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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




Colonel Legge says:--"This species breeds in Ceylon during June
and July. Its nest was procured by me in the former month at the
Tamara-Kulam, and was a very interesting structure, built into the
fork of one of the tall seed-stalks of the rush growing there; the
walls rested exteriorly against three of the branches of the fork, but
were worked round some of the stems of the flower itself which sprung
from the base of the fork. It was composed of various fine grasses,
with a few rush-blades among them, and was lined with the fine stalks
of the flower divested, by the bird I conclude, of the seed-matter
growing on them. In form it was a tolerably deep cup, well shaped,
measuring 21/2 inches in internal diameter by 2 in depth. The single egg
which it contained at the time of my finding it was a broad oval in
shape, pale green, boldly blotched with blackish over spots of olive
and olivaceous brown, mingled with linear markings of the same, under
which there were small clouds and blotches of bluish grey. The black
markings were longitudinal and thickest at the obtuse end. It measured
0.89 by 0.67 inch."

The eggs of this species, as might have been expected, greatly
resemble those of _A. arundinaceus_. In shape they are moderately
elongated ovals, in some cases almost absolutely perfect, but
generally slightly compressed towards one end. The shell, though fine,
is entirely devoid of gloss.

The ground-colour varies much, but the two commonest types are pale
green or greenish white and a pale somewhat creamy stone-colour.
Occasionally the ground-colour has a bluish tinge.

The markings vary even more than the ground-colour. In one type the
ground is everywhere minutely, but not densely, stippled with minute
specks, too minute for one to be able to say of what colour; over this
are pretty thickly scattered fairly bold and well-marked spots and
blotches of greyish black, inky purple, olive-brown, yellowish olive,
and reddish-umber brown; here and there pale inky clouds underlay the
more distinct markings. In other eggs the stippling is altogether
wanting, and the markings are smaller and less well-defined. In some
eggs one or more of the colours predominate greatly, and in some
several are almost entirely wanting. In most eggs the markings are
densest towards the large end, where they sometimes form more or less
of a mottled, irregular, ill-defined cap.

In length the eggs vary from 0.8 to 0.97, and in breadth from 0.58 to
0.63; but the average of the only nine eggs that I measured was 0.89,
nearly, by rather more than 0.61.


366. Acrocephalus dumetorum, Blyth. _Blyth's Reed-Warbler_.

Acrocephalus dumetorum, _Bl., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 155.
Calamodyta dumetorum (_Bl.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._
no. 516.

Blyth's Reed-Warbler breeds, I believe, for the most part along the
course of the streams of the lower Himalayan and sub-Himalayan ranges,
and in suitable localities on and about these ranges; such at least is
my present idea. They are with us in the plains up to quite the end of
March, and are back again by the last day of August, and during May at
any rate they may be heard and seen everywhere in the valleys south of
the first snowy range.

Mr. Brooks remarks that "this species was excessively common on the
Hindoostan side of the Pir-pinjal Range, but I have never seen it in
Cashmere. I think it breeds in the low valleys by the river-sides,
for it was in very vigorous song there at the end of May." This is my
experience also, and probably while many may go north to Central Asia
to breed, a good many remain in the localities indicated.

Captain Hutton says:--"This species arrives in the hills up to 7000
feet at least, in April, when it is very common, and appears in pairs
with something of the manner of a _Phylloscopus_. The note is a sharp
_tchick, tchick_, resembling the sound emitted by a flint and steel.

"It disappears by the end of May, in which month they breed; but,
owing to the high winds and strong weather experienced in that month
in 1848, many nests were left incomplete, and the birds must have
departed without breeding.

"One nest, which I took on the 6th May, was a round ball with a
lateral entrance; it was placed in a thick barberry-bush growing at
the side of a deep and sheltered ditch; it was composed of coarse
dry grasses externally and lined with finer grass. Eggs three and
pearl-white, with minute scattered specks of rufous, chiefly at the
larger end. Diameter 0.62 by 0.5."

The late Mr. A. Anderson wrote the following note:--"On the fifth
day after leaving Naini Tal--ever mindful of my friend Mr. Brooks's
parting advice to me (in reference to the part of the country which
required to be investigated), 'avoid the lower hills as the plague'--I
reached Takula, which is the first march beyond Almora on the road to
the Pindari glacier, late on the evening of the 10th of May. It rained
heavily all that night, so that I was obliged to halt the next day,
my tents being far too wet to be struck, and the distance to the next
halting-place necessitating a start the first thing in the morning.

