so. It rather affects
the neighbourhood of bungalows, and is a very lively neighbour,
especially in the mornings and evenings. These birds are continually
quarrelling among themselves, sallying after insects, or making
their best attempts at singing. They are _dead_ on Kites, Crows, and
such-like depredators. For several days an Owl (_Bulaca newarensis_)
was flying about near the Cinchona Bungalow at Mongpho, and being a
stupid creature at the best, and doubly so during daylight when it had
no business to be abroad, was evidently considered fair game by the
Long-tailed Drongo and Swallow-Shrikes, and so awfully 'sat upon' by
them, that its life must have become a burden to it until it left
the place in despair of ever getting either peace or comfort about
Mongpho.

"They lay in April and May, and have but one brood in the year.
The nest is generally either built against a tall bamboo, well up,
supported on the branch of twigs at a node, or near the extremity of a
branch of a tree, sometimes on quite slender branches of young trees,
which get so tremendously wafted about by the wind as to make the
retention of the eggs or young in the nest appear almost miraculous.
When anyone meddles with the nest, the owners make bold dashes at the
head of the robber. The Darjeeling birds are not so knowing as their
fellows of Murree, the females of whom are said to sit on the
nests with their tails along the boughs so as to entirely conceal
themselves. I have seen dozens of the nests here, and never once saw
the female in this position, but always with her tail _across_ the
bough. The nest is a compact shallow cup, measuring externally 4.5
inches across by 1.75 in height, while the cavity is 3 inches in
diameter by about 1.2 in depth. It is made of twigs bound up with
cobwebs, among which a few lichens are intermingled. The lining is a
mixture of straw-coloured root-fibres and fine branchlets of the same
coloured grass-panicles."