The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds Part 18

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

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

Mandelli's Spotted Babbler, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes, begins to lay in April, the young being ready to fly in July. They build a large, more or less oval, globular nest, laid lengthwise on the ground in some bush or clump of rush or reed, composed of moss, dry leaves, and vegetable fibres, and lined with moss-roots. The entrance, which is circular, is at one end. A nest measured by Mr. Hodgson was 675 inches in length and 5 in height. The aperture, at one end of the egg-shaped nest, was about 2 inches in diameter, and the cavity was about 25 in diameter and nearly 4 inches deep. The eggs are three or four in number, and are figured as broad ovals pointed towards the small end, measuring about 086 by 065, and having a greyish-white ground, thickly speckled and spotted with more or less bright red or brownish red, and most thickly so at the large end, where the markings are nearly confluent.

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

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

Two eggs measure 086 and 09 in length, and 065 and 066 in breadth.

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

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

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

Four eggs varied from 084 to 09 in length, and from 065 to 068 in breadth.

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

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

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

"Three nests of these birds were found in the months of March and April 1871. The first was placed on the ground, close against a bush.

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

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

It measures 088 by 065.

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

Pellorneum subochraceum, _Swinh., Hume, Cat._ no. 399 s.e.x.

The Burmese Spotted Babbler breeds pretty well over the whole of Pegu and Tena.s.serim. Mr. Oates writes:--"On the 3rd May I found a nest on the ground near Pegu. A good many bamboo-leaves had fallen and the nest was imbedded in these. It was formed entirely of these leaves loosely put together, the interior only being sparingly lined with fine gra.s.s. The structure _in situ_ was tolerably firm, but it would not stand removal. In height it was about 7 inches, and in breadth about 5, the longer axis being vertical. Shape cylindrical with rounded top. Entrance 2 inches by 1, placed about the centre. The interior of the nest was a rough sphere of 4 inches diameter.

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

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

Mr. W. Davison in 1875 gave me the following note:--"On the morning of the 25th March I took at Bankasoon a nest of this species in thick forest; it was placed on the ground and was composed externally of dead leaves, with a scanty lining of fine roots and fibres.

It measured externally about 5 inches high by about 4 wide. The egg-cavity was hardly 3 inches in diameter. The nest was only partially domed, and was very loosely and carelessly put together.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Drymocataphus nigricapitatus (_Eyton), Hume, Cat._ no. 396 s.e.x.

Mr. W. Davison writes:--"I got one nest of this bird at Klang. I was pa.s.sing through some very dense jungle, where the ground was very marshy, when one of these birds rose from the ground about a couple of feet in front of me, and alighted on an old stump some few feet away.

On examining the place from which the bird rose, I found the nest placed at the base of a small clump of ferns, and concealed by a number of overhanging withered fronds of the fern. The base of the nest, which rested on the ground, was composed of a ma.s.s of dried twigs, leaves, &c.; then came the real body of the nest, composed of coa.r.s.e fern-roots, the egg-cavity being lined with finer roots and a number of hair-like fibres. It looked compactly and strongly put together, but on trying to remove it, it all came to pieces. When the bird saw me examining the nest it fluttered to within a couple of feet of me, twittering in a most vehement manner, feigning a broken wing to try and draw me away. The nest contained only two eggs, which were slightly set."

These eggs are extremely regular ovals, scarcely smaller, if at all, at one end than at the other. The sh.e.l.l is very fine and fragile, but has only a slight gloss. The ground-colour appears to have been creamy white, but the markings are so thickly set that little of this is anywhere visible. First, pale inky-purple spots and clouds are thickly sprinkled over the surface, and over this the whole egg is freckled with a pale purplish brown. They measured 082 in length by 062 and 063 in breadth.

151. Drymocataphus tickelli. _Tickell's Babbler_.

Trichastoma minus, _Hume_; _Hume, Cat._ no. 387 bis.

Major C.T. Bingham found the nest of this bird in the valley of the Meplay river, Tena.s.serim, and he says:--"On the 15th March I found a little domed nest made of dried bamboo-leaves, and lined with fine roots, placed in a cane-bush a foot or so above the ground. It contained three tiny white eggs, with minute pink dottings chiefly at the larger end; one egg, however, is nearly pure white."

One of these eggs taken by Major Bingham on the 15th March is a very regular, somewhat elongated oval. The sh.e.l.l very fine and delicate, and fairly glossy. The ground is china-white, and it is everywhere speckled and spotted, nowhere very thickly, but most so in a zone near one end, with pale ferruginous. It measured 067 by 051.

160. t.u.r.dinus abbotti (Bl.). _Abbott's Babbler_.

Trichastoma abbotti (_Bl.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 17.

Abbott's Babbler breeds throughout Burma in suitable localities.

Writing from Kyeikpadein, in Southern Pegu, Mr. Oates says:--"On the 22nd May I found a nest with two eggs nearly hatched, and on 23rd of same month another with two eggs, one of which was fresh and the other incubated. This bird builds in thick undergrowth, and the nest is built at a height of about 2 feet from the ground. I have found very many of their nests, but, with the above exceptions, the young had flown. It is generally attached to a stout weed or two, and consists of two portions. First, a platform of dead leaves about 6 inches in diameter and 1 deep, placed loosely, and on this the nest proper is built. This consists of a small cup, the interior diameter of which is 2 inches, and depth 1. It is formed entirely of fine black fern-roots well woven together. Stout weeds appear favourite sites, but I have found old nests in dwarf palm-trees at the junction of the frond with the trunk, and in one instance I found an old nest on the ground, undoubtedly belonging to this bird. Three eggs measured 84 by 66, 82 by 67, and 87 by 65. They are very glossy and smooth. The ground-colour is a pale pinkish white. At the cap there are a few spots and short lines of inky-purple sunk into the sh.e.l.l, and over the whole egg, very sparingly distributed, there are spots and irregular fine scrawls of reddish brown. A few of the marks are neither spots nor scrawls, but something like knots. The cap is suffused with a darker tinge of pink than are the other parts of the sh.e.l.l.

"A third nest, found on the 10th June, contained three eggs, and differed from those above described in being very ma.s.sive. It was composed of dead leaves and fern-roots, and measured about 5 inches in exterior diameter, with the egg-cup about 2 inches broad and 2 inches deep. It was placed on some entangled small plants about 2 feet from the ground. Of these eggs I noted that before being blown the sh.e.l.l was of a ruddy salmon colour. The marks are much as in the others described above."

The eggs are moderately broad ovals, somewhat pointed at times towards the small end, and occasionally slightly pyriform. The sh.e.l.l is fine and glossy; the ground-colour is pinky white, with a redder shade about the large end. A few streaks, spots, and hieroglyphics of a deep brownish red, each more or less surrounded by a reddish nimbus, are scattered very thinly about the surface of the egg, while, besides these, a few small greyish-purple subsurface-looking spots may be observed about the larger end. The average size of the seven eggs I possess is 082 by 064.

163. Alcippe nepalensis (Hodgs.). _The Nepal Babbler_.

Alcippe nipalensis (_Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 18; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 388.