"Takula is at an elevation between 5000 and 6000 feet; it is
beautifully wooded, with a small mountain-stream flowing right
under the camping-ground, and the climate is delightful. All things
considered, I was not sorry at having an opportunity of exploring such
productive-looking ground; and before it was fairly daylight the next
morning operations were commenced in right earnest. To each of my
collectors I apportioned off a well-wooded mountain-slope, reserving
for my own hunting-ground (as I had not yet got my _hill-legs_) the
water-courses and ravines in the immediate vicinity of my camp.

"Not more than 20 yards from where my tent stood, there is a deep
ravine clothed on both banks with a dense jungle of the larger kind of
nettle (_Girardinia heterophylla_: such nettles too!), the hilldock
(_Rumea nepalensis_), and wild-rose trees. Wending my way through this
dark, damp, and muggy nullah to the best of my ability, I came upon
the nest of this interesting little bird; it was placed in the centre
of a rose-bush, at an elevation of some two feet above the bank and
about four feet from where I stood, but yet in a most tantalizing
situation, inasmuch as it was necessary to remove several thorny
branches before an examination of the nest was possible.

"The act of cutting away the branches alarmed my sombre little
friend (I knew that the nest was tenanted, as the bill and head were
distinctly visible through the lateral entrance), and out she darted
with such a '_whir_' that anything like satisfactory identification
for a bird of this sort was utterly hopeless. The nest contained four
beautiful little eggs, so that to bag the parent bird was a matter of
the first importance; all my attempts, however, first to capture
her on the nest and next to shoot her as she flew off, were equally
futile, her movements being as rapid and erratic as forked lightning.
And here let me give a word of advice to my brother ornithologists:
Never attempt to shoot a _wary little bird in the act of leaving its
nest_, as you only run the risk, and mortification I may add, of
wounding perhaps an unknown bird, in which case she will never again
return to her nest; but _lie in ambush_ for her with, outlying scants,
_and make certain of her as she is returning to her nest_. She will
first alight on a neighbouring tree, then on one closer, coming nearer
and nearer each time; finally, she will perch on the very tree or bush
in which the nest is built, and while taking a look round to see that
all is well before making a final ascent, you have yourself to blame
if you fail to bag her. All this sounds very cruel; but if a bird must
be shot for scientific purposes, it is surely preferable to kill it
outright than to let it die a lingering death. Thus it was that I
eventually succeeded, even at the expense of being devoured alive by
midges and mosquitoes; but then had I not the satisfaction of
knowing that to become the happy possessor of _authentic_ eggs of
_Acrocephalus dumetorum_ was in itself sufficient to repay me for my
hill excursion!

"I cannot, however, pretend to lay claim to originality in the
discovery of the breeding-habits of this bird, for Hutton's
description of the nest and eggs taken by him so fully accords with my
own experience, that it is but fair to conclude he was correct in his
identification. I would add, however, with reference to his remarks,
that the nest above alluded to was _more elliptical_ than _spherical_,
being about the size and shape of an Ostrich's egg, that it was
constructed throughout of the _largest_ and _coarsest_ blades
of various kinds of dry grass, the egg-cavity being lined with
grass-bents of a finer quality, and that it was domed over, having a
lateral entrance about the middle of the nest. The whole structure
was so loosely put together as to fall to pieces immediately it was
removed.

"The eggs, four in number, are pure while, beautifully glossed, and
well covered with rufous or reddish-brown specks, most numerous at the
obtuse end. Owing to its similarity to a number of eggs, particularly
to those of the Titmouse group, it is just one of those that I would
never feel comfortable in accepting on trust.

"It was a remarkable coincidence that the very day I took this nest
my post brought me part iv. of the P.Z.S. for 1874, containing Mr.
Dresser's interesting paper on the nidification of the _Hypolais_
and _Acrocephalus_ groups; and if I understand him rightly, he is
certainly correct in his surmise as to the eggs of _Acrocephalus
dumetorum_ approaching those of the _Hypolais_ group.

"My good luck, as regards Blyth's Reed-Warbler, did not end here, for
on the following day, at Bagesur, at an elevation of only 3000 feet,
I again encountered a pair of these birds, finding their nest on the
banks of the Surjoo. The position, shape, and architecture of this
nest were identical with the one I have above described, but the eggs
unfortunately had not been laid. The little birds, on this occasion,
were quite fearless, hopping from stem to stem of the dense
undergrowth which throughout the Bagesur valley fringes both banks of
the river, every now and again making a temporary halt for the purpose
of picking insects off the leaves, with an occasional '_tchick_,'
which Hutton resembles to the 'sound emitted by a flint and
steel,' but all the time enticing me away from the site of their
dwelling-place. In this way they led me a wild-goose chase several
times up and down the river-bank before I was able to discover the
whereabouts of their nest."

Captain Hutton sent me three eggs of this species. The eggs are
otherwise unknown to me, and I describe them only on Captain Hutton's
authority. The eggs are rather broad ovals, very smooth and compact in
texture, but with little or no gloss. They are pure white, very thinly
speckled with reddish and yellowish brown, the markings being most
numerous towards the large end, and even there somewhat sparse and
very minute. They measure respectively 0.65 by 0.52, 0.65 by 0.51, and
0.62 by 0.51.


367. Acrocephalus agricola (Jerd.). _The Paddy-field Reed-Warbler_.

Acrocephalus agricolus (_Jerd.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 156.
Calamodyta agricola (_Jerd.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._
no. 517.

The Paddy-field Reed-Warbler nests apparently occasionally in May and
Jane in the valleys of the Himalayas, the great majority probably
going further north-west to breed.

Very little is known about the matter. I have shot the birds in the
interior of the hills in May, but I have never seen a nest.

Mr. Brooks, however, says:--"Near Shupyion (Cashmere) I found a
finished empty nest of this truly aquatic warbler in a rose-bush which
was intergrown with rank nettles. This was in the roadside where there
was a shallow stream of beautifully clear water. On either side of the
road were vast tracts of paddy swamp, in which the natives were busily
engaged planting the young rice-plants. The nest strongly resembled
that of _Curruca garrula_. The male with his throat puffed out
was singing on the bush a loud vigorous pretty song like a Lesser
Whitethroat's, but more varied. I shot the strange songster, on
which the female flew from the nest. This was the only pair of these
interesting birds that I met with. I think, therefore, that their
breeding in Cashmere is not a common occurrence."

This nest, now in my collection, was found on the 13th June, at an
elevation of about 5500 feet, in the Valley of Cashmere. It is a deep,
almost purse-like cup, very loosely and carelessly put together, of
moderately fine grass, in amongst which a quantity of wool has been
intermingled.


371. Tribura thoracica (Blyth). _The Spotted Bush-Warbler_.

Dumeticola affinis (_Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 158.
Dumeticola brunneipectus, _Bl., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._
no. 519 bis.

Mr. Hodgson gives a very careful figure of a female bird of this
species, together with its nest and egg, but he labels it underneath
_affinis_. As we know, he described _affinis_ as having spots on the
breast; but he further notes that at the same place at which he obtained
the female, nest, and eggs, he also got a male bird with spots on the
breast; in fact, in other words, he seems to have come to the conclusion
that _Dumeticola affinis_ was the male and that _Dumeticola
brunneipectus_, which he did not separately name, though he has
beautifully figured it, was the female. I have specimens of both, but
the sexes were not ascertained; still I doubt whether the two birds can
possibly be merely different sexes of the same species. Anyhow, the
female bird which he figures (No. 826) is really _brunneipectus_, and
under that name I notice the nest and eggs on which the female figured
was captured. Mr. Hodgson notes:--"_Gosainthan_. In the snows; female
and nest.

"_August 2nd_.--Nest in a bunch of reeds placed slantingly: ovate
in shape; aperture at one side; placed about half a foot above
the ground, made of grasses and moss, 4 or 5 inches in diameter
exteriorly, interiorly between 2 and 3 inches." The eggs are figured
as moderately broad ovals, measuring 0.65 by 0.48, of a uniform deep
cinnabar-red, reminding one of the eggs of _Prinia socialis_, but much
deeper in colour[A].

[Footnote A: There can be no doubt, I think, that _T. affinis_ and _T.
brunneipectus_ are the same species as _T. thoracica_. I reproduce Mr.
Hodgson's note on the nesting of this species together with Mr. Hume's
remarks, but I feel sure that the nest described by Mr. Hodgson and
the egg figured by him cannot belong to the present species.--ED.]

Mr. Mandelli sends me three nests of this species, all found near
Yendong, in Native Sikhim, at an elevation of about 9000 feet, on the
15th, 17th, and 21st July. The nests contained two, two, and three
fresh eggs respectively, and were placed, two of them in small
brushwood, and one in a clump of rush or grass, from 9 to 18 inches
above the ground. They seem to have all been rather massive little
cups, composed exteriorly of broad grass-blades rather clumsily wound
together, and lined with rather finer, but by no means fine grass.
In two of them some dead leaves have been incorporated in the basal
portion.

They are rather dirty, shabby-looking nests, obviously made of dead
materials, old withered and partially-decayed grass, and not with
fresh grass; they seem to have measured 3 inches in diameter, and 2.5
in height externally; the cavity was perhaps 1.5 to 1.75 in diameter,
and 1 inch more or less in depth.

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"Nest among scrub in small bush, 2
feet from ground, at 5000 feet above the sea. Found on the 3rd June,
when it contained two eggs; taken on the 5th, with four eggs. I
dissected the bird killed off the nest, and found it to be a female;
in her stomach were the remains of a few insects. The nest is
cup-shaped, loosely made of dry leaves and grass, lined with, for the
size of the bird, coarse grass-stalks. Externally it measures 3.5
inches in breadth by 2.5 deep; internally 2 broad by 1.5 deep."

This nest taken by Mr. Gammie near Rungbee on the 5th June, 1875, at
an elevation of about 5000 feet, contained four eggs. It was a massive
little cup about 3 inches in diameter externally, and with an internal
cavity about 2 inches in diameter and 13/4 inch deep; was rather loosely
put together, externally composed of dead leaves and broad flags of
grass, internally lined with grass-stems.

The eggs of this species are very regular broad ovals, the shells fine
but glossless, the ground-colour a dead white, thickly speckled and
spotted about the large end, thinly elsewhere, with somewhat brownish
and again purplish red. The markings are all very fine and small, but
where they are closely set at the large end there a few little pale
purplish-grey specks and spots are intermingled.

The eggs measure 0.68 by 0.55.

The eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Mandelli in the neighbourhood
of Darjeeling in July are so similar to those obtained by Mr. Gammie,
and of which he sent me the parent bird, that no second description is
necessary. They are a shade smaller, but the difference is not more
than is always observable in even the same species. They measure 0.67
in length, and 0.53 to 0.55 in breadth.


372. Tribura luteiventris, Hodgs. _The Brown Bush-Warbler_.

Tribura luteiventris, _Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 161; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 522.

A bird unquestionably belonging to this species[A], the Brown
Bush-Warbler, was sent me along with a single egg from Native Sikhim.
The bird was said to have been killed off the nest (which was not
preserved), which was found, at an elevation of about 12,000 feet,
in low brushwood about 3 feet from the ground.

[Footnote A: I do not place much confidence in the authenticity of the
egg of this bird sent to Mr. Hume. Being a Warbler with twelve
tail-feathers, it is unlikely to lay a red egg, and besides this the
eggs of the allied species, _T. thoracica_, as found by trustworthy
observers like Messrs. Gammie and Mandelli, are known to be white
speckled with red, in spite of Mr. Hodgson's figure representing them to
be deep cinnabar-red.--ED.]

The egg is a very regular, rather broad oval, has only a faint gloss,
and is of a very rich deep maroon-red, slightly darker at the large
end.

The egg measures 0.62 by 0.49.


374. Orthotomus sutorius (Forst.). _The Indian Tailor-bird_.

Orthotomus longicauda (_Gm_.), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 165; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 530.

The Indian Tailor-bird[A] breeds throughout India and Burma, alike in
the plains and in the hills (_e.g._, the Himalayas and Nilgiris), up
to an elevation of from 3000 to 4000 feet.

[Footnote A: The notes on this bird's breeding are so very numerous
that I am compelled to omit several of them.--ED.]

The breeding-season lasts from May to August, both months included;
but in the plains more nests are to be found in July, and in the hills
more, I think, in June, than during the other months.

The nest has been often described and figured, and, as is well known,
is a deep soft cup enclosed in leaves, which the bird sews together to
form a receptacle for it.

It is placed at all elevations, and I have as often found it high upon
a mango-tree as low down amongst the leaves of the edible egg-plant
(_Solanum esculentum_).

The nests vary much, in appearance, according to the number and
description of leaves which the bird employs and the manner in which
it employs them; but the nest itself is usually chiefly composed of
fine cotton-wool, with a few horsehairs and, at times, a few very fine
grass-stems as a lining, apparently to keep the wool in its place and
enable the cavity to retain permanently its shape.

I have found the nests with three leaves fastened, at equal distances
from each other, into the sides of the nest, and not joined to each
other at all.

I have found them between two leaves, the one forming a high back and
turned up at the end to support the bottom of the nest, the other
hiding the nest in front and hanging down well below it, the tip only
of the first leaf being sewn to the middle of the second. I have found
them with four leaves sewn together to form a canopy and sides, from
which the bottom of the nest depended bare; and I have found them
between two long leaves, whose sides from the very tips to near the
peduncles were closely and neatly sewn together. For sewing they
generally use cobweb; but silk from cocoons, thread, wool, and
vegetable fibres are also used.

The eggs vary from three to four in number; but I find that out of
twenty-seven nests containing more or less incubated eggs, of which
I have notes, exactly two thirds contained only three, and one third
four eggs.

About the colour of the eggs there has been some dispute, but this is
owing to the birds laying two distinct types of eggs, which will be
described below. Hutton's and Jerdon's descriptions of the eggs,
_white_ spotted with rufous or reddish brown, are quite correct, but
so are those of other writers, who call them _bluish green_, similarly
marked. Tickell, who gives them as "pale greenish blue, with irregular
patches, especially towards the larger end, resembling dried stains
of blood, and irregular and _broken lines scratched round_, forming
a zone near the larger end," had of course got hold of the eggs of a
_Franklinia_. I have taken hundreds of both types, and I note that, as
in the case of _Dicrurus ater_, eggs of the two types are never found
in the same nest. All the eggs in each nest always belong to one or
the other type.

The parent birds that lay these very different looking eggs certainly
do not differ; that I have positively satisfied _myself_.

I quote an exact description of a nest which I took at Bareilly, and
which was recorded on the spot:--

"Three of the long ovato-lanceolate leaves of the mango, whose
peduncles sprang from the same point, had been neatly drawn together
with gossamer threads run through the sides of the leaves and knotted
outside, so as to form a cavity like the end of a netted purse, with a
wide slit on the side nearest the trunk beginning near the bottom and
widening upwards. Inside this, the real nest, nearly 3 inches deep and
about 2 inches in diameter, was neatly constructed of wool and fine
vegetable fibres, the bottom being thinly lined with horsehair. In
this lay three tiny delicate bluish-white eggs, with a few pale
reddish-brown blotches at the large ends, and just a very few spots
and specks of the same colour elsewhere."

Dr. Jerdon says:--"The Tailor-bird makes its nest with cotton, wool,
and various other soft materials, sometimes also lined with hair, and
draws together one leaf or more, generally two leaves, on each side
of the nest, and stitches them together with cotton, either woven
by itself, or cotton-thread picked up, and after passing the thread
through the leaf, it makes a knot at the end to fix it. I have seen
a Tailor-bird at Saugor watch till the native tailor had left the
verandah where he had been working, fly in, seize some pieces of the
thread that were lying about, and go off in triumph with them; this
was repeated in my presence several days running. I have known
many different trees selected to build in; in gardens very often a
guava-tree. The nest is generally built at from 2 to 4 feet above the
ground. The eggs are two, three, or four in number, and in every case
which I have seen were white spotted with reddish brown chiefly at
the large end.... Layard describes one nest made of cocoanut-fibre
entirely, with a dozen leaves of oleander drawn and stitched together.
I cannot call to recollection ever having seen a nest made with more
than two leaves.... Pennant gives the earliest, though somewhat
erroneous, account of the nest. He says: 'The bird picks up a dead
leaf and, surprising to relate, sews it to the side of a living one.'"

I have often seen nests made between many leaves, and I have seen
plenty with a dead leaf stitched to a yet living one; but in these
points my experience entirely coincides with that of the late Mr. A.
Anderson, whose note I proceed to quote:--

"The dry leaves that are sometimes met with attached to the nest of
this species, and which gave rise to the erroneous idea that the bird
picks up a dead leaf and, surprising to relate, sews it to the side of
a living one, are easily accounted for.

"I took a nest of the Tailor-bird a short time ago" (11th July,
1871) from a brinjal plant (_Solanum esculentum_), which had all
the appearance of having had dry leaves attached to it. The nest
originally consisted of _three_ leaves, but two of them had been
pierced (in the act of passing the thread through them) to excess, and
had in consequence not only decayed, _but actually separated from the
stem of the plant_. These decayed leaves were hanging from the side of
the nest by a mere thread, and could have been removed with perfect
safety. Perhaps instinct teaches the birds to injure certain leaves in
order that they may decay?